isn't it true that some vikings worshipped the vanir gods instead of the aesir? and do people still do this today, and if they do what do they call themselves? not odinists because odin was aesir.

if i had to pick a god to talk to it would be freja not odin. freja is hot plus she kicks ass.

The Norse pantheon consists of both Vanir and Aesir. I won't go into the details (unless you want me to) but the short version is Vanir and Aesir went to war, war ended in draw, captives were exchanged, and everyone was happy (well, not quite happy but close enough). Some Aesir joined the Vanir and vice versa.

The Norse religion was pretty much wiped out by the christians.

a pacifist/hippie religion cant exactly wipe out anything.

constantine was bribed, and got his ass kicked by the pagans/heathens and paganism/heathenism was killed through pacifist genocide, by christianizing the religion/traditions. like the choice to have christmas right after the winter solstice.

but i know freya was one of the vanir gods, but then lived with the aesir, but didn't really like any of them. (odin stole her necklace, and tried to use it to bribe her to do him).

and alot of tribes only worshipped the vanir, not odin. but now, nobody does that, neo heathenism revolves around odin.

and i thought ragnarok was a war between the aesir and vanir that hasn't happened yet. i'm just saying i think freya is the coolest because she's pretty, plus she's a god of war and death too.

if i'm wrong about what ragnarok is please explain it. i'm not an expert on it really.

edit: also, if there are any stories about her deal with odin for her necklace. i read that story, and she was supposed to bring two kings to battle against each other or something. and another reason it died off was that alot of the viking leaders were bribed to enforce christianity on tribes. but the vikings raped nuns, and pillaged churches for years. i'm just saying it wasn't like anybody just killed them all off. and any of them who accepted it peacefully wern't truly heathens to begin with.

a pacifist/hippie religion cant exactly wipe out anything.

You're kidding, right? Ever heard of the Crusades? Maybe Jesus' original teaching was of peace and love but the Church was hardly pacifist I would argue.

constantine was bribed, and got his ass kicked by the pagans/heathens and paganism/heathenism was killed through pacifist genocide, by christianizing the religion/traditions. like the choice to have christmas right after the winter solstice.

That is how Christianity became the predominant religion in the west. By assimilating pagan/traditional religions into itself and absorbing the followers. Don't write off the ability of the early Church just because most pagans weren't converted by the sword.

and i thought ragnarok was a war between the aesir and vanir that hasn't happened yet.

No, it's the battle of Loki, the giants, and generic evil vs the Aesir, the Vanir, the Battle Maidens, and The Chosen Slain.

It ends in a draw, btw.

but odin dies though.

i just have alot of questions really about freya. if i had to think of anyone to be god, from any religion it would be her. just like everybody talks about valhalla, but freya chooses before the valkyrie, so it seems like it would be more of an honor to go to freyas hall than to odins. and like i said, freya is pretty...and odins an old guy with one eye :(

gith, christianity is to try to be more like christ, who was a hippie and a pacifist. i could claim to be a christian, and kill and rape as much as i wanted, but that doesn't make me a christian. the crusaders wern't christians. i'd be suprised if any even claimed to be. they were mercenaries.

Haha

Any of you that know your Norse mythology should know where my username comes from...

Anyways, I'll go into detail about Ragnarok, since I'm quite familiar with Norse mythology:

The god Tyr gets killed off first, since he only has one hand, thanks to Loki's wolf, Fenrir. Loki and Heimdall fight and kill each other, Fenrir devours Odin, and Thor dies trying to kill the serpent Jormungand.

Then, an evil being, Surtr, escapes from the gates of Muspell and ignites the world on fire.

.....

A new sun arises, and the only survivors are Thor's sons, Modi, and, well, I forgot the other one. Odin's sons, Vidar and Vali survive as well. I like that name a lot, Vidar. Moving on, they're joined by Baldr, and they all lay down and cry, reminiscing about days bygone...

