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Ep0: Intro to HoW Pod
886 Plays1 year ago
Meet Kierra and Oz, and hear about our paths, our beliefs, and how we view three different Heathen perspectives: Universal, Folkish, and Tribal Heathenry.
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Transcript
Introduction to Hosts and Podcast
00:00:04
Speaker
You're listening to the Hearth of Weird podcast. Where we discuss heathenry, lore and legend. And the modern take on an ancient practice. Okay. Hello, and welcome to the Hearth of Weird podcast. I'm Kira. And I'm Oz. Uh, and together we
00:00:34
Speaker
are the hearth of weird podcast team. I feel like redundant, but still true. The dynamic duo. Very true. I love that. Okay. So this episode, we're just going to go into who we are, uh, what we stand for, why we think that we should, we're not qualified to make a podcast. I don't think.
00:01:02
Speaker
I think that anyone can be qualified to make a podcast. I think the standards by which people judge each other in heathen communities are outlandish. Oh, okay. That, you know what? You're probably right. You're probably right. Uh, okay. So we are mildly qualified to make a podcast. Yeah. Only on the, only on the rules that everyone can make a podcast. And we are part of that. So let's just get into.
00:01:31
Speaker
telling the people a little bit about ourselves. And you go first. Oh God, I knew you were going to say that. Okay. Well, I hate talking about myself. It is excruciating. Like, you know, when, uh, you know, when you're starting a new class or a new job and somebody's like, so tell us a little bit about yourself. Tell us, tell us the most interesting thing about you. I'm like, I,
00:01:56
Speaker
don't, I just panic. I don't, I don't, there's nothing interesting about me. Just deer in the headlights. No, I really do. And I'm just like, Hey, uh, what do you even say? Also, what's interesting to me is probably not going to be interesting to you. Like I do cross stitch. I watch rug cleaning ASMR videos. These things are wildly popular. Well,
00:02:25
Speaker
But I didn't know that. Um, what else do I do? What's your name? What's your age? What's your sign? Oh God. Okay. Uh, well, I already told everybody my name is Kira. I am, I don't want to tell my age. I am how old you think I am. I am ancient and unknowable. Same. Okay.
00:02:53
Speaker
Uh, I'm also like aging, like deli meat left in the sun. So I don't want to talk about my age. Don't look at me like that. What? Okay. My sign I'm a Virgo, which it presents itself in my workaholic tendencies, but that could also be a trauma response. So I don't know how much we can blame on the stars or.
00:03:21
Speaker
Gatorade in the microwave or however that part goes. At least a little bit, but not all of it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mercury's up in the sky saying, fuck you, Kira. I'm going to fuck everything up for you. The whole planet yelling, shaking its fist. Yeah.
Kira's Journey in Heathenry
00:03:40
Speaker
Yeah. I'm sure the moon has some shit to say too. Who knows? I'm a heathen. I actually, so I've been a heathen for a while.
00:03:51
Speaker
And I was a solitary heathen for most of my practice. It wasn't until the last four years that I got involved in TikTok because TikTok was a kid's thing. It was for the youths and I am not a youth. But then when the pandy hit, there was nothing else to do. And so I hopped on there and then my witchy ass
00:04:19
Speaker
Heathen asks, found all these other people that practice like I do. Cause I've been a witch for a long time. I practiced witchcraft since I was 16 years old. Um, but Heathen for less time than that. But the thing is here, uh, there's not really a big Norse community. I'm in Salt Lake. Um, there's, there's not really a big Norse community. Like when I go to rituals and stuff here, the local like metaphysical shops or witchy shops, they are eclectic. There are.
00:04:49
Speaker
people from all walks, actually mostly Celtic here. There's some Norse practitioners. It's funny because all of the Norse materials and stuff in the metaphysical shops is all incorrect. All the runes are all not right and the meanings of the runes are not correct. I showed you the candles in the shop that had the runes and the name of the runes and what the candle was for.
