—for Walter Aikens

Read by Jubi Arriola-Headley:

On one of the mailing lists I check randomly, someone had posted requesting ideas for Yule “to recognize the gods, honor my ancestors, reflect on each month in the past year, make oaths, and celebrate”. I offered the following suggestions:

*You could pick 12 candles, one for each month of the year. Light one per day, and reflect on that month in the current year—what that month gave you to celebrate and what it gave you to release; also, reflect on what you want to see/do/create in that month for the coming year.

*As you reflect, you can write in your journal/grimoire/random paper about things that stood out (whether positive, negative, or neutral).

*You can use these daily writings to help set your priorities for the coming year, and figure out what oaths (if any) you want to make for 2024, which I would recommend doing in a separate ritual after Yule ends, since you will not finish the reflection until the last night of Yule.

*You could pick a different ancestor / set of ancestors, and/or a different deity/set of deities to honor each day as well. Or alternate between ancestors and deities.

*If you like to dress your candles, you can use any fragrance that appeals to you and makes sense for you. You could choose the oil based on the month—for example, a floral scent for May to acknowledge the May flowers resulting from April showers; winter months could have pine, snow, an “Alpine Mist”-type blend, etc. I’m partial to Bayberry for December, but that’s a personal association.

*You could carve runes into the candles—the name of the month, name(s) of ancestors or deities, runes representing things that happened this past year or that you want to happen next year.

I hope you find these ideas useful and inspiring!

The Rendlesham Community Archeology Project has unearthed a 1,400-year-old temple in East Anglia, near Sutton Hoo. It was found as part of the excavation of the royal compound, which is believed to be the royal court described by Bede in Ecclesiastical History of the English People.

The area was a center of royal residence and power in the 6th to 8th centuries CE. The excavation has revealed several buildings, including the temple, the royal hall, and a smithy. The temple, or cult house, is believed to have hosted pagan rituals and worship, based on the history of the area and the age of the building.

Photo credit: Rendlesham, Suffolk Heritage

Pollack saw miracles in the world, and she was someone who taught other people to see them. Most famously, she did this through the Tarot; she was a world-renowned expert on the cards, consulted and cited by authors like Alexander Chee and Neil Gaiman. Her book on the Rider-Waite, 78 Degrees of Wisdom, is the go-to text for anyone trying to learn the cards. Yet the number and diversity of Pollack’s accomplishments make it hard to sum her up: She was an activist. She was an award-winning science fiction novelist. She was a comic book writer, who created what is widely cited as the world’s first trans superheroine, Coagula, for DC Comics’ Doom Patrol.

“Rachel Pollack’s vision of spirituality may be her greatest accomplishment” by Jude Ellison S. Doyle

This article is a great tribute to an amazing writer and wonderful human.

Today in “Heathener Than Thou”, let’s look at the practice some heathens insist one must do if one is a “real” heathen: eat Ancestrally, aka, only eat what a Viking Era Scandinavian would have eaten.

Setting aside that “ancestrally”, while technically correct, grates on the ears, let’s look at “eat as your ancestors did”.

I’m not going to use my own family as an example. My ancestors are not particularly good role models in terms of healthful habits—moderation was something that happened to other people. If I insisted on dining as they did, I’d be carrying even more weight than I already do, and spend a small fortune on food.

There’s also that whole cooking thing—unlike my forebears, I do not have full time kitchen staff whose sole function is to create dishes to please my palate. Left to my own devices, I find turning on the oven to make some toasted cheese bread is about as much effort as I care to make most days. If I’m feeling really ambitious, I’ll do roast chicken and potatoes (cover bottom of baking dish with chunks of potatoes, slather with butter, garlic, rosemary, and oregano; add chicken pieces on top of potatoes, slather with butter, garlic, rosemary, and sage; bake one hour at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, basting every 20 minutes), and have real food to eat for a few days. But I really can’t be bothered to cook on a regular basis, so if my spouse doesn’t feel like cooking, then breakfast cereal also serves as an acceptable evening meal. If one of us is inclined, a can of soup is opened and heated, but PBJs are also an option. Or, if we are working late at the office, food delivery solves this problem (and I think my ancestors, with their myriad of servants, would approve of this).

Most people, however, aren’t quite so casual about their eating habits, and aren’t descended from people who couldn’t make scrambled eggs if their lives depended on it. If your ancestors are from an area which experienced famine (hello, 13th century Japan, 16th century Ethiopia, 17th century Russia, among others), or were too poor to eat well, or lived in an area where food was not particularly abundant (vegetables were not a big part of the Icelandic diet in the Viking Era), eating as your ancestors did is a key to malnutrition—not to mention a limited and repetitive diet.

You don’t have to use a great deal of imagination to figure out what those hungry ancestors would say to the notion that we must eat like them in order to share their spiritual heritage. Take any tenth century Icelander and turn them loose in a modern grocery store, even a moderately sized one—filled with piles of produce, fresh meats, fowl, and fish of all varieties, more bread than a village could eat in a week—and they would not to judge you for eating any of these things. They would be amazed at the abundance and variety of food, and encourage you to eat what makes you happy.

If you enjoy cooking and want to experiment with recipes from other times and places, do so, and enjoy! I took a Medieval Cookery course in college; it was great fun, and also the most delicious credit hour on my transcript. A few years ago, I ventured into making some Viking Bread based on a historical recipe (I’m not much for cooking, but I do enjoy baking). It was fun, and more than edible, and I’m glad I did it. Would I make it the only bread I eat? Not in a world where focaccia exists!

While family recipes and cultural mainstays can be quite good for us, both in terms of physical and emotional nutrition, limiting ourselves to just one type of food or one particular era is not going to do much for us. If you want to explore food as a means of connection to your ancestors, there are resources aplenty in books and on the internet to help you locate recipes and suggestions. But no, you do not have to eat only what your ancestors (physical, spiritual, or otherwise) ate in order to walk your spiritual path.