Veratyr's Precious Gift

Perspectives on Modern Heathenry:
Neo-paganism Considered in Relation to Reconstructionist Paganism; Asatru as an Ethnic Religious Tradition;
And a Discussion of Man’s Formation, Life, and Destiny as Recorded in the Eddas.


By Robin Artisson
Copyright © 2009 All Rights Reserved




I. When the Magic Fades

When the glamour of Neo-Pagan “magic” wears off, people are left to face all of life’s tough questions with whatever spiritual and philosophical resources they may have collected over time. From my perspective, and from many conversations with former Neo-pagan “religious” magicians, “calling quarters” and burning incense may satisfy a person’s need to feel wise or powerful (through the allure of magic) and it may satisfy a person’s need for ritual, fantasy, or wonder for a while- but it wears off.

When it wears off, people find themselves facing the same hard world that all generations of human beings past and present have faced. It is a world of countless challenging situations which call for strength and wisdom to navigate safely and well. It is a world in which people seek some form of stability to anchor their path through Fate’s many joys and sorrows. “Stability” comes for most people in the form of religious teachings or philosophical perspectives that inform their thoughts, words, and deeds. We all know what the blessings of such a stabilizing power can be: peace, faith, assurance, and freedom from anxiety. We also know what the curse can be: rigidity, closed-mindedness, and fanaticism.

Few people would try to deny the power held by the major institutionalized religions of our times. It does not matter if their claims are based on some objective “truth” out there; it doesn’t matter if their promises are based on anything legitimate. The fact of billions of men and women coming together to join their vital and spiritual forces together and expressing their unity through a specific symbolic language and standing behind a simple creed results in sheer power. That power plays a large role in affecting the destiny of this world, and it offers to each individual something most people come to want: a “place” where they belong, a way of living that results in peace, and a philosophy that (for them) satisfactorily answers life’s “big questions”.



“An It Harm None, Interpret As Thou Will?”

One of the things that Neo-pagan “magical” religions lack is the long-term ‘contending power’ of the mainstream religions, that basic strength that comes from ages of tradition. But their problems run deeper; some of these recent traditions, such as Wicca, attempt to address the religious needs of followers by offering rudimentary moral or philosophical “redes” such as “an it harm none, do as ye will”- but the shortcomings of such a simple statement are many, and its inability to stabilize people throughout a life-course is apparent, at least to me. Does “an it harm none” include you? Surely you, the believer in the rede, are someone, yes? Does that mean overeating isn’t allowed? That brings us to the next question- what qualifies as “harm?” Are (as many Wiccans believe) animals and plants “persons”? Can we really live without harming anyone or anything?

Is the entire meaning of the rede up to each individual? Such a freedom of interpretation is fine if only one person belongs to the religion, but when many become involved, non-stop argument and conflict will ensue. People claim that they can all “agree to disagree”, but such talk makes for poorly connected or supported religious communities. In my experience of my own friendships and those of many others, agreement on key, fundamental things is one of the main sources of true benevolent regard between people.

It seems to me that our activities, interests, motivations and ultimate goals in life are tied to our moral positions and deepest beliefs. As much as people may attempt to deny it, the best and truest friends are only ever found and kept in our shared activities, interests, motivations, and goals. Agreement on fundamental issues creates solidarity; knowing that others “have your back” (as they say) within the storm of life’s uncertainties allows people to truly “open up” to others. Few things are as cherished as the feeling that others really understand you, as well as a person can be understood. While I don’t think that ‘real friendship’ requires full agreement on every point of every issue, I have never encountered a lasting friendship or bond between people that wasn’t based on some sort of agreement on certain fundamental values.

Christians of all varieties have spent 1600 years fighting over the details of precisely what is morally acceptable and what is not in every conceivable situation based on their own scriptural writings, and they cannot come to a consensus that everyone accepts. But their efforts have at least given them some sense of cohesion, as well as many resources to study and (from their perspective) authoritative words to consider. Neo-Pagans, with their sheer allergy to any one person’s ideas being taken as authoritative, have no such benefits.

Whether it was Gardner’s “harm none” or Crowley’s “do what thou wilt”, these founding fathers of Neo-Paganism have not (in my opinion) given people a code that can endure the hardest of human times. Personally, I believe that these overly simple, subjective moral codes- which are radically personal and individualistic in approach and in function, will eventually leave most people dissatisfied.



“An it harm none” would do better if it offered a reason why “harming none” was so important. As things stand, mainstream Wicca only gives one hint of a possible reason: a further belief, culled from its eclectic annals, that “whatever a person sends out returns threefold”. Lovely! The only reason for not harming others would appear to be a selfish one! This is the ultimate failing in Wiccan (and by extension, most Neo-pagan) moral and ethical thinking: it is firmly self-centered. I don’t mean to insinuate that one must discard any sense of self-interest or preservation to be moral or wise; but on the other hand, refusing to consider that the construct that we call “self” may not be the unchanging ‘hard reality’ we have been trained and conditioned to believe it is keeps people within a very narrow range of moral and ethical thinking.

It is curious that Wicca should attempt to offer people “religious type” guidance at all; the “craft” of the wise surely was never meant to be (and historically was not) a religion in the sense that we know “religion” now. It was just that- a craft, a specific sorcerous field of activities with specific aims. It dwelled alongside Pagan religious culture; it was not itself religion, though it is true that in the earliest time, religion and sorcery were likely far more in overlap than we see them now.

At any rate, history shows us that (after a very early point) Pagan sorcery dwelled alongside the religious aspects of Pagan life; there was a difference. The most common Pagan religious ritual in the past- the ritual of sacrifice- had nothing to do with “calling quarters” or raising cones of power. Sacrifices certainly are sacred acts, but they are not “magical” in the sense that most people know it or mean it now. “Witches” today who call themselves “Pagan” by virtue of being witches alone are making (from the perspective of history) a strange statement. Perhaps this demonstrates the changing meaning of words; for me, it demonstrates the sad state of affairs that exists for modern Pagans in general.

In the Pagan world of Europe, religion was tied seamlessly into community life, and without Pagan communities (either then or today) the presence of Pagan religion is hard, if not impossible to find or experience. In this instance, genuine Paganism is no different from Christianity, Judaism, Islam, or Buddhism- a vital part of the religion is found in the people who believe in its worldview and ideals, and who interact with one another, and perpetuate it.



Unfortunate Associations

The terms “Wiccan” “witch”, “craft” and many other odd ideas fly about now, getting conflated this way and that with this idea or that, all based on the changing needs of mostly young men and women who are dissatisfied with the mainstream religions that surround them. They hurry to disassociate themselves with the mainstreamers, and to be clear, I can’t blame them. It is not their impulse to disassociate that is their downfall; it is their choice to associate with shallow semi-formal institutions that are only based on the writings of occultists from the last century or so, and to attempt to forge powerful religious traditions out of things that were no more than personal, local dramas even in their own time.

There can be no doubt that Neo-Paganism in Gardner or Crowley’s time had some genuine spiritual impulses behind it, but they were impulses that were found in the hearts and souls of these luminary founding figures, and which were tied to the political and social realities of their times. The animating force behind these impulses does not seem to have traveled well into our times.

But what has traveled into our times is people’s need for tradition and authority, and people have greedily snatched up the words of these occultists, seeking a certain sort of authority in them, and modeling their own practices after these men’s practices- hoping to find a satisfying life-path in the rituals and writings. The vast majority of “new Pagans” were once Christians- and they (normally unconsciously) bring Christian expectations to their new religions. There is a tragedy here in the making.

Gardner and Crowley and all their ilk did what they needed to do, to find their own personal peace. There is no doubt that their work inspired many to find the courage to break with mainstream religious traditions, and led to a rebirth of a new sort of Paganism today- and in that sense, they were very important men, who are owed a debt of thanks.

Crowley (genius though he was in other ways) sadly tried to style himself as some sort of messiah and prophet, but the jury of history has begun to show its verdict: the followers of any of these men in this day are never going to be “mainstream”- they are never going to have the sort of internal or social stability that their Catholic or Buddhist neighbors enjoy. They will forever be on the outside, where people make strange faces at them and expect them to explain what their religion is when it comes up in conversation that they are “Wiccan” or “Thelemite” or what have you.

Some very young people (and a sad minority of older people) enjoy the scandal and the privilege of being the stranger with the outsider religion. They may never get tired of being the spiritual rebel; most atheists and agnostics get a similar rush and a similar pleasure at feeling intellectually superior to the superstitious masses due to their non-mainstream affiliations. But for those who don’t like shock religion, what of them?



Does being “Pagan” today mean that all a person can expect is “magic” and “ceremonies” that come from medieval Christian grimoires and “books of shadows”, and a diffuse range of diverse ideas that leave a person to decide the real meanings for themselves? Does it mean having to swallow regurgitated new-age “cabala” and dress in robes? I don’t think healthy personal freedoms or perspectives of any kind are bad things, but there is a downside to the radical “believe what you like” religions: when hard times come, when spiritually challenging times come, people have to use what they can access from within their own limited perspectives as resources for overcoming challenges.

For most, that is not enough. They tend to default back to the organized and mainstream religions of their past, searching for the strength they offer- and again, they do offer a form of strength, regardless of whether or not they offer real truth. One benefit of any legitimate religious tradition is its ability to offer people trans-personal resources upon which to build a house of happiness and to find the fearless freedom to live well. When one lays all the theological debates and charges of inaccuracy aside, organized religions do offer solidarity with many other people as a transpersonal resource- a real strength.