So technically, it's a Pyrrhic victory... :p:p:p



Easily one of my favorite mythological tales....

your name is like the tree of life, or tree of asgard or something right? i didn't look it up before posting and i might be wrong.

i've read it a few times and dont know how to pronounce it. :D

anyway loki...that bastard :mad: i didn't know that. i thought he was funny most of the time. but then again, he is always getting kicked around.

i've been reading like modern versions of alot of the stories not eddas and they are funny, and cool. Hel is pretty cool to be one of the bad ones too. but she's like half of this hot woman, and the other half is a corpse (for people who dont know). i guess like the grim reaper but alot cooler i think. :)

your name is like the tree of life, or tree of asgard or something right? i didn't look it up before posting and i might be wrong.

i've read it a few times and dont know how to pronounce it. :D

anyway loki...that bastard :mad: i didn't know that. i thought he was funny most of the time. but then again, he is always getting kicked around.

i've been reading like modern versions of alot of the stories not eddas and they are funny, and cool.

You're quite sharp; scarce few know what the Yggdrasil is. You're quite right. It's the tree of life that connects Niflheim, Midgard, and Ásgard, with its roots planted into Jötunheim.

Anyways, your perceptions of Loki aren't wrong at all. He's generally considered a trickster, shapeshifter, and all around joke. But he's a vicious bastard, and manages to kill off the gods in Ragnarok through pure deception.

I could tell you a couple of the kinds of "tricks" he played on the gods, but it don't want to derail the thread. :p

we should make a thread devoted to this :D

i know one, when he cut off either freyas, or friggas hair i think, so she got gold hair or something. but the version i heard wasn't that funny. the ones i've been reading lately are like in modern language and like adult versions. i would be interested in hearing some of the stories.

i dont mind if you post them here, but there should be a thread here just for norse mythology.

we should make a thread devoted to this :D

i know one, when he cut off either freyas, or friggas hair i think, so she got gold hair or something. but the version i heard wasn't that funny. the ones i've been reading lately are like in modern language and like adult versions. i would be interested in hearing some of the stories.

Ha!

That's the one I was going to tell you! :D:D:D

Silly vikings, it's Wodan not Odin.

Motherfuckers!!! Start copy/pasting ur favorite stories now!!! Viking lore is the best. About Christianity taking over: I was always told that the kings saw it as an opportunity to unite the tribes so they could gain more power. Of course it was a process that took a couple hundred years, some bloody crusades, and the modification of the religion that included many weird things like Jesus being a warlord, but they still held most of their ancient customs and beliefs. Lol. Does anyone know if Ragnar's name comes from ragnarok? That dude was a badass.

Edit: I'm no expert in viking history so I could be very wrong about the christain thing.

Edit: I'm no expert in viking history so I could be very wrong about the christain thing.

Here some west Germanic (in this case dutch, the bold text is the interesting bit) lore;

During the second journey of Saint Boniface to Rome, Willibrord (monk) tried to convert Radbod (Frisian king), but not succeeding he returned to Fontenelle. It is said that Radbod was nearly baptised, but refused when he was told that he would not be able to find any of his ancestors in Heaven after his death, since he preferred spending eternity in Hell with his pagan ancestors than in Heaven with his enemies, especially the Franks.

Willibrord tried this while on a Carolingian-sponsored mission into Frisia with the express purpose of trying to convert the pagan Frisians living there in the hope that, once they had converted to Christianity, the Franks could gain control of the important trade port Dorestad, which they had up to that point been unable to do.

Saint Boniface was murdered by the Frisians at a later date when he chopped down an oak tree (which were holy to the lower west Germanic tribes). The Franks (also a Germanic tribe) who had already converted to christianity used it to gain power over other tribes which succeeded eventually. (The Frankish ruler during this part of history was the father of Charles Martel and grandfather of Charlemange)

I thought I might as well include this since, ethnically they're basically the same, same with the mythology (globally) the names just differ a bit.

Silly vikings, it's Wodan not Odin.

You're both right and wrong.

Wodan was what Odin was called in Anglo-Saxon. Odin is in Old Norse, and is the term most often used when talking about that specific deity. If anything, the term Wodan nowadays only has familiarity because Neo-Pagans prefer the term, I believe.

Thor dies trying to kill the serpent Jormungand.

Hmm, I thought that Thor killed Jörmungandr then took several (I think it was 12) paces before dieing from Jörmungandr's poison...

