THE
TERRIBLE ONE’S HORSE:
REVEALING
THE SECRETS OF NORSE MYTH
By
August
Hunt
First
Published in 2012 by Stag Spirit Books
THE
TERRIBLE ONE’S HORSE:
REVEALING
THE SECRETS OF NORSE MYTH
Copyright
© Daniel August Hunt
October 7,
2012
Cover
art by Elena Turtle
FOR MY
WISHMAIDEN
Hillarie
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
August
Hunt published his first short stories in his high school newspaper, “The
Wildcat Wire”. These were followed by stories and poems in “The Phoenix”
literary magazine of Clark
Community College, where
he received a writing scholarship. Transferring to The Evergreen State College
in Olympia, Washington State, he continued to publish
pieces in local publications and was awarded the Edith K. Draham literary
prize.
A
few years after graduating with a degree in Celtic and Germanic Studies, he
published “The Road of the Sun: Travels of the Zodiac Twins in Near Eastern and
European Myth”. Leading magazine contributions include a cover article on the
ancient Sinaguan culture of the American Southwest for Arizona Highways.
August
has published six other books to date: “The Mysteries of Avalon: An
Introduction to Arthurian Druidism”, “The Arthur of History: A Reinterpretation
of the Evidence” , “The Real Moses and His God”, “A New Theory on Atlantis”,
“Christ and Revelation” and “The Rending” (a novel). All six are in print and
available through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.
A PREFATORY NOTE TO THE
READER
This
book is a collection of essays on various aspects of Germanic/Norse mythology
and religion. All were written in the
past few years and although originally I did not intend for them to form a
cohesive whole, it occurred to me recently that perhaps I should revise the
earlier ones and polish the newer and then make all of them available in book
form. While the range of material is not
entirely comprehensive, the different pieces of the whole do dovetail fairly
well and all interrelate to each other on one or more levels. There is some inevitable overlap, but I’ve
tried hard to avoid excessive repetition or redundancy. It is my hope that
anyone who has an interest in the subject, and in particular those who consider
themselves adherents of the old Eddaic-derived faith, may enjoy and even appreciate
some of the interpretations I offer. If any of my findings, no matter how
theoretical they may be, actually benefit the reader, then my rationale in
preparing this volume will have been amply justified.
My
only caution would be that this is NOT an introductory treatment of Norse
myth. Some knowledge of the Eddas and
related matter is assumed.
Two
essays on aspects of Viking history are appended.
August
Hunt
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1)
Asatru and the ‘Pure Nordic Race’: A Modern Misappropriation of an
All-Inclusive Ancient Religion… Page 13
2)
Sleipnir: The “Slippery” Horse of Odin… Page 25
3)
A Thought on Huginn and Muninn, Odin’s Ravens… Page 28
4)
The Valknut: A Reappraisal of Odin’s Knot of the Slain… Page 30
5)
Bear-Shirts and Wolf-Coats: Odin’s Sacred Warriors as Solar and Lunar
Fraternities?... Page 37
6)
The Runic Word ‘Alu’ and Starkad Aludreng… Page 47
7)
Lords of Opposition and Completion: The Giants as the Negative Aspect of the
Divine… Page 58
8)
Loki, Mischief-Making Companion of Odin and Thor… Page 61
9)
Who was Frigg?: The Interpretatio Romano of Venus and the Real Identity of
Odin’s Wife… Page 63
10)
Volund the Smith, Prince of Elves: The Forging of Life and Death… Page 68
11)
‘And You’ll Be Fairies All’: A Very Brief Treatment of the Nature of Fairies
and Their Origins… Page 78
12)
Andvari’s Ring and the Brisingamen Necklace… Page 88
13)
Who was Hagen/Hogni, the Murderer of Siegfried/Sigurd?... Page 96
14)
Speaker of Secrets: Prophecy and the Head of Mimir… Page 103
