Introduction to: The God Freyr

I leave you here with a video I’ve done a year ago, speaking about the Norse/Germanic deity – the god Freyr.

You can read about this deity here at my blog, of course. But for those of you who prefer to listen rather than reading, I recomend my own video on the subject 😛 hehe.

If you want more videos about such subjects, please subscribe to my channel; your support and feedback keep the videos coming. I hope you enjoy this one and any suggestions you can always speak to me freely.

Enjoy the video friends! 😀

Norse Paganism and the shaping of a society

Before the widespread christianization of Europe, the different cultures all over the ancient continent has their own religions, polytheistic and very complex. The northern parts of Europe were the last places where christianity came, while all others were already christian, the Norse were still attached to their old beliefs and traditions. As late as the 11th century, the recently converted peoples of Scandinavia still continued to practice their old tradition and worshiping their old gods, pagan practices not likely to be in the good graces of the well structured hierarchies of the christian powers to the south. Christianity and the church, had many problems in Scandinavia, while trying to convert people and made them forget their old ways. It was practically impossible to turn the northern peoples into worshiping the christian god only.

The pagan beliefs in Norse societies differed from one area to the next. While there isn't  much evidence which may tell us in detail the different types of group beliefs and individual beliefs, a few aspects to the religion may be inferred based upon other knowledge we have of other polytheistic religions. In the classic world in the regions of Roman and Greek original influence, as well as Mesopotamia and Egypt, polytheism gave rise to numerous religious sects within the belief system of their pantheons.  Individual settlements chose patron gods based on their needs, and in this way, it may be inferred that the Norse chose patron gods to suit their needs as well. A village dependent on hunting, for example, would have likely chosen to worship the god of the hunt Freyr and probably the goddess Skadi, and perhaps even Ullr, while the cult of Odin was for the elite warrior groups of the Norse society. Based on the patron god a settlement would chose, religious practice would have looked slightly different. Norse Paganism would have been diverse in its beliefs and practices, contrary to the desperate need for consistency exercised in the Christian church.

With each community in Scandinavia differing in cult from area to area, the Norse pagans did not establish a separate class of society whose role it would have been to officiate a specific religious practice. The chieftains of separate communities took under charge various roles to officialise festivals and rituals. For example, the ritual of giving a name to the newly born child, was of the competence of the Jarl (pronounced "Yarl" - a noble of Norse society), whose blessings held great importance to the parents of the baby. Jarls also officiated weddings and funerals, participated regularly in festivals, family gatherings and solstice celebrations. But in the spiritual field, the Jarls had no power. Magic, divination, rune reading, prophesying, was seldom the competence of men, rather was the field of expertise of women, the Völvur, the women practitioners of Norse magic and Shamanism.

There were other members of the Norse society who had experience and whose work was the arts of divination and magic. Magic, was the act which involved the ability to communicate with the gods, tell the future, and heal people of various ailments, it existed peripherally in Norse paganism and shamanism. Both genders could ostensibly practice the art of magic, but men risked emasculation in pursuit of the magical arts. Women were typically those who practiced magic as I have mentioned before. The role of magic in Norse paganism varied mostly in conjunction with the variations of worship in Norse paganism across the pantheon.  The Magic role in society was consistent insofar as the mythological basis for it emerged from the same set of stories. For example, Odin accepted magic for self-gain knowledge of all things, so he sacrificed an eye at Mimir’s Well. But he also gained the ability to do magic which linked him to shamanism, when the Goddess Freyja taught him how to do it, and in this case we can see again that the female figure was linked to such shamanic acts. Other deities in the Norse pantheon were intrinsically magical as well, both genders, but especially the goddesses. Magic therefore served as a rapprochement to the gods or patron god of choice. Accepting magic did not guarantee acceptance of practicing magic. Many of the practitioners of magic, if not all, lived as outcasts, away from the community, usually in the wild places or just a couple of meters outside villages and towns. They lived like hermits, a very solitary life. These were typically women who either never married, or had some form of birth defect. Birth defects were interpreted as either a curse, or as a sign. The exact interpretation of birth defects is a contested part of the historical study of the Vikings, and therefore not a conclusive aspect of this particular analysis. The art of these solitary magic practitioners was exploited by the rich and powerful, including Jarls who took into consideration the wishes of the gods in preparing religious observances.

