Friday, September 25, 2009

How Wiccans Celebrate Yule

How Wiccans Celebrate Yule Cover In most forms of Wicca, this holiday is celebrated at the winter solstice as the rebirth of the Great horned hunter God, who is viewed as the newborn solstice sun. The method of gathering for this sabbat varies by practitioner. Some have private ceremonies at home, while others do so with their covens. Yule festivities for modern wiccans and neopagans involve the burning of the Yule log on an open fire to honour the lord Cernunnos or the Horned God; the log is decorated with holly and other symbolic paraphernalia. Also during the many wiccan Yule rituals, the Oak King defeats the Holly King. This signifies the changes in the season.

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Anonymous - What Is Wicca Article 2
Julia Phillips - History Of Wicca In England
Tarostar - The Witchs Spellcraft Revised

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Asatru As A Spiritual Way

Asatru As A Spiritual Way Cover Spirituality arises from our knowledge of our self and the universe and our place in the universe while attaining a comfort with this reality. It is the feeling one gets as one sees meaningful patterns, completeness and purpose in ones life and actions.

Asatru, with its many different facets offers a strongly spiritual way. It can bring meaning and significance to our life through its lore and rituals. From these, we gain realizations about and experience enduring patterns of time. We gain better understanding of ourselves by understanding these cycles of time and through knowing the intergenerational realities of ancestry and folk. As we venerate and accept these cycles of life we see purpose in our existence. As we understand ancestral and folk patterns, we come to understand that we have a place and a role in time.

The seriousness and reverence of our rituals and ceremonies can be strong tools in helping us experience our spirituality. Whether through our own runic meditations, community blots, observing the growth of the young, studying our cosmology and psychology or through a myriad other activities, we gain deeper understanding of the enduring patterns in the universe and bring about a spiritual peace.

In this way, as we study the lore, ourselves, and understand our role in Asatru, we come to know the nature of the universe and find deep meaning in the center of our soul.

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Tuesday Lobsang Rampa - As It Was
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Monday, September 14, 2009

Uruz Rune

Uruz Rune Cover Uruz signifies the ancient beast aurox, similar to a buffalo. In his work De Bello Gallico, Julius Caesar described these animals as smaller than an elephant, the shape and colour of a bull. They were Extremely strong, swift and dangerous beasts of Northern Europe that are now, unfortunately, extinct; the easiest way to hunt them down was by covered holes in the ground. The proof of a caught animal were the enormous horns that were later used for drinking. Aurox is a symbol of wild, untamed nature as well as raw natural strength. But this strength can be tamed and used, so Uruz, among others, is also the Rune of the hunter.
As we already know, in the olden days hunting was an exam of maturity and a sort of initiation; all these aspects are contained in Uruz. It's also the sexual energy as a primary force of nature. Besides the aurox, Uruz is als Connected to Audhumla, the cosmic cow that created life in our Universe. Uruz is used to reawaken energy, especially in people who's lacking in energy (a sick of depressed person). This Rune can also be used to bolster one's will.

Divination:

Positive meaning: strength, potential, freedom, acitivity, health.

Negative meaning: weakness, misdirected strength, disease, violence, rashness.

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Stephen Flowers - Runa
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Friday, September 11, 2009

Odinism In White Supremacist Tattoos

Odinism In White Supremacist Tattoos Cover Tattoos are an increasingly popular way to express beliefs and identity—and those within the Odinic white supremacist movement are no exception to this trend. White supremacy message boards and websites over flow with advice about where and what kinds of tattoos to get to express belief in the supremacy of white people. Advice ranges from the more conservative end of the spectrum—warnings to get the tattoos in places easy to hide in case one is pulled over or simply wants to lay low in his supremacist beliefs—to people encouraging others to be loud and proud about their heritage. Many of their designs combine traditional Norse images (such as Thor’s hammer or Odin’s ravens, even runes) with more modern white supremacist themes (swastikas or even the symbols of various white supremacist groups). Some recommend simply Norse-themed tattoos without any other obvious symbols as a way to fly under radar—other white supremacists will recognize the message, while people not in the loop will simply see a cool design.

The following tattoos were all pictures posted on vairous white supremacist message boards or websites as examples of tattoos that would show racial pride and a belief in the inherent supremacy of white people. They all contain elements of Norse mythology and belief in a warrior culture.

Recommended reading (pdf e-books):

Jone Salomonsen - Enchanted Feminism The Reclaiming Witches Of San Francisco
Aleister Crowley - Songs Of The Spirit
Anonymous - Odinism And Asatru

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Heathen Ethics And Values Some Frequently Asked Questions

Heathen Ethics And Values Some Frequently Asked Questions Cover

Book: Heathen Ethics And Values Some Frequently Asked Questions by The Troth

Too often, the stereotype of Heathens is of an anarchic group of Viking raiders, with no ethical standards other than "might makes right." The truth is quite different.

Heathens do not believe in "original sin." We can and do choose to do right or wrong—but the idea that we are inherently flawed, and can only become worthy by humbly accepting divine grace that we can never truly deserve, makes no sense in a heathen context. Our Gods don’t rule us through our guilt—they don’t need to. Instead, we have the strength and ability—and also the duty—to act wisely, take responsibility for our actions, and become worthy of our Gods and ancestors. Our ethics are ultimately founded in personal responsibility, and in reciprocal obligations to one’s community. They are not a long list of "thou shalt nots" to be followed blindly. They are intended to help us grow in strength and wisdom. No less importantly, they are meant to guide us in forming strong relationships and strong communities, in frith and troth both among ourselves and with our Gods.

