Hello my dear friends, how have you been?
I'm Arith Härger and I am very pleased you could join me once again in yet another year
welcome to
2020
Since this is the first video of this year
I would like to start with a subject related to life rather than death
New beginnings always start with life and, well,even if death is present
It's just one step for the beginning of a new life
Now
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Now on this video today, I'm going to talk about the gift of the Vanir
following the video
I have done about Vanatru, many of you have shown interest in wanting to know more about
This tribe of gods from the Norse Pantheon
but before we really start to talk about
The main subject. I think it's important to express
The perception of life in Nordic paganism because indeed the gift of the Vanir is the gift of life
So let's start from there, and I hope you enjoy this video
As an archaeologist I often talk about death to express the religious and social realities of the past
Indeed 90% of the archaeological work at least for me
is spending time with the dead because it's in their graves that we find a great deal of the material culture
And the way the final resting place has been arranged tells us a lot about the mentality of a people
even the study of rune stones, they are memorial stones to the dead and
expresses passages from the myths and heroic poems
We sure talk a lot about death when it comes to ancient civilizations, but not nearly enough about their lives
When it comes to Norse mythology, we also talk about death quite a lot and the afterlife
because the perception of life after death for pre-christian Scandinavians is indeed quite elaborate and
fascinating
so we often get the wrong impression that
These people were really concerned about the life after their deaths
concerned with the beyond and life simply revolved around that and
That is a terrible mistake. And the first thing that comes to mind when speaking about
the pre-christian Scandinavian religions and
Mythology is of course Valhalla
that idea of dying gloriously in battle to be accepted in Valhalla and spend eternity in that afterlife place
It almost feels like these people only cared about battle and the objective was to die in the battlefield
to reach Valhalla as if it were the only destination after death
and you really must go there to be with the gods
a poorly romanticized idea
of course, I'm not going to develop in this video
not today at least, about the concept of Valhalla
but indeed it must be pointed out that the idea of the violent death and
The figure of a constantly raiding Viking who lived a warrior's life
Hoping to die in battle to go to Valhalla, is in fact a literature phenomenon
Don't get me wrong
Valhalla was perceived to be an afterlife place but not for the common warrior
Most likely it was an afterlife place for the war-like elite, for nobility
there are specific afterlife places in Norse mythology for each social class and
This desire to die in battle to reach Valhalla is a later concept
created to motivate warriors to go into battle without fear in their hearts and
Receive a glorious death
by the hands of the 13th century Icelander Snorri Sturluson
Valhalla was equated with the Christian paradise. And even with the Roman Elysium
Valhalla's location was even shifted into the realm of the gods
As I've said a literature phenomenon
Pre-christian Scandinavians
mostly were farmers and hunters
Craftsmen, fishermen and their seafaring activities were mostly about trading
this almost sickening obsession with the afterlife is a Christian religious motif and attitude which during the Middle Ages
was
Absolutely focused on saving one's life and soul to acquire a place in heaven beside their Almighty God
during the early Middle Ages Christians were
Absolutely focused and very much concerned
With only living a life in a way that would ensure their place in heaven
So when we start to see a great emphasis on the afterlife on the Old Norse literary works
that emphasis is due to
Christian conceptions rooted on a society which was already 200 years at least
culturally far from the pagan past
In other words
Christians were driven
By the necessity to conduct their lives as the continuous preparation for the next life
Their concern wasn't this world but a life in the next
Christians were focused on the afterlife. That was the big thing for them
The point of everything actually and it was and still is important to them to live their lives dedicated
to the right afterlife
my point here is to make you understand that Christianity like many such other religions
are world-denying religions
World views is exactly what separates a pagan religion from another religion
paganism isn't about worshipping many gods or having similarities in the religious panorama and
folklore
Paganism isn't every religion that doesn't belong in the group of the three main monotheistic religions
Judaism, Christianity and Islam
What makes a religion pagan in nature is the world-accepting mentality expressed in it
when a religion is focused on the afterlife and death and
Everything in this world is just a momentary passage and we must prepare ourselves