Those whose egos may be strong enough usually can muddle through life’s hardships on their own lights, but those very same types tend to get quite involved with their own self-worship after a while, and go on to become the most embarrassing features of Neo-Pagan religions, especially after they go public. Pagan religions in the past were never about self-worship; they were about due honor given to Gods and the well-being of communities.

It seems to me that a “middle way” is needed. Beyond my idea that one is needed, I think that one has always existed. I do not think that people should be forced to make a choice between the “hard orthodoxy” religions on one hand, and the “believe whatever you like” religions on the other.




II. The Path of Reconstructionism

A genuine “new Paganism” is possible along with the benefits of historical tradition. These benefits do not include “scriptures straight from the Gods”, but they do include recordings of things that we know the Pagan ancestors thought, and things we know they did. These sorts of things offer us a grounding in real history, and the legitimizing power of authentic tradition; they offer us a starting point for our own religious thinking, a means to “try on” some older material, and to see how we can resurrect it in a healthy, honest way in line with the needs of our times- just as our ancestors would have if their cultures had been allowed to persist into the present day in an unbroken chain.

Thus, the field of “reconstructionist” Paganism yields its good things for the modern Pagans of this world; it has gifts for us that other forms of Paganism do not have, but like everything else, it too has dangers. The danger is just as I said before- even recons may find themselves falling “one way or the other”- towards some notion of “hard orthodoxy” based on Hesiod or the Eddas or what have you; or towards the radical “believe whatever you want” stance. If either of these things occurs, disasters follow, as I have seen personally.



Thinking For Yourself

Some people reading this article may question whether or not I fear “thinking for myself”, or view my previous criticisms of modern “do it yourself” traditions as my own unresolved need for orthodoxy. Their questions would be fair and deserve answers. I enjoy the privilege of thinking for myself, and I do not believe we all need hierarchical religious institutions to tell us what to think.

However, I also do not believe that each of us “stands alone” in life, either in this world or in any other. I don’t think that some belief I just come up with off the top of my head- inspired by my egoistic needs of the moment- is superior to my own considered thoughts, honest feelings, and clear intuitions mingled with the deep and helpful perspectives of others who came before me. I am a co-explorer and co-creator with many generations of humankind, not just a man walking life’s paths by himself.

What the ancestors believed is important to know and to integrate into our own thinking, because they were very wise people who had connections to vital spiritual powers that can still help us today. Thus, a need for some form of tradition to co-create with us our modern perspectives is very desirable, in my opinion.

This is no excuse to dump our own needs or the needs of our world and revert back, full cow, to the “old ways” precisely as they were; even the ancestors of the past didn’t do everything exactly as their ancestors had- they adapted to the needs of their day. But there is a call which I feel to honor the ancestors by admitting that their wisdom was real and profound, and trying to fit my thinking into the same stream of wisdom that they had, as best I can.

The ancestors (to make an example) believed strongly that the land itself was full of spiritual powers- land wights- and that these wights had to be honored and given sacrifices. There was a spiritual-ecological bond between people and the land they lived upon, expressed in these spiritual terms, and enacted through cultural religious practices. To be what I am- a modern Pagan of an ancestral tradition- means that I cannot ignore the presence of these land wights that my ancestors found so important. I am not free to “choose to believe” that the land wights don’t exist; no person of my traditional perspective can do that, because by so doing, they leave the ancestral stream of wisdom and become something else entirely.



To say the land wights do not exist is to call the ancestors liars or fools- or both. Ancestral respect is paramount to me. I do not have to worship the land wights in precisely the same way, or even visualize them as my ancestors did, necessarily- but I have to integrate this wisdom into my own life. This is the middle ground between the historical tradition and my own freedom as a person. My ancestors didn’t think the world was flat, but if they had, what then? Does this mean that my modern belief in the round earth would be calling them fools or liars?

We have made quite a leap from belief in some preternatural entity or entities to different views of the nature of the planet, but an important issue still remains. If my ancestors had believed in a flat world, and if they had later discovered it was round, I have no doubt they would have revised their view, just as modern Jews and Christians have done- after all, their Bible presents our world as flat, with a dome of sky over it which holds back huge stores of water up there.

That I personally would do what I know my ancestors would have done is no shame at all, nor any insult to them. The essence of the ancestral faith is not found in ancient, symbolic expressions or perspectives on the nature of the earth, even though those things still have a lot to teach us; the essence is found in the stories of the protectiveness, wisdom, and creativity of the Gods and on the powerful gifts that the Gods gave to man, and what our responsibilities with these gifts are.

My ancestors believed in many Gods- true polytheism- not some monotheistic notion of “all Gods being one”. I cannot call myself a member of my own tradition and say that all my Gods are really one. The Gods are the Gods, and this position is every bit as philosophically defendable and stable as any other theistic tradition, despite centuries of monotheistic insistence that polytheism simply “makes no sense”. By the time you have one God, you can easily have a hundred or a thousand. There is no “more sense” one way or the other, though polytheism certainly has (from my perspective) a more naturalistic logic- if we can have more than one blade of grass in a field, more than one tree in a forest, more than one star in the sky, and more than one man or woman in existence, it seems no stretch to think that we can have many Gods. Nature doesn’t seem to shape anything in batches of “one”.

Early Christians insisted that the world couldn’t be the product of many Gods working together on account of the fact that it would be confusing and the Gods would conflict- but in reality, everything humans have ever built- tribes, cities, nations, works of art, technology- has been the product of many people all working together and working through conflicts. It makes perfect sense that the universe could be the product of many Gods and Goddesses, or of many sentient beings all working together. If there were conflicts between these beings, then the strongest and most able or advantaged would overcome, just as in the human world, and things would continue on.




Asatru and Ethnic Traditions

Asatru, my personal reconstructionist Pagan path, has many reasons to be proud. It was and is the grandparent of other European Pagan reconstructionist paths; it has a distinguished tradition of wisely reconstructing and reclaiming the Pagan roots and soul of pre-Christian Europe, in ways that modern men and women can relate to. Never is the spirit of the ancestral tradition dishonored or set aside; I firmly believe that Asatru is as close as a person can get these days to what the ancestors were doing and thinking- and had the 1000 year long period of interregnum not happened, I think that the ancestral faith would still appear today a lot like Asatru looks now.

The roots of Asatru are both historical and cultural: it was not the brainchild of some occultist or group of occultists, but an organic reclaiming of a folk-way on the parts of simple, wise people living in lands that were once Heathen. It was a re-blossoming of the same religious and communal impulses that created the original Heathen religion. The people who stood behind this rebirth didn’t write piles of books and become tabloid famous; they were not scandalous or strange. They were farmers, herders, poets, singers, fathers, mothers, soldiers, scholars, and folk like you or me.

Asatru today is often lumped into the “Neo-pagan” pile, but as far as I am concerned, it does not belong there. It is an ethnic religion, the native ethnic religion of Northern Europe- its practices and beliefs have precedents in very old sources, in the precise same way that Jewish practices and beliefs have precedents in their old written sources. Ethnic religions typically have many similarities: comparisons can be invited. Asatru and Judaism (for instance) have many similarities- both are minority religions, wherever they are found; both are quite focused on the importance of ancestry and honoring the wisdom and deeds of ancestors, and of being loyal to ancestral cultural traditions. Both are ethnic faiths, which do not tend to seek converts; both are culturally encapsulated; and both have a history of persecution by mainstream faiths.

Jewish Rabbis are not “priests” in the same way that the Catholic church understands the notion of “priest”; just so, Asatru Godis or Gydjas are not “priests” either, but local people who study the ancestral lore more closely than others, and who are chosen or elected to perform sacrifices on behalf of a group. In just the same way that a Rabbi is not believed to be “needed” by a Jew to have a direct relationship with their God, a Godi is not needed for Asatruar to make sacrifices, fainings or prayers.

Asatru, like Judaism, has its main “headquarters” and worship location in the family home, among family members. Like the Jewish faith, Asatruar know- thanks to their lore- that their ancestors once had living relationships with their Gods, bonds of kinship and loyalty that still bind us today, if we will accept them and restore them in our consideration. There is a spiritual and even genetic connection between the Gods and the People, a sacred thing that makes us all kin to the Gods, and puts us in a position with certain responsibilities to them and each other.



Asatru is a living tradition that goes back far beyond the 1950’s or the 1890’s. It may have been recognized by the Icelandic government in the 1970’s, but it was present in the heart of Europeans, and present in their local customs and beliefs, for much longer- one might say since the beginning of European “culture” as a whole.

Asatru’s “organization” today isn’t really organization, nor is it a lack of it- it straddles what I consider “the middle way” between orthodoxy and radical individualist diffusion. It is a real tradition with shared ideals, Gods, and general models of practice; it is a religion with certain key features of worldview that you will find in the heart of any of its adherents anywhere, but without a hint of the compulsion towards mind-control or fear found in other faiths. It has no “central body” of authority- again, like the Jewish religion- yet many local groups maintain a sort of cohesion and carry on the ancestrally modeled practices.

Jews do not have the same sort of notion that Christians have that “God” is intimately involved in every detail of their lives; in fact, a Jew is not even required to love or even like their God; (“Israel” literally means “struggled with God”) but they are expected to keep the traditions, and in so doing- in that piety, that adherence to their law- they are considered “righteous”.

Asatruar now, as in the past, also do not think that the “main” Gods of the ancestral pantheon are intimately involved in everyday life, and thus, so long as a person offers them due sacrifices in accordance with the customs of their local kindreds, Asatruar may privately keep whatever opinion of the Gods they like. The Gods are busy running the universe and protecting the world order; they aren’t regularly stopping by everyone’s home to tell everyone how to live their lives or help them with banal little problems like getting along with their co-workers or fixing their love lives.

