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Norse Gods

The Gods of Asgard: The Old Norse reckoned that there were three races of Gods: the Aesir, the Vanir, and the Jotnar. The Aesir are those beings most often referred to in the ancient literature simply as "the Gods," in fact the word "As" means "God." They are the Gods of society, representing things such as Kingship, Craft, etc. The Vanir are more closely connected to the earth and represent the fecundity of the land and the natural forces which help mankind. Once there was a great war between the Aesir and the Vanir, but this was eventually settled and Frey, Freya, and Njord came to live with the Aesir to seal the peace. The Jotnar are a third race of Gods and at constant war with the Aesir, but there is not and never will be peace in this battle. The Jotnar are never called Gods, but rather referred to as giants. They represent the natural forces of chaos and destruction as the Aesir represent forces of order and society. Just as fire and ice mix to form the world, this creative interaction of chaos and order maintains the balance of the world. In the end the two sides will meet in the great battle of Ragnarok and the world will be destroyed, only to be reborn.

 The Norse notion of the Gods was very much involved with tribalism. The Aesir are the Gods of the tribe or clan. The Vanir are those Gods who are allied with the clan, but who are not part of it. The Jotnar or Giants are the "outlanders" or more simply everyone else.The Norse Gods were not held to be all powerful or immortal. Their youth was maintained very precariously by the magickal apples of the Goddess Idunna. More importantly at the end of the world a good number of the Gods will die in battle. The Northern view of the world was a practical one with little assurance for the future and little perfection and the Gods are no exception. It is very important to understand that the Gods are real and living beings. They are not mere personifications of natural forces, nor are they Jungian archetypes that dwell only in our minds--although Jung's work may be helpful in understanding their nature as living beings. Those divinities who we call "Gods" (i.e., the Aesir and Vanir) are also "personal deities" who take an active interest in the affairs of mankind, and seek relationships with their followers. This is important to remember when we perform ceremonies or pray to the Gods. They aren't magical symbols to be manipulated, nor is our religion some type of giant cosmic vending machine where sacrifices are inserted and blessings come out. The Gods are living beings and offer us benefits because we are their friends and companions. They should always be treated with respect. 

The Gods in the Temple: Thor, Odin, and Frey: The three most important Gods were held to be Odin, Thor, and Frey. These were the deities whose statues stood at the altar of the temple at Upsalla. They are considered the most important because of what they represent. Mythologer Georges Dumezil has linked these three deities with the three classes of Indo-European culture: the Kings, the Warriors, and the Farmers. Although the fit is not an exact one, it is probably true that these three deities most concretely symbolized the various aspects of Norse life and culture and most people would have found a God who represented their life-experience in one of these three deities. 

Odin is the Allfather, remembered today best as a God of war and of the berserk rage of the Vikings. However, he has other aspects which are just as strong or stronger. In the Eddas, he is the leader of the Gods, but this is a position which most of the Germanic peoples attributed to Tyr. It's likely that Odin only became ruler during the Viking Age, when a God of wile rather than strict justice was more necessary. Being the Allfather, his original position of leadership was probably familial rather than legislative. Most importantly he is a God of transcendent wisdom and in relation to that a God of magick. He is the God of the Runes, the magical alphabet which holds the mysteries of the universe within it. In most of the non-Viking countries, Odin's warrior aspect was played down. In England, where he is known as Woden, he is a gray cloaked wanderer (the inspiration for Tolkien's Gandalf) who travels the country, usually alone, surveying his land. Here again we see him in the position of a father figure, a warder of the land but not necessarily a King. Odin is also a God of the dead. Half of the slain in battles go to him to prepare for the Ragnarok. (The remaining half go to Freya.) He also has associations with the dead as a practitioner of Seidhr, a form of shamanic magick which he learned from Freya and used on various occasions to travel to Hel and seek the knowledge of those who have passed from this world. It's difficult to classify Odin simply because he was such a popular God during the last stages of Norse Paganism and thus absorbed many traits of other Gods.

