Brigid's New Heathen Moon

Hailz to the Goddess Brigid and her gifts of fire and poetry.

I've been working all day on this tribute image and in the middle of it I read an eloquent, simple and complete description of Heathenism from the BBC article Heathenry that may very well change my life.

First of all, every aspect from the high regard placed on the worship of ancestors and taking personal responsibility or the other ethics of Wyrd to the values of honesty, forthrightness, ethical obligation, frith and the lack of emphasis placed on magic and the strong sense of polytheism came together for the first time and I got shivers down my spine. These are my personal values and virtues also. Nowhere have I seen a reprint of them in their entirety in an external place, let alone belonging to a visible, established and welcoming community.

To further the wow factor I got some help clarifying the “Folkism vs. Universalism” debate at The Godhi's Hall via The Penzler Scale created by the author of that blog. It is a scale detailing the degree to which an individul Heathen or a group feels those outside of a Northern European racial heritage are welcome within the faith :

A) Necessary: “Everyone in the world should be following this as the One True Faith.”
B) Encouraged: “We should be actively recruiting people of other ethnic backgrounds.”
C) Welcomed: “We needn’t recruit them as such, but they are as welcome as anyone else.”
D) Accepted: “Because of ancestral ties, they might not have as strong a connection to these ways, but that’s their business, and I can accept their participation.”
E) Tolerated: “They’d be better off following their own ancestors’ ways, but we’ll allow them in, reluctantly.”
F) Discouraged: “Those people should be actively discouraged from taking up our ways, and sent seeking their own people’s ways instead. If they really insist, I don’t care — but they aren’t going to be a part of any group I’m in.”
G) Disallowed: “They simply cannot be a part of this faith, ever.”
H) Fought: “They must not be allowed to take up these ways — they are harmful by their very presence and/or should be gotten rid of by whatever means.”

which I'd like to help spread. Now I understand completely the problem.

I've gained such a great understanding today. And fittingly, it is Imbolc AND the new moon, making starting anything new extra special and potent, as today I feel I begin my Heathen journey. That being said, I've been informed that Thorrablót is the Heathen holiday/celebration of spring-coming complimentary to the pagan ritual of Imbolc.