Lost in Translation- Ettins in Old English
Posted by Byron Pendason on November 8, 2022 CE, in Heathenry, Heathen worldview, Cosmology, ReconstructionI came across a blog post recently, alleging to reevaluate ettins in Old English literature (Moniz, 2022). I read it with interest, because I’ve interacted with the author on various Discord servers and have had nothing but positive experiences with them. I feel that their argument in this case, though, is unconvincing. It takes most every instance in Old English literature that is translated as giant in modern English, and proposes that it is talking about ettins. This reflects a problem that is not entirely new, the conflating of all giants in Old English literature. However, there isn’t enough evidence...
The Essentials of Fyrnsidu
Posted by Byron Pendason on September 24, 2022 CE, in Heathenry, Heathen basics, Heathen worldview, Heathen worship, ReconstructionIt’s all too easy to lose sight of why you’re doing something. I started this blog almost three years ago when I was still a baby on this path. My intention was to take what I was learning and put it into my own words in order to help fellow newbies learn about Fyrnsidu. Since then, it has become my passion to promote and contribute to Fyrnsidu, in order to help it grow. But sometimes, you have to return to the basics. So in this post, I want to outline what the essentials of Fyrnsidu are, and link to resources...
Fyrnsidic Cosmology- Wyrd and Orlæg
Posted by Byron Pendason on September 20, 2022 CE, in Cosmology, Heathen basics, Heathen worldview, Heathenry, ReconstructionMy first post on this blog was about wyrd. Like most Heathens, I looked at it on the personal level. We each have our individual wyrd, and this should probably be our basic understanding of it. But the universe itself also has a wyrd, and I think we’ve reached the point in this series on Fyrnsidic cosmology that wyrd is the next logical concept to address. Before we dive into that, though, let’s recap what wyrd is on a personal level.
Giants in Fyrnsidu
Posted by Byron Pendason on September 18, 2022 CE, in Heathenry, Heathen worldview, Cosmology, ReconstructionOne of the big differences between modern Norse Heathens and Fyrnsideras is our views on ettins/Jotnar1. The two are cognates, but understood very differently. They are both generally translated as giants, but this can be misleading because they aren’t necessarily always large. Modern Norse Heathens tend to look at the Jotnar as a third tribe of gods, albeit at war with their main gods the Æsir and Vanir. Fyrnsideras tend to look at ettins as god-like beings, but are not gods because they don’t maintain the cosmic order. They are best avoided because they are not bound by the cosmic...
The Human Era
Posted by Byron Pendason on August 30, 2022 CE, in PoliticsIn 1993, the Italian-American scientist Cesare Emiliani proposed the Holocene Calendar, a simple reform to our current calendar: adding 10,000 years to the Common Era (also known as the Gregorian Calendar) year that is the dominant calendar of the world. The reason is that the vast majority of Human development and civilization took place before the beginning of the Common Era. It’s difficult to grasp the scale of this history- actually stretching back into prehistory- with our current system. Take the famous city of Jericho, for example. It’s history stretches back to about 9,000 BCE. To figure out how long...