Download The Troth's eBook: Heathen Ethics And Values Some Frequently Asked Questions

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The Troth - Heathen Ethics And Values Some Frequently Asked Questions

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The Arctic Home In The Vedas

The Arctic Home In The Vedas Cover

Book: The Arctic Home In The Vedas by Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak

On the occasion of the birth centenary of Lok. B. G. TILAK, we have the proud privilege to offer to the discriminating readers this 2nd reprint of his famous work “The Arctic Home In The Vedas,” published by the Author in 1903 and reprinted in 1925 (J. S. TILAK)

The present volume is a sequel to my Orion or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas, published in 1893. The estimate of Vedic antiquity then generally current amongst Vedic scholars was based on the assignment of arbitrary period of time to the different strata into which the Vedic literature is divided; and it was believed that the oldest of these strata could not, at the best, be older than 2400 B.C. In my Orion, however, I tried to show that all such estimates, besides being too modest, were vague and uncertain, and that the astronomical statements found in the Vedic literature supplied us with far more reliable data for correctly ascertaining the ages of the different periods of Vedic literature. These astronomical statements, it was further shown, unmistakably pointed out that the Vernal equinox was in the constellation of M?iga or Orion (about 4500 B.C.) during the period of the Vedic hymns, and that it had receded to the constellation of the K?ittikas, or the Pleiades (about 2500 B.C.) in the days of the Brahmanas. Naturally enough these results were, at first, received by scholars in a skeptical spirit. But my position was strengthened when it was found that Dr. Jacobi, of Bonn, had independently arrived at the same conclusion, and, soon after, scholars like Prof. Bloomfield, M. Barth, the late Dr. Bulher and others, more or less freely, acknowledged the force of my arguments.

Dr. Thibaut, the late Dr. Whitney and a few others were, however, of opinion that the evidence adduced by me was not conclusive. But the subsequent discovery, by my friend the late Mr. S. B. Dixit, of a passage in the Shatapatha Brahmana, plainly stating that the Kaittikas never swerved, in those days, from the due east i.e., the Vernal equinox, has served to dispel all lingering doubts regarding the age of the Brahmanas; while another Indian astronomer, Mr. V. B. Ketkar, in a recent number of the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, has mathematically worked out the statement in the Taittiriya Brahmana (III, 1, 1, 5), that Boihaspati, or the planet Jupiter, was first discovered when confronting or nearly occulting the star Tishya, and shown that the observation was possible only at about 4650 B.C., thereby remarkably confirming my estimate of the oldest period of Vedic literature. After this, the high antiquity of the oldest Vedic period may, I think, be now taken as fairly established. (Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak)

Download Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak's eBook: The Arctic Home In The Vedas

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Friedrich Max Muller - The Sacred Books Of The East
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Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak - The Arctic Home In The Vedas

Monday, September 7, 2009

The Prose Edda Ver 2

The Prose Edda Ver 2 Cover

Book: The Prose Edda Ver 2 by Snorri Sturlson

TRANLSATED FROM THE ICELANDIC WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ARTHUR GILCHRIST BRODEUR, Ph. D.

Instructor in English Philology in the University of California This Series of Scandinavian Classics is published by The American Scandinavian Foundation in the belief that great familiarity with the chief literary monuments of the North will help Americans to a better understanding of Scandinavians, and thus serve to stimulate their sympathetic cooperation to good ends NEW YORK THE AMERICAN-SCANDINAVIAN FOUNDATION LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1916,1923 C. S. Peterson, Regin Press, Chicago, U. S. A. TO WILLIAM HENRY SCHOFIELD WHO MADE THE WORK POSSIBLE THE TRANSLATOR RENDERS THE TRIBUTE OF THIS BOOK

Download Snorri Sturlson's eBook: The Prose Edda Ver 2

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Thursday, September 3, 2009

Wotan The Road To Valhalla

Wotan The Road To Valhalla Cover

Book: Wotan The Road To Valhalla by Kveldulfr Hagan Gundarsson

This book could not have been written without those great skalds of the Viking Age who showed us the road to Valhalla: Eyvindr skaldaspillir, the Eiriksmal poet, and Egill Skalla-Grimsson. To them and their fellows I am endlessly grateful; also, to Snorri Sturluson, whose writings preserved so much of Wotan's lore. In more recent times, I owe special thanks to Hector Munro Chadwick and Jan de Vries, whose work has inspired much of my own. Great thanks are also due to those living folk who helped with the research and writing of this book. The thesis research on which Wotan is based could not have taken place without the kindness of those notable scholars, Professor Dr. Karl Hauck and Dr. H.R. Ellis-Davidson (to whose excellent book The Road to Hel the title of this work pays homage) and the assistance of my Cambridge supervisor Paul Bibire. In addition, I must thank Freya Aswynn, Diana Paxson, Jim Lovette, Melodi Lammond, Jennifer Holliman, William West, Garman Lord, and Mrs. Virginia Clarke, as well as all those modern-day followers of the Norse Gods with whom I have spoken and worshipped for the past twelve years, and Dr. Stephen Edred Flowers (Edred Thorsson), whose writings have been one of the chief forces leading to a revived interest in Wotan and the forgotten Treasures of native Scandinavian culture.

Finally, I must offer my own thanks to Wotan himself - Valhalla's lord, god of death and memory, who gives the mead's gold to his true thanes, that their staves be more lasting than the runes carven on memorial stones. May the Old Man continue to inspire us and show us the way between the worlds: the road to Valhalla.

Download Kveldulfr Hagan Gundarsson's eBook: Wotan The Road To Valhalla

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Roger Bacon - The Mirror Of Alchemy
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Kveldulfr Hagan Gundarsson - Wotan The Road To Valhalla