15)
Mithothyn as Odin of the Tree/Gallows… Page 108
16)
Nine Nights on the Tree: Odin’s Self-Sacrifice and His Obtaining of the Runes…
Page 114
17)
The Mead of Poetry: Elixir of the Muse and of Eternal Life… Page 120
18)
A Brief Essay on Norse Cosmography… Page 125
19)
Why I Believe the Irminsul is Still Standing: A Note on the Christianization of
a Pagan Germanic Shrine… Page 139
20)
The Externstiene Bas Relief: An Easter Sky Portrait Depicting the Substitution
of the Christian Cross for the Pagan Irminsul?... Page 146
21)
The “Eoten” Grendel: From Jutish Governor to Planetary Myth… Page 149
22)
Beowulf and the Dragon I: The Quest For Two Barrows… Page 161
23)
Beowulf and the Dragon II: Ancient Cult and Hero’s Death… Page 179
24)
The Forever War of the Aesir and Vanir: Slaying and Being Slain for the
Goddess… Page 188
25)
On the Mound with Eggther: Towards a Viking ‘Book of the Dead’… Page 205
26)
What Odin Whispered in Balder’s Ear: The Death of the Pagan Christ… Page 255
27)
Reflections on Vigrid/Oskopnir and Idavoll: The Norse World During and After
Ragnarok… Page 268
28)
The Norse and the British Morris Dances Page 280
29)
I Took Up the Runes: The Spells of Odin from Havamal… Page 288
30) Robin Hood, Hott/Odin, Haethcyn and Hod: An
Ancient Germanic Prototype for the Outlaw Legend?... Page 300
31) A New Identification of the Battle of
Brunanburh… Page 325
32) My Take on the Vinland Expedition of Thorfinn
Karlsefni… Page 334
33)
The Grave of Starkad the Old… Page 354
ASATRU AND THE ‘PURE
NORDIC RACE’: A MODERN MISAPPROPRIATION OF AN ALL-INCLUSIVE ANCIENT RELIGION
For
most of my adult life, I have revelled in the Norse sagas and Eddas. I first discovered the Volsunga Saga and the
Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson when I learned that Tolkien had used elements
from these sources to compose his fantasy books. More than any other book read during my late
teens, the Prose Edda held a deep fascination for me. To this day, I never tire of its magnificent
catalog of ancient Norse myths.
When
I was reading such sources, I had no idea that the religion that was embedded
(some might say ‘codified’) in the Eddas had been perverted beyond all
recognition by Adolf Hitler’s Nationalistic propaganda machine. I was also ignorant of the fact that the
works of the late 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had
likewise been commandeered by Hitler (although he himself appears to have been
quite ignorant of Nietzsche’s actual philosophy) or that the same had been done
to the works of the 19th century composer Richard Wagner. Granted, Wagner has been found guilty of
anti-Semitism (although there is also documentary evidence that he retracted
some of his statements) and so his works already bore the stamp of Nazi
approval. I was blissfully unaware of
this last when I acquired a love for the music of Wagner's Ring cycle
opera. To me, although his adaptation of
the Sigurd/Siegfried story seemed odd and at times illogical, it was still a
powerful piece of art that made splendid use of one of my favorite heroic
myths.
But
ignorance is no excuse. When it was
pointed out to me in college that I was enjoying myths that were adhered to by
Neo-Nazis in America
(and presumably elsewhere), I was horrified.
And not a little embarrassed. Yet
when I researched the matter, it became clear to me that the whole association
of the ancient Norse or Germanic religion with Nazism was founded in
falsehood. This fact has long been known
by the legitimate followers of Asatru, who have constantly and passionately
spoken out against the ethnic views of Skinheads and affiliated ‘Pure Race’
radicals.
To
begin, anyone who reads the sagas and the Eddas will not be able to find
contained within them a single instance of racism. Not one.
