Saturday April 9, 2011 – Day of Remembrance for Jarl Haakon Sigurdsson of Norway

Saturday April 9, 2011

Day of Remembrance for Jarl Haakon Sigurdsson of Norway

 As ruler of the western part of the realm (Norway), Haakon Sigurdsson (Haakon the Great), one of the Jarls of Hladhir, restored the worship of the Old Gods. In the process, the common folk regained political liberties which were erased under Christian rule. It may be that Hakon’s defense of our ancestral ways helped encourage the survival of our traditions in Iceland, where they eventually became the seeds of modern-day Asatru. On this day, Asatruar reflect an how the actions of the individual can impact world events and Orlog.

Haakon was the son of Sigurd Haakonsson, Jarl of Lade and ruler of Trøndelag and Hålogaland. His mother was Bergljot Toresdatter, daughter of Tore Ragnvaldsson, Earl of Møre. Adam of Bremen wrote that he was “of the stock of Ivar (possibly Ivar the Boneless) and descended from a race of giants”.^[2] In the sagas, Haakon claimed descent from the divine linage of Sæming, son of Odin. The Hakon Jarl Runestones in Sweden may refer to him.

Below from Wikipedia

Battle between Jarl Haakon and brothers of Harald Greyhide
Christian Krogh (1899)

Jarl Haakon commands the clergymen to return ashore
Christian Krogh (1899)

Haakon became earl after his father was killed by King Harald Greyhide’s men in 961. He warred with King Harald for some time, until he was forced to flee to Denmark and Harald Bluetooth. In Denmark he conspired with Harald Bluetooth against Harald Greyhide.

Jarl Haakon arranged the death of Harald Greyhide around 971 with the connivance of Harald Bluetooth, who had invited his foster-son to Denmark to be invested with new Danish fiefs. Civil war broke out between Jarl Haakon and the surviving brothers of Harald Greyhide, but Haakon proved victorious.^[3] After this, Haakon Jarl ruled Norway as a vassal of Harald Bluetooth, but he was in reality an independent ruler. For Harald, he attacked Götaland and killed its ruler Jarl Ottar. When Haakon was in Denmark, Harald Bluetooth forced him to accept baptism and assigned him clergymen to take to Norway to spread Christianity. When a favourable wind came for Haakon to leave, he commanded the clergymen to return ashore.^[4]

Around 973-974, he went to Denmark to help Harald Bluetooth of Denmark in his defense against the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II. Otto’s forces successfully opposed an attempt by Harald to throw off the German yoke. After that Haakon paid no taxes to Denmark.

Haakon was a strong believer in the old Norse gods, and when Harald Bluetooth attempted to force Christianity upon him around 975, Haakon broke his allegiance to Denmark. In 977 Vladimir I of Kiev fled to him, collecting as many of the Viking warriors as he could to assist him to recover Novgorod, and on his return the next year marched against Yaropolk I of Kiev. In 986, a Danish invasion fleet led by the fabled Jomsvikings was defeated at the Battle of Hjörungavágr.

In 995, a quarrel broke out between Haakon and the Trønders just as Olaf Tryggvason, a descendant of Harald Fairhair arrived. Haakon quickly lost all support, and was killed by his own slave and friend, Tormod Kark, while hiding in the pig sty in the farm Rimul in Melhus. Jarlshola is the location in Melhus thought to have been the hiding place of Haakon Jarl and Tormod Kark on their last night before the infamous murder at Rimul. After his death, Haakon Jarl’s two sons Eirik Håkonson and Sveinn Hákonarson, fled for protection to the king of Sweden, Olof Skötkonung.

Source basis for Jarl Haakon are considerable. He was given coverage in several sagas, including by Snorri Sturluson in Heimskringla, Ágrip af Nóregskonungasögum and more. According to Hallfreðar saga the poet Hallfreðr composed a drápa on the earl. Several disjoint stanzas by Hallfreðr in Skáldskaparmál are often thought to belong to this otherwise lost poem. Jarl Haakon’s life also received literary treatment by Danish poet Adam Oehlenschläger.

Tools of Asatru

Recently I read an article saying that we ( practioners of Asatru) need step in to the 21st century with the way we worship the gods and goddesses.  Saying we are not living in the “viking age” so we need to stop using the drinking horn, Thor’s hammer for blessing, the gandr, the blessing bowl, blot tein (evergreen sprig), and mead.  They said we should use our minds and “quantum physics”.  As well, as new runes.   I object to this idea for various reasons.  