Thats the problem with religion, there is commonly variations of the same story floating around.

Hmm, I thought that Thor killed Jörmungandr then took several (I think it was 12) paces before dieing from Jörmungandr's poison...

Thats the problem with religion, there is commonly variations of the same story floating around.

Thats the correct version, as you said. I'm sure starchild was just simplifying it for briefness' sake.

Thor takes nine steps after slaying Jörmungandr, to then collapse. Also, Odin's son, Vadir, slays Fenrir by stepping on his lower jaw (being protected by his magical shoe, made from all of the discarded leather peices from the shoes of all man), and then lifting Fenrir's top jaw with one hand to tear it's mouth apart. In some versions it says Vadir stabs Fenrir in the heart, and in some version it says he forces Fenrir's jaw open and then stabs it in the heart.

Thats just the problem with ancient religions, for the most part, because they haven't found THAT many written documents of the norse religion. Plus, most of what they've found are just drawings and pictures. Considering how the religion was taught mainly by word of mouth, it wouldn't be surprising that there multiple versions floating around.

You're both right and wrong.

Wodan was what Odin was called in Anglo-Saxon. Odin is in Old Norse, and is the term most often used when talking about that specific deity. If anything, the term Wodan nowadays only has familiarity because Neo-Pagans prefer the term, I believe.

I was joking.

Wodan / Wöden is what he was called by west Germanic tribes. (Wodan is his name in dutch which is my first language)

Thats just the problem with ancient religions, for the most part, because they haven't found THAT many written documents of the norse religion. Plus, most of what they've found are just drawings and pictures. Considering how the religion was taught mainly by word of mouth, it wouldn't be surprising that there multiple versions floating around.

Most important sources are these: Edda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edda) (as far as I know)

Wodan / Wöden is what he was called by west Germanic tribes. (Wodan is his name in dutch which is my first language)


What do you think "Wednesday" was named after? The Anglo-Saxons named their week after various Gods, except for Saturday, which was named for the Roman God Mercury.

Máni - Monday
Týr - Tuesday
Wodan - Wednesday
Thor - Thursday
Frigg/Freyja -Friday
Sól - Sunday

at least, I think thats correct... should probably look it up.

gith, christianity is to try to be more like christ, who was a hippie and a pacifist. i could claim to be a christian, and kill and rape as much as i wanted, but that doesn't make me a christian. the crusaders wern't christians. i'd be suprised if any even claimed to be. they were mercenaries.

Not even close. I dont think any crusaders were ever paid to go, in fact most of them ended up deeply in debt from going to the holy land. The main reason most went was for remission of their sins, which means they probably were quite serious about being christians. The clergy was also mainly responsible for spreading the crusades.

The viking stuff is interesting, though I think picking a god/religion because she is "hot" is kinda ridiculous

Damn, I had no Idea so many totseans knew this much about Norse Mythology.
It was Sif (wife of Thor) who had her hair cut by Loki.

My favorite story is the binding of Loki and his children.

freya is pretty

http://www.cichw.net/ghel/frzorn1.jpg

To each their own. Personally I'm not into fat girls with dreadlocked pubes.

I was joking.

Wodan / Wöden is what he was called by west Germanic tribes. (Wodan is his name in dutch which is my first language)

If it's that in Dutch, it's almost definitely that in anglo-saxon. Remember, these were all seafaring people, and Holland was therefore an easier journey from London than some parts of England.

Norse mythology, great stuff.

Some more on Ragnarok "Doom of the Gods"

Ragnarok, also called Gotterdammerung, means the end of the cosmos in Norse mythology. It will be preceded by Fimbulvetr, the winter of winters. Three such winters will follow each other with no summers in between. Conflicts and feuds will break out, even between families, and all morality will disappear. This is the beginning of the end.

The wolf Skoll will finally devour the sun, and his brother Hati will eat the moon, plunging the earth [into] darkness. The stars will vanish from the sky. The cock Fjalar will crow to the giants and the golden cock Gullinkambi will crow to the gods. A third cock will raise the dead.

