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понедељак, 31. јануар 2011.

Techniques for practicing Asatru magic



Runecraft – working with Runes. Studying the Runes through analysing their meanings and mythology. Also includes meditations about their shapes, names &c.

Runic divination the most popular and the most traditional type of Runecraft. In his book Germania, Tacitus wrote that the ancient Germans used carved pieces of wood for divination, so it seems clear that the Runes were used for divination since ancient times.

Gald
or – singing or reciting of magical chants. Like every type of Runecraft, this practice is based on the knowledge of the Runes. Galdor can be achieved by saying the names of the Runes in a particular way – by vibrating. Runic or other spells are called galdors.

Talisman magic work with Runic or other talismans. A lot of informations about talisman magic can be found in medieval Icelandic grimoar called Galdrabók.

Seiðr refered to group of magic tehniques such as sexual magic, spells, prohesying &c. Many of the techniques mentionеd  under can be considered as seiðr- techniques.

Spa – prohesying.
In ancient time German witch or volva prohesied sitting on the prophecy-seat  ('high seat' or seiðrhjallr). In trance state she goes in the Underworld and speaks with the spirits of the dead.

Utiseta – a practice during which a vitki (German warlock) or volva sits alone outside, in the dark, with no fire, and contacting the dead or some other entities.

Going under the cloak- another form of soothsaying, similar to utiseta. In the ancient times it was done this way: soothsayer pulled his cloak over his head and fell into a trance. In that state he talked with the spirit of the dead or other spirits, seeking their advice. 'Going under the cloak' was practised in public places, but the one who was soothsaying was not to be disturbed, and his name should not be mentioned.

Hamfarir – connected to traveling outside the body in the form of an animal. Odin often used this kind of magic when he had to do a job that demanded a long journey. This way he would do the job more quickly, by simply lying in his bed, sending his spirit into a certain animal.

Tein seið –also called herb- seið. Practice based on the use of plants for medicinal purposes. Sometimes plants are also used in the practice of Shamanic ritual trances.

Nidstang – making of the ‘Cursing Pole’. The pole would be made from a  piece of wood with a horse’s head attached at the top, and the pole would be directed to whoever was going to be cursed.
  
Stadhagaldor–  or Runic yoga. Practicing body positions of Runes and working with the Runic energies

Runic mudras– practicing hand positions of  Runes, this magic is similar to Stadhagaldor.

Vanadis

недеља, 30. јануар 2011.

Death in june

Sacred manuscripts of Asatru

 




The basis of Asatru lies in sacred manuscripts of the old Nordic religion: the Eddas i sagas. One of the most important parts of the poetic Edda is the Havamal, containing the regulative principles of behaviour mentioned above, the bases of moral action. Havamal is the most sacred script of all, because it contains the words of Odin himself – Hava-mal translates as Words of the High One, i.e. the words of Odin. As the Qu’ran to Muslims, the Torah to Jews, and the Bible to the Christians, Havamal was considered a talisman in its material form, bringing good luck to one possessing it. Beside moral recommendations for all aspects of life – from love to death – this script containts 18 spells. Among others the invulnerability spell, a spell to raise the dead, seduction spell &c. Their power is greater if they’re written and read in Icelandic, because Icelandic is the holy language of Asatru. One other script containing the basis of Asatruan beliefs should be mentioned, namely the Gylfaginning or the Deception of Gylfi, which alongside Nordic mythology, also contains some magical techniques. Besides the Eddas and the sagas there exists a strictly Asatru literature. The authors of these books are Edred Thorsson, Kveldulf Gundarsson, Jan Fries, Freya Aswynn &c.                                                                                                                       

уторак, 18. јануар 2011.

