The Galdrabok An Icelandic Grimoire

Book: The Galdrabok An Icelandic Grimoire by Stephen Flowers

The so-called Galdrabok,' or "Book of Magic," is the single most important document for understanding the practice of magic in late medieval Iceland. It is especially important in that it give, a unique insight into the various religio-magical elements that went into a synthetic national magical tradition in Iceland all the time of its compilation. No other document of comparable age gives so many details of the preservation of the archaic Germanic gods, cosmology, and magical practices as does this little manuscript. Here we are not dependent on folktales or indirect reports through confessions exacted by the tortures of the Inquistion or other churchly authorities to reconstruct the magicoreligious views of the galdramenn (magicians) of the day; instead, we have direct evidence of actual practices written by the magicians' own hands. In many ways the Galdrabok is to the Icelandic folktales of magic' what the runic inscriptions are to the accounts of magic recorded in the sagas. They provide factual corroboration of what otherwise might have been considered, form of fantasy.

In this volume the reader will find not only an annotated translation of the complete Galdrabok but also a similar treatment of selections from other written sources of Germanic magical practice from all of the Germanic peoples. However, in no region did the old ways and the old Gods and goddesses survive so well as in Iceland. And because we are focusing on these texts for what is uniquely Germanic about them, leaving as secondary what is common to every European tradition, we will concentrate mainly on Icelandic sources in this study. Our two principal areas of interest will be the preservation of the Old Gods and the preservation of the unique forms of Germanic magical practice inherited from the heathen age.

In preparing this work for modern publication, I've made every effort to remain true to the original text of the Gaklrabok. Irregularities in capitalization and spelling are left as in the original as they may have special meaning or significance.

Buy Stephen Flowers's book: The Galdrabok An Icelandic Grimoire

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Ask And Embla

"All men and women are descendants from Ask and Embla, the primordial man and women who were found, as tree trunks on the strand, by Odin, Hoenir and Lodur and given life. Thus, Asatru is the legacy of all humans."

This is part of the lore of the Northern people. There are thousands of such stories told by cultures both ancient and modern, from the Old Testament to the interior of the Amazon today.

Humans in their tribal state were extremely ethnocentric, and often their various groupings bear names that mean something like "the true people" or "the real human beings" to distinguish themselves from their neighbors. Likewise, their creation myths tend to be ethnocentric and to pertain only to themselves - not to all of humankind, with which they are not particularly concerned.

To argue that all humans are descended of Ask and Embla is to say that the myths of every other native culture are wrong, and that only ours is right. From the Australian Outback to the depths of Africa, groups have their own explanations for how they came to be. It is the
height of arrogance to assume that our stories apply to them, and that the sacred tales of their own people are false. Unless we assume that their lore is inferior and inaccurate, we are forced to the logical conclusion that each group is right - so long as it speaks to its own people, and no other.

Indeed, to say that our creation story is the only true one is to deny the existence and validity of other peoples' Gods - for it imposes Odin, Hoenir, and Lodur upon these other folk, shoving their Gods rudely out of the picture and negating their own religious explanations for the nature of things. Most Asatruar would not support such religious imperialism. To say that ours is the "one, true" story of human origin smacks not only of religious intolerance but...well, racism!

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Pertho Rune

Pertho is one of the most mysterious Runes of the Elder Futhark. Before all it represents passing into the unknown or even initiation, but the term “initiation” can just as well be connected to Eihwaz as the Rune of death. This Rune can represent the female womb and the fertility cauldron of the mother Goddess. Its shape reminds one of a chalice, which is another association to the womb of the Goddess. The Rune itself signifies mystery, a mysterious event that changes one's life and leads him into a new state of consciousness or a new way of being. Because of this Pertho besides the womb represents a gate or a passage of every kind, but most often the one that leads into the unknown. By passing Eihwaz we have reached an unknown ground, a field we're facing to the first time, which can be caused by a change that has come to being in Eihwaz. But, Pertho can act independent from us and our facing ourselves, so the unexpected change can ensue, enacted by unknown forces. In which ever way you fall under the influence of this Rune, it will always signify a new beginning and a new life.

Divination:

Positive meaning: destiny, fertility, new beginning.

