Search Results for: hugr greed

Winifred Hodge Rose

Assigned reading:

Who is Hugr?

Primary runes in the bind-rune above: Mannaz, Eihwaz, Algiz, Ansuz, Ingwaz, Dagaz, Kenaz.

A Framework of Thought

I wrote in Study Guide 2 about how our sensations have to go through a process of interpretation before we can make sense of them as meaningful perceptions about the world around us, whether the outer physical world, or the inner world of the imagination that bridges to the Otherworlds.  Our physical sensations are picked up through our sensory organs, transferred through our nervous system and into our brain, and are there interpreted based on instinctive, rational, and cultural cues and imbedded information.  Our imaginative perception system works in analogous ways.  I discussed the role of our souls in both of these processes. 

These systems are our ‘perceptual framework’.  It is partially instinctive and built into our body systems, and partially learned and conditioned by our life experiences and by what we are taught, and how we are taught, about the world around us.  Our ‘framework of thought’ works in similar ways.  Part of it is instinctive: we have an instinctive ability to learn language, for example, and to use it for communication along with body language.  Much of it is constructed through our responses to our life experiences, to what we have been taught and learned, and through social conditioning.  Though I’m calling it a framework of ‘thought’, emotion is intertwined with these thoughts as well.  This whole instinctive / conditioned / reasoned amalgam of complex mental and emotional action and reaction is the core of our Hugr soul, though other souls such as Mod are involved, as well. 

As we perceive this amalgam in ourselves and others, it may at times seem to be a shapeless, churning mass of many strands tangled together.  But at its core, it is not: it is an exquisitely detailed framework that our Hugr constructs and maintains throughout our lifetime.  Hugr latches onto our instinctive mental and emotional capacities during the earliest period of our life to begin building and operating through this framework of thought, and continues for as long as our Lichama is able to sustain mental functioning.  All of our thoughts, experiences, reactions are material for Hugr to use, to construct and modify our own framework of thought.  This framework shapes the way we think and reason, the way we react and desire, and our perceptions, attitudes and judgements about everything around us.

In a nutshell, here is how it works.  We use all of our perceptions, our thoughts and ideas, our desires and longings, our reactions and judgements, to build a picture of the world around us, and of our place and role within it, which seems coherent and logical to us (though we may not like it, nor feel we have chosen it ourself).  Each experience and each thing we learn either strengthens and confirms this framework of understanding, or it helps to fill in missing parts and weak spots, or it challenges part or all of the framework because it is so different and does not fit in with what we have already constructed. 

Along with this process come emotional reactions: defensiveness, curiosity, enlightenment, anger, rejection, resentment, fear, avoidance, rationalization, excitement, acceptance, and many more.  We take in experiences and ideas, and we send out thoughts, ideas, reactions, attitudes, words and deeds.  In the center of the framework lie our desires and longings, the deep roots of Hugr, shaping everything that passes through.  Everything, as it comes in and as it goes out, is shaped into coherence for us as it passes through our framework of thought, built up over our lifetime.

Depending on the associated emotions, we may be open to re-tuning our framework in the light of new understanding and information, or we may hunker down in our framework-bunker and defend it for all we are worth.  If we are too open to influence and change, our thought-structure becomes shaky, confused, garbled; its foundations are insufficient to support the large but flimsy superstructure of new, unexamined and untested ideas, thoughts and desires that are shoved into it at every opportunity.  If we are not open enough, our structure becomes a stagnated fortress, unable to expand, adjust, evolve; increasingly maladapted to an ever-changing environment.  It handicaps our ability to interact with others in constructive ways.

Our Hugr constructs and maintains our framework of thought, and expresses itself through it as we live in this world of Midgard.  We can see the framework as one of Hugr’s hamas, a soul-skin that it creates during Midgard life.  When we look at it in this way, we can see a linkage between Hugr’s thought-framework hama, and Aldr’s Werold-hama (see my article Aldr and Orlay: Weaving a World).  Aldr’s Werold-hama is a fabric made of our life-experiences, woven on the loom of Time and Ørlög.  Hugr’s framework of thought is the way it operates in human social space in Midgard; its loom is the society, the mental and emotional context, within which we live and take action, both inner action and outer action.  Our Werold records our life-experiences, while our Hugr’s framework of thought shapes our life-experiences, our perceptions of them, and the way we take action in response to those perceptions.

Hlutro Hugiu: Clarifying the Hugr

In the assigned reading I talk a bit about this process of clarifying the Hugr, creating a hlutro hugiu, a clear or pure Hugi / Hugr.  When we understand the role that Hugr’s hama, our framework-of-thought, plays in our life, our thoughts, our actions, we can see the importance of this clarification of our Hugr-soul.  If our whole perception of the social / mental / emotional world around us, and our sole basis for action and reaction in that world, is a muddy, clouded, tangled, stuck-together mess of bits and pieces, our own actions are going to be ineffective and counterproductive for ourselves and others.  There will be mismatches galore between our perceptions and actions, and the actual situations, thoughts and emotions of others around us, all working at cross-purposes.

The clarification of our Hugr is a process of self-examination, of honesty and objectivity about ourselves, our thoughts, actions and choices in our lives.  We can think of it as a quality-control process to ensure that as our framework of thought continues to build, day by day, the things we select to build into it, and the way it is built, are worthy, true to our highest standards, and meaningful.  And we can work our way through what has already been built, our current way of seeing and interpreting our human, social world, to see what components and structures might need restructuring, based on a more objective perception of the world around us. 

Our Hugr can learn to observe our conscious self, and others around us, with clear eyes and an unblocked heart, a heart and mind full of courage and wisdom, to deal with the human world-outside-us as it is, and not as we fear it is, or wish it were, or are determined to force it to be.  This does require a great deal of courage, insight and wisdom, strength of character, honest understanding and compassion toward ourself and toward others.  This is a life-long process of inner learning and development: it is the path of clear-sighted wisdom and stout-heartedness that is Hugr’s true nature and destiny, that it will carry forward into lives yet to come. 

The Role of Desire

Hugr’s deepest roots lie, not in thought itself, but in desire, longing, yearning: the inner part of ourselves that reaches out into the world for what we truly want, with all our heart and soul.  Thought, courage, character, behavior, all the traits and strengths of the Hugr soul, both positive and negative, are capacities that Hugr develops in order to pursue and achieve its deepest desires.  This is where we need to begin, in order to gradually and progressively clarify our Hugr. 

Tightly wound with desire and yearning are other deep emotions.  We fear that we will fail to attain our desire, or that we will lose it, if we do attain it.  We are envious of others who have what we desire.  We become angry and defensive when we compete and contest with others who we perceive are taking or threatening what we desire.  When Hugr is focused upon these threats to its desires, it develops subtle and intelligent, but exploitative and selfish ways of thinking and acting.  It develops a framework of thought that interprets the world around it as being hostile and threatening, ripe for exploitation and manipulation, and considers that its task in life is to react accordingly. 

I think that if we look within and around ourselves today, in every direction, we can see this happening within our sociopolitical world.  I think that the current social / political / economic problems we are all struggling with are a massive manifestation of collective Hugr and Mod reactivity.  This illustrates how powerful these souls can be, and how difficult it is to handle the situation when they switch into their negative modes.  On all sides of the issues, the deepest drivers of people’s actions are fear of losing what they desire, envy of others who have what they want, and angry defensiveness against whatever stands in the way of achieving their desires. 

When I say this, I do not at all mean to imply that people’s deepest desires themselves are ‘wrong’, neither our own, nor anyone else’s.  The ‘wrong’ comes when those desires are pursued in selfish, violent and exploitative ways, rather than pursued as a collective and cooperative venture where others’ desires and needs are respected, as well as one’s own.  Whatever way one goes about this, our Hugr and Mod souls are deeply involved, and hence the need to clarify our Hugr and direct our Mod’s Will appropriately.

Exercise 10-1: Your Deepest Longings

Disclaimer: Read through this exercise first, and decide how safe it is for you to pursue it.  I realize that it could be overwhelming.  Yet, to make progress in healing our souls and our lives, it’s important to reach the point where you can do this kind of exercise.  If the exercise appears overwhelming or unsafe, consider whether there is some way you could slowly ‘tiptoe’ into the experience, and / or create a safe space for yourself that would hold and protect you while you pursue the exercise. 

Become still, and sink your awareness deep into your Heart.  Use your physical senses to sense your heartbeat and the flow of your life-blood in and out, and how your breath and the movement of your lungs work with it.  Feel your heartbeat, and sink into that sensation.

Use your other-senses to tune in to what is there, at the root of your heart: your deepest longings, yearnings, wishes, desires.  What do you truly, truly want, more than anything else in the world?  What longing lies at the very root of yourself?

Tears may flow as you do this; you may feel a ‘wallowing’ or churning sensation in your breast, a roiling of emotion, a desire to shout, sob, growl, howl or roar, or experience an unexpected bursting-out of galdor.  The energy may want to follow its natural flow from your heart into your throat and voice that express what is in your heart, or that block this expression.  Let this energy flow, let it churn and stir things up within your breast: this is your deep-Hugr waking up and coming into your awareness.  It’s uncomfortable and unsettling, disturbing, but necessary for your deep-Hugr to rise into your awareness like this.

Write about this experience in your Daybook; you may or may not wish to share it with others.  Often, this feels very intimate and private, and sometimes it is emotionally clear, but difficult to express in words and rational description.  Often, when we put our deepest desires into words, they may just seem like trite platitudes.  The very process of ‘wording’ or verbalizing these feelings may rob them of much of their power, so don’t force them into words unless that feels natural.  Often art is a better way to express these longings: through music, poetry, painting, dance, etc., and this can be done in the imagination as well as in the physical world.

As you work through this exercise, one time or multiple times, discover some kind of symbol, token or key to these deep longings of yours, that you can use as a shorthand for focusing your awareness.  It could be anything: perhaps a bindrune, a color, a piece of music, an image, a few words or a poem, the memory of an experience, or a sensation within your breast.

Exercise 10-2: Attuning Actions with Longings

As you go about your daily life, keep a part of your awareness on the token that symbolizes your deepest longings.  During the day, and at the end of the day as you go to sleep, evaluate how well your actions and thoughts are attuned to your deepest longings, and how they serve to either bring you closer, or cause you to drift away and be distracted from the heart of your Hugr.  Gradually, guide this awareness and attunement between your deep-Hugr, and the daily actions of your surface-Hugr, into becoming a habitual frame of mind and basis for daily action. 

This is the first step in clarifying your Hugr: becoming aware of the deep-Hugr’s longings, and beginning to see how well, or how poorly, your daily thoughts and actions match up with those longings, and move you toward achieving them.

Here is a personal example.  One of my own deepest longings, as well as I can express it verbally, is for a stable condition of inner peace and tranquility, that I can maintain as a refuge and as a wellspring of pure, nourishing spiritual energy, amidst all the turmoil of daily life.  Anything that goes on in my thoughts, feelings, and in the world around me, can and often does disturb, roil and muddy that beautiful and tranquil wellspring, the token of my longing.  I hold the image of this wellspring in my mind, imagining it located in my breast, heart and throat, and try to attune my thoughts, emotions, words and actions in such a way that they feed clear water into the spring, rather than disturbing it, polluting it, or cutting off its flow.  The more I am able to keep this up, the stronger and more stable this wellspring of peace feels within me.

More Clarification of the Hugr

Clarifying the Hugr involves—not necessarily the separation of thought from emotion—but the awareness of how our emotions are involved in our thoughts.  Once we achieve that awareness, we can choose how we want to proceed from there.  Are the emotions involved in our thoughts supportive of our thought processes?  Do they help us achieve what we want to achieve by our thinking?  Or do they distort our thoughts and sidetrack or coopt our purposes for thinking?

Here’s an example using the emotion of fear or worry, which often colors our thinking.  Let’s say that we are worried about our financial situation, and fear the consequences of it continuing.  That worry and fear may overwhelm us, to the point where it is hard to think clearly and act rationally to work on the problem.  We may use the tactic of avoidance and excuses because of our painful emotional reactions, or even fall into a state of subdued panic, so that we try not to even think about the problem in the illogical hope that it will ‘just go away.’  Here, strong negative emotions are seriously blocking our thought processes, preventing us from actually pursuing rational approaches to the problem.

When we have learned to clarify our Hugr, this cooptation of our thought processes by strong emotions can be nipped in the bud, if we choose.  Instead, the emotion can be used to motivate clear thought, instead of to block and confuse it.    

A primary characteristic of a strong Hugr (and Mod) is courage, an attitude that should never be undervalued, but should be brought into play whenever we are faced with a problem or situation.  This needs to be super-emphasized: courage is a fundamental characteristic of Hugr and Mod.  Life is full of challenges, great and small, personal challenges and challenges that are part of our membership in larger circles of family, community, nation, world.  I believe that one of the main reasons for the integration of Mod and Hugr into our soular system is their quality of courage that allows us to survive and thrive in the face of all the challenges of life.  At a very basic level, courage is what keeps us alive and able to act in this world, and it is the gift of Hugr and Mod, our Midgard-oriented souls.

So, back to our example.  Fear can paralyze rational thought, and prevent us from finding workable approaches to our problem.  Or else, the emotion of fear or worry, when it first begins to arise within us, can trigger our clarified Hugr to sit up and take notice, and realize that courage and clarity of thought are needed.  Then, the fear or worry can serve as a spur, a motivator, for clear-thinking, analytical Hugr and courageous, strategic Mod to focus all their powers to find the best mode of action for our situation, and pursue it. 

The same process can be applied for other emotions, such as anger, indignation, impulsiveness, discouragement, etc.  It also applies to situations where we are not trying to solve a personal problem, but are trying to understand something clearly, which has strong emotional overtones.  We are daily faced with obvious examples of this, such as social conflict and climate change.  These are major issues that are saturated with emotional overtones as well as factual components.  We need a clear and courageous Hugr, with a clarified framework of thought and perspective, to be able to pursue deeper understanding of these vital and complex matters, and form a clear perspective that allows us to respond in the best way we can.  Fear, anger, outrage, can overwhelm clear thought about these matters and drive destructive responses, or they can energize our thinking and our desire to seek rational, workable solutions, depending on how our Hugr handles things.

Having a clarified Hugr does not mean we have removed emotion from our thinking; it means we recognize the dynamics in operation among our emotions and our thoughts, and are able to use these dynamics strategically rather than becoming overwhelmed by emotion which is blocking our rational thought processes.   

Emotions as Fuel for Hugr

A clarified Hugr is sensitive and aware of emotions as they arise within us, and is able to judge when action needs to be taken, based on these emotions.  Our emotions are like signals and responses that go on all day and night, responding to our inner and outer environment, building on each other and powering our actions, thoughts and attitudes.  Hugr can read and interpret these emotional signals; as it says in the Havamal (verse 95): “Hugr alone knows what lies near the heart; Hugr alone knows Sefa.”  (See my article Sefa: The Soul of Relationship, about our Sefa, the place where we hold what is closest to us, what matters most to us.) 

The point here is that Hugr knows our emotions, is alert to them, and will use them as ‘fuel’ for its thinking and actions.  Then the question becomes: do we want our Hugr to use our emotions to act in negative ways, such as powerful envy and greed, manipulation, deception, vengefulness, and so forth, to gain its own selfish ends?  Or do we want our Hugr to take a different path, to use its powers in different ways?  As we pursue the process of clarifying our Hugr, we become aware that Hugr accesses all our emotions, positive and negative, and that we can choose how those emotions will power Hugr’s actions in our life.

Here we return again to the matter of ‘building character’, as I discussed in the previous study guide about Mod.  A person of good and strong character still has negative and weak emotions and impulses, just like everyone does.  But such a person’s Hugr and Mod have the skills to handle such emotions and impulses, either turning their energy into alternate, positive forms, or else simply choosing not to use that particular emotional energy, without trying to beat it down or beat themselves up for having such emotions.  Being aware of what lies within us means that we can choose how to respond to it; being unaware means that we are driven by subconscious impulses that can lead to disruption and harm in our lives and actions.

Exercise 10-3: Making Friends with Hugr

As I wrote about in the assigned reading, Hugr (and Sefa) is the soul where we feel the emotions of love and friendship.  Hugr longs for trusted relationships, for networks of social interaction and mutual support, and all the emotional richness and complexity involved with this.  Hugr’s powers of thought are designed to support our participation within complex networks of human activities and interactions.  And equally so, for our relationships and activities with non-physical beings such as spirits and Deities.

Friendship, trust, understanding, knowledge, loyalty: these things are highly valued by Hugr, and it is the Hugr within us that urges us to pursue and maintain these things with others.  Likewise, it is the Hugr who feels wistful, envious, or vengeful, when these gifts of human interaction are not working the way Hugr wants them to.  So, among the first things to do as we work with our Hugr, is to make friends with it ourself, and promote its friendship with our other souls.  I find it a bit difficult to ‘prescribe’ how to do this, since each of us has our own ways of pursuing friendship.  But there are certain things we may all agree on, as being good ways to begin the pursuit of a friendship.

Very often, one of the main things that appeals to us about our closest friends is that we ‘like the way they think’.  When we say this about a person, ‘the way they think’ certainly includes emotional factors as well as intellectual ones.  Emotions as well as thoughts are major components of friendship.  Here, we are firmly within Hugr’s domain: thoughts enriched by emotions, emotions clarified and expressed by thoughts, all serving as the medium within which a rich and satisfying relationship can grow.

So, here’s the challenge for this exercise: make friends with your Hugr.  Get to know and understand your Hugr, using the approaches I’ve outlined here and in Study Guide 8: understanding Hugr’s deepest desires and longings, understanding what motivates it, how it responds to positive and negative situations, what its reactions are like, beginning to understand the framework of thought it has been constructing during your whole lifetime, and observing how it thinks about things.  Approach this as you would a new friendship with another person you think you will like, not as though you are being critical and controlling toward yourself and your own behavior.

This is obviously not something that will be done in a couple of meditation sessions!  Just like building a friendship, it begins tentatively and grows with time, as you get to know yourself and each other better.  Any friend you make is not going to be a ‘perfect person’, and part of building friendship and trust is learning how to deal with our own and our friend’s imperfections.  Same with Hugr: approach Hugr as an ‘inner person’ with its own strengths and weaknesses, its own ability to learn, change and grow, its own needs and motivations, its own patterns of thought and behavior. 

I know it’s confusing, because all these things relating to Hugr are our own Hugr-soul, our own thoughts, feelings, motives, so it’s hard to understand how to do this as though we are dealing with two different people.  Try to identify, within yourself, the ‘observer’ who can stand back and see things about yourself objectively.  The one who says: “I am feeling frustrated, I am feeling relaxed, I am thinking about what I should do, etc.”  How do you know these things about yourself, know what you (and your various souls) are thinking, feeling, doing?  You can only know them by observing yourself, which means there is something within you capable of stepping back from the ‘actor’, the one who is doing / feeling / thinking these things, and is able to make these kinds of observations. 

