Hail the Æsir and Vanir!
ᛟ🍺 🔥 🐺 🕯 🗡 ᛉ

Odin by @my_pagan_temple on IG.

Lay / general folk faith is and always will be surface compared to priest / theological focused philosophy.

And that's ok.
It is how it should be.

Both serve their purpose in praising the Gods and aligning the people spiritually.

Image source : https://www.instagram.com/p/C74t89CvDo9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Dont know the image source just crediting the image of good God poles.

The gravesite of Alexander Rudd Mills and his wife honored by Südhimmel Hearth Australia.

Skírnismál is an Old Norse poem in the Poetic Edda, the collection of poems originally in Old Norse that contain the traditional myths and beliefs of the historical pre-Christian Norse people. In the 13th-century Icelandic manuscript Codex Regius, the poem is called Fǫr Skírnis (Skírnir's Journey).

The written poem is a preservation of a traditional Norse (and by extension Germanic) myth about the Vanir god Freyr, the son of the god Njǫrðr, where He climbs up Hliðskjálf, the cosmic throne of the god Óðinn - the highest god and king of the Norse, and by extension Germanic pantheon - and with its ability to provide its user omniscience sends Skírnir to convince the jǫtunn Gerðr ("Enclosure") to marry Him.

Skírnismál is noteworthy because it contains valuable wisdom in stanza 13 that not only provides insight into the traditional pre-Christian Germanic mindscape but it is also applicable in certain contexts today:

"It's better to be courageous
than to wail and weep
when one is eager to take action;
for in a single day
my life was shaped for me,
and all my life faded."

This stanza communicates the idea that it is better to take action and strive towards a given goal in life with full dedication as opposed to feeling sorry for yourself over a current circumstance. Being courageous in life or the pursuit of a goal or achievement is better than feeling nihilistic and that it is unachievable, for, as the poem makes clear, that opportunity could vanish. In the context of Skírnismál, it would be life ending.

On a personal note, I have always found this wisdom in Skírnismál to correspond with my view as a dedicated, devout worshipper and priest of Wōden. It is consistent with wisdom read in Vǫlsunga Saga, chapter 7, and Hávamál verse 76.

Historically, the pre-Christian Norse people understood that those who die in battle go to Valhǫll (Wælheall in Old English to the Pagan Anglo-Saxons and Valhalla to the continental Germans), which not only takes courage, but also the ability to fully commit to fighting and dying in that moment.

This wisdom can be helpful today in a range of contexts depending on one's personal pursuits. Skírnismál does not suggest nihilism or defeatism. It suggests acknowledging that we all die and could die at any moment and that your response in proportion to this fact should be courageous and without fear. Regardless, those pursuits (should they align with virtue and morally righteous outcomes) should be pursued with full courage and commitment.

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Amleth, son of Horwendill, the hero of the movie The Northman by Robert Eggers, is recorded in the Den danske Rimkrønike (1495) as stating:

Thoor myn gudh oc otthen meth i hweryæ stund oc hweryæ stæth (…)

Thor is my god and with Odin in every hour and every stead (…)

Aus Richard Wagners „Der Ring des Nibelungen: Rheingold“ (1914) by Franz Stassen

„Was, mächtig der Furcht, mein Muth mir erfand, wenn siegend es lebt – leg' es den Sinn dir dar!“

Die Götter steigen auf Bifröst herab. Wotan und Fricka schreiten der Brücke zu: Froh und Freia folgen zunächst, dann Donner.

"What, mighty with fear, my courage has invented for me, if it lives victoriously – let it reveal its meaning to you!"

The gods descend upon Bifröst. Wotan and Fricka approach the bridge: Froh and Freia follow first, then Donner.

"Literally me!"
Jokes aside rather correct. These three wolves in some variation reflect most Germanic, or Celto-Germanic men, as well as some sets of Slavs.

I thought filthy leftists were done posting this 2018 style subversive cringe and moved on to larping as Africans.

The Edda and the forest…sometimes, this is all one needs. ᛉ