The tools we use and the reasons we use them are given to us by the lore.  That connection to the way are ancestors practiced rekindles a connection to them and provides the gods, alfar/disir, and vaettir a familiar symbolic gesture.  We let them know we are reclaiming the old ways and respect them.

Though some ways of practice have been altered to support the new age we live in( ei. no longer to we sacrifice animal or human instead offering mead/alcohol and valuable items  ) we are trying to recreate what we can from the lore and surviving customs. 

If we lose our connection we lose it all.

The tools that are mainly used in the practice of Asatru vary per individual and group but I will list the common ones here as well as their meaning and use.

Alu = ale (a beverage similar to beer).  Alu is a primitive Old Norse word.  It occurs in magical Runic inscriptions.  It has to do with alcoholic beverages as mythical conveyers of inspiration, poetic and otherwise

Bolli or Hlautbolli = bowl for holding consecrated liquid used in sprinking.  In the lore the blood of the sacrifice would be caught in the Hlautbolli.  It acted as a vessel to carry the energy of the scarifice to the Nine realms or where it was directed.

Drekk(j)a(r)horn = drinking horn.  used to hold liquid for consecrating with a God’s or Goddess’ might and essence during a blot.  Some is poured into the bolli for a libation and for sprinkling.  The rest is drunk by blot participants.  Drinking horns are clean hollow cattle or sheep horns with some sort of lining and stand.

Gandr = (magic or ritual) staff or wand.

Recel (RAY-kell) = incense (Anglo-Saxon).  Derived from a word meaning “to smoke.”  Cognate with Modern English “to reek,” German “rauchen” = “to smoke” and to the Rekja in Reykjavik, capital of Iceland.

Recels-pot = censer or incense-burner.  Used to clear sacred space.  Many times the godi or gydhja stops and censes each person, and that person often “bathes” him/herself in the ritually cleansing smoke.

 Stalli = an (indoor) altar for Heathen worship.

Moot Horn = a cow’s horn made into a blowing horn by carving the pointy end and putting a hole in it.  A Moot is a word for a Heathen Gathering.  So is an Althing (with more legal overtones).  You can make the cow’s other horn into a drekkjarhorn (also in this glossary).

Harrow = an (outdoor) altar for Heathen worship.

Hof = a Heathen temple.

Oath Ring = big arm ring, often silver or partly thereof, to swear religious oaths on.  This is an English word, but an unfamiliar concept so I’m including it here.

Teinn or Hlautteinn = twig or branch used to sprinkle consecrated liquid on altar and blot participants.  Traditionally we put it back under the tree or shrub it came from when we are done, along with a bit of the consecrated liquid as a small gesture to the plant for its sacrifice.  An English cognate is tine, as in the tines of a fork.

Wain = wagon.  (Archaic English)  Used in the lore many Images of the gods and Godesses were carried from place to place in the wagons.

Hamarr, helga ve thetta ok hindra alla illska = Hammer, hallow this sacred space/temple and hinder (the entry of) all evil things.  Old Norse.  If it were Modern Icelandic, the ok = and would be og.  Probably about the only difference.  Icelandic and Old Norse, despite the passage of a millenium, are very close.  Icelanders read 1,000 year old sagas more easily , and more often for that matter, than native English speakers read Shakespeare.  More words to stick in front of helga, and refering to objects used to consecrate Heathen sacred space (NOT quite the same thing as a Wiccan circle-casting): horn = antler (in this context, and also mean horn), sverd = sword, Brisingamen = Freya’s necklace or some facsimile thereof, gandr = wand or staff.

Hammarsettung = German (our Alsherjargodi speaks it) or maybe Norse, Hel I don’t know, for Hammer Hallowing (of a sacred space).  One makes the Hammer-Sign facing North, East, South, West, and then with the fist aimed at sky/ceiling and finally at ground/floor in order to clear sacred space.  The Elhaz Rune is often used in the same way and for the same purpose.

Hammer Hallowing = using the Hammer-Sign to consecrate sacred space for a Heathen ritual.  See Hammer-Sign and Hammarsettung.

Hammer-Sign = religious gesture symbolizing Thor’s Hammer.  Invokes the hallowing and protecting presence of Thor.  To Hammer-Sign yourself: with clenched fist, touch forehead, just below breastbone, just below left breast, then just below right breast.  You have essentially made an upside-down capital T.  You can also make the same gesture in the air over anything you wish to hallow.  Ben Middleton once made it in the air in front of him while calling on Thor to successfully stop a persuing pack of feral dogs!  Don’t go out of your way to test that out yourself; Thor helps those who help themselves!  Seems to have been a pre-Christian sign, although this is open to debate.