In the same way Jews still venerate their own traditional homeland and hold as sacred the site of their own main historical temple, Asatruar tend to look upon Germany, England, and Scandinavia with a similar religious awe, and venerate the sites of great historical temples, such as the temple at Uppsala in Sweden. There is no “one way” to become Asatruar, and yet, people do not tend to “get into” it without serious consideration, long study, and (usually) formal recognition by some group or body of Asatruar, even if just a local group.

Ethnic religions are not normally evangelical; like the Jews, Asatruar do not usually “seek converts”- it is believed by most that those who are Fatefully born with the proper developmental and spiritual disposition will seek out Asatru and the ancient ways of their ancestors.




III. The Bedrock of our Tradition’s Blessings: Heathen Cosmology and Anthropology

From top to bottom, Asatru and the other cousin reconstructionist Pagan religions that have sprung up since it offer modern Pagans something that “cast the circle” Neo-paganisms and “crafts” don’t offer- a grounding in historical cultural tradition, and ancestral advice and guidance for the many paths people take through life. This is an important point, and the real reason for my writing of this article.

I wish to discuss Heathen anthropology from the perspective of ancestral lore- in this case, the Poetic Edda. “Heathen anthropology” here refers to an ancestral perspective on what precisely goes into the constitution of the mystery of human beings, and what role the Gods played in the shaping of mankind and the destiny of mankind. Such perspectives are vital to the moral life of every Heathen, because these types of stories establish many things of cosmological and moral importance: the relationship of Gods to humans, the deeper, sacred truth about human beings, and the spiritual reality of human interaction with the world and with other beings- and what impact it has on us, both in this life and beyond the boundaries of this life-experience.

This sort of philosophical thinking offers us many rich resources for living life; it puts the many situations of life into a moral and religious context that offers guidance. It offers us a sense of “place” and a sense that our experiences are meaningful to our present and to our future, just as meaningful events in the past gave birth to this poignant present. In addition, it offers what purely modern “patchwork” Neo-pagan faiths cannot offer: resources that connect us to sentient forces that pre-existed us and still exist; resources that connect us to historical ancestral wisdom, and resources that connect us in our own unique way to the common fund of human religious wisdom throughout the ages.

When I say “common fund of human religious wisdom”, I am not trying to insinuate that there is “one great truth” that all religions somehow channel. Religion is too tied up with culture and the uniqueness of culture to make such a claim; but it is still true that humans from all over the globe, over thousands of years of cultural history, managed to arrive at some similar conclusions about the importance of how we live and the things we do in our lives.



“Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Flaw”

One thing you won’t find in any cultural religious tradition- ancient or modern- is an idea that “doing what thou wilt” is a good thing. This is because when you take all the particularly religious dressing off of it, we human beings are all tied together in the web of Wyrd or the web of causality and mutual relationship- what we do affects not just ourselves, but other people and beings, as well. We also affect the land and sky itself. We cannot “do whatever we like”- we must “do” whatever we do with wisdom and consideration for the larger picture.

No culture has ever allowed sheer moral and ethical anarchy, and the placement of restrictions on human behavior was never born in some innate wickedness that comes with social systems; it was about (among other things) survival and the good of all, born in the most primordial wisdom of interconnection and interactionism.

Crowley’s “do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law” is, admittedly, a touch more complex than simple anarchic impulse- for the “will” he is expecting people to find is a “higher will” than the simple ego. But the problem begins when one realizes (or is finally forced to admit) that the average occult-inclined follower of a philosophy like Crowley’s Thelema is no more capable of discerning such a subtle thing as the “higher will” than the average person- what sage guidance did he pass down to others to help people entangled in these searching quests? What philosophical “fail safes” did Crowley put in place to shield people or this world from the tragedies that are bound to occur when his followers fail to discern the difference between the compulsions of ego and the transpersonal force of guidance? None that I have seen.

Once a person actually attains the PhD in cryptology that is required to unravel Crowley’s extensive writings, one finds that his “supreme ideals” had nothing to do with morality in any usual sense of the word; they had more to do with bizarre word games which (perhaps) were intended to lead people to mistake complexity for profundity.



Why did Crowley go further, in his commentary to the “Book of the Law”, to do away with any hint of ethics or the moral principle in connection with “higher will”? He says, in that commentary:

“There are no "standards of Right". Ethics is balderdash. Each Star must go on its own orbit. To hell with "moral principle"; there is no such thing.”


Societies have long established basic boundaries of moral and ethical behavior for those within the society- boundaries that forbid murder, theft, rape, fraud, and the like. Some people look at these rules from a materialistic perspective and assume that they were put in place for survival only, or to serve the interests of power brokers within the society- but could there be more to it? Is there something to acting with reason, compassion, and selfless attitudes towards others in one’s society that goes beyond survival?

I believe that there is; I believe that acting in line with reason, courage, honor, veracity, and mercy are more than evolutions of basic survival-pragmatism within one’s society. I believe that these things are reflections of the very highest moral truth about humans, the Gods, and the entire weave of reality itself. I believe, as the Gods have demonstrated and the ancestors believed, that the universe works in a certain way, and that right human moral interaction places humans on a path that moves with the universe’s unfolding, and not against it.

I believe that acting in accord with the moral principles of Rta or the universal law of “right action” fills the human being- on all its levels- with the luminous power of the divine and increases the spiritual power and luck-force of a man or woman, and that such an increase leads to a greater destiny in this life and beyond.

Conversely, I believe that acting against these principles alienates the various levels of the human being from the divine reality, obscures the mind’s higher capacities, and leads to a dim destiny both here and beyond. I see a clear connection between realizing high levels of virtues in living and ascension into states of greatness and glory, and a clear connection between ignorance of virtue and the descent into states of dullness and darkness.

I further believe that acting within the boundaries of virtue or vice greatly increases or decreases the luck-forth and essential power of the group in which an individual is positioned, and likewise, it increases or decreases the very power of the world at large. The fact that we are all connected so, to every other being and every other thing, leads me to this conclusion. Virtuous action is always a benefit to a person, to a group, and to the world.

And these conclusions of mine are not mine alone; all human societies have become cognizant of them in some form or fashion; and best of all, I have the lore of my Heathen ancestors, captured in the Poetic Edda and other places, to bolster my belief. Naturally, there are many other faiths in this world that would bolster these beliefs of mine. Using different language, many other religions, from Christianity to Hinduism and Buddhism, believe along similar lines.

Do I need my beliefs “bolstered” in such a way? Does anyone? Perhaps not, but I wouldn’t trade the fact that historical groups of people- both my people and others- have lived in line with these ideas. I feel connected to the larger web of human religious impulses, and with that feeling, I find a certain peace. I find a certainty that goes beyond just my own personal feelings on the matter. I feel situated within a larger context of human spiritual experience- the very feeling of “situation” and stability that people seek today in many ways.

This is not a matter of “seeking validation” or justification; it is a matter of taking one’s place within the searching, moral spirit of mankind, in whatever place one feels called to take it. The moral spirit of humankind is an immense, infinite territory; those who have attempted to limit it in the name of promulgating one religious tradition over another are guilty of the greatest of deceptions. For me, my spiritual and moral home is outside of (what I consider) the unduly restrictive and over-politicized boundaries of organized religion, and within the boundaries of the organic religious tradition of Asatru, and kindred philosophies.




The Lord of Men and All Beings: Notes on Cosmology

What does the elder tradition say about the nature of man? It says much, and it begins at the shaping of mankind- the shaping of man and woman- and it tells us what different parts or powers were brought together in a mighty act of Godly creativity on the part of the Allfather and his two brothers to bring forth the first human beings.

Allfather Odhinn has many names; one of his names, given in both Gylfaginning and Óðins nöfn, is Veratyr- which means “God of All Beings” or, in another usage, “Lord of Men”. I chose that name for this essay because it brings together (in its various translations) two important things about the Allfather- his role as the creative genius behind the formation of human beings, as well as the “God of Beings”- the supreme God of all sentient powers. He is such a God because he is a master of the secrets of consciousness- and many beings besides human beings can be described as accessing various reaches of consciousness throughout their existence in the nine worlds.

Odhinn’s creativity is Godly, for he is the wisest of all beings and the vastest in cunning and resourcefulness. There are no words to encapsulate for mortal minds the sheer power of his Godly creativity, or that of his brothers, but it is enough to know that the ancestors rightly credited him with not only the shaping of humanity, but of the entire system of the world. All other creatures that share our world, as well as creatures and beings that dwell in many others had their formative origin from Odhinn’s mastery of creative power and inspiration.

Odhinn is clearly the “Logos” of the Heathen faith- the creative word of shaping, the word of creativity that brings all things to be out of the formative, wild chaos of the world-dawn; however, Odhinn is no “creator”- for the ancient Heathens did not believe that “something came from nothing”. Nature’s raw forces and the roots of sentient life had no “creator”- they were always here- but worlds and many beings that were comprised of those forces and materials certainly had shapers, or powers that brought them to their order of existence.

Nature was believed by the ancients to be uncreated, and perpetually, eternally existing through its many cycles of apparent change and regeneration. The Gods appear within the web of Wyrd, or within the web of Reality (call it “nature” if you like) and they act creatively upon the natural, sacred materials and powers and processes they encounter. They move the formation of the universe forward, and protect the work of their own hands.

