Understanding Heathenism
Ok another boring heathen thread. 😂 Anyway I thought I would take sometime to try and give an explanation of some heathen concepts. A lot of people think that the Norse myths are just stories that are fun to listen to and have no relevance to modern day life, I would like to give examples of how it can.
The Norse myths and gods are supposed to inspire us and are examples of how we should live our lives, lets take Odin for example. Odin has one eye but can see everything. What does this mean? Odin sacrificed his eye in order to gain knowledge, this simply means that in order to gain knowledge you have to make sacrifices its not just a nice story.
There is also the fact that Odin can see everything but has one eye. This means that even if you make a sacrifice what you gain from it compensates you for your loss. For example I once saw a martial artist with one arm, but because he trained so hard he was able to beat other martial artists who had two arms. Its not exactly the same example as Odin giving his eye away but the point im trying to make is if you lose something you can be compensated for it with hard work.
Lets take Thor now. This is said about Thor "Thor held no malice in his heart but slew the worm without hesitation." This is about Thor slaying the world serpent a symbol of destruction. Alot of people think that Thor is just a violent god that likes smashing things with his hammer, but the above quote shows you that Thor is not actually a violent god. He has no malice but he slew the serpent, in other words he doesnt kill out of spite he kills in order to protect. This tells us that if we are supposed to be protectors we can not have impure hearts, if we have impure hearts we will just replace oppressors with our own oppression.
Also the fight between Thor and the serpent can be seen as an inner struggle. In order for us to be like Thor we have to destroy our inner serpent.
When it comes to understanding myths they can be fun to listen to but you are also supposed to try and analyse and understand the deeper meaning of the myths.
I hope that helped and obvoulsy I hope I learn from some of the things I am saying.
Re: Understanding Heathenism
Originally posted by Alfheim
Also the fight between Thor and the serpent can be seen as an inner struggle. In order for us to be like Thor we have to destroy our inner serpent.
interesting
were Norse Gods ones that humans tried to emulate?
I know the Greek and Roman ones were very flawed and spiteful, and many were not to be imitated. I also know that as opposed to the Greco-Roman gods, the norse were mortal...
So ya, did the people who worshipped Thor want to be like Thor, or was it just about giving reverance?
Re: Re: Understanding Heathenism
Originally posted by inimalist
interestingwere Norse Gods ones that humans tried to emulate?
I know the Greek and Roman ones were very flawed and spiteful, and many were not to be imitated. I also know that as opposed to the Greco-Roman gods, the norse were mortal...
So ya, did the people who worshipped Thor want to be like Thor, or was it just about giving reverance?
I would say its both. I mean if you look at the way some vikings behaved its like Thor was the super-viking. Thor had all the characteristics of a decent human-being and from what I could see some Norse people tried to emulate that. For example Thor in The Lay of Harbard condemns fighting for the sake of fighting, this was an attack on vikings that liked to rape and pillage.
The Norse gods in my opinion were much more honourable than the Greeks, but they were not perfect. Odin and Loki have done some pretty bad stuff, but I put it down to human influence.
Eventhough they were revered its not like Abrahamic faiths were you cry because you're going to burn in hell. Hell Odin would turn up in a Saga and people wouldnt even stop what they were doing, sure you wouldnt want to piss them off but they were pretty laid back...hope that helped a bit. 😬
Originally posted by The Grey Fox
An interesting read, it opened my eyes about Thor, I thought he was a violent god.
Nooooo. Thor is the patron god of marriage, law and promises. Thor represents everything thats good about humans he represents the charactersitics needed to keep society well. Thats why hes not just a battle god he represents law as well.
Sometimes you need to fight to protect society but sometimes you need things such as law and the family as well.
To be a Heathen means to live a life in constant pursuit of pleasure. It doesn't necessarily mean to be "anti christian"...even though Christians use that term a lot for Atheists and Buddhists.
Just means a person who indulges in the pleasures of life, perhaps even to excess.
However, I did not know that Norse or German mythology called itself Heathenism....learn something new every day.