00:05:16
Speaker
And the name of the rune was incorrect and also the meaning of the rune, had it been spelled correctly, was also super far off. So nobody knows what they're doing here. Anyway, that's why TikTok gave me a community where before I hadn't had one, you know? Um, and shortly after I joined TikTok, I started out doing witchy videos and tarot videos. Uh, cause that was my, I used to teach tarot. Um, I've read tarot for almost a decade, taught it for
00:05:45
Speaker
three years, I don't teach it anymore or read it for other people, just myself. Um, but yeah, so that's how I started on TikTok. But then as I was correcting misinformation about witchcraft and tarot, I stumbled across Norse paganism and the misinformation that was being spread there as well. And so I started making Norse related videos and then it kind of blew up from there that I found you.
00:06:12
Speaker
And you had had the heart of weird server up and going. I joined that server. You and I immediately became the fucking dynamic duo. And we've been like the best team ever. We fucking fire each other up. We inspire each other. We work really well together. We've built incredible things together and are continuing to, or at least I think this is incredible. I don't know what the listeners will think, but you know. They can be wrong. This is great. Yeah, absolutely.
00:06:41
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, that's kind of it. That's it. We've spent the last three years doing this shit together. And now I'm still educating on Tik TOK. I'm still doing the server thing. And then we're here. Podcasting. Podcasting. Cause we're qualified. Yeah, we are qualified. Uh, yeah.
00:07:08
Speaker
I'm a suburban housewife with a high school education. And the owner of the hearth of weird. And the owner of the hearth of weird and very heathen heathen. So I mean, this is my shit though. You can't really get a degree in heathenry. You know, like I consider myself an incredibly knowledgeable heathen, uh, because I have ADHD and this has been my hyper focus for the last,
00:07:36
Speaker
However long, there's always something new to learn. There's always something new to fall down a rabbit hole. It's kept my focus. It's kept my interest, my passion. It's how, before I found the path of heathenry, like I was already walking it. That's why I went from an atheist to a heathen. Because my connection with nature and my connection with the spirits and the way that I understood how energy worked.
00:08:02
Speaker
and like how the soul felt all of that shit lined up with the different realms and with the cosmology and with with everything like it all just lined up morals and ethics look we'll get into that a little bit more because that is subjective but yeah it was so easy for me to just start walking this path because it was already the path I was walking now I just had a name for it and more like specific details totally oh yeah that's me do you want to tell us about you
00:08:32
Speaker
Sure.
Oz's Perspective and Heathenry Debate
00:08:33
Speaker
Hi, I'm Oz. Hi. Great. Who are you? I am thousands of years old. In theory. I'm a heathen. Norse heathen specifically. I live in Washington state, the best state in the union. You're not wrong.
00:08:55
Speaker
I'm not wrong. Kira is the owner of Heart of Weird. I am the founder, though I am no longer involved in the Heart of Weird community for personal reasons and mental health. Listen, that's absolutely valid. It's a lot. It is.
00:09:14
Speaker
I've been a non-denominational heathen for two decades. I don't care how long, realistically, it doesn't matter. It doesn't. The amount of time spent in heathenry or identifying as a heathen is so incredibly irrelevant that
00:09:31
Speaker
We actually in our podcast will not be discussing exactly how long we have been heathens because of how incredibly irrelevant it is. It is. I'm so glad that you said that. I'm so glad. I know people who have been practicing for a year.
00:09:47
Speaker
that can run circles around people who say they have been practicing for decades. And I know more people who have been practicing for incredibly small amounts of time who can run circles around more people that claim they have been practicing for decades.
00:10:03
Speaker
than the other way around. I don't actually know anyone who claims they have been practicing for decades who could run a circle around people like Marshall. I love Marshall. That man, he is dedicated. That is a heatheny fucking heathen right there. And he's been practicing for about a year. And I know for a fact, because I have witnessed it, that he could dog walk basically anyone in heathenry.