This is a very profound thought, and one that people have become distant from since the introduction of the common belief that once there was “nothing” and then a creator God (who somehow existed while nothing else did, which kind of shoots the whole “nothing existed” thing in the foot) made everything out of his own will. But if one looks back before the Judeo-Christian tradition with its strange “creatio ex nihilo” idea, one sees that Indo-European Pagans always believed (and modern Hindus and Buddhists still do believe) that the Universe or Nature had no “beginning” and will have no “end”- even the Gods are themselves born from the bornless and deathless forces of nature or reality.



The universe cycles eternally; as the world-order comes into an early stage, the Gods come into being and begin their work on further shaping the universe, almost as if they spring from the universe as pure expressions of the creativity of the universal cycle. Though it is tempting to see them in this way, do not forget that such language is not intended to downplay the reality of their full personhood as well as Godhood- they are not just impersonal universal forces, but full persons in their own vast right. And the universal conditions they influenced and shaped, which aided other conscious beings in their own arising, and the entire range of worlds they helped to shape- the entirety of this ordered universe- is their “great work”- a work that conscious beings like humans, who share in a gift of Godly creativity, can take part in through their own mortal creativity and nobility.

Any sentient being- regardless of when or how it came to its full presence in the present universe- can wield creativity and consciousness, if the conditions for it are right. Any act of creativity on their part, no matter how large or small, is, in a way, an expression of this universe’s creativity. That is one perspective on how the web of Wyrd works. All is Wyrd in expression, in combination, in operation. However, this does not destroy the essential personhood of beings. And it leads us to the conclusion that the Gods are mighty shapers, mighty in artifice and creativity, but they do not create “something out of nothing”- no being does.

Another interesting perspective is implicit in this sort of thinking: if we believe that nothing can exist without arising from a cause of a similar nature (and indeed, this logic is undefeatable, even from simple observation of nature around us) then the fact that consciousness or sentience exists at all is proof that somehow, the larger system from which it arises is likewise conscious or sentient, though perhaps on a “larger” or “higher” scale (to use a common phrase).

The fact that thought and reason exists within the Gods and humanity is evidence- at least for myself and other people who share my perspectives- that the universe or the interactional reality of Wyrd in its totality is not merely blind substance which mechanically operates, but a living, intelligent system. I will discuss the implications of this further when I discuss the gifts of the Gods to man, but for now, it is enough to point out this conclusion.

This conclusion leads us to see creativity and even moral force not as mere side-products of the universal processes, but as something essential to the reality of the Wyrd-cosmos on the highest level, and expressed on many other levels. The world can be understood as material; that is one perspective; but it can just as easily be understood as intellectual or moral.

It is my belief that the trinity of Fate-Weavers or Wyrd-Weavers called the Norns, and chiefly Urd, the foremost of the Norns, is the Heathen mythical expression of this very mystery- of the intelligence or intelligences that are beyond even the Gods, the greatest and most mysterious power or powers which weave the entire universe and bring all things to their formation and conclusion. Odhinn and the Gods are intellectual, sentient, reasonable, and self-willed beings; they could not be so if the background matrix of forces and powers that they themselves arose from were not also, in some manner.



It so happens that the Gods- chiefly Odhinn, the God of consciousness and creativity- occupy a “space” between the human mind at its current level of general development and the vast gulf of the totality of Wyrd and the Universe’s great mysteries; the Gods are the nearest that the human mind can come to understanding consciousness, sentience, and creativity at such a high level. Thus, the Gods (Odhinn especially) are truly mediators between human beings and other sentient beings, and the great supreme sources and origins of consciousness and sentience, embodied by the Fate-weaver or the Fates/Norns, and depicted in an anthropomorphized form as the Fates, and in a non-personal form as the web of Wyrd or the interactive and timeless universe itself.

The highest mystery of “being” is found in the universe; the universe gives rise to other beings, other sentient forces, and so it must in some manner be a “being” of its own, or sentient in some mysterious manner, at least in my present speculation on these recondite matters. In mainstream Christianity, this “ultimate source” often becomes singularly focused on in terms of a “God” beyond description, with Jesus acting as the mediator between God and man, the revealer or mediator through whom the ultimate can be known. In Heathenry, it is Odhinn chiefly, but the other Gods in their own way, who make the ultimate nature of things known to us by their actions, their moral behavior, their teachings, their advice, their emotional adventures, and their creativity. It is they who offer “rede” or advice and guidance to mankind, and who help us to be more like them, sharing consciously in the mystery of eternal being.

Of course, with the exception of the “chief Norn” Urd (whom Viktor Rydberg elegantly proves was and is the original Goddess of death and the land of the dead) the Norns are not really a part of the devotional, ritual aspect of the mainstream Heathen religions, either now or in the past; they remain on their own “level” so to speak, leaving humans to deal with the Gods for the majority of their religious lives. And it is right that we should; it is the Gods that are actively, directly involved with the human world in the capacity of protectors and helpers. The Norns are aloof, mysterious beings, but their presence in the lore is just as important. By weaving the Wyrd of human beings and all other beings, they remind us that we do not live lives of accident or lacking in purpose; all beings have a destiny and discovering that destiny- and facing it bravely- is the single and greatest goal of any life.

I always find it a very soothing and comforting perspective that human life (aside from its origins in the earth and the energy of the sun and wind and water) is also rooted in an act of divine creativity. Such a statement brings together the nobility of our elemental bodies with the nobility of something even more subtle and beautiful- and it brings to an end all of the tired debates about human origins. Some would have it that we simply crawled out of the primordial muck following blind chance; others would have it that we were Godly creations first and foremost.

The ancient Heathen tradition held a position that unites these perspectives- to be human is to have a heritage from the earth and water of the world and many powers that we call “natural forces”, and also from Godly, sentient forces, and their conscious acts of creativity and wisdom. There is no “ruling out” one side or the other; both sides are crucial if one would truly understand a human being.




A Heathen Anthropology

Viktor Rydberg, in chapter 95 of his excellent and essential work Teutonic Mythology, gives a detailed discussion of the anthropology of the Eddas. I will use that resource-filled chapter to inform my final discussion in this essay- a discussion on the specific aspects of the human being and what the myths tell us about those aspects or parts.

Veratyr, the creative, shaping God, Lord of men and all beings, is the most important God to the ancestral faith for many reasons, and in the “creation myth” of Voluspa (though it is more accurately called a “shaping myth”) Veratyr and his two brothers subdue the primal, chaotic powers that first existed, and from the subdued “body” of the primal mass of universal material- the giant Ymir- they shape the world. Ymir’s flesh becomes the earth, his blood the seas and waters, and so forth.

Human beings are recounted as being shaped from the natural organic materials growing from the new earth and waters. To the “materials” are added Godly gifts from Odin and his brothers, resulting in human beings having six distinct “portions”.

I must make a note here at the beginning of this presentation of Heathen anthropology, in the same manner as Rydberg, and point out something crucial about the differences between Heathen thinking on the human being and Christian thinking. At no time did the Heathen think of man as a being comprised of “two” substances- a perishable body and an imperishable soul. The entire concept of “likamr ok sala”- body and soul- came with Christianity, and even the word for “soul”- “sala” or “sal”- is an imported word. Rydberg points out that in Old Norse literature, the word only occurs for the first time in an account of a contemporary of Olaf Trygveson’s, after he had been converted to Christianity. The word “Sal” or “Sala” (Saiwala) is of Teutonic origin; but it was used to conform with the Christian/Neo-platonic ideal of “soul”, or the Platonic trinity of “body, soul, and spirit”.

Another point that must be made (again, following Rydberg) is that the Heathens did not have a “hard division” in their thinking between two substances called “matter” and “mind”. From their perspective, drawing as best we can upon their linguistic usages, all things were material- whether tangible or intangible, visible or invisible. The imperishable factors of each human (or any other being) were still themselves material of a kind- and “a force could not be conceived which was not bound to matter, or expressed itself in matter, or was matter.”

This is an important point; it goes along with modern scientific notions that everything must be a formation of some energetic substance or quantum physical reality. Even the mystical and intangible things that we (today) hurry to write off into the “immaterial” realm can be conceived as some form of matter- albeit subtle enough (in some cases) to defy ordinary observation or measurement. In a sense, this makes the ancestors- in common with certain other ancient thinkers- materialists of a type! But this should not be confused with the more pejorative modern connotations of “materialist”.

Rydberg finalizes his cautionary notes by saying:

“This Heathen Teutonic conception of human nature, and of the factors comprising it, is most like the Aryan-Asiatic as we find preserved in the traditions of Buddhism, which assume more than three factors in a human being, and deny the existence of a soul, if this is to mean that all that is not corporeal in man consists of a single, simple and therefore indissoluble element: the soul.”




Regarding the shaping of mankind, Voluspa says in verses 17 and 18:

Unz þrír kvámu
ór því liði
öflgir ok ástkir
æsir at húsi,
fundu á landi
lítt megandi
Ask ok Emblu
örlöglausa.

Önd þau ne áttu,
óð þau ne höfðu,
lá né læti
né litu góða;
önd gaf Óðinn,
óð gaf Hœnir,
lá gaf Lóðurr
ok litu góða.


Translated:

“Then from the throng | did three come forth,
From the home of the gods, | the mighty and gracious;
Two without fate | on the land they found,
Ask and Embla, | empty of might.

Soul they had not, | sense they had not,
Heat nor motion, | nor goodly hue;
Soul gave Othin, | sense gave Hönir,
Heat gave Lothur | and goodly hue.”

