On Walking a Blended Path of Filianism & Heathenry

 Dear Reader,

If you follow me on Tumblr, you may have noticed that I put up daily prayers for both Filianism and Heathenry. This is because I practice both faiths, albeit in a fashion that would confound purists of both faiths and half the pagan community at large (I suspect). The variant of Heathenry that I practice looks completely different from mainstream Heathenry. I honor the gods and have a personal relationship with several of them. I don't hold great rituals in their honor because I have children that would make it problematic. I do, however, make a point of daily worship practices, like giving an offering of coffee every morning and expressing my gratitude for their presence in my life.

I don't hold that Ragnarok is the end of all things. It is a time of major transition and those are typically accompanied by crisis on multiple levels. It is, however, not an ending but a 'reboot' of the entire cycle. It is my sincere belief that time is cyclical. It is equally my sincere belief that we do not die and just hang out in Helheim (or which ever hall your spirit goes to) until Ragnarok. I believe that we reincarnate. Our time in the realms of death are as temporary as our time upon Midgard. When we die in Midgard, we are born in the realms of death and experience something akin to life there.

Now, this may sound somewhat familiar to the Filianists in my readership. The Dark Mother's in-breathing of all existence is not the end of all things but a 'reboot'. All shall begin again as the Dark Mother exhales and the Bright Mother begins her dance of joyful creation. Death is not a permanent thing in Filianism. Some remain upon the Wheel of Existence until they have learned the lessons their soul requires to progress onward to the next realm of existence, a realm of pure spirit. One may asked in all of this how do I reconcile the holy Daughter with the plethora of other gods, how do I reconcile Déa at large with this pantheon that is very different.

It is my belief that all gods of all pantheons are Déa's children. They are present in this world and the spiritual realms as harbingers of the Daughter and as co-creators of existence. The tales of the end of existence that come with each faith speak of the cosmic cycle of rebirth. They are as dependent upon the Daughter for reunion with Déa as we are, for they descended into creation to watch over and await the coming of the Daughter. If it were not for the salvific nature of the Daughter, Ragarok would truly be the end of all things. 

Then there is the thorny (pun not intended) question of the Dark Queen. It is my belief that the realms of death, upon the defeat of the Dark Queen were put into the care of the various deities of death to ensure that she could not regain her stronghold. It is my believe that there are various levels to the realms of death, some parallel to each other, some that are not. Down, at the deepest level of the realms of death is the place where soul death happens because it is the place of khear's greatest. That place is the Dark Queen's stronghold. 

The deities of death hold their respective realms against the Dark Queen's infiltration to prevent her from returning to her stronghold before it is the time for all things to begin again. The Dark Queen, her court and her servants are scattered through out this world because it is closest to the realms of death due to the immanent mortality of all in this world. When the Dark Mother gathers in all of existence, the Dark Queen will be swept up in the process and restored to her primordial form. The Snake of Filianism will return to its amorphous form. All shall return to as it was during the era of potential before the Bright Mother engaged in creation.