Forn Sed

Often known under the name Asatru.

This blog will focus on historical accuracy and reconstructionism but also on the contemporary religion and sometimes wander into other heathenry, like Anglo - Saxon faith, Odinism, Theodism and so on.
There will however never be any bigotry, homophobia, anti Semitism or stupid ideas of a "pure" Germanic race. hello! theme by cissysaurus
07
04

I will write an answer…

My post on Thor and Odin has gotten some responses that kind of prove my point.

I will however not do it while im still p*ssed off.

It is clear however that what i see when i look around me in Sweden is all wrong and academics and museums are ill informed and i will henceforth ask teenage people in other parts of the world about my own culture.

06
28

Structuralism, Cultural Relativism And Deprogramming

The term ethnocentrism was coined by William G. Sumner, upon observing the tendency for people to differentiate between the in-group and others. He defined it as “the technical name for the view of things in which one’s own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it.” He further characterized it as often leading to pride, vanity, beliefs of one’s own group’s superiority, and contempt of outsiders. Robert K. Merton comments that Sumner’s additional characterization robbed the concept of some analytical power because, Merton argues, centrality and superiority are often correlated, but need to be kept analytically distinct.


Just as it may take “deprogramming” to get out of a “cult” (in the modern meaning) it may take some to get into a cult (proper).

A deprogramming of the norm so to speak.

It is very easy to by way of structuralism and ethnocentrism attempt to apply a teaching or way to ones life that is really nothing more than ones original one in other trappings.

I would say that this is true regardless of weather it is a mystery school such as Thelema, Kabbalah or Raja Yoga or if it is a reconstructivist or ethnic path.

I sometimes find myself struggling with sexual ideas, ideals as to what is “sacred” and what is “profane”, the nature of morals, philosophical and cultural ideals and so on that i can clearly see are Christian (despite not having been a Christian for decades), Post-Modern or other strains of philosophy that are part of contemporary mainstream  society.

This despite a number of initiations, years of religous practice and study.

This is probably (one reason ) why banishings are so essential to the Ceremonial Magician.

Taking out the trash leaves room for any other work.

Just like when studying another contemporary or ancient culture, the glasses of ones own has to come off.

Paralells that dont exist must be exorcicised and the subject must be studied objectively and with some degree of honesty.

This however also applies to the praxis that might follow.

Just like an ethnocentric antropologist would be more or less studying his own culture, a mystic or reconstructivist stuck in the norm of today would simply be a guy changing robes.


06
26

Who Goes Bump In Yggdrasil?

 Top Branches

 Four stags or harts (male Red Deer) eat among the branches of the World Tree Yggdrasill. According to thePoetic Edda, the stags crane their necks upward to chomp at the branches. Their names are given as Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrrand Duraþrór. An amount of speculation exists regarding the deer and their potential symbolic value.

This drawing made by a 17th century Icelandershows the four stags on the World Tree. Neither deer nor ash trees are native to Iceland.
Grímnismál 33Hirtir ero ok fiórir,þeirs af hæfingar ágaghálsir gnaga:Dáinn ok Dvalinn,Dúneyrr ok Duraþrór.Thorpe’s translationHarts there are also four,which from its summits,arch-necked, gnaw.Dain and Dvalin,Duneyr and Durathror.Hollander’s translationFour harts alsothe highest shootsay gnaw from beneath:Dáin and Dvalin,Duneyr and Dýrathrór.
Sky as branches of Yggdrasill: compare how patterns of cirrus cloudsmay resemble branches of an ash tree
European ash tree

Early suggestions for interpretations of the stags included connecting them with the four elements, the four seasons or the phases of the moon.

In his influential 1824 work, Finnur Magnússon suggested that the stags represented winds. Based on an interpretation of their names, he took Dáinn (‘The Dead One’) and Dvalinn (‘The Unconscious One’) to be calm winds and Duneyrr and Duraþrór to be heavy winds. The stags biting the leaves of the tree, he interpreted as winds tearing at clouds. The fact that Dáinn and Dvalinn are also dwarf names, he connected with dwarves having control of winds.

Many scholars, following Sophus Bugge, believe that stanzas 33 and 34 of Grímnismál are of a later origin than those surrounding them. Finnur Jónsson surmised that there was originally only one stag which had later been turned into four, probably one on each side.This is consistent with stanza 35 of Grímnismál, which mentions only one hart:

Grímnismál 35Askr Yggdrasilsdrýgir erfiðimeira enn menn viti:hiörtr bitr ofan,en á hliðo fúnar,skerðer Níðhöggr neðan.Thorpe’s translationYggdrasil’s ashhardship suffersgreater than men know of;a hart bites it above,and in its side it rots,Nidhögg beneath tears it.

It has been suggested that this original stag is identical with Eikþyrnir, mentioned earlier in Grímnismál.

