On the beliefs of Susi

[Susi]

Well I guess I can try to write some things right now though I'm not sure how intelligable they will be. So here goes nothing. Before I start I will add that I have never done any drugs, ever. I do drink on ocassion but not very large amounts, usually one half or one beer.

First there are a few important things to note about my background. My father was baptized and was a Protestant when he was a child. I'm not sure what happened along the line, but he doesn't go to church. My mother, I am not sure if she was baptized, but I do believe she went to church as a child. Again, I don't know what happened along the line, but she doesn't go to church either. My brother was baptized and he was born 7 years before me. So maybe something changed between then. I don't know.

I was not raised with any religion, I was raised with books. From an early age I was encouraged to read whatever I chose to read, and my father purchased many books (aimed at children but still very comprehensive) on history for me. I enjoyed them thoroughly. I was especially fascinated by the myths of the Norse.

I have been to church a few times in my life. A few times to two Presbyterian churches (once with a friend, another time with my mother because she was visiting a friend who is the minister at one of them), once or twice to an Anglican church (or was it Baptist?). Nothing happened there. I didn't feel any special connections, any presences, any religious or spiritual feelings. No God, no Jesus. Nothing. Nada. Nichts.

How I came upon Asatru is a very bizarre story to be sure and one that I'm not completely sure about. Actually I can't even remember how it happened. It just did. It felt right. I felt like I'd found somewhere I belonged, where I felt safe and warm and everything was right.

Perhaps one of the primary experiences of my early explorations is when I saw Frey (or Freyr, if you prefer). Nothing was said but I felt secure. I don't really know what happened that day. I looked up from my book and suddenly I felt something pushing against me but nothing was there. The sunlight was dancing through my window. And then there stood a man dressed in chainmail wearing a typical "Norse" helment (not a horned helmet, though it would be appropriate for Frey as that is what some of his followers wore during rituals) with blonde hair or light brown, I am not sure. I guess the details are inconsequential. He seemed to radiate in the sunlight and then I felt the same kind of force, my eyes closed against it and then he was gone.

Maybe I'm just weird. I don't know. To me this means that the gods are in some way physical, or they have at least a physical manifestation of themselves.

Sometimes I float away. I don't know exactly how to describe it. I lie down and my mind leaves my body. Somehow. I'm not sure. I still feel my body but everything is numb. I am not asleep at all. I go to Yggdrasil or to wander around in Asgard.

Recently (December or November) I visited Freyja because over a year ago during Seidhr (in 2005). Seidhr is a form of "magic" though magic is not he right word at all in this case but it is the only way to describe it. done by the godhya (priestess, not sure if I have spelled it correctly), she said something about Freyja when I asked her what will come in the year (2006).

Well I asked and she showed me: a man without a face, a sword, a rope, a ship, and a fire. I still don't know what they mean though I can see them all vividly burned into my memory.

The next day, a black cat came to my door. Freyja is associated with cats. Maybe I'm superstitious or weird or whatever you want to say but I fed it a few pieces of proscuitto and gave it some milk. It was a smart cat. It hasn't come back though...

I don't know if this explains anything. Maybe I'll write more later.

On another note: I base any rituals and any ideas on those written in the sagas and those found via archaelogical evidence.

[Strengthandhonour]

I respect honesty, so I will be honest.
I want to say that you are very lucky for having such a deep experience. In the other hand I want to say you are insane. I think religion is what we make it to be. I was born and raised catholic. My parents aren't as devoted to their religion as they once were but they still believe. I believe in SOMETHING. I don't know what it is but a superior force.
After I finished up with catholicism I had a few swings with different indo-European religions. Eventually I realized that I didn't feel anything and I was just being silly. Faith is what we make it to be and it's hard for westeners to have faith in things that science can't prove(such as your experiences..which some might label as clinical insanity) but that's what faith is about..believing and having hope in something we cannot see yet we know is there.

[Susi]

I'm not insane...

[Kernunnos]

Originally Posted by Susi

I\\\'m not insane...

Our epoch has forgotten spirituality, so having a spiritual experience is considered insane. Actually in the past many humans did experience things like yours and nobody would consider them abnormal. Very succesful individuals could have such experiences. Catholic religion is deeply rooted in mystical experiences, some very intense to the point of physical bleeding or fainting. I myself had a strange one, not religious but extremely upsetting. It involved an object that seemed to have come from another time. Actually I was going through a very bad period and I very quickly thought it was an hallucination due to stress. I was thirteen years old, walkingh on a coastal hill among military ruins. I was a kid with a keen love of uniform. I went there because I wanted to find artifacts. In a cannon trench there was a jacket, a parade carabinieri jacket, 19th century style, abandoned in the grass. Shining badges embroidered in silver and all the paraphernalia of a gala jacket of the past. Just a bad resewing of a cut, for the rest it was as new. I was afraid of picking it up: where was the owner who had clearly left it there just moments before? The jacket was in perfect conditions, I repeat. But it was not a modern jacket, it was in the late 19th century style. Moreover, I was on a the top of a desert hill, the trench was more like a hole with a concrete ladder, no doors to any secret bunker, no buildings around but ruins, no people around. I took a stroll for less than one minute to another spot of the hill, keeping the trench under control. Nobody coming. I went back resoluted to take it away. There was nothing inside anymore, but the footprint of the jacket was still evident in the grass. No person could have been there.

