Heathenry vs. Wicca Cosmology

I am chewing on the differences in the metaphysical foci of Wicca vs. Heathenry:

Wicca, through its focus on the Mother Goddess and her Consort, teaches the inherent balance of nature. The goal is to become one with that balance, avoiding the extremes at either end. It ultimately is pantheistic in its relationality.

Heathenry, OTOH, focuses on the threat of chaos -- the chaos that once was and will be again in the universe -- and the balance that is created only through struggling against the chaos. The goal is to find peace and balance in the face of the chaos and in spite of the chaos, a chaos that we are ultimately fated to succumb to, anyway.

So, I see Wicca as a spiritual path of unification. Of finding the soft place to fall in the center.

I see Heathenry as a spiritual path of struggle against opposites. Of finding your soft place to fall in the "innangard."

Which is strange, since Wicca spends more time "warding off" bad spirits with things like salt and closed circles, but Heathenry does not seem to focus on this so much. So, I am wondering if I am missing an ingredient here.

Obviously this is simplified, as there is chaos addressed in Wicca and unification addressed in Heathenry. I am just thinking of foci.

Anxiety and Alcohol

I was having an ever-increasing debilitating problem with anxiety, to the point I tried to get on anti-anxiety medications, which in the long run made me feel even worse with a bunch of terrible side effects.

I gave up alcohol after the new year, and while it has been pretty difficult to not go back on my word because I miss the buzz, I have now discovered that alcohol is a primary cause to my anxiety and panic attacks. The anxiety is such an icky feeling, that it gives me that extra incentive to commit to the year of no alcohol.

My husband and I had pre-purchased a tour of a meadery, and for awhile I was planning on having that as an exception, but I have asked my husband to take someone else with him.

It became a strange cycle, apparently. Something would make me anxious, so I would drink to ease the anxiety, which would in the long run increase my anxiety. That's not fun.


12
There is not as much good
as men claim there is
in alcohol for one's well-being.
A man knows less
as he drinks more,
and loses more and more of his wisdom.

14
I was drunk,
I was too drunk,
at Fjalar's house.
The best kind of feast
is the one you go home from
with all your wits about you.

-- The Counsel of Odin the One-Eyed