February Book Review: A Practical Heathen's Guide To Asatru by Patricia M. Lafayllve

This month I'm reading and reviewing a book often recommended for newcomers to Heathenry, Patricia M. Lafayllve's A Practical Heathen's Guide To Asatru. I read this book for the first time in 2015, shortly after I decided I wanted to learn more about Asatru.

As a newbie, I found it to be very helpful. I haven't read a better newbie guide anywhere. Part One was particularly useful to me, especially chapters seven through nine. The book is worth buying for those chapters alone. Lafayllve does a fantastic job of "dumbing down" complicated concepts for the beginner. If you're having trouble understanding the basics, A Practical Heathen's Guide can help.

While Part One explains the "why" of Heathenry, Part Two attempts to explain the "how". Lafayllve seems to use a format for her blots and rituals that is very similar to (perhaps inspired by) Wiccan rituals. Compared to the blots that I've attended in person, Lafayllve's tend to be longer and more complicated. In particular, she uses certain Wiccan practices during her rituals such as Calling The Corners, which feels out of place to me. I don't put much stock in the hammer sign, either, which she uses to consecrate. However, she does include some pretty prayers, so take from it what you will.

I have come back to this book occasionally for ideas on how to celebrate holidays and inspiration on writing my own rituals, but as I've gotten a more solid understanding of Heathenry I haven't needed it as much. I would recommend buying this as an ebook. Those who already have a good foundation probably won't find this book useful, but it's a solid introduction for newbies. Though I would take Part Two with a grain of salt.

If you'd like to purchase this book, you can find it here! I purchased the Kindle version for $9.99.

This year I will be reading and reviewing one Heathenry-related book per month. If you'd like to recommend a book, let me know in the comments! If you read A Practical Heathen's Guide To Asatru, let me know what you think of it!

Ready For Spring

I can really appreciate the beauty of winter time. We're in the Hungry Gap now, and living in a rural area away from the conveniences of city life, I can feel it. The produce section at our grocery store is lean, picked over, and over priced. Most of our fruits and veggies this time of year are frozen. We've had a lot of potatoes, mushrooms, and onions. My wife doesn't mind having pot roast twice a week... but I'm starting to get a little weary. Yesterday was the first sunny day in what felt like months. I snapped a quick selfie on my one-block walk to work.

[Photo features a close up of a woman with dark brown curly hair, glasses, and a dark green coat. She has a black and white scarf wrapped around her neck. She is wearing lipstick and silvery blue eye makeup. She is smiling with her mouth closed. Behind her, a bit of pavement peeks out from beneath a blanket of snow. There is snow falling in her hair.]

I cannot wait until spring. My mother-in-law gave us an awesome wagon for Yule so it will be much easier to go shopping without a car. And now that my wife is working at the gas station, we get a paycheck every Friday. Last summer we could never seem to get to the Farmer's Market to get groceries because it's only open Saturday mornings until noon, and we got paid Saturday mornings at 11am (so by the time we got our checks picked up and cashed, there was never time to walk down there).... I'm glad that this year will be different.

We're planning our garden for this year. Pretty fitting considering that Charming of the Plow is this week. So far we've decided on strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, bell peppers, green onions, and basil. We'd like to either grow or locally source 50% of our food this year. It seems strange to think about spring when there's 4 feet of snow in my yard, but I think it's going to be warm again before we know it.