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I haven't seen it - an official collection of sacred texts?Originally Posted by The Wagnerian
Mohammedanism is a threat to everyone, but I've always felt that we all have to start somewhere.
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Here's my article on compiling a Heathen Canon. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but as you say, you have to start somewhere. I was met with some pretty vehement criticism and resistance to the very idea of a canon in the thread in which I first posted it, perhaps it will receive better reception among observers of this discussion. I should add that the article is consistent with a form of theology that has been dubbed "Truistic Theology", which preaches a faith-based heathenry with emphasis on self-reflection and genuine belief in both the literal and metaphorical truths found in Heathen scriptures.
I think approaches which start to use more Christian tools, like canonics and organisation of clergy and standardisation of ritual (which we've begun with the Book of Blótar, but have not really pursued in earnest as a community), could really turn Heathenry into a force to be reckoned with. As it stands, though, I really consider us a semi-religion that has a decent foundation but hasn't made any effort to construct a house atop it.
The Words of Gods
An Attempt at Compiling a Heathen Canon
The Role of Scripture in Ásatrú
It is no mistake that Martin Luther saw sola fide and sola scriptura as fundamentally linked—for him, all of the solas flowed ultimately from sola scriptura. His theology, he declared, was derived “from the Bible and Augustine”.[1] Luther had a distinct benefit we do not have: he had almost 1,400 years of Christian theology to work with. Our religion, young as it was at the time of its interruption, has hibernated and remained young, not blessed by the Gods with minds with an appetite for theological inquiry. It is only now, almost one hundred fifty years since the first use of the word “Ásatrú” and just over half a century after the Germanic Revival began in earnest that consideration is even being given to a Heathen theology. This has been the subject of much complaint from leaders of the Ásatrú movement, not the least of which is Stephen McNallen of the Ásatrú Folk Assembly. Gođi McNallen wrote in the radical traditionalist journal TYR that “the Christian interregnum must be addressed using the intellectual tools that have been developed in the intervening time—and this means examining our beliefs and expressing them in intellectually compelling ways.”[2]
This work has not been about adopting Luther’s solas, but rather looking to them as guides for what demands attention in our religion—faith must certainly come first of all other things, though it need not be an absolute or an only. Scripture, likewise, is the supreme source of knowledge about our ancestors and our ancestors’ ways, and therefore becomes the first informer of our theology. In this way, what we shall fashion “Truistic” (from trú, “faith”) theology speaks in theology of solas in regard to faith and scripture, but a theology of primas—prima fide, prima scriptura. The solas of Trustic thought revolve around those eternal things—sola deis, sola gente, sola vertitate—the Gods, the Folk, the Truth.[3] Just as faith must be supreme and come first, but ritual is nevertheless necessary, so too scripture must be supreme and come first, but not without theology to comment, expand, and interpret, for this is the nature of a strong religion.
The problem of elevating Faith is an easy one: it need only be declared and followed. The task of Scripture is somewhat more involved. There is no catalogue of Heathen Scripture—there are rough collections and different opinions as to what belongs in the catalogue and what does not. Most do not have the courage to make declarations of canon, preferring an approach of jedem das seine. This will not stand; a religion that lacks canon and dogma is in chaos—the Truistic approach is loath to allow our spiritual Ásgarđr to be inhabited by such destructive Ţursar—to preach a faith of “do what thou wilt” or “to each his own” is to accomplish no more, to contribute no more, and to be no better than the Thelema or Wicca—chief architects of religious pretence to excuse excess and licentiousness. We are not hedonists; we are Heathens—sons of the proud, disciplined people of the North.
The Canon
In this spirit, the Truistic approach is assertive, dogmatic, and canonical. In order to know what scripture to study from, it is absolutely necessary to establish some canon of texts, some list or catalogue. There are two basic categories into which all scripture falls: the oral tradition of the Folk, and the written tradition of the Folk. The oral tradition has been recorded in the form of poetry—skaldic and Eddic. The written tradition of the Folk is found in the historical and epic texts, universally called “sagas”. Belonging also to the written tradition, but not historical, are the works of Snorri Sturlusson; these deserve special treatment and shall be so discussed later. First, however, a canon of core texts should be ventured, then a discussion of possible addenda and deuterocanonical books, a category into which Sturlusson’s works fall. The books listed shall be listed with their original Norse names, and the divisions of scripture are also given Norse names; this is meant to be a beginning, an initiation. The efforts of translators to bring the works into the several tongues of our Folk, or to choose the best existing translation, should follow but will not occur here, owing both to the defined scale of this work and to the limits on the abilities of the author.
