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TEUTONIC MAGIC - Awaken Video

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can one be tested and grow, and only by the clash of opposites can synthesis be achieved. Every step of<br />

the Odian path is a battle of some sort, whether external or internal. He is not a comfortable patron and<br />

was seldom loved by the folk as a whole. The worship of Odhinn was usually left to princes (who had<br />

often been personally chosen by the god), berserkers, rune-masters, and skalds-that is, to the initiated to<br />

those whom Odhinn himself had already touched from birth or before. He was most worshipped by the<br />

Saxons, the Danes, and the Norwegian aristocracy. It is worth noting that the Norwegian settlers in<br />

Iceland, being mostly peasants who wanted nothing to do with aristocracy or ceaseless warring, built no<br />

temples of statues to Odhinn, although his touch was still prominent in families such as that of Egill<br />

Skallagrimson.<br />

Odhinn follows an endless quest for wisdom. He is master of both galdr and seidh-rnagic, the latter<br />

of which he learned from Freyja. A great deal of his knowledge comes from the dead and the realms of<br />

death. He is often spoken of as calling forth the dead to learn from them; in the Harbardzljodh, he says the<br />

source of his knowledge is "the howes-of-the-home,"3 that is, barrows.<br />

On the Continent, Odhinn was also honored as a god of fertility and the harvest. The last sheaf in<br />

the field was left standing for his horse, and certain harvest-rites were performed to him.4 Truly a god of<br />

all things!<br />

A large part of the mystery of Odhinn is hidden in his many hypostases (aspects of a god which are<br />

well-defined enough to act on their own). The most obvious of these are Odhinn's "brothers":<br />

Vili (Will) and Ve (Holiness) with whom he slays Ymir and shapes the worlds; and Hoenir and Lodurr,<br />

with whom he creates the human race from trees. In Odhinn/Hoenir/Lodurr we see the three active<br />

elements of air, water, and fire which also form Bifrost: Odhinn supplies octid, the breath of life; Hoenir<br />

gives the odlir-quality, which is usually shown as a drink; and Lodurr supplies the spark of life and<br />

hamingja force, which is expressed as color and hair growth. Lodurr, fire, is further divided into Loki and<br />

Heimdallr, ungoverned fire and hallowed fire (they will be discussed individually). Hoenir appears later,<br />

twinned with Mimir in circumstances which would identify them as anthropomorphic counterparts of<br />

Huginn and Muninn, thought and memory. He is spoken of for the last time after Ragnarok, when he will<br />

"handle the blood-twigs"5 as Odhinn returned and made whole.<br />

The animals associated with Odhinn are the wolf, the raven, the horse, the eagle, and the wyrmbeasts<br />

of battle, death, and spiritual wisdom.<br />

Names by which Odhinn may be called upon in incantations for various purposes include Grimnir<br />

(hooded one), Gangleri (Way- weary), Vegtamr (Way-tame), Hejan (War-god); Hjalmberi (Helmbearer),<br />

Thekk (Welcome), Har (One-Eyed; High One - homonyms)1 Sath (Truthful), Svipal<br />

(Changeable), Sanngetal (Truth- finder), Bolverk (Bale-Worker), Fjolnir (Concealer), Hroptr (Hidden or<br />

Maligned), Sigfadhir (Victory-father), Valfadhir (father of the Slain or Chosen), Alfadhir (All-Father),<br />

Galdrfadhir (Father of Magical Songs), Jalk (Gelding), Gondlir (Wand-bearer), Svithur/Svitlrrir (the<br />

Wise), Harbardhr (Graybeard), Vafuth (Wayfarer), Offlir (the Entangler) and Svafnir (Luller to Sleep or<br />

Dreams)-both names of serpents at the roots of Yggdrasil, Mimir' 5 Friend, Gagnrath (Giving Good<br />

Counsel), Drauga Drottin (Lord of Ghosts), Hangatyr (God of the Hanged), Karl af berge (the Man of the<br />

Mountain), Hnikar (Thruster), Frigg's Husband, and others.<br />

Odhinn is generally seen as a tall gray-bearded man in a dark blue cloak, one eye being covered by<br />

a broad hat or with the cloak's hood. He is master of all disguise, however, and appears in many forms<br />

both animal and human, even disguising himself as a woman at need. He rides the gray eight-legged horse<br />

Sleipnir; his weapon is the spear Gungnir. He is followed by the ravens Huginn and Muninn, who fly out<br />

every day to gather wisdom and tell him what has happened in the Nine Worlds, and by the wolves Freki<br />

and Geri.<br />

LOKI<br />

Loki was never worshipped; blessings were not made to him and his minne was not drunk. As the most<br />

destructive and counter- social side of Odhinn's being, he was viewed with little favor. In the myths he<br />

was sometimes helpful and sometimes unhelpful. It is p05sible that the influence of Christianity may have<br />

diabolized him somewhat, creating the wholly baleful being of the later parts of the Norse cycle. At his<br />

best, Loki shows the more fallible and humorous sides of the Trickster; at his worst, he is betrayal and<br />

raw chaos. In secret lore, he brings forth those sides of Odhinn's being which were seen as unfitting for<br />

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