A few of the common features of Norse Paganism, which permeated across all the sects of beliefs within their society, are the beliefs we probably think of when portraying the Vikings. They all believed in Valhalla, even if it was a place only for those who died in battle. There was also a belief they commonly shared which actually differs the Norse deities from other deities of other religions; all of their gods were mortal. There was also the constant fear and belief that Ragnarok would happen eventually, and the world and gods would come to an end, the end of all life and the beginning of something new. All of these beliefs affected how the Norse pagans and their society in general interacted with the outside world. Warriors appeared to have no fear of death, for they believed death and battle would be their "salvation", this way of thinking made the Vikings fearsome foes. Odin had the passion for learning; the Norse pagans displayed a similar desire to learn about the world, to explore, and to adopt learned technologies.

Unlike Christianity, Norse paganism was not absolute. Changes to the dogma of worship were common and made to suit whatever adversity a community faced. Also unlike Christianity, Norse paganism was not necessarily prejudicial. In practice, the Norse pagans were accepting of other sects of beliefs because it was recognized that multiple gods existed. Religion, was a personal matter not to be shared too liberally with others. Culturally, this meant the Norse Pagans were less likely to persecute others who didn't share the same beliefs. While Christianity eventually gained a solid foothold in the North, it struggled to change this aspect of Norse society who were reluctant to judge others for their beliefs. It would take the absolute monarchs of the 13th Century to finally eliminate the cultural vestiges of Norse paganism.

Why do you call it, Northern Pagan Traditions?

Why do you call it, Northern Pagan Traditions?

Well, i do call it by this name or, northern traditional paganism, as a reference to the old ways and custom of the northern countries of Europe, in Scandinavia, before the Christianization of Europe, not only the religion, but also the spiritual paths of the northern shamanism and the connections with the land spirits and ancestors, spiritual ways and beliefs such as this, that date about 40.000 of history.

Why not call it, wicca?

In terms of beliefs, culture, ethics, history, religion, teachings etc. there is a big difference between being a wicca or a wiccan practitioner with being a person that follows and practices the northern ways. Wiccans tend to belief in many gods of different pantheons, a mixture of Norse gods, with Celtic ones, Egyptian gods, Greek etc., there is also a tendency to leave things in a shallow way, a limitation of festivities and celebrations, and people dont dig further into the matter of the soul, there isn't questioning, most of the time it seems that wiccans, are former christians who are tired of christianity and are looking for different religions and beliefs, and go looking for the ancient ones that seem more reliable, and have no connection to any of the Abrahamic religions. As a matter of fact, many wiccans use the image of christ and his mother, as the figure of the god and of the goddess, there is also that tendency to worship a goddess as the mother nature or the moon goddess, and a god, Cernunnos, the celtic god of the forests, animals, beasts and mystery. These is also a connection to the Indian word "Karma" and the following of that belief, that fate exists and everything in out lifes will happen according to an astral plan, and the wrong you do to others, it will come back to you twice as much. So in terms of being a practitioner or a follower of the northern ways, things dont get too superficial, there is also a lot of gods and it is also a pagan belief yes, but there isn't that tendency to mixture other gods, there is an exposure of faith to these gods and only to them, to stay true to the beliefs, convictions and virtues. In the Traditional Nordic paganism, people do not seek a better place elsewhere, in an other world in the afterlife, because this world is beautiful and life is a blessing, each one of us has a purpose, and victory must be attained. Fate is a subject, much different than the other religions, the tree Nornes build the fate of each, and it will intertwine with the fate of others and with the happanings of the world, in a great web that connect us all to this world, the afterlife and to the gods, spirits and ancestors, so we must take care of each other, and take care of all living things, but fate isn't fixed, the only thing that can be certain, are some aspects of life that must happen, like the birth of a child or the death of someone in a certain time, or one person meeting another, or certain problems and obstacles that must appear in our life, in order to make us stronger, constant tests, that will decide if we are capable of living in this world and learning something, so fate isn't a book where everything is written, in the northern pagan beliefs, free will is given to us all, and it is always up to us to decide how we will live this life, and how we will face all the problems, all of us must fight, and our hearts and minds will make us a good person or not. 

We can speak to the gods, and they will help us, giving the best gifts of all, which are, advice, love, wisdom and strength, strength of mind, body and spirit, they will not intervene in our lifes, because all of us have free will, if they did help us, more than they already do, they would take away the credit of each one, and the capabilities and skills that we have.

