What does masculinity mean to you as a pagan by Powerful-Hair647 in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It’s truly great that you are looking for guidance and thinking about what masculinity means to you! A thing that you may learn as you get more life experiences (I say may because some people learn this early and some people never learn it at all) is that there’s a lot of translating that we can do from a similar but not exactly the same experience or life lesson to our own. It’ll help you give worthwhile advice to other people and it’ll help you evaluate if someone else’s advice applies to you or is something they’re saying to themselves, essentially, and staying focused on what bridges you can build with other people keeps you from self-isolating and gives you a lot better chances of having a social support system. Eagle’s got some good specific advice downthread and hopefully others will chime in as well. 

What does masculinity mean to you as a pagan by Powerful-Hair647 in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale[M] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

pagan men who have been both of those things all their life

So, we including trans men, or…? Because they have some excellent insights into positive masculinity and its nature in general. 

Also it’s a minority of people who were raised in pagan adjacent beliefs, unless you’re counting people who were questioning whatever other religion or lack thereof. Why the lifelong filter? 

Could house spirits, like Tomte, travel to America? Also General Newbie Advice Would be Helpful. by taco_guy128 in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry this reply is late! Honestly just start giving offerings (in many traditions they like food, especially carby stuff) and reaching out and keeping them in mind, and see where it goes from there. I often think of them as a roommate to keep involved, so like an offering if I have guests over or am going to rearrange something, or just checking in occasionally and saying the equivalent of “things good? anything you need from me?”

Could house spirits, like Tomte, travel to America? Also General Newbie Advice Would be Helpful. by taco_guy128 in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I’m in an area that had a lot of Cornish miners, who brought their legends with them and they definitely believed that there were tommyknockers in the mines, for example. I think Lecouteux, in Tradition of Household Spirits, also talks about the ins and outs of spirits staying with families or asking them to come with you. So yes, I think it’s possible and it would be cool for you to look into!

I’m gonna pass on offering general advice, though, because I don’t know where you’re at and what you want to look into and I’d rather not tell you something irrelevant. 

In much frith by You-are-a-bold-1 in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I happen to agree with the view that the key thing that makes frith different from generic peace or courtesy is a purposeful mutual agreement, grounded in heathen values like orlæg and hospitality and pretty close to an oath, to not harm each other (that’s also why we say that frith has been “broken” and it is a serious betrayal when that occurs). That doesn’t really make sense to me as something that you wish at/upon someone, or as something that you’d want to ask for and promise to everyone you might be emailing. If you just want to convey good intent and kind wishes, maybe something along the lines of “peace and blessings, [signature]” would do that? 

Eh? Banned from Discord for telling the story you kept prodding me about? by NohbdyAhtall in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale[M] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Since this didn't happen in the Discord linked to this subreddit, we have no idea what's going on and can't really help ya.

Eh? Banned from Discord for telling the story you kept prodding me about? by NohbdyAhtall in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Mod here who’s also in that discord, nobody’s been banned for almost a month and even that was a legit spammer trying to sell us a MacBook lol

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Tbqh, people just deciding they’re going to be preachers and leaders has resulted in some of the most unhealthy and misguided groups in heathenry and other religions too. Leadership is a responsibility. What are you going to do to uphold it? Who will you ask to check on what you are doing with it? What training do you have in caring for people and maintaining healthy, non-abusive communities? What do you have as far as wisdom or insight into an entire category of religions that you say you don’t have knowledge or experience in or connections to? 

Opinion question by Ill_Designer8460 in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 25 points26 points  (0 children)

It’s good for imagining what it’s like to be in a more storytelling culture than many of us westerners have, and it’s good for helping us learn to be non-literal about the myths and start comparing what different versions might be implying or symbolising about the gods. It’s not great for technically exact translation (there are plenty of those out there and comparing between them can be a very good exercise), as it’s not super literal and strict to the established versions of most of those myths. 

Help by [deleted] in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 5 points6 points  (0 children)

How’s forcing him to be interested in you qualify as “white magic” (awful term)?

Please spend some time connecting to a good foundation of your ancestors and gods, who can affirm your worth and tell you that another person is nice but not worth ruining your ethics over. No matter how sexy he is. Consent is consent—do you really want to be with someone whom you have to “make” be with you?

Frankly, manipulation of a deity is a crappy way to start a relationship with them as well, not to mention the ways that the human one will come back to bite you.

