Perhaps I should take a little time to explain the thinking and motivation behind moving this blog away from the popular vikingness of some aspects of heathenry. It is less a rejection of that side of things than it is a recognition that a more generalised pre-christian or even pre-capitalist focus fits in with my other interests, notably ecology, left wing politics and, well, hippiness.
The world is in a really bad state at the moment. It could be said that in the west, at least, we are collectively enduring an economic and political, as well as ecological Ragnarok. Politics and the establishment are moving further and further towards fascism, especially in America and the UK. Billionnaires and their corporations amass huge wealth and enjoy unprecedented profits, while the workers whose labour creates that same profit languish in poverty. Corporations who produce the vast majority of pollution refuse to accept that action needs to be taken by them to mitigate climate change. Instead, they boost the signal of misleading advice stating that individual families can somehow save the planet by sorting waste into different coloured plastic boxes while corporations themselves pollute and ravage the environment indiscriminately.
It is my train of thought that supposes that simply replacing the Christian religious orthodoxy with a more pagan spirituality will not be sufficient to stem this tide of fascism and ecological disaster. Swapping out Yahweh for Odin and his companions does nothing to affect the underlying problems - most notably the world-denying christian attitude of superiority over the environment and the capitalist emphasis on capital and profit as the only true values.
So it is that my focus has shifted toward the reawakening of pre-christian, non-capitalist views of our animist ancestors, as espoused by Rune Hjarno Rasmussen and explained on his Nordic Animism YouTube channel (amongst other places).
It also allows me to move away from a history-focused "wouldn't everything be nicer if we were more tenth century in our outlook" and toward a more positive, "This is how we can be inspired by our own past and other cultures to carve a better future for the world". As I alluded to before, it also means I get to rail against capitalism and contemporary religious dogma. Which is something I quite like doing. Powerful corporations and churches with lots of resources and undue influence need taking down a peg or two. The power has always lain with us, the people. We simply forgot that for a while. If we come together and demand better from our politicians and service providers, we can make the world a better place - through repairing the damaged connections we have with the environment and other cultures.
I personally think that my brand of heathenry is inextricably linked with my belief in left wing politics, universal acceptance and tolerance, ecological activism, a love for the world and its eco-systems and my hatred of injustice. The worst of these injustices being 1% of the world's poopulation living in the lap of luxury and obscene wealth while a huge proportion of the world starves and lives in terrible poverty. Our heathen ancestors treated slaves better than our society treats supposedly free people.
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