Negative meaning: unpleasant surprise, discovering an unpleasant secret, dangers in experimenting with the occult.

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The Eddas The Keys To The Mysteries Of The North

Book: The Eddas The Keys To The Mysteries Of The North by James Allen Chisholm

This is a practical manual of self-transformation. It takes the form of a working edition of the mythological poems of the ancient Norse Poetic Edda for modern “pagans” who practice the magic and religion of the North. The poems of the Poetic Edda form the most complete and authentic body of surviving pre-Christian Germanic religious and magical lore. The mythological poems of the Elder Edda hold the keys to the understanding and practice of the pre-Christian religion of the Germanic peoples. This book enables the reader to fathom the
mysteries of the Eddic poems so that the elder Troth of the Gods of Europe may again be rightly hailed in holy groves, and the hidden wisdom of the rune-masters rediscovered. This book is especially practical for those who wish follow the authentic pre-Christian religion and magic of the English and other Teutonic folk.

A new translation of the mythological poems of the Edda is the main component of this work. The religious content is revealed with accuracy and clarity. Earlier renditions have been artful paraphrases by scholars who valued the poems as literary monuments, but disregarded the religious and mythic content as the nonsensical but amusing folklore of a more primitive world. None of them ever imagined that their audiences would include practitioners of the Eddic religion. The inaccuracies of such translations have led many modern pagans astray. This is the truest translation for purposes of understanding the religious content of the Poetic Edda.

For the rune-magicians, poetry was a powerful form of magic. The Eddas hold the wisdom of the Erulian Rune-Magicians, and many of these poems may be fathomed to incredible depths and heights, by those who know how to ask. This book is about asking. These poems provide sufficient material for an accurate reconstruction and revivification of the Odian religious and magical philosophies. These poems hold spells, invocations, and lore from which rituals, sacred dramas, and initiatory rites can be reconstructed or authentically created, as well as the keys to understanding the soul and the nine worlds of Yggdrasil - the world tree of the ancient North. Many of the keys are provided also for unlocking the secrets of mysteries of the cults of Thor, Tyr and the Vanir, though much of this lore is filtered through an Odian lens.

The Eddic poems are spells, in which the mysteries of the old lore are encoded by word, rhythm, alliteration, idea, and rune. The words of a given stanza are not juxtaposed merely because the resulting rhythms and word plays are pleasing, but because of there are deep magical resonances among such words. The impact of these magical stanzas perhaps may not be registered consciously, but the magic of Eddic lines reaches far below the shallow waters of mundane conscious understanding into the depths of the collective unconscious, into the realms where our souls mingle with the realms of the Gods. The power of the Eddic verses can be used for invocations and magical operations. It is the task of the modern elders (priests) and vitkis (magicians) to gain a conscious knowledge of the meanings and powers of these combinations of word, meter and rune. The stanzas of the Eddic poems hold the secrets of our Gods. It is the task of this book to provide the modern seeker with the keys to understanding deeper levels of meaning and to encode these into modern English for fashioning invocations to the Gods and for shaping powerful poetic staves in magic.

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Your Ancestors Matter

We Asatruar acknowledge our link to the clan, the family line of which we are a part. This article is intended to facilitate just such a remembrance. It is adapted from a new brochure available from the AFA - one of a series designed to make the central elements of Asatru more accessible to ordinary men and women.

There is a widespread belief in the modern Western world that Ancestors don't matter very much. This is particularly true of the Ancestors of European-Americans; among some writers and academics, "dead White male" is synonymous with irrelevance.

Luckily for us (and for the generations to come), a healthy interest in genealogy and family history defies this rootless, alienated worldview. Why do we care about our ancestors in a world that values self-satisfaction above all else? What does the deeper wisdom of our soul say about this? And just what is our relationship to those who have gone before us? Why does it all matter?

Native cultures in every part of the world revere their forebears. The American Indians, the Australian natives, African tribes, Asian peoples - all give special place to their kin who preceded them. Only in so-called modern societies, those most locked into the pursuit of material things and most distanced from the world of nature, have we forgotten the importance of the ancestral connection.

By ancient tradition, the barrier between the dead and the living is thinner at certain times of the year: Yule is one of these occasions, and the old Celtic festival of Samhain (popularly known as Halloween) is another. At these times, watch your dreams, and listen with your inner ear for the whispers of those of your line who have gone before.