00:10:30
Speaker
Absolutely. That's a dot Mjolnir on TikTok for anybody who's looking for it. That period Mjolnir, fantastic person. He'll be on the podcast eventually because he's super cool. He is, but that's a great example. Only a year versus I know people who were, quote unquote, born into Heathenry or, you know, second and third generation Heathenry that have only practiced one way, have never picked up any new books, have never learned anything beyond what they were taught.
00:10:59
Speaker
And that's cool for them, but this is where we're saying that the length of time that you've practiced does not increase your legitimacy or validity or right to like hold yourself above other people. So we don't find it important personally.
00:11:14
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely. Especially since people who like, there's no degree that you can get in Heathenry. You can get a North Studies degree or something like Jackson Crawford. You can be a scholar like Benjamin Thorpe or any number of other North Studies scholars that does not make a person an expert in Heathenry. No one is an expert in Heathenry.
00:11:33
Speaker
And anyone who says that they are an expert in heathenry has something more to learn just like the rest of us do. Because the smarter we get, the more we understand that we know nothing. It's true. It's the path of homework. You are forever a student. Yeah. Forever.
00:11:52
Speaker
The amount of time with heathenry under your belt does not make you a better or lesser heathen than anybody else. Your practice is valid no matter who you are, where you are, where you come from. It doesn't matter how you got to this path. It doesn't matter what the color of your skin is. It doesn't matter what your sexual orientation or gender identity is. You're welcome here on this path and your practice is just as valid as mine, Kira's or anybody else's. Yes, that's exactly right. And I'm so glad you brought that up. That's what we call universal heathenry. And that's something that Oz and I have
00:12:22
Speaker
believed in and stood by and perpetuated and fostered in all of the environments that we have created, in all of the, in the servers that we've run, in the groups that we've run, in the conversations we hold and the people that we surround ourselves with, is that anyone can become a heathen. Absolutely. Anyone can. All it takes to be a heathen is to do heathen shit. Thank you, Mark, for that. I'm going to shout out Mark.
00:12:47
Speaker
I have my friend Mark here. His idea of how to be a heathen is do heathen shit, and that is exactly how I believe you be a heathen. Do heathen shit. You can follow Mark on TikTok at Scarwolf. Yes. Follow Mark. Follow him too. We're just going to name drop a bunch of people that we love and admire as we mention them in this podcast. And they'll most likely be on the podcast. Listeners, you will hear from Mark. You will hear from Marshall. You will hear from several other people who we consider to be brilliant and knowledgeable heathens.
00:13:16
Speaker
Yes, absolutely, and I can't fucking wait. We talked a little bit about the universalist perspective of heathenry, but I think that it's a good conversation to have to talk about the other perspectives, primarily folkish, and one that's become a lot more prevalent, especially in the TikTok circles, which is the tribal heathen. I think so too. When you're looking at a universalist versus folkish perspective,
00:13:46
Speaker
Like, how do you feel like they differ? There is a pretty stark contrast between the two, in my opinion. Universal heathens believe that anyone from any religious background, any skin color, any gender identity, any sexual orientation or anything, any other kind of qualifier for a human being can also be a heathen.
00:14:10
Speaker
and that there is no prerequisite to being a heathen, aside from wanting to be a heathen and doing heathen shit, whereas Fokish, by definition, has a division of race, which I do not, cannot, and will never get behind, because, as I've mentioned in a TikTok video of mine, bold of you to assume that you can speak on behalf of the gods and who gets to walk this path.
00:14:38
Speaker
No one gets to decide that. No mortal person gets to decide who gets to be a heathen. So being focused by definition, in my opinion, is wrong. Abso-fucking-lutely, that's exactly right. The thing that I find interesting is that the focused perspective, or vokish perspective, and people will try to say that there's a difference between vokish and vokish. The vokish are the racist ones. And I'm like, eh. Disagree. Completely disagree. And here's why.
