The lives of the brave and noble are best,
Sorrows they seldom feed;
But the coward fear of all things feels,
And not gladly the greedy gives
Doing the right thing is an idea pretty much everyone can agree with. The place where it gets sticky is when people ask next, “What is the right thing?” People have been debating that answer for thousands of years. In the field of ethics, it is consistently taught that the manner in which the problem is approached is what truly matters. In the Way of Fire and Ice, the foundation for ethical philosophy is using the conduct and ideas of the Norse peoples to help answer the challenges of modern life.
This is, however, more challenging than it looks. There is no definitive list in the lore, like examples from other works such as the Old Testament, of what is and isn’t always right. Instead, what you will find in the sagas is a lot of general advice and recommendations. The best-known example is the saga known as the Havamal. This saga’s verses consistently urge the reader to think for yourself, always search for the most right path, and strive to be your best.
Based on this, Radical Norse Paganism is founded on nine core values which will help guide you toward the right path. These values are drawn from the advice in the Havamal and examples from other sagas. They are: Autonomy, Right Action, Weregild, Honor, Boldness, Wisdom, Hospitality, Generosity, and Solidarity. They are organized into three groups, known as the Fundamental Values, Personal Values, and Social Values to help explain how and where in life they are most likely to apply. All ethical philosophy for this practice flows from these ideas. Each of these principles is equally important, working as part of a broader whole. They are guidelines for conduct that give you tools for finding your way in life, rather than an exhaustive, highly detailed list of rules telling you exactly how to act.
Fundamental Values
The fundamental values are the foundation upon which all the other values rest. They are the heart of Radical Norse ethical philosophy. The Fundamental Values reflect the deepest truths of life, reality, and the core concepts that guide all of existence. Everything else in this practice flows from them. They are: Autonomy, Right Action, and Weregild.
Autonomy
All living beings are inherently autonomous, meaning they can make their own decisions, shape their lives, and live free within the Nine Worlds. All beings are born free and self-governing. Autonomy also means it is never right for the few to dominate the many, oppress others in the name of shoring up personal power or social systems, or for any to rule based on elevating specific race, ethnicity, caste, gender, sexuality, class, or vocation over all others. Doing so would trample on the autonomy of others, denying them the most core element of all life. Even the gods and Fate cannot deny this.
The best example of inherent autonomy in the lore is found in the creation of the first humans. As it says in the Voluspo:
Then from the throng did three come forth,
From the home of the gods, mighty and gracious;
Two without fate on the land they found,
Ask and Embla, empty of might.
Soul they had not, sense they had not,
Heat nor motion nor goodly hue;
Soul gave Odin, sense gave Hoenir,
Heat gave Lodur and goodly hue.108
What is most important from an ethical standpoint is that the gods do not give any decrees, commands, or laws to the first humans before or after giving these gifts. Even more importantly, the gods do not decree their Fate or give Luck and free will to Ask and Embla. This shows Fate, Luck, and free will are inherently a part of living, not gifts to be bestowed or taken away by any Power—they are essential to existence. Even the Norns, who have power over life and death, cannot deprive any being of their autonomy.
This idea of free will stands in contrast to other forms of spirituality like modern Christianity. In the Radical tradition, there is no deity handing down commandments, rules, or structures that must be obeyed. People are instead treated by the Powers as fully functional adults who can make their own life choices using what they have given humanity. If the gods cannot create or destroy anyone’s autonomy, then no one has the right to arbitrarily deny others’ autonomy. If any person or group is actively suppressing the autonomy of others, whether under their power or outside of their specific community, whatever actions are necessary must be taken to break their power and ensure such abuses can never be repeated.
You could conclude autonomy argues for total, unabridged freedom for every person to do as they please so long as they do not infringe on the autonomy of others. This is certainly one part of autonomy, but it is not all there is to understanding this principle. The role of society is just as important to autonomy as the individual. That humans organize communities of all kinds shows people cannot be truly free without others around to nurture, protect, and uphold each other’s autonomy. Any society where everyone is living only for themselves is dominated by an endless war of all against all—genuine autonomy would be impossible.