Handstodhur = to hold the hands still over something.  Sometimes in the form of the Ing(waz) Rune, sometimes just with one partially over the other, palms down, to project the might and main of the God(s) or Goddess(es) being bloted into the liquid being consecrated

Will write more on this subject at a later date.

Upcoming Day of Remembrance – Ragnar Lodbrok’s Day

March 28 – Ragnar Lodbrok’s Day When we celebrate this famous Viking’s sack of Paris.

Ragnar’s Death Song : “It gladdens me to know that Baldr’s father [Odin] makes ready the benches for a banquet. Soon we shall be drinking ale from the curved horns. The champion who comes into Odin’s dwelling [Valhalla] does not lament his death. I shall not enter his hall with words of fear upon my lips. The Æsir will welcome me. Death comes without lamenting… Eager am I to depart. The Dísir summon me home, those whom Odin sends for me [Valkyries] from the halls of the Lord of Hosts. Gladly shall I drink ale in the high-seat with the Æsir. The days of my life are ended. I laugh as I die.”

Ragnar’s special day marks the supposed anniversary of his capture of Paris in 845 Anno Domini.

While “Captors of Paris” isn’t exactly an exclusive club, Ragnar did it with far better style and with far fewer men.  In fact, he was quite a prolific conqueror, and his stated motivation is beyond reproach: he feared his deeds would be exceeded in glory and fame by his four sons, and so resolved to build up the biggest notoriety cushion possible while he still drew breath.  Isn’t it sad that we’ve really lost the art of being deeply suspicious of, and ruthlessly competing with, our own family members?  No?  Ok.

While we’re on the subject of family and lost arts, these guys were packing some serious heat in the Nifty Epithets Department: Ragnar’s sons were Bjorn Ironside, Ivor the Boneless, Sigurd Snake-Eye, and Halfdan Whiteshirt.  You can’t tell me, guys, that you don’t wish your name was Sigurd “Snake-Eye” Ragnarsson.  Ragnar himself was called Loðbrok, which means “hairy breeches,” and indeed it was these selfsame fuzzy pantaloons that helped the surly Viking in a series of tense encounters with snakes (but sadly failed to save him from the encounter with snakes that ultimately claimed his life).  We’ll get back to Ragnar’s sons and britches later.

Like many of his contemporaries, Ragnar claimed that he was descended from Odin himself.  In pagan culture this sort of thing is standard practice – family and honor are of the utmost importance and it’s good to link those things with the divine.  But it wasn’t just himself and his great-great grandfather Odin that made Ragnar scared of his sons.  His two wives were perennial badasses themselves and carried heroic genes of their own.

The first, Lathgertha, was a Skjaldmær or “shieldmaiden:” one who goes to battle with men and usually possesses extraordinary courage.  (Tolkien modeled Eowyn’s character on the shieldmaiden).  When Lathgertha’s town was captured, she led the local girls away to fight with the invading Ragnar rather than be subjected to rape.  Ragnar was so impressed by her ass-kicking skills that he asked to marry her.  They later divorced – he always resented the fact that she set a bear and a hound on him when he came to court her and only accepted his proposal when he’d killed both.

His second wife, Aslaug Sigurdsdottir, was also named Kraka or “Crow.”  Her dad Sigurd was the slayer of the famous dragon Fafnir.  No big deal.  Aslaug, like Odin, got the daily news from birds and could predict the future.  It was she who made Ragnar his special snake-proof pants and bore him his famous sons.  Ragnar’s only real mistakes were not listening to Aslaug – she told him his fleet was in shoddy shape when he went to fight the Saxons, and he succumbed to snake poison when he lost her specially-made garments.

Ragnar’s exploits are impressive by anyone’s standards.  During some portion of his life (we’re not really sure about many exact dates here), he was king of most of Scandinavia.  Though holding together the kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden was no small feat, he is perhaps better known for his invasions of France and England.  Ragnar’s deeds are similar to those described in Led Zeppelin’s iconic 1970 track “Immigrant Song.”

“Immigrant Song” was inspired by Zeppelin’s tour of Iceland that same year, and tells a story loosely based on Erik the Red’s journeys west to discover Iceland, Greenland, and North America.   (Side note: the four counts of static fuzz at the beginning of the studio track are a totally underrated piece of iconic detail in metal lore).

I come from the land of the ice and snow;

with the midnight sun, where the hot-springs blow.

Ragnar and his Viking warriors used their [superweapon] longboats to travel up river estuaries at extremely shallow depth to easily reach targets that were startlingly far inland, such as Paris.

