UKPagan blog entry March 2013:

I've had multiple ideas for posts to this here blog of late:

1. Pastoral paganism.
How many pagans seem to think of nature as that 'Beatrix-Potter-esque' idea of mother nature as a kind, nurturing, loving soul. Probably due to the very sanitised 'countryside' that occupies most of the green spaces in this country. This conveniently ignores that mother nature also is responsible for death, decay and one animal often has to die so another can live. Horrible diseases are just as valid and important a part of the natural cycle as are fluffy mice and kittens and tweety birds.

2. Urban paganism
Again, mostly prompted by the very safe countryside, which mostly comprises of farm, parkland and country estates, I was going to wax philosophical about how pagans 'back in the day' probably had an awareness of their world more akin to that of a contemporary city dweller than someone who lives in today's UK countryside. A kind of 'street sense' would probably have been required to keep those pagans out of danger, not dissimilar to that of someone living in the city who might avoid certain areas or going out at certain times, due to a higher likelihood of something bad happening (think match days or political marches).

3. More 'where's my (pagan) head at?' posts
Well, the title says it all, really. I often have stuff that I need to get out of my head and find that, through the prism of my keyboard, I can sometimes make better sense of my opinions on things.

As it is, though, I've had little time to devote to such posts and so I offer this update as a 'bookmark' if you like, to remind me to post more stuff here going forward.

Whether it'll prompt me to post more or not, though, is anyone's guess...




Shame I never really posted any threads on the UKPagan message board about these. At least that leaves me with more fodder for this site, though.

In the interests of getting hits to this site, though, I will probably intersperse those posts with plenty of stuff about Vikings! ;)

The time I think most clearly, the time I drift away...

Taking my daughter to her friend's birthday party, rail replacement buses afforded me plenty of time to reflect. Gazing out of the window at the Lancashire landscape rolling by, I pondered matters heathen (and a few assorted Viking movies). I think it is easy to underestimate the value of times like those, long journeys or commutes or any other time when I am stuck in one place unable to do anything more useful than letting my mind wander. It is at precisely those kinds of times that I can question or extrapolate upon my beliefs and evolve my heathen path into something bigger, better or just plain different. The lesson I taught myself in the few hours of extra-long travelling this weekend were that I can't rely on the aesir and vanir to change my life, or myself, if I am not willing to effect those changes for myself on a personal level first.