There is much to be gained from the ancestors, and we have barely touched the possibilities in this short essay. Of course, they gave us the greatest gift of all, life itself - for if that golden chain of generations had been broken at any point, we would not be here! But we have our responsibilities, too. Above all, the family honor must be kept intact and the ancestors themselves must be given the high status they deserve. Obviously, we should do all we can to ensure that we have healthy children to continue the line into the future.

Once we understand the bond extending down the generations, we know that we can never truly be without family. Always there are the unseen ones, affecting events and reminding us that we are a part of a great stream of lives, seeking ever to express who and what we are.

Honoring the ancestors (who are, after all, us as we were before) is one of the three key principles to the European soul. The other ones are, respectively, the living of a life of courage and truth, and the right relationship with the Mighty Powers themselves.

The spiritual wisdom of the bold and free European tribes did not die out. It was suppressed - but it cannot be hidden forever, for it exists within us, the people who share this noble heritage!

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Blotar A Brief Guide To Asatru Ritual

Book: Blotar A Brief Guide To Asatru Ritual by Anthony Arndt

Blotar (the plural form of blot) strengthen the bonds between humans and the gods, our holy kin. With blotar we honor the gods in a social atmosphere and invite them to share in our celebrations and give them gifts in return for divine favor.

The blot bowl and plates laid out for the gods and Ancestors are taken outside and given to the gods and land wights. This is often done by depositing the offerings at the base of a tree, where animals can devour it on the behalf of the gods and wights, or by casting them into a sacred fire, thanking the gods and spirits.

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The New Flesh Palladium

Book: The New Flesh Palladium by Robert North

Enter the realm of the New Flesh Palladium freely and of your own will. The author of this book, Robert North, is perhaps best known to the general public as the erudite translator and editor of the once obscure occult classic Sexual Magic by Paschal Beverly Randolph (1990). But there is a deeper side to the story. The author ... takes us on a dramatic adventure in the history of sexual magic.

The author of this work, Robert North,is perhaps best known to the general public as the erudite translator and editor of the once obscure occult classic SEXUAL MAGIC by P.B. Randolph. Now, in the form of a historical treatment of sexual magic, North introduces the world to the ideas of the New Flesh Palladium. the author takes us on a journey from the Heaven and Hell of Emanuel Swedenborg, through the realms of Mesmer and the Marquis de Sade, and into the worlds of aleister crowley and Wilhelm Reich. In the course of this journey we discover the philosophy of the New Flesh---a dramatic adventure in the history of sexual magic.

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Teachings Of The Odin Brotherhood

Book: Teachings Of The Odin Brotherhood by Anonymous

Some years after the publication of Mirabello's book, the Anonymous and privately printed Teachings of the Odin Brotherhood began to circulate. Copies of the latter are rare.

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Germanic And Celtic Religious Lore And Practices

I referred to virtually identical warrior paradises in the scene which opened this article, but the overlap between Celtic and Germanic lore goes far beyond this.

Bogs throughout Northern Europe received sacrifices from Celt and German alike. Weapons and armor captured in battle, food and beakers, miscellaneous items - all were deposited in lakes and marshes in the same way, to the point that we can't even tell which finds are German and which are Celtic.

When the Druids sacrificed to the Gods, the blood from an animal was sprinkled with a sprig of greenery on the assembled people, so the divine energy inherent in blood could be directly transferred to them. In historical Asatru, our forebears did exactly the same thing in the course of a sacrifice or blot.. (Today, modern practitioners of both religions use mead or other fermented fluid in this role.)

Across the length and breadth of our European homeland, our ancestors honored the Gods in the open air, because we thought it inappropriate to shut them up into limiting, lessening structures like the Christian churches. Similarly, in the earliest days, our representations of the Gods and goddesses were simple indeed - often carved from pieces of wood to which Nature had already given the basic shape, awaiting only a few refinements from human hands.

These customs accurately describe Celts as well as Germans.

Tribesmen of both groups used intoxicating drink in religious ritual. Often this was mead, but it could be ale as well. And, while we're considering altered states of consciousness, let's remember the fit or frenzy of the Odin-gripped warriors, the berserkers. In old Ireland, essentially the same warrior's madness bore the name of "{\i ferg} ".