00:15:07
Speaker
Like the folkish perspective, by definition, would be that it's for the folk. And by the folk, they mean that it is only to be practiced by those with a Northern European heritage, which is wild to me. And that's how they say they're not racist, right? They're like, it's not for white people. It's for people with a Northern European heritage. And yet the only people that they question, the heritage,
00:15:37
Speaker
is from those who are obviously of like a differing descent, right? A different race. They're never gonna ask a white person, well, where are your people from? They're just gonna be like, hey, a white person, okay, cool. That's why it's so fucked. That's why it's so stupid. And it's absolute garbage. There is no justification for it, none. Because the other thing is our ancestors, and I say our ancestors as in
00:16:05
Speaker
heathen ancestors, right? Because I don't care where your ancestors are from. The arch heathens, when they were traveling around, it's known that they would take part in the religious rituals of other groups, other peoples. They would bring that shit back. They would, they would enter it into our, into our fucking artwork, into the, the
00:16:27
Speaker
the fucking cadence of the poetry, the way that we do things. They were happy to be like, that's a cool story. Our God did that now. This is known, right? We see little sprinklings of other religious practices and stories in our lore, period. In other cultures. In other cultures, right. Exactly right.
00:16:53
Speaker
And there are stories in the sagas of people who were baptized just to honor their friends, even if they weren't Christian. Like, you know what I mean? Like, there's, there's, they also, also, I don't think that they held to their superiority or supremism because when they would travel, people would stay there from their crew and they would take back others with them that wanted to travel.
00:17:23
Speaker
Like it, and this is confirmed through DNA testing and archeological digs. Like the DNA shows that there are all sorts of peoples in that area from those times, from ancient times. Yeah. Like it was never, it was never a pure practice. It was never a pure culture because all of that is garbage bullshit that is not real. It's completely fabricated. Yeah. And this is why we say, fuck the AFA, fuck folkish.
00:17:52
Speaker
Heathenry. Fuck it. It doesn't make sense. Exactly. It doesn't make sense in any way, shape, or form. It perpetuates white supremacy, which is not a fucking thing. And there's just no way of sugarcoating it. There's no way that that's okay to me. No way.
00:18:08
Speaker
I agree. I agree. Like the amount of historical and archaeological evidence, not only just from what we have been able to find so far in Scandinavia, but also from attestations all over Europe and elsewhere, the Old Norse people
00:18:23
Speaker
And I'm sorry that this might offend some people or make them think that they know better. Didn't fucking care what anyone else did. They just truly did not. We have evidence that proves that they intermingled with other cultures. We have evidence that proves that they took practices and art and
00:18:42
Speaker
cultural things back home with them, because we can see definitive lines of where certain things are seen in the grave goods of Scandinavia. And I hope that we can eventually get Professor Howard Williams onto the show so that he can discuss the archaeological aspects of this with us at some point, because I believe that it is a widely held
00:19:05
Speaker
belief that Scandinavia was this microcosm that didn't have contact with anyone else. They didn't mix anything with anyone else. They didn't invent blacksmithing. They didn't invent farming. They didn't invent clothiers. They got these things from other people, just like everyone else around the globe has gotten things from other people and mixed their cultures and practices with them since the dawn of man.
00:19:33
Speaker
Right. Exactly right. I think that a lot of people who claim to be folkish are actually just tribal. Yes.
00:19:40
Speaker
The difference between folkish and tribal is that tribal heathenry, the tribal practice of heathenry revolves around a kindred or having a kindred or building a kindred, et cetera. Whereas the folkish practice of heathenry revolves directly by definition around race segregation, which of course is not the way, not the move and not just, it's just not. Let's just not, let's just not do that, people. Okay.
00:20:07
Speaker
While I feel like there are merits in tribal heathenry, a folkish heathenry really is so sad to me because you're using this keep the traditions pure mindset. And that tells me that you are not actually digging beyond surface level into this incredibly deep and beautiful and meaningful spiritual path.
00:20:34
Speaker
You are so concerned with surface level bullshit. To me, you're not even fucking here then. You are performing. And you are using it as a fucking pedestal to place your racism upon and you can go get fucked.
