Pagan Religious Freedoms Under Threat in U.S. Military

On By Wyrd DesignsIn current events, Northern Tradition Musings2 Comments
U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs official Emblems: Pentacle, Awen, Hammer

We fought so long, over decades, to achieve access to religious freedoms for our pagan faiths. We had to fight so our pagan military members could have access to chaplaincy support, religious materials, to hold services, and for our military dead to have the symbol of their faith on their tombstones. “The Pentacle Quest began in 1997 when Aquarian Tabernacle Church’s Archpriest Rev. Pete Pathfinder Davis applied to have the pentacle added to the Veterans Affairs list of religious symbols available for use on memorial markers“. Also in the same year, the first ever Pagan faith group was recognized in the US military at Fort Hood in Texas. The next few years has the group at the center of controversy. In 1999, Rev. Jack Harvey of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Killeen (Texas) holds a Labor Day Anti-Witch March because of the press around the group in Fort Hood. The march targeted nearby communities starting in Killeen with a terminus at the metaphysical store: New Age Connection, in Copperas Cove. According to an article by Barry Schlachter, August 7, 1999, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Rev. Harvey said of the Wiccans “I’ve heard they drink blood, eat babies. They have fires, they probably cook them. This is unbelievably wrong,” The article goes on to state he’s directed a member of his church to carry a gun during services — “in case a warlock tries to grab one of our kids.”

Future U.S. President George W. Bush while still governor of Texas makes disparaging remarks about the pagans at Fort Hood, broadcasted nationally on ABC’s Good Morning America. The magazine Texas Monthly did an article called ‘Witch Hunt’ on the controversy. In 1999, U.S. Senators join in the witch hunt when Senator Bob Barr (Rep., Georgia), and Senator Strom Thurmond, (Rep., South Carolina) attacked the group.     

“What’s next?” Barr wrote in a letter to Lt. Gen. Leon S. Leponte, the base commander. “Will armored divisions be forced to travel with sacrificial animals for Satanic rituals? Will Rastafarians demand the inclusion of ritualistic marijuana cigarettes in their rations?” (Source: Lady Liberty League News #6 Wednesday, September 1, 1999, archived at TeenWitch)

Meanwhile the article goes on to state that conservative religious groups tried to have Wiccan services banned at Fort Hood, by promoting a boycott against enlistment and re-enlistment. And Senator Barr tried to prevent “Wiccans from using base facilities or getting Army-supplied candles” in the military authorization bill, which thankfully never made it out of committee. During this time, from 1999-2000, there were multiple hate incidents of vandalism of the open circle area at Fort Hood.

Governor Bush’s remarks would have repercussions later once he became president in 2001. Jason Pitzl-Waters wrote “Ultimately, it wasn’t internal “debate” that won Wiccan veterans the pentacle, it was the discovery of damning evidence by Americans United” among the discovery in the litigation:

“Lawyers familiar with the case said that some documents suggested the VA had political motives for rejecting the pentacle … During his first campaign for president, then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush told ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ in 1999 that he was opposed to Wiccan soldiers practicing their faith at Fort Hood, Tex. ‘I don’t think witchcraft is a religion, and I wish the military would take another look at this and decide against it,’ he said. Lynn, of Americans United, said references to Bush’s remarks appeared in memos and e-mails within the VA. ‘One of the saddest things is to learn that this wasn’t just a bureaucratic nightmare, there was a certain amount of bigotry,’ he said. ‘The president’s wishes were interpreted at a pretty high level. . . . It became a political judgment, not a constitutional judgment.’” – Alan Cooperman, April 24, 2007, Washington Post.

This meant that (as the Wild Hunt’s Jason Jason Pitzl-Waters wrote for Patheos that “for nine years the VA ignored filed requests, “lost” applications, punted, and stalled.” Eventually there’s movement in 2006 with lawsuits working their way through the courts to fight for the pentacle, by 2007 the courts after multiple lawsuits from Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union upheld the right for the pentacle added on their tombstones. There was a national dedication by Circle Sanctuary in Washington, D.C. held on July 4th of that year at Arlington National Cemetery for one of the first graves to receive the pentacle. The Mjolnir (Thor’s Hammer, a symbol sacred to Heathenry/Asatru/etc.) wouldn’t be added to the approved symbols at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs until 2013.