This observer-self should observe your / Hugr’s thoughts and behavior with a friendly, interested attitude, an attitude that says: “I know you’re not perfect, but you’re very interesting and intriguing, very deep and strong.  I think we’ve got a lot in common and I’d like to get to know you better.”  (To further add to the confusion, Hugr is also an observer of our self, as I am suggesting here that our self can observe our Hugr.  It’s sort of like standing between two mirrors, and watching the multiple reflections.  We will get into this additional layer of complexity later on, but it needs to build on the layers I’m discussing here.) 

Something to keep in mind: when we make friends, or have any other kind of relationship with another person, positive or negative, it is largely the other person’s Hugr (and Sefa) that we are forming that relationship with.  Humans interact ‘Hugr to Hugr’, though of course other souls are much involved as well.  Human activities, including relating to each other, involve all our souls, but the souls that are primarily responsible for building and maintaining relationships of any kind are Hugr and Sefa.  In learning to create the most healthy relationships with others, it also behooves us to create a true and trusting friendship with our own clarified Hugr.

Note: This article is included in my book Heathen Soul Lore: A Personal Approach.

Winifred Hodge Rose

What role does luck play in our orlog and in dealing with it?  Some people today firmly believe luck is a factor in the events of our lives, some firmly don’t believe that, and others are somewhere in the middle.  There’s no question that it played an important role in the beliefs and actions of Heathens in the past.  In this article I’ll explore some connections and contrasts between luck, orlog, and ordeal.

The word ‘luck’ did not come into English (from Middle Dutch) until the 15^th century, probably as a gambling term: ‘to chance, to happen by good fortune’ (Wiktionary etymology).  The way ‘luck’ is used in modern English often pertains to something happening by random chance, or by the intervention of some kind of Great Power.  Many people believe in good luck coming from blessings and good wishes, and bad luck coming from curses or phenomena like the ‘evil eye.’  Magical and folklore practices are and were believed to influence luck.

Some Differences Between Orlog and Luck

Orlog was in ancient times understood primarily as being the circumstances and timing of one’s death, set by the Norns or Wyrd when one was born.  We can see that, at least in this conception of orlog, there is not much room for the ebb and flow of luck and unluck in our lives to have a great deal of impact on our actual orlog, if it is already set in motion at the beginning of our life.  It is more likely to work the other way around.  If the orlog laid down for us by the Norns calls for us to be afflicted by bad luck or blessed by good luck at a given point in our life, then wyrd will nudge the flow of circumstances to bring this about.    

Orlog or wyrd in the sense of an individual’s death, as the ancients saw it, is ‘assigned’ to us; it is 100% certain and comes upon us in the time and way established by the Norns at the beginning of our lives.  The circumstances of the life lived between the two points of birth and death was the domain of luck, and generally not as heavily influenced by the great powers.  Rather, it was the smaller powers, the spirit beings such as the hamingja, fylgja, disir, alfar, and so forth, that guided the actions of luck and unluck in their lives.  While they saw orlog as being certain and fixed, luck is complex, variable; the outcome of the luck or unluck is not entirely certain in any given circumstance.  There are many influences upon each person’s luck or unluck, including the luck or unluck of other people with whom one interacts, which can have a strong impact on one’s own luck.

In older understandings, luck is something that can be gained or lost, and it is ‘contagious’.  It acted as a kind of power that could be transferred between persons, for example by a luck-filled king or chieftain to his followers.  This was a great source of the power and respect that a leader held: the power of their luck, their hamingja in Old Norse or ‘sped / speed’ in Anglo-Saxon, and the ability to share it and spread it around.  Hence the word ‘Godspeed’ as a wish or prayer for luck from the Deity.

Many modern Heathens believe that we have a good deal more power and influence over our own orlog than was generally the case in ancient times, when the Norns or Wyrd were mostly the ones driving the train.  Orlog is now seen not only as the time and manner of our death, and the crucial events that lead up to this, but also as a phenomenon that shapes our whole life-time, our Werold.  As the idea of orlog has evolved in modern Heathen times, it seems to me it has converged more closely with the idea of luck than it originally stood. In the past, orlog was mainly the ‘big picture,’ the beginning and end with a few major events in between, while the various forms of luck flowed around in the middle, influencing the daily details of our lives.  Now, with the more modern idea of we ourselves ‘laying orlog’ during the course of our lifetime, orlog becomes more easily confused with the luck whose playground is the details of our everyday lives. 

An ancient Heathen would definitely strive to gather all the luck that he or she could: by associating with those who have greater luck; by obtaining lucky objects, land, etc.; by participating in fortunate enterprises; by listening to the rede, the good counsel, of humans, Gods, or spirits to guide them into the path of luck; by cultivating and propitiating spirit beings who could give luck or unluck.  Though it was recognized that luck was given to each person — greater or lesser degrees and types of luck – yet there was always the effort to increase luck and avoid unluck. 

Varieties of Luck

Ancient Heathens had more than one word for ‘luck’, and many compound words to show the different types and domains of luck.  Sael, saell, saeld, saelig appeared widely in the old Germanic languages, and meant ‘luck, good fortune, prosperity, blessing, happiness,’ and related concepts.  The Gothic word selei meant ‘goodness, kindness,’ and unselei was ‘evil, wickedness.’  These words are related to the seelie / unseelie terms that are used in Scots folklore for the ‘good’ and ‘harmful’ tribes of fae or elves, who may bring good or bad luck to humans they encounter. These Scots words derive from Old English saelig, and they reinforce the connections between ‘goodness / good luck’ and ‘evil / bad luck.’  Here are some examples of different kinds of saell luck that a person might have, based on Old Norse terms, as discussed in Grønbech’s chapters about luck:

Arsaell = luck with fertility of land, crops, and livestock.

Byrsaell = luck with seafaring and sailing weather.

Kinsaell = luck in one’s kindred: numerous, prosperous, frithful, of good reputation.

Sigrsaell = victory luck, battle luck.

Vinsaell = luck with friendships and patronage.

Heill was another Old Norse word for luck, and included the concepts of health, wholeness, haleness, luck, good fortune, blessing.  An important type of heill one might possess is ordheill, the luck or power of using words to cause either good or harm, as in blessing or cursing.  Grønbech describes ordheill as a “wish charged with power,” expressed verbally (p. 147, vol. 1).  Another meaning for ordheill is that people speak well of the person who has it; he or she has the good luck of an excellent reputation.  Mannheill is the good fortune of getting along well with others (mann means ‘person’ of any gender).  Illa heill is bad luck generally.

Old English had the word sped (pronounced ‘speed’), still used occasionally in old-fashioned phrases such as ‘Godspeed’ or ‘God speed the work / journey, etc.,’ meaning good fortune and success in one’s endeavor: literally God’s luck or blessing on the work.  ‘Speed’ meant luck, success, prosperity, wealth, abundance, opportunity.  Its opposite, wansped (‘waning-speed’) meant poverty, misfortune, failure, lack.  Of great importance was the King’s Speed and the good it could bring to battle success, land, fertility, prosperity, fortunate opportunities and so forth.  The Germanic tribal king held an enormous amount of luck within himself, and could spread it around into many domains of action; this was, in fact, the basis for his power of kingship, and if his luck failed, his kingship might too.  (Grønbech vol. 1, p. 138.)  Other types of ‘speed’ that one might have include freondsped or friend-speed, and tuddorsped, which is good fortune with one’s offspring: many healthy children blessed with prosperity, good luck, and offspring of their own.  And there are other terms related to luck in all the Germanic languages; these are just some examples. 

Cat Heath in her book Elves, Witches & Gods provides a useful discussion of Heathen concepts of luck.  She writes that there are “intrinsic lucks,” listed as gaefa, gipta, and heill in their Norse versions.  The first two terms are derived from ‘gift.’  These lucks (or lack of them) are inborn as ‘gifts;’ in modern English we might use a similar concept and say ‘he has a gift for music; she has a gift for languages.’  These seem to me like ‘gifts’ from the Norns and orlog—or lack of gifts, if they are not laid in one’s orlog.  The second category that she discusses is ‘extrinsic luck,’ hamingja and fylgja, lucks which can take on spiritual embodiment as separate beings closely connected with a person throughout their life.  (Heath, pp. 92-95.)  I discuss hamingja and fylgja in more depth in the next section.

The whole Germanic concept of ‘luck’ was complex, nuanced, many-faceted, with many words used to express these facets.  There was no single word, like modern English ‘luck,’ that would have covered all these facets.  In fact, Grønbech suggests it makes more sense to use the term ‘lucks,’ plural, because of the many types and characteristics of luck that were referred to in ancient sources, folklore and folk practices.  His view was that these lucks were indeed of different kinds and sources, not all expressions of one single thing (p. 171-2). 

The ‘luck’ I’ve described here is not at all random, nor does it come and go at the whim of some great power distant from earthly life.  Instead, in this old Heathen understanding luck—both good and bad—is generated for us and by us through the processes of life, of actions and deeds, of relationships with other people, objects, land, places.  It is also generated and given by the smaller spirits who inhabit the world around us: landwights, housewights, ancestral spirits, other types of spirits, and may arise from our relationships with our closest Deities.  This form of luck is shaped within us along with our life and deeds: it’s the opposite of random chance, and shows much similarity to the process of orlog itself. 

Luck and orlog are not the same thing, but they are linked in complex ways, and much of that linkage operates through luck-bearing spirits. There are a multitude of luck-bearing spirits in the folklore of all the Germanic lands and peoples, as well as many others.  To describe the meaning of luck as an outgrowth of life and action, rather than random chance or the whim of a Power, let’s turn to the Norse concepts of the hamingja and fylgja.

Hamingja and Other Luck-Bearing Spirits

Norse hamingja is a complex concept.  It can refer to an out-of-body spirit-shape that some people can take on—often an animal form—to engage in magical or shamanistic activities such as fighting with an enemy in similar form, or scouting ahead during a journey. As Winterbourne describes, “hamingja carries three main characteristics—shape-shifting abilities, ‘fortune’ as such, and the guardian spirit” (pp. 38-9).  It is sometimes considered part of one’s own soul, other times as a more independent spirit attached to one.  The term is used in similar ways to other terms for spirit-beings or shape-functions such as fylgja, kinfylgja, hamr, hugr, hugham, vordr.   It can be challenging, and perhaps fruitless, to attempt to consistently distinguish one from the other among these various spirit-forms as they are described at different times and places in Scandinavian lore and folklore; we’ll focus here on the hamingja and fylgja and their connections with personal luck.

As the scholar Jan DeVries describes, the hamingja is the indwelling luck, in the form of a protective spirit that accompanies a person life-long.  It also takes the form of a power or energy that can radiate out from a person or other kind of being, as well as from features of the land. When someone had a lot of this kind of power, for example a chieftain or war-leader, they could lend it, send it, or spread it around among their followers. The hamr—the afterbirth, caul, and the metaphysical ‘shape’ of a person—contains a soul or a soul-like being, that gestates along with a child, is born with them, and accompanies them throughout life as a protective and luck-bearing spirit, called the Hamingja and / or the Fylgja (meaning ‘follower’).  These beliefs are widespread, and likely go back to Proto-Germanic times, before the Germanic peoples split off from each other, if not even earlier times.  (deVries 1956, pp. 222ff.)

DeVries also notes the difference between this pattern of everyday luck versus the impacts of larger matters of orlog / wyrd in one’s life.  He suggests that ancient Heathens would not assume that the details of their entire lives were controlled by fate set by the Gods.  Rather, from the beginning to the end of life, there is an ‘inner lawfulness’ (innere Gesetzlichkeit) which determines its course, that lies in the inner being of the person.  Here, deVries says, we can think of the hamingja and the fylgja, spirits attached to each person whose guidance leads to an inner consistency or logical course of life.  But, outside of this realm, catastrophes and disasters can occur, breaking into this pattern of normal life, that were attributed to outside forces, to the powers of fate.  (DeVries 1956, p. 268.) 

Rather than ‘inner lawfulness’ per se, I would call the phenomenon deVries describes an ‘inner pattern’—a pattern that comes from the hamingja’s / fylgja’s rootedness in both orlog and luck.  The ‘ground of orlog and luck’ that hamingja is rooted in comes from the larger environment of collective and ancestral orlog and luck, beginning with the environment of the womb and the child’s genetic structure—this is why it’s understood that the hamingja / fylgja is associated with the womb, placenta and caul. 

If you search Wikimedia Commons for images of ‘fylgja’ you’ll find lots of photos of placentas.  Note that a word for ‘womb’ in Anglo-Saxon was hama.   In Germany there was sometimes a custom of burying the afterbirth and planting a tree over it, which then became the ‘life-tree’ or ‘fate-tree’ of the child.  There were numerous afterbirth-related folk-customs in all the Germanic lands which indicated the belief that the afterbirth is connected with luck, fate, and soul. (See my article “The Shape of Being Human: The Hama Soul,” on this website.) 

The personal, inner pattern of luck, having been established and attached to a person in the womb, continues to develop throughout their life.  We are surrounded by patterns that shape us: inner and outer patterns, individual and collective patterns.  DeVries’s suggestion is that the hamingja constellates the inner pattern that corresponds to our personal ‘luck,’ while major intrusions, disruptions, upheavals of that pattern are due to ‘fate’ or the Deities interrupting that pattern.  Of course, such interruptions can be beneficial and ‘lucky,’ as well as ‘fateful’ in negative ways.

The Fylgja spirit gives not only luck, but can also offer intuitions that help protect and guide a person, enhancing their ability to take advantage of good luck and avoid bad luck.  There are many small spirits of land, home, fields and crops, workshops, mines, spirits dwelling in land formations such as rocks, water bodies, certain trees, etc., and all of them are capable of giving one good luck when well-treated, and bad luck if they are not treated well.   They are also known for giving advice, and important warnings or foretellings on occasion, to those with whom they’ve developed a relationship of trust.  For example, they might warn of a forthcoming drought, or of an enemy’s intentions.

Similarities between Hamingja and Orlog

Grønbech, in his chapters on Luck, describes in much detail how hamingja and luck work.  Possessions absorb hamingja (spiritual energy and character) and luck from their owners, though they do not lessen the owner’s hamingja and luck thereby—rather, they increase them, as long as the objects remain in good condition and in the possession of their owner.  If the possessions are passed down in the family line, their hamingja and luck are enhanced by each generation, and can reach legendary proportions thereby. 

If the possessions are stolen or damaged, the owner loses proportionally from his or her own store of hamingja and luck.  If the loss is severe enough, it can even portend disaster or death.  If hamingja-filled objects are shared as part of founding a relationship—marriage, friendship, alliance, partnership, patronage—then the relationship is strengthened and deepened proportionally to the hamingja and luck of the objects shared as gifts.  Grønbech explains further about how hamingja works:

“Treasures and man are one; but the man has his time, and that done, another succeeds him; the treasure remains, handing on the luck to his successor.  Man comes to his appointed day; by virtue of his luck he makes his way across into the other existence; but he does not take the whole sum with him; part, and that no insignificant part, remains in the things he leaves behind him, there to await the man who follows.  With very good reason, then, weapons, clothes, household implements may be called bearers of life; not only is the sword a lasting thing, it is a well of life, whence a man may renew his store, through which he can draw up power from the primeval source.  The settler struck his axe into the new soil to mark it as his property, and it (the axe) has hamingja enough to bring the whole piece of land under its will, making it (the land) to serve its owner, and guard him against aggression.”   (Grønbech Vol. II p. 108)

Here we can clearly see imagery that leads us back to orlog.  Through the process of worthy actions and a worthy life, we lay hamingja and luck as layers within heirlooms, land, possessions, and the intangibles we pass on to others.  These layers of luck build upon each other, influence each other, and enhance the hamingja thereby. 

Here is another example of the similarity between processes of hamingja and of orlog.  The ancients considered it possible to give, sell or exchange a material object but fail to give the intangibles associated with it.  Often such trickery was attempted, and many customs arose which had the purpose of ensuring that the new owner received all that they had bargained for, both the tangibles and intangibles.  “It was demanded that the owner should lay his whole mind in the transfer, and give the soul as well as the externals; care was taken to prevent his sucking up the luck himself, before handing over the property.” (Grønbech Vol. II p. 78)

Thus, in an agreement based on trust and goodwill, the giver / seller would speak words that showed the intent to transfer the whole possession over.  Examples are: “May you use this in good health,” or “I give you this sword, and I think it bears great luck with it.”  This additional, spiritual value inherent in the object was laid into it in layers because of the worth of its owner and the owner’s use of it in worthy actions.

“The soul surrendered in the thing was…an individual actual mind or, as we should say, a psychological state, backed up by the whole, past and present and future power and responsibility of the hamingja.  And in handing over his pledge, the giver could and would state in words what were the attitude of his mind in giving, if only he understood the—by no means easy—art of guiding words aright and driving the right hamingja into them.  All that is said and promised, reserved and required, is ‘laid upon’…the thing and thus handed over to the opposite party.”  (Grønbech Vol. II p. 80-81, italics mine.)

In this quotation from Grønbech I have emphasized phrases that apply equally well to orlog, hamingja, the actions of humans, and the work of the Norns.  Orlog is spoken and laid by the Norns, and shapes what comes next.  Hamingja is spoken—promised or pledged—and laid within the item being given or sold.  In both cases, the significance, the value inherent in its totality of being and interconnectedness, is ‘fastened’ into the object or the layers of orlog by being spoken of in well-shaped words. 

My thought is that hamingja-luck is more involved with the smaller events of our daily lives, outside of the broad scope of major orlog-events, and is more subject to change due to outside influences.  Metaphysically, our luck is guided and influenced by smaller, more personal luck-bearing spirits like the hamingja, fylgja, and kin-fylgja, as well as by wights in our environment like house-wights and land-wights.  Orlog is presided over by the great Powers, the Norns and Deities, though the luck-spirits are surely influenced by the great Powers and the orlog they mediate.  The Norns might specifically shape episodes of good or bad luck to occur in our lives as part of our orlog or the ordeals they lay out for us, but those episodes are likely to involve the lesser spirit-beings as well.  Luck and orlog are intertwined and have some influence over each other, but they are not identical, and orlog is unquestionably the greater, more overriding power.

Between Fire and Ice

Winterbourne suggests that “fate could be seen as what intervenes between chance and necessity” (p. 55).  ‘Chance’ is the gamble, the toss of the dice; it happens, but it is random and has no intrinsic meaningfulness. ‘Necessity’ in this context equates to death, the end that must, in some way and some time, come to us all: the ultimate necessity of mortal life.  Its occurrence is entirely fixed; there is no changing it.  Fate or Wyrd, in contrast to chance, “orders events that would otherwise be random, and perhaps chaotic” (Winterbourne p. 55).  

