Frequently Asked Questions

How many gods and goddesses do Odinists acknowledge?

There are more gods and goddesses in our pantheon than most Odinists could list.

But the pre-eminent god is Odin?

No, there is no pre-eminent god in the sense of one being somehow superior to the others. That is a Christian concept that has no place in Odinism. Our different deities are closely associated with specific qualities or activities or purposes, and they can each be regarded as pre-eminent in their own ways.

Still, you call your faith "Odinism". Doesn't that suggest that Odin is the main god?

The word Odinism was first used in 1848 by the writer O. Brownson, who wrote of "A revival of Odinism, or the old Scandinavian heathenism". It doesn't suggest that Odin is the main god. Think of the way linguists use the word "Germanic" to refer to many different but related languages, including Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, English, Dutch, German, Faeroese, Flemish and Afrikaans. Calling all these languages "Germanic" doesn't imply that German was the first of them to exist, or that it is the greatest, or the most influential.

Other people seem to use the term "Asatru" to describe your faith, or something very like your faith. Are they the same?

"Asatru" is a Norse term, meaning loyalty to the gods. "Theod" is an Old English term with the same meaning. Some people prefer these and other names to "Odinism". But whatever name individuals use to describe our faith, we all venerate the same deities.

What is the nature of these deities? Are they archetypes, or what?

We cannot define them for you because we believe the concept of deity is ultimately beyond the limits of human conceptual thought and language. (After two thousand years of theology the Christians still cannot agree on a definition of their single deity!) However, some things can be said about our gods and goddesses. They are superhuman beings. They are within nature, like us, rather than outside it. Their tasks are to oppose the forces of entropy in nature and finally to overcome them, to replenish the cosmic order, to promote life and vitality. Because their actions happen to benefit humans they are our allies, and because our allegiance assists them they are actively benevolent toward us.

I thought they were symbols of natural events like the turning of the year?

That was the view of some nineteenth century anthropologists and other scholars, who were all brought up within a Christian tradition. It is not our view. We believe the gods and goddesses are very real. They, and their properties, can be conceived on both a physical and an abstract plane.

I have read that Odin was a man, a great leader of his people, who was venerated as a god after his death. Is this true?

You are referring to the concept of "euhemerism", named after the Sicilian writer Euhemeros, who thought that myths could be explained by the divinizing of the heroic virtues of human beings. Christians latched on to euhemerism as an explanation of why other people told stories of divine beings who do not appear in the Bible.
One of the well-known sources of information about our ancestors' beliefs is the "Gesta Danorum" of Saxo Grammaticus. Saxo wrote this work at the behest of Archbishop Absalon, so he could hardly admit that our gods and goddesses are real. Less of a euhemerist was Snorri Sturluson. In his prologue to "Gylfaginning" this very Christian author says our gods were people who originally lived in Asia, but after this nod to orthodoxy he treats them as genuine gods in the rest of his writing.
Euhemerism is a very convenient way for Christians to admit that we sincerely venerate different gods and goddesses, but at the same time to make our beliefs seem childish. In authentic surviving works from the pre-Christian period there is no suggestion that Odin was ever anything other than a god.

Sometimes his name is spelt Odin, sometimes Woden, and sometimes Wotan. Which is correct?

The god's name is spelt Odin in Norse, Woden in English and Wotan in German. All are correct. Sometimes an Odinist writer will use different spellings of a god's name within an article to indicate specific manifestations of that god or goddess to people of different national groups.

You said you "venerate" the gods and goddesses. Does this mean that you worship them?

Not in the sense that Muslims worship Allah. The word worship derives from Old English "weorthscipe", which means worthy of honour. We worship our gods and goddesses by showing them the honour, respect and recognition that is due to their worthiness. We don't believe that bowing and scraping, kneeling, whining or begging is an appropriate way of honouring them.

Do you pray to them?

"Prayer" can mean many things, ranging from meditation to making an earnest request. When the Norse exploration party was starving in America, an Odinist named Thorhall the Hunter honoured his favourite god Thor by composing a poem in his honour. In a sense this act of poetic composition was a prayer for help in obtaining food. Thor sent him a beached whale (which made the Christians in the party sick!)

So Odinists can have special relationships with specific gods and goddesses?

Very much so. A famous example is Hrafnkel, who, according to the saga, "loved no other god more than Frey, on whom he bestowed a half share in all his best treasures". We don't know quite what this "half share" really meant, but clearly Hrafnkel somehow consecrated his most valued possessions to Frey. Another famous example is Egil Skallagrimson, who as a warrior and poet was appropriately devoted to Odin. But people can also have special relationships with different gods or goddesses simultaneously. A farmer may well seek Frey's blessing for the fertility of his land, and Odin's help in discovering the best mix of grasses to improve his herd's milk, and the blessing of Freya on his marriage.

Why would he ask Odin to help him discover the best mix of grasses?

Because Odin's foremost characteristic is his quest for knowledge. In parts of Australia farmers are still experimenting with the effect of different grasses on milk quality and yield, and that quest is a very Odinic activity. Compare it with the Christian reaction to empirical researchers like Copernicus and Galileo!

There is some tension between science and most religions. Are you saying that Odinism is different in this regard?