Also, The so-called Norse Edda, full of poetic accounts of heroic gods and their deeds, was actually a creation of the Druids of Ireland and England. A close reading of the correct and unadulterated translation reveals the Druidic authorship of the sagas (See L. A. Waddell's British Edda)

The cult of the stag god once spread all over Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, Eurasia, and the East. The horns of the stag, a frequenter of Western climes, represented the annual rise and fall of the sun. Monarchs wore spiked crowns and shaman displayed horns upon their headgear to represent the stag god and his wisdom.
In Norse mythology, four stags were believed to live in the great tree of life called Yggdrasil.

What do you think "Wednesday" was named after? The Anglo-Saxons named their week after various Gods, except for Saturday, which was named for the Roman God Mercury.

Máni - Monday
Týr - Tuesday
Wodan - Wednesday
Thor - Thursday
Frigg/Freyja -Friday
Sól - Sunday

at least, I think thats correct... should probably look it up.

Aglo-Saxons: Angles and the Saxons are both west-germanic tribes. So yeah I already knew that.

In dutch it's:
Maandag
Dinsdag
Woensdag
Donderdag
Vrijdag
Zaterdag
Zondag

If it's that in Dutch, it's almost definitely that in anglo-saxon. Remember, these were all seafaring people, and Holland was therefore an easier journey from London than some parts of England.

Anglo-saxon: Agles and Saxons, both from mainland Europe. Frisian (Spoken by the Frisians in the north of the Netherlands) is the closest to old english spoken language still spoken today.

A third cock will raise the dead.
AKA my cock.

Man, I haven't been on &T for ages. Anyway,

I'm Asatru/Odinist, and have been for quite a few years now. If you have any questions or want any opinions feel free to ask.

I have a book called Temple of Wotan which has a chapter in it called Cult of Freyja. I'll fish that out later and make a post to see if its got anything that might interest you. Oh and I have one of Diana L. Paxon's books and she has a thing about Freyja and her twelve maidens.

Also Odin gets half of those who died bravely, who go to Valhall, and Freyja/Frigga gets the other half. Some think that those who die in aggressive battle go to the Allfather, and those who die protecting others go to Freyjas hall. I think that theory is due to some warriors burial mounds being discovered holding swords, and some with shields.

And it was Sif (Thors wife) who's hair Loki cut off. Then when Thor made him get her new hair or he would kill him, then Loki went to the dwarfs (whos names I always forget) and then Loki also had Mjolnir (Thors hammer), Frey's boat, and Odin's ring Draupnir made, to win the gods favour back.


P.S. I just have something that I feel like sharing. Before my Muay Thai fights I always hold a small ritual to the gods (specifically Thor, Odin, and Tyr. But also Frigga and Frey etc.) to aid me. (I try to focus more on Thor because he was the god who I think brought me to this religion). Anyway, I never really sacrificed much, but this time I did (because the fight was in my home town in front on approx. 600 people) and also held a more elaborate ritual. Before the fight I got my usual pre-fight nerves, and 'summoned' Thor, which always calms me down. Then I knocked my opponent out 52 seconds into the first round. He was out cold. He didn't get up for a few minutes. Did the gods of our folk help me out? I think so.

(oh I'm also trying to get the video of that fight sussed to chuck on youtube)


Hail the Aesir and Vanir

You're quite sharp; scarce few know what the Yggdrasil is. You're quite right. It's the tree of life that connects Niflheim, Midgard, and Ásgard, with its roots planted into Jötunheim.

Anyways, your perceptions of Loki aren't wrong at all. He's generally considered a trickster, shapeshifter, and all around joke. But he's a vicious bastard, and manages to kill off the gods in Ragnarok through pure deception.

I could tell you a couple of the kinds of "tricks" he played on the gods, but it don't want to derail the thread. :p


Don't forget about the evil badger, the name escapes me, that is forever chewing on the roots to bring the universe crashing down. Anyway, I read this one story, called Godslayer, where Baldr was the survivor, and went on to become the shiny Christian God and started a new Golden Age. I don't remember much about it, but a soldier from Vietnam was whisked back in time by Odin and inhabited the body of an elf, and almost stopped Ragnarock from happening, which would've prevented Christianity from every taking hold. Would've done us all a favor..... Killer book though.

Aha! Nidhogg was the beaver's name! Just came to me.