This idea shapes a vision for me: the view of a metaphysical spectrum where one end is totally random—call it Fire—while the other end is completely fixed—let’s say Ice.  In between the two is the place where Life itself exists, and all that Life can be and do.  This is where humans and all other life-forms, physical and spiritual, have their Being, and also where the Gods and Norns preside. Fate / Wyrd / orlog intervenes between the random chances generated by Fire on one end, and the fixed Ice of the necessary end of Midgard life on the other.  The Norns influence the processes that cause events to occur in this space where Life is.  Their influence creates an overarching order amidst all the seeming mess and confusion of Life: an ordering process which takes shape as the World-Tree, the shape of all that is, watered and nourished by the Well of Wyrd that lies at its roots and stores the orlog laid down over millennia of time. 

Within this ever-evolving flow and mass of orlog, this subtle process of ordering what Life brings into being, luck and unluck have their own roles to play, as do ordeals.  From our limited human perspective random luck and unluck may at times loom large in our lives.  From where the Norns sit, the ordeals that form as knots within the weaves of wyrd are truly significant, while the small lucks and unlucks of our lives are insignificant threads amidst the multitude of strands that make up the great tapestry of orlog. 

The Insignificance of Random Luck

Let’s explore that idea a bit further: that random luck and unluck are in essence insignificant when compared with orlog and true ordeals that are rooted in orlog. What is it that makes orlog and ordeals significant, and luck / unluck insignificant?  I am not speaking of hamingja and luck-bearing spirits here, but rather ‘luck as random chance.’ The Norns are focused on what is significant, and their focus enhances, even defines, the significance of whatever they focus upon.  If luck is a matter of ‘chance,’ then its origin is random, meaning that it does not arise from any significant workings of orlog.  Its randomness distinguishes it from orlog, which is not random.  Luck / unluck in the form of ‘chance’ comes from the Fire end of the spectrum that lies outside of orlog’s workings. 

Now, once this random event of luck or unluck occurs in our lives, does it then take on significance?  Does it help us grow our character, our wisdom, strength, our might and main, our moral fiber?  Does it lead us to enact significant deeds, whether of good or of harm?  Does it lead us to fall away from an ethical or productive path? Does it lead us to grow in good ways or turn to bad ways? Does it change our life in truly significant ways? Then this random luck is significant because of its outcome, because of what we do with it, not because of what it is in itself, sheer random chance. 

Luck / unluck takes on significance by what it causes us to do or not do, not because of what it is: a random or chaotic ‘blip’ erupting into the relatively ordered systems of the Life-worlds embedded in layers of orlog.  Something can’t be defined as ‘lucky / unlucky’ unless it happens to, or affects, someone who experiences it as ‘lucky / unlucky.’  Thus, its nature as luck / unluck is not significant until it interacts with beings or events that possess significance, and thereby the luck is swept up by those beings or events into the workings of orlog.  How does this work?

The Mediating Role of Luck-Spirits

I’m suggesting that some random event that we call ‘lucky’ or ‘unlucky’ gets swept into the flow of orlog by humans who experience or interpret it as ‘luck,’ thereby perhaps becoming an event of significance.  How does this happen?  Based on my understanding of old Heathen ways of thinking, I’d say that personal luck-spirits—a long list including the hamingja, fylgja, housewights, landwights, and often ancestral spirits (especially Disir) as well—have the role of helping us weave strands of good luck into our lives in meaningful ways, ways that increase the good in our lives.  They may also alert us to bad luck that is hovering about, and ward us from it to some extent, especially if the bad luck comes from ill-intentioned beings, whether human or spirits.

Without their help, we might not notice or realize the luck that comes our way, nor deal with it in good ways.  We might waste it or fail to use it to best advantage.  We might become greedy, exploitative, short-sighted, abuse the good luck that comes to us, ‘pushing our luck’ and turning it into bad luck for ourselves and others.  Our luck-spirits weave our own small, personal lucks into our orlog the way that the Norns weave greater events and deeds into orlog of the Worlds.  The luck itself may be a random event, but thanks to the luck-spirits we can use these random lucks to enhance our lives.  Their work is part of the work that the Norns do: the wights hand the strands they weave over to the Norns, but those strands come through the hands of the wights first, reflecting their intentions, their will.  Our luck is very much enhanced thereby, just as our responses to our luck give that luck significance it would otherwise not have.  It’s thanks to the luck-bearing spirits and our interactions with them, I believe, that luck becomes a part of orlog: operative within orlog, influential and significant in that context.

Luck versus Ordeal

Let’s explore briefly the ancient belief that luck – the outcome of an event – demonstrates wyrd.  This is the basis for the old practice of trial by ordeal in the form of a combat or contest between two or more people: whoever wins the ordeal proves that he or she is ‘right’ in the sense of being within the flow of both hamingja and orlog.  Ordeals were often used to prove guilt or innocence: if the accuser won, the accused was guilty.  If the accused won, that proved they were innocent and that the accuser was guilty of defamation.  The loser in the ordeal has gone against the flow of wyrd, and has no luck in the matter pertaining to the ordeal.  A trial-ordeal stands outside the realm of law and ethics; the sole determinant of luck, wyrd, and ‘right and wrong’ in the situation is: who wins, and who loses?

An ordeal is very different from a gamble.  A gamble, on a metaphysical level, is sort of like a wind-sock: it simply tests which way the luck is flowing at that point in time, though many people will try all sorts of tricks, wishes and curses to try to alter it!  A true ordeal is not a gamble or a matter of luck; its reasons for happening and its outcome are not random.  The ordeal is a showing-forth of the hidden shaping of the Norns, bringing orlog into manifestation through the challenge of the ordeal.  Luck in the sense of random chance has nothing to do with the ordeal itself, but one’s hamingja may shift later on, depending on what the outcome of the ordeal is. If one wins or succeeds in the ordeal, hamingja-luck is likely to change for the better, if one fails or loses, it likely changes for the worse.

This understanding of an ordeal as an event that brings orlog into manifestation for us to deal with can be applied to many of the difficulties and challenges in our own lives.  When we are faced with a situation that feels like an ordeal to us, it’s important to try to understand the layers of orlog that went into shaping this ordeal—both orlog that we might have laid, and orlog laid by others and by circumstances outside our control.  There are likely to be things we can change ourselves, and other things we can’t change but must respond or adapt to in the best way possible.  An ordeal calls forth our great inner powers and our wisdom, rooted in our own orlog: it is presented to us as a challenge so we can use these powers and grow them to be even greater. 

Hamingja as Legacy

Another similarity between hamingja and orlog is its way of linking luck, and even aspects of personality, from one generation to the next.  Hilda Ellis Davidson writes “as used in the sagas then, the hamingja stands for an abstract conception, that of something belonging to an outstanding person which is partly a matter of character and partly of personality, and partly something more than either—that strange quality of ‘luck’ or ‘lucklessness’…  It is something which can be handed on after death, and it usually remains within one family; it is usually connected with the name, so that if a child is called after a father or grandfather it is hoped he will inherit it automatically.” (Ellis pp. 133-4)

There is an old Norse custom called the nafnfestr, a gift to mark the ‘fastening of the name’ of a deceased ancestor upon a newborn baby, or occasionally the re-naming of an individual if they had terrible luck and sought to change it by taking the name of a luckier, though deceased, person.  The name “was intended to allow the child to share in the deceased individual’s ‘capacity for luck’ (mattr ok megin),” their might and main (Lecouteux p. 162).  I’m assuming that the nafnfestr gift would ideally have been an heirloom owned by the person whose name was being given.  That way, both the name and the heirloom gift would bear the hamingja of the deceased person, thus amplifying the name-legacy and making more hamingja available to the baby.

The hamingja of a deceased person doesn’t always go to a newborn baby; it can transfer to an adult much the same as the kynfylgja or kinfylgja does—the guardian-spirit of the family line.  For example, in Viga-Glum’s Saga Glum had a “great and remarkable dream” about a gigantic woman striding toward him:

“Vigfuss my grandfather must be dead, and the woman who was higher than the mountains as she walked must be his hamingja, for he was nearly always above other men in honour; his hamingja now must be seeking an abode where I am. (ix)” (quoted in Ellis p. 131). 

This is an example of hamingja as a legacy, and there are other such examples in the sagas.  Some of them indicate a transfer of ill-luck rather than good luck. (See Ellis’s section on “The Guardian Hamingja and Dis,” beginning p. 130). 

Previously I talked about how hamingja is infused into material things: heirlooms, weapons, jewelry, land, tools, handmade items, etc., when they are made and used by people bearing strong hamingja. These objects can bring their hamingja with them when transferred in an appropriate way to another person.  We can see a continuation of this idea in fantasy tales about mystically powerful swords that were forged by the greatest smiths or magical beings, and handed down from mighty heroes of the past to the present hero of the tale.

Hamingja is ‘passed on’ as a legacy from person to person, rather than being ‘reborn’ after going through an afterlife state, as a soul might do, even though hamingja does have soul-like qualities and carries aspects of personality with it.  In a number of anecdotes, such as the one about Viga Glum, the hamingja, fyglja, kin-fylgja or other luck-spirit itself, in personified form, chooses where it will go after the death of its bearer.

I often wonder how much of the rebirth of Heathenry today is due to the hidden legacies of both reborn souls and of the hamingja / fylgja / other luck-spirits passed down from elder times, biding their time generation after generation until the conditions orlog has laid down are right for their re-emergence into our lives today.  In this, I see again sköp Norna, the shapings of the Norns, as a deeply meaningful reference to our Heathen troth itself: their shapings yesterday, today, and beyond.

Notes:

For further reading about how the sharing of hamingja lays good layers of orlog and establishes good luck in marriage you can read my article “Heathen Foundations of Marriage: Bargain, Gift, Hamingja.”

For a ‘case study’ analysis comparing the roles of luck and wyrd in the conversion of Norway to Christianity, see my article “Webs of Luck and Wyrd: Interplays and Impacts on Events.”

For more information about the nature of hamingja and its relationship to the complexities of our inner Self, see my article “The Shape of Being Human: The Hama Soul.”

This material is included in my book “Orlog Yesterday and Today: The Shapings of the Norns.”

Book-Hoard

deVries, Jan. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, Band I.  Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin, 1956

Ellis, Hilda Roderick.  The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature.  Cambridge University Press, 1943.  (Note: some editions of this book are published under the author’s married name, Hilda Ellis Davidson.)

Grønbech, Vilhelm. The Culture of the Teutons.  Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1931.

Hall, J.R. Clark. A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Fourth Edition. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1960.

Heath, Cat.  Elves, Witches, & Gods: Spinning Old Heathen Magic in the Modern Day.  Llewellyn Publications, 2021.

Lecouteux, Claude.  The Return of the Dead: Ghosts, Ancestors, and the Transparent Veil of the Pagan Mind.  Inner Traditions, 2009.

Skeat, W.W.  A Moeso-Gothic Glossary.  London UK: Asher & Co., 1868.

Stromback, Dag. “The Concept of the Soul in Nordic Tradition” in ARV: Journal of Scandinavian Folklore, Vol. 31, 1975.  The Almqvist & Wiksell Periodical Company.

Winterbourne, Anthony.  When the Norns have Spoken: Time and Fate in Germanic Paganism.  Associated University Presses, 2004.

Winifred Hodge Rose

A Human-Jotnar Switch

Our human-technological collective can now be considered as powerful and baneful as the most powerful of the Jotnar were considered to be in ancient times.  In traditional Germanic thought, humans and human activities were viewed as ‘ordering’ powers, while the Giants were considered chaotic and destructive.  But whatever the truth may be in that belief, it no longer holds.  Human activities that could be viewed as harmless and even environmentally well-balanced become less so as human populations and technological capacities increase.   

If the Jotnar were considered to promote chaos while humans and Deities promoted order, something has now turned around in that equation.  In our efforts to promote ‘order’—social order, economic order, global order, public goods—we have loosed chaotic forces of climate change, ecosystem destruction, pollution, extinction, disruptions and breakdowns of social and cultural patterns around the world.  “We” being human beings as a collective, along with our technology, resource use, and generation of wastes. 

On the individual human level, there is an innocence to this—the same innocence as animals and all living beings have.  The basic things we want are natural, not evil: food, shelter, safety, health, children, kindreds, social groups.  But when our numbers, our desires, and our resource consumptions multiply, we begin to tip large and complex earth-systems increasingly out of balance.  The Jotnar naturally react to this; they are the children of Earth, in so many mythologies around the world.  Taking another view, they are the inherent powers of the Earth projected into active forms that exist on the energy-levels of Nature. 

We are enabling and provoking massively powerful Jotunn activity by our collective human activities: Jotunn activity seen in the warming oceans, changes in the global patterns of atmospheric and oceanic currents impacting our weather and climate, hurricanes, wildfires, drought, extinctions, ecosystem collapse, pest invasions and epidemics affecting humans, animals, crops, ecosystems, and all the resulting social disruptions. 

In these ways, we are the sources of chaos and disruption in the natural life and living processes of Jordhr / Nerthus, while the Jotnar can be seen as mighty forces that work, albeit violently, toward rebalancing an increasingly chaotic natural world.  Our actions trigger theirs, their actions trigger ours, and the whole situation escalates.  On one level, it’s almost like a dreadful contest between the human collective and the Jotnar as to who can bend the processes of nature more powerfully towards their will and their side.  We can see the results all around us.

Another Look at Jotnar

Let’s take a closer look at this situation, beginning with the nature of the Jotnar.  Who are they, what are they like?  Here are some of the traits that humans have perceived in ‘Giants’, according to Germanic and many other cultures around the world.

1. They are excessive and overreactive, temperamental and powerful beings who unleash great, destructive energies into the world.

2. They are ignorant, thoughtless, seemingly even stupid.  They just react, and don’t think things through.

3. They are greedy, and go after what they want, careless of the consequences.

4. They are focused on their own concerns.  They may not perceive the impacts their activities have on humans, and even if they do, they don’t care.

5.  They multiply, and Deities like Thor and his brethren in other pantheons constantly have to fight them and keep their numbers down.

Hmmm…..do these traits maybe apply, in a collective sense, to some other beings we know?  Is it possible that the Jotnar might perceive these same traits in HUMAN BEHAVIOR??? 

(Gasp!  Clutch pearls!) 

Some of them have a reputation for great wisdom. Let’s walk over to the other side—the Jotun side, turn around, and see what the view looks like from there.  Keep in mind that we are talking about human behavior collectively over great spans of time and space, which is how the Jotnar view us. Here is what they may see, looking back at us:

1. Humans engage in fights, conflicts, raids, warfare, oppression, scorched-earth tactics, often for the most inexplicable and senseless reasons like ‘glory’ (whatever that is), pride and prestige, disagreement about some philosophical or religious principle, one-upmanship, or taking offense at something.  They also blow things up a lot, even when they’re not mad.

2. Humans tend to think in the short-term, don’t focus on long-term consequences.  What they want now is of greater import than what will result from that, a long time in the future.

3. Humans have ‘needs’, they are always wanting this and needing that.  They are never satisfied.

4. Humans are very human-focused, and in fact very focused only on their own social entities like family, friends, local interests, and people they feel connected to.  They are not very willing to see, admit, or adjust to the impacts their actions may have on anything outside those circles.

5. Humans multiply, and the forces of Earth and Nature, personified as destructive giants, wights of illness, plagues of pests, and other energy-wave-forms that the Earth extrudes, are needed to keep their populations and impacts in check.

Is it possible that we and the Jotnar are kindred beings, with so many of the same traits?  There’s another story about where humans came from: not a story about trees and Embla and Askr, but a story about an Earth-born God called Tuisto / Tuisco, who produced Mannus (perhaps Mannaz), who then produced the founding fathers of the tribes.  (Tacitus p. 63.)

There’s lots of very enjoyable scholarly and Heathen discussion about this being and the meaning of the name, which probably relates to “two” in one way or another.  Some have likened Tuisto to Ymir, said to be hermaphroditic, with Tuisto thus being male-female twinned together, which would make a lot of sense as a progenitor.  Others see a connection with Tiw or Tyr, and with the word ‘twist’, also related to ‘two’ but with the sense of ‘two things in opposition to each other,’ Tiw as a God of conflict as well as a Sky-Father. There are many possible connections of this myth with names and myths in other Indo-European branches, and a number of them involve twins.  (You can read a brief overview here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuisto)

Without getting too far into the weeds, I’m just going to pick out some strands and relate them to my thesis here.  Let’s bring together a hermaphroditic Ymir and a twinned Tuisto, born of Earth or of the icy-fiery cosmic powers that gave birth to Earth, and suggest they are twin progenitors of Jotnar and humans, respectively. 

The difference in our human perception of their birth and their natures suggests the possibility that these beings were ‘twisted’ into opposition to each other from the beginning.  Ymir arises from Ice, one of the primal cosmic polarities, and something that is by its nature dangerous to humans.  He-she is seen as something monstrous and primal.  Tuisto is born from Earth, recognized as our Mother in so many mythologies, and is seen as someone divine and kindred to us.  Yet, in this view, they could be twins—born together, entwined and twisted together, for good and for ill. 

This leads us to the idea that we and the Jotnar are more akin than we may realize.  It also suggests that any solution or adaptation to the Earth-disruptions we all face now may need to be a joint effort among our two ‘tribes’, human and Jotnar, working in concert rather than fighting against each other.  We need to create grithsteads / places of truce, and frithsteads / places where we interact frithfully and fruitfully with each other.  Here is an idea about one form that this joint effort could take: regarding renewable energy installations as Jotun-Shrines, and as grithsteads or frithsteads where humans and Jotnar can work together.

Jotun-Shrines

If we hope for the elemental Giants to tone down the impacts of their energies on our human world, one approach is to provide them with other outlets for it.  The one I’m proposing here is renewable energy installations, which I will call REIs, for convenience: wind turbines, hydropower dams, solar arrays, geothermal, wave-energy harvesters, the lot.  Even nuclear plants, which I’ll discuss more, later, although they are not ‘renewable.’  Now clearly, most humans on this planet are not going to approach REIs in this way!  This means that ‘enlightened’ Heathens, and perhaps other Pagans and Animists too, need to be the facilitators and ambassadors in this effort.  The approach that I envision is simple in concept, but may be challenging in practice, depending on how creatively we pursue it.

Let’s start with this: what is a shrine?  In essence, it is any kind of physical setup that draws us into closer communion with the being—Deity, human spirit, wight, whomever—to whom the shrine is dedicated.  Often shrines are deliberately built or set up with this purpose in mind, but not always.  Sometimes people will turn a place where something happened into a shrine, such as the place where innocent people were killed, or where some event of great significance occurred.  These may be temporary shrines like flowers and votive candles, or more permanent shrines like memorials and monuments. 