(Bellows translation)


This translation, however, leaves some things to be desired when coming to a deeper understanding of what is occurring in this passage. This is why I always ask people to obtain more than one translation of the Eddas and to compare them during reading. Bellows translates “Ond” as “soul”, but as we shall see, this is not a perfect rendering. He also translates “litu goda” as “goodly hue”, and often enough, translators render it in a similar way; “good complexion” is another common translation. Rydberg shows how this is problematic and stands in the way of understanding the full impact of the passage.

Rydberg’s translation of verse 18 runs so:

“Spirit they had not, “odr” they had not,
Neither “la” nor “laeti”, nor the form of the Gods.
Spirit gave Odin, “Odr” gave Honur,
“La” gave Lodur and the form of the Gods.”



I will cover each of these Godly gifts in their own discussion, but first a small list is needed here to outline the six portions of each human being.

Man, according to Voluspa, is comprised of six elements:

1. Earthy matter from which the body is formed
2. A formative vegetative force
3. Lodur’s overlapping gifts of “la” and “laeti” - “blood” or “heat” and “motion”
4. Lodur’s gift of “litu goda” – “good complexion”, “goodly hue”, or “form of the Gods”
5. Honur’s gift of “odr”, usually rendered “sense” or “mind”
6. Odin’s gift of “ond”- “spirit”, but sometimes rendered “breath” or “soul”.


As can clearly be seen from the above list, the first three elements of man, beginning with the material of the body and going as far as the vital sparks of the body (blood or heat and motion) represent the “lower” portions of the man, while the final three represent the upper portions- the gifts that come closer to the nobility of the Gods.

Rydberg describes the scale in terms of the “lower and coarser” gifts and the “highest and noblest”- but it is important to remember that no unqualified, harmful dualism is being created here. All of the parts of man partake of the sacred Necessity of Fate or Wyrd; all are sacred powers in their own right. All are necessary to the formation of mankind. The material of the body is not “evil” or “fallen” in contrast to the highest gift, that of Odin’s ond or spirit. All of the parts are necessary to the human being, and they do not exist in some existential conflict, awaiting the victory of one over the other.




Earthy Matter and Formative Vegetative Force

Many creation or “origin” mythologies describe humanity as being shaped from the clay of the earth- the well-known Christian myth is the most recent in a long line. But the Heathen conception of human origins had a similar yet intriguingly different spin on the matter: human bodies were not formed of lumps of earth, but of the living material of plants- from the trunks of an ash tree and an elm tree, specifically. There was a form of “life” present in the raw materials of mankind, according to the Heathen vision.

Of course, all “living” beings- from trees to humans- are made of “earthy matter”, ultimately; the material of bark to the material of flesh is ultimately a unique combination of the many elements found in nature. But there is an undeniable aesthetic-intuitive difference in the perspectives of myths that give humans to “clay” origins versus a myth that gives humans a “tree” origin. The “tree origin” myth resonates with a more sophisticated underlying conception of the relationship of humans to the natural world, at least from my perspective. It includes more than just “fleshy” life-forms in the natural chain of relationships in which humans are seen as being imbedded.

The Gods found Ask and Embla- the ash tree and the elm-tree progenitors of humankind’s physical bodies- growing on the side of a primordial ocean. They were ‘without destiny’ or ‘unfated yet’- and what can this mean? It means that the full potential of these two trees had not yet begun to unfold itself before the fateful involvement of the shaping, creative Gods.

Of these two trees, discovered by the Gods, we can see that their elements were able to come together and organize themselves in an organic manner even without the artifice of the Gods. The “course of nature”, as Rydberg says, was sufficient for these trees (like other plants or growing life) to form and become distinct life forms as the forces of Wyrd came together, making it all possible. Rydberg goes on to say:

“When the sun for the first time shone from the south on ‘the stones of the hall’, the vegetative force united with the matter of the primeval giant Ymir, who was filled with the seed of life from Audhumbla’s milk, and then “the ground was overgrown with herbs. Thus man was not created directly from the crude earthy matter, but had already been organized and formed when the Gods came and from the trees made persons with blood, motion, and spiritual qualities. The vegetative force must not be conceived in accordance with modern ideas, as an activity separated from the matter by abstraction and at the same time inseparably joined with it, but as an active matter joined with the earthly matter.”




Lodur’s Gifts of “La” and “Laeti”

Lodur, one member of the creative trinity of the Allfather (seen by some as his brother and others as a hypostasis of the Allfather) gives the two gifts that transform the proto-humans from plants to animals- the gifts of blood or heat, and motion- la and laeti. Rydberg points out that the ancestors, like other peoples, distinguished plant life from animal life through the presence (in animals) of blood and the power of voluntary motion. To the ancient Teutons, blood dealt specifically with the force that created family lines and the features of heredity that we seek for when we study families and related peoples. But the ancient Teutons had a ritual by which a completely unrelated person could take on the blood of another and thus become a relation, as though they had the same mother and father- to become a “bloði” or a blood-kinsman. Thus, as blood was a gift to humankind originally, so it could be offered or received as a gift to another or by another.



Lodur’s Gift of “Litu Goða”

In this gift, often translated “goodly hue” or “good complexion”, we must look deeper, as Rydberg has done. He points out that the ancient peoples of the north, like the Hellenes and Romans, conceived of the Gods in human form- and that the image in which man is characterized was borne by the Gods alone before man’s shaping. Thus, the human shape- the anthropomorphic form or the effigiem deorum- originally belonged to the Gods, and was shared by them with humanity.

Thus Rydberg translates litu goda as “form of the Gods”- and goes on to explain that the literal meaning of “litr” is something presenting itself to the eye without being actually tangible to the hands. The Gothic form of the word is wlits- which Ulfilas uses in translating the Greek word for “look, appearance, or expression”. Thus, the “look” or “appearance of the Gods”- but not a tangible thing to the hands. He describes the litu goda as an inner body made in the image of the Gods and consisting of a finer material, a body which is his “litr”- and because of it, the coarser body, formed of the earth, takes its shape into a human shape. That body-form, which is seen by the eyes of others, impresses itself on their minds.

The litu goda is like a divine blueprint, composed, like everything, of some material, though in its case, a fine, subtle material that survives the death of the body. He goes on to say that the “appearance of the outer body depends on the condition of the litr, that is, of the inner being. Beautiful women have a “joyous fair litr, and through it on the blood and appearance of the outward body.”

Rydberg goes on to say that in death, the coarser elements of an earthly person’s nature are separated from the other constituent parts. The body formed of earth and vegetative material and force are eliminated and must remain on or with the earth. The body certainly appears to decay after death, when vitalizing force seeps away from it, but in reality, it is merely staying where it came from, and returning to what it came from. Rydberg goes on to say:

“But this does not imply that the deceased descend without form to the Underworld. The form which they travel in “deep dales”, traverse the thorn-fields, wade across the subterranean rivers, or ride over the gold-clad Gjallar-bridge, is not a new creation, but was worn by them in their earthly career. It can be none other than their litr, their umbra et imago. It also shows distinctly what the dead man has been in his earthly life, and what care has been bestowed on his dust. The washing, combing, dressing, ornamenting, and supplying of Hel-shoes of the dead body has influence upon one’s looks in the Underworld, and one’s looks when he is to appear before his judge.”

When separated from the body, the litr is very insubstantial, and does not possess the qualities of an intensive, passionate life, either (as Rydberg says) in bliss or in torture. Many dead men (five fylkes in all) rode over the Gjallar-bridge in the lore and produced a very dim noise, comparable to just one man on a horse.

But the litr is compensated in the Underworld for what it has lost; in the judgment-ring of the Underworld, those pronounced worthy of bliss- those who lived lives of nobility- are permitted “to drink from the horn decorated with the serpent-symbol of eternity, the liquids of the three-world fountains which give life to all the world, and thereby their litr gets a higher grade of body and nobler blood.” Rydberg goes on to recount that “those sentenced to torture must also drink, but it is a drink much mixed with venom- and it is a warning of evil. This drink also restores their bodies, but only to make them feel the burden of torture.”



Those who study the lore go on to see that the cup-bearer to the dead is none other than the Fylgja-dis who watched over him in his life, the spirit-maiden or Dis whose role is played by a living woman in our world, when drinking rituals are performed- the Symbeldis or cup-bearer who has the supreme honor of carrying a horn around to a gathering and offering a drink. The spirit-guardian of each person, who guides the litr down to the Underworld and leaves him or her just before death, to go prepare their place in the next life, is the cup-bearer dispensing justice in accordance with a person’s deeds, merit, and fate.

In the metaphorical and sacred language of the myths, the cup offered at judgment, and its contents of noble mead or venom, or some mixture of the two, is a reflection of the merits gained by the nobility of the life that was just ended. Living in accordance with the noble teachings and gifts of the Gods places a person on a path that moves with the order of things, and increases their hamingja, their luck-force and spiritual power. At death, an increase in metaphysical condition of mind, body, and spirit awaits them. The wicked who have violated the universal way of things and lived lives of harm to themselves, others, and the world, are decreased in force, and thus undergo the “torture” of that condition.

This should not be taken as a very dualistic notion of after-death judgment; there are many strengths possible to the sacred liquid in the cup offered to the dead, in accordance with how they have lived. It isn’t a matter of “great glory” on the one hand or “torture” on the other; there are many specific levels in the range of power.

