Latest / Random Heathen Ramblings / Random Heathen Ramblings: S5, EP32 - What Rituals Should EVERY Heathen Know How To Perform? [Patreon Request]

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Random Heathen Ramblings: S5, EP32 - What Rituals Should EVERY Heathen Know How To Perform? [Patreon Request] · Random Heathen Ramblings

0:02
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Random Heathen Ramblings
0:05
podcast where we discuss all sorts of things Germanic
0:08
Heathenry related. My name is Jesse, I'm your host.
0:12
Let's get into it. The Olivet Here workshop is
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Fire on the Mountain, an annual men's spiritual retreat and
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leadership summit, is sponsored in part by Ravenwood Meadery,
1:12
located at the historic Low Mill Arts and Entertainment building
1:16
in Huntsville, AL. Ravenwood is North Alabama's
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first and only meadery that is 100% woman owned and operated.
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They specialize in small, hand crafted batches of authentic
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has been around for millennia. Follow them on Facebook to stay
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theirwebsite@ravenwoodmeadery.com. Thank you to Ravenwood Meadery
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for helping sponsor Fire on the Mountain.
1:52
Yes, indeed. Thank you to Ravenwood Meadery
1:56
and to some other sponsors who will be announced on this
2:02
episode and other episodes. So for those of you that are
2:06
listening to this when it airs, I'm talking about the 4th annual
2:12
Fire on the Mountain Retreat, which is a men's spiritual
2:16
retreat and Leadership Summit Invitational.
2:19
That is an invite sort of thing where those attendees and
2:25
participants of the annual event are cordially invited by the by
2:31
the planning board. We are actively looking at ways
2:37
of enhancing and bettering the event for our fifth iteration of
2:42
it next year. So for those of you that listen
2:45
to this and hear about, you know, fire on the Mountain or
2:47
maybe you've seen some of my posts on social media and
2:52
tagging different people and, and all that.
2:54
If you're interested, if you're, if you're a man wanting to think
2:58
about coming to, to this event, just please bear in mind we, we
3:03
are actively looking at making the application process the,
3:08
the, you know, the whole 9, making it very legitimate and,
3:15
you know, wanting to make this a very inclusive sort of thing
3:21
and, and, and doing it the right way for the right reasons and
3:23
all of that. So there will be more to come on
3:25
this. Usually the way it goes is the
3:29
planning board starts to think about the plans of next year's
3:35
event at the end of the current year's event.
3:39
They will meet around the first of the year.
3:42
So usually around January sometime the planning board gets
3:45
together and starts making the initial movement, the initial
3:50
steps of of getting that year's event planned.
3:53
So Fire on the Mountain happens in Appalachia, in the Blue Ridge
3:58
Mountains of Appalachia. Historically it's been around
4:02
like the end of October, beginning of November time
4:05
frame. This year it will be at the end
4:07
of October. And so therefore after that
4:10
event, usually what ends up also happening right before we start
4:14
planning for the next year's event is and when I say we, I
4:18
mean like I am, I am a Co founder of the event.
4:20
I'm on the planning board. I'm also a sponsor, right?
4:23
I'm, I'm heavily involved in the whole thing.
4:27
So you know, unnecessary sponsorship and that that
4:30
Midgard musings is a sponsor of Fire on the Mountain every year.
4:37
But the the way that it usually goes is at the end of the event
4:42
each year in the coming weeks, there is a virtual live
4:48
discussion slash panel Q&A panel wherein all of the attendees of
4:57
the year's event are invited to a virtual face to face sort of
5:01
live stream. It allows people to allows all
5:06
the attendees, all of us that that went each year to, to talk
5:09
about the event with the participants and kind of
5:13
reminisce and recap everything that happened.
5:15
But it also gives the audience a chance so to ask questions and,
5:20
and stuff. So it's a nice summary, you
5:23
know, of the year's event and it also gives people with an
5:27
interest the chance to ask questions and get some more
5:32
information. But once again, that will be
5:36
coming probably sometime in November.
5:38
Again, just depending on scheduling and, and, and
5:42
availability of, of people to, to get all, everybody on the
5:47
same day and or same evening for a live stream, that sort of
5:50
thing. More to come on that, but
5:55
they're following that at the beginning of the year.
5:58
The following year, like around January time frame, the planning
6:00
board, those, those senior council members of the of the
6:04
event reconvene to start planning for that year's event.
6:08
So in 2025, January, you know, the planning board gets
6:11
together, we'll we'll meet and, and start planning.
6:14
And we do have already things in the works to start talking
6:19
about, you know, an application process, the whole 9 yards.
6:24
We're planning to go very legitimate with it.
6:28
We're very excited about the direction that it's, it's
6:30
heading in. And again, for anybody that's
6:34
listening and, and doesn't know, you know what I'm talking about.
6:36
Again, Fire on the Mountain is a, is an annual men's spiritual
6:39
retreat in leadership summit that happens in the Blue Ridge
6:44
Mountains of Appalachia. It's usually about 3 days long,
6:50
three, you know, 3-4, four days, three nights.
6:53
I say four days 'cause you know, usually we're, we're getting in
6:55
there towards the end of the week and then we have the
6:57
weekend, you know, so it's 3 1/2 to four days and then three full
7:02
nights. So anyway, more to come on that.
7:05
There will be announcements made on the Random Heathen Ramblings
7:08
podcast going forward for the rest of this year.
7:12
We have Ravenwood Meadery, of course, who is a gold tier
7:15
sponsor, the Norse fox creations.
7:22
We you're going to be hearing some, some sponsored ads
7:25
throughout this episode and future episodes of of folks who
7:27
are, you know, sponsoring the event either by their business,
7:32
their attendance, their funding, right?
