The Tenets of Sedian Belief
The Tenets of Sedian Belief
The Sedian Path or "Sedianism," was developed by the Norrœna Society as a response to the growing number of New Age gurus who have proclaimed to embrace this religion in order to aggrandize themselves or their political ideologies. It is meant to restore balance to our way of life. The term "Sedian" was developed from Forn Sed, meaning "Ancient Customs" or "Ancient Religion," one of the only terms we know our ancestors used to describe their way of life. We have adopted this as simply meaning that it is our way, our customs, our faith from the past, for today, and growing into the future. So Sedian simply means "Follower of the Customs," or "Follower of the Faith." We have 18 Tenets that define the Sedian Path, and all we ask of anyone who wishes to adopt them is that they do so wholeheartedly and never compromise them or allow others to do so in its name. Here are the 18 Tenets:
1. Sedian is a prefix applicable to any set path, e.g. Ásatrú, Odinism, Theodism, Irminism, or any other method of identifying one as part of the Germanic faith.
We are not here to replace these terms, but rather to further refine them around a set of foundational religious principles. As such, we believe that to be Sedian is to practice the Germanic religion as the legitimate continuation of our forefathers ancestral faith.
The native spiritual and religious path of our people can be called many things: Ásatrú, ‘Faith in the Gods,’ Odinism, ‘Belief in the Odinic Pantheon’ (with an emphasis on Odin as the Chief god), Theodism, ‘Belief of the Tribe,’ (with an emphasis on the Anglo-Saxon), and Irminism, ‘Belief in The Great One’ (Irmin being identical to Jormun, a name of Odin). Each term has evolved organically to encompass a different set of principles and beliefs, and upon further reflection, many who might use the same term differ wildly in their interpretations; therefore, Sedian, as a prefix, brings clarity and refinement to the following term. Within this worldview, we desire for our Folk to retain whatever nomenclature they feel comfortable with and identify by whatever label they feel is best applicable.To be Sedian is to adhere to the following religious principles, whether one calls themselves an Odinist or an Asatruar, or whether they belong to any formal group or organization.
2. Germanic Hierology is our guiding principle in Faith.
Every religion has sacred written lore, or Hierology, that forms the basis for their traditions, religion, and spirituality. Where Hindus have the Vedas and Upanishads, the Japanese Shinto have the Kojiki and Nihon-gi,Chinese Daoists have The Way, and we have the Poetic Edda and Skaldic Poetry, from which we have developed our sacred epic. These texts were written prior to the Christian conversions and we view them as primary sources that form the basis of our methodology. The texts composed after the Christian conversions are secondary sources, and must be viewed with skepticism and handled with discernment. The Poetic Edda and Skaldic Poetry are Old Norse poems written in Iceland and Scandinavia before the coming of Christianity, and offer an insightful look into the worldview of our ancestors. In light of this, these texts provide a foundation to build our traditions, religion, and spirituality and constitute an objective authority about the faith of our ancestors.
3. We utilize the Epic Method as our principal method of reconstructing the ways of our ancestors and developing a truly religious belief system.
As with all belief systems, we have a pantheon and sacred written lore, or hierology. Every religious discipline has a methodology of research, and we are no different. Academia has brought us several schools of thought in researching the sources of our ancestral beliefs, each of which we feel have been detrimental to understanding our way of life. Thus, we utilize the Epic Method, which operates from the position that the old norse poetic sources represent a legitimate and indigenous spirituality that is whole and with an internally coherent narrative structure, and that this can be confirmed through comparative Indo-European religious studies. In gathering these indigenous primary sources, we can create a chronological timeline outlining the entire mythic narrative, From the first creation to the golden age of the Gods, and from the rise of the corruptive forces of Chaos to the final destruction at Ragnarök and resulting new age. The Epic Method pulls from the Lore a cohesive account of how our ancestors viewed the gods, the world, and themselves. This school of thought was developed in the mid to late 19th century by Viktor Rydberg in cooperation with Jacob Grimm, and was eventually acknowledged by mainstream academia as being accurate in its claims of the indigenous religious structure of the northern peoples, in opposition to competing schools such as the Nature School or Biblical School.