The VA’s approval of the Wiccan pentacle didn’t come about because of internal theological debate, it came about because Wiccans, Pagans, and their allies, fought hard for it. Litigation ended up being necessary, and it was only after litigation was filed that we saw any forward progress from the VA. Any other interpretation belittles the decade of activism, hard work, and struggle that occurred. Considering the fact that some emblems were approved in the space of two weeks during the ten years the Wiccan pentacle was being considered ,“It took a little while, I’ll say that,” may set a new standard for understatement. –Jason Pitzl-Waters, Patheos, Wild Hunt, January 31, 2012)

In 2014, we began to see the next wave of progress when Asatru and Heathen were added to the recognized religious preference list of the US Air Force. It had looked like it was getting added to the Army, too in early 2015. But despite hearing it was internally approved just needed a week or two to go through internal processes, suddenly it was in limbo and would remain so for more years. In 2016 pagans at Fort Hood were locked out of their circle (sacred meeting space). In 2016 Open Halls Project (with some support from the Norse Mythology Blog) released a Heathen Resource Guide for Chaplains. Finally in 2017 Asatru, Heathenry, Druidism were added to the Department of Defense Belief Codes for all U.S. military branches. In 2017, the Awen was added to the approved religious symbols list for veteran tombstones (the quest for that symbol began in 2004).

Then In 2018, the Army granted a beard waiver as a religious accommodation to an Army soldier. In 2019, Navy Times reported on Norse Pagan religious service on board the John C. Stennis aircraft carrier.

Now all those hard fought gains for religious freedom are being eroded and under threat by the current administration.

Pentagon Targets ‘New Age’ Spirituality in Sweeping Chaplain Corps Changes
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Dan Halloran – Arrested on Child Pornography

On By Wyrd DesignsIn current eventsLeave a comment

There is a German word, Backpfeifengesicht, essentially that someone has a punchable face.
The first time I met Dan Halloran that’s what my instinct said he needed. He wasn’t rude to me, merely a standard introduction, but my instincts were screaming at me. I avoided him as much as I could following that encounter, he was smarmy, oozing charm like a snake oil salesman. Standing up like a gracious lord in ritual sumble saying he was gifting amber to the women, but it was all cheap plastic. I recall the way he looked at certain women in attendance, the way creeps look lewdly at a woman. I wasn’t surprised he went into politics, nor for any of the scandals that followed.

For those unfamiliar with Halloran, he was a leader of a Theodish group revolving around Norman culture, and I attended various gatherings where he was also in attendance on multiple occasions.

New York’s Village Voice lampooned him for his religion when he ran and served 2010-2013 on New York City Council. He has been to date the highest placed heathen elected into public office in the United States, and one of the highest profile U.S. pagan politicians, too. He made an unsuccessful attempt to run for election for the U.S. Congress in 2012, he dragged heathenry through the muck as later controversies and criminal acts related to bribery and corruption , and at least one extramarital affair with a staffer (the stereotypical old politician with the age gapped relationship with a young adult woman). Plus, there was inappropriate behavior between him with a woman in his religious circle, that led to him being flogged in punishment by his group. He was convicted in 2014 in relation to the bribery scandal, and was still a felon in federal prison when he was released early during the pandemic, and in his temerity upon his release he updated his Facebook saying he was a “freed political prisoner”. He has now been arrested on child pornography charges.

Dan Halloran, disgraced Théodish leader and NYC councilman, found with child pornography


He is a nithling. May justice find him, and may the Gods and Goddesses make a path to safety and healing for the children being exploited.

A Sampling of Past News Coverage

Dan Halloran photos from Village Voice "America's Top Heathen" article, and photo from political rally during his congressional campaign.
Dan Halloran photos from Village Voice “America’s Top Heathen” article, and photo from political rally during his congressional campaign.

