People that dwell all the time on political stuff, which sadly has become a large portion of the population these days, are constantly putting themselves into a literal state of mental hell, since all that dwelling all the time on politics really accomplishes is cause a person to be swallowed up by an intense lasting state of anger and mental obsession. This is equally true no matter what the political leanings are for any people who spend all their time day and night only thinking about political stuff. The only thing that politics really breeds in the world is hate. Many people nowadays who claim to be trying to erase hate from the world, are achieving just the opposite, since being obsessed with politics only creates a world of intolerance towards those who have any political stance that is differing.

But the one kind of thing that a person can be mentally focused on which brings love, peace, and tolerance to the world, is to be focused on spiritual things. True spirituality is rooted in love and acceptance for all people, no matter how different they may be than yourself. Either different in views on life, different in politics, different in skin color, different in who they choose to sleep with, or different in any sort of way. The best way to bring love and acceptance to the world is to build that love within the self. Become the change you want to see in the world, since it is not possible to control anyone else other than yourself. Anyone that does try to control other people is only causing strife. If we all just focus on working on ourselves so that we can become the best, most loving, most tolerant person possible, all hate will be gone with the world. Spirituality is the key to working on creating peace and love within the heart.

Hate is hate and love is love, no matter what forms they take, or what the politics behind them are. Any form of hate, just supports and continues all forms of hate. Only unconditional love can overcome hate in this world. It makes no difference if the hate is based on a hatred towards people with different political views than yourself, or hating someone because they are not politically correct enough, or hating people because they like to barrow wonderful ideas from other cultures, or hatred towards someone because they have a different skin color than yourself, or because they don’t sleep with the same types of people you do, it is all equal in that it is all hate, and it all equally helps to build a world of hate and intolerance. Only when we learn to love diversity in all it’s forms, and choose to share our ideas freely with each other without greed and possessiveness, can we overcome hatred in this world.

The Vikings loved to raid other cultures, though this was never out of hate or intolerance towards people of other lands. They were seeking treasure, not seeking to kill other people out of hatred. They clearly felt people of other lands had treasures worthy of stealing, or they would not have done so. They also equally as well loved to trade with other cultures, and enjoyed adopting items and ideas from other lands into their own culture when they could. They were a curious people that loved to travel and experience exotic lands and cultures far and wide. They also clearly found the women of many lands and ethnicities to be attractive and desirable to own and love as sex slaves, since the trade of sex slaves from far off lands was common with the Vikings. Sex slaves from Middle Eastern, Anglo-Saxon, and Celtic lands were common to be owned and loved by Vikings. Considering all this, clearly the typical Viking was not rascist, and was not xenophobic. Another thing Vikings were not tolerant towards was anyone telling them what to do, they stood up for their freedoms and the freedoms of their family and tribe, and fought against anyone that tried to control them. Clearly Vikings of the past would not have tolerated anyone who tried to act like thought police, or that were demanding compliance to some narrow minded extremist political views. Modern Heathenism exists as a religion that is inspired by the spirit of historical Viking culture. As modern Vikings and Heathens there is no place for acceptance of racism, xenophobia, or tolerance towards anyone who would try to take away our personal freedom to think and do what we want. Political extremism in any of it’s forms, either coming from the right or left, is completely against the spirit of Viking culture, and completely not acceptable as part of Heathenism.

As a Heathen I make a firm stance of not tolerating the mixing of politics, either from the right or left, into my religion.

For me as a Heathen what I value are honesty, personal freedom, honor, respect for others, respect for diversity, respect for all positive loving forms of spiritual expression, encouragement of others to make offerings to and create troth with all forms of the divine that are in alignment with nature, love for and protection of nature and the Earth our home, the gaining of knowledge about the mysteries of life and all things, and honoring of any oaths and personal bonds I make with others. As a Heathen I welcome everyone, no matter of what color, or from what part of the world, or where their ancestors come from, that feels the urge to worship and honor the Gods and Goddesses of the north and their ways. I feel it is important to honor your own ancestors, and perfectly fine to take pride in your own ethnic heritage, but Heathnism is not limited to only those whose ancestors were Vikings. The Goddesses and Gods of the north call to who they want, for many possible reasons, and a northern ethnic background is only one of so many possible reasons. As a Heathen I will stand and fight for my rights to live as I see fit, and to think and do what I want. I can and will fight against anyone who attacks my boundaries. I will party with anyone I want to that comes to me in respect and out of frith. I will enjoy life in all ways that are healthy and enjoyable, but with an awareness of the need for balance and moderation. This is my form of Heathenism. It may not look the same as how you practice Heathenism, but truly everyone practices it in their own way, and it is the right of all to figure out for themselves what their own Heathenism should look like. Hail the Gods! Hail the Goddesses!

