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Paganism: Part XVIII - Some sort of SRAS errata
Today, 2012, I know and admit that some of the assertions put forth in SRAS are not entirely correct. First of all I call the book "Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia", but I fail to describe sorcery and religion; instead I describe a mix of the two. Not the sorcery tradition and not the religion either, but instead a bit of both mixed together in a world view not entirely logical and not without small contradictions. Now, you don't find even this described anywhere else, so the book is indeed still valuable for those interested in the subject, but 5 years after completing the book I am wiser and today I could have described both the sorcery tradition and the religion better, making more sense of it all.
Where did I go wrong? Well, mainly in my approach to the Ancient World as if they had one single belief system. Now, there was indeed only one religion, but... not everyone practised it in the same way, and of course there was a very different (and much older) sorcery tradition as well, different from the religion... and this tradition was of course also practised in different ways. It was all based on the life stance (religion [Ásatrú] versus tradition [Seiðr]) and cultural background (peasant [Byggjandi] versus hunter-gatherer [Veiðr]) of the people practising it. All these branches came from the same European tree, of course, and the same seed, but they were different even in Antiquity. And even in the late Stone Age.
Now, there is much to say about this, but rather than write a separate book about this I have included this information in my role-playing game (RPG), where I describe in detail the four different combinations.
Where did I go wrong? Well, mainly in my approach to the Ancient World as if they had one single belief system. Now, there was indeed only one religion, but... not everyone practised it in the same way, and of course there was a very different (and much older) sorcery tradition as well, different from the religion... and this tradition was of course also practised in different ways. It was all based on the life stance (religion [Ásatrú] versus tradition [Seiðr]) and cultural background (peasant [Byggjandi] versus hunter-gatherer [Veiðr]) of the people practising it. All these branches came from the same European tree, of course, and the same seed, but they were different even in Antiquity. And even in the late Stone Age.
Now, there is much to say about this, but rather than write a separate book about this I have included this information in my role-playing game (RPG), where I describe in detail the four different combinations.
| Life Stance | Cultural Background | Also known as |
|---|---|---|
| Âsatrû | Veiðr | The Old Religion |
| Âsatrû | Byggjandi | The Religion |
| Seiðr | Veiðr | The Old Tradition |
| Seiðr | Byggjandi | The Tradition |
Being a role-playing game and not a history book there will be much fiction mixed into this as well (like real gods and spells actually working), but this is very easily identified and can quickly be weeded out by those who want to find the real thing. The high festivals (that make up the common religious/traditional practises) have in the RPG been described not as one set of high festivals (as in SRAS), but as mainly two (religion and tradition) sets of high festivals celebrated some times for different reasons and in different ways, and also some high festivals celebrated only by some (for agricultural reasons) (and then obviously only by peasants [Byggjandi]).
I can add that I have had the privilege of being married to a very knowledgeable and brilliant woman for almost 5 years now, and her work with biology, archaeology, philosophy, astronomy and other topics (that you can read more about on mariecachet.com), our discussions about this and our numerous expeditions to related sites in Europe (along with up to three small children, a diminishing fortune and a German car more and more inclined to break down completely), is the main reason why I have become able to describe all of the above so thoroughly in the RPG.
Now, not being a morally bankrupt (natural or artificial) Jew I naturally suffer from the thought of having to force those only interested in out heritage to buy my RPG for them to legally get the information they want, so I plan to put the chapter dealing with this topic as a free and downloadable PDF on my future RPG-web site, so that anyone interested only in this can freely download it and use it as some sort of errata for SRAS. Like all true Europeans I will rather suffer a life in poverty than a life in shame. "Better an empty pouch than wrongly gotten money", as they used to (...) say in Norway.
NB! I have not yet started up my RPG-web site (although I have registered it, and copyrighted the RPG-name and everything), so there is no need to look for it. When the RPG is complete and I start up my RPG-web site it will be clearly announced here on burzum.org.
If this errata isn't enough for those interested they can also watch the film my wife and I are working on, as a joint venture on this topic. It is not yet out, and it will be some sort of amateur art film, semi-biographical, semi-historical and philosophical, featuring my oldest son and myself as lead actors (both in the role as me...). We will of course promote this film in due time, both on burzum.org and on mariecachet.com.
Thank you for your time,
I can add that I have had the privilege of being married to a very knowledgeable and brilliant woman for almost 5 years now, and her work with biology, archaeology, philosophy, astronomy and other topics (that you can read more about on mariecachet.com), our discussions about this and our numerous expeditions to related sites in Europe (along with up to three small children, a diminishing fortune and a German car more and more inclined to break down completely), is the main reason why I have become able to describe all of the above so thoroughly in the RPG.
Now, not being a morally bankrupt (natural or artificial) Jew I naturally suffer from the thought of having to force those only interested in out heritage to buy my RPG for them to legally get the information they want, so I plan to put the chapter dealing with this topic as a free and downloadable PDF on my future RPG-web site, so that anyone interested only in this can freely download it and use it as some sort of errata for SRAS. Like all true Europeans I will rather suffer a life in poverty than a life in shame. "Better an empty pouch than wrongly gotten money", as they used to (...) say in Norway.
NB! I have not yet started up my RPG-web site (although I have registered it, and copyrighted the RPG-name and everything), so there is no need to look for it. When the RPG is complete and I start up my RPG-web site it will be clearly announced here on burzum.org.
If this errata isn't enough for those interested they can also watch the film my wife and I are working on, as a joint venture on this topic. It is not yet out, and it will be some sort of amateur art film, semi-biographical, semi-historical and philosophical, featuring my oldest son and myself as lead actors (both in the role as me...). We will of course promote this film in due time, both on burzum.org and on mariecachet.com.
Thank you for your time,
V.V., Bergen 14.11.2012
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