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In the news: Accused criminal brings up Odinism as a defense. 

This post is a summary of recent media coverage of terms of interest to Asatru, Heathen, and Pagan readers. These terms include Odinism, Norse Paganism, Asatru, Heathenism, Runes, Odin, and other terms. One source only mentions Odinism and Runes, the two terms used by the accused criminal.  Another source also mentions other Heathen and Pagan religions, pointing out that Odinism is condemned by other Heathen religions.

In the Ariadne's Tribe sacred calendar, we've just made our way through the Mysteries and are awaiting the arrival of the Autumn Equinox this Saturday, 23 September.

What does this date signify in our sacred calendar?

Life changes us as we go through it, day by day and year by year. Sometimes those changes fall under the umbrella of Big Official Life Changes that we already have rituals for in the modern western world: graduation, marriage, funerals.

But sometimes those changes don't have common, expected ceremonies associated with them. I've filled in some of those gaps in the pages of Ariadne's Thread, providing rites for coming of age, welcoming a new child into the family, blessing a new home, and more.

Recently, it occurred to me that when I speak with the gods, and they speak back to me, they are using my brain to communicate with me, so they use whatever they find in my brain. I speak to them in my native language, English, and they speak back in English. Or, they might speak in symbols with which I am familiar, and therefore may understand. They speak in the sounds, sights, and smells that have meaning for me. For example, I might see an animal I associate with a specific god, such as a butterfly for Sigyn. The gods don't really need to communicate with signs, since I have time set aside every day for communication with them. But they send them sometimes anyway, because it brings me joy, awe, and wonder.

Daily ritual anchors the gods in my life each day. There are rituals meant to be unique and only done once and there are rituals meant to be the same every time, and both have value. My small daily rituals are meant to be similar to each other every time. 

Food is such an important facet of human culture and a great way to connect with others. It's also a fabulous way to make a long-ago culture feel more real.

I've shared about Minoan food and cooking before, here and here. Today, I'm going to go all "ancient food blogger" on you with an actual recipe.

Considering that we can't read the Linear A records the Minoans left behind, we know a surprising amount about their religious practices. Much of it is what we would expect from a Bronze Age culture in the Mediterranean and adjacent regions: processions, libations, temples, shrines. The art and archaeology tell us as much.

But some of the Minoans' religious practices were distinct from their neighbors'.

I happened on a scientific paper saying that believing in or sensing the spirit in an "object" was abnormal. How sad it must be to live in a world full of dead things, where everything is inanimate. Worse to evangelize it and say animist religion and fairy tales are pathological.

Animist religion is not something from the dusty past. Many modern religions have animist components, not only modern revivals of pagan and heathen religions, but continuous religions too.