This blog is a rather quiet place. The world outside is not, hell, it seems to be on fire lately. I therefore feel that my little corner of the internet needs an update, to get by with the times.

This website has mostly been about the history of paganism in what we now call the Netherlands. I won’t stop posting about this! But besides that, I want to make this blog more of a pagan voice to join the other voices, which is much needed. I may be small, but many small voices can still make an impressive choir. So yes, for people who didn’t realize this yet, this blog is by a pagan, about pagan (related) subjects.

For a long time I was a bit frustrated with many witches and pagans, who seem to be mostly interested in learning what Vikings did a thousand years ago or what crystal to use during a full moon. Sometimes it seems more like fleeing away in a fantasy world than actually being a part of this world and adding, however little, to the grander scheme of things. There is certainly a time and place for just doing what the heck you want and leaving the world behind for a while. But, how do witches, pagans and heathens make our ideas and philosophies more relevant? Of course there have always been shining examples such as Starhawk and the Reclaiming Movement, who are still doing beautiful work.

Happily, there are many new(ish) initiatives that are really gaining traction. Two examples, one from the Netherlands and one from abroad:

Examples:

• Heksenmonument, or ‘Witch monument’. This movement was started some years ago by a foundation, one of its founders being Susan Smit, who is a well known writer and witch in the Netherlands. It is part of a broader European movement to recognize the victims of the witch trials. I attended one of the many gatherings, which you can read about here. The movement is still going strong, and it has been announced that there will be an actual monument in Roermond, a Dutch city where witch trials took place.
• Nordic animism and the raven flag. I learned about Rune Rasmussen and his ideas about Nordic animism through his Spotify channel. One of the many interesting things he is doing is reviving an ancient heathen symbol, the raven flag. In our days and in the tradition of Nordic animism the raven flag is used as a symbol in the northern hemisphere to connect us with the land again, and to reclaim the raven as a totem.

This here website wants to add to this movement, in my own way: by giving information about my part of the world that is otherwise hardly available if you can’t read Dutch or don’t live here. Because I think history is important. Ideally, we learn from our past to do better in the future. What I am not is a traditionalist. I am not interested in resurrecting old ideas and practices simply because our pagan ancestors (supposedly) did the same 2000 years ago.

This website will go a bit more in the direction of not just providing information, but also giving inspiration. I will write more about things that inspire me, and hopefully other people too: nature and environmental movements, emancipation (mostly about sex and gender, since this really gets my fire going), of course modern paganism, heathenism and witchcraft – and the way all these ideas are expressed in writing, music and visual arts.

Honestly I wish that I could be busy with this all day every day, but the reality is that this is a labour of love which I try to keep alive in between work, social live and all that stuff…That said I do hope to keep the flame burning, together with many of you!