The Unconquered Mind: Relational Renewalism vs. Lore Purism

By Rev. Joseph F. Villalobos, Hedge Druid and Grand Librarian of the Domus Librorum

The modern resurgence of Pagan and Heathen traditions is a vibrant challenge to Western monotheism. Yet, for many who seek to walk the older paths, the intellectual journey is stalled by a simple, profound obstacle: the mind itself. After centuries of dominance, the conceptual architecture of Roman law and Abrahamic thought remains the default operating system. This tension manifests most clearly in the divide between the Lore Purist and the Relational Renewalist—a conflict that highlights the urgent necessity of Human Rewilding for truly reclaiming philosophical freedom.

The Problem of the "Christian in Viking Garb"

The figure of the "Christian in Viking Garb," or more broadly, the "Purist," embodies the failure to dismantle the underlying Linear Mindset. This mindset is defined by two inherited pillars:

     • Linear Truth: The dogmatic belief that there is a single, objective, and non-negotiable Truth (historical, theological, or scientific) that must be discovered, codified, and defended. This echoes the "One God, One Way" doctrine.

     • Binary Opposition: The need to define reality in sharp dualities (True vs. False, Orthodox vs. Heresy, Authentic vs. Inauthentic). This judgmental framework provides the Lore Purist with the intellectual tools to create and police fixed, rigid boundaries around their practice.

The Purist's engagement with Norse lore often mirrors the very structure of the Church they ostensibly reject. They treat the Eddas or Sagas not as living sources of poetic inspiration, but as a closed, unalterable canon—a fixed scripture. Their practice becomes an act of archaeological preservation rather than spiritual participation. They reject the fruit (the deity) but utilize the tree’s wood (the intellectual architecture of command, dogma, and judgment) to build their rigid walls. They mistake removing the central stone for dismantling the entire foundation.

The Relational Renewalist: Tilling New Soil

In contrast, the Relational Renewalist (the Esoteric Eclectic, the Seiðkona, the Hedge Druid) represents a shift away from the linear, command-based mindset toward the Cyclical worldview of the older European paths. This approach is founded on two core principles:

    1. The Cyclical Nature of Truth
Truth is not a singular, fixed object to be captured, but a dynamic process to be engaged. Wisdom is found not by seeking linear progress, but by recognizing and adapting to the constant cycles of birth, growth, decay, and renewal. Tradition, therefore, cannot be static; it must be continually renewed and made relevant to the present ecosystem and personal context. This intellectual fluidity is antithetical to the Purist's need for fixed, absolute certainty.

    2. The Ethos of Reciprocity
The Relational Renewalist operates under a philosophical contract of Reciprocity, entirely distinct from the Linear Model’s top-down Command Structure. The relationship with the divine, the ancestors, and the land is viewed as a mutual exchange, a covenant of give-and-take. We offer respect, stewardship, and energy; we receive guidance, sustenance, and wisdom.

This shift is ethically profound. Where the Command Model fosters humility through lowliness and obedience, the Reciprocity Model fosters humility through interdependence—the recognition that one is but a single, critical node in a vast, interconnected web of life that requires continuous, active maintenance.

The Necessity of Human Rewilding

To truly exit the intellectual cage of the Western Mind—to stop being a Christian in Viking gear—requires a radical act of Human Rewilding, as coined by Jesse "Wolf" Hardin.

Rewilding is not merely about surviving in the woods; it is a philosophical and spiritual practice aimed at de-domesticating the internal self from the structures of empire, conquest, and rigid structure. It necessitates:

     • Reclaiming the Body: Rejecting the separation of the mind from the body, and the human from nature. Rewilding demands that knowledge be gathered through direct, unmediated experience—through the hands, the feet, and the intuitive, sensory self—not solely through the abstract texts preferred by the Purist.

     • Reasserting Agency: By entering into a reciprocal contract with the Land, the practitioner asserts their own agency as a co-creator and participant. They move past passive submission to dogma and engage in the active, often messy, work of ethical negotiation with their immediate environment.

     • Embracing Liminality: Rewilding requires abandoning the comfort of Binary Opposition and embracing the liminality and ambiguity inherent in nature and spirituality. The Esoteric paths (Seiðkona, Völva, Hedge Druidry) thrive in these shifting places, while the Purist's Command Mind seeks only clarity and fixed boundaries.

The ultimate challenge for the modern Pagan and Heathen is not whether they can memorize an ancient verse, but whether they can rewild their Roman/Christian mind to be flexible, interconnected, and cyclical enough to truly embody the deep wisdom of the older paths. Until the intellectual soil is tilled anew, many will continue to follow a very well-worn Roman road, no matter the spiritual destination they proclaim.

And this is what it means to be Woke.

May you all be blessed with a good fire.