fallingwater
August 25th, 2005, 04:19 PM
I found this on a Germanic Heathenry forum and wanted to know if any of you, (esp. Odinists) agreed with it.
Author: Wulf
In the past, I've written about modern day Odinists who seem to confuse Odin with Jesus Christ -- praying to Odin for salvation and whatnot -- when the characteristics of the Norse Gods are so radically different from those of the Christian that such prayers are laughable nonsense -- the product of a mind so absolutely polluted with destructive culture that even when they adopt alternative symbolism they are unable to abandon the corrupt substance of modern Judaic society.
In further of a discussion of the true natures of the Norse Gods, I think it is instructive to discuss the differences between the two classic Nordic- Germanic-Old English war gods, Odin and Tyr. Thor, being a warrior, but not, properly, a war God, will be set aside for purposes of this discussion. The differences between Odin and Tyr are significant. Odin appears to have taken his position as war god as a derivative of his role as God of Death. Tyr's involvement in war derived from his position as God of Justice. Thus one sees two very different conceptions of war, and two very different Gods emerge.
Tyr is generally recognized as the original head of the Nordic pantheon, with Odin usurping him as lead God later on. There are also conflicting myths regarding the position of Odin and Thor, with Thor sometimes described as the father of Odin, and Odin sometimes described as the father of Thor. However, dating back to at least the second century BC, it appears that the worship of Tyr was dominant in the field of war, with Odin taking a predominant role in warfare starting aroud the fifth or sixth century AD.
Tyr's role as God of War was derived from his role as God of Justice, and the blurring of the two roles reveals a unity of the two ideas among the Germanic cultures. Tyr's original role in violence was in the punishing of criminals; his role as a war god came from the conception of war as an extension of the system of justice in which criminals were punished. One's opponents in war were essentially no different from the common criminal. Just as the common criminal preyed on society alone, committing crimes for personal gain, opposing warriors were seen as criminals, likewise preying on the community for personal gain. Thus, one sees in the ceremonies devoted to Tyr and his equivalents among the Germanic peoples the mass execution of captured opponents, often combined with the mass destruction of their military gear -- the shattering of opposing swords, the destruction of coats of mail, et cetera. No quarter was given to criminals, and no quarter was given to organized groups of criminals waging war on the community.
Odin, who came to dominance in the field of warfare later in Germanic history, and who now enjoys so much popularity among those who don't seem to know him very well, derived his role in war from his role as God of Death. The original valkyries appear to have been woman worshippers of Odin whose job was to select prisoners, criminals, and occassionally members of the communtiy for sacrifice, and to slaughter them. As late as the 11th century AD, Christian missionaries to Scandinavia were speaking out against those real woman -- not mythical figures -- whose role was to select men to die. The conception of them as spiritual beings actively participating in battle appears to have developed later, possibly from an identity with the Norns or fates -- women who decided the outcomes of all things, including battles.
As God of Death, the belief developed that Odin chose who in battle would die. In this role, Odin was a deceptive figure, and a liar. He often betrayed his followers and condemned them to death in battle, even after promising them victory. He also occasionally demanded his followers ritually kill themselves in sacrifice to them, in exchange for the many murders in war he had allowed them to commit in the past. The Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons, and the other tribes of the German Wandervolkerrung came to worship Death, and not Justice, as the Lord of Battle, and Odin began to supplant Tyr.
Thus, when I see someone -- such as a white activist prisoners -- praying to "Odin" for mercy, for release from prison, for inner strength to suffer through adversity, etc, I find such things laughable. The "prayer" is completely inappropriate. One would be better off asking Odin for the strength to murder one's enemies, and be willing to offer one's own life, in ritual sacrifice, in exchange. Odin is said, actually, to have once granted that exact prayer, burying an entire opposing army under an earthquake, in exchange for the life of the king, pledged ten years from the date of the victory.
Odin's betrayal of his followers did not merely involved demands of sacrifice or the granting of victory to opposing armies. It also involved more subtle trickery, as in the case of the beserkers. The beserkers were men who were granted the temporary immunity from harm in battle. They would charge their enemies, sometimes turning into wolves or bears in the process, and murder many, and no matter how they were injured, it would have no effect on them. Entire warrior communities of this nature developed, with rules sets as to the conduct of the men inside, and with all women excluded -- the rape part of rape and pillage being the only permittable sexual expression. However, it was widely known among the Vikings that such men were both honored and cursed, because it was common, when their immunity faded, to find that the price of Odin's blessing was that they were mortally wounded, or forever crippled, by the blows that they had been unable to experience while beserk.
