Categories

The Metonic Cycle

Posted by Byron Pendason on October 21, 2021 CE, in Heathenry, Reconstruction, Anglo-saxon calendar

As per my Reconstructed Anglo-Saxon Calendar page, my method for determining if a year is a leap year is to count how many new moons there are between the previous year's winter solstice and the current years winter solstice. If there are thirteen new moons, it is a leap year. If there are only twelve new moons, it's a regular year. In leap years, you add the extra month in between Ærra Liðe and Æfterra Liðe. This keeps Ġēola (Yule, which Bede identifies as the winter solstice) in its proper place in the final month of the year.This isn't the...

Tīw- the Anglo-Saxon Sky Father, God of Justice and War

Posted by Byron Pendason on October 6, 2021 CE, in Heathen worldview, Heathenry, Reconstruction

Tīw was obviously an important god to the Anglo-Saxons. They named a day of the week after him, and several places in England were named after him. Tacitus lists him as one of the three most important gods (along with Wōden and Thunor) to the Germanic tribes that would later become the Anglo-Saxons. So it may be surprising that we know so little about him. By the time the Norse myths had been written down, his Norse cognate Tyr barely ranked much mention beyond the stories where Fenrir bites off his hand and him accompanying Thor to Tīw's Jotunn father....

Eostre- the Anglo-Saxon Dawn Goddess

Posted by Byron Pendason on April 16, 2021 CE, in Heathen worldview, Heathen worship, Heathenry, Reconstruction

According to my reconstructed Anglo-Saxon Calendar, the fourth month, Ēosturmōnaþ, began last Tuesday (April 13, 2021). Bede tells us it was named after the goddess Ēostre. Like Hreðe, the only thing we know about Ēostre from attested sources is her name and the month she was worshipped in (roughly corresponding to the month of April), and again Bede is our source. He tells us in chapter fifteen of The Reckoning of Time:

I have signed the Declaration of Deeds

Posted by Byron Pendason on March 10, 2021 CE, in Heathenry, Politics, Updates

As long as I have been a Heathen, Heathens have been complaining about Declaration 127. Rightfully so, as it is entirely inadequate as an inclusivity statement. It's a condemnation of a racist organization- the Asatru Folk Assembly. That is admirable, but it's not an inclusivity statement. Inclusive Heathenry has been trying to shoe horn into something it's not.Beofeld, author of the Anglo-Saxon Heathen blog Wind in the Worldtree, has written such an inclusivity and non-bigotry statement. Called the Declaration of Deeds, it makes clear that there is no basis in Heathenry for prejudice based upon things outside one's control such...

RuneTyper 0.3.1 released

Posted by Byron Pendason on February 8, 2021 CE, in Runes, Updates

I've added an Old English keyboard to RuneTyper. In addition to all the runes, it should have all the letters you need to type in Old English, including Ƿ, Þ, Ᵹ, Ð, Æ, ⁊, and Ꝥ. It has two function keys: SH toggles between capitalising and lowercase the letters, while ALT adds the bars over vowels to make them long, and the dots over c and g. Check out the screenshot below:It still has all the features of the older versions as well, with: Keyboards for the Anglo-Saxon runes (Futhorc), Elder Futhark, and the two variants of Younger Futhark (Long...