Does anybody else suffer from "polluted" faith?  I'm not talking about
pollution in the sense of misinterpretations or deliberate self-serviant
interpritations of holy writ (Bibles, Vedas, etc.).  What I am talking about
is aspects of faih polluted by such things as a another person's
interpretation of a work of fiction which represents whatever faith you might
have.  I feel that some of my faith is polluted by works of fiction rather
than strengthened through books of Norse Myth (since I do not have access to
the true Volsung holy writs).  When I touched my new Mjolnir pendant to my
forehead, in addition to feeling a spiritual bond reforming, I also
experienced a minor enlightenment.  Perhaps I should meditate on my religion
to gain more, and on specifc gods on the days for them (i.e. Sunday - Sol,
Monday - Mani, Tuesday - Tyr, Wednesday - Odin, Thursday - Tor, Friday - Frey
& Freyja, Saturday - Loki).  I believe it is time to drive the demons of
fiction from the construction of faith.

20 responses total.

bjorn, I'm having a lot of trouble understanding what you mean by "polluted."
We're living in a culture which is really very different from Old Norse
culture, even though we have a lot to learn from the early trads. One group
I know is trying literally to rebuild Old Egyptian religion, rejecting modern
innovations, but really losing a lot of the relevance that the ancient Neteru
of Kemet can have for us today. When the Xns appeared and cut down the ancient
groves, ruined the temples, and burned the local people at the stake, they
utterly destroyed a culture that was far more beautiful than anything that
replaced it. Out of the ashes, we can pick some embers that can help us
reconnect with the old Deities. They speak to us, powerfully. But we are
living in a culture that needs to hear them. It's not "pollution" if we make
their message relevant to modern life.

Simply put, by "polluted", I mean aspects of faith that aren't gleaned from
reading of Norse myths, but rather from fictional books which include the
Volsung faith.  Granted, pulling faith from myths isn't exactly going to be
right either, but it's a lot better than building my faith around the ideas
of fictious novel.

I, however, am not of the opinion that religions must remain unchanged.  Sure,
I can still CONSIDER ranged weapons to be the weapons of cowards, but in the
real world you survive longer in war with a ranged weapon.  Also, the religion
could still be based around war, but have that be a background aspect and have
the everyday lifestyle at the forefront.  But like I said before, I can only
access my faith through myth - I have yet to even SEE the Havamal.

        Popular Christianity isn't terribly close to the actual
teaching of Christ, either, and is riddled with pagan customs and purely
social rituals, and just plain bad pop culture.  It's the nature of memetics.

Myth is often not an accurate representation of the faith of those who
originally followed the gods spoken of in the myths- by time they get written
down, they may well be considered "quaint" and "old fashioned".  More, often
the educated folks- those who can write things down or comment on them- are
influenced by other cultures they have experienced.  So we get stories in
Celtic lore, for example, which may well be retellings of bible stories. 
They're so "celticized" that it's pretty hard to recognize them as not
original.  Are they "pollution"?  Or "borrowings"?  Or cultural aquisitions-
things which have become part of the lore?  I think you need to look at how
the people seem to use/have used them to judge that.  Same with the Norse
material- some is clearly for entertainment, maintained as sagas for long
winter nights.  Some is clearly late in origin and derivative.  Some tells
us a lot about the culture and its influences.  And some of the material from
Christian times, or the Christian-hybrid material, may well be the most
"accurate" and living examples of how folks really did relate to their gods.

Regarding fiction- I guess you just have to know something about the author;
Diana Paxon does excellent research and is herself pagan- with primarily Norse
deities I *think* (not positive there), so I tend to respect her fiction. 
Problem is, sometimes she gets it so "right" that I forget what details I got
from her and which from mythology/folklore texts. <sigh>  I gather Morgan
Llewllyn isn't too inaccurate, but I hate her writing.  Marion Zimmer Bradley
writes compelling stories and has a grain of plausibility, but may go off on
her own tangents.  The stuff from TSR is a sloppy mix of original sources,
other fiction, convenient restructurings, fairy tales, etc. so that it's
almost impossible to use for real information.  And so it goes.  Keep your
eyes open for new material which uses the archeological record as well as the
myths, but even there sometimes it's very speculative without telling you
that.

Well, all paths have their rough terrain.  I think I also hinted at the fact
that even myths aren't an accurate representation of what the people believed.
So I guess I may just go on my meditation course and see what the powers that
be have to say.

That's usually the best way, bjorn.  ;)

I could also take a trip to Iceland where there is a sizeable following of
this faith, but even that method would be subject to its own failings.

 :)

If you're looking for Icelandic groups, we have one of the most active right
here in AA/Ypsi. Our current newsletter has a good 2-page article on it.

No kidding?  Do they do traditional religion?  Has anyone sent them 
ConVocation info?  Wow!

I also find that suprising, and would like to read the answers to Kami's
questions as well.

Don't get too excited. This is Cyndy and her Asatru group in Ypsi, claiming
an Icelandic version of the familiar Norse pantheon. Apparently the group is
quite successful, but I don't think it includes native Icelandic folk. The
one Icelander I know seems more conventionally Pagan.

Oh well.

Kami, to respond to a previous post (I don't remember which one), Diane Paxson
runs an Asatru group. I stumbled on her web page the other day.

Knew she was Norse.  Didn't know she's Asatru.  Certainly, she's one of the
founders of Covenant of the Goddess.  Seemed a pleasant person, not ego
ridden, the one time I met her.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is Asatru ?

Modern reconstructionist Norse paganism, strongly Odinist in many cases, can
be conservative--both in positive (values, community support, real dedication
to faith) and negative (some tolerance for "neo-nazi" or extremist or racist
views by individuals although not by the tradition) ways.

re 15 - Asatru is the (I think) Norse word for "Odinism".

Nope, more literally "the truth (way, path) of the gods"-- from Asa; Aesir
and Troth, Trua.

That etymology I concur on (Kami's, that is, not Rob's).

I think the tru-part is more related to belif or to be true
swedish 'Asatro', tro = belif, Asa as in Asar or Aesir - the gods 
of Asgard i think Asa also could have ment wood. Thought that is 
most likely xian bullshit, wanting to label it 'idolworship'. 

About tru=true, trohet in swedish = to be true.

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