Odinism, Asatru, Vanatru, Troth, The Northern Tradition, these are the just some of the names that have been applied by those who honour the ancient Gods and Goddesses of Northern Europe to their beliefs.
Today, in the United Kingdom at least, the term Heathenry is gaining wide acceptance and many believers refer to themselves as Heathens.
The best definition, in my opinion, of Heathenry to date is that put together by members of the Yahoo Group ukheathenry after much brain storming and fervent discussion and published on the BBC website. The members of ukheathenry are amongst the most knowledgeable and respected members of the Heathen community and I suggest their opinion is worth reading. So go to: -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/pa...s/heathen.shtml
and have a read, but don’t forget to come back to the valley :~)
A Potted History of Modern Heathenism.
Historically the study of early European History was a bit of backwater when compared with the scholarly endeavour directed at the classical civilisations, but there was a resurgence of interest from the late 18th century which saw the translation and publication of the Icelandic materials and the wider availability of the writings of historians such as Saxo Grammaticus and Bede.
Although the works of Saxo, Bede, Adam of Bremen and others demonstrate that the ‘Norse Myths’ were not just stories but the remnants of an ancient pre-Christian Germanic religion there is no evidence of any attempt to reconstruct this religion as a belief system (as distinct from German magical groups) until the mid 20th century.
Although there are rumours of organised Heathenism in the UK in the-1920 – 1930period amongst the groupings of such organisations as Kibbo Kift and the Woodfolk, there is no actual proof of such groups existing. The group to go public and therefore the first of which there is evidence was ‘The Anglecyn Church of Ođin’ formed in Australia in 1936 by Alexander Rud Mills, a barrister who used the name ‘Tasman Forth’ when writing about the Church of Ođin. Mills/ Forth published a couple of books on Odinism. His ‘First Guide Book of the Anglecyn Church of Odin’ was circulated amongst interested folks in the English speaking world.
Mills/Forth died in 1964 and his group seems to have collapsed, but his pioneering work may have planted the seed in the UK and USA for in that year a group called ‘The Odinist Religion or Thule Circle was formed and briefly published its own magazine and. 1972 saw the formation of the short-lived Anglo-Saxo Church of Woden. In 1973 The Committee for the Restoration of the Odinic Rite (Odinic Rite) was established. In the USA groups such as Ring of Troth and Rune Guild were established and gained strength. The Odinic Rite and other independent groups such as Widens Own Folk and the USA groups, diverged, split, regrouped as is the nature of all pagan groups until we have today Heathen groups to suit all shades of belief and practice.
The Gods and Goddesses.
The Heathen Deities have been known by many names, but are best know today by their anglicised Old Norse names such as Ođin and Thor, or by their Anglo Saxon/Germanic equivalents such as Wodan/Wotan and Thunar/Donar.
The Gods/Goddesses are described in the literature as being of two godly races, the Aesir and the Vanir who were at war. Following an exchange of hostages peace was declared and they have lived on moderate harmony ever since.
The Vanir often regarded as the older fertility Gods and chief amongst them are: Frey whose name means Lord, Freyja sister and wife of Frey, whose name means Lady, Njord father of Frey and Frejya and Nerthus, Mother Earth the sister/wife of Njord and mother of Frey and Freyja.
The Aesir sometimes seen as the brash newcomers tend to be more in your face; Ođin called by some Allfather, God of battle, death, kingship, poetry and runecraft. Thor, the peoples God, Lord of Thunder, Champion and protector of Asgard and Midgard, Frigga, Lady of he household. Goddess of human fruitfulness and childbirth. Tyr, Sky Father Lord of Judgement, and many others.
The Gods of the north are legion, their relationships are complex, some light on the subject is available here:
http://www.geocities.com/reginheim/home.html
see you soon!
Heathen Cosmology
The Nine Worlds of the heathen cosmology have the World Tree, Yggdrasil as their axis. The Tree often seen as a giant ash has three roots which encompass the whole universe, mankind lives under one, the giants under another and under the third is the abode of the Goddess Hel, mistress of the underworld. Yggdrail is watered by three wells: Urd’s Well or The Well of Fate, here reside the Norns who decide on the fate of men. Mimir’s Well or The Well of Wisdom and Hvergelmir where dwells the dragon of death Nithhoggr and which is the source of all rivers.