The List of Scripture accepted as cannon, listing first the source, then the divisions, then the books themselves, shall be:
I. The Poetic, or Elder Edda, containing
1. The Four Books of Óđinn (Hávabóka), which detail the Óđinnic Quest for wisdom and knowledge and assert Óđinn as the Highest God.
i. Völspulá
ii. Hávamál
iii. Vafţrúđnismál
iv. Grímnismál
2. The Nine Books of the Gods (Ásabóka), which detail all the dealings the Gods have with one another, with humans, and with the Giants, displaying the character of the Gods.
i. Skírnismál
ii. Hárbarđsljód
iii. Hymiskvída
iv. Lokasenna
v. Ţrymskvída
vi. Alvísmál
vii. Baldrs draumar
viii. Rígsţula
ix. Hyndluljóđ
3. The Three Books of Magic (Galdrabóka), detailing the actions of great magicians and sorcerers such as the demi-god Volund the necromancer Svipdag, and the seeresses Fenja and Menja.
i. Svipdagsmál
ii. Vólundarkvída
iii. Gróttasöngr
4. The Twenty Books of the Niflungs (Niflungabóka), including the Helgi Cycle, the Sigurđ Cycle, the Guđrún Cycle which detail the deeds and life of the great hero Sigurđ, his family, his companions, his encounters, his battles, his wisdom, and his fate.
i. Helgakvída Hundingsbani I
ii. Helgakvída Hundingsbani II
iii. Helgakvida Hiorvardssonar
iv. Grípispá
v. Reginsmál
vi. Fáfnismál
vii. Sigrdrífumál
viii. Brot af Sigurđarkviđu
ix. Sigurđarkvída hin skamma
x. Sigurđarkvída
xi. Helreiđ Brynhildar
xii. Guđrúnarkvída I
xiii. Guđrúnarkvída II
xiv. Guđrúnarkvída III
xv. Guđrúnarhvót
xvi. Oddrúnargrátr
xvii. Átlakvída
xviii. Atlamál
xix. Hámdismál
xx. Dráp Niflunga
II. The Völsungasaga, the Saga of the Volsungs the prose counterpart to the Niflungabóka, should be considered unique amongst the so-called “legendary sagas” because of its role of augmentation to the Books of the Niflungs. It therefore would therefore come immediately after the Niflungabóka in the canon, and serve as an augmentation thereto. A new classification as the Völsungabók, or Book of the Volsungs, may be appropriate to emphasise its direct relation to the Niflungabóka.
III. The Ancient Sagas (Fornaldarsogur)including:
1. The Sagas of Ketil Hćng of Hrafnista (Hrafnistumannasögur), containing the tales of the family of Ketil Hćng the Elder. These include
i. Ketils saga hœngs (Ketil Trout’s Saga, of the man himself)
ii. Gríms saga lođinkinna (Grim Shaggy-cheek’s Saga, of the son of Ketil)
iii. Örvar-Odds saga (Arrow Odd’s Saga, of the grandson of Ketil)
iv. Áns saga bogsveigis (An Bow-bender’s Saga, of the feud between An and Ingjald, ancestor of Harald Fairhair)
2. The Asmund Sagas (Ásmundar sögur) telling of the deeds and family of Asmund the Champion-Slayer. They include
i. Illuga saga Gríđarfóstra (Illugi Grid-foster’s Saga, the tale of Illugi, who saves the troll/giantess Grid and her daughter from a curse after having been driven from his father’s court through the machinations of Björn, a cowardly and sly man, and a male master of seiđr. Illugi is foster-father to Asmund.)
ii. Ásmundar saga kappabana (The Asmund the Champion-Slayer’s Saga, the tale of Hildebrand, King of the Huns, who also appears in the Old High German Hildebrandslied, the only extant pre-Christian text written in Old High German.)
iii. Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana (Egill One-Hand and Asmund the Berserk-Slayer’s Saga, the tale of Asmund’s battles in “Russia”, corresponding roughly to contemporary Belarus, and his battles with the Slavs and Hun Berserks.)