The Heathen connection to Groundhog Day:    

On By Wyrd DesignsIn The Holy TidesLeave a comment

For those unfamiliar with the custom of Groundhog Day (and I’m not referring to the movie), the folk tradition comes from the Pennsylvania Dutch. Despite the name being ‘Dutch” these weren’t settlers from the Netherlands, but rather they were Deutsch, or German. Specifically speaking their own dialect called Deitsch with language ties to West Central Germany. English speaking Americans misheard this and thought it was ‘Dutch’ and the name stuck. There’s a lot of interesting folk traditions from these European settlers, and if you look among those Pennsylvania Dutch traditions you’d find an array of folk traditions including hex signs, runes, and folk stories about gods–like Wudan (Odin), Dunner (Thor), Holle (Frau Holle or Holda) etc. This presence of folk tradition has given us another branch (albeit it far less known) within the Northern Tradition umbrella: Urglaawe.

The settlers we Americans call the Pennsylvania Dutch have a tradition of using a groundhog as a weather predictor for when spring would arrive. The custom back in Europe where these settlers originated seemed to have used the badger (dachs) instead. Knowing when spring might arrive would be a very important indicator for people to know when to make ready the fields and, more importantly, plant the crops for the year ahead. Too early, and you’d lose the crop to winter’s frosty bite.

So this folk tradition operated as a nature based omen as a sort of farmer’s almanac. While there is no scientific evidence that this custom has any true accuracy, I think the key takeaway here is the timing of early February and the fact this custom ties to the importance of agricultural timing while balancing the change of the seasons to make ready for the year ahead.

Glad Yule and Modraniht

On By Wyrd DesignsIn Ancestor Worship, prayers, invocations, rituals & songs, The Holy Tides1 Comment

For me, I chose to observe Mother’s Night tonight at sunset, which is a rite for the veneration of the Disir and a vigil through the dark night, as the Anglo-Saxon New Year begins.

Modraniht Vigil by Meta AI


To learn about our Yuletide, I have an older article exploring this holy tide, from what we know historically, folk tradition, and how heathens might choose to celebrate it today. In Hilding Celander’s book Nordisk Jul, we learn of one other place where the night is called Mother’s Night, or more specifically Modernatten (from Ostergotland, Sweden) celebrated on Lussinatt, while these are very regional observances, I think we might be able to take some level of inspiration from the vigil of Lussevaka during Lussinatt. For a suggestion of a Mother’s Night ritual making use of the yule fire, hop over to this other older article that details a modern crafted ritual.

Bede’s De Temporum Ratione tells us the Anglo-Saxon celebration of Módraniht, (or Mother’s Night) acted as the start of a New Year, during what had become Christmas time. Little Is known about the celebration except that Bede also informs us that a night long vigil was part of it. Scholars and heathens alike think that while this was a regional celebration among the Anglo-Saxons in England, it taps into an overarching tradition of veneration to the Germanic Matronae and Disir we see in over 1000 votive altars, and in descriptions of both dísablót and Disting. Graphic features a photo of the altar to the Matronae Aufaniae.
altar to the Matronae Aufaniae.

A Mother’s Night Prayer

Let us honor our Mothers, who through joy and suffering endured so that their children, and their children’s children might not just survive but thrive.

I call to our mothers, the light and the life bringers who have guided us from darkness onto the paths our ancestors have traveled, and now the paths we walk down.

All-mother Frigga I hail thee, and I thank thee. For the immeasurable blessings, your guidance and your wisdom. You see all things, even if I may not know them. May your counsel follow me into the year ahead and be the compass from which I navigate.

May the blessings of the Disir be upon you all.

–by Wyrd Dottir

May your Yule be one of peace and joy. Soak in the sacred, be mindful, allow it to be restorative and blessed with the company and laughter of friends and family.

I will leave you with the song From Before Us by Jax the Bard. I find the lyrics fitting for Modraniht, and they’re listed below.