And I challenge anyone who thinks they can produce such to do so. The Vikings were capable of worshipping
different gods or groups of gods. There is
no evidence of conflict deriving from groups worshipping different deities
(other than the usual conflict involving paganism versus Christianity),
although there is some suggestion that social stratification within Norse
society was reflected in the worship of Thor and Odin, for example. Vikings were often ‘eased into’ the Christian
fold by being offered as sort of preliminary baptism called prime-signing. This allowed them to legally trade, etc.,
with Christians. There are saga accounts
of Vikings worshipping Thor and Christ simultaneously. In one classic narrative, a Norseman calls on
Christ for some things, but when things really got bad, he called on Thor. If nothing else, the Vikings were very
practical about their religion. They
were not beyond tossing an idol of a god into a river if the god did not
deliver what was expected of him. There
were also ‘godless’ Vikings who followed Luck or who simply believed in
themselves or their own pseudo-magical strength.
Vikings
not only raided, but settled. And where
they settled, if the country was inhabited already by a foreign people, they
very quickly assimilated the new culture.
In other words, they INTERMARRIED with non-Norse populations. The Normans or ‘Northmen’, who first established
a kingdom in Normandy,
are perhaps the best example of a Scandinavian invasion force that within not
too many generations had become in many ways indistinguishable from the
natives, although they did retain prominent aspects of their own Viking
traditions.
We
have ample evidence of similar assimilation of Vikings with native peoples in
eastern Europe, where the Rus or Swedish Vikings came down the rivers,
initially to trade or raid, but then formed settlements. The Rus, who gave their name to Russia,
intermarried extensively with the native population. Eventually, as is made clear by a reading of
the Russian Primary Chronicle, their princes began to first bear names that
were Slavic equivalents of Viking names, and then they began to take Slavic
names.
In
Britain
and Ireland,
the same thing happened. Conflict with
the Anglo-Saxons and the Irish gave way to settlement, interbreeding and the
inevitable admixture of cultures.
Countless examples can be found to demonstrate this. One of the easiest to look at are Scandinavian
names of the early period, some of which are not actually Scandinavian names at
all, but Celtic names – like Kormakr (= Irish Cormac). We have records
involving Icelandic settlers to prove that Celtic slaves were not only taken
with the Norsemen to Iceland, but that they could be taken as wives or concubines,
and the children's cultural heritage was acknowledged in their birth
names. These Celtic slaves could be
freed and thus became free men within the Icelandic Commonwealth.
It
is also important to emphasize that the whole concept of nationalism was
unknown to the pagan Vikings.
Nationalism only came along with Christian kings of the Scandinavian
countries and it was a rather late development.
And even with such nascent nationalism, we cannot find any trace of the
notion of one nation being racially superior to the others. This whole concept would be totally alien and
incomprehensible to the Vikings and their medieval descendents. It is true that Christianity brought with it
the usual intolerance of other religions, in so far as anyone who was not of
the Christian religion – and of the approved sort of Christian religion – were
by their very nature pagan and thus to be viewed as enemies. But this is not at all the same thing as
proclaiming one race, by virtue of its supposed purity, to be superior to all
others.
Genetic
research has shown and continues to show that there is no such thing as a pure
race. From the earliest times, people
traveled, traded, raided and colonized.
Slaves were brought back from distant lands and their genes filtered
into those of the resident population.
The idea of the pure race is a myth, and the absolute worse kind of
myth. Not only is it totally
unsubstantiated by science, but there are those who make use of manipulated
genealogies in an effort to show pure extraction. The problem with genealogies is that if we
were to trace them back far enough – farther than is, of course, possible – we
would find out that at some point in our evolutionary development we are ALL
DERIVED FROM THE SAME GENETIC ANCESTORS. Science has recently sought and
perhaps found a prototypical 'Adam and Eve' from which the entire human species
descends.