The Hammer of the Gods will drive our ships to new lands,

fighting the horde, singing and crying, “Valhalla I am coming!”

He not only resisted the advent of Christianity to Northern Europe; Ragnar took pleasure in terrorizing Christian settlements and planned his attacks to fall on Christian feastdays to ensure that his victims would be complacent and preoccupied.

On we sweep with threshing oar

our only goal will be the western shore!

Ragnar’s military reputation was in fact so terrifying that when his army sailed down the Seine in 845, the Frankish king Charles the Bald (grandson of some guy named Charlemagne) was forced to pay the Norsemen 7,000 pounds of solid silver (roughly eleventy billion dollars in today’s money) not to destroy Paris completely once he’d captured the city.  It also didn’t stop him from essentially laying waste to West Francia.  The Franks weren’t exactly pushovers – giving huge amounts of loot to foreigners wasn’t their favorite activity.  But Ragnar was simply too fierce.  He had to stay ahead of his kids.

He ran into trouble, though, while yachting off the coast of Northumbria.  He was blown ashore, where some Saxons under Aella captured him and took him hostage.  Another story says he invaded and was defeated by Aella’s troops.  Whatever happened, Aella decided that the best place for Ragnar was a pit of poisonous vipers.  Duly stripped of his special serpent-retardant raiment, he was bitten to death.  His mind, as usual, was on his sons as he died, exclaiming “how the little piglets would squeal if they knew the plight of the old boar!”

Viking art depicting the Blood Eagle 

And squeal they did.  When Halfdan Whiteshirt found out, he was playing Gary Kasparov in chess.  He gripped his rook so tightly that blood squirted out of his fingernails.  Bjorn Ironside gripped his spear so tightly that HE left an impression on IT (not, incidentally, in Soviet Russia).  Sigurd Snake-Eye was trimming his nails, and promptly sliced his finger to the bone.  Ivor the Boneless had a slightly more proactive reaction.  He gathered probably the largest single force of Vikings (sometimes referred to as the Great Heathen Army) and laid waste to York, Northumbria, Mercia, and East Anglia.  When they captured Aella, they executed him by the spectacular method of the “Blood Eagle” – making incisions in the back outward from the spine, then breaking the ribs so that the victim appears to have wings of blood.  The lungs are then extracted through the existing wounds, which are afterwards salted.  This grisly execution was often used by pagan Vikings as a means of terrorizing well-known Christian victims.

I should mention, as a responsible historian, that most of what we know about Ragnar comes from Viking sagas and skaldic poetry.  These are heroic tales passed down via oral tradition until they were recorded by people like Snorri Sturluson.  Like all legends, much of the record concerning Ragnar is fuzzy and it’s difficult to discern exactly what is true.  But I kept the historiography out of the narrative because it’s much more fun that way.

At any rate, Ragnar Lodbrok’s deeds in France and England had extremely far-reaching consequences.  His work in northwest France was continued by Norsemen, namely Rollo, who eventually were granted fiefs in the area by the Carolingian kings, which is why we now call that region “Normandy” – it’s populated by Norsemen.  Ragnar’s sons were especially successful in Britain, and may have even succeeded in conquering the whole island if not for the Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great.  Nevertheless, their base at York persisted for over a century and the whole north of England was theirs by treaty, called at that time the “Danelaw.”  The Nordic imprint on that region remains to this day.

How soft your fields, so green, can whisper tales of gore,

of how we calmed the tides of war.

We are your overlords.

Some Silly Vikings celebrating with silly horned helms

What is Asatru

(Posters note: Just in case people who see these posts and wonder WTH is Asatru.. This  was pulled form Jordvin’s page http://www.home.earthlink.net/~jordsvin/Asatru/Asatru%20Reborn.htm)

“Asatru” (often known as “Heathenism,” “Germanic Paganism,” “Elder Troth,” and other names) means “faith in the Aesir”, which are the Gods of pre-Christian Scandinavia. The other Germanic peoples (Goths, Germans, Dutch, Frisians, Anglo-Saxons, etc.) had essentially the same religion. Similar Deities were once worshipped throughout most of Europe, and as far away as India (the Gods of the Rig Veda). Asatru never really quite died out. Medieval Icelandic books of magical spells (galdrabok) show that some were calling upon the Aesir long after Christianity was forced upon the Germanic peoples. In northern Scandinavia, the Lappish (Saami) people were openly celebrating the worship of Thor, which they had learned from their Heathen Scandinavian neighbors in the pre-Christian period, as late as 1800. The modern revival began in the early 1970’s. Within a few months of each other and quite unaware of each other’s existence, groups were formed in the USA, Iceland and the United Kingdom. Odin, the wanderer, is once again seeking worshippers. Despite claims of racist/racialist Asatru groups, anyone who wishes to join Asatru may do so, irregardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. Today, people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds are working happily and productively with the Norse Pantheon.