Deep in my bones
Stirs through my veins
I hear the voices from long ago

Mothers of old
Calling my name
Singing me secrets I somehow know

We are the power in all of their plight
Strong as the trees in the forest
We are their legacy born from their fight
Honoring those from before us

Sure as the moon
Pulling the tide
I feel the pull from a distant past

All of my strength
Comes from inside
Claiming the power they gave at last

We are the power in all of their plight
Strong as the trees in the forest
We are their legacy born from their fight
Honoring those from before us

Together we sing
Loud and long
To call on the mothers that bore us here

Pillars of life
Making us strong
Showing us how we can persevere

We are the power in all of their plight
Strong as the trees in the forest
We are their legacy born from their fight
Honoring those from before us

I feel the ties
Ancestral bond
I know the women that fought for me

I hear their cries
They are not gone
They are alive in the air I breathe

We are the power in all of their plight
Strong as the trees in the forest
We are their legacy born from their fight
Honoring those from before us

This is my voice
This is my vow
This is my promise to sisters of mine

I will not bend
I will not bow
You will not break my foremothers design

We are the power in all of their plight
Strong as the trees in the forest
We are their legacy born from their fight
Honoring those from before us

WordPress AI

Still I Rise

On By Wyrd DesignsIn current events2 Comments

In Texas, the ramifications of the recent U.S. general election are far more immediate. We’ve already been pushed at the state level into an extreme and I was desperately hoping for a federal level counterbalance. In other parts of the USA, the scary aspects are more removed. That’s normal (albeit frustrating). We all have different lives, different concerns, and different perspectives. Politics has always been a mix of those who hate it all and don’t bother, those who fall for bias or propaganda, those who fail to research the issues, the records of candidates, and who fail to employ critical analysis versus those who do. There have always been those who vote in blind loyalty for one party over another, those who vote morals over ideas, others who vote an issue and ignore the morals, and others who if their life seems bad, simply vote the reverse of what party is in the Presidency. Folks also vote a certain way because one issue is more important and immediate to them than any other.

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Correcting Common Misconceptions – Freyja

On By Wyrd DesignsIn Exploring Our Gods and Goddesses, Understanding the Terms11 Comments

I am human, and therefore like so many others I have my personal ticks and pet peeves. Among them are common misconceptions that somehow seem to multiply faster than dirty laundry & dust bunnies, or the spam messages in my inbox. The Goddess Freyja seems quite prone to a lot of errata, I imagine in part because not only is she revered within different expressions of heathenry, but she tends to be popular among general paganism and forms of wicca as well.

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AI writes better prayers than most heathens.

On By Wyrd DesignsIn current events, Northern Tradition Musings2 Comments

It’s official, AI writes better prayers than the overwhelming majority of heathens who can barely say “Hail [theonymn]”.

I was experimenting with Instagram’s AI creator (which really is the AI for all of parent company META). It allows you to create a persona you can interact with. After creating it, I was curious to see how in/accurate it would be. I had low expectations.

Continue reading “AI writes better prayers than most heathens.” →

Sun Worship in Northern Europe – Horses, Boats and More

On By Wyrd DesignsIn Northern Tradition Musings, The Holy Tides1 Comment

As Heathens the times we most tend to look at in the past are the historical periods where we have intersection between textual manuscripts and archaeological finds, starting from the Pre-Roman Iron Age (500-1 BCE) where Caesar writes of the battles with Germanic tribes, through the Roman Iron-Age (1-400 CE), then into the Germanic Migration Period (which peaked around 375-568 CE) culminating in the Viking Age (793–1066 CE), and sometimes even post conversion examined into the late Medieval period. But examining preceding time periods in the region can give us some insights even though culture and religious practices changed. So there can be some value in looking at the adjacent Iron Age Cultures like Jastorf Culture (6th C BCE – 1st C BCE) and La Tene Culture (450 BCE – 1 BCE), and preceding Bronze Age cultures like the Hallstatt culture (1200 – 450 BCE, which we associate more with later Proto-Celtic culture), and the Nordic Bronze Age (1750–500 BCE).

The Nordic Bronze Age (1750 BCE – 500 BCE) was characterized by a significant and highly prevalent sun cultus, many see in the Trundholm Sun Chariot archaeological find an echo to similar stories within the Indo-European umbrella, but what is more recognizable for Heathens is what appears to be an earlier iteration we later recognize as the story of Sunna and her chariot within Norse cosmological myths. So you can look even further back to try to trace certain threads of belief and praxis (such as examining the wagon processionals).

