- Spiritual Concepts

- The Mythic Universe

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asaman at
destinyslobster.com

Basic Ideas about the Universe...

The underlying divinity of Ørlog expresses itself to us in the forms of the Gods, Goddesses and other beings. Just as in other faiths, our myths serve us as a means of stating religious truths. Most of us do not accept them as literal, historical fact. They are a vehicle for better understanding of reality, ourselves and our place in the universe. They are a code. As one writer put it, "the mysterious "language" through which the divine reality speaks to us."

This is most evident in our creation myths, which describe the beginning of the universe as the unfolding of a natural process, rather than an event requiring supernatural intervention.

Our Creation Story

A poem Voluspa (The Prophecy of the Seeress) contains one version of the creation of the universe. Between Muspelheim (the land of fire) and Niflheim (the land of ice) was an empty space called Ginnungigap. The fire and ice moved towards each other; when they collided, the universe came into being. One of the first primordeal beings was a great Jotun known as Ymir. Three brothers, Odin, Vili and Ve, were the first Gods. It was they who slew Ymir. They then used his body to create order from chaos, which he essentially represents.

Humanity is literally descended from the Gods. The three brothers (though principally Odin) created the first man and woman from two trees and gave them the names Ask and Embla. One deity, Rig (or Heimdhal) later visited the earth and established the social orders among men.

Even after all this hard work and history, a bit of chaos still remains in the world, usually personified as the surviving offspring of Ymir, the race of Giants. This allows for a random factor -- a catalyst for change and growth as Ørlog unfolds over time.

Thus, Asatruar see the universe in historical, evolutionary terms - the process of life in a linear as well as a cycular motion. Not even the Gods are all-powerful or all-knowing, so perfection is neither required nor expected. We are all learning and growing continually. Thus, Asatruar are not tied to the past (unless they choose to be) and can accept things like "progress" and science more easily than some other religions.


For me, one of the best views of this comes from a Heathen friend, Denise Bowen, who wrote:

I have been trying to get a grip on the arguments between evolutionists and intelligent design advocates (who I believe are creationists attempting to sneak their theology into schools by calling it science.)

If I say that I believe that Odin and his brothers created and ordered the earth from Ymirs body and
that they created people from trees, then I am admitting to believing in intelligent design.

If I believe that the Norse creation myth is literal truth then I am saying that no other creation myths can be. There is one earth and therefore only one creation account can be literal truth.

So, I have to say that I do not take any creation myth to be the literal truth and that I do not believe in intelligent design. I do not think Jehovah did it and I do not think Odin and his brothers did it.

I think it happened on it own, big bang style and then just developed from there.I suppose I am an agnostic and operating according to some sort of whacked out version of Pascal's wager, I still cling to my heathen gods.

Pascal made the point that if you worship "God" and he doesn't exist then 'no harm no foul'. However, if you do not worship him and he does exist then you end up burning in Hell; so it's best to worship him, just in case. That seems to me to be accepting a religious truth out of fear. I do not fear the Christian Hell, or any Hell or Hel. The idea of eternal damnation and suffering is completely inconceivable to me. I just can not take it seriously. And because I believe so strongly in the great age of the earth and the science that proves it, I know for a fact that there was a point in time when the Christian God had not existed. If didn't always exist, then neither did this Hell that people fear. People may argue that it always existed, but they can not prove it. On the other hand, we have archeological and anthropological evidence of the worship of other Gods long before the God who created the fiery pits of Hell was even a twinkle in his high priests eye. I knew this when I was 14 year old. I still haven't found any evidence to change my mind.

So Pascal's wager is ridiculous, in my opinion. Although, as I said, I still cling to my Heathen Gods. My reasoning is that if we can not prove the existence of any God or Gods, then as long as it doesn't turn me into a nonsensical raving asshat, I may as well pick a pantheon and some practices I like and use them as a means to facilitate communion between myself and the natural world that I do in fact worship and live in absolute awe of.

I have a sneaking suspicion that one point in time, a very long long lime ago...Religion and Science were the same. People sought to understand the rules of nature and learn how to use this knowledge to better their lives. The split began with the anthropomorphication of natural laws and phenomena and grew wider from there until finally they were no longer two sides of the same coin, but in opposition to eachother. As a human who tries to be rational, I choose scientific truth over religious truth 100% of the time. Since science has yet to prove the non-existance of Gods, I am free to exploit that fact and run around in the woods worshiping pagan idols and anthropomophicating my Earthy crunchy nature loving tree hugging dirt worshiping heart out. So, I do.

Thousands of years ago our human ancestors looked to the natural world to find answers to not just the "hows" but also the "whys" of life's big picture. What I love about the Norse creation myth is that it doesn't start out with a concious being. It starts out with imagry that seems more like science. My paraphrasing; There was potential ( ginungagap) there was energy ( muspelheim) and matter (nifleheim) or maybe it was a tendency to expand ( musphelheim) and contract ( nifleheim) , whatever they were, they were complimentary opposits and when they met potential, they became and life started. The only answer the Norse creation myth gives for why the universe exists is "because it obviously can and so it obviously does". This is probably the number one reason I continue to wear the title "Heathen".

I also am inspired by these words from one of the best Freyrsmen I know, Svan the Green...

My take on the creation.

When i read the voluspa and hear the verse form of the creation i feel like i am looking at a snap shot picture or drawing into a hall of the ancestors to a skald reciting to warriors and kings.