Thor is probably the best known of the Norse Gods. He is a simple God, the patron of farmers and other folk who are "wise, but not too wise" as the Eddas advise us to be. Thor is best known for wandering the world in search of adventure; usually found in the form of giants or other monsters to kill. He possesses tremendous strength and the hammer Mjolnir, which was made for him by the Dwarfs. Mjolnir is considered to be the Gods' greatest treasure because it is sure protection from the forces of the Jotnar. Using Mjolnir, Thor is a warrior figure, but he is less a professional warrior than a common man called upon to defend his land. He loves battle not for itself as do the berserkers of Odin, nor does he have a strong code of honor such as that of Tyr--in fact he breaks with honor and kills giants whether they have the protection of "hospitality" or not. Thor is associated with thunder, and is also the God of rain and storms, but it's important to note that he is not the God of destructive storms. Thor is nature as a benefit to man. The Jotnar are held to be the source of the destruction found in nature. Thor was the God of "everyman." He was simple in purpose, strong, and free. He was most beloved of the freemen farmers who populated the Germanic lands. 

Frey is a God of peace and fertility. If Thor is the God of the farmer, then Frey is the God of the crops themselves. He is a God of the Vanir, but lives with the Aesir to secure their treaty with the Vanir. His symbol is the priapus and his blessings were sought at planting and other important agricultural festivals. The word "frey" means "Lord" and it's unsure if this is the Gods name or his title. He is also known as Ing or Ingvi, so some have speculated his title is properly Frey Ingvi--Lord Ingvi. We do not known a great deal more about Frey as few myths have survived which give us any insight into his character. As much as he is a God of fertility, he is also a God of peace and Ing was said to have brought a Golden Age of peace and prosperity to old Denmark. Horses are held to be sacred to Frey, probably because of fertility connections.

Goddesses: In general we know much less about how our ancestors worshipped the Goddesses than the Gods. Later Norse culture was very bound up with the vikings and it is likely that the Goddesses were deemphasized at this point. More importantly, virtually all the mythology we have today was recorded during the Christian period and Christian culture had little respect for women, least of all independent and strong women like those of Nordic society.

Freya is the most important of the Goddesses or at least that Goddess about which we known the most. She is the sister of Frey and along with him was sent to live with the Aesir in order to seal a peace agreement. Freya is a Goddess with two distinct sides to her. First, she is the Goddess of love and beauty and second a Goddess of war who shares the battle-slain with Odin. Unlike our modern culture, the ancients saw no contradiction in this. She was also a sorceress who practiced the shamanic magick known as Seidhr, which she taught to Odin. Freya is the Goddess most often invoked by independent women. While she is a Goddess of beauty, she is not dependent on men as is the stereotype of so many love Goddesses, but is strong and fiercely independent. She is also known as the Great Dis and probably has connections to the family spirits known as the Disir. In many ways she is like Odin in that she is a Goddess of many functions which are not always obviously related. In modern Asatru, many groups have placed Freya alongside Odin and Thor on the altar, in place of her twin brother Frey.

 Frigg is a most misunderstood Goddess. She is the wife of Odin and many people are too willing to let her be known simply as that. However, the old Norse had a much different idea of the place of women and of marriage in general. While marriages for love were certainly known, marriage was also a business and social arrangement and there were important duties for a wife. These were symbolized by a set of keys which hung at the belt of all "goodwives." This symbolized that the home was under the control of the woman of the house, who was equal to her husband. Today we think these duties as very minor, but a thousand years ago they were far from trivial. Up until this century most of Europe lived in extended families. A house, especially a hall of a warrior, was not a small building with a nuclear family, but an entire settlement with outbuildings, servants, slaves, and an entire clan. The wife of the house was in charge of stores and trading with other clans. It was she that saw to the upkeep of the farm, the balancing of the books, and even to the farming itself if her husband was away trading or making war. It was as much a job of managing a business as it was being a "wife." For these reasons Frigg is still very important and can easily be invoked beyond the home. She would, for example, be a natural patron for someone who owned a business. Frigg also shares a lot of characteristics with her husband. She is the only other God who is allowed to sit in Odin's seat from which can be seen all that goes on in the nine worlds. It is said that she knows the future, but remains silent, which is entirely in keeping with the way women of the time exercised their power: namely indirectly. While in a better world this might not be necessary, it is still an important tool for women who must exist in a world where men are sometimes threatened by them. While Freya is a Goddess who acts independent of "traditional" roles, Frigg is a Goddess who works within those roles, but still maintains her power and independence.

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