00:20:47
Speaker
Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense. Like we have historical proof that not all air quotes Vikings were white. We have proof of this proof. Anyone who says that there isn't proof that not all Vikings were white simply and purely sorry people is a fucking idiot.
Cultural Exchange and Inclusivity
00:21:09
Speaker
They didn't do their research. Type two words into Google, black moors.
00:21:17
Speaker
Oh, but it was just one that still means that not all were white. Right. I don't care if it was just one tribe of people that were a different color than the Vikings. Not all of them were white. It just, it, that's not real. That's a not, that's not a real take. Like of course the majority were going to be of pale complexion. It's the fucking North, right? But that doesn't mean that it was valued or held to or anybody gave a fuck.
00:21:46
Speaker
We have grave goods that have crosses, crucifixes, linens from different places. We have rings and grave goods that say Allah on them. Like these people took culture and religion home with them. They loved it. The Norsemen were happy about all of these cool things. The Norse graves are the most eclectic grave digs in history, period, point blank, because they were such huge travelers. They didn't, obviously,
00:22:15
Speaker
they didn't renounce their faith when they were taking part of all these other cultures, but they were happy to bring it home and add to it and experience it. Like otherwise the stories wouldn't have survived and they wouldn't have changed had they not brought things home. You know what I mean? Like they weren't on a conversion mission when they were migrating because it wasn't a religion. It was just the way they lived. It was just who they were and what they believed and the beliefs of others did not
00:22:43
Speaker
water down their beliefs or whatever the fuck people say. The conversation around this shit has driven me absolutely bonkers. I debated with somebody for hours on this. And they got so upset because they were like, you can't go to a Christian church and still call yourself a heathen. And I'm like, yes, you can. Yes, you can. I go and I honor my family who is where I'm in Salt Lake. So everybody's fucking Mormon here. I've got a lot of LDS family.
00:23:13
Speaker
And I will go to blessings, I will go to baptisms, I will go to whatever it is that I can, funerals, shit, to support my family, to be with my family during momentous occasions. Absolutely. It does nothing to the way that I believe in the path that I walk. Right. It is actually quite heathen of me to do so and be there to support my family and connect with my family. Sure is. I was born into a Jewish family. I have a menorah in my home.
00:23:41
Speaker
Right. Exactly. Does that make you less heathen? Of course it doesn't because my practice is heathen. That's the thing that people don't take into consideration is that just because I have heathens didn't make up bookshelves. They didn't invent bookshelves just because I have bookshelves in my house that make me not a heathen. They didn't have books. So me having books makes me somehow not a heathen.
00:24:01
Speaker
The idea that something that you have in your house or something that you give reverence to could in some way make it so that you are not a heathen is the most absurd take to me that I have ever heard in my life. Because if I look at every single heathen person I know and exclude every single thing of theirs, their identity, the things that they have on them in their skin, their jewelry, their clothing, their possessions that make them not a heathen, I don't know any. I don't know any heathens if we're going to be doing that. Because it's not surface level. It is a path you watch.
00:24:32
Speaker
It is not about the fucking trappings. It's not about the money you spend. It's not how many books you have, how many fucking ruin sets you have, how, that's not it. It doesn't fucking matter. I don't care how fancy your altar is. I don't care how many drinking horns you have. I don't care how many times you say skull, brother. I don't give a fuck. None of that matters. It's also not a closed practice. Sorry, go ahead. No, it's fucking not. Thank you. Thank you. And now this is where we do kind of get into the tribal practice, right?
00:24:59
Speaker
It is not. It is not a closed spiritual path. There are, however, closed practices, but I hate that term for it because I feel like that's just a hot button term that everybody's using on TikTok to feel exclusive and special, which is ridiculous. Stop. Nobody's special. What I would say is a private practice.