For the best part of two thousand years Western science was held back by Christian beliefs and attitudes. As science increasingly frees itself of Christian fetters it increasingly converges on the world outlook of Odinism. (See, for instance, the article on this site about Odinist cosmology.)

Speaking of relationships, how do Odinists and Christians get on?

Most Odinists have no trouble in relating well to our Christian neighbours, relatives and colleagues. The reverse is not always the case. For example, every year a pagan festival is held in the crater of an extinct volcano at Mount Franklin in Victoria, Australia. During the 1990's some Christian extremists took to busing in their "born-again" brethren from Melbourne. These people did everything they could to disrupt the pagan cermonies, singing Christian hymns, playing guitars, talking in tongues, and praying for their god to convert the pagans. To disrupt a religious ceremony is specifically illegal under the Victorian "Summary Offences Act", but the patient pagans forbore to call the police.

Are "pagans" the same as "heathens"?

One word comes from Latin and the other is Germanic, but they both refer to people living in isolated, rural places. When Christianity was expanding these remote people clung to the religion of their ancestors longer than those in the cities. Now, ironically, the situation is reversing. In Australia the Christian strongholds tend to be country towns, while the number of heathens or pagans in the capital cities is growing exponentially.

Are Odinists "neopagans" or "mesopagans" or "paleopagans" or what?

We let others worry about terms like this. We are Odinists.

Is Odinism a religion, a spiritual path, or a philosophy?

All three and more, at the same time.

Do you have any concept of "The Lord and The Lady", or "The Goddess"?

No. If you spoke of "The Goddess" to an Odinist you would probably be asked which of our many goddesses you had in mind. "The Lord and The Lady" are equally meaningless terms to us.

What about Satan?

Satan is a character in Judeo-Christian mythology. He is a figment of the Judeo-Christian imagination and is nothing to do with us.

Isn't one of your gods, Loki, somewhat like Satan?

Some Christians and Satanists claim so, but only because they do not understand our concept of cosmic "Fate". The best study of this subject is Alan James' "The Trial of Loki: a study in nordic heathen morality". This work is available from Theod, PO Box 8062, Watertown, NY, 13601, USA, for $US 7.00.

I have heard about Ragnarok, a great final showdown between the gods and the forces of chaos, but I'm confused. From what I have read it has already happened. Can you tell me more?

Ragnarok is yet to happen. When it does occur the forces of chaos will be destroyed. Many of our best-loved gods will perish defending the life-force, but many will also survive, and Balder will return. The earth will be re-born in fruitfulness and peace. The human race will also be re-born through Lif and Lifthrasir, a human couple or a symbolic human couple, whose names have been interpreted as "Life" and "He who superabounds with life".

When will this happen?

We don't know. There are several signs foretold. First there will be a period when all the taboos of Nordic morality will be overturned:

"Brother shall strike brother and both fall,
Sisters' sons slay each other
Evil be on earth, an Age of Whoredom,
Of sharp sword-play and shields' clashing,
A Wind-Age, a Wolf-Age, till the world ruins:
No man to another shall mercy show."

That sounds much like the twentieth century. What happens after that?

There will be a winter so severe that it will destroy nearly all life:

" ... the terrible winter comes, which is called Fimbulvetr; then the snow is driven from all directions, there are then great frosts and biting winds. The sun is of no use. Three winters come together and summer in between. But before that another three winters pass in which great battles are fought throughout the world."

Do you really believe there could be a winter like that? I thought we were experiencing global warming!

Think of the mammoths found frozen in Siberia in conjunction in time with great layers of volcanic dust found elsewhere. It has been suggested that a sudden mass extrusion of dust and gases from the simultaneous eruption of several volcanoes would cut out sunlight and create winds beyond anything known today. The extruded gases descending from the cold of space could have killed and instantly frozen the mammoths. (To do this they would have had to be below minus-150 degrees Fahrenheit.) Weather conditions like this could have lasted for days, weeks, months, even years.

On the other hand, the term "winter" may be metaphorical, as in Shakespeare's "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York".

What happens after that?

The earth is consumed with fire:

"The sun turns black,
the earth sinks into the sea,
the bright stars disappear
from the sky; steam gushes forth
with fire, the high flame
plays up to the sky itself""

How could that happen?

A comet of a million million tons striking the earth at the average of 30 miles per second would release over a quarter of the energy received from the sun in a year. This could heat the whole atmosphere to 190C. But note that the world fire in Odinist eschatology is purifying - not destructive as it is in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

And then?

The best study of Ragnarok is the Australian scholar John Stanley Martin's "Ragnarok: an investigation into old norse concepts of the fate of the gods", Melbourne Monographs in Germanic Studies, Volume 3, ISBN 90 232 1012 3. This should be available in the libraries of major universities that teach Germanic Studies. We highly recommend that you read it.

Do you believe in these prohecies in a literal sense?

Some do. Some think they are symbolic. One way or another it is clear that great catastrophes will occur before the world, and humanity, is renewed. The emphasis, though, should be on the coming renewal. This will rejuvenate the earth itself, the divine and cosmic orders, and humanity - since only the children of the glorious Lif and Lifthrasir will be available to repopulate Midgard.