"Hail Thor! The priestess and her heathens, standing in a circle, raised their mead-filled horns. We were gathered in an unassuming spot in a pine forest outside Stockholm. This was our temple, and the large, mossy stone before us was our altar. I was relieved to see that the animal-based sacrificial offerings were long-dead and highly processed. A bearded man reached his tattooed arms into his backpack and raised a red, horseshoe-shaped sausage to the sky."
"The priestess offered me a handful of flaxseeds to toss on the altar, which was overflowing with gifts, apples and bottles of homemade mead. A dozen people had gathered for an autumn sacrifice to summon Thor, the hammer-wielding Norse god of harvests and storms. Many pleaded for him to bring rain, after a summer plagued with drought. Others asked for the strength to battle unemployment, or for the recovery of a sick mother."
A diverse group gathered in a pine forest outside Stockholm for an autumn sacrifice to Thor, using a mossy stone as an altar and offering processed animal products, mead, apples, flaxseeds, sausages and themed cookies. The ceremony included a priestess, a bearded man, a goth woman, middle-aged couples and others seeking rain after drought, employment strength, or a sick relative's recovery. The event felt relaxed and mainstream, with ordinary-looking attendees. A secular newcomer attended after social media algorithms repeatedly recommended local neo-Norse pagan events, noting the movement's unexpected visibility.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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