Though fictional, Sigurd is honored as the consumate Germanic hero. He is the product of a long heritage of Eddic archaetypes and thus represents many ideals and concerns of our ancestors. His wooing of the valkyrie Brynhild, the winning of the treasure of the Nibelungs, and the constant theme of Odinic initiation that weaves itself throughout his story are priceless parts of Asatru heritage.
One of the upland minor kings. Guthroth had to the audacity to make a speech opposing the policies of Olaf Tryggvason, who at the time was busy killing people who did not want to become kristjans. For exercising his Gods given rights to worship his tribal Gods, Guthroth was captured and his tongue was cut out. Use your tongue for the Gods today! Sing their praises and recite some heroic poetry, tell someone of the Gods glory, and call a kinsman to keep in touch.
(THE NORSE MYTHOLOGY FACEBOOK PAGE by Dr. Karl E. H. Seigfried)
on the National Day of Prayer
May the lore of your mighty struggles
Against terrifying giants & trolls
Inspire us with the strength
To fight the monsters of our own time
Homophobia, racism, sexism
And all other intolerance & hate
May the example of your honesty
And your challenge to Odin himself
Give us the courage to speak out
Against fundamentalism & prejudice
In all the religions of the world
Including our own
By: Winifred Hodge
Witches and Walpurgisnacht
“The Witches’ excursion takes place on the first night in May…they ride up Blocksberg on the first of May, and in 12 days must dance the snow away; then Spring begins… Here they appear as elflike, godlike maids.” (Grimm v. IV, p. 1619)
“(There) is a mountain very high and bare, ..whereon it is given out that witches hold their dance on Walpurgis night, even as on Mt. Brocken in the Harz.” (Grimm v. IV, p. 1620)
“We know that our forefathers very generally kept the beginning of May as a great festival, and it is still regarded as the trysting time of witches, i.e. once of wise-women and fays; who can doubt that heathen sacrifices blazed that day?” (Grimm v. II, p. 614)
“We know that all over Germany a grand annual excursion of witches is placed on the first night in May (Walpurgis), i.e. on the date of the sacrificial feast and the old May-gathering of the people. On the first of May, of all days, the periodical assizes (Things) continued for many centuries to be held; on that day came the merry May-ridings, and the kindling of the sacred fire: it was one of the highest days in all heathenism. …The witches invariably resort to places where formerly justice was administered, or sacrifices were offered. …Almost all the witch-mountains were once hills of sacrifice, boundary-hills, or salt-hills.” (Grimm v. III, p. 1050-1)
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Odin was his God, and the blood of berserks and shape-shifters ran in his family. His lust for gold and for fames was insatiable. Yet the same man was passionately moved by the love of his friends and generously opened handed to those who found his favor. The same brain that seethed with war-fury also composed skaldic poetry capable of calming angry kings. Can it be by accident that Egil worshipped Odin, the great solver of paradoxes and riddles? Indeed all Asafolk - but especially those who follow the one-eyed God of battle and magic - can learn much from the life of this amazing man.
From Our Troth Ed. 1
“Heðinn fared home alone through the woods on Yule evening and found a troll-woman; she rode a warg and had wyrms for reins, and offered her following to Heðinn. ‘No’, he said. She said, ‘You shall pay for that at the bragar-cup.’
“In the evening was the swearing of oaths. The sonargöltr (sacrificial boar) was led forward, folk laid their hands upon it, and folk swore their oaths at the bragar-cup…”
(“Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar”)
Of all the high feasts of our forebears, Yule is by far the highest, the holiest, and the most fraught with might. During the thirteen nights of Yule, all the worlds meet in the Middle-Garth: the god/esses and the dead walk freely, trolls and alfs come into the homes of humans, and those folk who are closest to the Otherworld may leave their human selves altogether to become the riders of the Wild Hunt or oskorei (Ásgarð-Ride), werewolves, or the embodiments of various of the wights that wander the earth at Yule-tide. But Yule is also the time of the greatest feasting and joy, because it is at Yule that the whole clan, living and dead, gathers as one, sure in the knowledge that even as the Sun rises every year from her greatest darkness, so there will ever be rebirth for us as well. It is not by chance that Yule has preserved the most Heathen customs of any feast: the promise of the Yule log and the ever-green tree also stood as the promise that our folk-ways should live through the long dark winter and rise bright again.
The traditional Yule season is thirteen nights long - called the Weihnachten, or wih-nights, in Germany. These thirteen nights are the march-space between one year and another, the border where the worlds overlap. All that happens between the first sunset and the last dawn of Yule is mightier than at any other time of the year: these are the nights when Wyrd may be turned, when doom is set.
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By Dana Larsen - Thursday, December 18 2003
Although most people see Christmas as a Christian holiday, many of the symbols and icons we associate with Christmas celebrations are actually derived from the shamanistic traditions of the tribal peoples of pre-Christian Northern Europe.
The sacred mushroom of these people was the red and white amanita muscaria mushroom, also known as “fly agaric.” These mushrooms are now commonly seen in books of fairy tales, and are usually associated with magic and fairies. This is because they contain potent hallucinogenic compounds, and were used by ancient peoples for insight and transcendental experiences.
Most of the major elements of the modern Christmas celebration, such as Santa Claus, Christmas trees, magical reindeer and the giving of gifts, are originally based upon the traditions surrounding the harvest and consumption of these most sacred mushrooms.
The world tree
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