Readers of the Norse stories will remember how Sigurd the Volsung killed the dragon Fafnir and roasted its heart. When he burned his finger, he stuck it in his mouth and found that he could understand the speech of birds. The Irish hero Fergus gained the same gift when he singed his finger while cooking a salmon over a fire.



MAP OF THE UNIVERSE...

When we look at the cosmology of the Teutons and that of the Celts, we can't help but see the likeness. Both have the giant tree, the center of the cosmos and indeed the framework in which all the worlds are found: to Asafolk, it's Yggdrasil; the Celts call it Bile .

The other key component of the universe in ancient Germania was the Well of Wyrd, containing the deeds that make up the past. Drinking from its waters gives wisdom, and Odin gave up one of his eyes for the privilege. As it turns out, the Celts have an almost identical well; hazel nuts fall into it where they are eaten by the Salmon of Wisdom.

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Gods And Goddesses Real But Different

To say that the Gods and Goddesses are real is not to tell us much. The next question is...what are they like?
Aside from the odd personal encounter and rare representations as statues or on old tapestries, the only descriptions we have of the Holy Powers are in the myths. When we look at the stories, we find Thor pictured as a muscular fellow with a red beard and flashing blue eyes. Odin is a tall, older man with a gray beard and one eye, and he sometimes travels in the company of his two wolves and ravens. Freyr - well, he's a fertility God, with the appropriate physical attributes.

Are we to take these vivid, dramatic images literally? That depends on how you want to think of the Gods and the myths in which they appear. Here are two possibilities:

We can think of myth as metaphor. In this scheme, the myths are symbolic ways of transmitting spiritual truths. They have multiple layers of meaning. On the most obvious and superficial level, they are entertaining tales that often make a moral point or illustrate virtues like the love of wisdom, sacrifice, and bravery.

Below this level, things get trickier. Some mythologists (not themselves followers of our ancestral religion) will say they are allegories describing natural phenomena such as lightning, or the warming of the land with the departure of winter, or the cycle by which vegetation grows, dies in the winter, and comes to life again in the spring.

Psychologists, particularly those who are students of Dr. Carl Jung, interpret the myths as depictions of psychic realities rather than external ones. In this model, the ancient stories tell us important things about the personal and collective unconscious. The heroic quest and the growth and maturation of the individual are typical themes. The Gods and goddesses are thought of as psychic forces in the person and in society, but are not considered objectively real.

We can admit the value of these viewpoints in a technical or analytical sense, while not conceding they represent the whole truth. Many Asatruar consider the myths to be true - not in the literal sense but in the sense of tales which tell spiritual truths, "those things which never happened, but always are." The tales of Gods become allegories, some of which can be deciphered by reason. Others cannot be interpreted in terms of logic, because they speak a deeper, non-linear "meta-language," the secret code of the unconscious. In this case, the myths communicate with us subtly, without words, influencing our mind and spirit.

For Asatruar who think of the myths as metaphor, the Gods and Goddesses are real, but the anthropomorphic images of them presented in the old lore are strictly symbolic. Thor is not really a gigantic, muscular, man-like figure with a red beard, any more than Jehovah is a human-shaped entity in a white gown sitting on a golden throne, surrounded by clouds. The description of Thor we find in the stories gives us a way to relate to the very real force in the cosmos that we call Thor, but it is not him.

The Gods and Goddesses are not limited by the constraints of flesh and blood. So while it is convenient for us to picture Freya as a beautiful woman wearing a shining necklace, or Heimdal as having golden teeth, these are allegorical. The Gods and Goddesses themselves are mighty spiritual powers, existing within us and without us, capable of manifesting to humans in any form they wish.

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What Does Asatru Teach About An Afterlife

We believe that there is an afterlife, and that those who have lived virtuous lives will go on to experience greater fulfillment, pleasure, and challenge. Those who have led lives characterized more by vice than by virtue will be separated from kin and doomed to an existence of dullness and gloom. The precise nature of the afterlife - what it will look like and feel like - is beyond our understanding and is dealt with symbolically in the myths.

