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Chapter 5. The Underworld 134
not only did each individual have personal ancestral lineage but so did all things
(see Chapter 2). Here the catalog of beings and roles that these beings played in the
system of the Universe becomes uncountable. Everything in the visible world had
its Underworld counterpart. Everything had a “soul” hence the burying of weapons,
tools, household goods, etc. with deceased persons; the recounting of the lineage of
a sword; or the naming of houses, boats, trees, etc. For the ancients, lineage was
important and was to be honored. For a tie to the past was a tie to the source of
life, and by “grooming” those ties, the Waters of Life remained free flowing.
The Underworld tradition of the Teutons was already becoming misunderstood
and misrepresented by the time it was committed to writing by the Christians. In
the folk mind, distinctions between concepts were already becoming blurry. Twelve
hundred years of Christian indoctrination plus the growth of science which has
leaned towards breaking things down to their fundamental parts for analysis and
classification has damaged people’s ability to accept the idea that this are not all
there is, but that people themselves are only a small part of the whole. People are
only now beginning to realize that when a corpse is dissected for examination, for
example, they are no longer looking at a human body because of one fundamental
difference: a human body lives. By regaining access to the ancestral lineage both in
terms of time and place, people will come to know exactly where they stand in the
Universe, and by doing so, they can come to know the limitless power of the Waters
of Life flowing through the World Tree.
Acceptance of relationships or connections between things and events and of
Midgard as being one small part of a whole is workable even in this day and age, but
complete acceptance of the Germanic Underworld tradition is a little more difficult.
First, people are trained from early on that non-physical beings outside of themselves
are constructs of the imagination, so to go around saying that one believes in elves,
giants, dwarves, Gods, or ancestral or guardian spirits is to invite ridicule by peers,
or worse, the local authorities. Consequently, the current trend is to talk about
the Underworld tradition in terms of symbols, analogies, and metaphors instead of
simply accepting it for what it is: a worldview.
The second reason that the Underworld tradition might be a little difficult to
accept is that there is another faddish tendency to make the Underworld tradition
into something that its not: a sweet, light, and airy place where all negatives are
removed. The Underworld like Midgard was divided in the early Germanic mind set
into halves, with the one half being the sanctuary of community and the other half as
wilderness. Many in this modern age subscribe to an idea that the entire Universe is
filled with quaint butterfly winged fairies who cavort about the heads of those blessed
with Aquarian Age enlightenment just waiting for any chance to bestow glittering
gifts upon the New Age saints. This idea of ”fun elves and hobbits who love people”