Heathen Board

The lore like any good story is mythic. The events take place in a mythic past that informs our present and in turn reshapes the myth. This is not to say that the mythic past is not real as even real life is subjective to the interpretations and embellishments of the observers and relaters of events. Myth is just as real as 'real life'. Now don't get all weird on me here, please. I am not saying that Odin wrote the Havamal. What I am saying though is that we should treat it as though it was. Just like when we offer to idols. We don't believe the gods are there... we accept that they are in some way... mythically. So yeah... you cdan take the lore literally, but only if you remember that its myth.

Erik

Explain what you mean by "mythic".

I am from the school of Eliade.

From Wiki:
'Mircea Eliade argued that one of the foremost functions of myth is to establish models for behavior[34][35] and that myths may also provide a religious experience. By telling or reenacting myths, members of traditional societies detach themselves from the present and return to the mythical age, thereby bringing themselves closer to the divine.'

In short myth is a sacred narrative that serves to illustrate the behaviours, values, attitudes and beliefs of a people. The origin of such is usually set in an age just after the ordering of the cosmos or as Eliade puts it (paraphrasing) 'the sacre space is the focal point from which all other spaces are defined'. Hence the narrative informs the ritual, the ritual is performed by the people, the people form the narrative... repeat.

Erik

This is why for my kindred sacred drama plays a big role in our religious experiences. Mumming or guising, playing a role of a god during a ritual helps re-establish and re-enforce the thew of my folk.

I think I agree with that.

I take the lore literally. We are made of trees - as in, the universe never loses or gains matter. I am not saying I'm wooden, but I believe among many of the great things the Gods can do, turning wood to flesh probably isn't that hard, eh? We turn materials into things all the time, even changing the chemical composition of those things. I take the nine worlds literally, the physical existence of the gods, the light elves, the dark elves, etc. literally. I wont say I take every single word for face value without delving for a deeper meaning, but in general I am 'one of those.' lol I do try to balance science and religion, though. There is a lot of soundly proven facts that science can offer us, and we would be fools to cling to something our ancestors said in the face of evidence to the contrary. Our gods are wise, adaptable, and if we are to do them honor we need to try to be wise and adaptable too. The Law of Kaun says that the journey for wisdom, knowledge, and awareness is an eternal one.

I think you mean figuratively.

No, not at all. There are some things I admit I do take with a grain of salt, if the source of the lore is shakey or too much science is giving evidence to the contrary, but I take most of the lore literally. As in the nine worlds are real places, the Godhin, the Jotunn, the Alfar, etc are all real creatures that exist. There is a wight house in my back yard, complete with furniture and frequent offerings.

I will agree with the previous point mentioned that much of our lore has been altered by the hands of those of other faiths. Ever heard of the Norroena Society? They really do a wonderful job trying to find the purest sources of the lore and sift out a lot of the Christian influences. If you read their book "The Asatruar Edda" there are some interesting if controversial points in there.

We are made of trees - as in, the universe never loses or gains matter.

This right here is figurative. If we were literally made of wood rather than blood, bone, muscle, tendons, tissue, etc we wouldn't be typing on this computer right now.

Being literal means to take the exact meaning of the sentence with no hidden meaning, poetic meaning, etc. You said you don't mean wooden, which means you were not being literal, you were being figurative.


What do you think of evolution? I'm curious.

I meant literal as in I believe Odin literally carved pieces of driftwood into human form, and He and his Brothers blessed that figure with a mind a soul and used their power to give that wood a mortal form. Obviously not even our ancestors thought we were actual wooden beings, but I do believe our creation story. Also, I mean we are literally made of atoms that likely at one time may have been part of a tree.

An interesting concept, evolution, I'm glad you asked because my thoughts on the subject are ... fluid. I welcome discourse on the subject because I believe debating things makes us smarter and wiser. I am generally scientifically minded and I do believe in evolution. I believe it's ignorant and foolish to discard hard evidence for faith based on stories of what people say happened a very long time ago. I wasn't there, so I am not going to say I really know one way or the other, lol. That being said, you can see there is an obvious contradiction between lore and science in the origin of man, lol. I am not completely sure how I reconcile them, to be blunt and honest. My working theory now is that the world, after the gods created it from Ymir's body, progressed as evolution said it did. Then as evolution started to create humanoids, that's when Odin and His Brothers found the driftwood and got the idea to create humans in their image, blessing us with that sentience that sets up apart from all the other animals. It was a sort of, "look at those creatures, they are starting to look kind of like us. Wouldn't it be cool if there were creatures on this earth with divine souls and spirits?" sort of like that, if I am making any sense, lol.