Second Night of Yule 2014

You have made it to the second night of Yule. It seems like Mother Night gets all the attention, but what about these other nights? Well, they are part of the holiday as well. Here is a suggestion if you don't have other plans.

Different groups have different ways to celebrate the various nights of Yule, so if you have an alternative practice don't be offended. The second night is a good night to think about Those Who Have Gone Before. That's a fancy way of saying ancestors.

Mother Night 2014

Yule supper of sausage, cheese, bread, apples, walnuts, and hazel nuts (filberts).

The winter solstice brings the start of Yule and, of course, Mother Night. This is a night to celebrate our mother Earth and the all the blessings we have received over the past year. So how does one go about doing that?

The easiest thing to do is to actually write a list of all the good stuff that has happened to you and those you care about. If you try, you can probably find quite a few pleasant events and occurrences. If you are really stumped, write down that you are still breathing and will have the chance for things to get better in the coming year.

Getting Ready for Yule 2014

I hope you are all having fun getting ready for Yule. If can be stressful for non-Christians to put up with the constant bombardment of Christmas stuff, but knowing what Yule is all about makes it better. You can also take heart in the fact that Yule is not about a shopping feeding frenzy.

This Sunday, December 21, is Mother Night. It is the Winter Solstice and the start of Yule. Depending on your group, this may either be a night of feasting or it might be a simple fair in preparation for the belt-tightening of the Wolf Season (winter).

Old Saxon Wikipedia

For those who lean toward the Saxon form of Heathenism instead of the Norse, there is a Saxon version of Wikipedia. You can find it here: http://ang.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C4%93afodtramet. If you click the link at the top of the main page labeled "Motung", it will take you to a page with links to their online tutorial in Saxon.

Good luck and wes hal!

Online Kindred

A solitary practitioner contacted me to ask whether it is possible to have an online kindred. That is a good question. Though there answer is yes, there are some differences between an online community and one made up of people you know in person.

The Upcoming Yule

Lately, several questions have come in about the upcoming Yule. Seeing so many questions on the same subject in such quick succession looks a little like a sign that I need to write something on the subject. So, if you are interested, here are things to know about Yule.

Visits to Heathen Driving

A screen capture of the Google search for Heathen Driving, showing the Vidar's Gothi article next to the Christian articles.

I was rather surprised to see so many hits on the posting "Why Driving is a Heathen Issue" so I decided to look into it. The first step was to look up "heathen driving," on Google. It seems the article shows up fifth from the top, after three Christian links about "driving out heathens" and one Twitter post that doesn't seem to have anything Heathen-related at all.

Why Driving is a Heathen Issue

Some have asked me why learning to drive is a Heathen issue. They suggest that maybe the web site could be better used to encourage Heathen activities or to teach more about what the Gods are about or what Vidar wants. I can see their point and I agree that an explanation is in order.

Learn to Drive

The world is a large place and things happen fast. That means transportation is important. There are many different format of transportation available. How many can you use?

The need for transportation is obvious. You need to get around. Maybe you need to help others or perhaps move some cargo. Either way, the right vehicle goes a long way toward making that easy or even possible.

On Language

Some in our religion feel they should learn an ancient language associated with their ancestors in order to feel greater kinship to the past. They often feel that their everyday language has become mundane or, in the case of modern English, too corrupted. It never hurts to learn another language, but which one and why?

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