3. The Víking Sagas (Víkingarsögur), the stories of the the family of King Víking of Sweden, specifically his son Ţorstein and grandson Friđţjóf the Bold. It is arranged in the form of a prequel and a primary saga.
i. Ţorsteins saga Víkingssonar (The Saga of Ţorstein Víkingsson, about the travels of Ţorstein, son of Víking, across the known world)
ii. Friđţjófs saga hins frœkna (The Saga of Fridthjof the Bold, about the dealings of Friđţjóf, son of Ţorstein and the family of King Beli of Sogn)
4. The Gautreck Sagas (Gautreckarsögur), the stories of Gautreck, King of the Geats, noted for his strange ways, and the adventures of his sons Ketill and Hrólfr. Like the Víkingsögur it includes a prequel and a primary saga.
i. Gautrecks saga (The Saga of Gautreck, an incomplete saga about Gautreck and the earliest deeds of the hero Starkad)
ii. Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar (The Saga of Hrólf Gautrecksson, the tale of the son of the above and his brother Ketill, and the former’s quest to win the hand of Ţornbjörg, shield-maiden of Uppsala and daughter of Eirík King of Sweden.)
5. The Halfdan Sagas (Hálfdanarsögur), the stories of the son of legendary King of the Danes Hringr, another prequel-sequel set.
i. Hálfdanar saga Brönufóstra (Saga of Hálfdan Bronze-nuturer, detailing the battles of Hálfdan with trolls throughout Britain and Russia)
ii. Sörla saga sterka (Saga of Sörli the Strong, the tale of the son of one of Hálfdan’s rivals, who eventually slays the hero on behalf of the King of Oppland)
6. The Story of Fjornot and His Kin (Frá Fornjóti ok hans ćttmönnum), the tale of the foundation of Norway in three books:
i. Hversu Noregr byggđist ("How Norway was inhabited")
ii. Fundinn Noregr ("Foundation of Norway")
iii. Af Upplendinga konungum ("Of the Kings of the Uplands")
7. The Saga of Hervor (Hervarar saga ok Heiđreks), the tale of the line of Angantyr, including the most famous of these, his grandson Heiđrek and the shield-maiden Hervor Heiđreksdóttir, and the story of the family’s experience with the magical sword Tyrfing. The Saga itself contains two lays of the Eddic style, the Hervararkviđa, in which Hervor Angantyrsdóttir summons her father from the dead, and the Hlöđskviđa, detailing the battle between the Goths under king Angantyr Heiđreksson and the Huns under his disinherited brother Hlöđ Heiđreksson.
8. The Saga of Eirík the Far-Travelled (Eireks saga víđförla), the tale of the travels of a Norwegian warrior named Erik to Byzantium and then to India in search of the deathless realm of Údáinsakr. There is strong evidence of some Christian tampering with the story to corrupt the concept of the Deathless realm.
9. The Saga of Bósi and Herrauđr (Bósa saga ok Herrauđs), the tale of two comrade-warriors Bósi and Herrauđr and their adventures, including a quest of reclamation which brings the heroes into armed conflict with the Slavs and their various other feats in battles.
10. The Saga of Hálfdan Eysteinsson (Hálfdanar saga Eysteinssonar), the story of the family of Hálfdan Eysteinssonar, whose grandfather was Ţránd King of Trondheim (whence the name—Ţrándheimr). It follows the adventures of Eystein and his son Hálfdan.
11. The Saga of Hálf and his Heroes (Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka), the story of the sea-king Hálf and his band of highly disciplined warriors who accompany him in free-booting before being betrayed by his step-father King Asmund of Hordaland.
12. The Saga of Hrólf Kraki, (Hrólfs saga kraka), the tale of the great hero Hrólf Kraki and the Skjöldunga, and the happenings of the poems Beowulf and Wydsith, in which Hrólf is known as Hrođulf.
13. The Saga of Ragnarr Lođbrók (Ragnars saga lođbrókar), the saga of one of the most famous Viking leaders in the history of the Folk, who was known to be a scourge on the Christian kingdoms of France and England before being betrayed and murdered by the King of Northumbria, who killed him by throwing him into a viper pit.
IV. The Sagas of the Icelanders (Íslendingasögur), including:
1. The Saga of Egill Skalla-Grímsson (Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar), the tale of the great skald and rune-master Egill Skallagrimsson, one of the greatest of the historical heroes and founders of Iceland. As with some other of the historical sagas, there is need to purge the work of praise of Christianity.
2. The Saga of the Ere-Dwellers (Eyrbyggja saga), which contains the only detailed description of our ancestral temples, and should be taken as a basis for such structures; chapters after the conversion should be heavily annotated to prevent mis-readings, and those passages actively detailing or praising Christian behaviour should be considered corrupted and discarded.
