Going to Hel: The Consequences of a Heathen Life
By placing inordinate weight on the words of Snorri’s Edda and paying insufficient attention to what the older heathen poems say regarding the fate of the dead, we have been mislead into believing that the gods did not judge their followers and that only warriors were rewarded for leading a virtuous life according to the precepts of heathen morality.
The Fylgja
By Mark Puryear We are told that the fylgjas, who are tutelary spirits in the Odinic faith, are women who die as virgins and are thus led to serve Urd in this capacity. Their virginity is based on the idea that the family and clan must always be kept together, and since they have no
The Norns
Therefore, if I am to have positive things in my life I must positively influence those around me. It’s just that simple.
Odal Lands
In ancient Europe, there existed a tradition that played a part in our ancestors’ appreciation of the land. It was called the “odaľ and was so sacred that one of our runes was named after it (also called “Othala”). The odal was an inherited property or estate, passed on from generation to generation. It was
A Cultural Connection with the Divine
Besides having a relationship with divinity, it is also significant to have a cultural connection to the deities of your ancestors. Think of this—only Western Christians celebrate customs that did not originate in their lands from their ancestral traditions, and only Westerners suffer from an identity crisis where they want to be everything except what
The Nature of Gods
Because our Gods are family, they love us as such, and therefore their love is authentic and true.
An Excerpt on Germanic Law
“The demand for personal restitution, indeed, is not a thing that life and society merely acknowledge, it is the very innermost secret, the sustaining power itself, in the legislation of the North.”
On Divinity
If we recognize divinity as a part of the Spiritual Collective, rather than its whole, then we can grasp an understanding of the Gods as natural beings living within our reality and thus being subject to its laws.
On the Elements
“We believe that the universe and its four basic elements (Water, Fire, Earth, Air) are eternal in that they have always been and always will be, they simply transform or appear to transform through a constant cycle of convergence and entropy, which some call the cycle of life-death-rebirth.” The Odisbook, Mark Puryear This cycle is
Sacred Kettles
One device that is often looked over, even though it is mentioned more in our sources than any other, is the kettle or cauldron. The word kettle comes from the Old Norse kettil, meaning “kettle, cauldron,” from the Proto-Germanic katilaz, “kettle, bucket, vessel.” The kettle would have been used for various purposes, from cooking the sacred feast to brewing mead, and possibly even divination. It is likely that our ancestors saw this as important for the same reason they revered the hearth, because it was central to the gathering of the folk. It was the vessel from which communal meals and drinking feasts would be prepared and procured. With this as the basis for our thesis, we shall examine the evidence and symbols surrounding this implement for our blots.