7:34
They're they're sponsoring the event this year.
7:35
They're helping see this vision out.
7:39
So again, more to come on that if you do have questions about
7:44
fire on the mountain in, in, in terms of wanting to help sponsor
7:47
the event, I can be, I can be reached at I'll I'll, I'll put
7:53
my e-mail address. It's my first name dot last name
7:57
Jesse dot Steelwagon at fire on themountain.org.
8:02
We'll put it up here on screen for, for those of you that are
8:05
watching, but for those of you listening, you can check the
8:10
show notes for the e-mail address.
8:14
If you are a, a business or, or, or somebody who wants to help
8:19
sponsor the event this year, you can send me an e-mail there.
8:24
We can talk. We have different tiers thing
8:28
different things get you different, you know, perks,
8:30
whatever advertisement sponsorship, you know, get you
8:33
different things. So anyway, enough of that.
8:36
I don't want to take up the airspace on on this week's
8:38
episode because this week's episode is going to be another
8:41
solo run. I had a guest scheduled for this
8:45
episode when it comes out, which didn't happen.
8:52
There was again, you know how it goes.
8:55
Sometimes people, whatever things happen, you know, wires
8:59
get crossed. I don't know.
9:00
I showed up, that person didn't and it's fine again.
9:05
No, no ill will, no, no hard feelings, no nothing.
9:08
But we got to roll with the punches.
9:09
We got to keep the show going. And especially now around this
9:13
time when, when you folks are listening, because I believe by
9:17
the time your ears and eyes get word of this episode, I will
9:26
likely be Mia. I'll probably be out of state,
9:32
probably on a beach somewhere celebrating my wife's birthday.
9:38
So it's fine. It's all good.
9:41
I'm, I'm just trying to get things filled out on the docket
9:45
so that way there's no gap in between my physical absences.
9:49
So even though you're listening to this and hearing all this and
9:52
watching this and being awesome and participating in this way, I
9:56
might not be around to. See your immediate responses to
9:59
it. But that's OK, because the show
10:02
must go on. As they say in show business,
10:07
the show must go on. So what are we going to talk
10:12
about today now that there's, you know, all the housekeeping
10:16
stuff? I say all the housekeeping
10:18
stuff. I mainly talked about Fire in
10:20
the Mountain. You folks know, check the show
10:22
notes for the link Tree link that has all of the bigger
10:25
musings, social media merchandise that you can buy
10:29
through spring. Become a patron on Patreon.
10:31
Because again, if you are not a patron on Patreon, then you're
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missing out on the full video. Versions of these shows that
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pledge of support is just one dollar.
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The $1.00 only covers your your initial month's access.
10:44
So if you want to binge watch, you know, 17 episodes of season
10:49
one, season 234, whatever this season.
10:52
Five of the show and you know, in a week and then the next
10:56
month you don't want to renew your dollar to to continue
10:59
watching. That's fine.
11:00
There's plenty of stuff on here actually that is not uploaded to
11:04
the video version of the of the podcast.
11:06
I'm talking as if there's, you know, five or Four Seasons.
11:13
I I stand corrected here on on the video versions of the show.
11:17
It's it's it's a little bit of season four and all the season
11:20
5. But anyway, if you want to watch
11:23
the videos that have been backlog and back catalog from,
11:28
you know, the last couple of years, it's just a dollar and
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and you don't have to renew it every month.
11:33
You can just do it. You know, when and as you feel
11:36
like it, But it is greatly appreciated.
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It has helped with the production of the show and just
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a dollar gets you access to the videos.
11:43
If you want to go up from there to the Yarl or Skuld or
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Chieftain or AC or tier or whatever, check all that
11:51
information out on my Patreon page.
11:52
It's patreon.com/midgard Musings tells you all the information
11:56
about what you get at each tier of support.
12:00
So anyway, now that we got all of that housekeeping stuff out
12:03
of the way, I know we, we're already, you know, almost 15
12:06
minutes into the show and you haven't heard about much of
12:10
anything about what this show is about.
12:11
So you're likely getting irritated.
12:14
Sorry about that. Had to get some of that stuff
12:16
out of the way. Let's get into the topic.
12:19
So since we don't have a guest today, I was going back through
12:22
some, excuse me, Patreon comments or messages.
12:27
Because again, as a member of the Patreon community, you get
12:31
access to exclusive. Chats and and things of that
12:37
nature. So we've had a couple of
12:41
episodes, at least a couple of episodes be inspired by one
12:45
particular man on the Patreon platform.
12:48
His name is Michael Michael Thacker.
12:50
Thank you so much, Michael for being an engaging person, you
12:55
know, on, on that platform and, and, and asking questions and
12:59
asking about things to be talked about.
13:05
So today's episode is going to be a comment that Michael left
13:10
in our group chat for podcast topic recommendations and he
13:20
asked. And we'll excuse me and a little
13:28
tickle in the throat might have to address that.
13:30
With more than just the whiskey that I have sitting here in
13:35
front of me. We'll get to it here in a
13:40
minute. But his question, which is up
13:42
here on screen, was what Rituals Slash writes should every
13:48
Heathen slash Pagan know to perform?
13:52
Without a go the OR spiritual leader.
13:58
And I think that that's a very cool, interesting question to
14:01
ask. For, for, for a couple of
14:05
different reasons. So, you know, and I've had
14:10
people on this podcast that are not necessarily heathens or, you
14:17
know, that, that use a different term for what they believe in.
14:21
But you know, when we talk about heathen right now it, it, it is
14:25
a Northern European religion Folkway that usually encompasses
14:32
the Germanic peoples and Scandinavian peoples as you
14:36
know, as as being Germanic themselves.