This probably has you wondering how to ensure all forms of autonomy are respected. The key is to understanding and respecting consent, the clearest expression of personal and communal autonomy. Through consent, you establish what actions, conditions, and systems of organization you do and do not welcome in your life. This means communities and lives founded on autonomy must respect every person’s right to consent when it is granted, denied, or revoked. Consent is violated by disregarding the expressed desires of others, refusing to consider the desires of members of a community when decisions and actions will affect them, or compelling consent through force, threat of force, or deception.
The expression of consent and autonomy in a community setting is known as freedom of association. This is where individuals and communities choose whether they want to associate with specific people or other communities. Freedom of association is shown both by beginning and ceasing to associate with specific individuals or groups. Though all individuals and groups have the inherent right to choose who they associate with, some reasons for doing so are more ethically justified than others.
Refusing to associate with a person or group based on words, actions, and observed behavior that are harmful to others is justified. This aligns with the importance of actions to Norse-inspired philosophy. It is never justified to use free association to discriminate against others based on ethnicity, national origin, gender, race, sexuality, or ability. Such a decision is not based on a person’s or groups actions and decisions but on features that are part of their ørlog. Such discrimination is unjustified and disregards the spirit of autonomy by hiding behind the letter.
Right Action
If the foundation of ethics is the inherent autonomy of all living beings, then Right Action is how you assess their conduct. In Radical Norse Paganism, the measure of a person’s character is the sum of their words, actions, and the consequences of their decisions—not thoughts or feelings. The best summation of right action is this famous verse from the Havamal:
Cattle die, kinsmen die
And so dies oneself
But one thing I know never dies
Is the fame of the deeds of the dead 109
Here the idea is expressed simply, directly, and powerfully. It combines the claim that a person’s actions are the measure of their character with the belief that the memory of deeds will always outlast the life of the person who did them. As shown in this verse, deeds do not happen in isolation from the world. When you consider the whole of the Nine Worlds (described in chapter two), right action becomes more than just doing worthy deeds. The best way to summarize the interaction between Fate and Right Action is this statement: we are our deeds, and our fates are ours to make.
It works in two ways: all people everywhere are the sum of their deeds, consisting of all their words and actions. Hand-in-hand with it is that personal fate in life is yours to choose; and Fate is the sum of all the choices everyone has made. The second way it works is the idea that your actions are not just the product of your own decisions, ideas, and goals—they are shaped and influenced by the decisions, actions, and consequences of others’ deeds. All fates are in every person’s hands. It is therefore critical that you make the best choices possible, live the most ethical life you can, and be fully aware of the effect your choices have on others and the world around you.
Part of acting rightly means considering the impact of your words. As thought and feeling given form, words are incredibly powerful. The right words can inspire action, while the wrong ones can undermine deeds or even cause harm to others. No matter what form they take or medium they appear in, words are a different form of action. And like all other actions, they must be weighed based on what is said, how it is said, and the consequences of the words.
This raises the question of what place intention has in understanding right action. In this tradition, intent is shown by the manner in which someone executes an action. The best way to explain the idea is by examining different types of harm. When harm is done to self or others, there is a difference between deliberately damaging actions and those that are accidental or unintentional. Malicious intent has a calculated, specific end that is made clear through the action itself. Unintentional or accidental harm does not have such a deliberate, predictable outcome. Now, this doesn’t mean that nonmalicious harm is less significant. It does, however, suggest any lack of harmful intent shown in an action should be considered when assessing deeds and their effects.
When put into practice, Right Action is directly at odds with the assumptions of modern consumer culture. When people are measured by what they do and have done, little room is left for the shallow materialist worth as measured by what one owns. A verse from the Havamal deals very directly with the problems of wealth:
Among Fitjung’s sons saw I well-stocked folds,
Now they bear the beggar’s staff;
Wealth is as swift as a winking eye,
Of friends the falsest it is.110
This idea is further supported by a later verse dealing with the question of material goods; it shows that to the ancients, clothes do not make the person:
Washed and fed to the council fare,
But care not too much for thy clothes;
Let none be ashamed of their shoes and hose,
Less still of the steed they ride.111
The value of work, which is the sum of many large and small deeds, changes from measuring how much money people make to what sort of work they do, the reason for doing it, how skilled they are and the impact their labor has on the world. Living life based on Right Action puts a different set of expectations on everyone than what much of modern society accepts as normal or praiseworthy.
