Hearth and home

Toying with the idea of hosting a COVID-19 lockdown-friendly online moot.  Summer is rolling by and it would be nice to see some kind of action from our Hearth this year.

Not sure anyone ould turn up, but it could be an excuse to raise a horn and listen to a little Wardruna or Amon Amarth.

Might be a good way for new people to check out the Hearth without having to actually meet any of us. 

Watch this space. 

Next Heathen Moot for Salgofnir's Call hearth

Due to family commitments, we've been forced to postpone the upcoming heathen moot for Salgofnir's Call hearth. In lieu of its usual "last Sunday of (every other) month" the next meeting will be held on the first Sunday of March.

In addition, we will be trialling a new venue. The Brewery Tap on Market Street in Westhoughton is just down the road from last month's venue (The Beer School) and across the road from the Wetherspoons (The Robert Shaw).

As before, though, it will be a very relaxed moot, focused very much on the social. Think fewer lore-ridden speeches and more friendly chats.

Being a "Proper Heathen"

As the inaugural monthly moot creeps toward us, and a potential attendee has already contacted, it occurs to me that I may well be expected to talk about heathenry with at least a vague air of authority.

This doesn't really come naturally to me. First of all, I like to keep things chilled and understated. Our hearth consists solely of my family (at the moment) and we don't really go in for elaborate rituals and verbose appeals to the gods and goddesses. Secondly, I've lived around half of my life by now, and for anyone with even an ounce of experience, that is more than enough to learn the things I don't know far outweigh the things that I do know. So, really, I'm not usually one for proselytising as I understand that "my heathenry" is just one of a myriad of equally valid ways to do heathenry.

We like to think of our hearth - and, by extension, moots - as being more about socialising and forging friendships and less about loremastery and, hopefully, less drama.

As we potentially have people travelling to see us, though, it does rather pile pressure on us to wax heathen and discuss "matters of faith". Left to our own devices, we'd more likely spend time talking about music, films and beer and barely ever mention anything to do with contemporary heathenry.

Perhaps we could make a name for ourselves as the least heathen-oriented heathen hearth in the UK? That would be quite an accolade! ;)

Further Hearth update

The first moot heralding the re-opening of the Salgofnir's Call Hearth to the public will take place on September 29th 2019 at The Beer School, Westhoughton, Lancashire BL5 3AZ. Starting around 2.30pm and ending whenever we get bored or too inebriated to continue.

If you're thinking of attending, feel free to comment here or on the hearth's Facebook Group and we'll be happy to offer any advise and help we can.

As stated in a previous post, the emphasis is on the social, so please don't consider lack of knowledge or experience an impediment to joining us.

Just to reiterate, we are a universalist group and oppose racist and bigotry in all its forms.

Salgofnir's Call Heathen Hearth - Bolton, Lancs

Just set the Facebook group settings for our heathen hearth's page to "Public". The idea is to attract a few heathens and other assorted pagans in the area with a view to having regular moots once again. Operating under the title, "Salgofnir's Call Hearth", we used to hold fairly regular moots when we lived in Manchester's popular Northern Quarter. Held at the Angel pub on Angel Street, just off Rochdale Road, we only really used to get the occasional traveller wending their weary way to us. But, when we did, we always had a good, genial time and managed to wax heathen for hours in good company. We will re-use/resurrect the name - the hearth has never really gone away, it has just been mostly limited to our own, small family unit until now.

Have to confess to feeling a mix of excitement and trepidation for this. Very much looking forward to meeting any heathens or pagans in the area and possibly making new friends. I also know from experience, though, that we are just as likely to meet some less savoury people whose vision of what contemporary heathenry should entail might not gel with our own.

Still, we are hoping that, gods willing, this enterprise bears some valuable fruit.