Some
would argue that there are other components of Asatru or its Viking antecedent
which make it objectionable. Human
sacrifice, especially as this is found expressed in Odinism, is one of those
less desirable characteristics. However,
I am not myself aware of any legitimate Asatruar who today accepts the notion
of human sacrifice as a tenet of their belief system. Nor am I aware of any who practice it! Instead, they rightly acknowledge that
sacrifice to Odin doubtless did exist in the Viking and pre-Viking
periods. In acknowledging it, they then
try to understand why it was done, chiefly so that they may discern the religious
symbolism attendant upon it. They can
then SUBLIMATE the practice, by making suitable SUBSTITUTIONS for human
beings. Thus the significance and power
of a ritual is maintained, without harming humans or, for that matter, animals.
There
is ample evidence of human sacrifice in ancient times among pretty much all
peoples. The Celts indulged in it; we
have actual physical evidence in the form of bog bodies. Where we lack evidence, we can find strong
contextual clues in myths. Greece and Rome, the cornerstones of
our Western civilization, were not immune to such a practice, even if only in
their infancy. Other peoples in other
continents likewise went through a period in which human sacrifice was
practiced. The New
World is replete with the likes of the Maya and Incas and Aztecs,
great and very advanced peoples who sometimes practiced human sacrifice on a massive
scale. As a pagan friend has recently reminded me, the very foundation of
Christianity is the sacrifice of its god.
In
conclusion, I find the misappropriation of Asatru by Neo-Nazis and their ilk to
be reprehensible and unacceptable. The
Asatruar, unfortunately, will have to continue their battle against the
mistaken view that their faith involves the notion of racial purity. My own ancestry, although I take pride in the
tiny trace of Welsh blood that runs in my veins, is primarily German, Polish,
Dutch, English and (swears one member of my family, while another vociferously
denounces the claim) Huron. My father’s
father’s people came from the Black Forest region. If I were of the sort that believed that only
those of Germanic or Norse extraction had a right to claim themselves Asatruar,
I suppose based upon my German blood alone I could do so. But the Asatruar I know are more than willing
to allow others to adopt their faith, if these others do so IN GOOD FAITH. In this day and age when we are FREE to find
a spiritual path that “resonates” with us, any path that restricts its
membership based on ethnic extraction should be avoided and criticized.
I
would add, finally, that I refuse to discuss the views I have outlined above
with anyone who holds to Neo-Nazi derived philosophies. I try very hard to be a tolerant person, but
I’ve long ago learned that I’m intolerant of intolerance. I will not debate with the Neo-Nazis because
they have absolutely nothing with which to debate. They are peddlers of hate and its corollary,
violence - angry white men who cloak themselves in the illusion/delusion of racial
purity and superiority, who assign scapegoats to take on their own
deficiencies, feelings of shame and self-loathing, sins and evil inclinations
and impulses. As such, they are to be
condemned and justly vilified by any society that treasures respect for all
peoples, of whatever race or creed.
I
have good German friends who abhor Nazism.
While they accept what Hitler did as part of their history, and they are
extremely well-versed in the causes and forces that ultimately are responsible
for bringing Hitler to power (the United States and the rest of Europe are far
from innocent in this regard), they also feel, ironically, a sense of ethnic
shame, even though the sins of the fathers do NOT fall upon the shoulders of
the sons and daughters. At the same time, many still display pride in a family
member who fought bravely and perhaps died heroically during World War II. What these German friends have expressed to
me, almost uniformly, is the same ambivalence towards this period in their country’s
history as we Americans display when faced with the unpleasant topics of Black
Slavery, the near-extermination, displacement and systematic cultural
destruction of the Native Americans, the imprisonment of Japanese US citizens
during the war or McCarthyism. All nations
have (and some still do) horrible things to other or to their own peoples. Revisionist history, used to show that the
Holocaust did not occur, could well be extended to the American treatment of
Blacks, Native Americans, interred Japanese and McCarthyism. This would make all us “white folks” feel
better about each other, and expunge from our historical records any and all
repugnant episodes. Of course, history
forgotten tends to repeat itself. With a
clean slate, what religious/ethnic group would we go after next? How about pagans? How about Asatruar? If we have not learned the lessons of the
witch hunts and the Inquisition, who will teach us what is right or wrong?
