The Cardinal Virtues

Posted by Byron Pendason on January 22, 2023 CE, in , , ,

Wes hāl!1 One of the things that Heathenry lacks is a definitive cohesive theory on ethics. The reason for this is due to its tendency to be based upon reconstructionist methodology, and the fact is that no records from the pre-Christian Heathens survive. The closest we have is parts of the Poetic Edda, but even that comes to us from the Christians that wrote it down and probably modified it to better fit their worldview. Wes hāl and Beo gesund are Old English greetings and farewells that literally mean Be well/whole/healthy. The first seemed to be more common among the...

Stoicism and Heathenry

Posted by Byron Pendason on January 15, 2023 CE, in , , ,

Wes hāl!1 I have recently become a student of Stoicism, but as I said in my last blog post Stoicism is not a Germanic philosophy. It was born in the Hellenic world, and was later adopted by the Romans. In this blog post, I want to discuss the relationship between Stoicism and Heathenry. What are the similarities, the differences, and are they even compatible? So let’s dive in! Wes hāl and Beo gesund are Old English greetings and farewells that literally mean Be well/whole/healthy. The first seemed to be more common among the Anglian dialects and the second more common...

Accepting Fate

Posted by Byron Pendason on December 30, 2022 CE, in , , ,

Wes hāl!1 As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been studying philosophy lately. Stoicism, to be precise. An important concept of Stoicism is the idea of accepting one’s fate and not fighting against it. People familiar with Heathenry may know that in Heathenry, it is generally thought that our Wyrd (the Heathen concept of fate) is not predetermined nor is it pre-ordained by some god. So, how can we translate this idea of accepting fate to Heathenry? Wes hāl and Beo gesund are Old English greetings and farewells that literally mean Be well/whole/healthy. The first seemed to be more...

Video Review: Why Are We Afraid to be Pagan?

Posted by Byron Pendason on December 23, 2022 CE, in , ,

Wes hal!1 An ally recently posted^4 a video to her YouTube channel entitled Why Are We Afraid to be Pagan? She poses some interesting questions, in an attempt to start a conversation on the matters in the video. Before getting into the video itself, though, let’s talk about the author a little bit. Wes hāl and Beo gesund are Old English greetings and farewells that literally mean Be well/whole/healthy. The first seemed to be more common among the Anglian dialects and the second more common among the Saxon dialects. I prefer to use both though, the first as a greeting...

Farewell, Twitter! How to Follow Mine Wyrtruman

Posted by Byron Pendason on December 20, 2022 CE, in ,

Wes hāl!1 Some of you who follow me on Twitter may have noticed my conspicuous absence. Twitter has become so toxic. Part of it, I’m sure, has been Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform. But to be honest, it’s been this way for a long time. I’ve just failed to see it. Being betrayed by a couple of people I considered allies really opened my eyes to the way Twitter operates, and I don’t want to have any part of it any longer. I’ve been a lot happier since deleting the app, and my mental health has gotten a lot...