For our lives elsewhere after death, that sort of religion is a world-denying religion
Not at all concerned with life itself and this world
therefore not pagan in nature
a Pagan religion is focused on the life on this world and
Everything that belongs to life
including death, of course. A pagan religion is a world accepting religion and accepts all that encompasses it
and the spiritual isn't somewhere on another world. Rather, this world already belongs to the spiritual reality
Because everything is together in the same spiritual ecosystem - a web of life
While world-denying religions view life as a straight line with a beginning and an end
world-accepting religions view life as a cycle
a Circle, a continuous existence of birth, life, death and rebirth and on and on it goes
while none pagan religions
See death as the end and spend eternity elsewhere
pagan religions see death merrily as the beginning of a new cycle and rebirth comes after
and there isn't an actual end
We see this in Norse mythology
life begins with a cosmic entity called Ymir and his death marks the beginning of the cycle of life and
In the end the death of another God marks the final stages of a cycle
The god Baldr is the exact same thing as Ymir. When Baldr dies all the events that lead to Ragnarok
started to enfold until the destruction of everything to make way to the new cycle
Ymir dies and the cycle of life starts; Baldr dies and the cycle comes to a point to start anew
death in pagan religions always marks a new beginning
So there are no reasons to assume
That the afterlife was as important to the pre-christian Scandinavians as it was to Christians themselves
Nordic pagans believed in an afterlife, there is no doubt about that
But it was probably not as much the focal point of their religious practices
because the afterlife wasn't in some
unreachable place, but it was here parallel to this world, in this world, all around
Everything dies to return again and again and again
so
To the Nordic pagans much like any other pagan culture whose-
religions were
World-accepting religions, death wasn't a desire
No one wanted to die so they could live happily ever after in some bright
Eternity and vast green fields and sweet angelic voices singing
Do be careful with that
When you notice a great emphasis on death
And the afterlife in religion, philosophy and spirituality you are dangerously close to the mentality of
world-denying religions
So to the pagans the great desire was to live, enjoy life
Constantly and forever, and even death marks the beginning of a new life
a new cycle
various philosophical
and/or exoteric systems and even Christianity obviously
consciously and
Unconsciously approach the acceptance of death either as inevitability or as a part of us
To be a pagan is to accept life and all that it contains
Accept the living world because death is an illusion and does not really exist in the pagan mindset
because we are simply and only
spiritual beings coexisting with other spiritual beings
In an endless web that can never be destroyed
Things just die to come back to life and start more life. Life does not end with death
but death is part of life and just a shift to continue on living
and that my dear friends is the true gift of the Vanir - Life
To understand the power and the gifts of the Vanir, we must understand who they are
I'm not going to speak about each deity of the Vanir on this video
I've done that already
But as I have expressed before the Vanir are perceived to be the second tribe of gods in Norse mythology
The other tribe of gods being the Aesir
But this perception of two tribes leads to the wrong idea that within Norse mythology
the Nordic pantheon is divided into two tribes only and so
Every God must either belong to one tribe or the other
Things are not as simple as that
Simply dividing the gods into two tribes and that's it. It's a common mistake to perceive the Norse pantheon as
just two tribes and if any
Entity or character from Old Norse literature understood to be divine in nature
that isn't immediately perceived as
belonging to the Aesir tribe of gods
people often automatically place those deities within the Vanir tribe of gods
The Vanir happen to be the group of gods who presided over
Peace and plenty, and the gods that we can immediately say they belong to the Vanir
Without a single trace of doubt, are just three gods
Freyr, Freyja and Njördr
but this leads to another problem because
certainly, the Vanir are perceived as the gods of fertility and magic as well and
we know that other gods are also propitiators of fertility and magic and
Some are within the Aesir, or have no tribe whatsoever
This is why I say the Vanir are the gods of peace and plenty
Not strictly the gods of fertility and magic, even though their powers are also about that
But as I have said, other gods outside the Vanir tribe of gods are also of fertility and magic,
among other powers the Vanir also possess
The key to understand the Vanir is precisely
Understanding the powers they don't have in common with other gods of the Norse Pantheon and
That is peace and plenty
Let me explain
We have the God Thor, for instance, he is half a giant and he belongs to the Aesir and
He too propitiates fertility, but that fertility aspect makes him a Vanir?
