A Grove of Ashes and Aspens

  • Yule: The Winter Solstice

    Now Playing: The One We Shall Follow by Elvenking The winter solstice: that time of year when everything is snowy and bitterly cold and generally just kinda cosy. (I am aware that it is summer for the Southern hemisphere, but I’m writing from a Canadian perspective, so work with me here lol.) A lot of…

  • Range Practice: Singing Baritone in a Genre of Tenors

    Now Playing: Stormseeker by Heroik In the realm of singing, there are six main categories of voice range: soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass. Each of these ranges, split into two broader categories of treble/higher (soprano, mezzo-soprano, and alto) and lower (tenor, baritone, and bass). Each range has a distinct sound and range, though…

  • Counter-Counter-Culture and the Rage of the Conformist

    This post was written as a collaborative post between Nu Academia (author of the first half) and Ashton (author of the second half). As such, it provides two separate, though similar, perspectives on the same topic. As others have already pointed out, to say you’re anti-antifa is (with a little mathematical simplification) to say you’re…

  • How I Make Album Reviews

    Now Playing: Tower Of The Queen by Falconer So I’ve done a few album reviews now. But what is my process for them, you may ask? It’s actually pretty simple. First, as a general rule, I don’t assign any numbers to it. That’s a big thing about my album reviews. I don’t like giving numerical…

  • The Grand Inferno: My Thoughts on the New Tungsten Album

    Now Playing: Anger by Tungsten So, the much awaited fourth studio album from Swedish power metal band Tungsten is here. (I know, it was released on the 8th, but I’ve been busy with other posts that had to go out sooner.) Now, this album is interesting, with almost half of it being released as singles…

  • Fimbulvinter: My Thoughts on the New Brothers of Metal Album

    Now Playing: Sowilo by Brothers of Metal This is an album that has been a long time in the making. From the first single released summer of 2022 in The Other Son of Odin, this album is finally available to the public after two years of teasing. It once again features vocalist Ylva Eriksson as…

  • Remembrance Day: A Pagan Perspective

    Now Playing: From Blood to Stone by Elvenking Now listen. I get it. “Another post about remembering the fallen and all that sappy shit.” Yes. That’s essentially what this is. But with a twist. Remembering fallen soldiers will mean different things to different people in different ways, depending on their position either in the military…

  • Samhain: The Cross Quarter and the Root of Halloween

    Now Playing: Seasonspeech by Elvenking Samhain is a particular favourite cross quarter for me. I tend to really enjoy autumn, the changing leaves and cooler temperatures a welcome change from the heat of summer. This particular cross quarter was always just Halloween for me until I came to the pagan path, having been raised Christian…

  • Afterlives and Undeath: Rituals and Offerings in History

    Now Playing: Grandier’s Funeral Pyre by Elvenking Throughout history, burial rituals have existed in basically every culture ever. What these rituals look like will change depending on which region or time period one looks at, but they’ll be there. But what does this mean with paganism? Many pagan practices from before Christianity had their own…

  • ADHD and Practice: Neurodivergence in Paganism

    Now Playing: Stand In Veneration by Falconer Being neurodivergent can be really weird, especially with paganism. Many pagans are neurodivergent in some capacity, and it can be very comforting to have people who understand that experience. However, being neurodivergent can still make any sort of regularity with practice very complicated. Undiagnosed burnout is real, and…