Weregild
Weregild’s foundation rests on Autonomy and Right Action. Weregild guides how to best resolve dispute, address harm, and make amends in a way that respects all people’s inherent autonomy. The origins of this concept are in pre-Christian Scandinavian dispute resolution. The Scandinavian peoples lived in highly marginal environments where harm to people could put families and communities in danger by depriving them of the labor necessary for survival. This included false claims that could damage a person’s reputation.
Weregild developed to prevent injury from escalating into a cycle of revenge and feuds. It consisted of material compensation or labor offered that was proportional to the harm done. If both parties found the proposed Weregild acceptable, the grievance was considered resolved as soon as compensation was delivered. If, however, Weregild was not offered or the amount was considered unacceptable, it was fully within the rights of the injured party to seek retribution on their own terms. This gave everyone involved incentive to seek and offer genuinely fair Weregild.
Ensuring Weregild was acceptable to all parties was achieved through transparent negotiations. Whatever Weregild was agreed on was presented, discussed, and resolved before and with input from the entire community. This was because any dispute requiring Weregild impacted the community of both parties and the community was expected to help enforce whatever terms were agreed on. The goal of any Weregild was always to ensure it did as much as possible to repair the harm done and was sufficiently steep to discourage repeating the same behavior.112
Weregild is as relevant in the present as it was in the past. The goal of Weregild in Radical Norse Paganism is reaching an agreement where some form of compensation, through material goods or actions that meets the injured party’s needs, is justified in the eyes of the community, and is accepted by both parties as resolving any harm done. What works best for compensation is what can be reasonably delivered, addresses the core causes of the problem at hand, and considers if the incident is a first-time occurrence or part of a repeated pattern. It must also consider if the harm was accidental, the result of carelessness, or intentional.
If all parties have agreed to an acceptable resolution and compensation has been delivered, the dispute should be considered resolved. You should not revive a resolved dispute unless one of the parties is repeating the behaviors and actions that caused the original problem. This is why Weregild must address root causes as best as possible instead of simply dealing with the immediate consequences. The point is to stop a matter from escalating to a long-running feud of any sort by resolving the core causes in the most just, equitable, and decisive fashion possible.
That said, this does not mean Weregild should always be offered or accepted simply for the sake of peace. Anyone who cannot be trusted to hold to the terms of Weregild should not be offered it, and the same is true of those who refuse to respect the other party on a fundamental level. These behaviors cause injuries so severe that no amount of Weregild, save total exclusion or removal from a position of authority, could ever repair the damage done. It is also acceptable to refuse to deliver or accept Weregild if the other party is acting in bad faith, whether they have inflicted or claim injury. Generally speaking, an injured party should be given the benefit of the doubt until their actions show otherwise.
Though Weregild is a fundamental ethical principle, it should not be used for demanding forgiveness for its own sake. The letter and spirit of Weregild is equitable resolution, not forced peace founded on silence. True Weregild is the resolution of grievances through recompense that resolves the core problem. The absolution granted is a consequence of delivering recompense and is not the ultimate goal.
Personal Values
If the fundamental values provide the foundation for ethics, personal values address individual conduct. They are: Honor, Wisdom, and Boldness. These principles provide guidance for decisions and actions in daily life. They help show what sort of individual actions are most worthy.
Honor
If you are your deeds, then honor is the sum of your deeds. Many scholars who study the ancients call their form of honor a public virtue, meaning it was built on other people’s opinions of you, yet in truth what makes up your reputation is your deeds. The sum of your actions show your integrity. The two exist in a mutually sustaining relationship. One verse, very similar to the one describing right action, best sums this up:
Cattle die, kinsmen die,
And so dies one’s self;
But a noble name will never die;
If good renown one gets.113
The way honor creates reputation is through the impact of your deeds on the world. The consequences of deeds cause people to speak of what you did, remember them, and spread the word of what sort of person you are. Even the deeds only known to you shape your reputation, as these also change your circumstances and conditions, and leave an imprint on the world. This means you need to consider your deeds in light of your current reputation, what they can do to change it, and how they can maintain honor.
