Re-Thinking the Blot in Modern Heathenry
By Alfarrin
This short discussion on the blot, or the central form of religious sacrifice in modern Heathen belief and practice, represents a turning point or a “gravity shift” in how I personally have come to view and experience the blot. This turning point is a major one; as I will describe, it is a game changer in many ways, but chiefly in the way it has brought me from a “younger” perspective on blot to a manifestly older one. How we think of blot- what our motivations are, what metaphysics we believe are being acted out, how we conceptualize the Gods and their response to the blot- say a lot about us as modern Heathens, and it says a lot about how we conceptualize the Gods, as well.
I will begin by making the radical-seeming, and probably controversial statement that I believe the “blot”, as it is done by nearly all Heathens (with the possible exception of some Theodish folk) has some deep and troubling metaphysical problems. In a predictably symmetrical way, those problems reflect into issues regarding how many modern Heathens look at the world, the Gods, and one another.
