The Merseburg Incantations: The Only Pre-Christian Text in Old High German and What Two Short Charms Can Tell You

Norse

In 1841, a scholar named Georg Waitz was cataloguing manuscripts in the cathedral chapter library at Merseburg when he found something unusual. In the margin of a 9th-century liturgical manuscript, written in Old High German, were two short healing charms. They were...

Should the Mysteries Stay Secret? A Live Debate in Modern Hellenismos

Hellenism, The Future of the Tradition

A Question Without a Clean Answer This is presented here as a real, unresolved debate within the modern reconstructionist community, not as a question this site is going to settle for you. Both positions described below have thoughtful, serious practitioners behind...

The Hard Questions About Cultural Appropriation in Celtic Paganism

Celtic, Modern Pagan Life

Cultural appropriation is one of those topics where the loudest voices tend to occupy the two least useful positions: either everything is appropriation and anyone outside a culture should stay completely out, or nothing is appropriation and all culture is a...

The Conversion of Scandinavia: What Was Lost, What Survived, and How to Think About the Gap

Norse

In the year 1000 CE, a lawspeaker named Thorgeirr Ljosvetningagodhi lay down under his cloak at the Althing, the Icelandic assembly, and remained there for a full day and night. When he emerged, he announced his decision: Iceland would be Christian. Private practice...

Hellenion, YSEE, and Elaion: What’s the Difference, and Why It Matters

Hellenism, The Future of the Tradition

Why This Distinction Actually Matters New practitioners sometimes assume there is one central modern Hellenic organization everyone belongs to, the way some other religions have a single dominant denomination or governing body in a given country. Modern Hellenismos...