This is how honor is also integrity. What creates a worthy reputation are actions that are consistent with ethical behavior. This means building a worthy reputation requires being a person of integrity. Honor is more than a desire to ensure people say good things about you. It is the drive to ensure your deeds are the sort that cause people to praise you for worthy actions. The truly honorable make the most ethical choices possible as consistently and often as possible, regardless of the immediate benefits or cost this may have. Such integrity will outlast false or malicious claims and any rewards an unworthy action might bring.
Being honorable therefore means you should always emphasize doing worthy deeds over protecting image or saving face. Anyone who focuses on appearances becomes slaves to their ego, committing unworthy deeds to protect it. If people are criticizing your actions, that should be treated as an opportunity to do better and improve yourself. If people are making false claims, it is better to prove them wrong with actions rather than lash out (though it may be tempting).
Wisdom
Wisdom is spoken of often in the lore and is a central virtue in Radical Norse Paganism. The following verse sums up how critical it was and is:
A better burden may no one bear
For wanderings wide than wisdom;
It is better than wealth on unknown ways,
And in grief a refuge it gives.114
This begs the question: what is wisdom? The conventional definition fits with other commonly used understandings of the concept, showing wisdom is more than just possessing knowledge. Wisdom is having the ability to apply the knowledge you have in an effective fashion. It is also clear that in the sagas, wisdom includes possessing the necessary skills needed for acquiring more knowledge, determining what information is genuinely true or false, and assessing what sources are trustworthy.115
The beginning of the quest for wisdom is knowing your limits. This verse from the Havamal makes that quite clear:
A little sand has a little sea,
And small are the minds of all;
Though all people are not equal in wisdom,
Yet half-wise only are all.116
Though some are wiser than others, none are fully wise—not even the gods, thanks to the vastness of all reality and the limits of each person’s ability to comprehend it. These limits should not discourage you from improving your capabilities and understanding. In the Havamal, hiding within your limits (or even worse, assuming your narrow focus or limited range and depth of knowledge is wise) is far from desirable:
The ignorant one thinks that all they know,
When they sit by themselves in a corner;
But never what answer to make they know,
When others with questions come.117
Through accepting these limits, you can better push yourself forward, improve, and become wiser. Embracing the intellectual humility that comes with knowing personal limits and the vastness of potential is the first, necessary step for growing your capabilities. Along with this urging is knowing how to probe information and find its worth:
Wise shall they seem who well can question,
And also answer well;
Nought is concealed that some may say
Among the children of humanity.118
Hand-in-hand with skepticism, self-knowledge and humility is discipline. Knowing what you can do carries the responsibility to act in a prudent fashion. The following verse brings this idea to the forefront:
Shun not the mead, but drink in measure;
Speak to the point or be still;
For rudeness none shall rightly blame you
If soon your bed you seek.119
The truly wise do not act recklessly. They think before acting, express their ideas in the most direct and easily understood fashion possible and know their limits, as shown here:
The one who is prudent a measured use
Of the might they have will make;
They find when among the brave they fare
That the boldest they may not be.120
Prudence and discipline are good, but there are also times when it is necessary to take risks. Ultimately, wisdom is more than knowing facts and ideas, it is the capacity to assess their worth and determine the best course of action in a given situation based on what you can do and want to do.
Boldness
Boldness is one of the words most commonly associated with anything Norse. When first studying the Norse, many immediately are taken with the stories of glorious battle, epic conflicts, and the history of raiding and warfare. It is also clear from the sagas that bravery and boldness are praised:
The child of a king shall be silent and wise
And bold in battle as well;
Bravely and gladly a person shall go,
Till the day of their death is come.121
As shown above, boldness doesn’t mean you are not afraid—it means taking necessary risks, seeking decisive solutions, and doing the right thing even if it means facing discomfort, danger, and conflict. The essence of this mentality is expressed in the Skirnismol when Skirnir, Freyr’s manservant, is asked why he risks his life by entering Gerd’s hall:
Boldness is better than complaints can be
For he whose feet must fare;
To a destined day has mine age been doomed,
And my life’s span hereto laid.122
Very clearly, taking risks and acting boldly does not mean deliberately putting yourself in harm’s way needlessly or throwing your life away without purpose. Boldness does not justify stupidity. There are many instances where bold cunning is held up as praiseworthy. One excellent example is from the Fafnismol when Sigurdr goes to confront the dragon Fafnir. Instead of charging forth to face the dragon head-on in glorious battle, Sigurdr dug a ditch, hid in it, and killed Fafnir by stabbing the dragon in the belly with a spear.123
Throughout the lore, those who engage in bold action seek conclusive resolution to the problem at hand. Whether this is Odin, Vili, and Ve rising up and overthrowing Ymir or Sigurdr slaying Fafnir, the decisiveness of these actions is part of what makes them bold deeds.