14:41
But just, you know, later on in time as, as the Germanic peoples
14:45
migrated and moved N you know, settled in the what are now
14:49
Scandinavian countries. These are all, it all
14:54
encompasses Heathenry, you know. But there are differences.
14:58
To each region's version of it, you know, continental Germanic
15:04
heathens are going to maybe have different names for things or
15:08
call things a different way than perhaps the Scandinavian, you
15:12
know, folks. And even then, Scandinavia is a
15:16
kind of overarching term for people in countries like
15:20
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, maybe even Finland.
15:26
But they so they all might have, you know, variances and
15:29
differences the way that that things are done, but Heathenry
15:32
generally gets to be used as the umbrella term for the Pagan
15:39
beliefs of pre Christian Europe. Of the Germanic people, you
15:44
know, So the, the, the question that Michael poses is that, you
15:49
know, what rituals or rites should every pagan's heathen
15:52
slash Pagan know to, to perform? I'm going to only speak on the
16:00
things that are within my wheelhouse to speak on,
16:05
obviously, when this podcast is out and other folks that are not
16:08
heathen hear this. You know you're.
16:11
Free to comment wherever you're able to.
16:13
If this comes across on Spotify, I think you're going to get a
16:16
chance to comment down below. Obviously, if you're a, a patron
16:19
on Patreon and watching this comment down below or if clips
16:26
of this get aired and, and you have, you know, on, on Facebook
16:30
or or Instagram or YouTube or wherever clips of this get
16:34
heard, you can comment your thoughts on on some of those
16:39
clips. But you know, what rituals and
16:41
what rites should every heathen slash Pagan know?
16:47
I'm again lean into the heathen aspect of it and it's
16:54
interesting also that he says, you know, to what they should
16:57
know to perform without a go the OR spiritual leader.
17:02
Now I have to I have to think that the presence of the go the
17:06
slash spiritual leader in this context would be the that the
17:11
the person to facilitate or sort of leave or preside over said
17:15
ritual. So it sounds like Michael's
17:18
question is directed towards those folks who are, you know,
17:27
those folks who are solitary, you know, practitioners or, or,
17:34
or people that may not have a person identified as go the, or
17:42
their priest or, or whatever, you know what I mean?
17:44
And go the in the, in the Nordic term means more or less the the
17:50
spiritual leader of the group. I think at one point in time in
17:55
Iceland especially the goalie was the sort of hybrid Chieftain
18:00
slash priest of the society at the time, you know, tribes,
18:08
whatever. So for those of you that you
18:14
know, don't know me or, or know, you know what kind of my
18:18
background, I, I myself am the heathen.
18:20
I'm a Germanic Heathen. I my practices, my personal
18:28
beliefs, my personal practices gravitate and lean heavily into
18:33
a very animistic model or approach to heathenry.
18:43
So a lot of what I say and a lot of the way I see the world, my
18:47
worldview is informed by the direction that my path has led
18:52
me down. I will almost always at least
18:58
try to if I miss it, you know, I, I, I, I try to correct myself
19:03
wherein as it, it, it's applicable.
19:06
But I always try to make sure that what I'm talking about is
19:13
that they're, they're sort of like a.
19:14
Disclaimer there that you know what I'm saying, what, what
19:18
you're hearing from me. Is the views and opinions and
19:24
the the the world view of 1 heathen in Middle Tennessee.
19:27
I am one person tied to a tribe serve the tribe that I'm tied to
19:34
in an official capacity with a title and this and that.
19:37
But I am just one person. I am one man.
19:39
I am 1 heathen in Middle Tennessee from the state of New
19:42
York that is just doing my heathenry my way.
19:47
So again, a lot of what I say is is, you know, informed by my
19:52
particular worldview. It doesn't even necessarily
19:55
reflect the, you know, overarching worldview of the
20:01
tribe, even though there's a lot of what my tribe does that
20:07
shared worldviews of, of its members, right?
20:09
So we have our own way of doing things, and then I have my way
20:12
of doing things. So when we talk about ritual,
20:16
when we talk about rites, when we talk about ceremony and that
20:20
sort of thing, we're, we're, we're talking about very
20:23
insular, sometimes and very specific approaches to how an
20:29
individual connects with the sacred, with the divine, with
20:33
their concepts of these things. OK, so to ask the question of
20:39
someone, what should what did Michael say?
20:44
He said what, what, what ritual slash slash writes stood every
20:50
heathen slash Pagan. No, we're getting into very
20:54
specific topics, but we're we're, we're using terms that
20:57
are kind of well, we're, we're using very specific terms, but
21:03
we're we're getting into topics that are that are very
21:05
nonspecific. Well, they they, they can, they
21:09
can be both. And then herein lies the
21:12
paradox, right? It it's hard to say, well, if
21:15
you are a heathen, you should know how to do XYZ and in terms
21:19
of a ritual, right? Because, well, what type of
21:23
heathen are you? What type of Pagan are you?
21:28
So I get the spirit of what Michael is asking and I
21:31
understand maybe from the perspective of someone who
21:34
doesn't have a gothy or or or isn't tied to a tribe or a
21:38
kinder or anything like that. What should they know?
21:41
What are what are definitely things that a that a solitary
21:44
practitioner that someone without the the help or the
21:48
guidance or the the? The you know someone to preside
21:51
over ritual without them there, what should we all know how to
21:56
do or what rituals and rites? I think, and again, I'm going
22:05
based off of my own personal world views or the my personal
22:11
views on things, how my world views informed.
22:14
What should every even know how to do?
