Written by Sowiluf (Sunny Hibbits - she/they) June 3rd, 2022
Authors Notes: I originally wrote this paper for fun, as I enjoy comparing and contrasting cultural and spiritual based movements. I become enthralled by the amazing similarities between groups, hoping that this can collectively catapult real concrete change in our world. Realizing how closely related both Winona LaDuke’s and Rune Rasmussen’s cultural/social/religious movements are, I immediately started writing. I would hope that this paper could be seen by both parties, to help both movements benefit from each others deeply meaningful perspectives and support each others uniquely similar goals.
Introduction: I am passionate follower of both Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen and Winona LaDuke, following both of their ongoing environmental/social/cultural movements. Little did I realize how specifically similar their movements, perspectives, and ideas are. Within this essay, I aim to bring up the similarities between both movements in a way that is straight forward and connective. I aim to give an equal and basic understanding of both the Aun Year and Era of the Wiindigoo, where people can learn and contrast each perspectives, hopefully connecting the dots. I leave out my subjective opinion on these topics until the end, where I display my interpretation of these ideas in my conclusion.
Key Words/Concepts: Aun Year, Transhumanism, Wiindigoo, The Era of the Wiindigoo, Wiindigoo Economics, Late Stage Capitalism, The Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers, The Old Lakota Prophecy: The Black Snake
For a background on the Aun Year: King Aun of Uppsala was a King of Sweden who was associated with the cycles of celebrations, the moon or lunar cycles, and 8 year cycles (The Aun Year 2, 5:30). The myth “Aun the Old of Uppsala” describes how Aun sacrificed his sons to Odin every 8 years in order to have immortality, the 9th year being the last (6:45). This 8-9 year calendar cycle is based off the myth, giving us a celebration octianial cycle to follow and celebrate. This myth is an ideological myth, meaning this story is systematically tied to the cycles and celebration of the Aun Year, shaping the idea in reference to the time of the celebration. Interestingly, Aun isn’t a reputable personification in this story, instead he is the exploitative executioner of sacrifices to Odin. Aun becomes a negative personification of the meaning behind ill-natured sacrifice from the individual.
The meaning and story behind the myth facilitates the importance and practice of the holiday today. Aun’s sacrificing of his own children today is haunting, especially when it’s for his own selfish gains. Aun becomes a dark, almost machiavellian pathological archetype of the historical and modern age. Aun killed his own children to prolong his own life, being selfish, weak, and even psychopathic. This translation of the myth is relatable to our modern relationship with the planet and our children or younger/future generations. Parallel to how we are exploiting the planet for our own current immortality, where we are killing our kin and relations, we are destroying our children, eating our kin through, and eating ourselves (Nordic Mythology Podcast: Ep. 118, Rasmussen, 7:20). For a more philosophical approach: By clinging to technology, in a transhumanistic fashion, we become distracted in our weakness from societal pressures, becoming addicted to the collective dopamine machine, not being able to let go of momentary pleasures—even when the world and future generations are in peril. We continually ignore climate change to meet ends meet, even when it destroys our immediate futures and ourselves/kin.
Aun’s story becomes part of what is known as Cautionary Tale meaning it is a mythology story that tells us to stay wary of such human behaviors, as well as how to remain in good relation with kin and the planet (Yunkaporta, Nordic Mythology Podcast: Ep. 118). This tale being cautionary shows the wrongness of this behavior, especially because during this time historically, a kings vitality mutually reflects the vitality and fortune of the land (The Aun Year 2, 10:50). These types of tales prepare humans with how to take care of the world.
With this holiday in mind, the important dates to follow for this celebration are: Yule Moon of January 6th, 2023 and the Disa Moon on March 7th 2023 (in Uppsala) (The Aun Year 2, 1:40). Part of Rune’s work includes a call to action for Heathen or Pagan practitioners and people to integrate this story into modern practices or perspectives. This holiday/time of year/celebration becomes an opportunity to make social changes to prevent destroying kinship ties, kin and future generations, and engage in kinship making. Today, the Aun Year becomes a year of renewal for pagan peoples to engage with their practices through environmental movements, spiritual practices, advocating for social changes, and creating kinship bonds.
Summary: Currently, Rune Rasmussen is aiming to collectively recreate this celebration as a way to heal our planet and kinship ties. By the Aun Year becoming a day/year of celebration of integrative healing, we can stop destroying our kin through our selfish exploitative ways, cleaving to eternal life, breaking colonial cycles. By awakening this old celebration, we awaken within ourselves self-reflection, healing wounds within ourselves, which affects the outer environment and our kin. Currently humans have become selfish and exploitative with our planet and animistic relations, killing our children and future generations, this holiday calls attention to this crisis, becoming an opportunity for renewal and rebirth. With this opportunity of renewal, we can take social action against exploitative systems which destroy our social kinships and environment and take action towards regenerative movements and social collaboration.
Similarly to the Aun Year movement, Winona LaDuke’s movement Era of the Wiindigoo/the Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers, also shares a similar theme of stoping colonial/environmental exploitations and embracing regenerative perspectives/practices. Interestingly, LaDuke’s ideas correlate to the mythos behind the Aun movement and vise versa, both being “do not become the cannibal beast that eats your kin, do not kill your kin, do not exploit life, support life and regenerate.” Winona LaDukes movement is a bit more specific in how it fights these exploitations and diseases of society. She does this through protest, agriculture, and community based movements, such as the Stop Line 3 and Standing Rock movements. The Aun year is a semi-new phenomenon which has not (yet) created a way of expression, via action or celebration, towards similar themes of renewal or fighting against self/other exploitative causes.