4. We have Nine Níðs: Murder, Perjury, Adultery, Thievery, Greed, Slander, Sacrilege, Treason, and Cruelty. Violate the tenets of the Gods and face judgment accordingly.
Our morality is based upon extensive research into the source material and an in-depth understanding of the high-crimes against the faith. The very first act the Gods commit in the lore is to establish their holy Thing, where such transgressions could be discerned. The crimes are called Níðs or Níðar, and are disgraceful acts directly against the Gods or the community. Those who commit these acts are the níðings, the dishonorable ones. When these people sink to the more chaotic elements of human nature and become slaves to their desires, they fail to recognize the importance of a code of conduct. These are the people who murder out of passion or personal interest; they deceive for personal gain or willfully lie after taking an oath. The níðing violates the sanctity of marriage and commits adultery, thus desecrating the honor of the one who pledged loyalty. They take what is not theirs from the greed that builds up within them, rather than celebrate with those who have what they desire. Akin to dishonesty, they work toward the detriment of others through false testimony, thus destroying any trust one might have in them. Through treasonous acts, they betray their Folk through selfish action while disregarding the consequences their actions have on those around them. Above all, they show cruelty, disregarding the pain and suffering their actions cause others. These are the Nine Níðs: violators will face the judgment of the gods for their immoral and impious conduct.
5. We have Nine Kostur (Virtues): Honor, Honesty, Wisdom, Piety, Courage, Loyalty, Independence, Generosity, and Kindness. We acknowledge these virtues as holy and beloved by the Gods.
As people of high culture, we continually strive to be the best that we can be and rise above the mundane and the mediocre. We achieve this by setting before us a standard to live by, and it is within this code of conduct that we define our honor. In all that we do we remain honorable and strive toward a relationship of honesty and integrity. We seek to obtain knowledge and when understanding comes we measure our actions with wisdom, thus ensuring the integrity of the code and of ourselves. As pious and religious people we honor the Holy Powers as deserving of our worship and veneration. As a proud Folk of strong stock, we are courageous; for without courage, we lack the strength to uphold the code. To our family, Clan, Tribe, and Folk, we pledge loyalty, yet maintain our independence as free men and women. In all things, we build up our people through generosity and freely giving, within our means, to those in need. Whether they are in our innangarðr or the útangarðr, we will treat all people with kindness, respect, and compassion, unless given a reason to act otherwise.
These virtues are an inversion of the Nine Níðs, which gives us a foundation as to how we shall strive to live our lives in accordance to the will of the Gods.
6. Sedianism is the modern expression of our religious faith, and adapts itself to the present of the modern world, while still respecting the authenticity and authority of our forebears.
Forn Sed, from the Old Norse, Forn siðr, is a term referring to the ancient customs of our northern Teutonic ancestors. Sedian, a derivation of Siðr, simply means, ‘The Way,’ or ‘The Customs.’ Although we base our religious foundations from the past and reconstruct many of the ancient ways, we live in the 21st century and accept that adaptation is sometimes a necessary, and inevitable, aspect of life. This is why the Sedian path is ‘Our Way,’ a living tradition set within the present age. We carry our hearts in the past, yet we build in the present, to create a better future for our Folk. We reject change for the sake of change however, and seek to always ensure that our modern adaptations are legitimate and in accord with our ancient faith and our ancestors.
7. We are Polytheists, and as such, we believe in the Gods and Goddesses as actual Powers within the natural universe.
We believe that there are many Gods and Goddesses as depicted in the Hierology of our faith and affirm the doctrine of Polytheism, the belief and worship of many deities. We reject the notion of a singular Godhead, the One, Brahman or other forms of Monotheistic belief as incompatible with the Germanic faith. As per Natural Law, we reject all forms of Universalism, for there is no unity, only multiplicity.
8. We do not abide pretenders within our ranks: Atheists, Secularists, anti-Christian reactionaries, or any that denies the divinity of our beloved Gods and Goddesses.