22:16
They should know how to perform a basic ritual, a basic
22:21
feigning, a basic offering, even bloat.
22:26
OK, to call our ceremonies bloat, so far as I've been
22:31
informed. And what I believe is that bloat
22:34
requires very specific things at specific times with specific
22:40
factors in place, right? So bloat requires, first of all,
22:44
blood. Real blood, not, you know,
22:47
theatrical fake blood, not, not, you know, wine, not juice, not
22:52
any other sort of liquid or substance in place of actual
22:56
blood. Bloat, when we're talking it
23:00
from a historical heathen context, bloat requires blood.
23:06
So if you're going to that, that's one thing I think
23:08
personally that I'm going to say is that, you know, whatever
23:12
heathen should know about the ritual is that first of all, you
23:15
should know what you're doing and know the proper name of it
23:19
and execute it accordingly. It to me that is the, the, the
23:27
steps or the efforts that preserve the tradition of that
23:33
thing that was called what it was called for hundreds, if not
23:36
thousands of years before we got a hold of it in, in, in modern
23:40
times and knew what it means or, or, or suggests or yeah.
23:48
So, so we're, so we're not making up something of our own
23:51
demise or of our, of our own minds.
23:53
We're not making up something off the whim and calling it
23:56
something else. We're, we're preserving the
23:58
tradition of what that is and, and doing it as correctly or as,
24:02
as appropriately and as accurately as we can.
24:06
So I think it's not so much of what every heathen should know
24:10
about the ritual. It's, it's whatever heathen
24:13
should know about the specifics of why it's called, what it's
24:17
called, how it, how it's performed, you know, so bloat is
24:21
definitely a heathen thing. Stumble you know, these are very
24:25
heathen things so and and these are things that can be that that
24:31
can be done. I think at least you know, from
24:35
my personal informed view of the world is these things can be
24:40
done without the presence of ego the OR spiritual leader.
24:51
You know, if you as a heathen who is, you know, not connected
25:01
to a tribe, not connected to a kindred and you are gathering
25:07
with other heathens, or maybe it's just yourself.
25:12
You know, we don't even have to go down the the route of with
25:16
other people. Maybe it's just yourself.
25:17
And you want to say, you know, I want to, I want to bloat to the
25:21
gods. You know, I want to bloat to, I
25:24
want to bloat to Thor, I want to bloat to Freya or Freya even, or
25:27
whatever. I mean, gods or goddesses,
25:29
whatever it is you want to bloat to them, then that is something
25:36
that you can do without having a gothy present or another name of
25:41
a spiritual leader of the community present to facilitate
25:45
it or to preside over it. But you should know what bloat
25:49
means and what bloat entails and what that all involves, right?
25:55
What it, what it, what it means. Now, again, historically
25:58
speaking, bloat was done on specific days of the year on, on
26:04
specific moons, right? That, you know, there, there's
26:07
documented sources that say when bloat was held, it was, it was
26:11
held for, for, for specific holidays.
26:17
But we also know that there were at least certain things that
26:19
were definitely present. There was, you know, a, a bowl
26:23
to catch the blood, which was a, a, a ritual item.
26:27
It was a ceremonial piece. It was something that was not,
26:30
you know, you didn't eat your salad out of the same bowl that
26:33
was used for blow. It was, it was a, something that
26:35
was set aside as holy, sacred, separate from the, the normal
26:40
mundane day-to-day items. There were also things to spread
26:50
the blood that the bowl would, would catch.
26:52
So the hlout tane, the, the, the springs of the Evergreen trees,
26:57
whether it was a pine or whether it was, you know, whatever it
26:59
was the, the, the, the, the bough, the branch of the thing
27:02
of the tree that was used to dip into the blood and spread around
27:06
and, and bless the people with right.
27:08
These were things that were used as items, you know, so these are
27:14
things I've I've done videos. I actually did an episode on
27:17
this podcast, which I will link down below or over here in the
27:21
show notes wherever you catch it.
27:23
You know how to perform a basic key, then ritual.
27:26
Excuse me, that goes over some things or only if you are
27:30
looking to perform a basic key, then ritual and you are a
27:33
solitary practitioner, especially without a go the OR
27:38
someone else to preside over this.
27:39
The the the steps of everything. These are some things that
27:43
you'll need to have, want to have and and just some basic
27:48
things to know. So I think every heathen, again,
27:54
personal opinion disclaimer here, every heathen should know
28:01
how to bloat, what bloat means and how to to execute it.
28:11
I personally think that every heathen should know the ritual
28:16
of stumble. OK, now stumble is a very
28:20
specific ritual that does not have a go the presiding over it.
28:27
But Stumble is one of the most if you're taking it from a
28:30
historical approach and, and, and trying to keep to as the
28:34
most authentic version of it, right.
28:40
Stumble is, is one of the most structured rituals that exist in
28:45
documented sources. We know from historical sources,
28:50
you know, how Stumble was done, but at certain times by certain
28:56
groups of people, I'll, I'll link some stuff in the show
29:00
notes and, and down below about stumble, you know, and how to
29:06
perform stumble. But stumble is one of those
29:07
things that you can't have stumble by yourself.
29:10
So if you're a solitary heathen, you know, solitary practitioner,
29:14
then you can't stumble by yourself.
29:18
However, if you are with a group of people and you want to host a
29:23
stumble, then absolutely, you do not need to have a go the OR
29:27
spiritual leader there to preside over it.
29:29
As a matter, as a matter of fact, the structure of Stumble
29:34
does not mention that the historical structure of symbol
29:38
doesn't mention any such figures in that ritual.
29:42
You have other positions, other titles, other things that are
29:46
going on at Symbol, but none of them include anything like a,
29:51
you know, Gothi or priest or anything like that.