Hello world, been a long while since I posted on my blog. I needed to create a modern up to date list of books to read for learning Heathenism. The amount of books has grown a lot since I last created a list, back in 2012. Here is a nice up to date one. Enjoy.

Books with * at the end may be ones that go out of print a lot so could be hard to get. The better Norse Pagan books often go out of print, and sometimes then are available only for huge sums of money. If you can find some of the more rare ones for a decent price, jump at the opportunity to grab it while you can. If you totally can’t get a copy of that book then skip ahead, but keep an eye out for it later. Sometimes they also come back in print, under a slightly different name, but is just a newer edition of the same book.

Here is a good list to start with, read them in this order… 

1. The Teutonic Way: Magic (also called Teutonic Magic in other editions) by Kveldulf Gundarsson. *

2. The Teutonic Way: Religion (also called Teutonic Religion in other editions) by Kveldulf Gundarsson. * 

3. The Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland. 

4. Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic by Edred Thorsson. 

5. Runelore: The Magic, History, and Hidden Codes of the Runes by Edred Thorsson. 

6. Runecaster’s Handbook: The Well of Wyrd by Edred Thorsson. 

7. Northern Mysteries and Magick by Freya Aswynn. 

8. A Practical Heathen’s Guide to Asatru by Patricia M. Lafayllve. 

9. Asatru: A Beginner’s Guide to the Heathen Path by Erin Lale. 

10. Essential Ásatrú: Walking the Path of Norse Paganism by Diana L. Paxson. 

11. Our Troth 3rd edition volumes 1 and 2 by Ben Waggoner.  (another option is Our Troth 2nd edition volumes 1 and 2 by Kveldulf Gundarsson) *

12. The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes by Jackson Crawford. 

13. The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics) by Snorri Sturluson. 

14. Travels Through Middle Earth by Alaric Albertsson. 

15. A Handbook of Saxon Sorcery & Magic by Alaric Albertsson. 

16. Elves, Witches & Gods by Cat Heath. 

17. Seidr: The Gate Is Open by Katie Gerrard. 

18. The Norse Shaman by Evelyn C. Rysdyk. 

19. The Seed of Yggdrasill by Maria Kvilhaug. 

20. Northern Magic: Rune Mysteries and Shamanism by Edred Thorsson. 

21. A Book of Troth by Edred Thorsson. *

22. The Big Book of Runes and Rune Magic by Edred Thorsson. 

23. Rune-Song: A Guide to Galdor by Edred Thorsson. 

24. The Nine Doors of Midgard by Edred Thorsson. 

25. ALU, An Advanced Guide to Operative Runology by Edred Thorsson. 

26. Witchdom of the True by Edred Thorsson. *

27. Icelandic Magic: Practical Secrets of the Northern Grimoires by Edred Thorsson. 

28. The Galdrabók by Edred Thorsson. 

29. Trolldom: Spells and Methods of the Norse Folk Magic Tradition by Johannes Björn Gårdbäck. 

30. Pagan Magic of the Northern Tradition: Customs, Rites, and Ceremonies by Nigel Pennick. 

31. Taking Up The Runes by Diana L Paxson. 

32. Trance-Portation: Learning to Navigate the Inner World by Diana L Paxson. 

33. The Way of the Oracle by Diana L Paxson. 

34. The Essential Guide to Possession, Depossession, and Divine Relationships by Diana L Paxson. 

35. Odin: Ecstasy, Runes, & Norse Magic by Diana L Paxson. 

36. Heathen Garb and Gear by Ben Waggoner.

37. Path to the Gods: Anglo-Saxon Paganism for Beginners by Swain Wodening.

38. Hammer of the Gods: Anglo-Saxon Paganism in Modern Times by Swain Wodening.

39. Rites of Anglo-Saxon and Norse Paganism by Eric Wodening.

40. Build a Worthy Life by Thom Burton

41. Viking Poetry for Heathen Rites by Eirik Westcoat.

42. The Gods’ Own County: A Heathen Prayer Book by Dan Coultas.

43. Hearth and Field: A Heathen Prayer Book by Hester Butler-Ehle.

44. The Pagan Clergy’s Guide for Counseling by Kevin Gardner.

45. Counseling Insights by Vicki Enns.

46. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H. Davidson.

47. To Walk a Pagan Path: Practical Spirituality for Every Day by Alaric Albertsson.

48. Northern Tradition for the Solitary Practitioner by Raven Kaldera (some parts of this book should be disregarded as garbage, but it still gives indispensable ideas of how to put everyday spirituality into the Heathen path, so is worth the read despite some of it being trash).

49. Myth and Religion of the North by E.O.G. Turville-Petre.

50. The Viking Spirit by Daniel McCoy.

51. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.

52. The Saga of the Volsungs translated by Jackson Crawford.

53. The Sagas of Icelanders by Jane Smiley.

54. Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs by John Lindow.