00:25:25
Speaker
There are kindreds that have their own private practices and private rituals. And that is traditional as well. I mean, we see that in the stories of Alpha Bloat where everybody's, nobody knows what Alpha Bloat looked like back then because nobody could really write it down because it was private to the family. It was private to the kindred. The doors were shut to outside people. Everybody did their own celebrations and honoring their ancestors. Um, so like, that's the thing that private practice does not mean closed.
00:25:56
Speaker
It just means that it is exclusive to your family, and that doesn't make you special. It doesn't. I'm glad that you have a private practice. I'm glad that you have things that you do with your kindred, your family, your clan, whatever you want to call it, your tribe, and you have these deep connections and very meaningful and sacred practices that you engage in with people that you care about. That's beautiful. That's heathenry. I love that. That's cool. Yeah. But that's why
00:26:25
Speaker
Uh, calling it closed doesn't work for me. It doesn't work for me. Like, of course you're, of course your family is closed. You're not going to join my family either. And I don't care if it's a kindred or a clan or just like my household. You're not going to join my household unless you mean a lot to me. We have established relationship. We have an established connection and I trust you to be here. You know? So like, it's not like a cool kids club either. It's just a matter of
00:26:52
Speaker
having that relationship to a level of which you can start that tribe or have that connection with other people, that clan, right? See, I personally see that as a modern practice as well, because I truly believe that if you lived in some kind of township 2000 years ago, 1000 years ago in Scandinavia, and somebody was just like, oh, hey, what'd you do for alpha bloat? They wouldn't be like, fuck you, that's my practice, man. Chest beating fucking gorilla people. That's not what they had. They absolutely did, though. They absolutely did. I don't think they did. It's historically attested to.
00:27:19
Speaker
It's historically tested to a couple of times. There's also lots of historical attestation of conversations between families, how they shared practices as well. Well, okay. I would love to see those because I don't see anything aside from the accounts of Alpha Bloat. That's like, you cannot come in. It's a sacred night. We're not letting anybody in. Well, that's also only indicative of one holiday. People share their traditions all of the time outside of Alpha Bloat.
00:27:46
Speaker
Oh no, and I'm not saying they didn't. I'm not saying that all of the bloats and all of the practices were secret. That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm just giving up a tiny photograph. I'm taking a tiny portion and saying, here's an example of how there were some private practices. I'm not saying that everything was private at all, at all, at all.
00:28:05
Speaker
I mean, I agree with that. I agree with that. There definitely was things people didn't talk about. It's just the way that people consider tribal heathenry today is like every single thing that we do, every single thing that we talk about is completely private. We're not going to discuss any of this with anybody else. And I do not think that that is historically backed. As a matter of fact, I know that it's not historically backed aside from all the bloat. These people shared their customs with each other all the time. Right. I think, though, that there is this I don't know what it is.
00:28:35
Speaker
why people are so protective of their tribal practices. I don't know what it is. I don't know what motives they have because I'm not a tribal heathen and neither are you. We are universal heathens. Everything we do, we have literally shared our, here's how we build rituals with everyone that's in our server.
00:28:56
Speaker
Like I have literally given them foundation blocks. Here's how I build a prayer. Here's how I build an offering. Here's how I put together a ritual. Here's how I want them to start their own practice. And so that's where my motivation is. I don't need to close a door. I like the doors blown wide open. I like everyone to see exactly what it is I do so that they can build their own practice and connect with the gods, connect with the ancestors, connect with the spirits around them. That's what's important to me. Exclusivity is not important to me. It never has been.
00:29:26
Speaker
And so I can't relate. I can't relate. I don't understand, uh, why some things are kept sacred in private. Maybe just to, I don't know, because if anybody takes something that I did and changes it for their own, it's not going to dilute what I'm doing in my opinion. Okay.
00:29:49
Speaker
My theory is that there are some people who practice tribal heathenry who are afraid of being judged by outsiders for their practices. You know what? That's legit though, because that's the other thing that's like become a thing. There is no one way to heathen. There is no one correct way to heathen. As many heathens as there are, if you ask them what they do, you're going to get the same number of differences. Yeah. Everyone practices heathenry differently and they have to, they must.