There is also a tradition in Asatru of rebirth within the family line. Perhaps the individual is able to choose whether or not he or she is re-manifested in this world, or there may be natural laws which govern this. In a sense, of course, we all live on in our descendents quite apart from an afterlife as such.

We of Asatru do not overly concern ourselves with the next life. We live here and now, in this life. If we do this and do it well, the next life will take care of itself.

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Asgard And The Gods The Tales And Traditions Of Our Northern Ancestors

Book: Asgard And The Gods The Tales And Traditions Of Our Northern Ancestors by Mw Macdowall

A complete and popular English account of the religious beliefs and superstitious customs of the old Norsemen, suited to our younger readers, has hitherto been left unwritten. The editor feels sure that our elder children can easily be brought to take a beneficial interest in a subject of such great intrinsic worth to all of us, and has therefore brought out the accompanying book.

Our old Ancestors were a hardy, conservative race, and tenaciously held by the treasured relics of their former beliefs and customs long after they had been shattered by the onset of Christianity. They retained their primitive Odinic belief as late as A.D. 800, and we therefore possess it in a very complete state, far more so than any other European system of mythology. We English have to this day inherited this conservative trait of their character, and are still continually in every-day life coming across new and unexpected remnants of our earliest beliefs. Paragraphs in the newspapers, containing reports of police trials, etc., very frequently bring forward new and as yet undiscovered superstitions, which clearly hark back to the once popular and all-extensive faith of the
North.

Who would think, for instance, that in the time-old Mayday festivals, we should discover traces of the oldest celebrations of the triumph of the Summer Odin over the Winter Odin, or that through the baby rhymes and nursery sayings of to-day, we should be able to trace the common creed of a nation of thousands of years ago? To him unused to this kind of research, such things will appear impossible; but we think our book will considerably extend the sceptic’s line of vision, if indeed it does not convert him to an ardent student in the field he has before made light of.

With regard to the translation of the passages quoted from the Old Norse, Icelandic, etc., the original metres, alliterative poems, etc., have been imitated as accurately as possible, though it must be confessed that in one or two places the effect appears somewhat weak and laboured, a result that might have been anticipated, and one which it is hoped the reader will overlook.

With reference to the orthography adopted: in most cases the proper names have been anglicized in form, according to established rules, as far as has been possible. Let us take a few instances:

The Icelandic nominatival r has always been dropped, as in the words Ragnarokr, Thrymr, etc. In the case of reduplicated letters, the last has been eliminated, unless an alteration in sound would have been thereby occasioned, e.g., Jotun has been adopted instead of Jotunn, Gunlod instead of Gunnlod, etc. W has been throughout used in place of V, since scholars have pretty generally decided that it more nearly represents the original pronunciation than the English V; thus we spell Walhalla, Wiking, Walkyries, etc. Many words have -heim affixed to them: -heim means abode, dwelling, and is the same word as the English home; as instances, Nifelheim, the dark home; Jotunheim, the home of the Jotuns, giants, etc.

The suffix -gard appended to a word means place (English yard, ward, gard-en), and is found in such words as Asgard, the place of the Ases, the gods; Midgard, the middle place, the earth; Utgard, the out or lower place. (W. S. W. ANSON)

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Victory Or Valhalla The Final Compilation Of Writings

Book: Victory Or Valhalla The Final Compilation Of Writings by David Lane

David Lane was a prolific writer who tackled all of the issues imperative to the survival of our race. Some of the material contained in these pages will be familiar to those who have read Deceived, Damned & Defiant. However, this book also contains newer writings, including his fictional story "KD Rebel" as well as his last interview.

The 14 words created by David Lane are immortal words. The White Race is in great danger. This collection of writings by David Lane is fantastic. He was a "MAN AGAINST TIME". In Germany a lot of people know David Lane's 14 words. We also enjoy his great writings. David Lane had been a competent author with wide-ranging knowledge of the world. We must unite our race to survive.

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Shedding The Psychic Remnants Of Christianity

Most of the lore-based arguments against our Folkish worldview are based on the four presented above. In general, they show a common thread - namely, Christian thinking!

First, the idea that all humans spring from Ask and Embla may be appealing from a simplistic viewpoint, but it implies the non- existence of other peoples' Gods and thus reflects the same religious imperialism we find in historical Christianity.