So how would a true follower of Odin, as opposed to Tyr or Thor, behave? Quite contrary to what many Odinists express.
The follower of Odin is deceptive in the pursuit of his goals, which should include harvesting the best warriors of his people by leading them to their deaths. The Aryan ideal of truth-telling is unknown in Odinism; betrayal of one's trusted followers and comrades, when such seems advantageous, would be a more correct way to emulate the God. Courage was displayed among Odin's followers only because Odin used it to make them vessels by which he could inflict greater death on others; the display of courage would not be a proper imitation of reflection of the God's conduct. At the end of the pagan period among the Germanic and Nordic peoples, the character and courage displayed in battle by Odin's followers came to elevate Odin and attribute to him such ideals, though such ideals are absent from the purer form of Odinic worship. Odin is a death god and the proper manner in which to worship him is to murder as many as possible before giving one's own life to him violently. For this reason, Odin is said to have been the God of Kings, while Thor and Tyr were left to the thrall.
One important distinction in his role as God of Death is the contrast between his role and the role of Hel. Odin is the God of those who died violently, and in his hall for warriors (there is a separate hall for good men, and a separate hall from which Odin viewed the world), he collected those who died violently. Those who died of old age or disease, and who were not qualified for the separate heaven (well, hall, but similar concept), for good men, went to Hel, where their individuality was ignomoniously integrated into a shadow of nothingness. Ironically, it is from Hel that Balder, son of Odin, is to emerge at the end of time to lead and create a new Golden Age in the world. Balder's storage in Hel, for lack of a better term, seems to be protective in nature, as the halls he would likely deserve are to be destroyed in Ragna Rokkr. Classic Aryan idealism is absent in the true worship of Odin. Those who seek justice, protection, or the rewarding of strength and charater will find them much more in the worship of Thor and Tyr. Odin is a God of lies and death, and the conception of war that embraces him is one of war as an extension of politics, and not that of the folkish war for the defense of one's people against outside criminals.
Author: Wulf
In the past, I've written about modern day Odinists who seem to confuse Odin with Jesus Christ -- praying to Odin for salvation and whatnot -- when the characteristics of the Norse Gods are so radically different from those of the Christian that such prayers are laughable nonsense -- the product of a mind so absolutely polluted with destructive culture that even when they adopt alternative symbolism they are unable to abandon the corrupt substance of modern Judaic society.
In further of a discussion of the true natures of the Norse Gods, I think it is instructive to discuss the differences between the two classic Nordic- Germanic-Old English war gods, Odin and Tyr. Thor, being a warrior, but not, properly, a war God, will be set aside for purposes of this discussion. The differences between Odin and Tyr are significant. Odin appears to have taken his position as war god as a derivative of his role as God of Death. Tyr's involvement in war derived from his position as God of Justice. Thus one sees two very different conceptions of war, and two very different Gods emerge.
Tyr is generally recognized as the original head of the Nordic pantheon, with Odin usurping him as lead God later on. There are also conflicting myths regarding the position of Odin and Thor, with Thor sometimes described as the father of Odin, and Odin sometimes described as the father of Thor. However, dating back to at least the second century BC, it appears that the worship of Tyr was dominant in the field of war, with Odin taking a predominant role in warfare starting aroud the fifth or sixth century AD.
Tyr's role as God of War was derived from his role as God of Justice, and the blurring of the two roles reveals a unity of the two ideas among the Germanic cultures. Tyr's original role in violence was in the punishing of criminals; his role as a war god came from the conception of war as an extension of the system of justice in which criminals were punished. One's opponents in war were essentially no different from the common criminal. Just as the common criminal preyed on society alone, committing crimes for personal gain, opposing warriors were seen as criminals, likewise preying on the community for personal gain. Thus, one sees in the ceremonies devoted to Tyr and his equivalents among the Germanic peoples the mass execution of captured opponents, often combined with the mass destruction of their military gear -- the shattering of opposing swords, the destruction of coats of mail, et cetera. No quarter was given to criminals, and no quarter was given to organized groups of criminals waging war on the community.
