Monday, December 31, 2007

Asatru Faith Of The Vikings

Asatru Faith Of The Vikings Cover Asatru is a Modern Revival of the beliefs in the ancient Gods of the Germanic and Nordic peoples: Freya, Thor, Odin and others. For many Asatruar, Embracing this faith feels like being called home to the way of their ancestors. Although a small number of white supremacists have claimed to follow Asatru, Generating controversy in the news, they are not representative of Asatru at large. Following a moral code, Asatruar believe that life is good and should be lived with boldness and enthusiasm, and value courage, honor, industriousness, and personal responsibility. Gathering by "hearths" and "kindreds" they honor the Gods, ancestors, and tribal connections to family and kin.

"Asatru fits like a comfortable pair of jeans. It's intrinsic and natural. The honor code appeals to me as well; chief among these the concept of personal responsibility. I also like the rootedness of it. That being how it connects me to my European and Northern Isles ancestors."

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Prentiss Tucker - In The Land Of The Living Dead
Anonymous - Asatru And The Paranormal
Anders Sandberg - Asatru The Nordic Subtradition Of The Verbena
Miac - Asatru And Odinism

Friday, December 28, 2007

Goddess Nerthus Or Eartha Or Jordh

Goddess Nerthus Or Eartha Or Jordh Cover Nerthus is a Vanic Goddess known as the Mother Earth. Her favorite colors are the earth colors of brown, black, and green. She can be found dwelling in the hidden realms underground. Like the strong earth-dweller it is, her symbol is also the boar. Nerthus is the Original birch goddess. Tacitus describes her as living in a holy birch grove. Twice a year she is supposed to leave the grove and go on a procession about the land, bringing prosperity and good harvest. These processions take place at the Beginning of the summer half of the year and at the beginning of the winter half. At the end of the ritual the priest leading the procession brought the wagon the goddess symbolically rode around in and her holy symbol, back to the grove. Slaves accompanied him and ritually they washed everything. The slaves were then killed, either by drowning or strangling. Some scholars hold that the slaves might represent a male fertility deity. It was recorded that during her procession was a time of peace. No one took up arms, and there was no quarreling.

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Elizabeth Reis - Confess Or Deny What A Witch To Do
Talismagick - Love Spells And Rituals For Love And Relationships
Valentina Izmirlieva - All The Names Of The Lord
Antoine Fabre Dolivet - The Golden Verses Of Pythagoras

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Algiz Rune

Algiz Rune Cover Algiz signifies Protection or defense. The original meaning of the Rune is connected to the giant moose who lives in the northern climes, but also a swamp plant with very sharp leaves. A deer's antlers and the sharpness of the plant's leaves perfectly represent the protective nature of the Rune, while its shape reminds one of a pitchfork or Some Other sharp weapon. Therefore this is the Rune of protection, but also a warning because it can warn a man of danger like a subtle antenna. Algiz is used to properly channel energy. This Rune is sometimes connected to the Valkyries or even the fylgja, one's personal spiritual company. As we already know, a fylgja appears whenever someone is in mortal danger, this way warning his family.
Today protective talismans aren't rare, they're made by cyclically connected Algiz Runes, like for example the Aegishjalmar – the Steering Wheel of Terror (a symbol made of four or eight connected Algiz Runes). Beside the protective influence, Algiz can also signify help coming to us from higher plains, someone's new and positive influence as well as the appearance of a person who will play the role of mentor in your life.

Divination:

Positive meaning: protection, repelling negative energy, warning, defense.

Negative meaning: latent evil, danger, bad influence of a person in your surroundings.

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Stephen Flowers - Black Runa
Karl Hans Welz - Armanen Runes
Samael Aun Weor - Magic Runes

Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Kindred Godi And Gythia

The Kindred Godi And Gythia Cover The AFA also introduced organizational structures, based on the Icelandic Eddas, Sagas, and other lore, that have proven enduring in the Nordic Pagan community. At the local level, Heathens who worship together may form associations known as kindreds, also known as hearths or fellowships and by other names. The members of such an association are bound together by oaths of loyalty and mutual assistance, forming a supportive, often closely knit community. These local organizations range in size from as few as several members to as many as 100. An important characteristic of these associations is their generally democratic and nonhierarchical nature, with decisions made by discussion and consensus and leaders elected to various administrative posts, often on a rotating basis. Powerful personalities do, however, dominate, and there is a continuing tendency for dissatisfied minority factions to split away from the main group and form new associations. There is also a further category of Nordic Pagans—“solitaries” who practice rituals alone, as are also found in Wicca and other modern Pagan traditions.

Kindreds meet With Other kindreds for regional meetings known as Things, an Old Norse term referring to the ancient Scandinavian practice, well described in the Icelandic Saga literature, of gathering together at regular intervals through the year to reaffirm laws, oaths, and contractual relationships; determine the leadership of local communities; mediate disputes; conduct rituals and commercial transactions; and feast and celebrate. For Nordic Pagans living in the United States today, many of the legal and quasi-governmental functions of the ancient Thing have been taken over by the civic structures of American society, but the Things remain important occasions for solemn worship and reaffirmation of oaths as well as not-so-solemn feasting and celebration, games, and competitions. There are also workshops offering Instruction in traditional Nordic crafts and skills and merchants selling wares such as drinking horns, hand-carved runes, medieval-style clothing, small metal hammers of Thor worn as medallions, and other Nordic paraphernalia. Several American Nordic Pagans from the New York metropolitan area who were interviewed for this article spoke of a regional gathering known as the East Coast Thing (ECT) as a seminal event in solidifying links between followers of Asatru and Heathenry in the area.