Here, I’m proposing that we learn to regard REIs as shrines to Jotnar and their mighty energies, and treat them as such.  Depending on the installation, we may or may not have physical access to it.  Some of them, like hydropower dams, might be accessible to the public; others like wind turbines set up on private property or out at sea may not be.  And in truth, leaving posies, votives, ribbons and stuffed animals at these Jotun-Shrines, the way we might do at other kinds of shrines, may not be that appealing to the Jotnar, not to mention being somewhat environmentally unfriendly.  Even leaving food items is not a good idea; my feeling is that many (though not all) of the REIs are not that safe or friendly toward the smaller landwights and the animals that the wights often associate with, and who will be attracted to the food.  So we need to approach these shrines differently, although if we have our own installation, such as a solar-panel on our roof or a small wind turbine, we can treat it more like a traditional shrine if we wish.

Example: Wind-Turbines

Here is my approach, and undoubtedly other people will come up with other good ideas.  I use wind turbines as an example, because of how they affect me and because where my husband and I live, we have large arrays of them spread out both to the north and the south, as well as a few single turbines set up by small businesses nearby.  We can see their red lights blinking eerily during the night, and drive by them in the daytime if we’re going out of town.  They are definitely a presence on our flat-as-a-pancake landscape.  It’s easy to complain about them as an intrusion into the landscape, an ecological disruption, or to ignore them as one more element of civilizational infrastructure all around us. All those perspectives are valid.

But the wind turbines ‘talk’ to me, and this is how the idea of Jotun-Shrines came to me in the first place.  (I may be channeling the famous fictional Spanish knight, Don Quixote, who nearsightedly mistook windmills for giants, and galloped off on quests to joust against them!  In fact, my suggestions here could probably be termed ‘quixotic,’ a word formed from his name.  I actually named our car after Don Quixote’s trusty horse, Rocinante, because I drove off to look at the turbine fields more closely, soon after we got the car, but in spite of being able to see them, I couldn’t find a route to them.  I got lost hunting for windmill-giants, just like Don Quixote, and I think it was all due to the Jotnar!) 

So…these turbines are gigantic, majestic, hypnotic, eerie at night, and somewhat threatening.  When I come close to them, I can feel or sense some kind of strange energy being churned in the atmosphere around them, sometimes strongly enough to make me feel a little dizzy.  There is something numinous there: not in the physical turbine itself, but coming through a doorway that uses the turbine as its access.  And this is what a shrine is: a doorway between worlds, perceptions, states of being, and between beings who stand in different worlds and commune through that doorway.  The shrine is the common ground and the meeting-point.

I use my human consciousness, my own souls, as one endpoint of this doorway or passageway, and try to perceive who is at the other end, using the turbine itself and its energies as the connection point, and also as a buffer zone between us.  I do this at a distance, of course, often a distance of miles, with our flat topography.  I don’t approach too closely, and I don’t bring any material offerings.  My offering is my attention, my willingness to connect with the Jotun on the other end of the passage.  I want to know something of who the Jotun is, what their life is like, what they want, how they connect with and perceive the Midgard that humans perceive and populate.  I try to sense the flavor of their energy, and thereby sense their Will and their own souls, Hugr, Mod, and all.  How does this individual Jotun want to work its Will into Midgard, or possibly what does it want to take out of Midgard through the work it is doing? 

We are different beings, the Jotun and I; there are many ways that we do not intersect.  But there are also things we have in common, relating to the functioning and the wellbeing of the Earth and all her powers: she is our mutual forebear.  In many ways, the Jotun is likely be closer to Jordhr than I am.  When we share our attention, energy, and Will with each other, for a time we are mutually aligned and can direct our joint powers as we choose.  At this point, we can connect again with the physical turbine and its intention: to transform some portion of Earth’s energy into a form humans can use for our needs, while minimizing the cost to the Earth of such an action. 

This is the human side of the equation.  What is on the Jotun side?  One thing is simply channeling power: Jotnar like to do that, no question!  That is food for them, feast and nourishment and sensory enjoyment.  But, depending on the Jotun involved, there may be a good deal more that they are trying to accomplish or to experience, other reasons for their involvement.  These reasons may or may not align with human desires, human logic or understanding.  They may or may not want to share them with us, or want us to be involved.

The communion of human and Jotun at the REI shrine often comes to an abrupt and clumsy finish.  In my experience, on both sides there is an initial interest and curiosity, a willingness to meet on common ground for a common purpose.  But after a short while, the profound differences between us again become apparent, and our alignment twists and slips apart.  I think this is natural and healthy for human-Jotun interactions: this brief but powerful and purposeful alignment, and then the clear separation.  The REI acts as a buffer zone, as well as a meeting space, thus reinforcing both connection and separation in turn.  I suspect the same kind of thing happens between the Deities and the Jotnar: they join together to produce mighty offspring, for example, but then separate because their lives and natures are too different for permanent pairing, as Njordh and Skadhi found.

Your own Virtual Jotun-Shrine

My discussion of wind-turbines is just an example; the same sort of approach can be made toward other types of REIs, and indeed toward nuclear plants and the dangerous powers they channel. I’ve also used my own approach as an example of how to engage with the Jotun-Shrine.  Others may prefer to engage in something less intense, for example a simple greeting, or a statement of thanks or solidarity toward the Jotun(s) who is working that REI. 

Here is another approach.  Since there are many REIs that we can’t get anywhere close to, another way to work with them is to create a virtual shrine, using whatever symbols, drawings, photos, etc, that you might wish to represent the installation and the indwelling Jotun. You may want to choose the installation that is closest to where you live, ideally one that supplies some of the power you use yourself.

It is important to give this virtual shrine a name that reflects the real installation you intend to work with: the Jotun and the location are specific, not generic.  In my understanding, trying to do this generically, spread across many installations, or just a general spraying over the landscape, dilutes the effort into uselessness.  In fact, this is more of an insult or a dismissal of the actual Jotunn, than it is a way to work with them.  They are individuals, working at specific places on the Earth, and they need to be named and treated as such.  If you can discover the name or by-name of the Jotun you’re working with, that would be ideal.

You can add anything you like to this shrine you are making, in the way of decorations, statues or other Jotun-images, and I recommend a representation of the Element that your REI is associated with.  For example: Fire for a solar installation or geothermal, Air for turbines, Water and Earth for hydropower dams, etc.  You may like to use music that reminds you of Jotnar when you work with your shrine. 

Our manner of engagement with the REI-Jotnar is something for each of us to work out for ourselves, and it can change over time as we gain experience. 

The Thorn, or Thurs, on the Rose

Jotnar are not all sweetness and light, of course; they can be unpredictable, dangerous, and uncooperative (…unlike humans, of course….!).  The same sort of thing can be said for renewable energy and nuclear energy.  There are a great many reasons for phasing out nuclear power, but the thing to consider in this context is that while there are still nuclear plants in operation, it might be good to keep the Jotnar who are involved with that form of energy in a good mood! We really don’t want enraged nuclear-associated Jotnar rampaging around.

REIs and nuclear help us resolve one set of problems, but create other problems in their place.  The materials necessary for making solar arrays and turbines, for example, require means for their production that are environmentally and socially damaging.  Hydropower dams have many negative effects on ecosystems and communities, and fail entirely in extreme drought.  Nuclear energy produces clean power now at the risk of severe future impacts from nuclear waste, as well as high cost, and risks of misuse of nuclear materials. 

All of them create disposal and decommissioning problems, distribution and social-justice problems.  We need to know this, to acknowledge that REIs and nuclear are double-edged swords, not the solutions to all our troubles.  We are not ‘home-free’ here; our work of learning to live sustainably on this Earth is not done, even if we achieve a great shift into renewable energy.

This is another way that Jotnar and renewable energy are essentially matched: they are both double-edged swords, both have many negative and even dangerous traits.  But at this time, we need renewables as part of a suite of technological and human-behavioral changes that (we can hope) will keep us going for awhile longer, and maybe even give us time to become wiser about the way we all live on this Earth.  And the Earth with her garment, Nature, needs her children, the Giants (along with all her other children), as active expressions of her enormous life-force in her everlasting struggle to exist, evolve, transform, rebalance, renew.

Grotte-song

Grotte-Song is a poem in the Poetic Edda that wonderfully captures this double-edged-sword nature of the Jotnar, and offers us a lesson in how to interact with them!  Two young giant women, Fenja and Menja, have been captured and brought as slaves to turn the heavy mill of King Frodi.  This mill is magical, turning out wealth and wellbeing for the king and the realm, and Frodi is so determined to put it to use, that he refuses to allow these powerful Jotun-maids any time to rest, sleep or eat. 

At first Fenja and Menja set to work with goodwill.  Menja encourages them to mill gold, wealth, blessedness, comfort, happiness for the king and the realm.  But as time goes on and their efforts are abused by Frodi’s demands, the maids become angry, and discuss things that Frodi would have been wise to know, before he treated them so.  He didn’t bother to learn about their lineage or their history, and this was a mistake! 

We discover that they are kin to the mighty giants Hrungnir, Thjazi, Idi and Aurnir (and thus, of course, to Skadhi, daughter of Thjazi).  Fenja and Menja themselves, as little-girl giants, were the ones who tossed this enormous mill-stone up to the surface of Midgard as they played in Jotunheim.  Later, as battle-maids, they fought in Midgard: crushing armies, challenging berserkers, overthrowing a prince, regarded as champion warriors.  (We are not told how these mighty maids ended up as slaves.  Maybe magic was used.)

 Straining at Frodi’s mill, not allowed to rest, their hands now remember the rough feel of weapon-shafts, and they start singing ancient tales and magical chants.  They call up a baneful fate for Frodi, an army which now approaches and will overthrow him.  The warning beacon-fires are already alight on the heights above the sleeping kingdom, but they come too late.  As their anger and their magic grow, Fenja and Menja become so forceful that the great mill-stone, its shaft, and its iron supports shatter into fragments.  They close the poem by announcing: “the women have done a full stint of milling!”  Yes, I would say they have!

In Closing

There are clear lessons in this tale, that we can apply to this project of viewing REIs as Jotun-Shrines.  The giants may work willingly on these joint energy projects; they may understand very well the Earth’s need for this form of energy-transformation.  But they are also likely to have their own agendas, their own histories, identities, intentions.  Abusing these powerful beings and the energies they constellate through their shrines and through Earth-processes and functions will backfire on us.  Instead, we can choose to communicate respectfully with them through our newly-established Jotun-Shrines, and work together to align the intentions and the actions of Jotnar and humans, as we all (at least the wise among us) seek to rotate ourselves back into balance with our mother Earth.

You can give yourself a musical treat by listening to Sequentia’s beautiful, eerie rendition of the Grotte-Song in Old Norse on this site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLmzPKPcKmc

Or you can find it on other sites using this title: “Sequentia Nu erum kumnar.”  This hypnotic song is about twelve minutes long, and works very well for entering into an altered state of consciousness in preparation for communicating with the Jotnar! I recommend it for use when you work with the Jotunn shrines.

Bookhoard

Larrington, Carolyne. The Poetic Edda.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Tacitus, transl. Herbert Benario.  Agricola, Germany, and Dialogue on Orators. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.

Winifred Hodge Rose

Frith is often translated as “peace”. The full meaning of frith encompasses peace but extends well beyond it, to cover a large portion of the most meaningful and essential foundations of human social life. A full understanding of the concept of frith will show that “peace” is not identical to frith; rather, peace is generally an outgrowth of frith, resulting from the conditions of frith being met. When frith has been achieved, usually peace is there too, though that is not always the case, as I shall show.  Frith is the ethical value which underlies the successful establishment and maintenance of healthy families, groups, communities and societies.

Here I will summarize the ancient roots of frith, and then go on to write about a newer source of frith in the modern world: a shared loyalty towards ideals and principles, as distinct from ancient Heathen loyalty to kin and lord. I also discuss the role of frith in religious conversion, the rise of the medieval frithguilds, and the gradual transformation of the roots of frith that took place between elder times and today. Finally, I turn to another aspect of frith: its pitfalls or downsides. Frith, while an excellent thing, like all human endeavors has its own pitfalls. Awareness of these pitfalls allows us to avoid or work around them, rather than being unwittingly sucked into them. The two main pitfalls that I discuss here concern the dynamics of group behavior, and some dilemmas relating to tolerance of differences.

Our forebears perceived three primary focuses or centers of frith. The first—and surely the original—wellspring of frith was kinship and kindreds. The second was the web of loyalty created among a leader, lord or chieftain and his (occasionally her) folk. The third wellspring of frith arose from the relationships between the folk and their Gods, Goddesses and other holy wights, as well as between individuals of the folk who had come together in the presence of their Deities. (I am indebted to Vilhelm Grønbech’s volumes on The Culture of the Teutons for parts of these discussions on ancient frith.)

Frith and Kinship

The idea of frith is very closely tied to kinship—blood kinship in particular—and then to kinship by marriage, adoption and fostering. The words frith and sib were often used interchangeably to describe the state of people involved in a kindred relationship, and we can easily see the connection in the modern use of the term sibling to indicate a brother or sister. The term frith did not merely indicate the material fact of blood relationship. Rather, it described the essence of the relationship itself: the joys, responsibilities, interdependence, burdens, and benefits that characterized it.

The word frith is related to the words for friend and free. Frith was to our forebears the “power that makes them ‘friends’ towards one another, and free men towards the rest of the world.” (Grønbech, Vol. I, p. 32.)  In their minds, “freedom” did not mean freedom from responsibility toward others. “Freedom” meant being strong enough to face the ill-happenings of the world and being able to overcome or survive them.  For this, one depended on one’s kindred. Surrounded by a numerous kindred cognizant of the requirements of frith, the Germanic man or woman was well-armored against many misfortunes the world could cast, whether poverty, threats of violence, legal troubles, or other difficulties. Not woven into a web of frith, the lonely wretch had nothing either material or spiritual upon which to rest life and welfare. This also was the bitter lot of thralls.

One can read again and again in the Icelandic Sagas of a worthless, trouble-making person whose actions bring disgrace and disaster on the whole kindred, but who, nevertheless, is supported, helped and defended by other members of the kindred who are committed to upholding frith no matter what the consequences. Grønbech notes the “absolute character of frith, its freedom from all reservation”(Vol. I, p. 36).  This absolute, uncompromising character of kindred-oriented frith actually contributed significantly to the pursuit of feuds and strife within the larger community, at the same time that it reduced strife within the kindred, inside the pale of frith.

Frith was nothing if not partisan: focused on security and stability of the kindred, it had no application to those individuals and groups who lay outside the boundaries when it came to a conflict of interest between them. Nor could any notion of absolute, unbiased justice make a dent in it: defending one’s kindred was always right, no matter how wrong their actions were. Frith was the paramount virtue, taking precedence over all others.

Often women, as brides, were meant to serve as frithweavers between warring clans. When, as too often happened, the frith thus woven broke down, the effect on women of the conflict between loyalty to lord (husband) versus kin was severe. As far as I am aware, though, there seems to have been no question in our forebears’ minds that a woman’s loyalty belonged first to her kin. Gudrun of the Volsunga Saga is a perfect example: she could not allow herself to take vengeance on her brothers for their murder of her husband Sigurd, in spite of her bitter grief at his death. Though she loved her husband dearly, that love could not outweigh the demands of kin-frith. Yet she had no hesitation enacting vengeance on her next husband, the Hun leader Atli, for her brothers’ deaths. This was done in order to keep frith — kin-frith — whole.

Women indeed acted as peace weavers, not only within the kindred but also in the community, and inspiring examples of their deeds can be found in the literature. The same, of course, can be said for many men. Yet women sometimes acted against peace, as we would see it today, by being the keepers of the family frith and honor, and ensuring that vengeance was taken when one of their own had been injured. The Icelandic and Germanic Sagas give many instances of women who prodded their more peaceable or just lazy or feckless (in the mindset of the times) menfolk into taking vengeance when the men perhaps would not have chosen to do so, if they had been left alone.

This clearly illustrates some of the underlying differences between the concept of frith, and the modern idea of peace—a word which is often used to translate ‘frith.’ Elder folk regarded the courageous act of marrying into an enemy clan as frithweaving, which we would indeed regard as ‘peaceweaving’ today.  But they also saw vengeance against those who broke through the boundaries of frith—outsiders who damaged their kindred in some way—as being properly supportive of frith.  This willingness to take vengeance would not be described as ‘peaceful’ behavior today!

The Bond between Leaders and Folk

Due most likely to the violent, insecure and threatening world in which they lived, our Germanic forebears in many, though not all, places and times of their history laid great emphasis on a close and loyal relationship between leader and folk. This reached its highest expression in the oathed relationship between a war leader and war band, though it also applied to peacetime chieftains, kings and other leaders. This relationship between lord and sworn man was frequently extolled in the heroic poetry and sagas of the age, so that we have good records of what it ideally involved.

Frith between lord and man was expressed much as the frith of kinship: there were mutual obligations and benefits, including the requirement for the man not to raise hand or voice against his lord, and the lord not to punish or deprive his man and the man’s dependents unjustly. In essence, the lord owed the man his livelihood, while the man owed the lord his life and service. Under the social conditions present in those times, neither could survive safely or comfortably without the other; thus the importance of making and maintaining bonds of trust and frith between them. This was often strengthened by the fact that there were kin relationships within these groups, also. This gave a double foundation for frith: it was both oath-bound and kinship-bound.

The men sworn to a lord were likewise expected to keep peace and trust among themselves. Anglo-Saxon literature is rich in references to the healldream, the “joys of the hall,” where the deep frith between members of a war band or other oathed group, seated blithely in the lord’s hall, closely matched the gladness and security ideally available within the homes of families and kindreds.

The strong attachment to a lord could, on occasion, create a conflict between kinship-frith and oath-frith. For example, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for the year 755 C.E. has a complicated account of fighting between Cynewulf and Cyneheard. Cynewulf attacked and killed Cyneheard; Cyneheard’s thanes were determined to protect his body and avenge him. When these thanes were offered money and safe-conduct by kinsmen who were in the opposing force, they answered that “no kinsman was dearer to them than their lord, and they would never follow his slayer.” The Laws of Alfred (late 800’s) state that a lord and his follower may each fight on each other’s behalf without penalty of law, and a man may so fight on behalf of a blood relative, but a man “may not take the side of a kinsman against his lord — that we do not permit.” (Griffiths p. 73-74)

It appears that among the Anglo-Saxons and most likely their continental Germanic forebears, the oathed frith-relationship between lord and sworn man stood highest of all values, while among the Icelanders and their Scandinavian forebears, the frith of kinship was paramount. This difference had, I believe, complex implications regarding the extent of feuding, strife and litigation present within the larger communities of these two cultural groups (Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon), but this is a large topic outside the scope of this article.

