The winter of 2017
Heathen Women United began the way many things in Heathenry begin: with people talking late into a winter night.
In January 2017 eleven women who knew one another from kindreds, festivals, and online study groups started a private conversation. They lived in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, and Australia. They belonged to different traditions and did not agree about everything. But each of them had a story the others recognized at once.
One had organized her kindred's gatherings for eight years and had never once been asked to lead a rite. One had reported a man's behavior at a festival and been told she was breaking frith by raising it. One had watched an extremist group in her region describe itself to a newspaper as the voice of the old religion. Several had seen capable women arrive in Heathenry with enthusiasm and drift quietly away within a year or two.
We kept saying the same sentence in different accents: I thought it was only happening where I live.
Maren Hollis, founding member
The founding
On Sunday, February 19, 2017, the eleven of them met by video call from nine time zones. In the old Swedish calendar that part of the year belonged to Disting, the assembly and market held alongside the sacrifice to the Disir, the female ancestral powers. The timing was not planned, but nobody present was willing to call it mere chance.
By the end of the call they had agreed on a name, on three purposes (advocacy, education, and community), and on one rule that has never changed: the organization would be open to every woman called to Heathenry, of any ancestry and any background, and it would say so in writing.
That writing became the Hearth Pledge, published in March 2017. Its nine commitments are still the only thing every member is asked to agree to.
Across the years
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2017
Formed at Disting
Eleven women in six countries form Heathen Women United on February 19. The Hearth Pledge and our first position statement, on inclusion, follow in March.
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2018
The first assembly
Members meet online for the first annual Disting and elect the first Council of Nine. The first six hearth circles begin meeting. The Statement on Women in Heathenry is adopted.
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2019
The Frith Standard and The Distaff
We publish the first edition of the Frith Standard, a model code of conduct for kindreds and gatherings, and launch our journal, The Distaff.
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2020
Many hearths, one hall
When gatherings everywhere moved online, our habit of meeting across borders became a strength. The monthly Distaff Lectures begin, and membership doubles within the year.
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2021
The Fostering Program
We begin pairing newcomers with experienced members for a year of steady, friendly guidance, named for the old northern custom of fosterage.
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2022
Five winters
The second edition of the Frith Standard is adopted and translated by members into German, Norwegian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
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2024
Lore Circles
Our source-reading groups become a regular program, working through one primary text each term with a trained facilitator.
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2026
Nine winters
Our hearth circles now have members in nineteen countries. A third edition of the Frith Standard is opened to members for comment, to be voted on at our tenth Disting in February 2027.
What has not changed
We are larger than we were, but the work is the same work. We still ask who has not spoken yet. We still check our claims against the sources. We still believe that a community which honors Frigg and Freyja, the Norns and the Disir, ought to be very good at honoring the women standing in the room.
If that sounds like the Heathenry you want, there is room at the fire.