Archive for September, 2014

We Shall Remain (A Music Video Made to Address Trauma in Native American Community)

WE SHALL REMAIN was created to address the effects of historical trauma in our tribal communities. Many times, these untended wounds are at the core of much of the self-inflicted pain experienced in Native America. Much like fire, this pain can either be devastatingly destructive or wisely harnessed to become fuel that helps us to rise up and move forward in life with joy, purpose and dignity.


An Argument on Heathen Harvest in Favor of Universalist Heathenry

1896776_1448386168726432_2052556598_n

 

READ THE ARGUMENT HERE

I enjoyed this argument for the author’s deep scholarship of the issue, as well as the time they put into their argument.

One key point in their argument is that a clarification of terms is necessary.

Universalist can mean a lot of things. The key understanding that most people have, is that Universalist opens Heathenry to all people, regardless of their ancestral background, while Folkish Heathenry believes that only people with European or Northern European ancestry should follow the Norse Gods.

Many people assume that Universalist Heathenry has more syncretism or less reconstructionism than other forms of Heathenry, when that is not necessarily the case.

So read this argument and enjoy.


A Map of Yggdrasil

10547694_829283417133116_678485191070106541_n

 

Trying to understand the layout of the world tree is something that always confused me, so this simplified picture is pretty helpful.


Image

He Has Risen!

10377989_507717382704965_3183497547121595350_n


Månegarm – Hemfärd

Månegarm is the wolf that lives on the blood of dying humans and at Ragnarök hunts down and swallows the moon.

Band’s Country of Origin: Sweden

Genre: Viking/Black/Folk Metal

Enchanting and driving are two words I would use to describe this song. It’s definitely the kind of song I would like to listen to as I’m going on an epic road trip over the fjords of Norway or climbing a mountain. It’s a song that is delicate but tough at the same time. Both the female and male vocals work very well together whether they be chanting, singing or growling. The song also alternates nicely between fast and harsh folk metal parts, and then softer melodic parts.

Most of all, this is a song that calls you home. Not to the brick or wood box that you currently live in, but your spiritual home. Your home in the Earth, with your ancestors and the here after – your final resting place, which is your eternal home.


Lyrics: 

The first dawn of autumn slowly rises
Spreading colour over frosty meadow
Leaves fall to the ground
A storming sea of colours

A biding darkness is yet again at Year’s gate
The land sinks into a quiet torpor
The days appear dim under clouds heavy with rain
Icy is the froth of Rimfax in the early hours

The calls from the forest call me home. To my kin…
To my bed. Homeward, homeward my inner whispers
Home to deep valleys and leaf-filled vales

To the paths I’ve always wandered
To streams that have quenched my thirst
To ponds and lakes so known to me
Where I’ve watched my reflection
Cooled in the night under star-filled sky

Home, to feel the chill of the morning breeze on the mountain of the Fey…
Home

Thoughts wander over ancient land
Hope from the old legacy echoes
Shrouded in the heavy breath of gods

The leaves of the ash whisper quietly
They tell of earth and worlds below
Of mountains and those who rule there
They whisper of that which is my home

These roots that cool
In the cold streams of the underworld
They tell of wisdom that dwell
And the primal force glowing therein

They whisper of the sea
And the brooks flowing there
Of the forest brooding dark and still
Filled with memories and old wounds

Tenacious and powerful. Proud and wise
With the root in the soil. Filled with the liquid of life
They tell of the old people. The beautiful that dance over the bog
Of the king of the forest. Quietly watching by the shore of the lake

Of the mistress of the forest. The frail and misleading
This female being. With a delightful scent of leaves

They whisper of the sky and the stars above. Of the secrets above
They whisper of the fresh water in the northern brook
They tell of Bifrost and the final road home

The sun settles slowly in the horizon. The two worlds meet
A kingdom of dreams falls closely

From the lake a mist rises. Light, as the tears of elves
Wanders over the black surface

I stand here yet again. On the mountainof the fey
Feeling the cold of the night breeze. The moon sings its full

Hear my kin call. Welcoming me home
Never again will I leave this. My eternal home

(LYRIC SOURCE)


RELEVANT LINKS

Encyclopedia Metallum Entry

Review on Sputnik Music

Official Facebook