Why be an Ásatrúar?

[Jainarayan]

Again much Viking violence was a display to keep Europe's own Abrahamic juggernaut from wiping out their way of life and freedom.

Lindisfarne: The Real Origin of Viking Raids | Freyia Völundarhúsins

Massive beheading sessions and other familiar goodies for those who wouldn't assimilate and drop their pagan ways.

Charlemagne and the Massacre of Verden... 4,500 Pagan heads taken by "Charles the Great". Massacre of Verden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Toxikmynd]

I am actually so very fond of Islam, I just don't like Abrahamic religion.

 

[Riverwolf]

I brought it up because you seem very critical of Islam's violent history, and obviously rather apologetic of the Vikings violent history,

I'm not. I don't hail pirates.

I do, however, hail King Herman.

if you're killed by an invading force, I don't think it matters to you what their religious motivation in killing you was, you're dead..........

That's how we thought, I think.

 

[Toxikmynd]

I'm not. I don't hail pirates.

I do, however, hail King Herman.



That's how we thought, I think.

^^

 

[Toxikmynd]

I agree fully, I believe Odin for example, is the one highest power as he is the All-Father, I don't think Islam is a violent religion at all though, though wars have been waged and blood has been spilled, I believe the actions of others shouldn't define the religion.

 

[Riverwolf]

I'm not one who regards any of the Gods as "highest", as both Woden and Tiu have historically been Allfather King, and both are still subject to Wyrd and Death.

But I'm weird.

 

[Lyndon]

Thanks toxic, Well if we were to look at the approximately 1 million Middle Easterners killed by Western powers or their influence, what percent of these Western Military forces were Christian, or agnostic or atheist. It seems human nature is violent, doesn't matter which religion or non religion you are, people like to try and tell other people and countries how to live their lives, and these same people are hypocrites who have trouble following the same rules they are trying to impose on others. Obviously Asatru, and the modern rather peaceable countries of Scandinavia, have not caused as much trouble in the modern world as elsewhere, and have some of the most equitable just governments IMHO

 

[Nietzsche]

I agree fully, I believe Odin for example, is the one highest power as he is the All-Father, I don't think Islam is a violent religion at all though, though wars have been waged and blood has been spilled, I believe the actions of others shouldn't define the religion.

Ehh. You're free to believe what you want, but Odin is very much not a 'Creator Deity', nor is he the most powerful. According to the Eddas Odin is just the All-Father of humans, Midgard & Asgard, and potentially Hel(the place not the woman). Jotunheim, Vanaheim, ect already existed when he crafted the earth from Ymir's corpse.

 

[Lyndon]

I don't assert that the True Highest God is the most powerful, or necessarily the creator, just the most truthful and source of genuine wisdom. When someone says Highest God, that God does not have to live up to Abrahamic expectations of a God. As I said previously, God is what God is, what man says about God is not necessarily or even likely true.

 

[Toxikmynd]

Yes, but for me, he is highest power in regards to humanity, because he created us. Among the gods? Hell no, he is not. This is my personal belief though.

 

[Faybull]

Question:

So if the religion of the Norse, has diminished to the faint light in regards to its practice culturally, is that the same as saying ragnarok has occurred, or this is still a future event?

 

[Nietzsche]

Question:

So if the religion of the Norse, has diminished to the faint light in regards to its practice culturally, is that the same as saying ragnarok has occurred, or this is still a future event?

Ragnarok is not just the end of the earth & humans. It's the End of All Things. Universe-wide. However, it probably has happened before. And will happen again.

The Norse myths are nothing if not cyclic. The Universe is born & grows to fullness. It reaches its noon-tide eventually. But nothing is forever, and so as this universe crests the winding-down of reality begins. Fimbulvetr sets in, three ages of increasing cold, until it reaches its crescendo and all things are ended in fire.

In short, Ragnarok is described remarkably like the Heat-Death of the universe described in poetic terms. Fimbulvetr(the 'cooling' of the universe), and Surtr with his fiery sword drowns the universe in fire(the collapse & cataclysm of heat & power).

But matter & energy can't be destroyed, only stretched to the point it loses cohesion. It will coalesce again, and the cycle begins once more. Nothing can be done to stop it, but you can hold it off. And that's what the Aesir & Vanir do. They know that they can't stop Ragnarok. But they can put it off for another day, another hour, another minute.

There is no happy ending here, really.

 

[Faybull]

Ragnarok is not just the end of the earth & humans. It's the End of All Things. Universe-wide. However, it probably has happened before. And will happen again.

The Norse myths are nothing if not cyclic. The Universe is born & grows to fullness. It reaches its noon-tide eventually. But nothing is forever, and so as this universe crests the winding-down of reality begins. Fimbulvetr sets in, three ages of increasing cold, until it reaches its crescendo and all things are ended in fire.

