Asatru a la Deoridhe

[RubyLight]

Deoridhe, I'm not sure if this question was asked already. . .
Can you please explain the different places of the afterlife and what determines where you go?  

[Deoridhe]

RubyLight

Deoridhe, I'm not sure if this question was asked already. . .
Can you please explain the different places of the afterlife and what determines where you go?

The only two certain places are Valhalla (Hall of the Slain) and Hel. You get to Valhalla by dying in battle and, possibly, NOT being chosen by Freya (some argue Freya takes her half of the slain to her hall to await the deaths of their families). Hel takes just about anyone else.

Disir are believed to stay with the family as part of hamingja in some manner, and some people stay at their barrowmounds for some reason, but as far as I know nothing survived of who went where.

Personally, I find the afterlife is relatively unimportant to me. I have hopes, ya, which include NEVER going to Valhalla, but overall I'm content to leave the future to the future.  

[RubyLight]

I see. Thank you.

I wouldn't want to be in Valhalla either. sweatdrop  

[Violet Song jat Shariff]

Hey I had a quick question on something.

In one of the threads I was in earlier, the person I was talking/arguing with kept going on about how there was a religion that pre-dated the Norse religion that focused on animism and honored a Sky Father and Earth Mother. He didn't know what it was called or even what the culture was that it stemmed from, and couldn't even name a written work that talked about it (yet he had supposedly done almost a decade's worth of research rolleyes ). Would you have any idea what faith he's talking about? I thought he might be referring to the faith of the Teutons, but he said that it wasn't. And I might've been incorrect anyways.  

[Deoridhe]

Ultraviolett1127

Hey I had a quick question on something.

In one of the threads I was in earlier, the person I was talking/arguing with kept going on about how there was a religion that pre-dated the Norse religion that focused on animism and honored a Sky Father and Earth Mother. He didn't know what it was called or even what the culture was that it stemmed from, and couldn't even name a written work that talked about it (yet he had supposedly done almost a decade's worth of research rolleyes ). Would you have any idea what faith he's talking about? I thought he might be referring to the faith of the Teutons, but he said that it wasn't. And I might've been incorrect anyways.

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh.....


Well, there is some evidence that *pummels brains* The Southern Creteish (might be other islands, not Crete; I am not at my best mentally right now) area had a culture where there was a Great Goddess as the highest deity (highest being perhaps inappropriately hierarchical) and likely had a male/male deities in addition. The book The Chalice and the Blade goes into some of it, but she uses The Goddess over and over again without really showing there was just one, and my polytheistic soul cringes at historical monotheism...

Yeah.

It likely does predate or date around early, early, early Norse. Of course, we're not sure when a lot of the northern European religions started, started being a possibly inappropriate term, so making claims of before and after is rather like finding a black card in a pitch-black room.  

[Violet Song jat Shariff]

I really didn't think animism had a huge spot in the Norse belief system (or the "pre" Norse beliefs either, but I could be wrong) so when he mentioned that it really confused me.

I have come across Tyr as a sky god before Odinn was introduced/added/created into the pantheon...or are you talking about before that even?

Sorry for the questions; you don't have to answer them right away if you're not mentally up for it <3  

[Deoridhe]

Ultraviolett1127

I really didn't think animism had a huge spot in the Norse belief system (or the "pre" Norse beliefs either, but I could be wrong) so when he mentioned that it really confused me.

Well, the thing is ... we don't know.

That's the problem.

We have some info about late Norse/Germanic practices and beliefs, often from sources with their own agendas, but prior to a certain point we don't have anything recorded and no oral tradition survived.

That's the problem with people going "first" or 'before". The honest-to-gods truth is we don't know.

I would add, I'm not sure why it matters. Older does NOT mean better any more than newer means better.

Ultraviolett1127

I have come across Tyr as a sky god before Odinn was introduced/added/created into the pantheon...or are you talking about before that even?

That is speculation based on linguistics, by the way. Tyr is closer to Zeus and similar words in the presumed Indo-European original language (which we have no evidence ever existed, btw; it's a linguistic puzzle).