The Nine Worlds
Asgard Home of the Aesir .. Ođin & Co.
Alfheim Home of the Light Elves described as more beautiful than sunlight
Midgard Home of mankind
Jotunheim Here be giants, very unpleasant.
Muspellheim Home of the giant Muspell, Lord of Conflagration who initiates the end of the world.
Vanaheim Home of the Vanir Njiord, Frey & Freyja & Co
Svartalfheim Home of the Dark Elves possibly the demons of death
Helheim Home of Hel & those who die of old age or illness, it is not a place of punishment
Niflheim Darkest Hel. possibly an interpretation of the Christian hell.
The Creation
In the beginning, there was no grass, no sea, no sky, no earth, no heaven just Ginnungagap
the great void filled with magical potential. How long this situation lasted is not told for time did not exist, but eventually a change occurred. In the south of Ginnungagap arose Muspelheim an area of fire and conflagration and in the north was formed Niflheimr a land of ice. As the two forces expanded across the void the sparks from the fires fell on the ice. When this occurred the first living things were created in the form of Ymir a hermaphroditic frost giant and Audumla the primal cow. Audmula licked the ancestor of the gods, Buri, from the ice. Ymir produced children by autogamy, his offspring sprouted from his armpits and legs. Buri had one son called Burr who fathered Ođin and his two brothers Vili and Ve with Bestla a giantess possibly a daughter of Ymir. Ođin and his brothers killed Ymir and took his body to the centre of Ginnungagap. From Ymir’s corpse the three brothers created the earth and sky.
and you thought Otherkin were weird
The Body-Soul-Mind Complex
If you have followed me so far, you will not be surprised to hear that the Heathen conception of the inter-relationship between the body mind & soul is quite complex.
Perhaps the most well known aspect of the human spirit is the Fetch or Fylgyur; this is similar to the Christian conception of the soul yet strangely completely dissimilar. The Fetch could be thought of as a separate entity living within the body yet capable of a separate existence as a doppelganger. On death they leave the body and have a separate existence or may attach themselves to a member of the same family. Closely allied to the Fetch is the Hamr, which is the spiritual aspect of good or bad fortune and has been described as the skin of the soul. The Hamr is associated with shape shifting and is capable of transferring to another person not necessarily in the same family. The great hero and warrior Starkathr was said to have inherited the Hamr of his grandfather because he born the marks of his grandfather’s battle scars.
For an in depth discussion on the aspects of the northern soul you could do no better than to read what is written in Our Troth, another collaboration by heathen experts:
http://www.thetroth.org/resources/ourtroth/soul.html
missing you already !!
The Heathen Way of Death.
The life after death did not have as much importance to the Norse folk as it does to the followers of Christ, which accounts for the wide divergence of their ideas on the afterlife.
The most well know aspect of the northern conception of the afterlife is Valhalla, The Hall of the Slain where the Valkyries take those slain warriors whom they have chosen for Ođin. These warriors, the Einherjar spend their days fighting to the death all day then in the evening coming back to life to feast and drink till morning till the time comes to fight their last great battle at Ragnarok, the end of the world. Ođin however, ever the pragmatist will willing accept those who die outside battle if they are courageous and noble of spirit.
Ođin does not have it all his own way, for half those slain in battle belong to Freyja, and they dwell in Her Hall Sessrumnir ‘Many Seats’, and as she is the Goddess of fertility perhaps their lives there are altogether more delightful then the shenanigans going on in Valhalla. Freyja would also welcome those who died outside battle, as illustrated by a woman who declared she would take no more food until she supped with Freyja.
Those not chosen by Ođin or Freyja dwelt in Hel, which was simply the dwelling place of the dead. It was not a place of punishment; in fact, gold and mead are in plentiful supply.
Some of he dead were believed to reside in spirit in their Howe or burial mound and there are stories of the living attempting to communicate with their dead forefathers by sitting out on the family howe.
For a deeper examination of the Norse way of death see The Road to Hel by Hilda R Ellis Davidson, (I believe it was her doctoral thesis)
http://normannii.org/guilds_lore/lore/roadtohel/toc.htm
and an interesting article by Alby Stone on the Walknut
http://www.paganlibrary.com/reference/knots_of_death.php
be soon
The Runes
The Runes are the early Germanic/Norse/Saxon alphabet.