00:30:17
Speaker
just by the nature of the path itself. If you're not building personal connections with the beings that be, you are doing things by rote and you are missing the depth and the beauty and the opportunity to grow on this path, right? I know that people are comfortable in structure, but consider, if you will, letting go of that and just
00:30:46
Speaker
doing the self-exploration and then branching that exploration out into the world around you.
Personalizing Heathenry Practice
00:30:53
Speaker
And then beyond, you know what I mean? Like, I just feel like you're coasting at a surface level. Going to say that that's an actual great segue into, there is no one way to be a heathen.
00:31:07
Speaker
Our way is not the way. Nobody's way is the way. And for all of our listeners out there, anyone who tells you that your practice is in some way invalid, just ignore them. Flipping the bird. No, I'm just kidding. Flipping the bird, because there's no homogenous practice in Scandinavia. There has never been a homogenous practice in Scandinavia.
00:31:25
Speaker
There was never one way the stories that we have currently are just what has survived, just what was written down. These were all oral traditions. They were spoken to and from members of families, of townships, of fjords. There was no one way to do these things. These stories we have aren't even supposed to be some kind of dogma. They're just what was written down of what survived. These were supposed to be teaching moments.
00:31:52
Speaker
I see that this happened. I've got a story for that. And they would share the story with people. And that's how these traditions are supposed to be passed down as is verbally and tailored to the situation. Right. And that's the thing, too, that I you've heard this rant so many times because you've known me for years. But like if you are trying to take the law as something that is meant to be looked at as black and white, is meant to be looked at as scripture, you are missing so fucking much. These are poems. This is art.
00:32:20
Speaker
It's made with soul. It's made to inspire and evoke certain emotions and certain vibrations, right? If you are only looking at it as a story or as scripture, which hard pass, please don't, please, like you are missing so much. Why did that story survive? Why was it important? What are you learning here? Learn, read it.
00:32:48
Speaker
You can hee hee ha ha, or you can go, oh, what a weird story, whatever it is. And then look deeper. Why was the story told? What is being represented? Like, how does this compare to a moment in your life? Like, go deeper for the love of the gods. And that's actually what we're going to do on this show. So if you have not done that yet, I'm really looking forward to this. We're going to be covering lore. We're going to be covering,
00:33:11
Speaker
deities, we're going to be covering practices. And just like Oz says, there is not one way to heathen. So what we are going to be covering is foundations and then encouraging you to do your own fucking thing with it. Figure out why you do the things and then build your own practice, right? We are here to empower heathens to walk the path with their heads up. There are so many people out there that will tell you you're doing it wrong.
00:33:40
Speaker
Um, that will tell you there is only one way that'll tell you that you're not a real heathen. If when we're here to say, fuck that, fuck that heathens do heathen shit. Point blank period. That's the end. The end. And we're going to talk about what heathen shit is and you can fucking do heathen shit. Like we're not here to fucking gatekeep. We're not here to tell you you're doing it wrong. Cause who would we be to say that we are not an authority, right? There is no authority. Exactly. Thank you. Um,
00:34:09
Speaker
And I would kind of recommend not listening to people who think that they're an authority because they're missing something. They're missing something major. And I would say that that is a deep gap in their education and to maybe hold off until they get a little bit deeper with it. You know, I wish them the best. I hope that they dig deeper and I hope that they understand better, but until then, you know, don't follow people who make you feel doubtful in your journey. Don't follow people who make you feel stupid.
00:34:38
Speaker
or unprepared, because you are prepared today to do heathen shit. Even if this is the first time you've ever heard of heathenry, go for it. Do something. Go touch some grass. That's heathen shit. Go touch some grass. Go on a nature walk. Go listen to the birds. What are the birds saying? What is their song saying? What is the calls? What is happening? What color are the leaves? What is that story? You know what I mean? How's the sky today? Does it feel big? Does it feel closed? What is the energy happening around you? Super easy. That's heathen shit. That's heathen shit.
