Heathen Women is a quiet house for the women who already knew — who felt, long before they had language for it, that the old ways were not gone, only waiting.
This is not a blog about Vikings. It is not a costume. It is a slow, careful return to rite, rune, thread, and hearth — written by a woman, for the women who are walking the same path back.
What this place is
Heathen Women is a small, independent publication built around one idea: that the spiritual inheritance of Northern Europe belongs to the women who keep asking for it. That the völur, the seiðkonur, the shieldmaidens and the hearth-keepers were not myth — they were work. And the work is still here to do.
What you will find here:
- Rite — practical seasonal observance, altar-keeping, the eight sabbats of the wheel
- Rune — the Elder Futhark, read carefully, not as horoscope
- Saga — the women of the Eddas and sagas, named and lineage-traced
- Craft — thread, weaving, spinning, and the slow work the women were always doing
- Strength — shieldmaiden practice for the body and the mind
- Ways — the Hávamál read as daily conduct, not as museum piece
Who keeps this house
I'm Astrid Vale. I came to the old ways the long way round — through loss, through a decade of academic study of Old Norse religion, and through the quieter years after, when I stopped reading about it and started practicing it.
I'm not a priestess. I'm not selling you a certification. What I am is a woman who has been at this work long enough to have opinions about it — and careful enough to know which opinions are mine, which are the sources', and which are simply the work itself, speaking.
Every essay on Heathen Women I write by hand. Nothing here is AI-generated filler. The runes I cast are real runes on real wood. The rites I describe I have kept. The sagas I cite I have read in translation alongside the Old Norse. This is slower than content-mill work, and deliberately so.
How the house keeps itself
Heathen Women is reader-supported. No ads. No pop-ups. No autoplay anything. The house stays quiet because I pay for it to be quiet.
- The newsletter — free, irregular, and the best way to receive new essays. It goes out when there is something worth sending, not on a schedule.
- Affiliate links — on rare occasions, when a book or tool is essential to the work, I will link to it and earn a small commission. I only link to things I have actually used. Full disclosure here.
What this place is not
A few honest disclaimers, so there is no confusion:
- This is not a site about race, blood, or purity. The old ways belong to whoever shows up and does the work with respect. Anyone reading this in that other spirit is reading the wrong site.
- This is not a witchcraft shop. I will not sell you a rune kit or a ritual course. If that is what you are looking for, you will be happier elsewhere.
- This is not therapy, medical advice, or mental health treatment. The old ways sit beside those things. They do not replace them.
If you want to write back
The correspondence page is there. The newsletter is there. Or you can simply read, and keep reading, and see if the work takes.
Thank you for being here. It matters more than I will say out loud.
— Astrid