29:56
It's, it's a different type of ritual.
29:58
It's a different type of ceremony.
30:00
And you're able to perform Stumble as a heathen.
30:05
You should know how to perform some.
30:07
We should know what stumble is because it is a heathen ritual.
30:09
It is absolutely a Germanic heathen ritual.
30:13
Then you should know what it is as a heathen.
30:17
So again, going back to Michael's question, what should
30:19
a, what rights or rituals should a heathen know?
30:24
I think every heathen should know how to and what bloat is
30:27
and how to perform it and they should know what Stumble is and
30:33
how to perform it. So those are just two that I can
30:37
think of right off the top of my head.
30:39
Before we get into the next two, we're going to hear 2 words from
30:43
two different sponsors of A Fire on the Mountain.
30:48
This year we heard from Ravenwood Maitery down there in
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30:56
But we're going to hear two more and, you know, some information,
31:00
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31:03
And when we come back, we will continue the conversation of
31:07
what rites or rituals every heathen should know without
31:12
having to go the president to preside over it.
31:15
We'll be right back after these words from our sponsors of Fire
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on the Mountain this year. In 2024, we'll be right back.
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34:03
thank you again. So continuing the dialogue here,
34:10
the conversation as it were, you know, we, we, I, I, I touched on
34:16
the importance of bloat, knowing what bloat means Stumble.
34:21
Those are heathen rituals. There's another one that I think
34:24
is worth mentioning, although it probably only impacts a certain,
34:30
you know, subset of the of the of the heathen community.
34:36
And that is, you know, a ceremony of naming your child
34:40
when it's born, when he or she comes of an age where their name
34:46
is to be given to them. In many popular modern Norse
34:54
Pagan circles, you might come across the term alsuwatni.
35:01
And, and there's there's like, there's there's one particular
35:06
group that I know of that if you guys want to see some examples
35:09
of this that have been shared again, in a very modern
35:13
contemporary approach to things, the, the, the Northwoods kindred
35:21
up there in the Pacific Northwest.
35:23
Can't remember if they're in Washington or Oregon or Idaho or
35:28
where they are that specifically, but they're up in
35:30
kind of like the, again, the Northwest Pacific area of the
35:34
United States. And, and they've shared some
35:36
segments of their own tribes or their own kindreds Al Subatni
35:41
ceremonies where a newborn child, usually within, you know,
35:47
the, the, the very early days of its infancy is brought with the,
35:51
the mother and the father to the tribe.
35:54
And they are, they're given their name and blessed.
35:58
This, this particular ceremony is presided over by a Gothi.
36:03
The only reason why I'm mentioning this is because, you
36:06
know, if, if somebody were to get online and, and start, you
36:10
know, Googling or searching for things about Norse heathen
36:14
ceremonies or North Norse Heathen rituals or rites or
36:18
things, this one might come up. There are some sources that
36:27
suggest that naming a child was an important thing.
36:36
Who it was presided over, how it was presided over varies in, in
36:42
different sources. I think you know, in, in, in a
36:46
lot of the cases, it's usually the parents that kind of do the
36:51
thing. There's there's a mention of it
36:54
in Niall's saga. There's a mention of it in the
36:59
Erbigia saga. There's the there, there,
37:05
there's mention of it in the saga of Eagle Scholar Grimsson.
37:11
I'll try to notate some of these for for folks that are down, you
37:15
know, watching this or or listening, you know, but I said,
37:17
you know, Niall Saga, you know, so now Niall Saga chapter 14
37:21
that says that. So the maiden was sprinkled with
37:24
water and had this name given her and then she grew up and got
37:31
like her mother and looks and features.
37:39
Then these the saga Aegil scholar greens in chapter 35.
37:45
It says, you know, Thor, Thor, Thor bear a child in the summer.
37:49
It was a girl. She was sprinkled with water and
37:51
named Azgender or Azgender, right?
37:55
There's there's definite mentions of a child being born,
38:00
sprinkled with water, named and then things like so and so
38:07
forth. Whatever happened, but it's,
38:12
it's, it's interesting to also note that, you know, so when we
38:15
talk about a baby being born sprinkled with water, well, what
38:17
does that sound like for all of the folks here that are new to
38:20
the show and maybe be like, well, that sounds a lot like
38:23
baptism. Yes, it does because that was a
38:27
thing in and of itself. But there are enough heathen
38:35
sources that predate Christianity in Northern Europe
38:40
that give us enough of a glimpse or, or enough of a insight into
38:46
the fact that these types of things, whether it be birthing
38:49
pregnancies, baby namings and such, the use of water in ritual
38:56
and the use of water in these ceremonies.
38:59
There's a nuance with a Christian baptism, right?
39:02
They're they're not the same things.
39:06
They have their own rights. They have their own processes
39:10
and, and for the reasons, et cetera, but they predate the
39:15
Christian influence in the area enough to, to, to say that it's
39:21
not the same as Christian baptism.
39:26
But that opens up the, the conversation, right?
39:28
Well, is this a right? Is this something, is this a
39:30
ritual that a, you know, a heathen should know?
39:35
I personally, again, going back to my personal worldview,
39:39
something how I've informed my worldview.
39:42
I think that if a a heathen family or a family of heathens
39:49
as a child and they do not have a tribe that they're tied to or
39:53
associated with and they wanted to perform a rite or a ceremony
39:56
of naming their child after a somewhat well documented form of
40:02
doing so. Then they should know how to do
40:06
that, you know, because again, I feel, I, I, I feel like a lot
40:12
that you're going to hear me say that I feel, I think, right.
