TEUTONIC MAGIC - Awaken Video

19: OUTDWELLERS
The concept of the innangardhs and the utangardhs has been somewhat discussed under Nine Worlds of
Yggdrasil (see Chapter 1). The innangardhs is the realm of ordered space, social structure, the human, and
the known; the utangardhs is the realm of disorder, the unhuman, the uncanny, and the unknown. It is the
wild world of the forest and the outlaw. It is also the realm into which you fare to gain wisdom and
magical power as does Odhinn. Magic is, indeed, by nature characteristic of the utangardhs, as ordered
religion is of the innangardhs. Those wights which are specifically characterized as "outdwellers" are
those whose beings are strongly contradictory to the ordered nature of the innangardhs. However, you
should never forget that not only are parts of the vitki's own being - such as the fylgja and even the
valkyrja in some aspect closely akin to the outer world, but the most powerful mediator between the
realms is the vitki her/himself.~ Hastrup further points out that only one who is him/herself a part of the
utangardhs can effectively deal with its uncanny wights, as seen in the Grettis Saga in which Grettir is the
only human who can deal with the malicious trolls and ghosts troubling more ordered folk, precisely
because he is an outlaw and thus sib to these beings.2 Likewise, a number of the greatest Teutonic heroes
bear markings or come from families which tie them to the powers of the utangardhs, and it is precisely
from this that they derive their uncanny might, even as the gods must often turn to the jotuns for mates.
THE VARGR
Perhaps the most characteristic inhabitant of the utangardhs was the wight called the vargr. This term
means wolf," though it. has a more brutal connotation than the standard ulfr; it was also used colloquially
to mean "outlaw," which may have been its original sense. Etymologically it is connected to u-argr,
"restless,"3 which should at once lead the mind back to Odhinn. The heaviest form of outlawry was called
skoggangr ("forest-going"); one who had been outlawed was a forest-man or an outlying man, the latter
term being used for any wight who lived outside the bounds of society, whether as outlaw, robber, or
uncanny being. The term utilegja ("lying out") is also related to the sitting-out of seidh-magic4 (see
Chapter 14). The outlaw, being outside of the gardhn had ceased to be human; he is "wod-freka
werewulf"-the fury-greedy werewolf- in the laws of Canute wulf-heafod (wolf's head) among the Anglo-
Saxons.
It is obvious that the vargr (outlaw) is closely related to and frequently the same as the vargr
(ravening wolf). He is, in fact, often a skin-changer or a berserker. (The vargr is almost always a he in the
stories-although women often have wolf-fylgur, they ordinarily ride on their backs rather than putting on
their skins, and only one vague poetic reference to a female berserker exists.)5 The Volsunga Saga
describes how Sigmundr and Sinfjotli become outlaws for a time, when Sigmundr wishes to test the
strength of his son, and how the two of them find a house in which other outlaws are sleeping with
wolfskins hung over their heads. The Volsungs steal the skins and put them on, turning into wolves, and
go forth from there to kill some more travellers. By putting on the skin of an animal in company with the
proper ritual, one can either fare forth in its shape or draw the fylgja-mind into oneself to become a
berserker. Those who do this are called eigi einhamir, "not of one skin." This is a trait which is passed
down through family lines, so that one sees genealogies such as Bjorn, son of Ulfhedhinr (Wolf-skin-coat,
another name for a berserker) son of Ulfhamr (Wolffiide/shape) son of Ulf (Wolf) son of Ulfhamr who
could change forms.6 Unfortunately, those who received this heavy gift of Odhinn's in the latter
generations were (and are) usually untrained and unable to control it; the ability to control it usually came
through initiation into the secret cults of the Germanic warrior-band.
The berserker is not always an outlaw, but he is always outside the bonds of society, and the rules of
the innangardhs do not bind him as they bind other people. It was not uncommon for berserkers to roam
through the land, challenging peaceful farmers to holmgang (ritual single combat), which the victim could
only escape by forfeiting all he had to the challenger. The berserker was a fearsome opponent: he
characteristically gnawed at the edge of his shield, frothing at the mouth In his battle-trance he had the
mind of the creature which was his fylgja, usually a wolf or a bear. His strength was several times greater
than normal, he did not feel blows, and those berserkers who were especially skilled in trance and battle-
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