No, it doesn't, because he is the god of thunder and god of battle, a warrior god
a warlike god
and that doesn't make him one of the Vanir because the Vanir preside over Peace
Another example
many neo-pagans who follow or practice the neo-pagan Nordic religious branch of Vanatrú
Like to include Gullveig into the Vanir, why?
because clearly she isn't one of the Aesir and
so because of the common mistake of understanding the Norse pantheon as only two tribes
they place gods that don't have a clear allegiance to any tribe or are not perceived to
belong to the Aesir
They place such gods in the group of the Vanir, as if the Vanir were the tribe that welcomes
downtrodden gods or gods that have no home and
Need a place to stay
Those who think that Gullveig belongs to the Vanir
They couldn't be more far from the truth and sorely mistaken
Sure, she is a figure linked to magic; she expresses magic and we all know that the Vanir are the
tribe of gods propitiators of magic as well
But does that make Gullveig one of the Vanir? Of course not. She is chaos. She is death and she is destruction
Gods linked to war, to powers of destruction, Chaos and disorder are not gods of peace and plenty
The Vanir are the gods of peace and plenty and the main attributes of Freyr, Freyja and Njördr
are connected to peace and plenty
That doesn't mean they don't have other attributes
but as I've said, to distinguish the gods we must look at what they don't have in common
and when I said that there are gods that are linked to war, powers of destruction, chaos and disorder
I don't mean it as if it were something strictly bad
Because such powers can also propitiate good things. Such as protection, for instance
But there it is
That's something many gods have in common one way or another
So to understand who exactly are the Vanir we must look into the powers they don't have in common
with other gods
Otherwise there would be no distinctions whatsoever. Because each God has something in common with another
So the Vanir are only three gods, or at least the gods that reached our days
through the literary sources and
Archaeological evidences
and those three gods are Freyr, Freyja and Njördr, gods of peace and plenty
There might have been more, more gods
Judging by the gods of fertility in Bronze Age rock carvings for instance
but we know nothing about them and who they really were and
Sure, you can argue as some of you already did
What about Aegir and Ran?
Aren't they Vanir?
No they aren't. They are in the group of gods of the sea
and then you say "but Arith, Njörd is also a god of the sea, and you just said he is one of the Vanir"
Yes Njordr is also a god of the sea
But didn't I just tell you to look for the aspects and powers the gods don't have in common?
Njordr isn't one of the Vanir because he is a god of the sea
Njordr is of the Vanir because his main attributes propitiate peace and plenty
With certainty we can say that Njordr, Freyr and Freyja
are from the Vanir
The Vanir are not the gods that express
and they do not express ideals of justice and good conduct as the Aesir do
and they also do not express powers of chaos, disorder
Destruction and war
The Vanir are the gods that in all essence transmit the power of peace
Plenty and the power to create new life
But new life precisely under the conditions of peace and plenty which leads to a state of harmony
Which brings about
fertility
as said before the deities is known as the Vanir are by no means easy to define, but we do know they preside over
peace and plenty
That was their main attributes and gifts
And that was what people praise the most
Judging by the amount of place-names derived from the names of Vanir deities
There are more place-names derive from Vanir deities than any other gods combined
Which shows there were a lot of places in Scandinavia
The Vanir deities were highly praised above all others
This helps to undo the image we have of Scandinavians as
warlike people living in a warrior culture
There is no mistake
There were warriors, obviously, and there were a lot of internal conflicts as well as external
But the warrior class was a tiny fraction within the Scandinavian societies when compared
to the rest of the population
We are talking about people in the great majority were farmers, fishermen
Craftsmen, hunters, people tied to the land, so it's not hard to picture-
that the greatest majority of people praised peace and plenty and
Cared little about the wars of their Lords, as long as they don't bother the common folk, obviously
Peace and plenty was what the greatest majority of
pre-christian Scandinavians prayed for
and that is noticeable in the great amount of place names derived from Vanir deities
and once again
We must not forget that
Thor
wasn't of the Vanir but he too was as much worshipped as the god Freyr
and Thor is a warrior figure and his aspect of Thunder God-
Reflects his destructive and chaotic powers.
