Modern Heathen

I know someone who has just discovered Heathenism at the same time she's become rather disenchanted with Neo-Paganism. I don't really care for Neo-Pagan fluffies, but the problem is people who are IDIOTS, not people that are Neo-Pagan.

I can't light on her shoulder and whisper that in her ear, she's not at the right place to hear me.

I wouldn't have been in the right place to hear me for a number of years. So I understand this. You go through that arrogant stage, or at least a lot of budding Heathens do.

For me, I had some experiences that caused light to dawn on Marblehead that not all Heathens are perfect, and not all Neo-Pagans are ninnies. But it took awhile.

I've found as a smart person that it's easy to obsess on idiots. Because you're surrounded by them, and after the one-hundrenth time you've heard that black is white, something in you snaps. And, you start frothing at the mouth at the first hint of any idiot behavior.

Of course if you have any issues with self-loathing, you freak out over idiot behavior in yourself. Which is ridiculous, because all of us are morons sometimes. But it takes awhile to understand and accept that.

Probably the Heathen community doesn't help with that, because it tends to be a bit of a nasty unforgiving community in some ways.

But when you're at the "I've Had It Up to HERE" point in your Pagan life, it looks awfully good, and you tend to fall into it yourself.

You know, it's not enough to have Huginn light on your shoulder. You also have to listen.

I just received through email one of the throughly incomprehensible essays that seem to circulate in the Recon and Psuedo-Recon Pagan community. These result when the author is intent on creating or describing some sort of reasonably common and described esoteric phenomenon while using obscure terms from the choosen tongue and a concerted effort is made to avoid any word or catchphrase that the reader might already be familiar with.

For example, you might have an Asatru article on out of body experiences. Except that this article, after carefully describing something that sounds an awful lot like an out of body experience, never uses so straight-forward or recognizable a term as "out of body experience".

Or, it might be mentioned, but quickly dismissed with a "Yes, the ObscureOldNorseWord bears some resemblance to an out of body experience, but it's really different because of our acknowledgement of the SecondOldNorseWord and the ThirdOldNorseWord."

The more Obscure Old Norse Words, the better. Use enough of them, and people will start quoting you and hanging on your every sentence.

Back to the essay at hand. For all I know it's accurate and perfectly well researched. But, who cares?

What's the point if the reader has to wade through this?

"...he could hardly rate the brí for the extremely negative iarrairdeall...This was not bua in the general sense, but a reaction of the site to its bua having been...assaulted. This did not appear frithbhuachán in the usual sense, i.e. not a "keying". Such an occurrence is rare but makes accurate readings difficult...."

Right!