What are the Origins of this Website?

Back in 2007, when I was new to Heathenry, I had not met any other Heathens or even communicated with any of them yet.  I had searched for Heathens in my local area, but had found none.  I had discovered that a Heathen group had once existed in Kansas City, but the group and its website were defunct.  I had sent off emails to various national organizations without receiving any response.  For about two months every attempt I made to contact other Heathens fell short of success.  While I had not given up hope, I did begin to consider the idea that perhaps I was on my own as I pursued knowledge about our Folkway.

It was during that time period that I thought it would be useful to collect everything I could find about Asatru or Heathenry on the internet, and achive it in one place.  If I found a blot or faining I liked, I would archive it.  Cool artwork of our Gods and Goddesses?  Archive it.  A great article about a specific religious topic?  Archive it.  A poem or song dedicated to the Aesir or Vanir?  Archive it.  To some degree, I saw this collection of material and archiving it all on a resource webiste as a way for me to show my loyalty to the Gods and Goddesses.  It was during this time that I began putting together the on-line Temple Library and the Asatru Artwork Archive, which are still features of our website.


Over time, I did find other Heathens in my local area.  We began working together to create a local kindred called Jotun's Bane Kindred.  We eventually planned and hosted a regional gathering for six years called Lightning Across the Plains.  At one point, we began a community-building effort called the Heartland Hof & Hall.  All through these efforts, the Temple of Our Heathen Gods resource website has grown and evolved to fit the current need.  At the time of this writing, Heathens all over the world access and use this resource website on a daily basis.

What Are the Purposes of this Website?

The Temple of Our Heathen Gods resource website has always served two important purposes.

First, it is meant to be a resource for heathens everywhere. Our Temple Library, our Asatru Artwork Archive, our message board and other resources are all meant to assist long-time heathens, brand-new heathens, and those curious about heathenry.  All of these groups are welcome to visit and use our website and to register and participate on our message board.

Our website is used by a diverse collection of Heathens, with a wide variety of beliefs and practices, from across the globe.  We attempt to be good hosts and stewards of the information provided here on the resource website and appreciate the opportunity to get to know the many good guests that visit here.

Second, the website is the home of Jotun's Bane Kindred, a heathen kindred in the Kansas City Area. This is where we announce our open events, talk about what our kindred is accomplishing, and help with Folkbuilding efforts throughout our region. 

Third, the website is at the center of the Heartland Hof & Hall community-building efforts here in the Kansas City Area.

Fourth, the resource website and many of our efforts are aimed at providing individual heathens and local groups information, ideas, and motivation to set and reach their own goals.  We believe in the grassroots growth of Heathenry, with strong autonomous local kindreds at the heart of moving our Folkway forward.

What Don't We Want?

You will notice, that this is a free resource website established and maintained by a local kindred.  You don't have to pay to use it.  You don't have to join an organization to gain access to the resources here.  We don't tell other Heathens what to believe, what to think or say, or wish to have any power over anyone.  We don't espouse or attempt to enforce dogma within Heathenry.  As a kindred, we don't involve ourselves in the politics of personal destruction against those Heathens that differ from us in their beliefs and practices.  You won't find us airing dirty laundry or seeking to destroy others within the community.

We don't find any of those things very productive or helpful in moving Heathenry forward.

Temple of Our Heathen Gods Resource Website 2.0

In August of 2012 we began the process of reinventing and revigorating the Temple of Our Heathen Gods website.  This rebuild coincided with the 5th Anniversary of the resource website.  Since August of 2007 the backbone of the website had been a content management system called XOOPS. 

The version of XOOPS we were using had become very out-dated, was not mobile-friendly, and had its share of limitations and bugs. The "final straw" incident is rather technical in nature, but suffice it to say that our hosting company updated its service in a way that was not going to support the continuation of our website in its out-dated format.

Our first priority in constructing version 2.0 of our resource website was to ensure that we preserved and continued to provide the same resources we've always provided.

Our second priority was to make the website more welcoming and approachable for new heathens.  Our third priority was to ensure that we built version 2.0 in a modern and sustainable format that was easy to use on all platforms, including mobile devices.  And our fourth priority was to make the website easy to expand with additional resources over time.

At the time of this writing, the rebuilding of the Temple of Our Heathen Gods is complete, and we have improved and expanded the resources available here by leaps and bounds.  We've added well over a 100 books to the Temple Library, updated the website's bookstore to include free PDF downloads of every book that we publish, and made the website an excellent jumping off point for new Heathens.

We have plans for how to grow and improve our website in the months ahead.  We will work hard to ensure our resource website is useful to Asatruars and Heathens for years to come.

 

  

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