An Open Letter to Heathens

(Image: Germanische Sonnenwendfeier by Fritz Koch-Gotha)

Dear Heathens,

It is with great love and admiration I write to you today. For in my countless meetings and talks with all you bright folks, I have come to know and love our Gods. It is you who inspires me every day; your passion and your love and dedication to your Gods and folk. In my recent years, I was faced with becoming bitter and closing down to love because of the hardships that I’ve been through, but something has been happening to me this last year as I’ve been studying Runes.

The Runes have started to become alive in me and I can hear them singing the songs of the Gods. These songs are not like the ones we hear with our ears, but they are songs that are felt in the heart. They are the songs of sunsets and the faces of your beloved children. There are songs in the flight of an eagle and the swing of an axe. These songs have been sung the the hearts of Heathens for thousands upon thousands of years. They are the Songs of the Gods.

It is to the purpose of uncovering these songs of the heart, which I believe is the ancient magic of WODENAZ. It is also this pursuit that I dedicate the rest of my life to following. For Wodenaz is our inheritance and birthright. It is the blood that pumps through our veins and sings in our hearts. It is what makes us feel and it is the source of all magic.

For magic is simple, when it all comes down to it. Magic is belief.

We believe and we try and we may not get what we expected, but we keep believing and keep trying and we will make this earth a place once more filled with the Gods.

I see a lot of Heathens disagreeing about semantics and definitions. I see a lot of Heathens trying to tell each other what is the “right” way to love the Gods and to believe. I see a lot of Heathens spending a lot of time mired in negative emotions that keep them unhappy. I see a lot of Heathens feeling alone and misunderstood, shouting from across barriers that they built with their own fears. I see them justify such negative emotions by saying other Heathens are wrong.

But how can we tell another person how to love their Gods? How can we put a price tag on belief? How can we say what is true in the heart of another?

Heathenry doesn’t have to be complicated. It is about getting out and doing Blot and standing before your Gods and saying with full honesty “This is me. I want to be more.” and then making oaths to do things that will benefit you and your family and doing them. Do this every week, month, year and you will transform not only you but your whole community.

The way ritual was performed varied from region to region and it often depended on their local culture. Details will always distract us from what’s really important in our lives, so if you love details, just remember that if they take you away from feeling the bliss of the Gods, then it’s probably not a detail you need in your life yet.

I have found that true Heathens don’t care about what is right or wrong, they just follow their heart. They know the Gods, not because they found them in a book, but because they feel them. They feel them because they stood before the Gods and asked for guidance.

The powerful thing about the Heathen Gods is that they come when we call. All we have to do is stop shouting at one another and simply ask and then listen. If we stand before the Gods in Troth and ask for them to guide our path, they will come. The more we dedicate our lives to the Gods, the more the Gods dedicate their energy to us. It is just like in the ancient stories: Gift for a Gift.

Our lives don’t have to be so complicated or lonely. We don’t have to suffer like we do. Most of us are causing our own suffering by closing ourselves off to the heart of the Gods. We want so much for others to see us as being a true Heathen, but what others think of you is not your concern.

Every man should only be concerned with how he thinks of himself.

That is how we stand in Troth before the Gods.

And it’s uncomfortable to stand before the Gods. We can no longer lie to others or ourselves and we can no longer hide behind our petty feelings that keep us small.

For the Gods always call us to be greater than where we are now.

All Father calls us to be more of sovereign. All Mother calls us towards more unconditional love for ourselves, our family, and our folk. Asa-Thorr calls us to be stronger and braver. Heimdall calls us to be more perceiving. Bragi calls us to be more poetic and full of the heart songs of the Gods. Idunna calls us to value our health and life more. Tyr calls us to be more just and take more responsibility for ourselves.

And there are still many other Heathen Gods that call to us in their own way. We learn from them as we seek them and this is all personal in the heart of every Heathen man, woman, and child. The Gods live and grow inside us, we don’t own them, but we can cultivate them. How we do that is up to us.

In my recent decade, I have lost everything that I held dear in this life, but it was always the unfailing love of the Gods that came through and gave me more than I ever imagined. For such a gift of love, I am dedicating my writing and art to the Heathen people. This blog will be my devotional blog to the Heathen Gods. You are free to take what you think useful and leave what you don’t.

For I believe, in the end, it’s truth and love that wins out in our hearts. It will be that true love of the Gods that brings them back to this world.

May the Gods fill our souls and hearts again as we all rise to stand with them.

Hail the Aesir! Hail the Asynjur! Hail the Ginnregin!

She sees another rise up, earth from the ocean,

all agreen. Torrents flow

and the eagle flies above

scanning the fells and hunting fish.

The Aesir meet in Ida-Vale

and talk of the mighty Midgard worm,

recalling the mighty doom

and Fimbulty’s ancient runes.

They will again find the wondrous

gold chess pieces in the grass,

those they had owned in the days of yore.

The unsown acres will then grow. Evil will turn

better, Baldr will return. Both Baldr and Hoth

shall live in Hropt’s victory hall, the work of the gods.

Do you want to know more, or what?

Hoenir will then handle the lot wood, his brother’s

two sons will live there in the wide wind home.

Do you want to know more, or what?

She sees a hall, standing fairer than the sun,

thatched with gold in Gimle.

There the worthy drightens

shall dwell, forever in happiness.

Voluspa