[Susi]

Well it's that time. I guess I'll do more writing. I feel like it.

So I'm going to talk about rituals. I guess I'll start with the small.

I wear my Thor's hammer all the time. I don't think this really counts as a "ritual" per se, but I feel it is important to. My boyfriend gave it to me so maybe this is another reason I wear it all the time. It is made of bone, which is apparently uncommon in a hammer. Most others are made of metal. I will post a picture of mine later, when I find my camera.

We have two types of common "ritual", there is the blot (sacrifice) and sumbel/symbel (various spellings). I will talk about symbel in my next post.

The blot can be simple or complicated. I will describe a basic one. It consists of a few items that are needed. A bowl or vessel of some sort, a cup/drinking vessel, a branch of a coniferous tree (small, with needles) and earth. First one pours the offering into the drinking vessel. One offers the drink to the god(s) that one wishes, says some poetry, does a song, something like this if one wishes. It is passed around amongst everyone (unless you are the only one) and everyone (well, not always, sometimes it is just the important people) has a sip. Then the drink is poured into the bowl. The pine branch is dipped in (alternately one can use runestaves [longish sticks with runes painted on the ends, I'll take a picture of my shortish set]) and then the drink is sprayed upon the other people in attendance using the pine branch (like spraying paint with a paintbrush, perhaps). Then the offering is held up and poured into the earth.

This is how my godhya (female priest-type thing) taught me to do it. She does this type of research at university, so I don't know her sources...

Anyways, next time on Susi's beliefs theatre, there will be pictures of some of her various objects (hammer, runestaves, drinking horn) and a description of Symbel. How exciting!

[Milesian]

-"On a des devins quand on n'a plus de prophètes, des sortilèges quand on renonce aux cérémonies religieuses, et l'on ouvre les antres des sorciers quand on ferme les temples du Seigneur."
- François-René de Chateaubriand


Marian Horvat had something to say on your subject, Susi.
I'd advise you to aquire a copy of the book - "Restoring The Family".

[Marcus Marulus]

Originally Posted by Milesian

-"On a des devins quand on n'a plus de prophètes, des sortilèges quand on renonce aux cérémonies religieuses, et l'on ouvre les antres des sorciers quand on ferme les temples du Seigneur."
- François-René de Chateaubriand


Marian Horvat had something to say on your subject, Susi.
I'd advise you to aquire a copy of the book - "Restoring The Family".

Interesting book indeed.

[Milesian]

Originally Posted by prometheus

Interesting book indeed.

You've read it?
I'm of course reffering to the first few pages where she introduces us to an American teenager sailing down the Nile in a bid to "discover himself"

[Marcus Marulus]

Originally Posted by Milesian

You've read it?

I haven't yet, but I read excerpts on the internet. I am planning on ordering it via internet.

He must be Croatian, this Jesuit Marian Horvat, judging from his name and surname.

[Milesian]

Originally Posted by prometheus

I haven't yet, but I read excerpts on the internet. I am planning on ordering it via internet.

He must be Croatian, this Jesuit Marian Horvat, judging from his name and surname.

Oops, I thought it was a female judging from the first name
She, or rather He, is a Traditional Catholic and professor of Medieval Studies.
I ordered the book as one amongst several from a Traditionalist community.

It gives a good insight into what constitutes the family and how it has been broken down today. I'd recommend it to anyone who plans on having children at some point. It challenges the globalist mentality of today's world which treats culture and religion as commodities which can be picked and chosen according to the individual's preference / whim, and shows it in it's true nature - of tradition and heritage being passed down faithfully from one generation to the next.

[Susi]

Originally Posted by Milesian

-"On a des devins quand on n'a plus de prophètes, des sortilèges quand on renonce aux cérémonies religieuses, et l'on ouvre les antres des sorciers quand on ferme les temples du Seigneur."
- François-René de Chateaubriand

"One has soothsayers when one has no more prophets, magic spells when one renounces religious ceremonies, and one opens the sorcerors' caves when one closes the temples of the Lord"
- François-René de Chateaubriand

I thought some people would like a translation, so I did one.

I like that quote actually, it's very powerful.. but I don't think it applies to me.

Prophecy (in either form) seems very wishy-washy to me, it seems one can really influence one's destiny either way. Magic, well, I don't really believe magic is a part of my life. I think it's something that insecure people believe in because they want to change the world: "magic" does not do this, most of it is false and stupid. In my opinion, "magic" should not be touched by humans, and it should not, in any case, be taken literally. You could call "miracles" "magic" if you really wanted to, in any case. Sorcerors' caves? Well, I don't know what that really means in context to me.

Now onto my opinions on Christianity, since they seem to have been brought up in all this...

I don't mind Christianity at all. I find it's "just there". I like Christians. They seem very rational to me, and most of the time we get on quite well. I think it is important for adherents of my religion (who are few and far between) and the Christians to respect one another in a mutual manner. I would never deny a Christian my hospitality. I respect them to the utmost.

