Asatru glossary

B

Baldur – son of Odin and Frigga, Solar Deity who was sent to the Underworld by Loki’s ruse. Described as the fairest of the Gods, Baldur lived peacefully with his wife Nana until one fatal day. Even though he was protected from any weapon, Baldur could be injured by holly which Loki used to get rid of the Sun God. On that ill-fated day, Loki convinces Baldur’s blind brother Hod to shoot Baldur with an arrow made of holly and thus prove Baldur’s famed invulnerability. Hod hit Baldur who fell dead on the spot, and Hod and Loki were then cruelly punished. Subsequently Baldur went to Hel, where he will stay until Ragnarok ends.

Baldur

Bear – one of the sacred animals in Nordic tradition. It’s associated to the berserkers, warriors who possessed great strength and courage, greatly valued among the Nordic peoples. Parents often gave their sons the name Bjørn (bear), hoping that the bear’s strength and wisdom will be passed on to their offspring.

Beowulf – Germanic hero who’s slain two monsters – Grendel and the dragon that attacked his country. Hero of the Old English epic of the same name.

Berserkers – Odin’s warriors going into battle without armour and shields, relying only on their immense strength. They owed their bravery to an unidentified potion they’d drink before battle, which probably included some narcotics. Berserk means «bear-skin».

Bestla – Borr’s wife and mother of Odin, Vili and Vea.

Bifrost – rainbow-bridge, connecting Asgard and Midgard. It was made of three colours – red, blue and green (the Eddas mention four). This bridge was a protection from the forces of darkness and chaos, most of all from Muspel’s sons; it was also a connexion between humans and the Gods. Its other name was Ásbrú, i.e. the As bridge. The guardian of this bridge was Heimdal.

Birka – a place near Stockholm where a pagan sanctuary was located.

Boar – sacred animal in the Nordic tradition, dedicated to Frey. in the Eddas we find the boar Seshrimnir who served as food for the fallen warriors in Valhalla. No matter how much of him they ate, he would always regenerate, which is suggested by the meaning of his name – “cooking pit”.

Borr – son of Buri and husband of Bestla, father of Odin, Vili and Ve.

Bragi – son of Odin and the she-giant Gunlod. God of poetry and eloquence, as well as the husband of the Goddess Idun.

Brisingamen – Freya’s magical necklace crafted by dwarves of Svartalfheima. Because of this item, the Goddess slept with four dwarves and so lost her husband Odur.

Brisings – dwarves that crafted Brisingamen.

Brunhilde – one of the Valkyries. She stood up to Odin and for punishment closed inside the fiery ring, wherefrom she was liberated by Sigurd, her future lover.

Buri – forebear of all the Gods. He was liberated from the ice by Audhumle, the primordial cow.

Nietzsche

"What is good?-All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man.

What is bad?-All that proceeds from weakness.

What is happiness?-The feeling that power increases-that a resistance is overcome.
Not contentment, but more power; not peace at all, but WAR; not virtue, but proficiency.
The weak and ill-constituted shall perish: first principle of our philanthropy. And one shall help them to do so.

What is more harmful than any vice?-Active sympathy for the ill-constituted and weak-Christianity . . ."

Asatru Glossary

A


Ajra – Goddess of healing.

Alheim – abode of the light fairies identical to Ljosalfheim.

Alvaldi – A powerful giant and father of Tjazi.

Alvis – «omniscient». A dwarf Thor outwitted by giving him riddles. The riddle-asking went on until morning, and when the Sun rose it turned the dwarf into stone.

Alberich – a character from the Nibelung epic. A dwarf whose treasure was stolen by Loki.

Amsvartnir – the lake the island of Lingvi is located. The wolf Fenriz is shackled there.

Andvari – dwarf, owner of the magical ring later stolen by Loki.

Angrboda – «bearer of bad news». An ice she-giant and Loki’s lover. The mother of Fenriz, Hel and Jormungand.

Apple – fruit considered sacred in Nordic tradition. It’s connected to the Goddess Idun who stored apples of youth in her coffer; these apples gave the Gods eternal youth and good health.

Asgard – abode of the Asir and the Vanir, after the two tribes made peace.

Asgard

Asir – one of the two divine tribes. Most of all they were Gods of war; belonging to this pantheon are Odin, Thor, Hermod, Tyr, Bragi, Forseti, Hodur, Vidar and many others. Asir is plural of the word As, meaning God.

Askr – the first man created by Gods from an ash tree. From him and Embla the whole human race was born.

Atli – Nordic name for Attila, king of the Huns, who died in 453 AD. Attila is the protagonist of the most famous German epic – the Volsung saga.

Audhumla – primordial cow, the first creature to rise up from Ginugagap. From her four udders rivers of milk ran, feeding the first ice giant.

Austri – one of the dwarves standing on four sides of the world, holding the heavens; Austri means East.

Fintroll- Svart Djup

Viking jokes

"If bartenders keep asking you, "What's mead?" you might be a Viking.

If you rate your new cars in oarpower instead of horsepower, you might be a Viking.
 