The final element of boldness is the question of inaction. Not acting, regardless of how or when, is as much a deed as action. Refusing to act when you are morally obligated to do so shows a great deal about your character and is fiercely condemned in the lore, as best summed up in the following verse from the Havamal:
The sluggard believes they shall live forever
If the fight they face not
But age shall not grant them the gift of peace
Though spears may spare them.124
It is always better to do the right thing than do nothing. What that action is or should be is another matter, but doing nothing in times of crisis is never an option. Simply because you personally are not engaging in a conflict does not mean you will be spared by it or it won’t affect you. You cannot remain neutral in matters of ethical importance. Failing to act enables unworthy deeds.
Social Values
Social values are the next step outward from the Fundamental and Personal values. They are Hospitality, Generosity, and Solidarity. These explain how people should act as members of a community and society. They provide guidance for the values a community should be founded on, as well as what should be expected of all involved.
Hospitality
Without any doubt, hospitality is the most well-known and thoroughly explained ethical principle for the ancient Norse peoples. Its origins are found in the harsh conditions the many societies of ancient Scandinavia faced. Anyone who found themselves stuck out in the open would face the fury of the Scandinavian wilderness, effectively a death sentence. To ensure survival, the custom of hospitality developed. Anyone in need of shelter who presented themselves at anyone’s door was given food, a bed, and kept safe. In exchange, they were expected to provide labor or gifts for their hosts. These exchanges were acts of mutual aid, not crude transactions. The point was assistance, not profit or individual benefit, as this verse illustrates:
Curse not thy guest, nor show him thy gate,
Deal well with a person in want.125
The foundation of this principle is compassion for others. The conditions that created hospitality were experienced and feared by all who lived in those days. Turning your back on people suffering from such ubiquitous circumstances would have been a very cruel act. The following verse best shows hospitality’s compassionate heart:
Better a house, though a hut it be,
A person is a master at home;
Their heart is bleeding who needs must beg
When food they fain would have.126
Many of the verses of the Havamal discuss the particulars of hospitality, with one of the first stating what should be provided to guests:
Fire they need who with frozen knees
Have come from the cold without;
Food and clothes must the farer have,
The one from the mountains come.127
In the present day, hospitality takes on many forms, ranging from providing guidance and shelter for travelers to giving aid to those in need. Even in its most literal form, how you give hospitality or request it should be tempered by the conditions you are facing. Hospitality urges you to consider how you can better improve your life and the lives of others through mutual assistance, reciprocal aid, and providing whatever you can spare for those in most need.
Generosity
Hospitality leads naturally into Generosity. If Hospitality is borne from compassion and mutual aid, then Generosity is the next logical step. The practive of generosity in ancient Norse society is influenced in part by how they lived. They had what would today be described as a gifting economy, where goods and commodities—ranging from fine swords to food and drink—were exchanged based on use-value and not for the purpose of maximizing profit. When you had more than you needed, the expectation was to share your bounty. Accordingly, the most esteemed people in the ancient Scandinavian world were praised for being generous with their wealth. The kenning “Ring-Giver” was highly respected, referring to anyone who gave freely of the wealth they had to others.
On more mundane levels are many examples from the Havamal that urge people to give of their bounty to others. One verse states clearly:
No great thing needs a person to give,
Oft little will purchase praise;
With half a loaf and a half-filled cup
A friend full fast I made.128
It’s not necessary to give in massive, conspicuous ways to be a generous individual. Even if you cannot give of material goods, there are many other ways, such as wisdom and labor, to give to others. Such giving was also seen as a natural part of friendship and building enduring relationships, as shown here:
Friends shall gladden each other with arms and garments,
As each for themselves can see;
Gift-givers’ friendships are longest found,
If fair their fates may be.129
This ancient Norse idea of Generosity is very much at odds with the modern idea that some of the most respected people are those who hoard vast treasures, use their wealth to live in unprecedented luxury, publicly revel in their excesses, and prioritize personal gain ahead of other concerns. Acts of charity and philanthropy, while laudable, are secondary, at best putting such actions worlds away from the open-handedness of the ancients. If anything, such rapacity shares a rather unflattering parallel in the lore.