 Top

An illustration from a 17th century Icelandic manuscript shows a hawk, Veðrfölnir, on top of an eagle on top of a tree, Yggdrasil.

 Veðrfölnir (Old Norse ”storm pale,” ”wind bleached” or “wind-witherer”) is a hawk sitting between the eyes of an unnamed eagle that is perched on top of the world tree YggdrasilVeðrfölnir is sometimes modernly anglicized as Vedrfolnir orVethrfolnir.

The unnamed eagle is attested in both the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, while Veðrfölnir is solely attested in the Prose Edda. In both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, the squirrel Ratatoskr couriers messages between the unnamed eagle and Nidhöggr, the wyrm that resides below the world tree. Scholars have proposed theories about the implications of the birds

John Lindow points out that Snorri does not say why a hawk should be sitting between the eyes of an eagle or what role it may play. Lindow theorizes that “presumably the hawk is associated with the wisdom of the eagle” and that “perhaps, like Odin’s ravens, it flies off acquiring and bringing back knowledge”.

Veðrfölnir sits atop the eagle with Ratatoskr nearby (upper right) while Odin sacrifices himself to himself upon the tree Yggdrasil (central) in an illustration (1895) by Lorenz Frølich.

Hilda Ellis Davidson says that the notion of an eagle atop a tree and the World Serpent coiled around the roots of the tree has parallels in other cosmologies from Asia, and that Norse cosmology may have been influenced by these Asiatic cosmologies from a northern route. On the other hand, Davidson adds, the Germanic peoples are attested as worshipping their deities in open forest clearings, and that asky god was particularly connected with the oak tree, and therefore “a central tree was a natural symbol for them also”

 Bottom

Níðhöggr gnaws the roots of Yggdrasill in this illustration from a 17th-century Icelandic manuscript.
Níðhöggr (Malice Striker, often anglicized Nidhogg) is a dragon who gnaws at a root of the World TreeYggdrasill. In the mythology, the Nidhogg is said to be controlled by only one person, the Norse goddess named Hel.

  Running Between

Ratatoskr (Old Norse, generally considered to mean “drill-tooth” or “bore-tooth”) is a squirrel who runs up and down the world tree Yggdrasil to carry messages between the unnamed eagle, perched atop Yggdrasil, and the wyrm Níðhöggr, who dwells beneath one of the three roots of the tree. Ratatoskr is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Scholars have proposed theories about the implications of the squirrel.

A 17th century Icelandic manuscript depicting Ratatoskr. Although unexplained in the manuscript and not otherwise attested, in this image Ratatoskr bears a horn.
06
26

Gróa

In Norse mythologyGróa (Old Norse ”growing”) is a völva and practitioner of seiðr, the wife of Aurvandil the Bold.

“Awake Groa Awake Mother” Illustration by John Bauer
Skaldskaparmál: The Thor / Hrugnir Fight
Gróa appears in the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, in the context of Thor’s battle with the jötunn Hrungnir. After Thor has dispatched Hrungnir with the hammer Mjollnir, Gróa is asked to help magically remove shards of Hrungnir’s whetstone which became embedded in Thor’s head. Unfortunately while Gróa was about her work, Thor distracted her by giving her news of her husband’s whereabouts (he had earlier helped Aurvandil cross the river Élivágar), telling her that her husband was now at home. Gróa’s spell miscarried and the pieces of whetstone remained permanently embedded in Thor’s head.

Svipdagsmál: To The Help Of Her Son Svipdagr

Gróa is also a völva, summoned from beyond the grave, in the Old Norse poem Grógaldr, (a section of Svipdagsmál), by her sonSvipdagr. In death she has lost none of her prophetic powers, and is able to assist him in a successful conclusion of the task which he has been set by his cruel stepmother. It is possible that this second Gróa is the same as the first one.

“Groa’s Incantation” (1908) by W. G. Collingwood.
Gesta Danorum: Saved From Garm
In Gesta DanorumGro is a woman saved from marrying a giant by King Gram. In Viktor Rydberg’s elaborate theories on Norse mythology this Gro, too, is the same.

06
26
Heimdallr blows Gjallarhorn in an 1895 illustration by Lorenz Frølich
06
26
“I am the giant Skrymir” (1902) by Elmer Boyd Smith
Thor and Loki in front of Skrymir (really Utgårda-Loki), Tjalfi and Röskva (Thors servants) turning away in fear.

The story can be found in Gylfaginning in the Prose Edda
06
25

Courtship, Love and Marriage in Viking Scandinavia

Friday was sacred to the goddess Frigga
Weddings were held on Friday or “Friggas-day” to honor the goddess of marriage.


A Viking Age bride
The bride wore the bridal crown.

06
17

Some kind blond chap left this gift #mjolnir

That´s what i call protection!

06
17

Halfdan’s Viking Mead Recipe

06
17

Some Heathen traditions in Cristianized form in Sweden