Frith between Folk and the Holy Ones

Frithful behavior was a highly important sign of respect and troth on the part of our forebears toward their Gods, Goddesses, land-wights, and their ancestral Disir and Alfar. This is attested to by the prevalence of “frithyards” found everywhere that Germanic peoples settled, and often mentioned in the literature of the time. Frithyards were enclosures or areas of land, including those around temples and outdoor harrows or altars, where all present were required to keep frith in the sense of abstaining from violence and from instigating violence by uncivil behavior.

Frithyards were to be kept holy in several respects, the primary one being that no bloodshed, fighting or severe quarreling were allowed. One well-known example of the required behavior in a frithyard is given in Eyrbyggja Saga, Chapter 4, about the Thor’s-Godhi Thorolf Mostur-Beard and his holy mountain Helgafell. Things (assemblies) were held at the foot of the mountain, at the place where Thorolf’s Thor’s-pillar had first come to land. No bloodshed nor excrement were allowed in the area—folk had to go off to a rock in the sea to relieve themselves! (Indeed, the very term used for “to relieve oneself” meant literally “to go drive out the alfs.”) Chapter 9 of the same Saga tells of the deliberate desecration of the frithstead by the Kjallekling clan, and the resulting bloodshed as Thorolf’s kin tried to defend the land they regarded as holy.

Again, as we see in the context of kin-frith and oath-frith, the establishment and defense of frithsteads holy to the Gods could also result in violence and death. As an interesting aside, the fight over Thorolf’s frithstead was finally broken up by a team of respected peacemakers who, when they were at first unsuccessful, threatened to join the fighting on the side of whichever clan first agreed to listen to them. This immediately broke up the fight. Something to keep in mind, perhaps!

Both temporary and permanent frithsteads were used by our forebears. Temporary frithsteads were usually the Thingsteads or places of assembly: meeting-places.  Frith was kept there both to honor the Deities and as a practical matter, in that the business of the Thing could not properly be conducted if frith were not maintained. Permanent frithsteads, often called frithyards, were generally associated with a temple, shrine, or other holy spot such as a well or a sacred tree, or a boulder housing a local landwight. Frithyards were holy not only to major Deities, but also and perhaps even more commonly, to ‘minor’ holy wights such as landwights, well-wights, or family forebears (Disir and Alfar).

Holy beings, both high and low, for the most part love frith and demand it from their followers and their human neighbors.  Landwights, well-wights, woodwives, house-wights, and most other beneficial nature spirits dislike strife, as is shown in many folktales of the Germanic peoples.  They tend to leave their steads, taking their main, luck, and hamingja with them, if subjected to too much strife, bloodshed, or lack of respect on the part of quarrelsome or greedy humans. They will also leave if they feel betrayed by their human friends and neighbors, showing that frith comprises not only absence of strife, but also ties of loyalty.  (On this subject, see also the section on “Guardian Spirits” in Davidson.)

The central importance of frithyards to Heathen worship is exemplified by the fact that centuries after Germanic countries were supposedly Christianized, kings and church leaders still found it necessary to promulgate strict laws and penalties against having and visiting ‘peace enclosures’ (frithyards) on one’s own property or anywhere else. One example is the 16th Canon Law enacted under England’s King Edgar (939-946), some 300 years into the period of Christian dominance: “And we enjoin that every priest…totally extinguish every heathenism, and forbid well-worshiping, and spiritualism, and divinations, and enchantments, and idol- worshiping, and the vain practices which are carried on with various spells, and with peace-enclosures, and with elders (the tree), and also with various other trees, and with stones….” (Linsell, p. 161.). 

The main point to be made here is that the frithstead or frithyard was not only intended to be a place where peace was enforced. It was also a reminder and a commitment to the fact that Heathen folk are in a relationship with their Deities and friendly spirits: a relationship of frith, that involves trust, respect, mutual benefit, and mutual obligation, including but not limited to behaving in a peaceful manner toward one another.

Frithguilds

One of the best ways to gain a deeper understanding of the ancient concept of frith is by looking at the early medieval frithguilds. Frithguilds appeared during this time as a result of radical changes in social conditions and social structures. The original sources of frith (kin, oath-bonds, and Heathen faith and practice) were weakened by social changes such as Christianization, the growth of large, impersonal towns instead of small villages, movements of people away from their birthsteads  and kinsteads, the growth of merchant and artisan classes of society, and the rise of competing focuses of loyalty.

These competing focuses included church hierarchies and a distant monarch with political bureaucracies who were not personally known to most individuals. These individuals and bodies with political power most certainly did not cleave to the responsibilities of frith owed by traditional chieftains and lords to their folk. The responsibilities of followers to their leaders, under these new regimes, seem to have been a good deal more heavily emphasized than the responsibilities of leader to folk, creating a fundamental breach of frith. To be fair, there were some notable exceptions, King Alfred the Great among them, who articulated a sincere and demanding vision of a king’s responsibilities to the folk, based on his Christian values, and who tried to live by his vision.

Frith was felt to be so essential in people’s lives, that those who were removed from the natural frith-garths of traditional kindreds, warbands and small communities during the Middle Ages felt the need to create new garths of frith for themselves: the frithguilds. Though these fell far short of the full frith of kinship and other traditional structures, they provided at least the minimal requirements of frith. 

The general provisions of the frithguilds were as follows:

– Members of a guild were not to engage in strife with each other; but if they did do so, they were not allowed to bring it before any court for litigation, excepting the court of the Guild itself.

– If anyone killed a man who was not a member of the Guild, the Guild must help their fellow escape with such provision as they could manage for his well-being. Anyone who failed to help when they were able to do so was cast out as a nithing.

– Every brother of the Guild was obliged to help every other one in lawsuits (by being an oath-helper, by guarding him in court and out, and in other ways).

– If a Guild-brother was killed, other Guild members must refrain from eating, drinking, or having any social connections with his slayer, and must aid the dead man’s heirs in seeking vengeance or restitution. (See Grønbech, Vol. I, Ch. 1)

By these descriptions, we can gain a better understanding of our forebears’ expectations of frith, of its value to them and their dependence on it for support and safety.  We must realize, however, how minimal these provisions of the frithguilds were in comparison to the full depth of traditional Heathen frith.

There is an idea among some modern Heathens that frithguilds were simply an early form of police force, but as far as I am aware, this was not their role.  While policing frithbreakers was certainly a function of authority figures, when, if and how they chose to do so, there were not any actual guilds, in the strict medieval sense of the word, dedicated to this function.  The frithguilds themselves were focused on providing their oathed members with at least some of the ‘services’ that the members would previously have found within the boundaries of their kindreds, warbands, or other traditional frith-bonded relationships.

The Role of Frith in Religious Conversion

An intriguing question asked by sociologists of religion is this: what conditions make people receptive or unreceptive to the message of a new religion?  Why do some people willingly convert, while others resist to the death?  Clearly, there are many factors involved in the complex phenomena of religious conversion and resistance to conversion, but one very important factor is the frith or lack thereof existing in a society at the time that conversion is attempted.  (This section, in part, summarizes the findings of an excellent book, The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity: A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation, by James C. Russell.) 

In the Mediterranean cultures at the beginning of the Christian era, the expansion and then the social decline of the Roman Empire brought about huge areas of cultural decay.  People of many cultures within the Roman Empire had been uprooted from their places, religions, social structures and social status as a result of imposing and maintaining the Imperium.  Slavery and serfdom, poverty, helplessness and hopelessness were widespread.  These people had no bonds of frith to sustain them; they were adrift in a sea of meaninglessness and helplessness. 

In these circumstances, the Christian message of universal love and salvation was welcome to many people who felt disempowered and worthless in the overall scheme of things.  The new religion gave their lives meaning and purpose, and gave them a sense of place in the world.  The Christian churches welcomed them regardless of their social status, and gave them a real frithstead to replace their rootlessness.  There was no need, at the beginning, for Christians to pursue forcible conversion since their message was a powerful one among a good number of people in that time and place. 

Some centuries later, as the Christians of the Middle Sea cultures attempted to extend their message northward into the rest of Europe, the picture was a very different one.  Instead of rootless people whose culture and sense of self-worth had been eroded by conditions in the Empire, Christian missionaries faced people who were solidly rooted in the social contexts of pagan Indo-European frith relationships.  The message of “salvation” was not very impressive when Heathens did not feel they really needed to be saved from anything by some foreigner who stood outside their own webs of frith and troth.  Any ‘salvation’ needed – and this would have been interpreted in very practical, mundane ways like overcoming their opponents – could be supplied by their own kindreds, leaders, social structures, and their own Holy Ones.    

The message of universal love and acceptance was likewise less than impressive, when compared to the strength and reliability of the age-old frith structures in which these people were imbedded.  Charity, the support of orphans and widows, kindliness to the stranger and the poor?  These values were already present in Heathen culture, though surely not always practiced as they should have been.  A place to belong, the knowledge that you are reliably supported by others both human and divine, and owe them your support in turn?  This is Heathen frith; they did not need Christians to teach them about this. 

In a nutshell, the Christian message of personal salvation – so powerful when offered to rootless, unconnected, helpless individuals – seemed unimpressive and pointless to most Germanic Heathens, as long as they retained their traditional structures of frith.  In the face of such ingrained resistance, such a different philosophy and world-view as they faced among the Germanic peoples, the Christian missionaries and their political backers had to resort to political, economic, military, legal, and physical coercion, along with skillful spin-doctoring and obfuscation, in order to forcibly convert these people.  The basic message of Russell’s book is that all of the accommodations and other efforts that Christians had to make, in order to make Christianity appealing and comprehensible to the Germanic peoples, actually backfired and resulted just as much in Christianity being ‘Germanized’ as in Germanic peoples being ‘Christianized.’ 

The Christianity that came out at the other end of the Germanic Christianization process bore, in many ways, little resemblance to the Middle Sea Christianity that went into it at the beginning.  The legacy of this outcome resulted in many Christian schisms and struggles, extending to the present day, as Christians tried to figure out and return to ‘true’ (i.e. pre-Germanic pagan) Christianity. Ironically, by undermining and redirecting pagan Germanic frith, Christians introduced more seeds of unfrithfulness within their own structure.  We can see in many ways how less-than-successful this was, even by looking at the many pagan elements of modern holiday customs surrounding Christmas, Easter (named after a Germanic Goddess), Halloween and other seasonal customs.

A crucial factor in this resilience and resistance to conversion on the part of Germanic culture was their strength of frith in the overall scheme of things.  People simply cannot survive and thrive without frith, the fabric of family and society: neither physically, socially, emotionally nor spiritually.  A person who lacks any context of frith in their life, the lost and seeking person, will give all their loyalty to the ones who offer them a structure of frith.  Here lies the appeal of any cult or any religion, including ours, which will offer a home of the heart to those who seek.

From Elder Days to Today

Thus we have seen that the ancient concept of frith was powerful and deep among our elder kin, and was based upon three fundamental roots: kinship, the loyal commitments between leaders and folk, and the relationship between folk and the Holy Ones.

After conversion of the Germanic peoples to Christianity, a hybrid form of frith arose that was expressed during the Middle Ages as militant Christianity.  The Heathen frith-loyalty between lord and sworn warrior, and between humans and Holy Ones, was transformed into frith-loyalty of warriors and knights to the Christian God as directed by the Church, to whom they swore their lives and service.  This development supported the various Crusades, not only in the Middle East but also in eastern and northern Europe, and the Inquisition, where Pagans, Muslims, Jews, and even Orthodox Christians and other Christian ‘heretics’ were considered ‘enemies of God’, outside the pale of frith and fair game for conquest. (I might note that the same attitude was held by leaders of other faiths and tribal beliefs as well.  These attitudes have led followers of many religions toward efforts to conquer followers of other religions and their lands, over many centuries.)

The only way for ‘outsiders’ to save themselves from this situation was to convert to the version of Christianity that held the reins of this power, thus entering their ‘frith-garth’, and even then, the converts were regarded with suspicion. 

After centuries of European crusades and wars, the seeds of a different view of frith began to sprout, in Europe and in the land across the sea.  These ideas were influenced not only by European and new American philosophers, but also by contact with Native American tribal customs.  These seeds sprouted into the Constitution of the United States, which presented a new view of how frith can be established and maintained on a national level, though the older roots of frith still continue. 

This new view presented ideals and principles as the core of loyalty around which a folk in frith with one another could gather.  Frith-oaths were not sworn to a king or other person, nor to an office such as ‘the president’, but to the ideals and principles upon which the new nation was founded.  This was truly a new thing, a whole new vision and foundation for the establishment and practice of national frith.

Unfortunately, though in principle all people were covered under the Constitution, in practice some people were included in the Constitutional frith-garth, and others were not, leading to struggle, strife, injustice and bitterness throughout the centuries of USA existence and continuing into today.  The idea of basing frith upon a social contract, as we do in this country, creates an inspiring ideal for some, and a sense of insecurity for others.  In practice, there are different interpretations of what a given culture’s or country’s social contract is, who is included in it, how it should be maintained and defended, how it should be implemented, how it should be modified or replaced as needed, and who is in charge of all these things.  

We can see in the events of the last several years, culminating in the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, a clash between two different concepts of frith-loyalty.  One group held fierce loyalty toward a specific person, Donald Trump. Abstract national ideals and principles were used in service to their leader, his power, and through him to their own power.   Their passion of frith-loyalty was constellated around this person.

The other group did the opposite: their frith-loyalty was to the norms of the US Constitution.  Any leader they elected was expected promote these norms, and if he or she did not, they were argued with and voted out of office.  Their leader is replaceable, and is considered as a representative of our governing ideals, not as a person in a position of sovereignty.  Their passion of frith is constellated around the ideals themselves. 

It is obvious that I am greatly oversimplifying the situation; there are many other complicating and contradictory elements.  I am doing so to illustrate my point: the strife in our country is based on differing ideas about frith, what frith is based on and how it is maintained.  Frith contains within it some basic contradictions that can drive frith-seekers toward conflict as well as toward peace.

I think that a deep understanding of these complexities of frith is necessary for any group of people who truly want to maintain frith. It is not a simple process with clear and obvious measures to be taken.  Frith, like all human undertakings, has its own pitfalls, and we need to understand them in order to work successfully toward frith at all levels, including our practice of Heathenry.

Frith-Pitfall 1: Group Dynamics

There are a number of pitfalls as well as many benefits of frith, but I am going to mention only two of them here, that are of sharp relevance to today’s circumstances.  One is the fact that, whether we like it or not, one of the strongest ways to create frith within a group is to set it against another group, or against outsiders generally.  The more strongly people are identified with their own group, and contrast themselves with other groups and outsiders, the stronger the frith is likely to be, within that group.  It becomes clear to this group that the more ‘outsiders’ are regarded as ‘enemies’, the more essential it is to be able to depend on the frith and loyalty of your own group in order to survive. This is a time-honored and popular tactic of politicians around the world, to distract their people from internal problems by focusing on external threats (real or imagined) against their country or group, which fans the flames of group-loyalty.  This is also the dynamic that plays in developing stereotypes and prejudices against people who are different in any way from your own in-group.

Some people who have had experience of such tightly-knit ‘us versus them’ groups find that the strong degree of frith that exists within the group is very attractive and reassuring, and the apparently looser degree of commitment and loyalty outside such groups is lacking in strength and meaning for them.  This occurs among religious groups, for example the Amish and other plain folk, who set themselves apart from others in many different details of their lives, in a very peaceful way. They are not hostile toward outsiders, but their ways of maintaining frith and conformity within their group are very strong and sometimes difficult to follow. 

Many religious groups have their own ways of creating an in-culture, such as dietary rules, clothing, religious practices, even language, that distinguish them from others.  Most of these are examples of normally harmless ways to create the strong frith of an in-group, without creating much or any hostility toward out-groups.  These methods create ‘characteristic and treasured distinctions’ as opposed to ‘prejudice and hostility.’ And of course, there are many non-religious examples of different cultures and languages that can do the same: maintain ‘treasured distinctions’ within their own group, without directing hostility to those outside their groups.

Unfortunately, any distinctions and differences can be used to create hostility and attitudes of superiority / inferiority, if people are determined to do that.  In reaction, many well-intentioned modern Westerners feel that distinctions between people should be denied, ignored, or downplayed, so as to remove these sources of hostility and social friction. Many people feel very much at home in this more loose and open environment, while others feel that their roots of individual and group identity are erased thereby, and become angry and defensive.

Some people want and value the very strong frith and loyalty that can occur within an in-group, however that group is defined. When the values upon which their in-group is based are threatened, they draw together defensively, reacting with hostility towards outsiders, and with stronger loyalty toward their own. The outsiders then mass against the in-group because of its increased hostility, and escalation ensues. We are all experiencing this collective social misery and anger very widely in today’s world, and in my view, the unexamined or unconscious dynamics of frith are a primary driver of this phenomenon.

One example of this which especially comes to mind is the Q-Anon cult, with their powerful motto of in-group frith: “Where we go one, we go all.”  Interviews with many members, and studies of this phenomenon, point out the importance of group cohesion, of belonging and support, that followers feel they gain from this cult, and which was missing for them before they encountered the cult.  Their in-group frith is very strong and rewarding to its members, and is their primary reason for belonging.  It is rigidly maintained through hostility of attitude and action toward out-groups.  The impenetrability of the frith-barrier (in the form of rigid and baffling beliefs) between this group and the outside world is a great source of frustration and concern for the rest of society.  This is a textbook example of the power and dynamics of in-group frith, and of frith’s pitfalls.

The need for frith-groups is something that is based in human nature and survival. Our physical survival and social needs are dependent upon our groups: our family and community, our society and economy, and various other imbedded or nested groups that we are a part of. We’ve evolved to engage in cooperative behavior, but also to draw together in solidarity with those we trust, those who are ‘like us’, when we, or our values, feel threatened. I think that our modern efforts to create and extend frith through our society need to take that into account.  The larger and more diffuse the group is, the harder it is to maintain the level of personal frith, loyalty, trust, interaction, self-sacrifice, help and support that a tightly knit small group can give: the core of frith itself. When this core of frith is missing, many people seek it out in ways that increase unfrith in society as a whole, for example, disadvantaged and rootless youths who join gangs so as to have a place to belong and people they hope will support and defend them.

It’s really interesting to see the phenomenon playing out today, of the strong shift between the older form of frith as personal relationships and personal loyalty, into this relatively newer form of frith as adherence to an ideal, to principles, and to people’s view of what the social contract is. The result is that frith is spread much more widely than it could be when it depends on face to face personal relationships. “People who agree with my ideals and principles” can be found around the world, people whom I will never meet and who may be very different from me in a number of ways, but still a frith-garth develops among us. This is a great feeling, a great and hopeful change in human behavior.