I have always thought it a reasonable conclusion that many of the drinks offered to the average dead man or woman would be every bit as average as they were in life- neither very outstanding nor very terrible. Such a drink would still return to the litr tangible, vital force, but only enough to allow it to continue on in a rather bland existence, in the deep meadows below. The onus to perform great deeds- to live a life of bravery, generosity and honor, as well as reason and compassion- is therefore great, and should inspire us no less than it inspired our ancestors.




Honur’s Gift of “Odr”

The Odr corresponds with what the Latins called “mens” or mind, and what the Greeks called “nous”, according to Vigfusson’s lexicon. Rydberg refers to the Odr as the material “which forms the kernel of a human personality, its ego, and whose manifestations are understanding, memory, fancy, and will.”

Rydberg also points out that Vigfusson calls attention to the fact that Honur, the giver of the Odr, is called by the epithets langifotr and aurkonungr- “long leg” and “mire king”- both of which are applicable to a stork. It cannot be an accident, he reasons (and I agree) that even the name Honur (Hoenir) suggests a kind of bird. The stork is regarded to this day by many as a sacred and protected bird, and certainly was in ancient times- and among Scandinavians and Germans, there is still a “nursery rhyme” that recounts how a stork takes from a pond the “little fruits of man” and brings them to their mothers, to be born. Rydberg states (and again, I agree) that this quaint nursery rhyme has its origins in the folk-myths of the northern peoples. Rydberg goes on to say:

“The tale which now belongs to the nursery has its roots in the myth, where Honur gives our first parents that very gift which in a spiritual sense makes them human beings and contains the personal ego. It is both possible and probable that the conditions essential to the existence of every person were conceived as being analogous with the conditions attending the creation of the first human pair, and that the gifts which were then given by the Gods to Ask and Embla were thought to be repeated in the case of each one of their descendents- that Honur was consequently believed to be continually active in the same manner as when the first human pair was created, giving to the mother the ego that is to be. The fruit itself out of which the child is developed was conceived as grown on the world-tree, which therefore is called manna mjotudr (Fjolsvinnsmal, 22). Every fruit of this kind (aldin) that matured and fell from the branches of the world-tree into the mythic pond is fetched by the winged servants of the Gods and is born a eld into the maternal lap, after being mentally fructified by Honur.”




I was sitting under a tree the other day, contemplating the image of the World-Tree, when I looked down and saw one of the leaves at my feet. I noticed that the veins in every leaf made the shape of a tree themselves, and I had one of those moments of insight that every person sometimes has, and usually comes to treasure for the rest of their lives. The image of the odr- the seed of mind- growing on the world-tree and eventually ripening into readiness before falling into the well of Urd, the sacred pond of Fate and destiny at the foot of the tree, was cast in a new light for me: we humans are not merely formed of the ancient trees, but our very minds, our mental beings, are fruits from the world-tree itself.

The world-tree is a metaphysical reality of the highest order: it is the image of totality, the image of the wholeness of all powers and places- all nine worlds are connected to the tree, and connected together by it. It holds all things together, and encloses all things, supporting all things. It is very much an arboreal image of the web of Wyrd that does the same. The idea of human minds and egos growing on the world-tree is a poetic statement of the deepest of facts about us: our minds, our very mental beings (that aspect of “us” that we often identify more as ourselves than even our bodies) are born from the totality of forces, all operating together. That is the origin of “us”, in a deeper sense than the physical; we are mindstreams born from the great multiplicity of forces that make up reality.

That these minds fall to the Fate-pond or well at the foot of the tree, and are taken by the power of Honur to be joined to a combination of powers that will result in a human life as we know it, is a very profound image to me. It is most profound because of how it brings an element of organic creativity to our sacred understandings, but also in how it takes into account the great multiplicity of forces that create our minds, and how it places us in relationship to all else- our minds are literally the fruits of reality, the fruits of the world-tree. Notice that Hodur does not create human minds out of nothing- he takes them, born from the world-tree, and gifts them to the complex of forces that will together become a human being. He shapes; he aids in shaping; he does not “create”.

Like the leaves of any tree, we bear within us a full miniature image of our origin: each leaf has a tiny tree etched on it, in the form of the veins of the leaf, with each leaf’s central, thick vein (like a tree trunk) and then many other veins that look like branches. The human being does contain a reflection of the many powers of the world-tree within their mind and body. Our bodies were even (as the myths state) shaped from trees.

We are each (metaphorically speaking) like a leaf (or a fruit) from the branches of the world-tree, each containing all the marks of our great parent which is the combination of all forces in reality- deep in the human body is the generative root, like the lower realms, and heart, fire, and wind, and the brain at the “top” of our bodies- like the luminous realm of the conscious Gods at the tops of the tree, in their Godly worlds. Germanic warriors were sometimes called “oaks of battle” or likened to trees- and it’s not hard to see why.

The leaves of any tree fall from the branches eventually, stay green a while in their resting places on the ground, before that vitality leaves them and they turn brown and disintegrate. But above them, on the same branches, new leaves are budding, and forever there is a cycle. We are like that too; the complex power that is a human being is vital for a while before disintegrating, and when our minds descend back to the roots of the tree- the Underworld- it is the destiny of many, one day, to rise from the roots back to the trunk and branches- perhaps through the sap?- and become new shoots or blooms of fruit, to fall again to the pond of destiny and take a human life.



A tree, I realized further, is a great power for spreading out and spreading its life. Its branches spread as far and wide as it can manage, along with its roots. It sends out countless leaves and nuts and seeds and flowers into the world, and continually does so. It spreads its life and generates new life. In the fruits and flowers that are spread are more seeds to create more trees, more fruits, more life.

Each person is like that- the life-force in us also wants to spread; it creates the sense we all have for desiring freedom; it creates in us the urge to procreate and to share our lives with others. The world-tree, like every other power that comes from it- and that includes us and everything else- truly is an expression of life proliferating. We all bear in us the marks of our origins, and share in its nature. We are the children of Gods, too- and we bear inside us a litu goda, an image of those shapers.

This universe, this reality, can be conceptualized as a great tree, and by my ancestors, it was. And we are all products of that tree. We are all joined by it, along with our world as it is joined to many other worlds.

Rydberg adds the following to his discussion on Hodur’s gift:

“…It has been shown that Lodurr is identical with Mundilfori, the one producing fire by friction, and that Hoenir and Lodurr are Odin’s brothers, also called Ve and Vili. With regard to the last name it should be remarked that its meaning of “will” developed out of the meaning “desire”, “longing”, and that the word preserved this older meaning also in the secondary sense of cupido, libido, sexual desire. This epithet of Lodurr corresponds both with the nature of the gifts he bestows on the human child which is to be- that is, the blood and the human, originally divine form- and also with the quality of fire-producer, if, as is probable, the friction-fire had the same symbolic meaning in the Teutonic mythology as in the Rig Veda. Like Honer, Lodur causes the knitting together of the human generations. While the former fructifies the embryo developing on the world-tree with odr, it receives from Lodur the warmth of the blood and human organism. The expression Vilja Byrdr, “Vili’s burden”, (will’s burden) “that which Vili has produced”, is from this point of view a well-chosen and at the same time an ambiguous paraphrase for the human body.”




Odin’s Gift of “Ond”

The highest of all Gods- Odin- adds the final and greatest gift to the convergence of forces that we call “man”- the gift of Ond, or “spirit”. Rydberg calls this power “that by which a human being becomes a participator in the divine”. The “divine” here must be understood (as he points out) not in the ecclesiastical sense, but in the Heathen sense- for the Heathens, the divine could reveal itself in men, and it did so chiefly in the powers of thought (or reason), courage, honesty, veracity and mercy. These were the “gifts” or capabilities given by spirit. He also says that those “divine” people- the people who lived a “godly” life of participation with the Gods- knew no other humility than that of patiently bearing the misfortunes that could not be averted by human ingenuity.

There is something I find interesting about the gift of “spirit”, which I have tossed about for a while. The idea of a human “spirit”, or the spirit given to humans by the Gods which was the source of man’s reason, courage, and truest nobility was common among the Indo-European peoples. Marcus Aurelius taught about the spiritual guide or daimon appointed to each human being by the Gods, and said that its appearance within us was in our power of reason. The spirit of each guided us and brought messages from the timeless realm of the Gods, but the chief manner of guidance was found in our power of reason. I don’t have the space here to have a discussion on reason, but the issue of my focus now is precisely what the “spirit” is- is it a being of its own that guards a person, or spiritual qualities that endow a person with noble gifts?



The answer that I have arrived at after a search of many years is neither; I believe that the “gift of spirit” that Odin gave to human beings was not just an "in-breathing" of power which transformed the mind of the odr into a thing capable of the highest capacities, but also a connection between the human being (the being compounded of earth, blood, heat/motion, litu goda, and mind) and something timeless- a timeless, sentient deathless semi-divine being which became the guardian and guide of that person throughout their lifetime.

The presence of the guardian spirit gives us an active, sentient "side" to the human gift; it is almost as if these guardians are attracted to other beings who share the same qualities of higher mind or spirit as they. Human minds being so "spiritually active" here in our world (active in their special, creative, powerful way, a way unique to humans and Gods and some other wights) perhaps requires or calls for such a symmetrical and corresponding "otherworldly reaction" as the approach of a sentient, timeless guardian. The breath of Odhinn is certainly a complex Wyrd-force which awakens the capacity for reason, compassion, bravery, veracity, and honorable behavior, but this connection- the "ond" or "breath"- is not a static thing; it flows like wind or breath from the heights of being to the depths of being, between the undying mysteries of divine sentience to the vegetative forces and matter. It's clear that something powerful "connects" the guardian spirit with the human being, and that this connection is a living, evolving, reciprocal one.