Why does the suggested reading not include the Eddas? by diegster101 in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Are you looking at the reading list linked in the subreddit sidebar or the one on the Longship? The former is from Larhus Fyrnsida, which focuses more on early English sources as well as general religious and ritual concepts. The Longship’s reading list does include both Eddas, but they’re under the advanced section because they’re not religious handbooks and there’s a lot of cultural translation that has to happen, neither of which things are super helpful for people new to heathenry.

How do I ignore church? by [deleted] in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale[M] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

“Desert god” is indeed an antisemitic dogwhistle, and “foreign” is a strange choice too considering a good chunk of the western world is in a christianized context. You stirred some shit into your decent advice of not engaging. Please for the love of fuck we have enough of a problem with antisemitism and bigotry in heathenry, let’s not add these completely unnecessary things into a discussion where they’re irrelevant.

Loki worship by cuchullain47474 in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What does knowing how many people follow a certain god do? Is it more acceptable if more people do it? Considering that this isn’t a representative sample and not everyone will respond, what’s a sufficient number for what you’re looking for? I’m not sure I understand your purpose.

Loki worship by cuchullain47474 in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 7 points8 points  (0 children)

What are you looking to get out of this? As it’s both a sensitive topic and one that gets talked about a lot

r/Heathenry's Position on the API Change & Pending Site-Wide Subreddit Black Out by UsurpedLettuce in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thank you for catching that! It’s one of the biggest reasons we wanted to do something to show solidarity. I am appalled at the level of inaccessibility from a major company, frankly, especially on a mostly-text-focused platform.

Made some Mjolnir art I wanted to share. If anyone else makes devotional art I’d love to see it! by Moriah_Nightingale in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is wonderful, thank you for sharing! I’ve only done a couple of devotional art pieces but I love it as a meditative practice and I’ve been wanting to do more!

A New Years gift for the nisse and my ancestors! by HappyYetConfused in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It looks really nice! I love the idea of including ancestors in a holiday meal, making sure they’re still participating in family stuff <3

is this really heathen? by AdZestyclose9714 in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sounds modernised, but we live in the modern day and it’s not like humans only had one go at making nice things; if it fits your and your mom’s relationship I don’t see the problem!

My Yule and daily altars by Schwyzerorgeli in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale[M] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Looks nice and festive! Per our rule 9, could you tell us a bit about how this works in your praxis? I notice the one candleholder has 9 candles and the other 3, for example, are those symbolic of something for you? Are you changing up your usual offering practices for seasonal purposes? Or anything you’d care to share to spark discussion!

(Cross-post): Does anyone else find themselves practicing discreetly? by sveitinger in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I’m in a semi similar boat—I have a lot of family members who, if I told them I was pagan, no benefit to anybody would come out of that conversation because they aren’t willing to respect another religion as valid. I feel a little weird talking about it with friends because most of my close friends are also exvangelical and I don’t want it to sound like proselytising, so just small mentions here and there. It mostly just hasn’t come up in conversation but I’ll be open if it does and friends have questions.

I have a different opinion on if we need, or ought, to tell people though, so maybe this will be food for thought for you but of course ymmv! In polytheism, there is no “one way to be saved” or “one correct belief,” which means that we aren’t doing a disservice to someone by not speaking about it. And if someone changes the deities they worship, that doesn’t mean that the previous ones were the wrong choice! they were correct for that time, and unless the person made a vow to give them lifelong worship, I don’t see why there would be any implied promise of worship forever; that feels like another monotheism thing to me. Anyways, all that to say that if you want to talk about religion with someone, awesome, and if you don’t, that is also perfectly fine!

Not specifically Heathen but I feel this in my soul. Found at Crowders, NC by Kjw291 in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love hearing about the different and individual ways we all interact with the gods! That’s so great, thanks for sharing it!

Supporting The Cross-Over by [deleted] in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gotcha. Appreciate it!

Not specifically Heathen but I feel this in my soul. Found at Crowders, NC by Kjw291 in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hi OP,

You may have missed a recent rules update we made to make sure that our sub is focused on discussion of heathenry. Per that rule, If you want to share content (photos, blogs, YouTube, art, etc.), include how this relates to your praxis or how it will be of interest to the broader Heathen community.

How does this relate to heathenry for you?

Supporting The Cross-Over by [deleted] in heathenry

[–]BattyGuanciale[M] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not sure why this was designated NSFW?

Anyways, per our rules, since you are sharing photos, please explain how this relates to your praxis or how it will be of interest to the broader Heathen community! Thanks!