However, the great majority of the Scandinavian
populations
worshipped Thor
the same way they worshipped Freyr, as a fertility God and also
as a God called upon in important ceremonies that reflect
important aspects of life, such as weddings
and let's not forget that Thor was a god of the common folk mainly, farmers and
while the upper classes had
Afterlife halls for their own, such as Valhalla, Folkvangr and possibly even Valaskjálf
The common folk expected to go to Thor's Halls after death, because he was their God
I'm not denying that Scandinavians praised or worshipped war-like gods as well
But that was a tiny fraction of the religious panorama in pre-christian Scandinavia
Reserved for the upper classes, nobility and warriors of high birth
Warrior gods weren't as much the focal point of pre-christian Scandinavian religion
as the worship of deities that praised- that presided over peace and plenty
so the peace and plenty pattern
as well as the fertility one, is a definite one easy to recognize in the Vanir deities, and all that
encompasses their worship
and because the great majority of the pre-christian Scandinavian populations
worshipped these deities
In many ways the Vanir are the gods closest of all the heathen deities to mankind
What I mean with this is that many of the gods
were worshipped in
specific occasions, in specific celebrations and festivities, and called upon in
specific moments for specific needs
but the Vanir were almost constantly present in the daily lives of
pre-christian Scandinavians
precisely because the Vanir preside over life in general and
Everything that life comprises was a reason to celebrate
Pagans did not worship death and death wasn't the main reason to be alive and focused the religious life on it
pagans worshipped life
While Christianity and such other religions are religions of death, pagan religions are religions of life
everything that was important in life was reason enough to praise and
to celebrate, and so the Vanir gods would be constantly present
and this is another important aspect within ancient pagan religions
There wasn't a separation between the social and the religious, or rather
The religious life was part of the everyday life activities of the pagans
Certainly within the great urban centers things would have been
conducted differently, and the nobility held the religious power and conducted the
Religious ceremonies
but in the countryside which was the great social and economic reality
The religious was very much part of the people's daily lives
While the nobility praised the gods on specific occasions and held the ceremonies for their subjects
in the countryside the gods were praised every day from dawn till dusk
until those- and, and those gods were
Mostly the Vanir, which also helps to explain the great amount of place names derived from the Vanir
More than any other non-Vanir deities combined
But even among nobility the Vanir were highly praised
Take the example of the line of kings in Scandinavia; the male God Freyr appears in many different
Localities, and has also been represented by many different men
Priests or priest-kings who impersonated this deity
many lines of Scandinavian Kings believed that their line comes directly from Freyr
and some Kings took the name of Freyr as their own, acting on behalf of the god
impersonating him
on various occasions
the figure of the king himself acting as the priest-king
in ceremonies, the king himself leading the wagon with the fertility deity in it
Freyr's name is really a title meaning "Lord", while Freyja means "Lady"
Perhaps in the Lord and Lady of the May Day festivities
we are seeing their final manifestation and the last glimpse of the fertility powers
and we also have the name Frodi as well, who some people believe to be another fertility God, but in fact
it's also a title- actually an adjective
describing Freyr as "the fruitful one" and
The list of Kings called Frodi in Saxo Grammaticus' accounts implies that it was a title
Which many men bore in turn
Kings took on the role of these fertility deities and acting as the givers of Prosperity
if the Vanir favored them, of course
So it's not only among the common folk that the Vanir were highly praised
But among nobility as well
The idea that pre-christian Scandinavians worshipped Odin as their major God is absolutely wrong
Odin was mainly the god evoked bySkalds - by poets - and it was mainly a literary phenomenon
especially after the Viking period, already during the Catholic period in- of Iceland
In the 13th century when Snorri Sturluson
gives a lot of emphasis on the god Odin not only because Snorri
Equated odin with the Christian God because Snorri was writing for Christians not for pagans
but also because the great majority of
the sources he had in hand to help him compose the prose edda
Were sources that indeed talked a lot about Odin
because those accounts had been composed by poets and poets praised Odin quite a lot and
Obviously these sources come down to us in this manner which gives us the belief that Odin was
indeed the major God among pagan Scandinavians