The ond is a living flow, enlivening the odr and awakening it to the potentials that always existed somehow "inside" it- the potentials that we call "spirit". One must bear in mind that Heathens didn't embrace (as has been pointed out many times by Rydberg) a "dualism" of mind and matter or soul and matter; all of these subtances were one great unified field of substance and inter-active reality. Somewhere "in" what we have called odr, the personal kernel of mind, lurks the reality of and potential of spirit, of nobility and reason and of a further possibility of a direct awareness of the timeless and deathless.

Like a sorcerer who breathes his or her own breath into a talisman to consecrate it and "wake it up" to a sentient order of life, the better to perform its task, Allfather breathes ond into the elements of the human being, transforming and exciting the psycho-somatic constituents and awakening the capacities of spirit or ond. Some part of the odr or the basic mind- its "finest point"- is the undying spirit (the "perpetual" mind that I will discuss soon) which is considered here in terms of a separate but necessary and integrated part of the entire human being. It is considered so because the gifts of the ond are, for most, not consciously experienced in their most extreme, direct forms; most people will experience reason, compassion, and the like (to some extent), but few will achieve the luminous full potentials of the spirit, which we will discuss in a moment.

I will now discuss "spirit" in terms of the guardian spirit or protector attached to each person througthout earthly life, as opposed to the "spirit" which refers to the innate luminous Godly gift in mankind. You can separate these two meanings of spirit, but they are never found apart; to be a human awakened with ond is to be accompanied by other sentient beings, seen and unseen. If Wyrd apparently has a "personal" and "impersonal" appearance in Heathen thinking (as Fate-weavers and as a mighty web) one may look at spirit in the same way.

The appearance of guardian spirits is common in Heathen lore; they are often ancestrally connected, and appear often in a feminine form, either individually or as part of a group. They are called the “disir”. The “fylgja dis” which guards a person through life and leaves a person before death to prepare their way to the afterlife is thought by most to be a member of the collective guardian spirits of a family, individually appointed to each person- and these sorts of figures keep appearing: the disir appear armed and armored at times, like the valkyries, who are clearly disir of a type. There is a clear and constant connection with Odin and these spirit-women that act as the individual “fates” of persons, and as the collective “fates” of families.

There is a connection with “elves” and the ancestral dead- the elves or alfar also appear collectively to represent the immortal aspects of the dead. The term “alfar” is a very vague one, meaning as it does “white”. The elves have associations with light and darkness- the dark-elves, dwelling as they do underground or in lower realms, are clearly the same as the “dwarfs” of the lore. But the other elves- the light-elves- have a constant connection with the Aesir, or the Gods, and they are often used in the same sentence. There is little concrete about elves in the lore, beyond their status as luminous or “white” spirits, and their connection with the cult of the dead, elf-mounds, and the ancestral dead. Frey, the God of the natural world, is given special authority and ownership of the light-elven realm in the high reaches of the world-tree, Alfheim, which is interesting bearing in mind his connection to burial mounds.

It appears that the elves are in the same category of being as the spirit women or disir, or any of the other immortal beings that are near to or in the company of the Gods. Alfar, after all, sit at table with the Gods in the lore. Modern Heathens often tend to see the light-elves as the “intellectual” aspects of the dead, and the dark elves as the lower aspects, and while I believe this model has value for the esoteric studies carried out by some, the surviving lore is not quite so explicit. It is probable that such categories of spiritual or otherworldly beings were never very clear in the past, from place to place and time to time. More than one modern tradition accords elves a position as the “other pole” of human nature, the immortal nature, which gives much food for thought.



One may wonder at the notion of an “immortal” or “timeless” spirit- the idea of perpetually-existing beings is not easy to mine out of the lore, which even treats us to images of the Gods themselves perishing at the end of the world-cycle. But there is something implicit in the lore that I could never shake, once I latched on to it- the fact that the great void that existed at the beginning of the cycle- Ginnungagap- has a name that literally means “gap of the ginnungs”- and who are the “ginnungs”? Most scholars go so far as to say that ginnungagap was full of concealed, hidden magical forces that would express themselves later in the cosmology as various powers and phenomenon, and the term “ginn” does refer to both a sense of “mighty” as well as “deceitful”.

Were all beings- from Gods to giants, elves, humans, animals, and other wights- were they all “ginnungs” during the night of the cosmos, before the daybreak of the world-order, during which time they emerged as various classes of being? Before they put on their fated forms and roles which they will play through the unfolding of Orlog or Fate, and finally shed on the Ragnarok? This may be speculation of a kind, but the Ginnungs have never been satisfactorily explained.

I do believe that the spirit of each of us is perpetual- not having a first beginning or ending. Of course, in a sense, even the “lower mind" or the odr, can be said to be “perpetual”, because in every age of the cosmos, it arises from the same forces that come together in every age, and blossoms on the World-Tree, before being woven into experiencing life. The spirit, the mystery of the ond, is the most subtle and recondite aspect of humankind, that thing that brings us closest to the Gods. Without Odhinn's gift, that spiritual aspect of us would never have awoken in the excitement of the "in-spiring" or in-breathing that he bestowed upon us; that spirit allows us to be not only noble and radiant with divine life and behavior, but also to become conscious of our "true depths of being" in the allness of the World-Tree and the Deeps of Urd's Well.

We can become conscious of our "greater Self" like Odhinn did, though this "greater Self" is not merely another "self" like the one who is reading this essay currently (it is not a mortal self based on material and sensory contingencies and the memories and learned behaviors of a short life) it is a mystery born in a direct experience of the vastness from which all relative, fatefully woven or mortal things spring.

Odhinn’s gift of ond- and his mastery of it- places his experience as a sentient being at the most continuous level; though he “dies” at Ragnarok, we know that he re-appears in the newly formed cosmos, to continue his career as a God- almost as though he’s stepping in and out of a play, and taking up new roles. We know that the Vala, the Seeress that Odin summoned from the depths of the Underworld, had full memory of the many cosmic cycles that came before. There is clearly some quality or state of being- a perpetual mind- that acts as a “bridge” between cosmic cycles, that acts as a perpetual, conscious bridge over death and change. And that quality is ond, and the state of being completed by ond is the true “self”- the greater “Self” that Odin uncovered and merged with when he underwent his self-sacrifice and uncovered all of the hidden mysteries of reality.

Any being that walks this path and undergoes the same transformation will be as truly deathless as the Allfather, and possibly the other Gods, only undergoing apparent death when the world-age comes to its end, and never losing continuity of mind and being- never losing memory through the processes of change and death. In this, the greatest mystery of the Odinic religion is encapsulated.



It is strange indeed to consider our relationship as time and space-bound human beings to these mysterious beings from the lore- these immortal spirits that are bound to watch over and guard us from the unseen. What is their connection to us, if not one mandated by the Allfather for some necessary but difficult-to-comprehend reason? It seems that there is a necessary interplay between time and the timeless, in the one place that can happen and be known- the minds of sentient beings. No human being is compounded by the forces of this universe and “sent out” to their destiny without being given a connection to a timeless guide and guardian, who represents an entirely different way of being, a mystery.

The human mystery has something to do with the constant two-way interaction and interplay of the mortal and the immortal, the time-bound and the timeless. Humans have sought for so long for the answer to their own impasse by looking for some static or imperishable “thing” in themselves that was key, but the real answer is and always was in the interaction between what is seen and unseen, the interaction between the many levels and forces of reality.

Do these alfar, disir or valkyries, or any of the “immortal otherselves” of human beings have some dependency on us? We on them? In classic “wyrd” thinking, the answer is both, of course- a two-way road of reciprocity. Does what we call and experience as “time” act as some necessary “other side” of the metaphysical coin upon which the beings of the timeless state depend to be who and what they are? Further, are these dualities useless and ephemeral, based only on words and perspective?

Naturally the answer to this last question is yes, ultimately- but various perspectives do exist within Wyrd’s out-spinning for a reason. Whatever that reason, the ancestral tradition doesn’t go into explaining high-level metaphysical speculation. It shows us, in an elegant and simple way, what is there, as the ancestors saw it. These spiritual beings are there, they can be interacted with, and they help us- and thanks to Odin’s gift, we humans have the power of reason, and the power to be honorable, cunning, brave, merciful, and honorable.

Rydberg discusses the impact of Ond on the human being as a whole. He says:

“These six elements, united into one in human nature, were of course constantly in reciprocal activity. The personal kernel odr is on the one hand influenced by ond, the spirit, and on the other hand by the animal, vegetative, and corporeal elements, and the personality being endowed with will, it is responsible for the result of this reciprocal activity. If the spirit becomes superior to the other elements then it penetrates and sanctifies not only the personal kernel, but also the animal, vegetative, and corporeal elements. Then human nature becomes a being that may be called divine, and deserves divine honor. When such a person dies the lower elements which are abandoned and consigned to the grave have been permeated by, and have become participators in, the personality which they have served, and may thereafter in a wonderful manner diffuse happiness and blessings around them. When Halfdan the Black died different places competed for the keeping of his remains, and the dispute was settled by dividing the corpse between Hadaland, Ringerike, and Vestfold. The vegetative force in the remains of certain persons might also manifest itself in a strange manner. Thorgrim’s grave-mound in Gisle’s saga was always green on one side, and Laugarbrekku-Einar’s grave mound was entirely green both winter and summer.”