In short, Ragnarok is described remarkably like the Heat-Death of the universe described in poetic terms. Fimbulvetr(the 'cooling' of the universe), and Surtr with his fiery sword drowns the universe in fire(the collapse & cataclysm of heat & power).

But matter & energy can't be destroyed, only stretched to the point it loses cohesion. It will coalesce again, and the cycle begins once more. Nothing can be done to stop it, but you can hold it off. And that's what the Aesir & Vanir do. They know that they can't stop Ragnarok. But they can put it off for another day, another hour, another minute.

There is no happy ending here, really.

i never really viewed it as the end of all things....just a changing of the guard. cheers!

 

[Toxikmynd]

Ragnarok is not just the end of the earth & humans. It's the End of All Things. Universe-wide. However, it probably has happened before. And will happen again.

The Norse myths are nothing if not cyclic. The Universe is born & grows to fullness. It reaches its noon-tide eventually. But nothing is forever, and so as this universe crests the winding-down of reality begins. Fimbulvetr sets in, three ages of increasing cold, until it reaches its crescendo and all things are ended in fire.

In short, Ragnarok is described remarkably like the Heat-Death of the universe described in poetic terms. Fimbulvetr(the 'cooling' of the universe), and Surtr with his fiery sword drowns the universe in fire(the collapse & cataclysm of heat & power).

But matter & energy can't be destroyed, only stretched to the point it loses cohesion. It will coalesce again, and the cycle begins once more. Nothing can be done to stop it, but you can hold it off. And that's what the Aesir & Vanir do. They know that they can't stop Ragnarok. But they can put it off for another day, another hour, another minute.

There is no happy ending here, really.

Well, thats sort of nice in my opinion.. It's like a breath of life for a new world. Similar to the goal of the Reapers in Mass Effect, except, well, you know, more universal.

 

[Nietzsche]

i never really viewed it as the end of all things....just a changing of the guard. cheers!

In a way it is. It's just a 'changing' on a universal scale so we can do it all over again. Ragnarok has likely happened countless times already, and we're just in the most recent iteration.

 

[Faybull]

In a way it is. It's just a 'changing' on a universal scale so we can do it all over again. Ragnarok has likely happened countless times already, and we're just in the most recent iteration.

I can dig that...makes sense what you said in the previous post...cheers!

 

[Faybull]

BTW, I only know about Asatru because I was in prison in Arizona.

 

[Faybull]

BTW, I only know about Asatru because I was in prison in Arizona.

almost as if the Norse found their eternal spring.

 

[Toxikmynd]

In a way it is. It's just a 'changing' on a universal scale so we can do it all over again. Ragnarok has likely happened countless times already, and we're just in the most recent iteration.

So because I'm fairly new still to the old ways, can you please explain, if the gods would come back as different beings/people? What about us?

 

[Nietzsche]

So because I'm fairly new still to the old ways, can you please explain, if the gods would come back as different beings/people? What about us?

Really big trees, like California Redwoods, need wildfires to keep them alive. They kill off the smallest ones but leave the largest a little charred but fine. It's an equilibrium set up in such a way that it ensures the largest trees won't have to compete with saplings. It also helps destroy types of fungus that can cause the tree to rot.

I'm about to use a lot of analogy here, so just ask if something seems amiss;

Yggdrasil is a giant tree. Or rather, depicted that way. Lots of branches, roots. We, and by "we" I mean "the universe as we know it" is upon the branches of this tree. Eventually, the dead & dying material starts to pile up. If it were allowed to do that indefinitely, the tree itself would die. But it doesn't. A wildfire rages, scorching the bark & burning the debris, leaving a bare but pristine tree free of ailments(well mostly, but I'll get to that). Eventually the smaller branches that were burnt away completely start growing back, the leaves and such do as well. But a tree never grows exactly the same way each time. In this way, there is change. In this iteration, we call it Yggdrasil, we call the Gods Aesir & Vanir. Our world is named Midgard. So on and so forth. But each time this happens, things are going to be a little different.

The plot is largely the same, but you've got some new actors & dialogue, basically.

Now, I mentioned that most of the ailments of the tree are burnt away. What does that leave? Nidhogg. It lives, coiled around the roots of Yggdrasil, gnawing on them and on corpses. Sometimes it's described as a "dragon", but honestly that's under-selling it. I prefer to think of it as Entropy, the eternal, unending march towards oblivion. And It always survives Ragnarok.

There's also two other creatures, an eagle who hates it & a squirrel who ferries messages between the two as the eagle lives on the uppermost branches.