Odin in Pre-christian Scandinavia was by no means the main god except for poets and some members of nobility
Ordinary people worshipped Thor, Freyr, Freyja, Njordr and possibly even Ullr and Skadi
This is why it is important to intensely be aware of
Updated academic work, and the academic work by any means mustn't be forgotten or put aside
if we want to truly get closer to the actual pre-christian pagan mentality
when some of you say that I'm lying to try to destroy paganism or
destroy your "ancestral beliefs"
No, my good friends, on the contrary actually
I'm trying to help to reach the actual essence of the pagan mentality
without continuing to feed the same mistakes and
Delusions that lead pagans further astray from actual paganism
I too am trying to filter every little bit of information
To reach the point closer to the actual pagan worldview
Without Christian influences that give us wrong ideas of the past
you either accept the truth and try to conduct your life according to it and
Always eager to pursuit the path that leads to the truth
Or you keep feeding your mind with the same lies and in some cases-
honest mistakes
And you remain on a stagnated perception
of your "ancestral beliefs" as you like to profess
one of the important aspects of the Vanir is that they are completely amoral
unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of something
in the sense that their province
was not to distinguish between good and evil or to bring people the ideals of justice
Or to teach about loyalty. The true gift of the Vanir goes beyond all preconceived
ideas of the social panorama
That maintains order
the Vanir express their power and give that power to mankind and that power is
The creation of new life that brings increase into the fields
among animals and within the home
and of course
They bring the powers to connect humankind to the unseen world
Besides the fertility aspects expressed in new crops, human and animal babies, newborns, new life
The gift of the Vanir also includes wise counsels granted through divination when these deities speak through a human mouth
We have the figure of the seeress
She is the link between mankind and the Vanir
Sometimes possibly appearing in the guise of Freyja, at occasions coming into people's homes to convey
the blessings of the goddess herself
just as Kings took the name of Freyr
or impersonated him in ceremonies. So would the Queen do the same or specific priestesses of Freyja
Acting on behalf of the goddess
impersonating her
expressing her powers and giving her power through the human figure that incorporated the goddess
Not just in the figure of Freyja but also as I've expressed before on another video
I don't remember which one now
There are reference to a Norse deity
called Lytir
Most likely by the explanations we get it was one from the Vanir tribe of gods, the fertility deities
One equivalent to Freyr or yet another title of Freyr
Lytir seems to have been a Swedish God who presided over fate and related to divination
this God would be carried on a wagon and the wagon would be led by the king into the place of ceremony and
In there offerings were given to Lytir, and the king would then proceed to ask questions to the deity
since Lytir was a god connected to fate and
divination
We are not told how this God communicated but it's quite possible that it would be the king himself
Who would impersonate this deity
and it wasn't a physical representation of the deity that would be carried in a wagon
But it would most likely be the king himself acting as a priest-king
Incorporating the deity and speaking through the deity
I hope you are paying attention to the notes I have left here concerning Lytir and among other things
But I think the gift of life was the most
Important expression of power coming from the Vanir
It is a mysterious power but essential to thrive and survive and keep on living
without fertility, plenty, peace and all that encompasses life and the creation of new life
all other aspects have no real meaning
For what good is victory-
Justice, good fortune, if life is devoid of that which makes it strong and growing and flourishing?
All other blessings from other gods are worthless and empty things
Because if the crops fail and if children die, there is no future in the community and a sense of doom
overwhelms all other blessings when hope fades
Absolutely everyone in heathen times at some point has paid some service to the fertility powers
Which were the powers that had the ultimate response to the future of the community
Nothing matters if there isn't the continuation of life
both sustenance and birth, to carry on living
and in northern Europe, this was no exception
If anything Northern Europeans had more reasons to praise the Vanir and fertility gods
than any other
if the cold and harsh winters and the
Long dark nights prevented blessings, the power and the glorification of the Vanir
then the gift of life these gods provided was the more precious because
of the precarious conditions in the world
and the dark frigid soils that awaited to receive such blessings
and what else is life all about?