Unfortunately, the pitfalls of frith also grow larger and wider in this environment. Even though the groups within a frith-garth have grown exponentially larger, more encompassing of different people living in different places, the coagulating principle of the group still acts as an in-group trigger. The expansion of the frith-garth, but in a way that adds to unfrith, can also be seen in the expression of kin-frith. Nowadays, kindreds and clans in our society seldom feud with each other, but groups that perceive their members as being racially or ethnically related, and outsiders as being unrelated to them, unfortunately do so, all around the world. 

In other words, the issues around racial / ethnic stereotypes and attitudes are an expansion of older kin-frith attitudes, where all one’s loyalty belongs to kin, and ‘outsiders’ don’t count.  Nowadays, for many people of different races / ethnicities around the world, ‘my kin’ has been expanded to ‘my race / ethnicity’, but it still maintains the ‘us versus them’ in-group frith dynamic.  It would seem that expanding the frith-garth to include more people within it should improve frith and tolerance overall, but it doesn’t always turn out that way.

Every frith-group coagulates around a set of values that are of great, overriding importance to them. And when they perceive those values to be threatened, they instinctively bunch together and react with hostility, in the time-honored way it’s been done for millennia. The opposing group, in turn, feels threatened by the insults and challenges to their own values, and reacts the same way, and again, escalation ensues. In-group frith, again and unfortunately, leads to inter-group hostility. 

Then, in an effort to maintain ever-stronger bonds of in-group frith, the group exerts more pressure toward group-think, or at least, pressure to not talk about your ideas if they question any of the values of the group. Eventually this pressure builds, and leads to friction and unfrith within the group, and often to separation or breakup. We’ve all seen many instances of this happening in our own experiences, I’m sure, including within families, religious groups, political parties, and many other types of groups.

Frith-Pitfall 2: The Tolerance Dilemma

So, that’s one of the pitfalls I want to highlight: the natural dynamic of groups which creates in-group frith and inter-group unfrith or active hostility.  The other is a very difficult existential dilemma.  Tolerance for opposing viewpoints and for behavior, appearance, etc. that is different from oneself is, in principle, a strong promoter of frith. It’s something that many modern cultures and societies are trying to move toward, for that reason: it promotes frith, and when frith prevails, many other crucial social benefits follow.  So, tolerance in principle is frith-promoting and social-benefit promoting.  Tolerance is built into the USA Constitution, as an example of an honored social contract: tolerance of free speech, freedom of conscience (religion), public assembly, etc. These are foundational values for Americans.

But what about tolerance of unfrithful words or behavior, tolerance of intolerance?  These things could promote unfrith and disrupt the hoped-for social benefits of frith, and many feel that intolerance should not be tolerated because of the perceived dangers and unfrith arising from it. Our laws attempt to address intolerant behavior that results in violence or criminal actions, and the recent unrest in our country is prompting evaluations of these laws and their enforcement, to further improve and, more importantly, implement them fairly and consistently. 

But there is a large and difficult gray area, that lies between “outright criminal action and physical harm” on one end, and “frithful tolerance of differences” on the other end.  Laws and their enforcement deal, or should deal, with one end of this spectrum, while our Constitutional freedoms address the other end. That leaves a large gray area in the middle, that is a subject of much strife and disagreement in our society today. Much of that disagreement involves interpretations of all these matters: how far do personal freedoms extend, what constitutes ‘criminal harm’ to another person, how should tolerance and rights be enforced when they conflict with each other?

There truly are no easy answers to any of these questions, and those of us who try to think deeply and seriously about these matters often feel we are being thrown into a state of cognitive dissonance or impossible contradictions.  For those who highly value tolerance, how far can intolerance be tolerated? How can conflicting personal and constitutional rights be balanced against each other, in a way that promotes the greatest level of frith within society?  How can we form frith-groups which highly value tolerance, without triggering the group dynamics I mentioned earlier, which lead groups to bunch up into tighter and tighter group-think when confronted with non-conforming ideas, resulting in an in-group state of idea-intolerance and unfrithfulness?  Contradictions and dissonances run rife here, within our frith-garths and within our country and our world as a whole.

Respecting All Differences

Here are a few very simple thoughts about this, thoughts which many people share and are working hard to implement.  How do we approach a frithful understanding of ‘differences’? The cohesion of frith-garths, or of any kind and size of groups, fundamentally depends on ‘defining who we are’, what our basic values and identifiers are, that bring us together as a group.  In the process of doing that, it’s tempting to think that whatever ‘who we are’ consists of, it’s better in some way than ‘who we are not’. This in turn sets up a dynamic that leads to unfrith toward outsiders.  Group dynamics can lead to us making the definition of ‘who we are’ tighter and tighter, and to the ones who get to define ‘who we are’ becoming a smaller and more authoritarian subset of the group. 

All of this arises from devaluing ‘who we are not’, not wanting to be ‘like them’, whatever that involves.  In order to defend against becoming ‘like those others, not-us’, the group is willing to compromise in-group frith and out-group frith, and become rigidified.  To counteract this dynamic, it’s necessary to shift our attitude toward ‘differences’, and the only way to do that is to do two things: seek a true, respectful, and nonjudgmental understanding of those differences, and allow that to lead us toward not fearing those differences, or fearing them less. 

This whole dynamic of ‘differences’ is rooted in fear: a powerful, primal emotion that can overwhelm all other considerations when it takes over.  ‘Distrusting those who are different from us,’ and distinguishing between ‘us’ and ‘not-us’ (whatever cues we use to make this distinction), are instinctive survival strategies, present in animals as well as humans.  Changing such instinctive behavior is truly difficult for all of us; we are working against our instincts and evolutionary behavior, working against certain strong group dynamics, going against peer pressure, going out on a limb, struggling with contradictory values and viewpoints. This is so difficult, involves so much work, and is so threatening to our internal equilibrium, that many don’t feel like even dealing with it, and would rather stick with the status quo.

So, if we take the challenge, then we seek to understand the different ‘others’ and where they are coming from, and we seek to reduce our fear of what they represent. And we hope and encourage those who are different from us to take the same approach toward us. But there is yet another big pitfall here that many of us fall into: we mistake “understanding the ways and reasons that others are different from us” to mean “trying to erase or deny differences between us.” The people whose different values and identities are thus being erased or denied by well-meaning frith-ambassadors understandably feel that they themselves are being personally rejected and even threatened.

The message that is being sent (by both / all sides) is often along the lines of: “I ‘understand’ where you’re coming from, and you’re forgiven for that, but really once you understand where I’m coming from, you’ll see the light and never look back.” This is not true, nonjudgmental understanding at all, and neither is it ‘respect’.  It is an attitude of superiority and an effort to manipulate people, however well-intended it is. It’s the ‘missionary approach’, which missionaries (religious and secular) very sincerely believe in, and we can see the impacts of that by looking at the long histories of conversion and colonialism around the world.  I think this dynamic explains so many failures of frithweaving.  None of us takes well to having our treasured identities, values and beliefs erased, denied, or ‘cancelled’, whatever they are.  Fear of having this happen drives a great deal of unfrith, strife and friction on all sides of our society, and leads to people and groups taking defensive and hostile positions against each other.

Differences between people are not going to go away, whether it’s differences of ideas, lifestyles, appearance, physical nature, gender, ability, behavior, beliefs, politics, language, culture, religion, or any other differences.  People base their identities on these differences, among other things. They want to be accepted for them, and fear being denied, rejected or erased because of them.  This includes every single person on this planet.

Thus, I believe that the frithful way of approaching differences is to respect and acknowledge their existence and the importance they have for others, even when they seem alien or meaningless to us.  Even further, even more big-hearted, is to appreciate and even cherish the differences, when at all possible, as being something that adds richness, interest, depth and strength to our society, our culture, our life. 

The celebration of many forms of diversity is something that has grown greatly in the last few decades, providing us all with great enrichment. Yet some areas of diversity are still excluded from acceptance by many; in fact, they are not recognized as having ‘diversity-value’, they are regarded as nuisances, crimes, or ‘sins’. During the last few decades, ‘ideas, values, political positions, beliefs’ are among the major differences between people that have been pushed into the area of ‘major crimes and sins’ that ‘the other side is committing against us’, rather than being seen by both / all sides as the kind of diversity that can be recognized and accepted as part of a balanced and flexible society, a diverse social ecosystem, that is trying to step back from an overabundance of group-think and ‘mono-culture’.

We have, and are working on improving, laws and customs that are supposed to keep ‘differences’ from sliding into crime and serious harm toward others, whether physical, psychological, financial, reputation, or other types of harm. We need to keep close watch on how those laws and practices are formulated, enforced, respected, and improved as needed. We also have embedded in our social contract the freedoms that allow differences and allow the expression of those differences.  Those too need to be respected, especially with regard to those who disagree with us, whose differences are in the form of ideas, thoughts and attitudes.   

For all of us in the modern world, where a deep foundation of frith now lies in loyalty to ideas and ideals, this is a very challenging situation. The very foundation of this new frith, the frith of shared ideals, is challenged when people hold different ideals and inevitably make value judgements between them. Our struggles are similar to those of the past, when, I’m guessing, there were people who recognized that kin-frith and leader-follower frith often contributed to more strife outside the frith-garth than would have occurred without the rules of these frith-garths, but found it difficult to figure out what to do about it.  I think that the solution which gradually evolved was indeed what we have now: frith based on ideas and ideals, where it is easier to include more people within the ‘ideals’ frith-garth than it is within kin-garths or oathed war-band garths. But even though this change expands the frith-garth in admirable ways, the dynamics of frith are still operational, its pitfalls and shortcomings as well as its strengths. 

Heathen Frith

At its very simplest and most superficial, frith roughly equates to our modern idea of ‘peace’ in the sense of ‘lack of strife.’  At its deepest and most powerful, frith is the very fabric of the social bond itself.  A community, however small or large, founded upon frith is not a loosely-tied conglomeration of individuals, but one which is truly functional as a coherent body, brought together by a common set of unifying principles, beliefs, customs and practices.

A core understanding about frith is that it is not ‘strife-free’.  Strife can indeed occur between people who are in frith with each other, though there are limits to the severity of expression allowed. Strife is a natural component of existence: consider its linguistic connection to the word “strive,” a word that expresses part of Heathen values. Strife only becomes dangerous when there is no frith, no committed relationship with recognized rules and patterns of behavior, to control and counterbalance it. 

Heated discussions and arguments about meaningful things actually support frith, if they are appropriately pursued, because they allow us to share with each other the things that matter most to us.  They allow us to be seen as who we really are by our fellow Heathens, and be accepted and respected for who we are, even by those who disagree with us.  And we can strive to do the same for others.  We keep in mind that our thoughts and opinions are important to each of us, but so is the frith, the social bond we share.  This bond is shallow, unless we share our deeper selves with each other, the deep thoughts of our Hugr-souls, even in the face of disagreement.

In summary, the woven fabric of frith is the foundation of all human relationships, of cooperative endeavors, and of society as a whole.  It is essential for human wellbeing.  All systems of ethics, laws, courtesy, diplomacy, customs, proper behavior and the like, are designed to support frith in some form. Frith nevertheless has its pitfalls; it can be both supported, and undermined, by group dynamics.  My purpose in this article is not to provide any magical solutions (I wish it were that easy!), but to emphasize the importance of being aware of the powerful dynamics of frith, both positive and negative.  Only by full awareness can we thoughtfully shape our own attitudes, behavior, words and deeds, and thus make a welcoming, respectful, frithful space for others to join us in the creation of true and stable frith-garths that bless this world of Midgard.

My work of mind and heart in this article is faithfully dedicated to Frigg and to Frey, promoters of deep frith, and to Vør, Goddess of Awareness, whose gifts are essential for living a life that truly expresses our values. 

Note: This article is included in my book Oaths, Shild, Frith, Luck & Wyrd.

Bookhoard

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. G.N. Garmonsway, translator. London, England: Everyman’s Library, 1972.

Davidson, Hilda Ellis. The Lost Beliefs of Modern Europe. New York: Routledge, 1993.

Eyrbyggja Saga. Hermann Palsson and Paul Edwards, translators, London, England: Penguin Books,1989.

Griffiths, Bill. An Introduction to Early English Law. Norfolk, England: Anglo-Saxon Books, 1995.

Griffiths, Bill. The Battle of Maldon. Middlesex, England: Anglo-Saxon Books, 1991.

Grønbech, Vilhelm. The Culture of the Teutons. Transl. Humphrey Milford. London, England: Oxford University Press, 1931.

Linsell, Tony. Anglo-Saxon Mythology, Migration and Magic. Middlesex, England: Anglo-Saxon Books, 1994.

Russell, James C. The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity: A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation.  New York: Oxford University Press,1994.

An earlier version of this article was first published in Idunna: A Journal of Inclusive Heathenry, #125, Summer-Fall 2021, and also in my book Oaths, Shild, Frith, Luck & Wyrd. This article builds on several of my previous articles about Frith, published over more than two decades. Updated with the addition of the section on Frithguilds, May 2023, which was included in earlier writings on frith, but not in this more recent one, until now.

Winifred Hodge Rose

Years ago, I came up with the term “Utgard Ranger” to describe what I like to do in my spiritual life: range outward beyond the customary boundaries of thoughts and concepts, exploring and experiencing, meeting challenges, seeking knowledge, wisdom, understanding, expanding my spiritual territory and my comfort zone.  It’s an enjoyable and rewarding activity, and requires little to nothing in the way of physical gear!  Mental and spiritual tools, however, are very useful!  Here, I describe some conceptual skills or approaches that I find useful for shaping and understanding my relations with the Deities, and for setting my intentions when I fare forth on my Utgard Ranger expeditions.  I structure these concepts in my mind by using analogies to the classical four elements: Earth, Water, Air and Fire, further subdividing Water into flowing versus still water, and Air into still air and wind.

The elemental modes that I discuss here are certainly not the only ways to pursue relationships with the Deities, but they do cover a lot of ground, some of which is likely to be very familiar to you; some, perhaps less so. In a nutshell: ‘Earth’ is the mode of bounded form. ‘Water’ is the mode of unbounded sensation. ‘Air’ is the mode of unbounded perception. ‘Wind’ relates to will and motivation. ‘Fire’ is the mode of transformation mediated by the Deities, which may involve transformation into another form, or involve paths into unboundedness.

None of these ways are ‘better’ or ‘more advanced’ than any of the others, nor am I proposing that we ‘should’ use all of these methods to relate to Deities, except to note that it is important to be well-grounded and experienced in Earth-mode first, before trying the others.  This is our home-base, so to speak.  I find it enriching to explore all of these modes; an enjoyable challenge and expansion of my spiritual life and experiences.    

The focus of this article is on our relationships with the Deities, but there is much of relevance to soul lore and soul-working here, as well.  I make only brief reference to the latter topic, simply mentioning which souls are best suited for working in different elemental environments, and will return to the subject in more depth in later articles.   

At the end of each elemental section, I offer keywords and a list of souls that, in my experience, are most attuned to the way we relate to Deities through that element.  I also offer a brief description of the ways that inner change usually occurs through our interactions with the Deities in that mode; these processes of change differ considerably, depending on our mode of interaction.  

Now, on with our explorations!

The Mode of Earth

What Earth-mode is like and how we do it.

This is, I would say, our default mode of interaction with Deities and other Worlds, because it is the one most familiar to us.  In Earth mode, though this generally happens in our imagination, we experience ourselves and the Deities as separate individuals, as three-dimensional beings who have seemingly physical characteristics: human-like appearance and expressions, engaging in familiar physical actions and behaviors.  We communicate with words, speaking our own words to the Deities, and ‘hear’ their responses, in the sense that we intuit and interpret their responses as verbal concepts, even when we don’t actually hear them speak.  Often, their responses take the form of actions rather than words.  Our experience consists of exchanges, often verbally expressed, between ‘self’ and ‘other’—Deities, ancestral and other spirits, etc.  

Our harrows, wihsteads, altars, temple-spaces, hallowed spaces and their furnishings are established in Earth-mode, composed of physical objects and spaces, and we physically enact our rituals and ceremonies there.  We relate to the Deities through physical objects and spaces around us: our home, the landscape and our environment, our interactions with other people, the activities we engage in every day.

When we pursue otherworldly journeys and explorations in Earth mode, we perceive and experience these other places as having a basic similarity to Midgard-Earth, with landscapes, buildings, animals, trees and plants, populated with other seemingly physical beings.  This makes it easier for us to engage with the otherworld experience, easier to navigate and orient ourselves, to interpret what is going on.  We can have some confidence in our own ability to take appropriate action in this otherworld, because it has at least some similarity to our experience of our own World, though there are certainly important differences as well. 

The physical appearance of whatever we perceive in other Worlds is likely to be heavily symbolic or mythic (including the appearances of the Deities), and may suddenly shift into something different.  This sudden shifting includes not only the appearances of individual beings, but of landscapes, spatial dimensions, time, color, light, and other properties that we depend on, in Midgard, to maintain their stability.  When this happens, it is an opportunity or a lesson, to begin learning that Earth-mode is simply one mode of perception and experience; it is not ‘the only reality.’ 

Challenges and ordeals

All of us in our lives face challenges and ordeals.  In Heathenry, we generally consider that our Deities are somehow involved in these challenges and ordeals, and that we are expected to face them and deal with them in worthy ways, often through guidance from the Deities.  The guidance, and the experiences, may not be gentle!  But this is often how we learn and grow.  The experience of challenges requires a perspective of ‘self’ and ‘other’, as we have in the Earth-mode.  Our ‘self’ is experiencing and dealing with the challenges in our Midgard life; the ‘other’, the Deity, may be the instigator of the challenge, and may be guiding us in a certain direction through the challenge or ordeal. 

This is one example of the useful and important perspective of Earth-mode relationships with Deities, though there are many other ways that Earth-mode can express itself in these relationships, as well.  Examples are experiences of the Deities as companions, advisors, teachers, elders, benefactors, role models, defenders, and many other roles.  I don’t mean to imply that all that happens in Earth-mode are ordeals or challenges; only that when challenges do happen, we generally deal with them through Earth-mode relationships with our Deities.  Here is a personal example of an Earth-mode interaction and challenge with a Deity.  (My souls that were most involved in this experience: Ferah, Aldr, Hama, Hugr, Mod.)

Frau Holle

Almost thirty years ago I had a dream that set me solidly on the Heathen path.  In the deep woods at midnight an enormous wild sow approached me, her lean shoulders higher than my head.  Her bristly fur was silver, shining with its own light like the moon, a luminous and numinous Presence, yet a fearsome one too, looming huge and powerful in the night.  She came up next to me and nudged my shoulder gently but inexorably, changing my direction onto a new path.  There was no withstanding her weight and strength.  As we walked along together, she took my hand into her fearsomely-tusked maw and held it there.  Somehow, she bit off my hand and swallowed it, and at the same time did not bite it off, but left it attached to me, still holding it in her mouth. 

