About
Welcome to my website. Here you will find my personal website with information on the services I provide and updates about my recent and forthcoming work. (photo above by Jess O.)
I walk in many worlds. I am an academic and a theologian, a priest and Northern Tradition shaman, a vitki, and above all else an ancestor worker. I practice Heathenry (Norse and Germanic polytheism) and also cultus deorum. I live and die by the blessings of the Powers and that is a joyful thing. This site is an offering to Odin. It’s a work in progress and I try to update fairly regularly. As the title of this blog suggests, I am particularly drawn to Odin as the Wandering God Gangleri. While I have explored many paths to Him, it is this one that seems to define my own devotional life.
It is said in the Grimnismal that Odin feasts upon wine alone. We who serve Him are that wine, the sweetest vintage, which He utilizes and then devours. Thus this God of hunger is served. Thus is He celebrated and thus does He pour Himself forth in the world.
Be welcome and may the Gods smile upon you.
About Galina Krasskova
Photo by Mary Ann Glass
Galina Krasskova has been a priest of Odin and Loki since the early nineties. Originally ordained in the Fellowship of Isis in 1995, Ms. Krasskova also attended the oldest interfaith seminary in the U.S.- the New Seminary where she was ordained in 2000 and where she later worked as Dean of Second Year Students for the Academic year of 2011-2012. Beyond this, she took vows as a Heathen gythia in 1996 and again in 2004. She is the head of Comitatus pilae cruentae and a member of the Starry Bull tradition.
Ms. Krasskova holds diplomas from The New Seminary (2000), a B.A. in Cultural Studies with a concentration in Religious Studies from Empire State College (2007), and an M.A. in Religious Studies from New York University (2009). She has completed extensive graduate coursework in Classics (2010-2016), received a Masters in Medieval Studies at Fordham University (2019) and is currently pursuing a PhD in theology. from Fordham University. As part of her academic career Ms. Krasskova has written a number of academic articles, and also presented at various academic conferences including Harvard University, Claremont University, Fordham University, Ohio State University, Villanova University, Western Michigan University, and the City University of New York.
Ms. Krasskova has a variety of published books available running the gamut from introductory texts on the Northern Tradition, as well as books on runes, prayer, and devotional practices. She is also the managing editor of “Walking the Worlds,” a new journal focusing on contemporary polytheism and spirit work and the first journal of polytheology. While very busy with teaching and school, she does also occasionally lecture around the country on topics of interest to contemporary Heathenry and polytheisms.
A passionate supporter of the arts Ms. Krasskova enjoys going to the opera, theater, and ballet. Her affection for the arts began early as she discovered dance, which she pursued professionally becoming a ballet dancer: first with a regional company in Maryland, then in New York City. After suffering career ending injuries, she would find new forms of expression in the visual arts. For a few years Ms. Krasskova co-owned an art gallery in the Hudson River Valley of New York, and over a course of numerous years she has studied a multitude of art mediums: glassblowing, watercolor, acrylic, photography and more!
She is now an avid acrylic painter and watercolorist and has even enjoyed placement in international artist-in-residencies programs in New York, New Mexico, and Poland. Her work has been exhibited from New York to Paris.
She has taken her passion for the arts and polytheistic devotion, to create the Prayer Card Project. Since so much religious iconography has been destroyed, or defaced in the course of human history, she is actively making new religious prayers and iconography available to the various modern polytheistic communities to support those who are building their religious communities, building their devotional practices, and hungering for art that represents their religious faith. All while also supporting the artists within these burgeoning communities.
For more information, please reach out to her directly via the contact form.
Gangleri's Grove 
I wanted to thank you for your book on the solitary practicing of Northern Tradition paganism. It has inspired this rural Ohio boy to try to know the gods of his ancestors. May the gods bless you with strength and wisdom.
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May the gods bless you with strength and wisdom. Thank you for your many works of devotion!
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I want to thank the goddesses and gods for finding you. You have inspired me and confirmed my path. I am oathsworn to Freyja, Odin and Thor whom I gave all aspects of my soul. I also have a great endless devotion to the beautiful goddess and Hel and I think I am being called by Loki. This path is very hard but totally worthwhile. I have just received your book Consuming flame about Loki and his wonderful family. Morgana xxxxx
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Hi Galina. Asking about https://krasskova.wordpress.com/2016/03/13/the-battle-for-polytheisms-soul/ since comments seem closed there.
I want to know what exactly you are referring to in these places:
* “when faced with a religious worldview (Christianity) that desired exclusivity and extinction of polytheism, our antique forebears had the good sense to impose a litmus test to ferret out the destructively impious.”
* “Secondly, yes, our polytheistic ancestors were – with occasional exceptions– tolerant of every possible approach to polytheism. Look where it got them. Exterminated. So maybe we might want to rethink reifying “tolerance” of every assed up, non-theistic view put forth as ‘polytheism.’ We have clear evidence of where such tolerance leads. Perhaps we can afford to be tolerant when we’re not under siege but that day is not today.”
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WordPress closes comments after a certain period of time. IT’s very annoying. regarding your first point, when the number of christians began to grow in the empire, and the Roman government began to see them as a threat, the romans imposed a test: everyone had to sacrifice to the gods. People would do this before an official and receive a document attesting to the fact that they had done it. Since this violated the core tenets of Christianity, it was used to rule out and ferret out Christians. (We’re talking roughly 3rd century C.E. here).
Re. your second point. When Christianity spread across the Mediterranean and europe the result was forced conversion to Christianity and the decimation of indigenous polytheisms. One of the reasons I believe that Christianity gained such a foothold, first in Rome and then the rest of the European world was that the polytheism of the time was immensely tolerant. there was zero expectation of exclusivity of worship and belief. Likewise I don’t think the polytheists of the time understood that for Christianity not only was this demanded but the latter group gave themselves a religious imperative to convert others. Such attitudes would have been largely incomprehensible to polytheists at the time. They were tolerant and because they were tolerant they didn’t see the danger until it was too late.
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What an inspirational introduction to heathenry and polytheism your website is. As a retired Christian pastor who has become attracted to polytheism, I am delighted to have discovered the site. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am sure the Gods are smiling on you.
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