Sex! :D
Listen...
To get in touch with the life-giving deities
There was the necessity of specific ceremonies and one of the ceremonies involved orgies
I'm not saying this lightly. In many ancient pagan religions the ceremonies to be in touch with life-giving gods
and to propitiate fertility
and receive such life-giving powers. It involved orgies
which have always been part of fertility cults. The orgy in these ceremonies is a
recreation of the myth of creation
from the chaotic involvement
the participants are filled with new energy
for the creation of life
and in this almost theatrical involvement to express the mythical chaos that existed before the creation
The orgy makes it possible to creation to be repeated
The spreading of the seed. I know some of you might giggle at this, I can almost hear it, or you can even sneer
But it is of my belief that I'm talking to adults
Orgies were quite common in fertility ceremonies in many pagan religions
Orgies in this case were meant to recreate the beginning of new life, the spreading of the seed
Which required the energy of fertility to thrive
the religion of the Vanir was bound to include orgies, ecstasies and sacrificial rites
as said before the Vanir  were amoral, and they did not express notions of good or evil or
Ideas of justice and what is right and what is wrong
moral sense or
Perceptions of moral sense don't exist in the cult of the Vanir
It seems there were many who worshiped the Vanir  which isn't surprising given the life-giving aspects
of the Vanir, and their cult revolved around life itself and people would certainly find
the worshipping of the Vanir  to be more
rewarding and
comforting than that of the sky god of war
the friendship of the Vanir  had none of the treacherous qualities of Odin's favors
as you well know
throughout the myths Odin is a tremendously treacherous God and
he gives with one hand and he takes with the other
and all he does he does for his sole benefit, the archetype of the relentless pursuer of knowledge
to acquire great wisdom by any means necessary
and if some people still think he was a benevolent God, well,
They are being just as blind as the followers of the Christian God or any tyrant figure
the worshippers of the Vanir were very conscious of the earth and
therefore
Remembered and venerated the dead ancestors who rested within the earth
the sky was not the Vanir's concern. The Vanir were focused on the earth and the seas
on the Realms that give and sustain life. And just as the dead returned to the earth
They too propitiate fertility and will be reborn within the womb of the earth
There has always been a close link between the Vanir and the depths of the earth and the sea
the chthonic element is present in their worship and we can clearly see that in the myths and
Other literally works, for instance, the Vanir male gods look for Brides
Among the Giants, and Freyr himself looked down
Into the underworld to find the maiden Gerdr, to whom he gave his love
the spirits of the earth and the see
Are connected to the Vanir and it was those same spirits that assisted the seeress in her journeys
To the other world and helped her to win hidden knowledge
But more about the cult of the death on another video
In fact many of the subjects or the topics that I have expressed
in this video
I will cover them in future videos
So my dear friends now that there are no metal birds to interrupt me
in conclusion
We can say with certainty that Njordr, Freyr and Freyja are of the Vanir. Perhaps there were more gods
But they have been lost to us
But it's these three gods who are the embodiment of what the Vanir tribe of gods truly represents - peace, prosperity
Plenty, fertility, the power to link with the unseen through divination and the laws of nature that are somewhat
out of human control
The Vanir  are indeed the gods of all things outside the community that people need to survive and be alive
Not the gods of chaotic and destructive aspects of nature
not the embodiment of
celestial bodies
Not the personification of the wild side of nature
but the embodiment of the
Natural world outside the community that mankind needs to be alive and to survive
The Vanir are the personification of the gift of life
because if crops fail, if children die, if there is no fertility, healing, rejuvenation
the communities are doomed and without hope
and of course without a touch with the mysterious and the unseen
We do not quite understand our place in all of this
Without magic and a sense of mystery we are simply frigid and listless beings, just an empty husk
Magic gives us enthusiasm to appreciate the gift of life because life itself is magical
Thank you so much for watching. See you on the next video
Welcome to 2020 and may the life-giving powers continue to flow because as long as we live
There is always hope