As Sedians we believe that the Germanic faith has certain standards of belief and do not recognize those who deviate from them as legitimate followers of the religion of our forebears. Among these deviations in belief are Atheism and Secularism. We believe our Gods are existent real deities, not metaphors or illusions of the mind, and furthermore affirm that our religion is the fundamental grounding of our life, and no political or philosophical practice is higher. We likewise affirm that our faith is wholly our own and reject the practice of anti-Christian reaction. We do not base our beliefs and values around the opposite of what Christians do, and acknowledge that many traditional faiths share some attributes or beliefs. We do not accept the values of Satanists, Luciferians, Occultists or others not of the Germanic faith.
9. We believe in Immanent Divinity and deny the existence of the Supernatural. There is only Nature and nothing exists outside of it.
Within the Doctrine of Immanence, it is believed that the spiritual world pervades our physical world and that the two exist in harmony together rather than in opposition between the natural and the supernatural. We believe that our Gods created the material world and the cosmology within which it rests, and that all things, including the Divine, exist subject to logical principles within this natural existence. We acknowledge no First Cause or appeal to that which lies outside of reality. All things which exist are rationally understandable and logically ordered within reality, and this includes what many understand as “the supernatural.”
10. The Sedian path is an ethnic path. Now and forever.
We deny that the Germanic faith is a Missionary Evangelical creed which is compatible with universalism, and affirm that it is a Tribal Religion focused upon its people. We are the descendants of Northern Europeans, and as such we embrace the native culture, religion, and spirituality of our Folk. Our religion is our birthright and our pantheon is worshipped as an inseparable part of our culture and heritage, and vice versa.
The Gods and Goddesses speak to us through our blood, as they are our divine progenitors, and it is through our paternal lines that we trace our heritage back to these creative forces. Our religion is solely for those who are descended from the peoples of Northern Europe.
11. As an ethnic organization, we recognize that this is merely the Membership requirement of our tribes, and should not reflect an obsession with these ideas, but rather should be the catalyst by which we give our people their own spirituality and tradition.
There are many who form judgments upon others incorrectly based upon preconceived notions, whether from their own misunderstandings or misinformation given to them. The idea of supremacy and imperialism is foreign to our creed. We, as polytheists, celebrate the diversity of all peoples and promote the freedoms of every culture and ethnicity to celebrate and practice their own heritage in whatever way suits them. Each people has their own special identity and that identity must be cherished by both those that can claim it, and those on the outside looking in. Preservation of the diverse tapestry of all cultures is what makes up the beauty of the human experience, and as such should be sacred to us all. Therefore, we do not believe that our way is the way for all, only that it is the way for us, and reject the principles of supremacist political doctrines in our faith.
12. We do not accept or practice syncretism in any way, shape, or form. We have a pantheon that is of our people and thus it is disingenuous and disrespectful to devalue our system by inviting foreign elements.
As an ethnic faith, we are not interested in, nor do we seek, to amalgamate different foreign Traditions, Religions, and Spiritual practices into our belief system. This is not to denigrate nor disparage foreign Schools of Thought, but to celebrate the richness of our own heritage. Each people, dating back thousands of years, have unique, and complex, inherent belief systems. Each have their own Gods and Goddesses, systems of morality, and world creation and destruction accounts; we are no different. The beauty of diversification is the freedom for each cultural group to retain the uniqueness that makes them who they are.
13. We recognize that the establishment of leadership must be developed by the holy laws of our faith, and that only through the institutions laid before us by Heimdallr-Rigr will we succeed as a people.
Our civilization has become mired in a never-ending struggle of ideologies, all of whom seek global domination, to the detriment of all peoples and cultures. Only by reclaiming our birthright and rebuilding the institutions laid down to us by Heimdallr himself may we again achieve the goals we have set for our faith. A monarch kept in check by the holy Thing, along with a caste system, must be our only plan of ruling or being ruled. This will re-establish our Folkway as the primary culture of our people and reject the modernist ideals that have turned against us. The law of the Gods must rule our lives, and the establishment of our nobility and divinely sanctioned classes must come to fruition.
