I would gladly sit at a midsummer feast, sing alongside strangers, or walk a pagan procession under the stars. What interests me is not the metaphysics of Valhalla, but the social alchemy by which a group of people can transform loneliness into belonging, and suffering into meaning.
What would I need to see? A paganism that has the confidence to shed dogma but retain ritual. A community that offers:
>Shared meals and ceremonies that turn strangers into kin.
>Seasonal festivals that reconnect us with the cycles of nature.
>Myth and art presented not as facts to be believed but as metaphors to be lived with.
>Ethical reminders (sermons, if you will) that help us face mortality, loss, pride, and despair with humility and tenderness.
If Odinists were to embrace these functions while discarding supernatural insistence, then I would gladly stand among them. For in the end, what I seek is not a god, but a framework that helps us live together with more wisdom, kindness, and perspective.