While Julius Caesar tells us in Chapter 21 of De Bello Gallico (published sometime in the window of 58-49 BCE), that the Germanic tribes worshipped the Sun. It’d be about 150 years before we have our earliest recordings of sun lore from the first century Roman historian Tacitus’ Germania (98 CE), that states “beyond the Suiones [tribe]” a sea was located where the sun maintained its brilliance from its rising to its sunset, and that “[the] popular belief” was that “the sound of its emergence was audible” and “the form of its horses visible”. Among Northern Germanic cultures we see the story reverberate.

But the concept of the sun with horses dates even further back, the Nordic Bronze Age (1700–500 BCE) seems to have focused heavily around a sun cultus. We have an inscribed glyph of a horse with sun on a razor found at Neder Hvolris near Viborg, and a petroglyph at Fossum (near Tanum). Plus, there’s other figural inscriptions and glyphs too.

Sun Horse on a razor found at Neder Hvolris.
Sun Horse on a razor found at Neder Hvolris (Denmark).
Sun Horse petroglyph in field 262 at Fossum
Sun Horse petroglyph in field 262 at Fossum (near Tanum, Sweden)
Continue reading “Sun Worship in Northern Europe – Horses, Boats and More” →

Diana Paxson Ousted from The Troth

On By Wyrd DesignsIn current events8 Comments

Diana Paxson (b 1943) is a well known author of fictional Historic and Mythic Fantasy, as well as religious and magicoreligious books written to both a pagan and heathen audience. In addition to her prolific writing, Diana also is the founder of the Society of Creative Anachronism, an elder in The Troth, and was a former First Officer in the Covenant of the Goddess. Per The Wild Hunt her time with the Troth began when she joined in 1991, became an elder in 1993 and she served on the board of Directors (known as the High Rede) and Steerswoman (functionally the Chief Executive Officer, or President) for three years. “She has been currently serving the Troth as editor of the Troth’s journal, Idunna, and Coordinator of the Clergy Training program.” She recently survived a knife attack.

News outlet the Wild Hunt provides some basic background to the matter at hand. Paxson was friends with science fiction writer of The Mists of Avalon series, Marion Zimmer Bradley and her family (including her controversial husband Walter Breen, and her children), regularly spent time together. Paxson would later write books in MZBs Avalon series. Bradley’s daughter, Moira Greyland, claimed sexual abuse from her father Walter Breen (who would later die incarcerated as a convicted child sex offender) and that her mother MZB molested her as well and collaborated with Breen on abusing multiple child victims.

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Exploring Our Gods and Goddesses – Coventina

On By Wyrd DesignsIn Exploring Our Gods and Goddesses, prayers, invocations, rituals & songs20 Comments

Often times Heathens focus primarily on Viking Age Scandinavia, followed by Anglo-Saxon England, and more rarely continental Germanic Europe during the Migration Era, and the earlier Iron Age during contact with the Roman Empire. But they tend to overlook Roman occupied England for exploration. Yet there’s a wealth of information to be found that can show insights into who heathens were venerating. There is no such thing as a pure Germanic heathen religion, polytheism allows for deities from other traditions to be syncretized by others. Through war, trade, alliance, slavery, and personal interactions there’s always levels of blending and interaction. As such, to my mind, regardless of the origin of a deity, if they’re worshipped (especially on a documented scale by ancient Germanic heathens), those deities can and should become part of our heathen tradition too. With the understanding that to truly understand any power, learning as much as you can about the mysteries and cosmological nuance the deity had in his or her culture of origin is necessary to understand the deity.

Depiction of the Goddess Coventina upon a votive altar to her. RIB 1534.

As part of my explorations into Roman era Britain, we see Germanic worship to Coventina, a local Romano-British Goddess. We know thanks to numerous inscriptions found in the archaeological record that she was worshipped by Roman military auxiliary units from specific Germanic tribes (Batavians, Frisiavones, Cuberni) as attested along Hadrian’s Wall. These were erected by Germanic soldiers serving in the Roman Army. We have other inscriptions to the Goddess that came from individuals, including a couple we know were also Germanic heathens (Maduhus, Crotus). While we only definitively know she was worshipped at Fort Brocolitia there are some other sites that have been theorized to be connected with her too.

Continue reading “Exploring Our Gods and Goddesses – Coventina” →