40:15
Please key in on that. I'm not trying to tell you that
40:18
what I feel and what I think is the way you should do it.
40:20
But I feel and I think that the, the, the presence of the, the,
40:25
the family unit, right? So the mother and the father
40:28
that are there, these are powerful icons in the family
40:33
tree, right? They're, they're, they're
40:36
present, living, active members of the family that are helping
40:42
shape that family is weird. So they're doing things in the
40:46
here and the in the now that are shaping the way that that
40:49
family's line will continue. So the mother and the father
40:54
respectively have power to, to preside over certain family
40:59
familial rituals. And I feel like the Asuvatni is,
41:03
is an example of a family ritual.
41:06
Should you have a tribe or should there be a case of
41:10
someone being oath or, or, or tied to a tribe or kindred in
41:14
some way? Then getting the presiding go
41:18
the OR whatever of that tribe to lead that ritual is amazing and,
41:24
and is the way that I feel the, the, the, the modern and
41:27
contemporary tribes and kindreds of today.
41:30
Modern heathens should be doing their things.
41:32
You know, let your let your tribal mythos be built by you
41:37
and, and, and your people. Don't let it be something that
41:42
you don't do or do, you know, do or don't do because, well, it's
41:45
not in a book here. It's not in a book there.
41:49
If it works and you find it, it is important to incorporate into
41:52
your your tribal Foo, you know your customs, then then do it.
41:59
And and don't let somebody like me or anybody else that says,
42:02
well, because it's not written in a book, you shouldn't do it
42:05
dissuade you otherwise. You know, if, if the work that
42:11
you're doing is, is, is proven to be beneficial with the people
42:17
that you bear and tie weird with and you know, I don't it's, it's
42:24
I, I always say like, don't change for the sake of changing
42:28
it. Don't you know, if it ain't
42:29
broke, don't fix it. Be aware and be open and
42:31
understand that, you know, things can, you know, we can
42:34
learn things now that maybe we didn't know before, and maybe
42:37
that is going to help inform our world views of things that that
42:42
weren't there before. So, you know, everything grows,
42:45
everything changes and everything evolves, right?
42:47
So have your traditions, have your set order of doing things.
42:52
Don't change for just the sake of changing, but if it becomes
42:56
the thing where you're informed better about how to do
42:59
something, then, you know, proceed accordingly.
43:05
Behave accordingly. So here I've gone and and I've
43:10
mentioned three very specific things, right?
43:13
The the bloat very, very specific to to heathens.
43:18
Stumble very specific to heathens.
43:24
The ossobotny very specific to heathens.
43:31
Are there any other rituals or rites of ceremony that a heathen
43:38
should know that does not have a go the OR spiritual leader to
43:43
preside over? And again, the last one, the you
43:50
know, the ossobotny, you know whether he should know how to do
43:52
that. Are you a parent or are you
43:55
going to be a parent or are you in a relationship where
44:00
fostering or or or birthing a new child is going to be part of
44:04
the equation? If not, then I guess you
44:06
shouldn't or don't need to know. But would you want to know?
44:10
Would you like to know? I mean, like it, it gets really
44:15
into it really goes back to ultimately that these these
44:20
types of questions, I feel really go back to, you know, do
44:24
you have your own individual cultic practices identified?
44:29
Do you know what it is? How you heathen?
44:33
OK. And again, Heathen podcast, you
44:37
know, I'm, I'm leaning into the, the, the realm of the area, the
44:42
wheelhouse that I'm comfortable in because I've been doing it
44:44
for almost a decade now. Your, your practices are your
44:50
practices. You know, so one might say,
44:54
well, you know, every Pagan, every heathen should know how to
44:56
open a circle and close a circle.
44:58
And every heathen or Pagan should know how to, you know,
45:02
you know, bless their hammer or bless their arm ring or, you
45:09
know, bless their ritual items, whether it's a drum or a rattle
45:15
or anything like that. These, these are, you know,
45:19
these, these these types of things, these types of, of
45:22
items, you know, to say, you know, we should know how to
45:24
bless your hammer. If that's part of your, if
45:29
that's part of your cultic practice, if that's what you
45:31
like to do. You like to before you put your
45:33
hammer on, you do a certain thing, you know, or before you
45:39
have a meal, you do a certain thing before you read rooms, you
45:45
do a certain thing where all of these various, you know, ritual
45:50
is, is, is is a category of, of doing things that is that over
45:55
arcs, so many, so many areas. You know, I get up every day and
46:04
I make my coffee. I first of all, if I get up at a
46:07
certain time and if I do a certain thing before I, you
46:10
know, start my day and if I make my coffee and if I whatever all
46:15
of the, you know, steps AB and C blah, blah, blah.
46:19
Like that's ritual there. There's, there's a ritualistic
46:22
aspect to what I'm doing every day.
46:25
And that's part of what individual cultic practice
46:28
means. It means, you know, what is, how
46:31
does your day start? How does your day end?
46:34
Are there certain things throughout the day that you do,
46:36
or throughout the week even, or throughout the month perhaps?
46:39
Maybe not on a daily basis or as frequent as that, but you know
46:42
what I'm trying to say there? There's really nothing else that
46:47
I can honestly think of that makes me go, yes, every heathen
46:51
should know, you know how to bless your hammer because, well,
46:56
how I bless my hammer if I bless my hammer before I put it on,
47:00
right? That's my cultic practice.
47:02
That's my individual way of doing it, for the reasons that I
47:06
want to do it before I put on my ritual garb for a ceremony,
47:10
right? What I do prior to that thing is
47:14
my own, you know, ritual. So what a heathen should know
47:23
without the, the, the presence or the need of or the presiding
47:27
over of a Gothi or something like that is probably subject to
47:30
a lot of other individual heathens opinions.