In addition to Thor, the Thunderer, friend of the common folk, and Odin, Allfather, chief God, poet, and wandering wizard, we worship many other Gods, including Tyr, God of war and justice; Ingvi Frey, God of peace, fertility and nature (the European images of the Green Man may be a memory of Frey and similar Gods); Balder, who although tragically murdered is still very present to his worshippers today; Heimdall, the Watchman of Asgard, etc. Nor do we neglect the Goddesses, who are equal in power and holiness to the Gods: Frigga, wife of Odin, seen under such guises as Allmother (feminine counterpart of Odin), the all-knowing but silent Goddess, and many other aspects; Freya, Goddess of fertility, love, magic and war; Idunna, Goddess of renewal (Eostre/Ostara, an Anglo-Saxon and German Goddess who provided the name for “Easter” may be the same Goddess); Hela, who rules over the place between death and rebirth (most of us Heathens believe in some form of rebirth or reincarnation); Nerthus, the Mother Earth Goddess mentioned in Tacitus’ book Germania (98 C.E.), and many others. This should lay to rest erroneous notions, popularly held in the larger Pagan community, that Asatru is “patriarchal” or a “testosterone rush.” We also revere the spirits of nature (landvaettir) and various guardian spirits, such as the Disir and Alfar (Elves). Our Gods are friendly, practical, dependable and approchable. They basically ask only that we honor them and in doing so live our lives in such a way that it helps uphold cosmic harmony, preserve life in Midgard, the world of which we are apart, and help life and the Universe continue to evolve. Thus, Asatru is in a very real sense a nature or Earth religion. We are friends and co-workers of our Gods, whom we sometimes address as “Elder Kin.” We are not their slaves, nor do we grovel before them.

Our two main rituals are the blot and sumbel. “Blot” means sacrifice. While scholars debate whether or not it is connected with the word “blood”, we use mead (honey-wine), beer or apple juice today. The liquid is consecrated to the God or Goddess being worshipped, and we commune with that Deity by drinking a portion of it. The rest is poured as a libation. The Sumbel is a sort of ritualized toasting. The first of the usual three rounds is to the Gods, starting with Odin, who won the mead of poetry from the Giant Suttung. It is good to pour a few drops to Loki the Trickster, (also Odin’s blood-brother), to ward off nasty surprises! The second round is to ancestors and other honorable dead. The third round is open.

While devoid of rigid, legalistic rules, ours is by no means an amoral faith. We start out with basic principles, such as the Nine Noble Virtues (a modern innovation but a good summation of our ethics): courage, truth, honor, loyalty, hospitality, industriousness, perserverance, self-discipline, and self-reliance. The 6-fold Goals; right, wisdom, might, harvest, frith (roughly = fruitful peace but not in a pacifistic sense), and love, while less well-known than the Nine Noble Virtues, are also used as guidelines by many of us. From these, individuals can decide the appropriate course of action for a given situation and honor themselves, their families, their communities, and their Gods (and Goddesses) by striving to do what is right. Common sense and practicality are very important to us. The Gods organized the Universe from chaotic material (represented by the body of the dead Giant Ymir), which was what was available. A remaining bit of chaos allows for a random factor, which helps the Universe and all in it to keep evolving. An important function of Humanity is to care for the Earth and to help the process of evolution to continue by growing and evolving ourselves. Not even the Gods themselves are all-powerful or all-knowing, so perfection is neither required nor expected. On the contrary, imperfection is inherent in all things.

The Elder and Younger Eddas (also called the Poetic and Prose Edda) are texts we hold in high esteem for the information on our religion that they contain, although most of us do not interpret our myths literally. While the Elder Edda is a compilation of anonymous mythological poems compiled from various medieval Icelandic manuscripts, the Younger Edda was written by Snorri Sturluson around 250 years after the official Christianization of Iceland in 1000 C.E.

Magical work is a part of the spiritual life of many practitioners of Asatru. Magic involves working with natural but unseen forces, including those embodied in the Runes, the indigenous alphabet of the Germanic Peoples, as well as galder (spellcraft) and seidhr (shamanic-type workings). Magic can help forsee the probable direction of future events, obtain healing, and help us in all that we do, but it does not substitute for “mundane” efforts. Ours is a practical, active religion!