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Lokabrenna
Guest
The planets are named for Roman deities. The days of the week were named for Heathen deities (in English) or the planets (in other languages).
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samiam1611
Guest
Does anyone live (or occupy or exist or whatever) in the land of ice and the land of fire? What is the significance of these worlds? Vanaheim Hel and Midgard are self-explanatory, but what about the others
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samiam1611
Guest
Could you tell is more about your practice? i.e. do you say chants or anything like that?
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Lokabrenna
Guest
In the creation story, the merging of fire and ice started the whole process of creation (I’ve heard it described as a “big bang” of sorts). The frost giants live in Niflheim and the fire giants (the ‘Sons of Surt’) live in Muspellheim. During Ragnarok, the fire giants in particular end up destroying everything; they basically represent elemental forces that can go out of control if they aren’t kept in check.
Basically they’re like extremophile bacteria, only bigger. (I love that word, ‘Extremophile’ would be a great name for a band.)
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Lokabrenna
Guest
Unfortunately, my practice is rather non-existent because of time/privacy/budget at the moment. I could probably talk about what I would do if those weren’t issues, but I’ve discovered I’m not one to stick to a schedule (ie. “honor Freyja and Freyr every Friday”, “pray at X time each day”) although I might try to do these things. I’d definitely make an exception for holidays, but some don’t used fixed dates even then (they go by how the weather is).
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samiam1611
Guest
i know “pagan” is a very broad term, but i’ve seen that many pagan religions are nature based, a sort of nature worship. from what you have said, yours does not seem to be so much. do i have that right, or have we just not gotten to that yet? 
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samiam1611
Guest
may i ask, are you from a nordic country? if not, what led you to a norse religion?
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Lokabrenna
Guest
Nope, you’re right! I think part of the problem is that Wicca is nature-based, and since it’s the biggest Pagan religion, people automatically assume that all of Paganism is nature-based, when that isn’t true: reconstructionist religions like Hellenismos, Celtic reconstructionism and Asatru tend to be gods-based, and they’re only “earth-based” in the sense that their adherents live on planet Earth!
However, I’m actually somewhat of a black sheep because I was interested in earth-based traditions before becoming interested in gods-based Norse Paganism, so my tradition is more like…earth-based Norse Paganism, which doesn’t mean that I don’t pay any attention to the gods, but it does mean that I place more emphasis on “nature as a site of the sacred” than is usual for people who honour this pantheon.
Nope, my ancestry is Romanian biologically and Irish/Scottish/bit of First Nations by adoption. I think what first drew me to it were the stories. The Norse gods weren’t like the Greek gods that everyone usually studies. I found them so much more intriguing. They didn’t seem like deities who were afraid to get “down and dirty” when the need arose, and they weren’t anything like the God I learned about in church.
As I have said, my intro to Paganism was Wicca. However, much of non-traditional (not Gardnerian or Alexandrian) Wicca was very Celtophilic in nature. I know it might seem odd that someone who isn’t from a Nordic country would be attracted to these deities, but to be honest, I never felt the same way about Celtic deities and myths (boring!). I personally think that if we were all drawn to gods that were the gods of our ancestors, some of us would still be Christian and there wouldn’t be as many Kemetics or Hellenic Pagans as there are.
I suppose the short answer is: “Other gods didn’t really ‘click’ with me the way these ones did,” it sounds kind of silly, but it’s basically true.
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AnAtheist
Guest
That doesn’t sound silly at all. Religion is much more about personal liking than objective truth. Most people just like what they are used to and what they have been taught as a child. But some are not that easily satisfied.
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Ahimsa
Guest
Interesting. Romania is on the Black Sea, near where Odin and other Aesir, according to Snorri, originally lived, as real human beings, before moving northward into Scandinavia and becoming deified by the awed natives.
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Lokabrenna
Guest
Well, archaeological evidence suggest that Germanic tribes did reside in the area for a time until they were pushed out by the Romans. Obviously, Snorri’s agenda was to discourage any of his countrymen from reviving the old ways. The irony of what we moderns have done with his writings must have him rolling in his grave by now.
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Ahimsa
Guest
Have you visited Romania?
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Lokabrenna
Guest
No, I’m not much of a traveler and I’d feel so out of place going somewhere where I don’t speak the language. What I’ve seen in pictures looks gorgeous!
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Odonata
Guest
i would say this is out of want more than anything. lack of funds cant hinder worship, but it will delay to a degree the gathering of ritual tools. i suggest making them , effigies and symbols all tools and replace them either with specially bought tools or newly better made ones?
it is dedication and love that makes one want to splurge on their alter space like all relationships the gods we love deserve the best of what we have to offer. but this should first be in intent and action
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vsedriver
Guest
but he didn’t become like me. He became human but was a perfect human. I am in imperfect human.
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vsedriver
Guest
I guess you could thank Christianity for that one. All those ‘cultures’ that exposed children were pagan.
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vsedriver
Guest
isn’t that the same as saying they worship creation instead of the creator?
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vsedriver
Guest
or the age of Frank Frazetta!You just have to love age of mythology!
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Publisher
Guest
I see a distinction…the Gods are part of existence…ALL existence…the Gods themselves are the “Creators”…from the Primordal Existence the Gods “emmanated” and through them our earth was created and formed.
If Pagans believed in a “Creator God” outside of the Natural Universe…you may have a point…but I don’t believe this is the case…“You” see a God outside of the Created Order…they don’t necessarily see a God as “separate”…there is no “separate God” to worship…so how could one be worshipped? If “you” abscribe “Christian/Monotheistic” beliefs upon them…“you” may have a point…but the POINT is there isn’t necessarily a God outside of what exists…so…No, they do not worship the creation INSTEAD of a creator.
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SteveVH
Guest
As far as the atheist religion is concerned I would agree whole heartedly. This does not at all apply to the Christian religion, however. Through human reason and observation we can discern intelligent design in the creation around us. Through human reason and observation we can determine that there must be a first cause of all things. In short, something doesn’t come from nothing.
Your implication that Christians basically consist of people with dull minds who cannot or do not think past stories they were told as children is way off the mark. Christianity can claim some of the greatest minds ever to exist. It was the Catholic Church that gave the world the scientific method and rules of evidence by which we measure objective truth.
As for a religion that is concerned more about personal liking than objective truth, we have the witness of the martyrs. People don’t willingly give their lives for childish stories or because being torn apart and eaten by wild animals is to their personal liking.
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