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Both online and in person, having friends, groups, kindreds, forums, communities, and events specific to Asatru and Heathenry can be important for modern heathens. It's also great to meet up with other heathens at pagan events such as Pagan Pride Day, festivals, events sponsored by bookstores, etc., and at non-religious events that have local pagan or heathen groups participating such as local renfaires, heritage days, etc.

Some events and groups have returned to in-person gatherings even though the pandemic is not over. Some groups, events, and individuals have decided to stick with online participation, which opens up events to international, disabled, people who can't take the entire time off work, and others besides those avoiding communicable diseases. Some groups and events do online only or online plus in-person options. 

Long time readers of my blog remember me writing about my 2 weddings during the year I was writing Some Say Fire, my unpublishable monstrosity based on heathen mythology. The 2 weddings both took place in that liminal space between sleep and waking, the first one to Loki / Lodhur and the second one to Odin and Honir. Neither time did I actually make wedding vows except to say "Yes, I want that." Neither time did I plan or expect them to happen. Both had been on a 28th of the month and I considered that my month-a-versary. Well, now I have an actual anniversary, and I didn't plan it that way lol. The gods know I sometimes just have random thoughts in my head and they've pretty much just ignored most of them over the years, but they didn't ignore it this time.

By the way, since this blog is Gnosis Diary and I was asked to write it to show what it feels like to do heathenry, I try to write about gnosis here at least occasionally, among my other topics. So anyway, on to the rest of my story.

A Nokian, or Nokean, is someone who opposes Lokeans. A Lokean is a type of pagan or heathen whose personal religious practice is primarily about following Loki. Some Lokeans also consider themselves to be Asatruars, or Wiccans, or other sects, and some don't. Asatru includes Loki in its traditional list of gods, so many Asatruars who do not consider themselves Lokeans do honor Loki, just not as their primary deity.

A Nokian actively tries to get people who follow or honor Loki to leave public heathen spaces or stay silent within them, and tries to convince people who are seeking a religious path that Loki isn't an acceptable part of heathenry. While Lokeanism is a religious practice, Nokeanism is a form of proselytizing. People who simply prefer not to acknowledge Loki and don't have a relationship with him are not Nokeans; they are just ordinary heathens, pagans, etc. who don't have Loki in their personal or group practice. A Nokean is someone who tries to control the personal and group practice of other people to get others to exclude Loki.

Gods, there really are pagans everywhere.

Urglaawe (pronounced OOR-glaw-veh) means “Primal Faith” in Pennsylvania “Dutch.” It's a New World Heathenry from the land of hex signs and powwowing.

Between 1683 and the War of 1812, tens of thousands of German-speaking migrants from the Palatinate and Switzerland, along with significant numbers of Silesians, Moravians, and Swabians, settled in the New World. Initially spearheaded by Mennonites and Amish seeking religious freedom, later waves consisted primarily of economic migrants. These are the Deitsch, who through the following 300 years have managed to maintain their own distinctive language and culture.

Die Deitscherei—literally, “Dutchery”—is their name for Pennsylvania Dutch Country in what is now eastern Pennsylvania and contiguous parts of Maryland and Delaware, but die Breet-Deitscherei (“Greater Dutchery”) includes those non-contiguous areas of Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ontario with significant enclaves that self-identify as Deitsch.

Well folks, there's Heide—heathens—in Deitschland.

Religious freedom is something that a lot of people talk about. But what are the actual battles being fought for those whose religious freedom is most impeded? Today for Fiery Tuesday we take a look at different ways in which minorities in the United States are fighting for their civil rights, from Pagans to Muslims to American Indians / Native Americans. Take a look!