47:34
And that's what I love about this question is that it opens
47:37
up the question for other people in the community to say, what do
47:40
you think a heathen should know or a Pagan should know?
47:44
I mean, again, I I'm speaking in the context of something that's
47:47
in my wheelhouse, you know, So I think that every heathen should
47:51
know what bloat means and how to perform it accurately according
47:56
to historical documents, historical reckonings,
48:00
historical traditions, at the very least, whether you
48:05
incorporate it all in your modern contemporary practices or
48:08
not. Not my haul, not my call.
48:11
Thank you, Eric Sherman once again for that wonderful four
48:15
word phrase that just covers it. All right, Not my haul, not my
48:19
call. So again, personal opinions
48:22
here. And this is, you know, my
48:25
worldview informed what should ever either know Yes, they
48:28
should know how it's done as far as bloat goes.
48:32
Stumble same thing because again, they are heathen
48:36
practices. OK, I you know, if you I guess
48:41
if I wanted to toss another one in there that is very specific.
48:44
Every heathen should know how to claim their land, land taking
48:50
land, claiming ceremony, land claiming rites, knowing you know
48:56
what to do to take ownership of the land.
49:01
And when I say like ownership, I mean that in a very loose
49:05
fashion or form because of because of my animistic views
49:08
and things. I don't feel like, you know,
49:10
money, monetary stuff like that gives any claim of the land to
49:17
you beyond just the legality aspect of it, because we live in
49:22
the times that we live, you know, everything is, you know,
49:26
everybody looks back at the, the, the legal aspects of it.
49:28
You know, do you have legal claim to this legal claim to
49:31
that? But in terms of the, the, the
49:35
metaphysical side of it, the, the, the spiritual side of it,
49:38
when you have land, the land that you're on, you're, you're
49:41
on land, that is, you know, you're in shared space.
49:46
And our, you know, heathens in, in pre Christian times
49:49
understood that and they realized and they recognized
49:51
that they were coexisting with other forces that they couldn't
49:55
necessarily see with their eyes, but they could still sense and
49:59
feel and know of being present and active.
50:03
And there were, there were times that, you know, and, and
50:06
circumstances where, you know, wanting to share space and
50:12
wanting to live in the same space as these other, whether
50:17
they were benevolent or not, or sometimes malevolent forces or,
50:21
or, or spirits, right. Things had to be done.
50:24
I'm here now, this is, I'm, I'm staking claim to this area, this
50:28
space, you know, so this goes into again, some more maybe UPG
50:33
type stuff or, or, or things that are not necessarily rooted
50:37
too deeply in historical heathenry, but that are probably
50:40
more into the like folklore aspects of things.
50:43
But we know at least that, you know, claiming land was done in
50:47
a certain way, right? Fire was, was the was the way to
50:51
to carry, carry torture, carry flame to claim the land.
50:57
And it was, you know, this is documented specifically, and I'm
51:01
referring to things in the Longnama book, which is a
51:03
Icelandic text, you know, the book of settlers for Iceland.
51:09
So again, we're talking about a very specific group of people
51:13
or, or specific area of the world in the traditions that
51:16
were, you know, specific to that region.
51:21
But to claim your land to, to, to stake claim to your land, to
51:25
say, I am here now, I'm sharing space with the unseen, with the
51:30
Lanvatier, with the, with the, with the vetier of the land that
51:33
are ancient spirits that have been here since before I'm here.
51:37
So it's not like I'm invading. I'm not, you know, this is mine
51:40
now and I'm greedy of it. You know, it's more of a sense
51:45
of like I'm making my presence known as I am not here to
51:50
disrespect your, your space. We're I would like to live
51:53
amicably and, and coexist peacefully with you.
51:56
And I am who I am and we are who we are and this and that and
52:00
right. So there's, there's a process
52:01
for it. So it's it's the Lun on the
52:04
book. If you know the book of settlers
52:08
or the laws, I have it, what's it called?
52:15
Actually take it out of my bookshelf, but hopefully not.
52:28
Here we go. So this is the book that I'm
52:34
referring to. It's the, you know, the, the the
52:38
settlers, the from the, from Norway that that settled
52:41
Iceland, right. So the long number book and and
52:43
their customs and suite in in Iceland very specific to a
52:48
certain part of the world. And so again, I go back to the
52:53
whole thing of like, you know, if you're heathen, well, you're
52:58
a North American heathen or, or are you a South American
53:01
heathen? Or are you in, you know, a
53:02
Pacific Islander heathen? Or are you in Northern Europe?
53:06
Are you in Scandinavia or Germany or, you know, old Saxon
53:10
lands or anything like that? It's, it's I've, I've come, I'm
53:14
coming to a point of, of my heathenry right where I'm, I'm
53:18
hearing this term heathen. And I'm going, wow.
53:20
You know, we, we, we generalize this term.
53:24
We, we kind of use it as an overarching expression of
53:29
northern European Germanic religion.
53:34
And while that's probably the closest thing to an accurate
53:37
description as we can come to, I am specifically, I am in North
53:45
American heathen. I am in American heathen.
53:48
You know what I mean? I feel that I need to adapt to
53:54
the landscape of where I am. You know, So I am a heathen on
53:58
the Stones River in Murfreesboro, TN All right?
54:03
I coexist with the spirits of the land from here.