Odin, who came to dominance in the field of warfare later in Germanic history, and who now enjoys so much popularity among those who don't seem to know him very well, derived his role in war from his role as God of Death. The original valkyries appear to have been woman worshippers of Odin whose job was to select prisoners, criminals, and occassionally members of the communtiy for sacrifice, and to slaughter them. As late as the 11th century AD, Christian missionaries to Scandinavia were speaking out against those real woman -- not mythical figures -- whose role was to select men to die. The conception of them as spiritual beings actively participating in battle appears to have developed later, possibly from an identity with the Norns or fates -- women who decided the outcomes of all things, including battles.
As God of Death, the belief developed that Odin chose who in battle would die. In this role, Odin was a deceptive figure, and a liar. He often betrayed his followers and condemned them to death in battle, even after promising them victory. He also occasionally demanded his followers ritually kill themselves in sacrifice to them, in exchange for the many murders in war he had allowed them to commit in the past. The Vikings, the Anglo-Saxons, and the other tribes of the German Wandervolkerrung came to worship Death, and not Justice, as the Lord of Battle, and Odin began to supplant Tyr.
Thus, when I see someone -- such as a white activist prisoners -- praying to "Odin" for mercy, for release from prison, for inner strength to suffer through adversity, etc, I find such things laughable. The "prayer" is completely inappropriate. One would be better off asking Odin for the strength to murder one's enemies, and be willing to offer one's own life, in ritual sacrifice, in exchange. Odin is said, actually, to have once granted that exact prayer, burying an entire opposing army under an earthquake, in exchange for the life of the king, pledged ten years from the date of the victory.
Odin's betrayal of his followers did not merely involved demands of sacrifice or the granting of victory to opposing armies. It also involved more subtle trickery, as in the case of the beserkers. The beserkers were men who were granted the temporary immunity from harm in battle. They would charge their enemies, sometimes turning into wolves or bears in the process, and murder many, and no matter how they were injured, it would have no effect on them. Entire warrior communities of this nature developed, with rules sets as to the conduct of the men inside, and with all women excluded -- the rape part of rape and pillage being the only permittable sexual expression. However, it was widely known among the Vikings that such men were both honored and cursed, because it was common, when their immunity faded, to find that the price of Odin's blessing was that they were mortally wounded, or forever crippled, by the blows that they had been unable to experience while beserk.
So how would a true follower of Odin, as opposed to Tyr or Thor, behave? Quite contrary to what many Odinists express.
The follower of Odin is deceptive in the pursuit of his goals, which should include harvesting the best warriors of his people by leading them to their deaths. The Aryan ideal of truth-telling is unknown in Odinism; betrayal of one's trusted followers and comrades, when such seems advantageous, would be a more correct way to emulate the God. Courage was displayed among Odin's followers only because Odin used it to make them vessels by which he could inflict greater death on others; the display of courage would not be a proper imitation of reflection of the God's conduct. At the end of the pagan period among the Germanic and Nordic peoples, the character and courage displayed in battle by Odin's followers came to elevate Odin and attribute to him such ideals, though such ideals are absent from the purer form of Odinic worship. Odin is a death god and the proper manner in which to worship him is to murder as many as possible before giving one's own life to him violently. For this reason, Odin is said to have been the God of Kings, while Thor and Tyr were left to the thrall.
One important distinction in his role as God of Death is the contrast between his role and the role of Hel. Odin is the God of those who died violently, and in his hall for warriors (there is a separate hall for good men, and a separate hall from which Odin viewed the world), he collected those who died violently. Those who died of old age or disease, and who were not qualified for the separate heaven (well, hall, but similar concept), for good men, went to Hel, where their individuality was ignomoniously integrated into a shadow of nothingness. Ironically, it is from Hel that Balder, son of Odin, is to emerge at the end of time to lead and create a new Golden Age in the world. Balder's storage in Hel, for lack of a better term, seems to be protective in nature, as the halls he would likely deserve are to be destroyed in Ragna Rokkr. Classic Aryan idealism is absent in the true worship of Odin. Those who seek justice, protection, or the rewarding of strength and charater will find them much more in the worship of Thor and Tyr. Odin is a God of lies and death, and the conception of war that embraces him is one of war as an extension of politics, and not that of the folkish war for the defense of one's people against outside criminals.