Likewise, to propose that the Aesir and Vanir have sex outside their "race" (species?) is to use the Eddic texts in the literal way that fundamentalist Christian uses the Bible.

Finally, to suggest that religions can be chosen in the same way one chooses a hat or a new car is to divorce the group of people from their Way, which is characteristic of the monotheistic religions.

Those who reject the Folkish viewpoint often accuse us of not really being true to the Aesir and Vanir. Ironically, though, a closer look shows their arguments against us to be much more in line with Christianity than with the inherently tribal and ethnocentric nature of indigenous religions!

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Introduction To The Elder Edda

Book: Introduction To The Elder Edda by John Ronald Tolkien

The Elder Edda is not a single continuous narrative, but a collection of poems, most of which are preserved in the Konungsbok, or Codex Regius (King's Book), copied in Iceland about A.D. 1270. The poems are the work of many poets. Their language suggests that they were composed between 800 and 1100 A.D. and first written down between 1150 and 1250 A.D. The poems are a rich source of information for culture and belief among the Vikings. They are not, however, purely Scandinavian. Christian Irish influence is likely, while the Sigurd story draws on actual events among the tribes that invaded the Roman Empire between 350-600 A.D.

The Elder Edda first came to scholarly attention in the seventeenth century as antiquarian interest in the non-classical past was growing in Europe. It was published in its entirety just as intense romantic and nationalistic interest in the perceived tribal Ancestors of the European nation states emerged towards the end of the eighteenth century. This interest, combined with the new science of philology, ensured popular and scholarly interest in texts like the Elder Edda. Some of the lays were available in bowdlerized versions even for children by the later nineteenth century. In the hands of Richard Wagner, the Elder Edda became the foundation of one of the century's masterpieces. While northern legends and the scholarship based on it were misused by the Nazis to develop and further their ideas of race, they are seriously misrepresented by such ideas. In the 1960s, the poet W. H. Auden in collaboration with an Old Norse scholar, Paul B. Taylor, produced a translation of sixteen of the poems.

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Goddess Nanna

Nanna is renowned as a gift giver and wife of Balder. She epitomizes feminine courageousness and is the mother of Forsetti.

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God Hod

Hod: This name also means "warrior", and he is very strong. But he is also blind, and it was his hand that Loki guided to the killing of Baldur. Hod was afterwards killed, and resides with Baldur in Hel.

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Ansuz Rune

Ansuz is the Rune of the Asir Gods, most of all Odin as their leader. As we know, Odin is the God of word magic and it's Ansuz that represents the word as a fully formed unit of energy. The process of control we commenced with Uruz is here completed by controlling the energy, be it physical or psychological. Therefore, Ansuz is the Rune of the king – the absolute ruler. In the Runic poem Ansuz is also connected to the word, it's the “source of all tongues” and the “pillar of wisdom”. Because of it Ansuz can be used to better one's eloquence, to put chaotic thoughts into order. Even though Ansuz represents the goal we reached through Uruz and Thurisaz, this goal is fickle because establishing absolute control is not the peak of spiritual development. Even though a person is now capable of controlling one's life and circumstances, one still has a lot to learn and the spiritual journey is nowhere near its end.
Even though this is the Rune of wisdom and the Rune of Odin as the searcher of wisdom, in its negative meaning it can be the Rune of illusion, and as such it's connected to Loki.

Divination:

Positive meaning: enthusiasm, power of words, truth, wisdom, inspiration.

Negative meaning: not understanding, being manipulated, dogma, loss of control.

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Karl Hans Welz - Armanen Runes

Asatru As A Religion

Asatru is a serious, modern religion inspired by historical knowledge of the past, but adapted to our current conditions. It seeks to enhance the spiritual connection of the past, present and future and to make the Gods and goddesses of our ancestors relevant to daily life in today’s world. As a Godhi, you will have the important responsibility of promoting Asatru and helping people experience this spirituality by following their ancestral religion.

Asatru is not a role-playing game. It is not a dress-up game. It is not an opportunity to fantasize about being a Viking or recreating a society that existed a thousand years ago. We want to avoid make-believe weekend Viking role-playing and rather bring a spiritual vision and guidance leading our people to goodness and prosperity in Midgard and to a communion with their Gods, Goddesses and ancestors. Additionally, we are preparing the way for future generations. These are solemn tasks that require focus and seriousness.

