LIBRARY
Varg Vikernes
"Reflections on European Mythology and Polytheism" 2015
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Liberation
The Ancient European concept of freedom is found in a pair of deities; the Scandinavian Freyr and Freyja, their names derived from an Indo-European root *pri-, meaning "love", "liberate", "spare" and "free". They are twins and children of Njörðr and Skaði; the sea and the rivers running into the sea, joining her. We know these deities from Greek mythology as Dionysos/Bakkhos ("twice born") and Aphrodite ("born from a foam"), and from Roman mythology as Liber (Bacchus) and Libera (Venus) respectively.
Freyr is also known as Vei, and is in that role said to purify, to make sacred, to separate the good from the bad - he distinguishes the wheat from the tares, so to speak. He is a god of youthful strength, freedom and good health. His home is called Alfheimr ("white world", "elf world") and he is connected to the rune InguR ("meadow friend"), which is a picture of a couple making love (in the meadow). Freyja is a goddess of love, freedom and youthful beauty and health. Her home is called Folkvangr ("people meadow") and she is connected to the rune Jera ("year", "good year"), which is a picture of a couple lying next to each other (in the burial mound). Together Freyr and Freyja are said to be the parents of the light elves; the noble spirits of the dead.
We can see from all of this that their concept of freedom was connected to the cyclic existence of the water. The freedom is born from the sea; this sea vaporizes, it forms clouds in the sky and it falls back down in form of rain. The rain then runs back down to the sea through the Earth, to the sea often in form of rivers - and so it continues for all eternity.
The Aurora Borealis, known from Scandinavia as "The Way of the Bees" and "Elf-Dance". Freyja's connection to the Jera rune suggests the same; the rune represents the goddess waiting inside the burial mound to liberate the initiate from death; he is reborn as he steps out from her womb, the burial mound, and is thenceforth eternal - connected to a hammgja. Freyr’s connection to the InguR rune supports this too; the meadow friends are the bees, that we know already were seen as spirits of the dead, as elves - who live in Freyr's "elf world".
There is no complete liberation from the body in the European religion, from the physical world, but there is a liberation of the mind and spirit from the constraints of the physical world. Not only will the hamingja ensure a continued existence after the physical body withers and fades away into death, but it also connects the liberated man to something greater; to a realm of sorcery, a realm with possibilities the mortal (i.e. uninitiated) man can only dream of. The liberated man becomes an immortal god or a goddess himself! He or she becomes liberated from death, but even more so from the fear of dying! Yes; Hel (i.e. death) is the only deity which answers before she is asked, and most often even when she is not asked, but Freyr and Freyja liberates you from her grasp and ensures your eternal youthful strength, sanity, beauty and health as you are reborn every time your body is embraced by death and destruction. Liberation from all the ills of this world and your fear of them cannot be found in the world you live in, but in you; in the deities Freyr and Freyja!
Freyr is also known as Vei, and is in that role said to purify, to make sacred, to separate the good from the bad - he distinguishes the wheat from the tares, so to speak. He is a god of youthful strength, freedom and good health. His home is called Alfheimr ("white world", "elf world") and he is connected to the rune InguR ("meadow friend"), which is a picture of a couple making love (in the meadow). Freyja is a goddess of love, freedom and youthful beauty and health. Her home is called Folkvangr ("people meadow") and she is connected to the rune Jera ("year", "good year"), which is a picture of a couple lying next to each other (in the burial mound). Together Freyr and Freyja are said to be the parents of the light elves; the noble spirits of the dead.
We can see from all of this that their concept of freedom was connected to the cyclic existence of the water. The freedom is born from the sea; this sea vaporizes, it forms clouds in the sky and it falls back down in form of rain. The rain then runs back down to the sea through the Earth, to the sea often in form of rivers - and so it continues for all eternity.
The Aurora Borealis, known from Scandinavia as "The Way of the Bees" and "Elf-Dance". Freyja's connection to the Jera rune suggests the same; the rune represents the goddess waiting inside the burial mound to liberate the initiate from death; he is reborn as he steps out from her womb, the burial mound, and is thenceforth eternal - connected to a hammgja. Freyr’s connection to the InguR rune supports this too; the meadow friends are the bees, that we know already were seen as spirits of the dead, as elves - who live in Freyr's "elf world".
There is no complete liberation from the body in the European religion, from the physical world, but there is a liberation of the mind and spirit from the constraints of the physical world. Not only will the hamingja ensure a continued existence after the physical body withers and fades away into death, but it also connects the liberated man to something greater; to a realm of sorcery, a realm with possibilities the mortal (i.e. uninitiated) man can only dream of. The liberated man becomes an immortal god or a goddess himself! He or she becomes liberated from death, but even more so from the fear of dying! Yes; Hel (i.e. death) is the only deity which answers before she is asked, and most often even when she is not asked, but Freyr and Freyja liberates you from her grasp and ensures your eternal youthful strength, sanity, beauty and health as you are reborn every time your body is embraced by death and destruction. Liberation from all the ills of this world and your fear of them cannot be found in the world you live in, but in you; in the deities Freyr and Freyja!
Varg Vikernes