Four solid examples of prioritizing greed at the expense of others exist in the lore. These are the great giant Ymir, the dragon Fafnir, Grendel, and the dragon that took Beowulf’s life. Though the specifics of each case vary, what they all share is someone hoarding goods or space for themselves at the expense of others. Their greed is their most detested trait and the cause of their downfall.
Fafnir’s case is the most direct example. He was originally a dwarf who, rather than share the gold given to him and his brother Regin by their father, took it all for himself. After stealing this great wealth, Fafnir transformed into a terrible dragon, feared by all other living beings. Greed quite literally made Fafnir into a hated monster.130
These examples give modern practitioners a lot to think about. If the ancients and the works they left behind show a different understanding of what wealth is for, that challenges us to reconsider how we live day-to-day and as a society. When the norms of life are at odds with ethical practice, you should seek out new forms of conduct that are in accord with such ideals.
Solidarity
Solidarity is the next step from Hospitality and Generosity. It means standing in unity with any you share affinity with, whether the bond is one of family, community, spirituality, work, study, recreation, or broader goals. Friendship, camaraderie, and shared company built on foundations of shared experience are celebrated in the lore. Such affinities are commended in the lore, such as in the following verse:
Young was I once, and wandered alone,
And nought of the road I knew;
Rich did I feel when a comrade I found,
For man is man’s delight.131
Such bonds should be cherished, maintained, and kept up so long as those sharing such connections are worth defending. As is said later in the Havamal:
Be never the first to break with thy friend
The bond that holds you both;
Care eats the heart if thou canst not speak
To another all thy thought.132
Solidarity calls for all who hold such connections to stand together, fight for common interests, and resist those who would do harm to any part of their community. The best expression of this concept in the lore is found in this verse from the Havamal:
To their friend a person a friend shall prove,
To them and the friend of their friend;
But never a person shall friendship make
With one of their foe’s friends.133
One of the greatest acts of selfless solidarity can be found in Beowulf, the famous Anglo-Saxon epic showing events that occurred in Denmark and Sweden, where the hero gives his reasons for traveling from his home in Sweden to the hall besieged by the monster Grendel in neighboring Denmark:
Then news of Grendel,
hard to ignore, reached me at home:
sailors brought stories of the plight you suffer
in this legendary hall, how it lies deserted,
empty and useless once the evening light
hides itself under heaven’s dome.
So every elder and experienced councilman
among my people supported my resolve
to come here to you, King Hrothgar,
because all knew of my awesome strength.134
What dispels any notion his voyage was motivated by greed is this subsequent statement in which he gives his only demand in exchange for his help:
Is that you won’t refuse me, who have come this far,
the privilege of purifying Heoret,
with my own men to help me, and nobody else.135
In these sections, Beowulf makes clear his entire motivation for journeying to the aid of Hrothgar’s people—he heard of their plight and wanted to help them. That his only stated condition was to do the job himself with his own people instead of requesting any sort of compensation reinforces this. What makes this case even more potent is the point of affinity Beowulf speaks to that is about shared humanity, one of the most inclusive forms of solidarity. This same sentiment is expressed very potently in the Havamal:
If evil you see and evil you know
Speak out against it and give your enemies no peace136
The real dilemma that arises with solidarity is who to stand with, what communities to be fully involved with, and when to walk away. It’s clear the bonds of camaraderie, mutual support and assistance are essential for any community to function. This, however, does not mean anyone who is a part of such a community should be given a pass on unwelcome, dishonorable, or harmful actions against others. It is here the guidance offered by Right Action and Honor are appropriate for determining what communities are worth being part of. Communities are defined by more than shared experience and proximity. They depend on the values shared by their participants and how they are organized.
A Worthy Life
These principles are a guide for leading a good life. They are only a beginning and the specifics of how you live them out will be different from others. What matters is honoring the core values by doing your best to live them however you can. Ethics, as shown here, are more than just ideas given lip services. They are a way of understanding and the Norse give a clear path for all to follow, even though it is not always the easy one.