Asatru holidays

 


Asatruans, same as other neo-pagans, celebrate the Solstices and the Equinoxes . Besides them, some other holidays are celebrated, specific to the Nordic religion, and I will proceed to explain some of them.
February the 15th is celebrated as the day of renewal, dedicated to Freya nd Vali. Vali is Odin’s son who survives Ragnarok and so Odin continues to live through him, renewed. As for Freya, it is obvious that she renews and is reborn in every new plant that starts growing again in spring.
Celebrated on the 2nd of February and the 2nd of November are holidays dedicated to Disir. Disir is the plural of Dis and signifies the female Deities considered to be mothers of tribes. During their lifetimes these women were priestesses or queens of tribes, deified after death.
Walpurgis, the festival celebrated from the 22nd of April till the 1st of May is dedicated to Odin and the Goddess Walburg. It’s believed that these nine days of the holiday represent the nine days Odin hang on Yggdrasil, sacrificing himself so he could come to know the secrets of the Universe.
                                                                      
List of Holidays:


December 20th-31st – Yuletide
February 2nd-15th – Disting
March 20th-21st – Ostara
April 22nd-May 1st – Walpurgis
May 30th – Einherjar
June 20th-21st – Middsummer
July 31st-August 1st – Lithasblot
September 22nd-23rd – The Fall Equinox


Complete list of holidays can be found here: http://www.asatru.org/holidays.php

Vanadis & Uroš

четвртак, 13. јануар 2011.

War as a basic principle of Ásatrú

War is ubiquitous in the whole history of mankind, the Universe and Gods, and this history ends with war. Asatru, as a warrior religion, considers war to be sacred and the man, the warrior, a person who has adopted the highest principles and defeated their own fear of pain and death. Because a warrior does not run from pain and death, he defies them. He goes into battle knowing that its outcome is uncertain, but accepts his fate, whatever it may bring. Odin can call him to his halls or grant him a victory, both of which is considered a lucky sign. Why does he defy Destiny and taunts it? "He who is compliant with Destiny is lead by Her, one who resists her, is dragged by Her." Nowadays it is difficult to understand such facing with one's death and fear of it, in a time when all our needs are settled, when we live comfortably, unaware of forces that control us. The old believers then, and Asatruans today, lead the battle a person leads daily, with themselves or the misfortunes of life. At the same time, this is an answer: they are at all times ready for the next blow of Destiny, for the next manifestation of Odin's will. Yet, this understanding forces a person to observe, with full consciousness, their own existence, to fearlessly try everything life gives and accept all of life's ups and downs. Friedrich Nitsche defined this attitude thusly: "life should be affirmed every day" and "one should say YES to life".

Ragnarok
War is essential in human existence, and the answer to the question why does war take such a crucial place in the Nordic religion system. People who approach the Asatruan movement are by their nature warriors. Odin, the chief God of Asatruans, is himself the warrior principle, the spirit of war, its essence. Unlike Tir, to whom victory is vital, Freya and Odin are connected to fighting for its own merits. It's known that Odins warriors, the berserkers, obsessessed with their Deity, went into battle with no armour and fought practically with bear hands. It was said of them that they were possessed by the spirit of the bear or the wolf (berserkr means bearskin, ulfsark – wolfskin); in fact, they were possessed by Wodan himself, whose name means Fury. In Valhalla, the promised award for every fallen warrior, the battle rages on. Warriors fight each other every day, asserting the warrior principle in themselves.
So, unlike the Wiccans and Christians, who call for the utopic unity amongst men and the universal principle of love, Asatruans have war as the basis of their religion. This, of course, does not mean that they advocate abject slaughter, but that their understanding of war is much more real – war emerges from the human need for destruction, which Froyd called Thanatos.

Vanadis

translation: Uroš Rajčević

уторак, 11. јануар 2011.

Tenhi - Lauluni Sinulle

Fylgja



  During your studying of Asatru web-sites and books, you've probably
found the term fylgja. What does fylgja really mean and what are its
characteristics? Firstly, we will analyze it’s name: fylgja or følje
translates to 'she who follows', so fylgja is a kind of chaperone.
Some consider fylgja to be the soul of a person separated from the
body and as such shows the person’s character. This fylgja manifests
itself in the form of an animal corresponding to that character.
Warriors were believed to have the fylgja of a wolf or a bear, thus it
was believed that they wore wolf or bearskin (ulfsark and berserk).
Fylgja appears in dreams, but can also manifest itself when one’s
awake, if it announces the death of the person. Nevertheless, seeing
how the functions of the fylgja are varied and different, one can
assume that there are several varieties of these beings, all of them
connected to the one same person.