In the Northern Pagan Traditions, people don't just pray to the gods or to the spirits of the land, but also to the ancestors, seeking protection and wistom, because they too have lived in this world once, and they know more than us and also what is beyond the veils that separate this world from the other, and they are older and wisest, because one they we will also be the ancestors of someone, and we have to make our descendants proud of what we have became.

Life can't be always a good thing, there must be hard times also, sorrow and grief, because by that way, we can enjoy life and appreciate it, giving value to it.

The gods of the Northern pantheons are divided into tree groups, the Aesir, the Vanir and the Underworld gods, and each god has a purpose and his/her wisdom is needed in many life stages. The Aesir are more concerned with the strength of mind and body, with the power to achieve victory, to be strong enough to protect ourselves, those we love, and protect all who don't have the capacity to protect themselves. The Vanir, are more into the fertility of the soils and of all living creatures, and their teachings show us how to respect nature and as we take from it, we also must give, because a gift always calls for a gift, and we must not forget love, because he who doesn't know love, shall never find peace. The Underworld gods as they are called most of the time, are the gods more concerned with the matter of the soul and how we can enrich it while living. After death, the soul continues to exist, and we continue to learn and to grow as an individual, as a being, and we continue to learn. There isn's such thing as Hell or Heaven or a bad god and a good god, there are a very big group of teachers and friends that will accompany you through life, and they will give you friendship, advise, love and wisdom, if you ask for it and if you prove you are worth having these gifts. Those who follow the Aesir gods are often called Asatru, and those who follow the Vanir, are called Vanatru, and the underworld gods, the Rökkatru.

So why not just saying, Ásatrú, instead of Northern Pagan Traditions?

That is because, what i write in here and my beliefs, go further into just worshiping a group of gods, and there are people who are just Ásatrú, or Odinists/Wotanists or Heathens or those who follow the neopagan religions linked to these gods, for exemple "Theodism", "Germanic Reconstructionism" etc. each group of these is linked to the Northern Pagan Traditions and old beliefs of Scandinavia and Germanic countries, and as i speak of it all and also about northern shamanism, i prefer to "pack" it all into the lable of Northern Pagan Traditions or Northern Spiritual Ways.


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Mistaking Nazism with Norse Paganism

I have talked about this subject some times, and i have clearly distinguish the differences between Norse paganism and Nazism. For those who do not want to take the trouble of seeking my writtings at the blog, i will show you an other prove that nazism has nothing to do with norse paganism. Sure they used the rune equivalent to the letter "S" in their special assault forces the SS, and the nee-nazi people use the rune Othila equivalent to the letter "O" , a rune that symbolizes nobility and kingship, a rune of power and connected to Odin, also the swastika, as i told before, it is a very old symbol, as old as mankind, the smbolizes the sun and the ligh in shamanism and in may cultures through the centuries. But that's it, neo-nazis mistake the old symbols of the norse paganism, with this political strand, because the commander and very faithful political "adherent" of Hitler's party, Heinrich Himmler, was very interested in the occult, and was inspired by the old ways and old costumes. So the Nazis did not worship any pagan god, in fact, hitler was very much christian, but suffice to say and it is more correct to declare that the chief deity in nazi germany was not Odin, but Adolf Hitler himself.


Lets see the following passage that shows Hitler's Opinion very clear:


"What nonsense! Here we have at last reached an age that has left all mysticism behind, and now he [Himmler] wants to start it all over again. We might just as well have strayed in the church. At least it had tradition . . . . Isn't it enough that the Romans were erecting great buildings when our forefathers were still living in mud huts; now himmler is starting to dig up these villages of mud huts and enthusing over every potsherd and stone axe he finds. All we prove by that is that we were still throwing stone hatchets and crounching around open fires when Greece and Rome had already reached the highest stage of culture. We really should do our best to keep quiet about this past."


(reported by Speet 1970)


In fact nazi decoration and architecture make it clear that Hitler's greatest inspiration was not ancient germanic culture and scandinavian beliefs, but Imperial Rome.

Few talk about this but, those pagan germans who did not supported the Nazis, went to the concentration camps with the rest of the "misfits".

There is no relation between then Heathen spirit and Norse pagan Beliefs, with the Political Strand of the Nazi party and the neo-nazis of today. If people think otherwise, they are ignorant, and if neo-nazi think of it as well, its even worse, and they are more ignorant, because they haven't study their history well enough, and know nothing about their own political beliefs. There can't be a mixture such as this.

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