User talk:Bloodofox/Odin rewrite

Balac ore (talk) 10:43, 31 December 2012 (UTC)I do not know how to do anything in here so I hope that my four squiggles come out to be my name (call sign) Balac ore---I am new to this and do not know much about doing editing---I assume typing in this place might be seen by Bloodofox who it appears is the primary force in Norse in here. By the way you are doing a great job of it. I am a old scholar of Norse and have done years of research; however that was 30-20yrs ago and my current knowledge has been reduced after a fire that destroyed most of my documents. As such I have very few citations and only have observations, but Odin is a real problem that needs to be corrected I believe. He is basically a late (1000BCE)Icelandic/pagan invention and very little what is cited is of old Norse (200-800BCE). I can not type so this explanation will be terse due to the extreme time that it takes me to type or thinking of the correct words. I have had a stroke 10 years ago that affected my language and speech centers and am dyslexic now as well so bear with me please. As well as being educated as a scientist I am also a spiritualist and a artist and have a high degree of interest in old Norse and trying to figure out the truth behind the myths and the people. First of all there is nothing new in human nature in that last 20eons at least so old Norse is the same as new Norse except the local circumstances have changed. We no longer think the there is evil spirits who make us sick with colds or flues; nor do we believe of a gods that make war on giants with lightening and thunder. But we still have fears of the unknown and hold traditions sacred like the Yule tree and the bunny and easter egg. Some things are long lasting and other things are created to deal with current problems. Such is the case of Odin. When Haraold Fairhair took over Norway he began the dismantling the folk religion and the people sought freedom from his demands in Iceland and so they evacuated. That is the poor evacuated; the rich had to stay and protect their wealth. So you could say the Iceland is the first seat of democracy if you discount Norway/Sweden before 920. They were running from an oppression of their religion by decree and by monks who claimed that their god was the only true god and his son will give then everlasting life. They had no god like that! So they made up all kinds of crap about Odin that had nothing to do with Odin; like having 2 ravens and wolves and being the husband of 2 or 3 goddesses and father to most of the gods including Thor. This last claim is the most outrageous claim because this would mean that writing came before Lightening and thunder. Odin was the god of writing.....that is all. Nothing more; but a lot of the literate chiefs may have taken him as a personal god and since they made war sometimes then you might say the wolf and raven came along---but only because of the killing and not because Odin had them as his hand maidens. The spear and the ravens and the wolves are all symbols of war by anyone---they were given to him only because the pagan people needed to make their principle deity powerful against the attacking religion; and Odin was chosen only because writing was magic art of the successful chiefs. Thor was the god for the people but Odin was the god of the leaders and the leaders made the stories. Odin did not use Mímir's head or lose an eye in his search for wisdom in the well of wisdom; he had it plucked out by the myth writers who wanted to validate that their chief was wise. It is an artifact of leadership and represents the wish that the local law giver were wise and so his decisions were righteous. Similarly to today where we want to believe that our politicians have our best interested at heart when the fund bridges to no-where or when they claim that there are weapons of mass destruction going to be used. It is all a wish today just as in 1000BCE; there is no wisdom in leadership other than what the individual brings with him today. Odin had his eye plucked out so the Boss would be seen to be wise by the people he led.

I would recommend that some sort of disclaimer be put in the introduction that states that most of the myth on Odin was written down after the the introduction of Christianity to the northmen and most likely was a reaction to the forced realignment of deities in the north. Especially the fathering of the other gods like Thor. Odin was the male god of magic and writing; who the leadership in the north followed only because he was the god of writing.

here is something I sent to Karen Taylor a practicer of Norse religion:

Odin is a new invention---I think about 1100 is when the cult overtook the other gods and the subscribed the All Power and All Things to him---I do not really like that glorification of him---he is far as I can tell is only Really associated with writing but it hard to characterize writing symbolically in a figurine. The Spear was my thought of a symbol; the raven is the harbinger of death that goes Way Back and is only associated with him because of his War making activities. Lots of gods are associated with making war--Tewaz being the best example but Ull and Thor and Hiemdall and lots others are as well, so I do not want to propagate the Icelandic creation of all power in Odin. He was just the god of writing--(and magic). Since carrying speech on a stick was magic to the illiterate; magic might be the best symbol but which one?