54:06
Doesn't mean that if I go to Montana or Wyoming or the
54:10
Florida Everglades or, you know, you know, the, the, the, the
54:14
deserts of New Mexico or the Rocky Mountains or wherever,
54:17
right? Or the South Dakota, North
54:21
Dakota, right, wherever. Just because I'm in America
54:24
doesn't mean that I'm going to have it all figured out in the
54:27
landscape of where I go. If I'm not familiar with that
54:33
area, I am familiar with the spirits of the land in Middle
54:37
Tennessee by the Stones River because I've, you know, lived in
54:42
this area for, you know, almost a decade or, you know, I've
54:50
frequented Appalachia. And so I'm, I'm somewhat
54:53
familiar with the old spirits of, of that land.
54:56
And, and there's a returning acquaintance that I developed
54:59
with them when I returned there and this and that, like these
55:02
are all very specific things of my heathenry.
55:08
So take it with a grain of salt. Take it, take it for what it's
55:13
worth from, from from me, right. What should a heathen know?
55:19
What should every heathen know as far as rituals or rites?
55:27
What should every heathen know to perform without the ago they
55:34
I'm not. I've given my answer as as you
55:36
know. Know what bloat is, know how
55:37
it's done. Know what it means to bloat.
55:39
Know what stumble is. Know how how it's performed.
55:42
Know the the various offices, positions, how it's done.
55:46
Structurally Know those specific things.
55:52
What else you should know? Rituals or rites?
56:02
I can't, I can't answer that. I don't, I don't think anybody
56:06
really honestly out here could answer it.
56:07
And if I'm wrong, I'm willing to be proven as such, right?
56:12
I'd love to hear what the viewers and the listeners think
56:16
about this topic of, you know, what should he then know?
56:19
And I'd love to know your reasons why.
56:20
Like don't just spout off like, oh, every heathen should know
56:23
the hammer, right? Asking why?
56:26
Why should every even know the hammer, right?
56:28
And why didn't I mention it right now, right?
56:31
Something very specific and you know, doesn't have anything to
56:35
do with my informed view of the world and it doesn't have
56:38
anything to do with my heathenry.
56:39
I don't do the hammer right? My bad, Heathen because of it.
56:43
No, right. But if you think that every
56:47
heathen should know that, then tell us why in the comments,
56:50
right? Or, or write into the podcast
56:52
Midgard Musings, tn@gmail.com or, or, or post this sound, you
56:57
know, in a, in a, in a, in a, you know, wherever you see this.
57:01
Hey, I heard that one segment of the episode, right?
57:04
Sometimes I'll post pictures or reels or clips or whatever
57:07
online. If you find something about this
57:09
episode, about this particular topic and you want to share your
57:13
thoughts about it, you've got multiple ways of doing so.
57:15
You can share it on social media.
57:17
You can DM me best way to do it would be through Facebook or
57:21
Instagram honestly, because you know, that's the those are the
57:24
two platforms that I keep an eye on somewhat regularly.
57:29
Emailing me is also great. Midgard Musings tn@gmail.com You
57:32
can voice your opinions or your concerns through the Midgard
57:36
Musings hotline. I don't talk about that one very
57:39
often. It's a, a phone number that you
57:41
can call through wherever you are, but it is a USUS based
57:46
number, a Google Voice number. So 615, 671-9832.
57:53
Again, that's 615-671-9832 is the hotline to the podcast.
57:58
You can call and leave a voicemail about your thoughts or
58:00
opinions on it. So yeah, there's, there's
58:04
several ways for you to engage and talk about topics like this.
58:08
But I do appreciate, Michael, you for for for commenting this
58:12
and, you know, giving us something to think about today.
58:15
And that's my that's my two cents or three cents or 97 cents
58:19
or whatever. It's been almost an hour.
58:21
So those are my pennies for your thoughts on the topic of what
58:28
should, what rites or rituals should heathens know without a
58:34
go the OR spiritual leader present.
58:36
So share your thoughts down below or over here or there or
58:39
wherever it is that you can do it.
58:42
Would be interested to hear what you have to think about it or
58:44
what you have to say about it. And I'm again, it's, it's one of
58:48
those things where I think if you get, you know, 5678 heathens
58:51
in a room, ask them each the same question, you're going to
58:55
get that many responses or more different from one another.
58:59
There's, there's probably going to be some similarities and
59:02
some, you know, things that are different.
59:04
So this is just my opinion, just my thoughts loosely, roughly
59:09
based on some, you know, historical stuff, and I'll share
59:12
that in the the comments down below or the OR the show notes
59:17
over here. Wherever you catch them, check
59:20
them out and let me know what you think.
59:22
So that's going to wrap it up for this week's episode.
59:24
I hope you all enjoyed it. Wherever you are in Midgard, I
59:28
hope you're staying safe. I hope you're staying well.
59:30
I hope you're taking care of yourself.
59:31
That's the most important thing, guys and gals, take care of
59:33
yourselves. You know, there's a lot going on
59:36
out here outside of ourselves that can really influence our
59:42
ways of thinking. Just take care of yourselves,
59:45
OK? Be good to one another.
59:48
And thank you so much for listening and or watching to
59:51
this week's episode. If you liked it, engage with the
59:53
platform that you're watching this on and show your support in
59:57
any way that you can. Don't forget to show some
1:00:00
support to this year's sponsors for Fire on the Mountain.
1:00:03
Thank you again to those individuals and businesses that
1:00:05
are helping fund this year's event.
1:00:09
Check them out in the show notes or description down below or
1:00:12
wherever it is that you find it. And thank you again to my
1:00:15
patrons on Patreon for being such dedicated supporters of
1:00:19
this production. Greatly appreciate that and
1:00:22
thank you so much. Until we talk to each other
1:00:24
again, may the gods continue to notice you.
1:00:28
And may your ancestors smile upon you.
1:00:31
We'll see you in the next one.