All these ethics, regardless of which element of life they address, guide you because no one lives as isolated islands removed from everyone else. All actions matter because of what they do to others and the world. Every step we take has effects both easy and difficult to foresee. The next exercise will aid your understanding of this by helping you reach a state of calm. By doing this it becomes much easier to reflect and consider your actions and the actions of others. It will also help you for deeper work with the runes and seiðr.
exercise
This exercise builds on prior work and is aimed at creating a state of receptive calm. It is important to emphasize the goal of this meditation is reach a state where you can put your focus on specific goals, states or ideas. This is different from other meditations aimed at creating an empty mind as the goal is to bring everything into holistic balance instead of denying or forcing out what is present.
Begin with the breathing exercise outlined in chapter one. Perform as many breath cycles as necessary to reach a relaxed state before beginning the next step.
Once you are relaxed, close your eyes and visualize the open ocean with the sky above it. Let everything in your visualization begin to move on its own. Do not focus on creating waves, ripples from the wind, or motion in the sky—simply let it happen in a way that feels most natural.
When you feel everything is moving on its own you may begin with the next element of this meditation. This part is a bit tricky to realize, so take as much time as you need to get it right.
In the space you have visualized in your mind, allow your feelings and stresses seep in to very specific spaces. Let your thinking, worries and concerns be reflected in the sky as stormy weather. The more occupied your mind is, the more ferocious the storm in the sky should be.
As the sky becomes a mirror of your mind, let your feelings, emotions, and stresses to manifest in the oceans. The size, speed, and consistency of the waves and motion of the sea should match your distress, concerns, and feelings.
Allow these elements of your visualization to manifest uncontrolled. Let the mirrors of sea and sky take shape on their own; do not force their conditions to match your expectations. It should feel most appropriate when what you are visualizing matches your internal state.
It is now time to part the storm and calm the seas. Feel what is really driving the forces causing the storm. (There may be more than one root cause.) As you begin to process the causes of the storm, allow it to change the vision. As your thoughts become clear, let the clouds part, and as you better understand your emotions, let the seas calm. Continue this process until you are rewarded with a sunny sky, or, if you prefer, a starry night sky and calm waters.
This meditation is useful for other work but should never be seen or used as a replacement for long-term therapy and other such practices. If you find it helpful in such matters, use it with the understanding that it is not a replacement for seeking professional help. This exercise will be challenging at first but will become easier with practice.
108. Voluspo 17-18, Poetic Edda
109. Havamal 78, Poetic Edda
110. Havamal 76, Poetic Edda
111. Havamal 61, Poetic Edda
112. Robert Ferguson, The Vikings: A History, Penguin Books (London: 2009), 31–32, Gwyn Jones, A History of the Vikings, Oxford University Press (Oxford: 1984), 347-348, Else Roesdahl, The Vikings, Penguin Books (New York: 1987), 61.
113. Havamal 77, Poetic Edda
114. Havamal 10, Poetic Edda
115. “Wisdom.” Dictionary.com. Accessed March 29, 2018. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/wisdom?s=t.
116. Havamal 53, Poetic Edda
117. Havamal 26, Poetic Edda
118. Havamal 28, Poetic Edda
119. Havamal 19, Poetic Edda
120. Havamal 64, Poetic Edda
121. Havamal 15, Poetic Edda
122. Skirnismol 13, Poetic Edda
123. Opening Prose, Fafnismol, Poetic Edda
124. Havamal 16, Poetic Edda
125. Havamal 135, Poetic Edda
126. Havamal 37, Poetic Edda
127. Havamal 3, Poetic Edda
128. Havamal 52, Poetic Edda
129. Havamal 41, Poetic Edda
130. Prose between verses 11 and 12 and verses 14 and 15, Reginsmol, Poetic Edda
131. Havamal 47, Poetic Edda
132. Havamal 121, Poetic Edda
133. Havamal 43, Poetic Edda
134. Beowulf 409-418, translated by Seamus Heaney, W.W. Norton and Company (New York & London: 2000)
135. Beowulf 427-432
136. Havamal 127, Poetic Edda