Happy Sun’s Day

Announcements:

We don’t pray here – we figure God, the gods, goddesses, or whatever powers that be either know already, don’t give a fuck, or are busy with more important matters than our petty stuff. We also kind of assume that they expect us to do stuff that we can do for ourselves and that we will do them ourselves and not be lazy. We also believe in being good friends, so we don’t presume on our friendship with the powers that be by asking them all the time for stuff while giving them nothing in return.

We also don’t take an offering here.  We figure the powers that be probably don’t need it.  Let’s be honest, offerings are not given to the divine powers, they are given to an organization to support it.  Just being honest. God, the gods or whatever never sees a dime, farthing or peso of that money; it all goes to the church, mosque or shrine.

Theme Song: “Song of Odin (A Cappella)” by Alchemical Poetry 

It depends very much on what you value: power at the cost of freedom or freedom which has a power all its own.

Text:

If you want more details about Asatru, I can’t recommend this book enough.

Sermon:

My purpose for going through the history of paganism in regards to Asatru is to assess whether it is possible that the current practitioners of Asatru have as a genuine foundation the beliefs fo old.  It is also to point out that once we hit the Christian invasion that for the most part religion was not a cause for people to fight so much as needs and wants  That would change with Christianity’s arrival.

It can be simply stated that as the area entered the Viking era, religion had become far more sophisticated. The pantheon much more developed and regional differences smoothed over.  To the area’s credit, it seems that any religious differences were actually swallowed up by the mythology itself where the Vanir and Aesir both made peace and one pantheon formed.  Rituals evolve and the priesthood of the pagans established.

With the fall of the Roman Empire, the areas did gain some distinction as the Scandinavians pretty much became separated and developed their own lines of religious thought while the Germanic peoples on the continent continued to be influenced by the Empire’s final gasps.

What the Viking people became was a culture based on the old gods, fishing, herding, and some farming.  They became very adept at either trading for the other things they needed and raiding for the rest. Their gods evolved to reflect their culture and became integral parts of it with festivals, rituals, and calendar.  The population grew and the Viking leaders began to adopt the style of government on the continent known as feudalism.  This caused migration and that lead to the Vikings doing their raiding more and more frequently not just for loot but for land.

The one thing religion did id create a ‘professional’ clergy for the gods.  The hof was a place where the gods were worshiped and the idea of being a friend of the gods or a particular god is born.  Being  ‘Thorsman’ of “Maiden of Freya” is reflected in this time and some Scandinavian names still reflect this. The idea of worship in one place – the hof while the rulers were in their ‘hall’ was in some respects the first ideas of religion and state being separate but integrated.

For my part, I like this part of history because everything is unspoiled by Christianity. If I had lived then, I would be an Odin’s Man and perhaps a teller of tales –  A Skald. It would have been my desired profession to keep the stories alive. It makes me wonder if one of my ancestors was a skald or bard.

This, of course, would all change as the pagans and Christians would begin to clash.  But it should be noted that modern practitioners of Asatru look a lot to this time for their inspiration. More on these things in the coming weeks.

Parting Thought:

There will always be someone better than you at something. The quest we should be on is self-improvement. The only competition we should have is what we were yesterday.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!