Though she appeared in the form of a wild sow, I knew her name was Holle: a mysterious, deep-woods / underworld being who guides folk through the dark and the unknown, challenging our willingness to follow and our willingness to understand, without being told, what she wants of us. 

Frau Holle still walks beside me in this form, though I interact with her in human form, as well.  Her dark presence at my shoulder and toothy grip on my hand is her challenge.  She keeps me on the path, and, as I gradually learned over the years, her possession of my hand is both her challenge and her fierce blessing that calls me toward writing as the main expression of my Heathen path.

This scenario is an example of Earth-mode, physical-world perceptions and experiences with a Deity, the most common way for us to interact with them.  They most certainly do not always involve challenges or ordeals; depending on how often we ‘visit’, most of the time this won’t happen. But we need to realize that such things could happen, any time we visit with our Deities.  It’s not necessarily up to us, and our Deities are good at picking up opportunities to advance their purposes with us!

Another note on Earth-mode: In this mode, ‘gender’ is ‘a thing’.  Physical gender, gender identity, preferred gender, gender-perceptions and stereotypes, all inevitably arise when we interact with each other and with Deities in ‘body’ form, having images of physical bodies both in our mind’s-eye, and in our physical world. 

An interesting thing about the other (non-Earth) elemental modes of relating to Deities, is that gender is not an issue, because we are not relating through any images or experiences of solid, physical bodies and their functions, when working in the other modes, particularly Water and Air.  If matters of gender are an issue for you in any way, you may find that exploring the other modes of relating to the Deities, not using human images of them, is a very freeing experience.  You may find a burden being lifted from your heart, as you walk these paths of exploration.

Characteristics of Earth-mode:

Keywords: Identity, individuality, self-and-other, autonomy, structure, process, foundation.

Souls with particular affinity for Earth-mode: Ferah, Mod, Hugr, Sefa, Hama.

How inner change usually happens:  In an evolutionary or cumulative way: gradual, organic, step by step, punctuated with forward, backwards, sideways movement.  Through discussion, argument, resistance, reaction, experiment, reassessment, decision, determination.  Through challenges: mental, emotional, physical, and our responses to them.

The Modes of Flowing and Still Water

The Water-mode of perception and experience comes in two forms: flowing or surging water, and deep, still water.  I’ll begin with flowing water, the mode I use most often. 

Flowing Water

Flowing Water is different from Earth-mode in many ways, and the first of them is that we are only minimally distinct from the Deity and the World that we are interacting with.  Our perceived ‘body’ and body-senses, sensed through our Hama, Ferah, and Aldr souls, blend with the Deity and the World the Deity is in, and our Sefa soul focuses on perceptiveness toward the Deity.  Our strongly rational, individualistic, personality-based and self-conscious souls, those who are strongest in Earth-mode, recede and remain in the background for Water-mode.

Caution

In Water-mode, we are joining our energy-flows with the energy-flows of ‘something’, and sharing how that ‘something’ experiences its being and its environment.  Because of this degree of intimacy, and the power that is shared, I think it is wise to do this only with a Deity, whom you know and trust through long personal experience. 

I recommend against trying it with non-Godly spirits or other beings, and also recommend against trying to explore a World through this mode on your own, rather than riding along with a Deity to experience the World.  It doesn’t require much imagination to realize how easily we can become lost, overwhelmed, subsumed by the experience of Water-flow, unless we are doing it with a powerful being who cares about us, protects us, and is willing to share a beneficial experience with us.

Procedure

The way I proceed with this is to lie down comfortably in a quiet place (in bed before falling asleep is good; I just turn off the light early so I have some extra time).  You can try other meditation-positions if you prefer, but because this is a full-body, full-sensory experience that involves our soul-bodies and soul-senses, I find it’s helpful not to be concerned with the physical body, such as the subtle actions needed to stay sitting upright without slumping or falling over.  It’s easier just to lie down and let go of the Lich. 

I call on a Deity I am close to, whose energy, experience, and connection with this or other Worlds I would like to share for a time.  Basically, I’m asking for a ride with the Deity, and so far they’ve always been willing.  The Deity arrives in a rushing flow of power, like a fast-flowing river or ocean current, and I dive in, through my awareness, as though merging into a stream of traffic.  (Actually, the Deities don’t ‘arrive’; they are always flowing energetically through the Worlds, and it is only my perception that opens up to the conjunction of myself with this power, which seems like an ‘arrival’.) 

Sometimes I envision myself as a water animal like a dolphin, otter, or fish, playing in the flows or waves of water, but more often I just feel myself merged with the flow of ‘water’, which is actually the essence of the Deity.  It is easiest to describe this through some examples of my experiences.  (My souls that were most involved in these experiences: Ferah, Aldr, Hama, Sefa.)

Ing-Frey

I most often interact with Ing-Frey not through the image of person-to-person contact such as a dialog, but rather as a mighty current of energy which I can join through my sensations.  I hear him as the beating Heart of the World, as a baby hears the powerful beat of her father’s heart when she lies on his chest.  This beating of Veraldr-God’s Heart surrounds, penetrates and vitalizes everything in the world, including my own beating heart.  I feel Frey’s power like a mighty, all-encompassing ocean current flowing through the Worlds: swift, frothy, joyful, salty with nourishment and flavor, the perfect blend of coolness and warmth.  His power is immense, but not overwhelming; it nourishes and vitalizes all that is.  Like a playful dolphin or otter, I flow along within this mighty current and pulsation of life-giving power and joy: the heart and soul of Veraldr-God.

Idunn

While I sense Frey as a powerful, rapidly surging ocean current, I sense Idunn as a gentler, softer flow, a meandering stream through fertile meadows and orchards, sunlight sparkling through the crystal water.  Her benison and blessing spread from the water outward over the landscape, giving a rich glow to all colors, a resonant richness to all scents.  Her water-flow brings the power of life and growth, felt as a tingling or gentle buzzing sensation in the water, tasting tart and sweet, like apples.

Magni

I’ve recently started working with Thor’s son Magni through the flowing-water mode, and this has a different feel than other Deities I’ve worked with this way.  Instead of ‘me’ flowing into and along with the Deity’s energy and sensation, it feels like Magni is flowing through me.  It’s like I’m a little spot in the river of power that is Magni, and as he flows along in his mighty river, my own being is one of the many ‘places’ that he passes through.  As he flows through me, I feel his megin or maegen power magnetizing my own energy, waking and stirring it up.  It feels like all my hair is standing on end, a buzzing, invigorating bath of power. 

As this happens, I feel many little bits of grit within myself, ‘sand in the works’, becoming magnetized, too, and drawn out of me toward Magni-magnet.  They don’t bother him at all, but within me, they ‘gum up the works’ on different levels of my being, hindering my energy and wellbeing, confusing my Will.  Magni draws all this grit along with him, leaving me feeling energized and renewed.  Now I am like a little eddy of my own power, within Magni’s greater river.

Another way that my experience with Magni is different, is that he is so little-known among us.  I have no Earth-mode image of him, no picture in my mind, I haven’t interacted with him in Earth or other modes at all, but only in Water-mode.  This makes it easier, in a way, because I don’t have to get past the images and Earth-mode relationships and history that I have with other Deities, such as Frey and Idunn.  I don’t have to make myself stop perceiving them in human form so that I can interact with them in Water-mode, energy-mode.  I can just plunge in and brace myself for Magni’s surging, magnetic flow!

Among the most rewarding Deities with whom to share such experience are those whose activities are associated with seasonal tides of Midgard: Eostre / Ostara, Walburga, Frau Holle as she is celebrated in Urglaawe, Idunn, Frey, Freya, the Yuletide processions of the German Goddesses.  (I would be extremely cautious about the Wild Hunt, though!)  At certain times of year, their powers flow especially strongly through Midgard, and it is invigorating and joyful to join in with them! 

Another great one to ride along with is Thor during a thunderstorm, either an earthly, physical thunderstorm, or an otherworldly one.  But indeed, all the Deities have their own unique patterns and experiences of flow, and we can join them if they are willing.  We definitely want to request their permission, and make sure they know we are there so they can be mindful of our safety.

Purpose

As you may have noticed, another difference between this Water-mode and the Earth-mode is that with Water, there is no specific purpose for undertaking the experience, other than the experience itself.  In Earth-mode, we often have a specific purpose in mind: a prayer for help or guidance, for example, or the celebration of an event or a holy day, the pursuit of a magical intention, a discussion with the Deity, or a thanks-giving.  In Water-mode, none of these considerations are present or relevant to us; it’s a matter of simply sharing Being, Essence, experience, sensations, between us, the Deity, and the World(s) the Deity’s power is flowing through. 

It really feels like powerful, fast-flowing Water, sparkling with flashes of sunlight / moonlight / earthlight, imbued with subtle flavors, pressing and flowing against our skin, surging and tossing us up and down, as we pass through subtle changes in temperature, light, flavor and color.  We stay as long as we feel like it, and re-emerge from the flow feeling refreshed and invigorated, with our connection to the Deity, and to the World(s) we flowed through, having been deepened and strengthened.

Further cautions

We don’t want to do this with a Deity with whom we are uncomfortable, whose energy we find jarring or ill-fitting to our nature, at least not until our relationship with that Deity has reshaped or matured.  This mode requires that we temporarily let go of controlling our own experience, and join with the experience of another being whom we know and trust.    

Water-mode isn’t a ‘challenge’ between us and the Deity the way Earth and Fire modes can sometimes be.  Water-mode can be too overwhelming, and it penetrates too far into our own being; it is too intimate and blended, to work well as a challenge.  Challenges depend on the perception of separate beings, a perspective of “me and my experience” versus “them and their influence”, and that is incompatible with the Water-mode of relating to Deities. 

On the other hand, a Water-mode experience can serve as a spiritual ordeal, especially if we fear water-related symbols and experiences.  We must face and overcome that fear, to succeed in the ordeal and gain the spiritual might and main, and the enhanced Deity-relationships, that result from it. This kind of ordeal should be one we choose to undergo, when we feel ready, and one that we approach with the support of a Deity.  It can be done in gradual stages, or all at once, depending on our choice.

Deep, Still Water

This mode is most useful, in my experience, for learning about the otherworldly Wells and other water-bodies of other Worlds, though some Deities can also be approached in this way.  Most Deities, I believe, are more involved with flow and movement through the Worlds, less involved with profound stillness.  The Wells include those of Urdh / Wyrd, Mimir, and Frau Holle.  Other examples of deep, still water include the wetlands of Hel, the fens and marshes around Frigg’s and Saga’s Halls, and the ocean-depths in various Worlds.

Cautions

This is a mode to use only with great caution, and after much experience with otherworldly travel and the beings one encounters there.  The risk lies in becoming stuck in immobility, and having difficulty emerging from it, which can also spread into daily life.  The deep, still Water-mode can act as a ‘strange attractor’ as is seen in nonlinear dynamics, where a dynamic system is drawn toward a low energy, entropic state, losing its energy and its opportunity to evolve in a different direction.  Once the energy is lost, the system cannot emerge from the trap of the strange attractor.  The only possible way out is for energy to be brought in from outside the system.   This phenomenon can occur with our soul-bodies as energy-systems.

Procedure

There are ways around this risk, though, if you decide you want to try this mode.  One is to make a firm agreement with a trusted Deity or Power, to guide you into and out of the experience, and commit to following their guidance.  You will need to commit your Will to this agreement, and use it along with the Deity’s guidance and power, so as to have the energy to emerge from the ‘strange attractor’ phenomenon, in the event that you experience such a thing.  You might not, but it pays to be prepared!

The Well as a passageway

The other way to handle this risk is similar: you approach the deep, still water as a passageway rather than an end in itself, again working with a Deity.  The most typical example of this is falling or passing through Holle’s Well, as is told in fairy tales.  People ‘fall through her well’ as a metaphor for death, and land in her green, underworld land of otherworldly life.  Likewise, Holle draws the souls of new babies from her well or pond: they pass from her underworld land of soul-incubation, through the waters of the Well between the Worlds, and into Midgard to ensoul a newly-conceived or newborn child.  An agreement can be made with Frau Holle to explore or experience her Well as a passageway or transition-experience, rather than an end in itself.  This is especially meaningful for a re-birthing experience.

I’ll wrap up this section and transition to the next, by showing how, in my experience, Mimir’s Well can also be approached as a passageway.  Mimir’s Well is called the well of memory and inspiration, and is well worth exploring, if one is prepared and approaches it the right way.  Most often, I think, when we approach Mimir’s Well, we wish only for a sip, or to gaze into it, and even these experiences can come with a high price, as Odin knows!   (Though I think many of us understand Odin’s eye in Mimir’s Well as a bargain or a pledge, rather than a ‘payment’ per se.  We see that the eye in the Well feeds occult knowledge, perception, insight, back to Odin, rather than being lost to him in the depths of the Well.)

It is possible, however, to experience Mimir’s Well as a passageway, in this case, a passage between the Water-mode of experience, and the Air-mode.  Here is an example from my experience.  (My souls most involved in this experience: beginning with Ferah and Aldr, transitioning to Ahma.)

Mimir’s Well

I sink down into wavelets of water, stirred by my passage, then falling still again.  Above me, for awhile, is dim, filtered light, but it fades.  Stillness, silence, timelessness, under the weight and darkness of the water.  Yet, underneath that, a sense of hidden potential, of something that will appear in its own time.  Gradually, a directionless light begins to infuse the water.  Sensation changes from the skin-feeling of the water, to the scent of something fresh and clear.  The film of water clears from my eyes.  I can’t pinpoint when it happens, but now instead of resting in deep water, I am wafting gently through fresh air, surrounded by wisps of cloud and movements of air-currents. 

I have moved into what I perceive as World-Mind: the realm of Thought, Memory, Inspiration, created by the sacrifice of Mimir’s head and its placement in his Well.  Just as the sacrifice of the giant Ymir was the basis for forming the physical World of Midgard, so I believe that Mimir’s execution by the Vanir was in fact a sacrifice that resulted in World-Mind coming into being, where all Thought and mental activity take place as our individual minds access, operate and interact within that realm.  Through Mimir’s deep well of Water, I now have access to explore the Airy realm of World-Mind.

Here, we are moving away from Water as sensation / feeling, and entering the mode of Air as awareness, perception and mental activity.

Characteristics of Water-Mode:

Keywords: Flow, sensation, energy, vigor, refreshment, immersion, blending, sharing, absorbing, deep awareness, renewal, trans-being.

Souls with particular affinity for flowing Water-mode: Ferah, Aldr, Hama, Sefa, Ahma.

For deep, still Water-mode: Saiwalo, Ahma.

How inner change usually happens:  Through alteration of energy and essence, below the level of conscious awareness, caused by direct exposure to God-energies and World-energies.  The change gradually floats up into our awareness as though it had always been there, while whatever was changed is washed away, irrelevant, almost forgotten.

The Modes of Air and Wind

Comparisons

When we relate in Earth-mode, we are sharing metaphysical, but structured, subject-object space with the Deities: we and they are clearly separate from each other.  In Water-mode, the focus is on sharing sensation, the sense-experience of floating and surging within a Deity’s natural flows of energy and experience of Being, and absorbing some of those energies. 

Air-Mode

In the mode of Air, we are again floating within a Deity’s energy-Being, but rather than sensation-experience, the focus is on mental awareness.  I would not dare to claim that we enter the core of the Deity’s Mind, nor that we can know all their thoughts.  But in Air-mode, we do hover on the fringes and glimpse something of the Deity’s own perceptions and world-view, as they choose to share them with us.

Procedure

This mode requires us to step temporarily away from all our own concerns, viewpoints, preoccupations; away from anything that is roiling the peace of our own being.  Our mind needs to be as clear as the windy sky, as we send out a call, echoing and reverberating through space: a call to a Deity we are close to, a request to hover within the space of their mighty Mind.  This is not about ourselves and our own concerns; this is about attempting to perceive, for a little while, Worlds and events and Beings as the Deity perceives and thinks about them.  Sometimes, it is honestly refreshing and inspiring to relate to the Deities from their own perspectives, rather than from ours. 

Here is an example of my experience with Air-Mode.  Some of what I say here is enigmatic, just glimpses of something that I can’t describe in any detail; this is typical of my Air-mode perceptions of the Deities’ mental spaces.  It’s often a struggle to describe what I perceive, knowing that all my perceptions and expressions are so limited, compared to the minds I seek to perceive.  (My souls most involved in this experience: Ahma, Ghost, Sefa, Hugr.)

Vidar

Vidar is considered a God of Vengeance, whose cosmic task is to slay the Fenris-Wolf at Ragnarök.  But he is also called the Silent God, and this is how I relate to him: as a God who enjoys the silence and solitude of Landvidi, his broad domain or God-home.  To me, he is a patron of silence, solitude, of broad, quiet, natural lands stretching out into the distance.  I often relate to him in Earth-mode, sitting across from him at a campfire, near a stream on a quiet night, with the stars spread out overhead and the owls calling, and the scent of pines around us.

But sometimes I try to approach him through Air-mode, and here is what that is like, for me.  His Air-domain is broad and deep, as his God-home Landvidi is.  The verse from Völuspá comes to mind, describing the peace that follows Ragnarök and the future of the younger Gods who survive it: “two brothers’ sons build a settlement in the wide wind-realm…” (vs. 60).  Here is the wide wind-realm: here at home in Vidar’s mind, his long view of time and space.  He pitches in when the other Deities and humans need him, but still he is detached, biding his time.  Something is always withheld, his time is not yet.  He stands back, waiting, observing, thinking in silence. His silence hides his power.

What is / will his time be like?  Is his time the vengeance itself?  Or is the vengeance on Fenris simply the gateway into his time?  His true time does not contain the Wolf, it flows past the Wolf into other Worlds.  Vidar is strong sunlight, but he is still obscured by the shadows of the world.  In his true time he shines in the morning, riding the Worlds on new tides of time.  A gleam of his light shows above the horizon even now, while on the other side of the sky, the quiet stars shine on.

Another person might have a very different Air-mode perception of Vidar’s awareness, and describe it in very different terms; certainly, I have not captured much of his warrior-aspect here.  The Air-fields of World-Mind are vast; we can each perceive only small parts of them, and express even smaller parts in words!  But the perceptions themselves are profoundly worthwhile.