Ultraviolett1127

Sorry for the questions; you don't have to answer them right away if you're not mentally up for it <3

Nah, you'll get my not-mentally-up-to-it answers, and in a while Ulfrikr might come by and correct me. wink He's awesome like that.  

[Violet Song jat Shariff]

Deo, do you wear ritual garb or anything when you're blotting, or working with the runes, etc...?

Also, is there any chance of you necro'ing your runes thread here in the guild? sweatdrop  

[Deoridhe]

Ultraviolett1127

Deo, do you wear ritual garb or anything when you're blotting, or working with the runes, etc...?

Nope.

Hel, half the time I don't even do a full ritual - I just stand over the Hoff with a bottle, toast, drink from it, pour, repeat as needed. last time I did a full ritual, with invocation and closing, was when I wasn't near my hoff. I forgot to hallow, though. Opps.

Ultraviolett1127

Also, is there any chance of you necro'ing your runes thread here in the guild? sweatdrop

I can try to find it. ^^  

[Nomad of Nowhere]

Evidence supports an Indo-European language as tremendously. Certainly the Languages of all those classified as "Indo-European" are all related, so there would have had to have been an Indo-European language, or a multiple languages that all combined in many places all over the world in seperate instances.

I believe the theory in regards to Tyre however is that Tiwaz corresponds to Dyeus, which is I believe the genetive form of Zeus. That's what I've read... Dyeus, not unlike the "Tues" in "Tuesday". Dyeus is seemingly related to other cognates, like Deo, Diw, Deva, Diev, or Daeva- even modern English "Divinity." However, that doesn't make them all the same gods;

Diev in Baltic mythology is the father of the storm god, not the storm god himself like Dyeus. In many languages, the word simply denotes any god, for example the Hindu Devas. So it might just be a title that was assigned to and stuck to a deity, so that they became simply identified vaguely as "the god."  

[RubyLight]

I posted this question in the Asatru Guild, but it is so slow. sweatdrop

I just finished the Prose Edda and a statement came to my attention. There was a mention of 12 Gods and 24 Goddesses. After going through, several lists of Nordic gods. There are alot more than 36! So, I beg the question, which 12 gods and 24 Goddesses was the story reffering to?

The story I'm referring to is the Dyluding of Gelfi. (I hope I spelled that right.)  

[Deoridhe]

RubyLight

I posted this question in the Asatru Guild, but it is so slow. sweatdrop

I just finished the Prose Edda and a statement came to my attention. There was a mention of 12 Gods and 24 Goddesses. After going through, several lists of Nordic gods. There are alot more than 36! So, I beg the question, which 12 gods and 24 Goddesses was the story reffering to?

The story I'm referring to is the Dyluding of Gelfi. (I hope I spelled that right.)

The Prose Edda was Snorri wanting to tie mythology into a neat bundle and lay it at the feet of Christianity as history. 12 and 24 are round numbers in Norse traditions, so having those are indications of wholeness.

No idea how many total gods and goddesses, but my best guess is a lot more than 36.  

[Deoridhe]

Teague the Druid

Evidence supports an Indo-European language as tremendously. Certainly the Languages of all those classified as "Indo-European" are all related, so there would have had to have been an Indo-European language, or a multiple languages that all combined in many places all over the world in seperate instances.

Yes, as I said. Linguistic puzzle. There isn't anything written in the "Indo-European language" nor any idea what the alphabet (while we'll being linguistically picky, I should note alphabet isn't Norse in origin) might look like. It's positied based on current languages that we have evidence for.

Hence "linguistic puzzle".

I will take this time to note that I love the nickname for my online name.  

[RubyLight]

Is The Nibelungenlied and Saga of Volsunngs the same thing? Also, I was going over ritual structure for the blot and I was wondering what would be an acceptable beverage for offering? What would be accpteble to use to sprinkle the beverage?  

[Violet Song jat Shariff]

Hey Deo ^_^ I hope you are doing well.

Have you ever had any experiences with Freyja? If so, what was she like with you?

Also, kind of an odd question, but what is your hoff? sweatdrop . I thought I knew what one was, but now I'm not sure.

EDITED TO ADD:
Are there any books you recommend for the history of the Norse? I feel like I am sorely lacking in my history.