Asatru is derived from a deep understanding of the practices and beliefs of our ancestors. It is not just "made up." There is a strong historical basis for just about everything in Asatru. It has been said that "Asatru is the religion with homework" because there's so much to learn about in rediscovering the spiritual ways of our ancestors. To do this, we are learning about and reconstructing past beliefs and practices and then adapting those beliefs and practices to the modern world. The various readings in this course will guide you through a lot of historical literature. Additionally, there are readings, which are modern syntheses of those historical ideas into Contemporary practices.

Asatru is not part of a larger "Pagan" religious grouping which includes religions such as Wicca or other foreign or eclectic paths. We do not welcome their influences. Admittedly, we have some of our modern origins with some of those groups, but our values differ significantly. Whereas they revel in universalist pantheism, as polytheists we have set forth a path which reverently places our own Gods and Goddesses at the forefront while leaving foreign ways behind. Asatru is not a Universalist religion. It does not seek universal salvation for all human beings. What it seeks to do is help the individual find meaning and spirituality in their gods and goddesses in Asgard, their folk in Midgard and their ancestral roots.

Asatru is a Folk or Ethnic religion; we believe that our Gods and Goddesses have a special affection for us because we are their descendents. We believe that our gods and goddesses are our oldest ancestors, that our ancestry is good, and that we must promote our unique and special ancestral identity and culture into an enduring future. Consequently, we believe that we have a responsibility to promote a Folk existence, which is more important than anything else in Midgard.

Ethically, Asatru holds high regard for both the individual and ethnic folk. It is not a self-denying religion; we want the Individual to discover their personal strengths, weaknesses and insights, but to also willingly apply them for the good of the folk. Asatru is also a life-embracing spirituality, which does not merely prepare the individual for an afterlife. We seek to apply ourselves to accomplish great things, to live a worthy and full life and experience the joy of our time in Midgard.

But, there are many ways of looking at Asatru as a religion. We can compare and contrast it with other religions. We can describe it as we see it today. We can describe it as we’d like to see it. We can describe it as it is practiced individually. We can describe it as it’s practiced in groups. Looking at it in these various ways will help us better understand the many aspects of modern Asatru.

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Irv Slauson - The Religion Of Odin
Aleister Crowley - Great Drug Delusion
Anonymous - Asatru And The Paranormal
Lil Bow Wow - What Is A Warlock
Reeves Hall - Asatru In Brief

Asatru The Nordic Subtradition Of The Verbena

Book: Asatru The Nordic Subtradition Of The Verbena by Anders Sandberg

The Verbena have always been regional, and differ much from area to area. In Scandinavia, the Verbena have been the protectors of the old religion and the old ways against the tide of Christianity and the Technocracy. Actually, the Verbena was behind the Old Faith of Asatru which ruled before Christianity. Asatru means the "belief in the Aesir", the old pagan gods.

During the pre-Christian times they were the priests and counselled the leaders about the will of the gods. Their magick was devoted to practical things like helping the crops, fishing and hunting, protecting the people from wild animals and worse, controlling the weather and protecting the universe from the forces which sought to bring about Ragnarok, the destruction of the world.

During this time magick was more common than today, and most people knew a few minor magics. These were often of a simple protective nature and used to protect against spirits, the faeries, the dead, injuries, accidents and bad luck. These magics consistedoften in inscribing a special rune (The runic alphabet was regarded as magical, and to be able to inscribe runes was regarded as a kind of magic), or singing the galders, songs sung in a high-pitched voice. These rotes were passed down through generations, or givento people by the priests or sibyls. All in all, minor magic seems to have been quite common, a bit like how most people today know a few tricks with technology.

Download Anders Sandberg's eBook: Asatru The Nordic Subtradition Of The Verbena

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Hilda Roderick Ellis - Road To Hel A Study Of The Conception Of The Dead
Phil Legard - An Approach To The Operation Of The Arbatel Of Magic
Eliphas Levi - The Conjuration Of The Four Elements
Anders Sandberg - Asatru The Nordic Subtradition Of The Verbena