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Aleister Crowley - The Equinox Vol I No I
Christopher Warnock - The Latin Picatrix Book I And Ii
Aleister Crowley - The Zodiac And The Tarot

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Practicing Magic In The Nordic Tradition

Practicing Magic In The Nordic Tradition Cover In the Nordic system, two Deities are connected to magic: Odin – the God of war, magic and Runes; and Freya – the Goddess of magic and sex. Odin brought the knowledge of the Runes to man, which he came to know hanging on the sacred tree Yggdrasil, dying symbolically – while Freya already had knowledge of magic, so she in part shared it with other Gods. These two Deities collaborated magically. Freya is the only one of all the Gods and Goddesses, that Odin shared his knowledge of Runes with, and she in return showed him many of her magical secrets. This brief reminder of the tales from the Nordic mythology is an introduction to the magical practice of Asatru. Although there are many ways of practicing magic in the Asatru system, they can mostly be divided into two basic forms: seidr and galdr.

In a broader sense, seidr and galdr represent the male and the female magical practice. According to one of the interpretations from the second half of the 20th century (which should only be considered with some reservations, in light of the most recent developments in the research of brain functions), galdr is connected to the left hemisphere of the human brain; which would mean that it represents the gathering of all occult informations, correspondences and knowledge that can be learned, studied or analysed; while seidr, connected to the right hemisphere of the brain, roughly speaking, represents knowledge begotten by intuition and experience. This ‘female magic’ is connected to states of trance, astral journeys in the form of animals, casting spells and everything nowadays considered witchcraft, or witchlore. Why was seidr connected with women and why have they practiced it most often? Lets consider the state of trance: in that state the person is passive, receiving visions from different sources and not in possession of selfcontrol. This loss of selfcontrol and passivity was considered utterly unmanly by the old Nordic peoples. The loss of selfcontrol was considered a weakness. In Lokasenna, a script about Loki’s derision of Gods, Loki mocks Odin for practicing female magic. So, in those ancient times, rarely would a man practice seidr because it was simply considered disgraceful for a man. We’ll stop here for a moment and analyse Odin as a God of magic, because that very idea contains the whole concept of magical practice.

As it should be known by now, Odin sacrificed his eye to see into the nature of things and acquiring an even greater knowledge from the one he already possessed. Why did he do it? With the remaining eye, he saw (as before) the apparent side of reality. But that which was inaccessible to the average human vision, he saw with his lost eye. The eye he gave up and gave ot Mimir, was tossed in the spring of Urd – water, the symbol of the subconscious and concealed. This way, he gained access to other worlds, those beyond the reality we see with the bare eye. In various interpretations, the normal eye of Odin symbolizes the Sun, while the lost one symbolizes he Moon (‘One eye burns, one’s still and dark’). This can also serve as an illustration of the begotten magical knowledge: the Sun, as a symbol of consciousness, speaks of knowledge acquired by studying of things; and the Moon, as a symbol of the unconsciouss, symbolizes Odin’s intuitive insights. Hence, this myth explains what a practitioner of Nordic magic should do to study and apply occultism in the best form.

Speaking more specifically of seidr, I shall give an example of how it was practiced in the days of yore. A priestess or seidrkona (a man practicing seidr was called seidkarl), would sit on an elevated throne called seidrhjallar and go into a trance. Around her would sit the other priestesses and sing magic chants of vardlokkur. Vardlokkur, in general, means any kind of magical music, characterized by specific rhythm and harmony. But, in this case, vardlokkur is a chant in which a certain myth is sung, through which the priestess would travel into other worlds. For example, women around her would sing the myth of going (descent) to Helheim, and she would visualize the whole path and the places in Helheim, until she’d get to the Place of the dead and obtain information from her dead ancestors. She would ask the dead of the future and in that way get material for her divinations. While she was in the state of trance, the others of the group would fall into the same state, however their visions were somewhat different.

Today, vardlokkur can be any kind of magical music, but one should mind whether it belongs to the Asatru tradition. For instance, the music of Hagalaz’ runedance represents, among other things, direct summonings of Gods, which makes visualization and emotional investment significantly easier.

As for ritual clothing, it is descripted in the saga of Erik the Red. The volova (also a priestess), is depicted as a woman dressed in a blue robe, a typical ritual cape, carrying with her a walrus bone knife &c. A volova orvitki (vitki is the male equivalent of a volova) nowadays can successfully perform a ritual with generally accepted ritual items (such as a knife, a staff, a mirror &c.).

Recommended reading (pdf e-books):

Stephen Mitchell - Learning Magic In The Sagas
Jeffrey Spier - Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets And Their Tradition
Marcus Cordey - Magical Theory And Tradition