When we consider the presence of spirit- both as the guardian being attached to each of us, and as the capacity in us for reason, compassion, bravery, generosity, and nobility, we are seeing the greatest and most perfect “natural revelation” of what the Gods desire for mankind- that we become consciously divine, like them. Living according to the urges of the spirit- living a spiritual life which is also quite literally a godly life- causes the light of ond to penetrate into and infuse all of the parts of the human complex with hamingja, with spiritual luck-force, and raises the person in power and might. Their very presence can be a blessing on the world and those around them, before and after death.



That the Gods would endow human beings with such a capability is not just evidence that they believed it was a good idea; they did it because the universe itself- Wyrd’s working itself- led them to do it, consciously. It is part of the way the universe works; part of the unfolding of things according to necessity, and thus, the fact that human beings have such potentials is evidence that these potentials are meant to be perfectly expressed. Such a capacity as ond is not given to humans as a mere afterthought, or as just a “good option”- it is a necessary and vital part of the wholeness of the human being, but also of the world itself. It approaches the real “point” or “purpose” of our existence as human beings, and the extent to which we have lived lives in which our beings were consciously permeated by ond is the extent to which all of our existence in this life and beyond it will be moving towards a greater, more noble and powerful destiny.

People often wonder to what extent the ancestors treasured qualities in people like reason and compassion. The Eddas and Sagas contain countless explicit and implicit messages teaching us that mercy or compassion, and the need to avoid unfairness and cruelty, are very important and wise things. Beyond that, the core mythology tells us that the Sun and the Moon- placed on their courses in the heavens by Odin and his kin to keep time- are pursued by two monstrous wolves, Hati and Skoll. Hati means “hate” and Skoll means “fear” or “treachery”.

The fact that these qualities would be given a lupine shape- a wolf-shape, which is a common shape given to chaotic forces- and the fact that they are presented as monstrous things that pursue and attempt to eat the sun and moon is important. The implied message is that these qualities are giantish, dangerous qualities, and that they threaten to consume not only the order represented by time, by day and night, but they threaten to consume the very light of the world- the sun is the light of day, and the moon the light of night.

Any person who lives a life consumed with hate, fear, or treachery (dishonesty) is threatening not only their personal light, but the goodness of this world. The opposite of hate would be compassion; the opposite of fear or treachery would be reason and veracity- veracity here meaning more “being truthful to one’s beliefs and keeping one’s word.” Honesty, after all, originally meant closer to “honorable” as we know it- the task of keeping one’s oaths.




The Underworld, the Mound-Dead, and the Afterlife

The ond, the odr, and the litu goda all descend into Hel, into the Underworld, after the death of a person. The blood, body heat, biological organism, and the vegetative matter and earth of which it is composed, all remain in this world, to disperse naturally. However, as we have seen, in the corporeal remains of a great person, a person of ond or spirit, the remains themselves are charged and powerful, and will influence the place in which they are buried or given funeral rites.

Rydberg answers the puzzle of how the “mound dead” can be communicated with in the mound, while they were also believed to have moved on to the world of the dead far below or (sometimes) far above, or otherwise distant from this world. He discusses the notion of the “hill dweller”- the fact that the elements of the dead actually continue their reciprocal activity for a while in the grave itself, and form a new sort of unity, which, while permeated by the remnants of a person’s odr and ond, might endow this “hill dweller” with some part of the personality of the dead person- becoming an alter-ego in the grave-site, at least for a while.

That alter-ego is a haugbui- a hill dweller- and was in that class of beings called draugr- “a branch which, though cut off from its life-root, still maintains its consistency, but gradually, though slowly, pays tribute to corruption and progresses towards its dissolution.” The draugr is often thought of as the “restless” or walking dead, and in Christian times, certainly took on an evil role, but before those times, the draugr was simply the alter-ego of the deceased, dwelling for a while in the grave or near it, and retaining the character of the dead person. A good or great person would have a similar draugr- but wicked people could produce a draugr of like quality, which would be a dangerous phenomenon.

Rydberg speaks of another possibility:

“It might also happen that the lower elements, when abandoned by odr and ond, became an alter ego in whom the vegetative and animal elements exclusively exerted themselves. Such a one was always tormented by animal desires of food, and did not seem to have any feeling for or memory of bonds tied in life.”

Saxo, he says, gives a horrible account of an encounter of this sort- of the brothers Asmund and Asvid, and the encounter of Asmund with the hungry haugbui of his brother, who killed his horse and dog before being defeated. Rydberg associates this belief with the Slavic vampire belief, and it seems a founded comparison.

Rydberg discusses the real personality of the deceased and its ability to interact with the world. He writes:

“The real personality of the dead, the one endowed with litr, odr, and ond, was and remained in the death kingdom, although circumstances might take place that would call him back for a short time. The drink which the happy dead received in the afterlife was intended not only to strength his litr, but also to soothe that longing which the earthly life and its memories might cause him to feel. If a dearly-beloved kinsman or friend mourned the deceased too violently, this sorrow disturbed his happiness in the death kingdom, and was able to bring him back to earth. Then he would visit his grave-mound, and he and his alter ego, the haugbui, would become one.”




The folkloric notion of the dead visiting their mourning parents or relatives is commonplace enough- they always ask their families to cease mourning and crying so much, as their “tears wet their winding sheets” in their graves. It is clear that this belief goes back to the lore in a direct way. Prayer could call the dead back at times, as could conjurations and sorcery at the grave-mound. It is important to remember that while cremation certainly makes impossible many of the phenomenon we are discussing here, ashes still were believed to maintain some potency- Groa’s personality returned from the land of the dead to the place where her ashes were kept, to speak to her son.

Concerning the final fate of the dead, Rydberg says:

“Thus we understand why the dead descended (into Hel) and still inhabited the grave-mounds. One died “to Hel” and “to the grave” at the same time. That of which earthly man consisted, in addition to his corporeal garb, was not a simple being, “the soul”, which cannot be divided, but there was a combination of factors, which in death could be separated, and of which those remaining on earth, while they had long been the covering of a personal kernel (odr) could themselves in a new combination form another ego of the person who had descended into Hel.

But that too (that thing or ego which descended below) consisted of several factors- litr, odr, and ond- and they were not inseparably united. We have already seen that the “sinner”, sentenced to torture, dies a second death in the lower world before he passes through the Na-gates, the death from Hel into Niflhel (from the underworld into the deepest darkness or the ice-hel) so that he becomes a nar, a corpse in a still deeper sense than that which nar has in a physical sense. The second death, like the first (physical), must consist in the separation of one or more of the factors from the being that dies. And in the second death, that which separates itself from the damned one and changes his remains into a lower-world nar, must be those factors that have no blame in connection with his sins, and consequently should not suffer his punishment, and which in their origin are too noble to become objects… of torture. The venom drink which the damned person has to empty deprives him of that image of the Gods in which he was made, and of the spirit which was the noble gift of the Asa-Father (Odin). Changed into a monster, he goes to his destiny fraught with misfortunes.”




Those who, in life, lost their nobility to giantish, wicked, destructive impulses, have no choice- if their wickedness was truly great enough- but to descend to become one of those forces, lacking intellect, reason, dimly conscious if at all, and lost in the morass of universal chaos. These, of course, are the lowest and rarest of the human dead; the worst people that most ever get to know likely do not share such a fate. We are talking about exceptional evil here- exceptional loss of the human state- just as the greatest heroes, those whose power lifted them out of Hel after their own judgment and upwards into the realms of the Gods, to sit at table with the Gods- were exceptional people.

These people who go to sit at table with the Gods- the Einherjar, or heroes at table in Valhalla, are not alone in their reward- other people’s greatness may elevate them to other great destinies: the good people selected by Freya to sit with her in Folkvang, those chosen to join Thor in Thrudheim, and those who emerge among the light-elves in Alfheim, under the patronage of the God Frey. There are many worlds that a person’s greatness may win them admittance. But the wisest of people- Odin’s Own, who have died to their mortal self and seen the secret beyond self, they no longer participate in this sort of destiny. That, I think, is a story for another time.

Hel’s halls are not reported as being so terrible for good-hearted people or beings- Baldr rests there, and his welcome was with a great feast and with much restfulness. The vast majority of the dead come to rest in Hel’s many halls and meadows, living out their own time, perhaps to regeneration and rebirth in this world (though again, such a fate, once held as common in very old times, came to be reserved for people who were exceptional in some way) or they may spend their time awaiting the end of the world-cycle, when Hel gives up her dead, and all are regenerated.

Even the “lost” dead- the most wicked- are regenerated after the world-doom, and see the light of a new sun again with human eyes; though it is important to remember that our destinies are intertwined and have continuity, even from cosmos-cycle to cosmos-cycle. It does not make sense that those who descended so low during this world-cycle will be reborn as kings or great people in the next. However, Fate’s mysteries are impossible to unravel when dealing with matters as recondite as these.

The implied moral code of the ancient Heathen is very simple: if you wish for a noble life and a noble afterlife, live according to the principles of reason and mercy, and of generosity, bravery, hospitality, and honor- the qualities of the Gods themselves, which the giants, their wicked enemies and the powers that would thwart the world-order, do not have. Seek your destiny, and face your Fate with courage.

As Allfather has shown, the principle of self-sacrifice conceals a greater mystery than all- don’t be so attached to the things you identify with; Fate and Hel will take them all away one day, anyway- be prepared to give and sacrifice for the good of your kin and community, or those you love, and be prepared to understand that wisdom cannot come without sacrifice of things that you are dearly attached to.

These Godly qualities and understandings in us are our path to being like the Gods, and rising into greater conditions of being, in this life and beyond.