Naturalistic Paganism
[Dead Ideas] “Yule-time Ghost Stories: Glámr the Icelandic Draugr, and 13 Candles” by B. T. Newberg
https://player.megaphone.fm/ADL9939592321?
Did you know ghost stories used to be told on Christmas – that is, at Yule-time? It was a tradition popular in Victorian England (think Dickens’ A Christmas Carol), but it also goes back much farther.
In fact, today’s story goes all the way back to 13th-century Iceland, a time not so distant from the Pagan days of that island. It tells of a kind of Scandinavian revenant called a draugr. You can hear clear echoes of Beowulf and such tales. And yet, this is also a Christmas story. Like most of the Norse sagas, it took final shape after the conversion to Christianity, but still preserves a clear Pagan folk flavor. This is the story of Glámr the Icelandic Draugr.
Plus, as a bonus, author Andre Sólo, who has written here before, shares an original Christmas ghost story of his own writing called 13 Candles.
You can also listen to last year’s Christmas special with ghost stories from Japan, Sweden, and Appalachia.
Finally, if you support the show, you can get your portrait drawn in the time period and culture of your choosing. Check it out at http://www.patreon.com/deadideaspod.
Have a Haunted Holidays everybody!
Dead Ideas is a podcast delivering history with humor. We explore ideas once believed to be true, but no longer. Each dead idea is explore in all its glorious eccentricity. Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, and other podcast apps, or at deadideas.net.
The Author
B. T. Newberg: Since the year 2000, B. T. has been practicing meditation and ritual from a naturalistic perspective. He has served as Education Director for the Spiritual Naturalist Society, where he created an online course in naturalistic spirituality (including Naturalistic Paganism!). His writings can also be found at Patheos and Pagan Square, as well as right here at HP.
He also hosts a podcast called Dead Ideas: The Podcast of Extinct Thoughts and Practices. It explores ideas once believed to be true, but no longer.
Professionally, he was an ESL teacher for 12 years and now works in customer service. After living in Minnesota, England, Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea, he currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife and cat.
After founding HumanisticPaganism.com in 2011 and serving as managing editor till 2013, he now serves as advising editor, and feels blessed to be a part of this community.
Happy Winter Solstice!
Happy Winter Solstice, or Yule! Of course, our spherical planet also gives us the beautiful symmetry of the Summer Solstice (Litha) being celebrated now by our Southern Hemisphere friends.
Celebrations
Some of the ways many of us are celebrating were published a few weeks ago. For me, between wrapping presents and other final preparations, it’s hard to find time to prepare this short post! Read More
Winter Solstice – Celebrating Birthing New Being by Glenys Livingstone Ph.D.
Winter Solstice is the time in our annual orbit around Sun when the dark part of the day is longest. Traditionally it has been celebrated by our Gaian ancestors in many regions of our planet as the birth of light, the birth of form. The stories of many cultures tell of the Great Mother giving birth to the Divine Child on this night. It is this Seasonal Moment for which the ancient pre-Celtic indigenous Europeans apparently built Newgrange (Bru na Boinne is its indigenous name), completing the major structures there between 3200 and 3700 B.C.E.[1]. Read More
What a Fossil can Teach us, by Kansas Stanton
A few years ago, I went camping with a buddy in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest that surrounds Mt. St. Helens, home to 2,000-year-old lava tunnels and old-growth trees of Douglas Firs. It’s a magical woodland; a real-life diorama you’d only find from Ridley Scott’s 1985 film, Legend.
Yule (the Winter Solstice) is right around the corner!
So how will you be celebrating? There are less than three weeks left before Yule (the Winter Solstice)! This is going out a week early because for many of us, this is a Sabbat that takes a little more preparation (and if you are buying gifts, the HP Gift List here might help). Whether that’s due to cultural inertia, or kid’s expectations, the importance of Stars and this Sabbat, or whatever, it’s a big deal in our family. We’ve already started the Solstice doors and decorating. If you have been doing your Winter Solstice traditions for years, if you are just starting your family and are currently building the traditions which will bring the Universe to your kids, or anything in between, I hope that the traditions and practices here are found to be useful, inspiring, or just comforting.
For me, this Sabbat was my gateway – the first holiday I added to my life after leaving all Catholic holidays behind as insignificant to our human future. I started watching our Sun rise on the Winter Solstice – a tradition linking me to millions of Ancestors across the globe for thousands of years. I found out how real, powerful, and universal this holiday is in one way or another, and how natural it was for this season to capture our human attention. The rest of the Wheel followed easily from there.
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Pagan Coming Out Day – May 2nd
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