14. Family is the epicenter of everything we do and children are our most precious, cherished, and protected commodity; therefore, as a mandate, we must always strive to grow our Folk.
Unless physically unavoidable, childlessness is unacceptable.
Our path is one that is centered around the family, structuring our lives around the family unit. That which builds up the Folk is the core of the Sedian ideal. For a society to be strong, healthy, and prosperous, there must be a solid foundation upon which to build; this is the family – consisting of a Father, Mother, and children. Each family member maintains his or her role, thus ensuring the propagation of the Folk. Parentally, the Father and Mother work in unison to provide protection, give sustenance and shelter, nurturing, and the education and tools necessary to carry on the family traditions and Folkways.
Without the strong marriage-union of a man and woman, there would be no children, which is why children are so valuable and integral to our people. Children ensure the numerical replacement of the parents and provide for the growth of the Folk, which ensures that our people not only survive, but thrive.
15. Fatalism is a sacred tenet of our ancestral ways. As such, we recognize that law and order are the foundations of our beliefs, and to deny this is a rejection of the decrees of the Norns and the Gods as recorded by our Hierology.
Fatalism holds that events are subjected to fate, i.e., actions that are predetermined. As our sacred lore records in Vǫluspá 20, the Norns “established laws, allotted life to the sons of men, and established örlög (destiny).” As such, we submit ourselves to the will of the Norns, the Gods, and the Goddesses. The existence of Fate and Prophecy runs through the fabric of the germanic religion and people, as evidenced in the sagas and myths. Therefore we affirm that Predeterminism and Fate are critical to the faith, and reject notions of radical free will.
16. We perform blót as a sacred exchange between önd and óðr. Understanding this is pivotal to our spirituality.
As reverent acts toward our Higher Powers, namely the Norns, the Gods and Goddesses, and the Álfar, we perform Blóts, or ritual sacrifices, as physical manifestations of our worship. These rituals range from the consecration and offering of an animal before boiling the meat and giving thanks during the feast, to a libation over and into the sacred elements of earth, air, fire, or water. In this holy act, we participate in the sacred exchange between our gift of Spirit (önd), given to us by Odin and our Soul (óðr), given to us by Hœnir. In the act of communicating with the Higher Powers, the transmission of our will is heard by the gods, as we activate our óðr through the inspiration of our önd, thus bridging the gap between us and the divine.
17. We understand that the foundation of our religion is education and will not accept leaders that are not backed by credentials from sacred learning institutions.
As with any philosophy, ideology, or religion, one cannot merely rely on personal gnosis alone and retain any sense of credibility. Nor can one solely rely on the information presented by mainstream scholars who do not hold to the faith to which they study. Many scholars and academics, having differing sets of worldviews from ours, interpret our lore through the lens of a foreign observer and therefore lack the ability to properly understand and contextually interpret the ancient texts. As Sedians we believe that anyone claiming the title of Gothi must possesses a rigorous theological education as in any other religion. For this reason, The Norroena Society will develop the Kvasir Academy, an academic institution of higher learning meant to provide education and credentials for those worthy to become true leaders of our Folk.
18. We recognize a Pan-Germanic interpretation of the faith and reject theological tribalism.
Although we recognize the rights of various Clans and Sects within Sedianism to operate under culturally specific tribal monikers, we would reject the notion that these constitute meaningful theological differences within the Germanic faith. We approach our religion as something which is manifestly true and of divine origin, not sociologically crafted by the hands of man and the ravages of time. Whether he is called Wotan or Woden or Odin, we know this deity is a singular being which is true and correct for all members of the faith and in all time periods, because the Deity is himself objectively real and not based on the beliefs of man. We also respect the rights of Clans to use more culturally specific languages among themselves, but also acknowledge that Old Norse, the language of the Poetic Edda and the poetic scriptures of our peoples is our religion’s Lingua Franka due to its unique preservation of the faith and account it holy for that reason.
