Author's Note: This article was originally posted to "Of Axe and Plough" on March 17, 2017. It is posted here with permission. In developing a more comprehensive character to one’s religious identity, inspiration for practice can come readily from scraps of information or otherwise from the barest of inspiration. As a reconstructionist religion, Fyrnsidu is distinctly [...]
Author: Marc
Anglo-Saxon Heathen and Roman Polytheist. MA Post-Roman/Early Medieval History. Wannabe Classicist. Wino and antique firearms collector. Lay craftsman and blacksmith. Biker.
Concerning Hāma
When it comes to reconstructing the Anglo-Saxon pantheon , I’m ever wary of merely copying and pasting from the Norse sources. It’s not that I don’t think there was overlap, it’s just that I think cultural differences as well as the differences in time period should be carefully considered. The simple fact that Frīge was [...]
Bīnaman: A Distinctly Fyrnsidere Approach to Divinity
Author's Note: This piece partially builds off of “Prayer in a Heathen Context” and “Prayer in a Fyrnsidu Context”, as a natural continuation of those practices within Fyrnsidu. For practitioners of Fyrnsidu, or other Anglo-Saxon Heathen traditions, there exists a fundamental impasse in the understanding of divinity within strictly “Anglo-Saxon” religious perspectives. The problem is [...]
“Prayer” in a Fyrnsidu Context
The following article is intended as a follow up to Prayer in a Heathen Context, which demonstrated Austfeld's three step prayer format (as demonstrated by H.S. Versnel) used broadly by pre-Christian Indo-European peoples. The aforementioned approach will be taken a step further and utilized for practical application in a Fyrnsidu context. The objective of this [...]
“Prayer” in a Heathen Context
Author's note: This was originally posted on 9.19.2016 on "Of Axe And Plough", and is used with permission. For all its claim to empiricism, popular opinions remain barriers to reconstructionist Heathen practice. Whether through misunderstanding, poor scholarship, or emotive clinging to attitudes from previous religious engagements (example: Christian-themed cultural baggage), these opinions tend to shape [...]
Reconstructing Frīge: Foreknowledge and the Spinning of Fate
Throughout Germanic folklore, Frīge and her epithets are connected to spinning and foreknowledge. These two attributes seem to be interwoven (pun intended), her spinning or weaving acting as a metaphor for her both knowing and thus being able to alter the fate of all beings, as alluded to in Norse sources. “Mad art thou, Loki, [...]
Wyrtlār: Stinging Nettle
*Disclaimer* Herbal treatments and history featured on the Lārhūs Fyrnsida are presented in a historic, folkloric, or otherwise informational context. No aspect of these entries should be misconstrued as providing medical advice. Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), is a herbaceous perennial endemic to North America, Europe (particularly Northern Europe) and Asia, belonging to the family Urticaceae. [...]
Goals, Orientation, and the Future
I tend to view the Lārhūs Fyrnsida website strictly as an educational resource, and I do not tend to use it as a forum for my personal opinions. It is an educational resource for the proliferation of our interpretation of Fyrnsidu within an Anglo-Saxon Heathen context. Any opinion pieces which is shared on the service [...]
Concerning Arwald, The Last Pagan King of the Isle of Wight
Arwald is a character that has fascinated me for a while now. One of the main reasons for this fascination is because so little is known about him. Many modern heathens wrongly believe Penda of Mercia to be the final pagan Anglo-Saxon king, but that distinction lies with King Arwald the Jute. Nearly all of [...]
On Religious Reconstruction within Paganism: A Methodological Defense
It seems the winds of argumentation within the blogging sphere have once more swung around to the topic of Pagan reconstructionism. Again people are regurgitating the tired rhetoric about the failings of the practice of reconstructionism; the apparent unyielding, archaic, attitude that reconstructionists have towards proper religious expression, their quality and countenance as individuals in [...]
Lārhūs Fyrnsida 