The Way of my Ancestors

Today, I joined the Asatru Folk Assembly organization, the way of my ancestors. I have decidedly and finally come home.

Hamingja - What Is It?

 What is Hamingja?

At its most basic, this is a person’s luck. More specifically, it is “family luck”, meaning that it is is inherited through the family line. Hamingja affects our wyrd. Rather than luck, which is generally how it is described by most authors, it may be better to think of it as personal spiritual energy, given to each one of us, through inheritance, going back to the original first people created by Odin.

Hamingja is sensitive to one’s actions in this lifetime. Righteous action has a positive effect upon a person’s hamingja, and feeds their energy. One’s hamingja can also be strengthened by daily devotions and other personal rituals. The rituals of the Year Wheel, so common to European pagan practice will also strengthen our personal luck reserves, as will living with the seasons. Energy raising activities such as blots, sumbels, and galdr can turbocharge your Hamingja for a little while – so can initiations. These are the spiritual equivalent of a dose of Red Bull.

As you go through life, be aware of hamingja, because its existence with your wyrd and ond is symbiotic. We will all screw up and do some rotten things from time to time. That is simply life. When we consciously strive to increase our hamingja by living true and by accepting responsibility for our actions, we will find that those trips off the path will occur less and less, as we attract better and better into our lives.

Loridi - Thor - My Wyrd Name is Lori

My hand forged Thor's hammer w/ oath ring (to hallow my Troth-claiming blot).

 Wow and wyrd!

Thor is an even older deity than Odin who came to Europe around the first century BCE. The worship of Thor is so archaic that he became a part of the Saami people's religion of northern Scandinavia, in Baltic Estonia and Latvian Livland. Thor was still worshipped among the Saami people during the 17th century ...

... (his name) was Loridi (my real name is Lori), who resembled his (her) father ... his son, his son (and more) ... his son was he is named Voden (Odin). 

Loridi means "the loud rider" and/or "the loud weather god" and is another name for Thor. My ancestral genetic motherline is U5b1b1, the foundational haplogroup of Saami motherline one. Perhaps I am a soul daughter of Thor as well.

Just how WYRD can a person's path get? What more amazing discoveries await me as I walk this path of my ancestors? I've only just begun ...

I Am, A Daughter of Odin

My Deep Ancestry Autosomal Genetic Results.

According to Snorri Sturluson (Icelandic historian, 1179-1241), the Germanic god Odin's roots can be found in Turkey, also called Anatolia or Asia Minor. The ancient Germanic tribes called it Turkland. The god Odin moved in the second century BCE to the ancestral Germanic tribes of Northern Europe. The people we related to today as Turks did not arrive (in Turkey) until the 9th century, about 1000 years after Odin left the area. On his journey from Ukraine and Russia, Odin settled down in what is today northern Germany. According to Snorri Sturluson, Odin ended his journey in Sweden, where he founded the dynasty of the House of Ynglings through his son Yngvi-Frey. Odin's settlement in Sweden is also confirmed by the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150-1220) in his Gesta Danorum.

The graphic shows my own deep ancestral origins to be Sweden. My Middle Eastern Panel drills down into the data and reveals autosomal genetic matches for me in Turkey (Anatolia) and Armenia (a part of ancient Anatolia). My motherline genetic results show genetic matches to me in the Ukraine, Russia, Iran (think Azerbaijan, the Aesir) and Germany - all of the areas of Odin's migration route, demonstrating that my ancestors traveled the ancient migration JUST LIKE ODIN. Odin's journey is the journey of my own ancestors!



Part 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Taking Up the Might & Maegen of the Ancestors

My hand forged Mjolnir with oath ring to be used in Troth-claiming ritual.

Not only is this upcoming Hleifblot going to be my first ritual blot (cyclical ritual blessing), but it is also going to incorporate a rite of Troth-claiming. Shown is the oath ring and hand forged Mjolnir I am going to consecrate and use for my rite of Troth-claiming. I have several fancier and more costly hammer pendants, even a historical replica Erikstorp Thor's Hammer, but this hand forged one with the oath ring attached is my favorite. I also have a large 6 inch rune-inscribed altar oath ring on its way to me, but it's unlikely to arrive in time, so I'll consecrate it at a later time.

I am going to perform the Troth-claiming rite despite that my ancestral genetic results show my ancestry to be nearly 100% European including Iceland (with traces from other areas of the world*), with a Scandanavian motherline of U5b1b1. I am doing this to firmly demonstrate with intentionally focused action to my ancestors my loyalty to them. Like so many others, I was raised Christian. I formally and ritually rejected Christianity in 1997, and entered upon a path of acceptance of my own ancestral heritage at that time as well, so my Troth-claiming ritual verbiage may be a bit different than most others in that particular area, since the verbiage given (in the book noted below with an outline of the ritual) applies to one coming directly from a path of Christianity (which I am not). Not a Christian, and having already ritually rejected that path a very long time ago (and remaining firm and true to that rejection over the years), my ritual words will pertain more relevantly to my own true situation, to taking up the Troth of my ancestors, and to swearing an oath of loyalty to them. My Troth-claiming ritual will basically follow the ritual as outlined in Volume 2 of Our Troth, compiled by Kveldulf Gundarsson (a ritual similarly outlined by Edred Thorsson in A Book of Troth).

