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From Maleck Odinsson comes this topic:
“What do you want to write or talk about that you don’t often get to?”
I like digging into the nitty-gritty of theology. Not just theory, but where the rubber meets the road of it. A couple years back I wrote a series of posts called A Polytheist Response to Peak Oil. It took me a long while to write it, and I deeply enjoyed the process of bringing my ideas of polytheism, animism, and environmentalism from thoughts in the back of my head into a way of living and looking at the predicaments we are going to be living in for the foreseeable future.
I like how the implications of certain words affect the unfolding of how those things are seen and understood. Though seiðr is classified as a kind of magic, the cultural baggage of magic vs seiðr is pretty big. Not only is the latter not laden with notions of stage magic or fakery, it is a culturally relevent term with folks who engage in the work, eg seiðkonur (seið-women), seiðmenn (seið-men), and seiðmaður (seið-people). I find engaging with our language in culturally-relevent ways, including the need to make neologisms, a powerful way of bringing the cultural from mere intellectual exercise into revivalism.
I am really happy for my Patreon supporters because their input has given a focus to my blog that it has not had. Sure, I would occasionally dedicate an entire month to a God, or go on a long series of blog posts like the one I mentioned above, but then I had periods where I post once a month at most. I had a six month block where I don’t think I posted anything at all a few years back. There’s nothing wrong with taking a break, which I did need at the time. The topic suggestions, Q&As, and all the rest help keep me writing, keep me focused, and give me ways to dig into topics I might not otherwise. I really enjoy that I have to switch gears depending on what I am writing between prose and song/poem/prayer.
What I keep feeling at the back of everything are the books I have yet to write, including The Fallow Times book, a second edition of Calling to Our Ancestors, and others. The ‘and others’ bit might be Heathen kids books, Heathen spiritworker books, and others as they come up. I have no idea how many books I have in me. If I keep up the pace I have with the Patreon I may put a compilation book or books together so folks can have a physical copy of them. Nothing quite like having a modern copy of a dialogue between a writer and his readers on religious topics!
What I want to talk about more, especially in workshops and the like, are a lot of the deep dives I get to take on subjects such as on Around the Grandfather Fire. I really want to dig into the meat of spiritwork. I really dig my Encountering the Runes workshop for this reason. I’ve been presenting it for a decade or better now, and each year I find more stuff to put into it while still working to make sure there is enough time for Q&A after it. I want to develop more spiritwork workshops, presentations, and the like in that same vein. I’m also really interested in writing on those subjects, too, so folks who support the Patreon? Feel free to hit me up on those topics!
Sarenth Odinsson 