Wyrd Ways

Wyrd Ways

Building a Better Heathenry

Galina Krasskova
Galina Krasskova

Galina Krasskova is a Heathen priest, vitki, and Northern Tradition shaman. A devout polytheist and devotee of Odin she is the author of over a dozen books on the Northern Tradition, devotional work, and more. She is the editor of "Walking the Worlds," a bi-annual journal of polytheism and spirit-work () and maintains a rather active personal blog at http://krasskova.wordpress.com/. Galina holds a Masters in Religious Studies, a diploma in interfaith ministry, and is currently pursuing her PhD in Classics.

Toward a Heathen Theology

When I think of the various contemporary Polytheisms actively engaged in reconstruction and restoration today, religions like Hellenismos, Kemetic Orthodoxy, Canaanite Polytheism, Romuva, and the like, it always seems to me as though contemporary Heathenry is a thing aside. I rarely see Heathen voices participating in pan-polytheistic dialogue, and by and large the mainstream Heathen community seems to hold itself aloof from engaging with other types of Polytheism. At times, for all that we have…

“You are not expected to complete the work, but neither are you permitted to abandon it”

This isn’t the column that I intended to write today. I wanted to continue my theology series but for weeks now I have been doubled over with grief and anger and a tremendous feeling of helplessness as I watch the future of our world crumbling away. I suppose it’s the downside of being a diviner: I am capable of seeing all the various possibilities and potentialities when I watch the news; I can see multiple…

A POLYTHEISTIC DAY OF PROTEST & REMEMBRANCE

When: July 31, 2015 Why: In remembrance of the over three hundred ancient and in many cases holy sites destroyed by Daesh. In grief and terror over the damage to and potential destruction of the UNESCO city of Palmyra, and the Temple of Ba’al Shamin. In silent protest against the attack and forced eradication of even the vestiges of polytheism across the world. This is not a Syrian issue. This is not a Muslim issue. This is…

In the Beginning…

So I was having lunch with Edward Butler the day I wrote the first draft of this article and we were discussing cosmogony, the nascent wisdom given via theophany by the Gods to Their individual people. Each cosmological theophany holds within it the wisdom and knowledge to allow the world, its sciences, arts, philosophies, its beauty, and our understanding and engagement with it to unfold. I think it is quite profound the way that the…

Lectio Divina Heathen Style

Those of you who are familiar with Heathenry will assuredly be familiar with the fixation some (most) Heathens have on lore. With a demographic drawn largely from Protestant Christianity, and working in an over-culture that is doggedly Protestant Christian in its attitudes, it is perhaps not surprising that there is deep suspicion and even hostility toward anything not immediately and apparently mediated by the written word. Given that the majority Heathen demographic is also largely…

Compromise is not an option

On December 13, I posted an article in my personal blog in which I discussed the dangers of compromising one’s religious practice for the comfort of the majority.(1) In that article, I promised that I would discuss the theological implications of compromising on our polytheistic values, beliefs, and praxis. This column is the culmination of that promise. More and more in the various communities at large, bubbling up every time there is a heated discussion…