I will also ritually accept my sacred name Heid at that time, in an additionally incorporated naming ritual. This upcoming blot is full of good things for me.

I'm so excited!. I have everything I need ready and waiting.

The great majority of us come from families that have been Christian for dozens of generations. Indeed, those who pride themselves on their European ancestry should remember that nearly every living person with European ancestry has Charlemagne - who was not only a Christian, but a slayer of thousands of heathens - as an ancestor, whether or not the link can be documented. Therefore, even those who can trace their ancestry back to the time when our Heathen Troth still flourished must ritually take up the might of those early kin and lay claim to the worship of our forebears' gods and goddesses, just as those who do not share in the bloodline of their clans must.

This upcoming Hleifblot, I ritually take up the might and main of my ancestors. (The word 'main' in this phrase refers to the 'maegen' of the ancestors, an actual ancestral soul-force.)

I'm also going to blood my runes at this blot.

*Clarification, I should have written "nearly" 100% European, as I do have some genetic relationship to other areas of the world in trace amounts (including North Africa, Asia and the Middle East), such that Family Tree DNA reported my autosomal genetic ancestry results as 100% European statistically. DNA Tribes reported me as essentially of Teutonic (Nordic and Celtic) ancestry as well. So, two independent genetic testing companies are in agreement as to my ancestry. A third ancestral genetic testing company, namely Roots for Real, confirmed my motherline.

Mother Night & Odin's Oath

As noted in my previous post, my father's Norse name, connected to Odin, means "Son of Night." Wyrdly, my patroness is the giantess-goddess Hela, also known as Mother Night, like the first night of the twelves nights of Yule. Interestingly, also related to Odin, Yule is a time for swearing oaths.

In days of old, our ancestors would swear their oaths for the coming year (remembered today as the weaker New Year's resolutions) on the sacred boar on Twelfth Night. Now, it is our Kindred tradition to swear our oaths on a sunwheel, and then toss it into the fire as a part of our yearly Yule party.

My Father's Real Name is One of Odin's Names

Though the family is not known in recent memory to have practiced Nordic Tradition Paganism, it is wyrd that my real father's name is Audra, a name passed down to him through his paternal line (with other males down the line also named Audra), often shortened to Aud. Aud, as a Norse boy's name, means "son of night" (related to Odin's Wild Hunt). The full name Audra (Norse Odr) is connected to a name of Odin, namely Óðr.

"Odin" is generally accepted as the modern English form of the name, although, in some cases, older forms may be used or preferred. His name is related to ōðr, meaning "fury, excitation," besides "mind," or "poetry."  

and

In Norse mythology, Óðr (Old Norse for "mad, frantic, furious, vehement, eager", as a noun "mind, feeling" and also "song, poetry"; Orchard (1997) gives "the frenzied one") or Óð, sometimes angliziced as Odr or Od, is a figure associated with the major goddess Freyja. The Prose Edda and Heimskringla, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, both describe Óðr as Freyja's husband and father of her daughter Hnoss. Heimskringla adds that the couple produced another daughter, Gersemi. A number of theories have been proposed about Óðr, generally that he is somehow a hypostasis of the deity Odin due to their similarities.

Related to its meaning as the "son of night", the name Aud is further connected to Odin and his nightime Wild Hunt:

As well as his role as oath-god, the one-eyed deity was also regarded by the Norse as the gatherer of souls, and to this end was responsible for leading the Wild Hunt on its nightime rampages across the sky.

UPDATE - Aud/Unn is also a Norse name which means "the Deep-Minded."

The Odin Oath - Vikings, Orkneyjar & the Cadusii Purim Story

An 18th century sketch of the Odin Stone - one of the few illustrations of the monolith we have today.

The Orkney Islands of Scotland are also known by the name Orkneyjar. Orkneyjar is an Icelandic Old Norse name for the Orkney Islands. The Odin Stone, in monument to the Odin Oath, stands in Orkneyjar.

The oath is an important theme in Norse religion. The religion of the Norse is known as our Troth (i.e., Asatru - our Troth to the ancestral Aesir). The highest of the gods, Odin is an oath god to whom oaths are sacred and very important, although ironically, he is called the oath-breaker for reasons not altogether clear (although many explanations have been attempted). In the Orkney Islands of Scotland (where references to Odin abound), there is in it a stone called the the Odin Stone, a stone monument before which vows are made and before which Orcadians (my ancestors as well) swore and swear the Odin Oath by clasping hands through the hole (in the stone - where the oath of Odin was "broken" or "incomplete"?) and swearing, making their vows absolute (thereby "completing" Odin's oath?):

This oath was an utterly unbreakable pact, the words to which are now unfortunately lost.