Then I stop....im here in my home in present day. Verthandi is abrubt. I quiet my mind and think outside of what i just read and imagined. I see the Skald listening to the farmers and the sailors, the weavers and the brewers and families as they tell their perception of the events. Or they say as they were taught to them. A millenia of words and song and voices all the way back to before the Roman sense of His-story, before civilizations, to the core of man and gods. The gods did not simply communicate to us in word for this alone would be too much like a seed of truth planted ( a tree?), a strand of truth in a rope entwined by heart and intellect and flesh.

Our stories, the story of creation, has come about out of the seed of the truth in us. At that beach , Old Oneye and his kin gave more than just life. Our stories are peceptions of our souls and the worlds around us. Every member of the folk with his own understanding, her own feelings passed down through generation after generation. As we tell it and our children tell it and so on and so on our truth begins to swell like an ocean! To point at one wave and say that it alone is the truth is to deny the inevitable power of the raging sea!

I was once told that the true holiness in casting the runes was in the random pulling of each lot. Each person that has told the story of the creation, Snorri, any skald, you or me, has always emphasized what it meant to us. As the story is told, a little bit of the truth is said by everyone. Randomly. From ear to mouth of every person the holiness, the living understanding of the stories, the truth comes out. We know more than we allow ourselves to say.

To me there is no coincidence that in the stories Sunna has two horses Arvak and Alsvid, and the earth has two horse riders Dag and Nott and that Mani only one horse. Out of all of these celestial bodies only the moon doesn't rotate on an axis. Through story an unknown truth is told.

So when i read the Prose Eddas i see what the writer wished to acomplish in his telling. I think Snorri ( at the behest of Old grey beard) was replanting a seed for a long dormant period. It is what i get from the story and how it is relived to the people i tell that makes it holy and true to me.

The spring in Niflheim , Hvergelmir ( Cosmic sound) brings forth the rivers that float into Ginnungagap ( space) and form Ymir ( cosmic proto matter/and the planets) Audhumla an ancient sentitant seed of divinity creates Buri. Ymir creates life on himself ( the early earth) then Bor and Bestla have Wodan Will and Ve that change earth ( slay Ymir) and create ( pehaps alter) man . We differ from animals because of our ability to acknowlege and change our wyrd And so the
story goes....

My take is that the truth will be released as long as the stories are told and that evey word and symbolic name alludes to a great wisdom that the gods have and are waiting for us to truely figure out.

The Nine Worlds of the World Tree The universe is seen in metaphor as a great living and growing ash tree called Yggdrasill; the world tree (sometimes called Hodmimir's wood). It is divided geographically into nine distinct parts: Asgard - Home of the Aesir. Helheim - The world of the dead where Hella enterains the virtuous dead in her hall. Jotunheim - Home of the Giants. Alfheim - Home of the Alfs (nature spirits and/or male ancestor spirits), the realm ruled by Freyr. Midgard - The land of Men, where we live. Muspellsheim - Southern land of fire guarded by the giant Surt. Niflheim - Land of freezing mist and darkness. Also where evil-doers are said to dwell in suffering. Svartalfheim - Home of the Dwarves. The earth. Vanaheim - Home of the Vanir.

Notable Mythic Places:

Alfheim - The land of the light elves in Asgard

Algron - Island where Odin (Harbard) stayed for five years

Bilskirnir - Thor's hall in Asgard

Birfrost - The flaming rainbow bridge between Asgard and Midgard

Breidablik - Balder's hall in Asgard

Elivagar - The eleven rivers that flow from the spring of Hvergelmir in Niflheim.

Eljudnir - Hel's hall in Nifleheim

Fensalir - Frigg's hall in Asgard

Folkvang - Site of Freyja's hall in Asgard

Franang's Falls - Waterfall in Midgard where Loki, disguised as a salmon, was caught by the gods.

Gimli - Hall of the gods after Ragnarok

Gladsheim - Sanctuary of the gods on the plain of Ida.

Glitnir - Silver and gold hall of Forseti, son of Balder, in Asgard.

Gnipahellir - Cave in front of Niflheim where the hound Garm is chained up.

Himinbjorg - Heimdall's hall in Asgard

Hlesey - Island near the undersea hall of Aegir and Ran.

Hlidskjalf - Odin's high thrown in Valaskjalf.

Hnitbjorg - Stronghold of the giant Suttung.

Hvergelmir - Spring in Niflheim under the root of Yggdrasill.

Idavoll - The central plain of Asgard. Contains the halls of Gladsheim and Vingolf.

Iving - River dividing Asgard from Jotunheim

Lyfjaberg - Mountain beside Menglad's hall in Jotunheim.

Lyngvi - Island on lake Armsvartnir where Fenrir is bound.

Lyr - Menglad's hall in Jotunheim

Mimir's Well - Well of wisdom under the root of Yggdrasill in Asgard which is guarded by the head of Mimir.

Nastrond - Site of the hall of evil-doers in Hel. The dragon Nidhogg knaws at corpses here.

Okolnir - Land of warmth created after Ragnarok. Site of the hall of Brimnir.

Sessrumnir - Freyja's hall in Asgard.

Sindri - Red gold roofed hall which will appear after Ragnarok.

Sokkvabekk - Saga's hall in Asgard.

Thrudheim - Thor's realm in Asgard and site of his hall Bilskirnir.

Thrymheim - Stronghold of the giant Thiazi which was passed on to his daughter Skadi.

Utgard - Realm in Jotunheim ruled by Utgard-Loki.

Valaskjalf - Odin's hall in Asgard.

Valhalla - Hall presided over by Odin where the Einherjar await Ragnarok.

Vigrid - Plain in Asgard where the final battle will occur.

Vingolf - Hall of the goddesses in Asgard.

Ydalir - Ull's hall in Asgard.