The animal fylgja is the shape a person takes over in their dreams.
If you’ve ever had a dream of yourself in the form of an animal, it
means that you’ve had a chance to meet your animal fylgja. And if
you’ve had any astral experiences in animal form, that also means
that you’ve taken over the shape of your fylgja. In the olden days,
the fylgja was considered to be a totem animal of a clan and as such
was considered the guardian of the whole clan – the Aett. Besides
that, a place could also have its guardian – fylgja. Nordic priestesses
often took over the shape of a particular animal to fulfill their magic
goals. Their spirits would leave their bodies and enter the body of an
animal. According to research of Veselin Čajkanović, this kind of
magical practice was not foreign to ancient Slavs, nor to other
European peoples, least of all to American Indian shamans. Seeing as
how it was bound to a certain person, i.e. his personality, this kind
of fylgja stopped existing after the person’s death, which – among
other things – makes it different from the human fylgja. Epic fantasy
writer Philip Pullman, in his trilogy (His Dark Weavings) describes the
relationship of a person and their fylgje. Children, who have yet to
build their character, have a unfixed fylgja, which changes depending 
on their moods, while adults have a formed fylgja or, as he calls it,
daemon.



The human fylgja is, according to some authors, exclusively female
and her other name is fylgjukona meaning 'woman who follows'.
This sort of fylgja is invisible to the person she follows, but only
people around that person, which is a sign of impending death of the
person she’s following. The human form of fylgja is, in its functions,
very similar to a Valkyrie, and so fylgjas and Valkyries aren’t always
considered to be different entities. As we know, a Valkyrie manifests
itself to a warrior hence announcing his death. Also, there are
similarities between fylgjur (the plural of fylgja) and beings called
Disir. Disir are women who were priestesses or tribal queens during
their lifetime, and were believed to stay with their tribes after death,
protecting them with their divine powers. They are demi-Godesses like
Valkyries, and here we can see the similarities between the human
and the animal fylgja – their connexion with a particular tribe. Since it
is not bound to a person like an animal fylgja, it exists even after that
person’s death. Because an animal fylgja is first and foremost the
animal form of a person, and as such cannot outlive its human mate.

There is also another form of fylgja recognized by some authors, the
geometric fylgja. It is only said about it that it represents the aura of
a person, nevertheless this belief is not traditional.

Hamingja is another entity similar to the fylgja. Like the human fylgja, a
hamingja is also female and fixed a person, defining the amount of
their fortune. This is very similar to Fate in Slavic mythology, only
hamingja is connected to a specific person or family. After the death
of one of the family, she can pass to offspring or a near relative; we
can also see here the connexion between the guardian-chaperone with
a particular clan.

How to contact your fylgja? You will hardly meet your fylgja walking
down the street, although that isn’t impossible on a certain magical
level. It appears in dreams, it can come on its own, or exhorted by a
higher psychic state. To me it appeared while I was working on the
Algiz Rune, so it’s possible to use this Rune to summon your fylgja.
Algiz is connected to protection and warning of looming dangers, thus
Her functions are the same as the functions of a fylgja. Besides Algiz,
there’s also Inguz connected to Vanaheim, the home of Freyas, elves,
fylgjur and other related entities. There’s also a method by means of
which you can consciously contact your fylgja, descripted here:
Relax and imagine yourself passing through a Portal. The Portal can be
a cavern, hollowed-out tree, a lake or anything else you feel
comfortable with. When you get to the other side of the Portal, summon
your fylgja. It’s recommended that you offer it a sacrifice (blot), i.e.
to imagine offering it and ask it to appear. In case the fylgja manifests
itself, do not be afraid, talk with it and when you’re done, say your
good-byes and thanks. If you haven’t had any experience with these
kinds of entities, it’s better that you wait a while until you learn how
to relax and be ready for these encounters. Your fylgja will not hurt
you, but it’s possible that you will be frightened of it in an altered
state of mind.


Vanadis

translation: Uroš Rajčević