Interestingly, these known facts about oaths and Odin support the idea that the Norse Vikings of Scandinavia and Scotland may be descended from the Cadusii of Azerbaijan, particularly given the prominance of oaths to Odin and to Norse tradition in general, as well as to the known history of the Cadusii:

At this time the Medes waged a great war against the Cadusii, the cause of which were as follows: Parsondes the Persian, a man far-famed for courage, sagacity, and other virtues, was at that time a favorite of the king and the most powerful member of the royal council. But this man, sorely vexed at a certain judgment of the king, fled to the Cadusii, with three thousand foot soldiers and a thousand calvary; and giving his own sister in marriage to the most powerful man in those parts, he remained there amongst the Cadusii. Having become a rebel, he stirred up the entire nation to assert their liberty; and because of his valor he was elected their general.

Hearing news thereafter that a great army was being mustered against him, he armed the Cadusii en masse, not less than two hundred thousand of them all told, and he took up his position before the approaches into the country. King Artaios had taken the field against him with eight hundred thousand men, but Parsondes defeated him in battle, killed over fifty thousand of his soldiers, and repulsed the rest of his force from the land of the Cadusii. This brought him great admiration among the natives, who elected him king; and he plundered Media unremittingly, carrying desolation everywhere he went.

He thus acquired great renown. In old age, as the end of his life approached, he caused his successor on the throne to draw nigh and bound him with an oath that never might the Cadusii relax in their emnity against the Medes; with a curse that utter ruin would overtake both his own progeny and all the Cadusii as well if ever terms of peace were agreed upon. For this reason then, were the Cadusii always hostile to the Medes and never subject to their king, until such time as Cyrus transferred the empire to the Persians. 

Thus, perhaps we have here recovered the "lost" words of the oath. Interestingly, this recount of the Cadusian oath, the oath of the king of the Cadusii, successor to General-King Parsondes, sounds alot like the Purim story in Jewish tradition about "Persian-Jewish" Mordechai and Esther whose people gloriously defended themselves following a harsh decree of the King that all of their people be killed.

King Odin may be called the oath-breaker because he left the area of the Median Kingdom some time following all of these events, bringing his people to Scandinavia and its surrounding regions instead of perpetuating acts of emnity against the Medes (still under the oath of his own ancestor) to putatively avoid living under Roman occupation and subjection of the people to Rome (we are told).

The Cadusii of Azerbaijan fit very well to be the proto-Vikings of history.

Ancient Tribes of Northern Media Not Aryan

The Cadusii (the tribe which may be the potential origin of the proto-Vikings from Azerbaijan) and other ancient tribes in Northern Media may not have been Aryan or of Iranian stock:

Josephus relates the Medes (OT Heb. Madai) to the biblical character, Madai, son of Japheth. "Now as to Javan and Madai, the sons of Japhet; from Madai came the Madeans, who are called Medes, by the Greeks" Antiquities of the Jews, I:6.

Other ancient historians including Strabo, Ptolemy, Herodotus, Polybius, and Pliny, mention names such as Mantiane, Martiane, Matiane, Matiene, to designate the northern part of Media.

We can see how the Iranian element gradually became dominant; princes with Iranian names occasionally occur as rulers of other tribes. But the Gelae, Tapuri, Cadusii, Amardi, Utii and other tribes in northern Media and on the shores of the Caspian may not have been Iranian stock. Polybius (V. 44, 9), Strabo (xi. 507, 508, 514), and Pliny (vi. 46), considered the Anariaci to be among these tribes; but their name, meaning the "not-Arians", is probably a comprehensive designation for a number of smaller indigenous tribes.

and here, it informs:

The Cadusii, a people not belonging to the Persian race, who dwelt in the frontier hills of Media, towards the Caspian, were perfectly unsubdued; they were the ancestors of the bold Delemites (in the heroic epic of the Persians, the Cadusii were called Delemites ...

Complete Fiascos in the North for the Persians & Romans

The Persian Fiasco with Northmen

The Cadusii seem to have had continual troubles with the Achaemenid central government: We know of a revolt about 405 b.c., around the end of Darius II’s reign, which lasted until Cyrus’ rebellion (though at Cunaxa, in 401, they fought on the king’s side under a certain Artagerses; cf. Plutarch, Artoxerxes 9.1), and of several others. In particular there is evidence of an expedition against the Cadusii by Artaxerxes II during the great satrapal revolts around 380 b.c.; this expedition was a complete fiasco, and only diplomatic negotiations by the satrap Tiribazus made a retreat possible, with the king himself marching on foot (Diodorus, 15.8.5; 10.1; Plutarch, Artoxerxes 24-25; etc.).

The Roman Fiasco with Northmen

Forty years after the Emperor Claudius conquered southern Britain in 43 CE, the Roman governor, Gnaeus Julius Agricola, led a force of 20,000 troops northwards into the country known by the Romans as Caledonia (Scotland). Unlike the rest of Britain, Scotland was never considered part of the Roman Empire. The Roman armies invaded Scotland several times and even defeated the northern tribes a few times, but they never controlled Scotland. Defending their Empire - To control their newly won territory in England, the Romans built heavily defended forts around the country. Most famous of all, on the northern edge of their British territory, the Romans built a coast-to-coast wall to protect Roman England from the tribes who lived in Scotland. Hadrian's Wall was built so well, that you can still go and see parts of it today, nearly 2000 years after it was made.