The Druid

When I write about how our mythology is an instruction on how to remember passwords, to identify and remember yourself, and how to regain the strength & wisdom you had in previous lives, I get responses from people who are disappointed. They want there to be more to it, more than "just reincarnation". Something more "spiritual" and "deep". Something... impossible.

Likewise, when I write about how our deities are not what the Judeo-Christians presented them as, I get the same type of responses. People feel let down, they are disappointed and accuse me of being an atheist. Because our gods are not like the gods imagined by these ordinary men. They sought our Pagan heritage to find basically what is offered to them by Christianity: a plug to fill all the holes in their lacking world view. Miracles! A magic guy in the sky! Or rather; magic guys and girls in the sky! Something unexplainable and supernatural. Yes; something impossible.

Likewise, when I explain what prayer and sacrifice was all about, they react the same way. When I say that prayer was originally about kneeling down to sow seeds in the ground, so that the fertile soil could produce, and that looking up towards the sky was all about man looking for sunshine and/or rainfall, for the seeds they had planted in the ground, they feel let down again. When I say that sacrifice was all about showing moderation, and leaving some of what you harvested for the birds and other animals, or for the soil, we see the same. It's all so mundane and empty, they think.

Even when I explain how the original temples were simply beautiful natural locations, most of the time centred around an old tree, left alone most of the time, for the animals to enjoy and the plants to grow in the temple area without too much meddling by human hands, they are disappointed. They don't want to hear that the very term "temple" means "temperance". They don't like to hear that one of the temple's main purposes was to teach man about the importance of moderation.

Well, I don't understand why being able to regain all the spiritual strength and wisdom you had in previous lives isn't "deep" enough for them. Why being able to become Óðinn himself is such a disappointment to them. All the insight they had, will be yours. The accumulation of all your forebears' courage, charisma, loyalty, love and not least, luck, will be yours in this life, and you have the ability to add to it as well. You gain divine enlightenment, but this is not "spiritual" and "deep" enough for you!? I guess our heritage is not what is lacking here.

Our deities are not magic guys or girls in the sky, some supernatural creatures that egocentric people can pray to like Judeo-Christians do to their Hebrew idol. This doesn't mean they are not real though. Not defining your deities by Judeo-Christian standards doesn't make you an atheist. Óðinn is the sum of all the spiritual strength of our forebears, of all their Hamingja. A divine force. A real god. Not supernatural, but perfectly natural – as everything real is. He works through us, when we reincarnate, when we recognize ourselves. When we give ourselves to ourselves. Sorry, but no, this is not atheism. It's not Judeo-Christianity, I agree, but no, it's not atheism.

Prayer and sacrifice, as briefly explained above, is how you work with Mother Nature, instead of against her, and instead of trying to lift yourself up above her. You are not the master. Mother Nature is. The deities are. Give so that they can give to you. If you just take everything, every single little seed, for yourself, then Mother Nature cannot give back to you. You already took everything, and nothing comes from nothing. If you never share with her, you will suffer the lack of her abundance. Or in the end even starvation. Show moderation. If you do you can keep on building up your Hamingja, and increase your insight not just in life, but from life to life as well, via reincarnation.

In the past only the honourable were selected to be reborn. Only a select few, only about 10.000 in what is geographical Europe today, would return to life after death. Only the best; the elite. It would take thousands of years too, to be reborn. Simply because of the scarcity of kinsmen. If I recall correctly, Plato estimated it to take some 8.000 years to be reborn, in his time.

Today billions of people are alive. Possibly, more people are alive today than the total sum of people living the last million years. We can in fact imagine that everybody from the past are here now. All at the same time. The elite is still here, yes, but also all the lesser men; those with only a little bit of honour. They didn't have to wait in line for ages, to be reborn, to be given a new chance to live Honourably. There was no longer any scarcity of kinsmen to be reborn in.

But today even our best suffers from amnesia. They have not gone through the awakening rituals of our forebears. They don't tap into the Well of Mímir. They are not gods or goddesses incarnate. They don't remember. They don't have the wisdom, insight, courage, love and luck they used to have in previous lives. They are but empty vessels, filled only by the Honour they can accumulate in this life.

Thankfully, I am not entirely right here, because much of what we experience remind us and awaken our Hamingja in us, but only by chance. You come across something you knew in a previous life, and it awakens something in you. You visit Stonehenge, you see menhirs, dolmens and cairns, you visit museums and see an old armour and an axe, you read the same fairy tales, the same myths, you hear the same melodies you used to know, and so forth. But by accident, and only a little. You gain only fragments of the divine power you could have possessed, had you truly reincarnated and found back to yourself; had you become Óðinn again.

The vast majority of people alive today empty their vessels completely, instead of filling them up at least a bit in this life. They live a dishonourable life, of slavery, cowardice, betrayal, ignorance and a total lack of moderation. Even their "temples" are extravagant displays of a total lack of temperance. All the dregs of the past, people who barely did anything honourable ever, are now here and are allowed to wallow in the mud they create all around them, everywhere. Alas! They never pray, never make sacrifices, never show any moderation, never try to tap into Mímir's Well and remain… empty human beings, void of direction and divine force.

Yes, you already know: the best we can do in this situation is to fill the empty vessels, by awakening at least bits and pieces of Óðinn in them too, by showing them how they can, by giving them direction and divine force. Show them the sacred objects they used to own in previous lives, or at least that they saw back then. Yes, this is what I, a mere "midwife of the mind", offer you, as I try to help you give birth to your divine self.

Courage. Wisdom. Insight. Intuition. Intelligence. Luck. Strength. Loyalty. Love. Kindness. Charisma. Generosity. Immortality through the kin and harmony with Mother Earth. Blood and Soil.

Varg Vikernes
09.06.2020