If you think that a Lutheran is nothing more than a quick source of money, you might be a Viking.

If your new girlfriend is dismayed to find that you've given a personal name to each one of your kitchen knives, you might be a Viking.

If you think that attacking and looting smal towns is a good way to meet people, you might be a Viking.

If, after reciting your family lineage and history, you find that your friends all left two hours ago, you might be a Viking. 

If modern day pirace off the Florida coast sounds to you like a good career opportunity you might be a Viking.
 
If you wave a spear over the visiting basketball team and offer their souls to Odinn, you might be a Viking.

If you finish you European vacation with more money than when you started,you might very well be a Viking.

The Unity of Consciousness – Seidr and Sexual Transformation (pt 1)

We’ve mentioned that seidr and galdor were the main magical techniques practiced in the Germanic occult. They represent the two sexes of Germanic magic: while seidr is associated with women, galdor is the “male magical practice”. We shall demonstrate that a person practicing seidr is in a state in which sexual categories have no meaning, therefore the division of male and female magic is outside of the realm of sexuality.

One might recall that Odin was criticized for practicing seidr, a woman’s skill. In Lokasenna, Loki calls Odin an ergi, that is “one with non-male traits”. The term ergi does not signify an effeminate man, but in this context it signifies one who doesn’t have control over himself, who becomes vulnerable in a state of trance, which is unbecoming for a man. The word is an insult and is used for a person who does not act according to his or her sex: in this way, Freia would also be an ergi because she seduced men instead of being seduced by them. There is a theory that states that practitioners of seidr don’t change their sex, but instead become two-sexual or that his or her sex becomes “the third sex”. This theory was outlined by Jenny Blain in her book “The Nine Worlds of Seidr-Magic”.

Lokasenna

Blain’s theory started from the fact that shamans around the world change their clothes for the clothes of the opposite sex and negate their own sexuality during the ritual in general. This custom is found in some Siberian and Altai tribes whose shamans are men who occasionally dress in women’s clothing and even have husbands. The shamans of Lapland, who are exclusively men, always have a female assistant by their side, attempting to reach the unity of both sexes in this manner during the ritual. The Inuit do not think of sexuality as a structure cast in stone, but as fluid and unfixed, which can therefore be changed at will. However, the most striking are other North American shamans who call themselves two-spirit or berdache and describe themselves as third sex beings (the ones who are berdache can be either men or women). By studying modern seidr practitioners, Blain came to the conclusion that the word ergi is used in the same context as berdache is among North American shamans. Ergi describes the state of a person in trance, a state in which the individual looses all features of his or her physical nature, including sexuality. Apart from that, there is also a sense of loss which is called Ego, because the individual performing seidr becomes one with the world of spirits: the spiritual world. The practitioner is overcome by a general transformation during which a change occurs in his or her relationship with the outside world, the world of spirits, people and society in general. The root of society’s intolerance for a man practicing seidr is exactly this – he leaves to role society assigned him and becomes a non-man, ergi.

The Unity of Consciousness – Seidr and Sexual Transformation pt 2

Consequently, by negating the outside world, a man practicing seidr becomes an ergi or a wimp as he would be called today. One should keep in mind that the Viking society assigned the man with the role of the warrior, defender of the family, and generally considered him its active member. Being a seidrmadr at that time was simply socially unacceptable. Nevertheless, the rejection by the society was not caused only by the seidr practitioner’s rejection of sexuality. The transformation that takes over the practitioner separated him from the society and his community, which is predisposed to rejecting anyone who’s different. The individual in a state of trance looses all features of his or her sexuality, his or her physical nature and his or her personality. This individual severs ties with the world of humans and becomes part of the world of spirits, as a result he or she stops being a true member of society. Shamans in all parts of the world are excluded from the society the same way seidr practitioners were in Viking times. Paradoxically, the community was wary even of local healers, midwives and similar professionals, even though they were useful to the society.

Even though it seems that a man practicing seidr takes over a woman’s role in sex, sexual characteristics in fact play no role in the division of magic between seidr and galdor. As we’ve already said, trance is a state in which the individual rejects his or her sex, either becoming asexual or a member of the opposite sex (just like in dreams, in trance a woman can become a man, and a man can become a woman). The only difference between the two magical practices are to be found in the ways seidr and galdor are practiced. Seidr is the more passive, and galdor the more active practice. Of course, here we are talking about galdor in the broadest sense of the word, not just verbal magic.

A person who wants to practice the occult seriously must accept both these magical practices – both seidr and galdor – otherwise he or she will not be able to achieve a spiritual and magical growth. A mage must be turned towards the inner, spiritual world but must not loose the connexion with reality. Therefore, for a mage to be successful, he or she should not focus only on supernatural experiences and contacting non-human entities, regardless of how much more appealing and interesting that might seem from participating in what constitutes everyday life. To call oneself successful in the occult, a person must be able to cause change in reality as well: socially, emotionally and financially. Only then can one consider oneself a follower of Odin – or a follower of Freya, who never limited herself to practicing only seidr.

Vanadis and the Hooded Crow