The Runes are not a magical alphabet; they are simply a means of written communication used by the Germanic peoples between about the 4th and the 14th century. Most surviving runic inscriptions are in the form of memorials and mundane ‘letters’ dealing with trade and domestic business. A very few inscriptions may be seen as magical.
There is no existing historical record of the runes being used as an oracle. The Roman historian Tacitus mentions in his Germanica a method of consulting the oracle by casting slips of fruitwood bearing marks onto a white sheet. To connect this to the modern rune sets is in my opinion wishful thinking.
As far as I know the first mention in print of the use of runestones as a form of oracle or tool of fortune telling was as late as 1972 in Magic of the Runes by Michael Howard. In 1982 Ralph Blum brought out The Book of Runes and introduced the ‘blank rune’. There are now more esoteric books on runes than you can shake a staff at.
For all you ever wanted to know about runes, and probably more visit Arild Hauge at
http://www.arild-hauge.com/eindex.htm
be careful out there!
Norse Magical Practices
Apart from the magical use of the runes, there are two other distinct Norse magical practises Galdor and Siedr/Seithr,
Galdor is the art of singing charms to a specific metre possibly to induce trance. In modern heathenism, many practitioners use the term Galdor to mean the singing of the Rune names.
See:-
http://www.wyrdwords.vispa.com/heathenry/galdor.html
Seidr/Seithr is the art of the Volva, the seeress who has the powers to predict the future
See:-
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/2171/seidr/seidr.html
and read
Nine Worlds of Seith Magic, Ectasy and Neo-Shamanism in Northern European Paganism. by Jenny Blain published 2002 by Routledge.
Books to Read
Anything by Hilda R Ellis Davidson
Books by R.W.V. Elliot and R.I Page on Runes
Brian Branston Lost Gods of England
Kathleen Herbert Looking for the Lost Gods of England
S. Pollington Rudiments of Rune Lore
Jacob Grimm Teutonic Mythology.. if you can find a copy :~)
E.O.G Turvill-Petere Myths and Religion of the North … if you can find a copy
Gwyn Jones A History of the Vikings
Rudolph Simek Dictionary of Northern Mythology
Kevin Crossley-Holland The Norse Myths
Carolyne Larrington The Poetic Edda
Anthony Foulkes The Prose Edda of Snorre Sturluson
Tacitus The Germania
Bede The Ecclesiastical History of the English People
History of the Danes Saxo Grammaticus
Snorre Sturluson Heims Kringla The Norse Kings Saga
The Icelandic sagas such as:-
Egils Saga
Njals Saga
Grettirs Saga
Saga of the Volsungs
There are many books out there on the Northern Tradition/Heathenism/Asatru, all the authors draw on the same Primary Sources and spin the sources in varying degrees to suit their own point of view, to find your own truth search the early documentation.
Truly someone has said that Heathenism is the religion with homework, fortunately someone has done a great of the work for us see:-
http://www.northvegr.org/siteindex.php
and if you have six months or so to spare have a look at
http://altreligion.about.com/gi/dynamic/of...ner-outline.htm
or a further year or so, learn old norse; starting here
http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/
The Saxon Path
Sweostor min; Brođor min,
I wish I could tell you of the history, rites and religious beliefs of the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons, but alas evidence is thin on the ground, and as I have just begun to study this aspect of heathenism my knowledge is pretty shallow.
For the moment, I point you towards the following links:
A History of AS Heathenism (USA Group)
http://www.englishheathenism.homestead.com/introduction.html
&
My favourite (it must be the gold on black, so effective :-)
http://www.englishheathenism.homestead.com/introduction.html
Books I am currently looking at:
Heathen Gods in Old English Literature. Richard North
Bede Ecclesiastical History
The Cult of Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England. William A Chaney
Rites and Religions of the Anglo-Saxons Gale R. Owen
as well as most of the production line of
Anglo Saxon Books
http://www.asbooks.co.uk/
Seax Wicca
A latter day development by Raymond Buckland and presented in his book ‘The Tree’ in 1974 appears to be a blend of wicca and aspects of heathenism.
See:
http://www.davensjournal.com/index.htm?Header.xhtml&0
dav
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.