NOTE:
THE SWASTIKA AND ITS MODERN USE OR ABUSE
Should
modern Asatruar flaunt the swastika, a known ancient Germanic symbol? Or should they avoid using this
magico-religious symbol out of respect for Jewish people, as one form of the
symbol was used by Hitler and continues to be used by Neo-Nazis?
I
do think that to use the swastika in an unqualified manner is something that
cannot be justified. Pagan or ethnic
pride, the “I have a right to wear X because it is part of my cultural
heritage”, does not fly. Inconsiderate stubbornness or "thumbing one's
nose" does not excuse terrifying or offending Jews, who were massacred and
otherwise victimized under Hitler’s Swastika-bedecked regime. Shall we encourage people to walk around
sporting Ku Klux Klan robes and hoods?
Someone could say, ‘Well, I don’t subscribe to the views of the Ku Klux
Klan, but it is part of my heritage – my great, great grandfather was a Grand
Dragon – so I think I have a right to wear the costume.’ Such an expression of a perceived right due
to heritage is absurd and ethically insupportable.
This
DOES NOT MEAN the swastika has to be done away with entirely. It can be restricted to private Asatru
ceremonies – in which its quality as a representation of the sun wheel (or
lightning?) is emphasized. If shown
PUBLICLY, whether on one’s person or on a sign, etc., a notice should be posted
with/on/beside the image briefly explaining its origin and significance and
proper affiliation, including a STRONG DISAVOWAL of the use of the symbol by
Hitler, the Nazis or any of their ilk.
As the swastika in one form or the other is found anciently AND
CURRENTLY in many countries around the world, we must always remember THAT
THERE IS NOTHING INHERENTLY WRONG with the symbol itself. It is only the Nazi MISUSE of the symbol
which must be abrogated. I am,
therefore, advocating a disclaimer, of sorts.
In
the Middle Ages, some Christians launched large-scale pogroms against the
Jews. I do not intend for this statement
to be inflammatory; I do not hold modern Catholics responsible for the crimes
committed in the past by a militant minority who were avowedly members of the
same institution. But if Asatruar are
not permitted to show their swastika because Hitler adopted it for his vile
uses, should Christians be prohibited from using the Cross as their chief icon
because it also was born by those persecuting the Jews?
I
have found Jewish people, as a whole, to be a very intelligent, well-educated
and reasonable lot. Many Jews are
non-practicing and may be agnostic or even atheistic, with a clearly defined
scientific bent of mind. I would like
to believe that if they could be assured beyond a shadow of a doubt that a
swastika I was using had absolutely NOTHING to do with Nazism and everything to
do with Asatru, that they may relent and allow my usage of the symbol for my
own magico-religious purposes. The same
may not be true, however, for Orthodox Jews and certainly not for Zealots. Where and when it is appropriate to use the
swastika must then be carefully considered on a case by case basis.
FURTHER
OBJECTIONS TO THE MISUSE OF NORSE RELIGIOUS MOTIFS:
1)
The Death Metal cult has no understanding of Ragnarok or Odinism and its use of
either is, frankly, an abomination.
2)
Designations such as “kindred” for Asatruar should be dispensed with. They have distinct negative connotations,
implying exclusivity, i.e. a closed, family-only or racially related group opposed
to membership drawn from outside its narrowly perceived world-view. Such groups often jealously guard what they
consider their own private cultural/ethnic traditions and values.
3)
Also to be avoided is the dependency on patriarchal or matriarchal authority
figures, loosely patterned after the godar or district chieftain-priests of the
Icelandic Commonwealth; they too readily become
identifiable as cult leaders who exert undue control over the lives of their
followers.
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