One thing I know that many Christians comment on is the horrible treatment of Christians on the behalf of pagans (if one can even call them that). I think it is cowardly, disrespectful, and childish. As I said before, I regard respect as very important between my religion (Asatru) and Christianity. As Asatru falls under the umbrella "paganism" or what have you, I feel that sometimes we are unfairly painted with the brush of idiocy created by these "pagans". Whenever they are told that they are saying something disrespectful, they usually dismiss one as an "intolerant bigot" which I find frightfully amusing. One such example of something that was blatantly disrespectful (to both me and a Christian) is this:

After all, most monotheistic faiths are all about self denial and retribution whereas we pagans just like to party and celebrate our Gods

*sigh*

Sometimes I wonder if these people even take their religion seriously. "we just like to party"... it makes me sick. I spend my time studying and they go out and party and eff everything over. GAH.

[Milesian]

Originally Posted by Susi

"One has soothsayers when one has no more prophets, magic spells when one renounces religious ceremonies, and one opens the sorcerors' caves when one closes the temples of the Lord"
- François-René de Chateaubriand

I thought some people would like a translation, so I did one.

I like that quote actually, it's very powerful.. but I don't think it applies to me.

Prophecy (in either form) seems very wishy-washy to me, it seems one can really influence one's destiny either way. Magic, well, I don't really believe magic is a part of my life. I think it's something that insecure people believe in because they want to change the world: "magic" does not do this, most of it is false and stupid. In my opinion, "magic" should not be touched by humans, and it should not, in any case, be taken literally. You could call "miracles" "magic" if you really wanted to, in any case. Sorcerors' caves? Well, I don't know what that really means in context to me.

Now onto my opinions on Christianity, since they seem to have been brought up in all this...

I don't mind Christianity at all. I find it's "just there". I like Christians. They seem very rational to me, and most of the time we get on quite well. I think it is important for adherents of my religion (who are few and far between) and the Christians to respect one another in a mutual manner. I would never deny a Christian my hospitality. I respect them to the utmost.

One thing I know that many Christians comment on is the horrible treatment of Christians on the behalf of pagans (if one can even call them that). I think it is cowardly, disrespectful, and childish. As I said before, I regard respect as very important between my religion (Asatru) and Christianity. As Asatru falls under the umbrella "paganism" or what have you, I feel that sometimes we are unfairly painted with the brush of idiocy created by these "pagans". Whenever they are told that they are saying something disrespectful, they usually dismiss one as an "intolerant bigot" which I find frightfully amusing. One such example of something that was blatantly disrespectful (to both me and a Christian) is this:



*sigh*

Sometimes I wonder if these people even take their religion seriously. "we just like to party"... it makes me sick. I spend my time studying and they go out and party and eff everything over. GAH.

I think you have quite a healthy attitude there, Susi.
What you must understand is that most Neo-Pagans (for in truth I do not believe they are of the same mind as the ancient pagans) are not so much in favour of paganism as fanatically Anti-Christian. You've obviously read enough of their posts on internet forums at least to see that their position and opinions derive primarily from anger, spite, contempt. My favourite post was one made by an ex-member here which was a poem (or the lyrics to some song) which fantasised about hunting down wretched Christians with a pack of dogs and mocking them about their faith. I thought that illustrated their hateful mindset beautifully. Theirs is a stance rooted in emotionalism, and negative emotionalism at that. Some are perhaps ex-Christians with an axe to grind. Others don't like what a solid system of morality says about their own impulsive, hedonistic lives (for it must logically infer that they are weak individuals. For this reason I believe, many turn to a constructed paganism or even Satanism. For it is of great comfort to them to hear it told that their weaknesses are really "strengths" ) Others have their own reasons. But it seems primarily to be a "faith" based on a negative, based on the opposition to something (in this case, Christianity). That is an unhealthy state of affairs for anyone.

Perhaps I was a little harsh to you previously.
The phrase by Chateubriand was not directed solely at you, but directed more generally to today's society at large.

From your previous posts, am I to assume that you do literally believe in the Norse gods? If so, I actually give you far more credit than 99% of so-called pagans. What I wondered though, and this is in reference to the Horvat subject, is what your own connection to such a religious tradition is. Do you have Scandinavian heritage?

[Susi]

Originally Posted by Milesian

I think you have quite a healthy attitude there, Susi.

Thank you.

What you must understand is that most Neo-Pagans (for in truth I do not believe they are of the same mind as the ancient pagans) are not so much in favour of paganism as fanatically Anti-Christian.

Which I already do understand.

They just use their religion as an excuse to be "anti-christian"

You've obviously read enough of their posts on internet forums at least to see that their position and opinions derive primarily from anger, spite, contempt. My favourite post was one made by an ex-member here which was a poem (or the lyrics to some song) which fantasised about hunting down wretched Christians with a pack of dogs and mocking them about their faith.

A real pagan would have used something more along the lines of a pack of wolves and a battleaxe to show his point.

On a more serious note, how utterly stupid to write something like this.

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