Pagan Paths - Heathern & Northern

Way of Wyrd

Alaric Albertsson
Photo © Liza Lepczyk

Way of Wyrd

Alaric Albertsson embraced polytheism in the summer of 1971, and never looked back. Over the years, his spiritual practice developed as a synthesis of Anglo-Saxon traditions, country beliefs, herbal studies, and rune lore. For Alaric, a reverence for the earth and respect for ancestral and indigenous spirits are defining qualities of Pagan religion.

Alaric and his partner Scott co-founded the Saxon inhíred Earendel in 2003. Like all inhírdas, Earendel is an extended family (and not open to the public), but its members strive to foster a greater public awareness and appreciation of Pagan Saxon traditions in southwestern Pennsylvania. As an author, speaker and drýmann, Alaric travels around the United States giving presentations and classes throughout the year. Alaric has also served on the Board of Directors of the Heartland Spiritual Alliance, and is currently a member of the Druidic organization Ár nDraíocht Féin and serves as the Anglo-Saxon Vice Chieftain for the ADF Germanic kin, Eldr ok Iss.

The author of Travels Through Middle Earth: The Path of a Saxon Pagan (Llewellyn, 2009) and Wyrdworking: The Path of a Saxon Sorcerer (Llewellyn, 2011), as well as (with Taren Martin) The Martin Rune Deck, Wolf Den Publishing, 2011. Mr. Albertsson chatted with our interviewer in a wide-ranging conversation during the spring of 2011.

Be sure to read the sidebar: My Dear Lord written by the author.

 

The Saxon Sorcery of Alaric Albertsson

How did you first come to Paganism?

I’ve been Pagan for a long time (over forty years!), some times that can seem embarrassingly long, but I try to reassure people that I don’t make a big deal out of it. “This just means I’m old,” I tell them, “It doesn’t mean I’m really great or anything, I’m just an old man.”

When I was young, I was a devout Presbyterian. But in my mid-teens, I found that path had stopped working for me, and left the church. Doing so left a big void in my life; but fortunately not too long after, I ran into some people who called themselves “polytheists” (nobody used the word Pagan back then!) These people also described themselves as Witches. Although I didn’t know it then, the deities that they called “the Witch gods” were actually Anglo-Saxon deities. Of course, at that time my knowledge of non- Christian religion was pretty much limited to the Greek mythology I’d had in high school English class, so I just went with the terminology that my new friends used.

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