Lewis Stead

The Ravenbook

a custom which is found the world over.

The various Halloween customs such as dressing in costume or

celebrating this time as a time where the worlds of the living and the

dead connect are more Celtic in origin than Nordic and probably should

not be part of an Asatru celebration.

THE GODS OF ASGARD

The Old Norse reckoned that there were three races of Gods: the Aesir,

the Vanir, and the Jotnar. The Aesir are those beings most often

referred to in the ancient literature simply as the Gods, in fact

the word As means God. They are the Gods of society, representing

things such as Kingship, Craft, etc. The Vanir are more closely

connected to the earth and represent the fecundity of the land and the

natural forces which help mankind. Once there was a great war between

the Aesir and the Vanir, but this was eventually settled and Frey,

Freya, and Njord came to live with the Aesir to seal the peace. The

Jotnar are a third race of Gods and at constant war with the Aesir,

but there is not and never will be peace in this battle. The Jotnar

are never called Gods, but rather referred to as giants. They

represent the natural forces of chaos and destruction as the Aesir

represent forces of order and society. Just as fire and ice mix to

form the world, this creative interaction of chaos and order maintains

the balance of the world. In the end the two sides will meet in the

great battle of Ragnarok and the world will be destroyed, only to be

reborn.

The Norse notion of the Gods was very much involved with tribalism.

The Aesir are the Gods of the tribe or clan. The Vanir are those Gods

who are allied with the clan, but who are not part of it. The Jotnar

or Giants are the outlanders or more simply everyone else.

The Norse Gods were not held to be all powerful or immortal. Their

youth was maintained very precariously by the magickal apples of the

Goddess Idunna. More importantly at the end of the world a good

number of the Gods will die in battle. The Northern view of the world

was a practical one with little assurance for the future and little

perfection and the Gods are no exception.

It is very important to understand that the Gods are real and living

beings. They are not mere personifications of natural forces, nor are

they Jungian archetypes that dwell only in our minds--although Jungs

work may be helpful in understanding them. Those divinities who we

call Gods (i.e., the Aesir and Vanir) are also personal deities

who take an active interest in the affairs of mankind, and seek

relationships with their followers. This is important to remember

when we perform ceremonies or pray to the Gods. They arent magical

symbols to be manipulated, nor is our religion some type of giant

cosmic vending machine where sacrifices are inserted and blessings

come out. The Gods are living beings and offer us benefits because we

are their friends and companions.

The Gods in the Temple: Odin, Thor, and Frey

The three most important Gods were held to be Odin, Thor, and Frey.

These were the deities whose statues stood at the altar of the temple

at Upsalla. They are considered the most important because of what

they represent. Mythologer Georges Dumezil has linked these three

deities with the three classes of Indo-European culture: the Kings,

the Warriors, and the Farmers. Although the fit is not an exact one,

it is probably true that these three deities most concretely

symbolized the various aspects of Norse life and culture and most

people would have found a God who represented their life-experience in

one of these three deities.

Odin is the Allfather, remembered today best as a God of war and of

the berserk rage of the Vikings. However, he has other aspects which

are just as strong or stronger. In the Eddas, he is the leader of the

Gods, but this is a position which most of the Germanic peoples

attributed to Tyr. Its likely that Odin only became ruler during the

Viking Age, when a God of wile rather than strict justice was more

necessary. Being the Allfather, his original position of leadership

was probably familial rather than legislative. Most importantly he is

a God of transcendent wisdom and in relation to that a God of magick.

He is the God of the Runes, the magical alphabet which holds the