Wind-Mode

Comparisons

Air is still; Wind moves, and there is a difference between them, just as there is between flowing and still Water.  When we perceive in Air-mode, what we perceive ‘holds still’ for us, it allows us to take our time as we try to grasp and express it.  It doesn’t actively influence us, but allows space for our observation and experience to take its own shape, in its own time.  Wind is a different matter; it has motive force, and it influences us directly.

Wind-mode

We experience the Wind-mode of relating to the Deities when we feel the power of their Mind and Will creating a moving current within our being, as though they were blowing a great breath of air towards us and stirring things up within us.  It could be a steady flow of power pushing us in a certain direction; it could be gentle or fierce gusts coming towards us from time to time, interspersed with periods of quiet.  Sometimes it feels like eddies, circular or spiral flows, even a tornado.  These turn us in circles and cause confusion and upheaval, bringing about changes in our outlook and our life.  It’s my thought that most or all of us become Heathens because of this God-wind stirring up our inner Being and urging us in this direction.

Procedure

We can choose to work with these Wind-flows from the Deities, or resist them; either way, they will end up influencing us. Often, we try through divination methods, such as the runes, to discern the direction and purposes of these God-Winds, these flows of divine power and will, so that we can understand and work with them.  The closer our relationships with the Deities, the more clearly we can perceive the nature of their Winds, and make our choices about how to respond. 

Here are two examples of my perception of God-Winds.  The first one didn’t necessarily require action on my part, except the mental action of understanding, though I did take action by writing a song about it, called “The Winds of Odin’s Will.”  (My souls that were most involved in these experiences: Ghost, Hugr, Mod.)

Woden’s Will-Wind

I saw “reality” as though it were a huge blanket spread out over the landscape, with the ravens flying across.  Then I saw Woden take up one edge of the “blanket” and shake it as though he were Frau Holle airing her celestial bedding!  When Woden shook the blanket, a series of ripples spread across the landscape of the blanket–big ripples in the part closest to him, and eventually growing smaller and smaller as the blanket passed out of sight over the horizon.

From this sight, my understanding is that though Woden cannot—or perhaps chooses not to—change the entire fabric of reality according to his will, he nevertheless is prone to giving it a good shaking up and airing out!  The “parts” of reality “closest” to him (the terms in quotation marks are not very accurate for describing this, but I can’t think of better ones) are of course the most affected, those farther away from his point of concentration, less so. 

Then, I saw Woden’s Will itself as though it were a wind emanating from his being and keeping the ripples of the blanket in motion, flowing across the landscape of reality in the direction of his will, like ripples blowing across a lake in the wind.  Huginn and Muninn ride the tides of this wind, which always takes them in the direction of Woden’s interest and involvement in reality and the ways he is working upon it. 

Frige’s Will-Wind

Often when I am trying to explore new knowledge and ideas, seeking new directions for my mind-craft, I perceive the image of Frigg tossing her spindle into the distance.  As the spindle flies through the air, thread unrolls from it and is wafted across the echoing spaces of World-Mind by Frigg’s Wind.  My task is to keep this thread in sight, follow it across the mind-scapes of the worlds, and see what inspirations it leads me toward. 

The Wind of the Hugr

Though I am saving an in-depth discussion of how our souls are involved in these modes for a future article, I want to point out here the particular affinity between our Hugr-soul and wind.  One of the kennings or synonyms for the Hugr in Old Norse is “wind of the troll-wife”, describing how a powerful giantess or sorceress sends out her Hugr for magical action.  DeVries writes that the Hugr could exit the body as breath or wind, and the stronger a person’s Hugr was, the more dangerous the wind.  He compares this to the folk-belief, up until recent times, that witches travel around in a whirlwind (p. 221).

Our focus here is on interacting with the Deities, rather than with humans or other beings, but these few examples of the Hugr’s power point us back in that direction.  The Deities have their own Hugrs, and Odin’s Hugr is especially powerfully developed, the exemplar of all Hugrs.  When we feel Woden’s Will-Wind, we are feeling the power of his Hugr, setting in motion deeds that he desires to bring about.  Frigg’s Hugr blows the thread from her spindle across World-Mind for me to follow, chasing inspiration and insights.  Each of the Deities has a powerful Hugr who blows the winds of their Will across the worlds.

Characteristics of Air-Mode:

Keywords: Clarity, knowledge, openness, agility, confidence, alertness, change, expansion, direction, thought, will, impetus, inspiration, trans-being.

Souls with particular affinity for Air-mode: Ahma, Ghost, Hugr.

With affinity for Wind-mode: Hugr, Ghost, Mod.

How inner change usually happens:

Through Air: A sense that something has shifted, doors and windows have opened.  New perspectives draw us toward changing our outlook and our framework of thought.  A sense of mental refreshment, renewal. Meaningful new knowledge and understanding lie before us, just around the corner, and lure us onwards, waiting for our pursuit. 

Through Wind: The God-Wind blows through us, blowing some things away, blowing new things in, pushing us in certain directions toward actions that change our lives, and perhaps the lives of others whom we influence, as well.  This process may involve a good deal of turbulence and disruptive change, and may at times obscure our vision through storms of ‘dust and sand’, mental storms filled with all the myriad details and influences in our lives that blind and distract us from our truly-chosen path.

The Mode of Fire

Comparisons

Fire is known, in esoteric terms, as a process of transformation.  As the transformation takes place, ‘the old’ is burned and consumed, making way for ‘the new’ that arises from transformation.  This process is quite different from the other modes.  Earth-mode is based on ‘what is’, on the shape and structure of ourself and the world that we grow and maintain during our lifetime.  Water-mode and Air-mode, too, explore ‘what is’ in their own characteristic ways.  Wind-mode moves into ‘what is becoming’; it is the impetus for actions and deeds that are rooted in what-is and have their beginning there, but are moving toward becoming something else.  This is generally more of an incremental process; it may happen in fits and starts, move in various directions, spin around, backtrack and move forward again, evolve its nature and direction as the winds move the action along.  It is generally a long, slow, complex process of ‘becoming’ or coming-into-being, though it can move very quickly in phases.

Fire-mode

Fire jumps outside of all this: it is not a long, slow, complex, organically-arising process.  It is the sudden conflagration, consuming ‘what is’ and transforming it into something else entirely.  I’ll give an example here of a fire transformation that happened to me, completely unexpectedly, as it usually does.  (My souls most involved in this experience: Ghost, Hama, Hugr, Sefa.)

Woden and Frige

Many years ago, a few years after I began my Heathen path, I wanted to understand Woden better and establish a relationship with him, but I was definitely wary and uncertain about how to go about this.  I found it difficult to trust him.  However, I was close to Frigg / Frige and trusted her.  I asked her to show me why she loves him, show me how she relates to him and perceives him; in effect, to introduce me to him as her spouse, so I could ease into this, slowly.    Frige agreed, and I waited for the civilized, low-key ‘introduction’ that I (foolishly) expected.  That was not how it happened…

Frige snatched me up one night, unprepared, just as I was falling asleep, and drew me into a place like outer space.  I was a tiny mote, and Frige and Woden were the size and power of supernova suns, with me the tiny mote floating right between them.  The two of them were just at that moment turning toward each other, with the thought of love in their minds.  The power that flowed from their love and passion was literally awesome—power that generates worlds, even universes—Big Bang power.

I was there only a split second, and realized this was no place for a mortal to be.  Even in that brief instant, I felt that all my hair had burned away, and my skin was blackening to a crisp.  I left that place with the utmost rapidity!  Then I got up and looked in the mirror, and though I had all my hair, my skin was indeed very red, as though I was badly sunburned.  I asked Frige politely to remember, next time, that I am mortal and subject to mortal limitations, and to please be careful of me!   But it was quite an experience, and it certainly did respond to my request to Frigg, to show me more of her relations with Woden!   (“Be careful what you ask for: you might get it!”)  So much for ‘easing into’ a relationship with Woden….

Analysis

This brief but powerful experience gave me a lot to think about, and it did, indeed, change my perception of Odin, but not through any process of ‘getting to know him’ gradually and cautiously. This was really not what I had thought I was asking for! (If there is one phrase I would use above all others to describe my dealings with our Deities, the one I would pick is “taken by surprise”!) The change in attitude that I was seeking for myself indeed happened, but not in the polite, reasonable, diplomatic way I thought I was orchestrating!  No: I was engulfed in flame, and indeed my aversion and reluctance to relate to Woden was in that moment burned away and did not return, in spite of him being admittedly a daunting Deity to relate to. 

Effects

Before this burning I was hesitant to commit; afterwards there was no question that I was committed, come what may.  And this change was not anything I reasoned out, bargained for, decided on, or grew into.  There was no rational or emotional process involved.  It was a transformation: one minute I was hesitant; a split-second later, after being blasted with radiation, something had changed in me, and stayed changed, though it took awhile for me to fully realize and digest it.  This is the mode of Fire.

This is an example, in many ways a small thing: a change in my attitude toward one among many Deities.  It could have happened in many other ways.  Why did Frige and Woden choose the mode of Fire to bring about the change I asked for?  Fire is really the ‘big gun’ among the various ways we can relate to the Deities, and I use this analogy with weapons advisedly.  Fire-mode can feel like a weapon, like an assault on us, a conflagration, an upheaval, a destruction.  It may not always literally involve fire; it is a mode of sudden transformation, however that occurs.  When it happens, it is often unexpected and maybe undesired by us.  We may think we never asked for it, and perhaps we never did ask for Fire to be unleashed on us.  But somehow, some way, some inner need or wish puts us in a space where the Deities who are close to us decide that Fire is the way to go, and there we are. 

There is no reversal of Fire; the ashes of what is gone do not rise up and reconstitute.  There is only the new thing that has come into being, and it may take us a good while to perceive, understand, accept, and learn to work and live with the new state of being, even when it seems a relatively small matter in the overall context of our life.  I cannot go back to distrusting Woden; my distrust was burned away many years ago.  He is what he is, I am what I am, our bond was forged in the Fire that he and Frige ignited, and that is that; we go on from there.

The issue of ‘consent’ in Fire-mode

Here is an important question: what role, if any, does our own consent, or denial of consent, play in an experience of Fire-mode?  Let’s look at this in a broader context, for a moment.  Every minute that passes in our lives can be seen as a spark of Fire-mode experience: it comes, it brings change, however great or tiny, then it is gone and does not come again.  We do not go backward in time; change happens within time, and there is no reversal.  The Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously said: “You can’t step into the same river twice.”  By the time you go back for the second round, the water you previously stepped in has flowed by, the environment and yourself, however slightly, have changed from what they were. 

In a nutshell: Fire-mode is change, change happens in time, time is not reversible. Thus, true Fire-mode experience is not reversible.  This is the nature of time and entropy, governed by the laws of physics, and these laws exist regardless of our consent to them.  Our lives are governed by time and change, whether we choose for this to happen, or not.

So, this is the general, philosophical point.  Now, let’s take it to the personal level: the specifics of our own Fire-mode, transformative experiences with the Deities, and the role of our consent in these experiences.  Here are my own thoughts and observations; you will have to decide whether what I say agrees with your experience, and if not, seek for your own answers to this important question.

I think it’s important, first, to distinguish between a ‘challenge / ordeal’ and a ‘Fire-mode experience.’  Challenges and ordeals happen in life.  They are often orchestrated by our Deities to promote our growth and change.  They also come about due to our own actions or lack thereof, our own choices or our failure to choose a path and act on our best judgement.  Often, again, challenges occur through circumstances beyond our control.  Generally, it is a combination of factors.

What turns these events into true Heathen ordeals and challenges, with the growth of spiritual might and main that they can bring, is our own attitude towards them, and the actions we take in response.   The most terrible circumstances can be treated as Heathen ordeals and challenges; we can meet them with the strength and power gained from our Deities and our Heathen way of life, and transform them into opportunities for change, growth, generosity, honor, compassion, and other great values of human life.

It is here where Godly Fire-mode experience may enter in: here at the moment when we choose, however tentatively and subconsciously, to transform an obstacle, ordeal, challenge, or a flaw or weakness in ourself, rather than continue to drag that burden around.  In my experience….I have to say, I don’t know how such transformation happens, or how to ‘make it work’.  I don’t have any switch to flip, or magic wand to wave.  I’m stuck in the situation, and I don’t know how to change it.  Deep inside, a call goes out to a Deity for help, here.  I want change, I want to transform the situation, and at some level I know that involves transforming myself. 

This is the call, this is the consent to our Deities: we need some assistance and are willing to accept what they give.  Again, these feelings may be confused and blurred within us, but the Deities have clear sight.  What is beyond our choice and our consent, is how the Deities respond to our own need, to the situation we are in.  That is their choice, not ours.  They are not programmed, divine robots.  I gave the example, earlier, of trying to orchestrate the progress of my relationship to Woden through Frige, and showed what came of that.  It was my choice, wanting to get to know Woden better.  But, despite what I may have thought, it was not my choice, how Woden and Frige responded!  And they chose the transformation of Fire, for me at that time.

So, we can continue to wallow in problems, difficulties, states of mind or of being, that we don’t want but can’t figure out how to change, or maybe we know what needs to be done, but somehow can’t manage to do it.  Or we may just want some big change, something brand-new in our lives.  We all like it when we ask the Deities for help in some situation, and they bring about some change from outside ourselves, without requiring radical change within ourselves, because that feels like it’s easier, less disruptive.  But things don’t happen that way very often; usually, the changes the Deities bring about involve a lot of inner upheaval. 

I think the Deities know which elemental mode will work best for us in a given situation, at a given point in our life, when we express our need, however confused, for their help.  There’s a good chance they will present their help in the form of a challenge or an ordeal, that brings about inner change within us.  The transformative ordeal may take the form of Fire, or it may work its way through one of the other elements I’ve discussed here, most likely Earth or Wind modes, but possibly a Water ordeal.  It’s also quite possible to undergo a transformative challenge or ordeal through several successive modes, starting with Earth or Water, for example, then the final phase with Fire.

Wode

Wode or Odhr is a form of Fire.  Its expression can range from a spark of inspiration or a steady flame of creativity, to a state of divinely-inspired prophetic madness or of battle-frenzy.  Wode is a combination of Fire and Wind, where the Fire ignites us and the Wind propels us forward toward God-inspired action. 

Divine Wode comes about through a God-Wind and a Godly Fire, and if we are able to ride this fiery wind then it carries us toward a state where we are able to surpass anything we thought we could do before.  It burns away and blows through our self-limitations and carries us on a tide of divine Fire. 

Once the Wode has achieved its intentions, if we are to maintain safety and sanity, we must leave the full-on grip of Wode and come down to earth again.  But the Wode does not leave us unchanged; many inner aspects of our Self, especially our perception of our limitations, are changed by this experience.

A Wode-Fire experience often leaves behind embers, burning coals, which act as fire-seeds.  They settle deep within us and keep our fires of creativity and action at a lower but steady level.  Then a Wode-Wind may come along, blown by a God or by the winds of this world, and fire up these embers again to a high heat.  In this way, Wode-Wind-Fire creates a repeating pattern within ourself, where a certain ability or tendency repeatedly arises.  It’s important to work with our Deities to refine and control this expression of Wode within ourself, so that it takes the form we and our Deities desire for it, rather than running amok. (See my articles “Ghost Rider” and “Study Guide 3: Ahma and Ghost Souls” for more about Wode.)

Closing experience

I’ll close now with another personal experience, involving initiatory Wode which lit a fire within, and gave strong impetus and direction to my Heathen life.  For years, I had wished to know Heimdal better, and often prayed politely for his attention, but didn’t get more than, in effect, a polite nod of acknowledgement.  I had often encountered him through spaeworking for others, where he usually came forward as an initiator for someone seeking a clearer Heathen path, but he did not come for me personally.  One day, during a personal spaeworking, he answered my prayer, and it was worth the wait.  (My souls most involved with this experience: Hama and Ghost.)

Heimdal

Heimdal puts both his hands against the sides of my head, his lips against my brow.  He hums strongly, filling me with vibrations.  His humming turns to light, rainbow light, brighter and brighter, blinding.  Rainbows everywhere, bewildering, shining forth from Heimdal’s chest.  The light and humming vibrate fiercely, overwhelmingly, in my blood, re-tuning me to a different frequency and awakening connections through my blood, my ancestry, the callings of the ancient ones. 

My blood is a rainbow fire within me, bubbling and buzzing in my veins, flashing out through my skin and eyes.  I am a rainbow bridge, I bridge between Midgard and the God-Homes, between past and future, ancestors and those to come; between the spirit-world and the world of matter, between my souls and the souls of others: we all are connected together in the beauty and power of the rainbow light.

A distant echo of a horn.  As the horn calls, the rainbows slowly gather to form a bridge across the air.  Heimdal steps out onto it, passes into light too bright to see.  His horn still echoes, all colors around me are supernaturally bright and vibrant, there is a sense of gladness everywhere, the air itself is golden.  A God has walked here. 

The horn still calls, singing of beginnings, not endings. Still it calls, even now; still my heart responds.  If I never see Heimdall in person again, it matters not; his rainbow vibrations are imprinted in my flowing life-blood.

Though I use this as an example of Fire-mode, it can also be seen as Air-mode, venturing into Heimdal’s awareness, his nature and his innate powers, and as Wind-mode in the impetus it gave me toward my Heathen callings. It partakes of Water-mode in the sensations of my blood flowing with Heimdal’s energy, and of Earth-mode in my perception of myself and Heimdal, separate beings within a landscape.  Transformation, awareness, sensation-experience, bodies and landscape: the modes are unified in this experience.  The rainbow itself blends Fire, Air and Water, and connects earth to earth, World to World.  It is a fitting image with which to close our exploration of the elemental modes which shape our relationships with the Holy Ones.

Characteristics of Fire-Mode

Keywords: Consuming, sudden transformation, no boundaries, Wode, state-shift or quantum shift, non-reversible.

Souls with particular affinity for Fire-mode: Ghost, Mod, Ferah, Ahma.

How inner change usually happens:  Suddenly, directly, irreversibly.  We jump from one state of being to another state, without intervening processes of thought, will, or emotion, and there is no returning to the previous state.  It often comes as a stark shock or a blinding enlightenment, and our whole living-being or system of souls, mind, body, way of life, may take awhile to find a new equilibrium after this experience.

The Rainbow Bridge lays out the paths between us and the Holy Ones, formed of Fire, Air and Water, connecting Earth to Earth across the realms of the Life-Worlds.  The horn-call of the Holy Ones, echoing across these Worlds, urges us to venture into the wide unknown.  It sings of beginnings, and of endings that make room for new beginnings.  And, may I say, it calls to the Utgard Ranger within us all!

Note: This article is included in my book, Wandering on Heathen Ways.

Bookhoard and Recommended Reading

DeVries, Jan. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte.  Band I.  Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1956.

Larrington, Carolyne, transl. The Poetic Edda. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Godsongs and God-Calls

The I in Mimir’s Well