00:35:08
Speaker
That's heathen shit. That's why I don't understand the idea behind people not being able to do heathen shit or saying, well, this isn't a Norse practice. The Norse were poets, blacksmiths, craftsmen, farmers. These stories that we have, like you mentioned, are poems. It's not scripture. It's not gospel. That's why lore purism doesn't make any sense to me because it is not scripture. It is not gospel. These are poems. They are kennings.
00:35:37
Speaker
kennings are metaphors. These things mean other things. They don't mean what they are said. It's lore as written versus lore as interpreted. That's kind of a D&D thing as written and as interpreted.
00:35:51
Speaker
All of this should be as interpreted because you should be finding out, like you said already, what this story means to you because it's not scripture. It's not John 1-6-3-16 or whatever. It's a poem that is meant to be taken as a metaphor. How does that make you feel? What does this elicit in you? How does this make you look at the world around you? How do you connect with it? That's what the stories are for. Fuck yeah, absolutely they are.
Engagement and Future Episodes
00:36:21
Speaker
So that's where we're going to go. This is what we do. This is how we, how we see heathenry. And we think that there are a lot of people like us, you know, and we want you on this journey with us. We want to have these conversations with you. Um, we want to learn too. We want to have our minds expanded. We want to hear from you. Uh, so yeah, just come along on this journey with us, leave comments, subscribe, like, uh, we're on Tik TOK now, heart of weird podcast on Tik TOK.
00:36:49
Speaker
Leave comments there. Let's have some discussions. Follow us there. How can people get a hold of you? How can people get a hold of us? If they want to get a hold of us, how can they get a hold of us? You can find me on TikTok at right.and.roon. You can find me on TikTok at heathen underscore Oz. You can also get a hold of both of us at hearthpodcastteam at gmail.com.
00:37:16
Speaker
We want to hear from you. We want to see you guys. We want to have these discussions, because we're used to the sound of each other's voices. Yeah. Give us something to talk about. Give us topics. Give us ideas. Let's give them something to talk about. Yeah, that. If we like the idea and we have something to say on it, we'll put it in an episode. Yes. And we'll shout your name about it. We will, obviously. We've already been namedropping all episode. But I dig it. I dig it. Good even peeps. All right. Well.
00:37:47
Speaker
I think that covers it. Stay safe out there, San Diego. Remember, don't add to the population. Don't subtract from the population. Stay out of the hospital, the newspaper, and jail. If you do end up in jail, establish dominance quickly. Until next time. What are we talking about next week? What's episode two on? Let's take a look. Episode two.
00:38:12
Speaker
be on the creation story versus the Big Bang and how they compare to one another. Yes! I cannot wait for this conversation. I'm so stoked. Okay. Episode three is gonna be on your least favorite deity. Well, I feel like he's everyone's very favorite deity. I think that I'm the odd man out on this. I'm not a big fan of Odin. No? Not really. The All-Father. Whom you have on a painting in your office behind you.
00:38:41
Speaker
Grimnir staring at me with his fucking eye judgment. He's just winking and slinking at me. His judgy eyeball. He is. He's constantly judging me. I painted him. I wasn't going to keep him. I painted him in hopes to, I'm actually hoping to hang him up in my buddy JT's meatery that is opening soon. Bearded by King Meatco on TikTok for you guys who have not heard of him yet.
00:39:10
Speaker
Uh, incredible meme. But yeah, I'm making that painting for him. And it's just been sitting there for a really long time, judging me in the meantime. Yep. One day, one day I'll finish him. The things that Odin has seen. No, we don't talk about that. No. I don't think we have anything else to say for this one. No. I don't. No, I'm done. Okay. Bye.
00:39:40
Speaker
You can at least stop the recording so you have less to edit. Well, I was going to end the episode with something. Oh, do you want to like one, two, three, okay, bye together? Sure. Okay. One, two, three. Okay, bye.