The Era of the Wiindigoo (Indigenous: Anishinaabe)
Winona LaDuke describes the Era of the Wiindigoo as an era of exploitation, that dismantles regenerative life ways, destroying everyone/everything in their ecosystem including the perpetrators. Winona describes the Era of the Wiindigoo with “That’s when you commit cannibalism and start eating all of your relatives and your mother. That’s the time of the Wiindigoo and it’s time to starve the Wiindigoo before he eats us all. (To be a Water Protector: The Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers, LaDuke, p. 205).” In Ojibwe etymology, the Wiindigoo is more classically defined in folklore as a “Winter Cannibal Monster” (Ojibwe People’s Dictionary). The Era of the Wiindigoo is the era we are all currently in, which embodies the Wiindigoo in Anishinaabe culture.
The Era of the Wiindigoo is a historical and ongoing time period, which has fasets that extend outward into mainstream society. Wiindigoo Economics/Cannibal Economics is an example of this current era’s expression. Wiindigoo Economics (late stage capitalism) are exploitative economic systems, which eat/exploit themselves, similar to the nature of the Wiindigoo. This is shown in the volatile nature of late stage capitalism, based of the Prison Industrial complex, exploitative agriculture (monoculture), historical and present colonization, sexism, homophobia, and classism/slavery. (LaDuke, 2020, p. 26)
The Wiindigoo Era and Economic system reverberates throughout US societies. Winona LaDuke also has the solution to these exploitative systems, being the current Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers.
The Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers is an movement/idea from Winona LaDuke’s book, To be a Water Protector: The Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers, that we can slay the exploitative Wiindigoos through transitioning into a Green/Regenerative Economy. This can be done through supporting and participating in land back movements, environmentalism, restorative agriculture (Indigenous Food Ways), and equality movements. These forms of social justice follow the perspective of Mni Wiconi (Mní Wičhóni) - Water is Life, being the core of these movements. (LaDuke, 2020)
Another relevant part to the Era of the Wiindigoo and the Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers is the old Lakota prophecy about the Black Snake, referenced in LaDukes book.
Old Lakota Prophecy “The Black Snake” - The Lakota Prophecy of the Black Snake represents the current rath of the Era of the Wiindigoo/Wiindigoo Economics. The Black Snake is a metaphor or animistic reference to the Keystone Pipeline and Enbridge Pipeline. These Pipelines are cannibalistic and exploitative in nature, embodying the Wiindigoo. (LaDuke, 2020)
An excerpt of the Black Snake Prophecy: “tells of a time when a great black snake would come to the land, bringing sickness and destruction not only to Lakota and Dakota communities, but to the water and land of all Mother Earth. And that the people would have to come together to kill the black snakes” (LaDuke, p. 81)
Summary: The “Wiindigoo” is a winter cannibal spirit within Anishinaabe culture and one that today, as Winona LaDuke says throughout her book To be a Water Protector, has taken over our society. This monster is a spirit, that can be within people, social systems, economics, politics, and even colonial food systems. This being is cannibalistic being which eats its kin, being exploitative. This exploitation is a cannibalistic process, which can be seen alive today in late stage capitalism (Wiindigoo Economics), being a system based on the exploitation of indigenous peoples and resources, effectively killing itself and all populations. The Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers is a call to action to end the Era of the Wiindigoo as well as the Reign of the Black Snake. The Black Snake Prophecy is intrinsically connected to the Wiindigoo story, being another story of Wiindigoo Economics today. Today in the United States, pipelines are being illegally installed on Indigenous land. These exploitative self destroying processes will kill the children of Indigenous reservation communities first, and then all peoples, through toxic waste via colonization.
Conclusion: Both of these restorative cultural movements have cultural syncretism’s via stories and actions. Both the Aun Year and the Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers, share values in common. Both aim to end exploitation and the killings of our children and environment. To end climate crisis saying: now is a time to act on these exploitative causes, being opportunity to make regenerative change. Rune is doing this through promoting and educating people about the Aun Year movement, along with the White Raven Flag, creating a call to action culturally, spiritually and environmentally. Winona is doing this through her grass-roots based business Winona’s Hemp and Heritage Farm, pushing forward the Green Economy, alongside her work in both the Standing Rock and Stop Line 3 Movements.
As a follower of both these writers and activists, I notice so much passion and energy from both movements. I realized they align so much on an empirical level, yet also on a more modern cultural level. Both movements have cultural, spiritual, or religious aspects that push forward and elevate these movements, in referencing their mythologies. In modern action, spiritual activism can be utilized, whether that is ceremonial drumming at the White House against the Black Snake Enbridge pipeline or a Blót for restoration and renewal for the Aun Year on a Oslo Burial Mound. Both of these movements share a very unique and modern critical cultural syncretism, that will ultimately affect our lively-hoods, our planet, and survival. Both want to save the world from environmental destruction through culturally rooted places, referencing cultural histories of kinship death and destruction, creating modern calls to action through cultural/social movements—which call for regenerative collaboration. This collaboration can be done on the social level, by engaging in community activism (supporting land back movements, anti-racism, anti-homo/transphobia, protesting, fundraising, mutual-aid). I think on a spiritual level activism can be done by engaging in cultural restoration and community building (awakening colonial erased cultural ways, breaking down hierarchies, creating kinship ties, rediscovering ritual, supporting land back movements), which is why I wrote this. I hope this paper encourages research in both the Aun Year and the Era of Wiindigoo, as the time of both of these movements is now; and frankly, I think we are running out of time before the Wiindigoo systems eat us all. We need to collaborate respectfully building kinship to support future generations and the spirit of our planet.
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