3. The Saga of the Confederates (Bandamanna saga), which contains legal dealings between Odd Ófeigsson and Óspak Glúmsson, the former of which suspects the latter of theft but loses his case on a legal technicality; his father then attempts the case and wins. In addition to being an important look at law, it is a completely heathen saga.
4. The Saga of Bárđur ofSnćfellsnes(Bárđar saga Snćfellsáss), which details the just anger of a “half-ogre” (“ogre”, “troll”, and “giant” usually being ambiguous and generally meaning the same thing) after his mischievous nephew pushed his daughter onto an Iceberg and she floated to Greenland.
5. The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong (Finnboga saga ramma), which details the life of Finnbogi the Strong. It contains many proverbs spoken by Finnbogi, and most importantly it takes place before the coming of Christianity to Iceland.
6. The Saga of Sworn Brothers (Fóstbrœđra saga), which tells of two sworn blood-brothers Ţorgeirr and Ţormóđr, great warriors and, in the case of the latter, poets. The value of the work resides in the men’s loyalty to each other, rather than in the wild adventures, bloodthirst, and lusting—all of which are shown, both within this saga and in others, to lead to exile and pain.
7. The Saga of Gísli Súrsson (Gísla saga Súrssonar), which tells of Gísli, one of the first settlers of Iceland, his wife, his brother, and his sister-in-law, specifically the gossiping of the two women and their involvements with other men before their marriage and the men’s reaction to this gossip that they overhear. It contains wisdom about both the dangers of gossiping and the loyalty of a wife to her husband, as when Auđr refuses to reveal her husband to bounty hunters who seek after him.
8. The Saga of Hranfkell, Gođi of Freyr (Hrafnkels saga Freysgođa), which details the life of Hrafnkell, a dedicated gođi of Freyr. It contains a detailed description of the building and sacrificial rites at his temple of Freyr, which can be compared to the temple present in the Eyrbyggja saga. Hrafnkell is murderous, however, and of weak faith, abandoning Freyr when he is attacked and his temple burned (because he refused to ever pay a wergild for those he killed) and therefore also represents an example of the consequences of weak belief and refusal to abide the laws and customs of one’s people.
9. The Saga of Chicken Ţórir (Hćnsa-Ţóris saga), which tells the story of Hćnsa-Ţórir, who has much wealth but refuses to share it. When those in need come and take what he refuses to share, he burns them alive in their homes (an extremely dishonourable act), and is later attacked in vendetta and beheaded for it. It contains a powerful lesson about hospitality, generosity, and participating in the Folk-community.
10. The Saga of Ref the Sly (Króka-Refs saga), which details the life of Ref the Sly, whose un-noteworthy beginnings give way to great honour and reputation through his own merit. Ref serves as an example of self-reliance and shrewdness as well as the importance of showing one’s own merit in order to prove worth to the wider community.
11. The Sagas of Courtship (Tilhugalífssögur), three tales of skalds who seek to win the hearts of ladies, and preserve their poetry. The poetry is a valuable testament to the softer feelings of love and affection felt by our ancestors for the women they sought to win as well as exemplary of what was expected of men to win the hands and hearts of women.
i. Kormáks saga (The Saga of Kormák), which tells of the skald Kormák’s life and wooing of the object of his love, Steingerđr. It also contains important information on our ancestors’ attitudes towards homosexual men and the expectations of how men are to act toward their wives.
ii. Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu (The Saga of Gunnlaug Worm-Tongue), which tells of the wooing of Helga in Fagra, granddaughter of Egill Skalla-Grímsson, and the competition between Gunnlaug and the skald Hrafn Önundarsson, in both verse and in a duel for the hand of Helga. It shows the importance of both strength of mind and strength of body in wooing a woman.
V. The Old English Poems, the oldest versions of many of the tales told in the Sagas, preserving much of the tradition of the continental half of the Germanic Folk. N.B. Christianity came first to the continental Germanics, so Christian influence needs to be identified in these and rooted out.
1. Beowulf, of the feats of the hero Beowulf Grendelsbane
2. Widsith, of the feats of the Widsith and the Kings of the Germanic tribes
3. Waldere, a fragment, of the hero Walter of Aquitaine, which mentions the smith Weland (Völund)
4. Deor, a lament which compares the sufferings of the narrator with those of the demi-gods and heroes of the Folk
5. Finnsburh, a fragment of a longer poem detailing the Battle of Finn’s Fort, which makes mention of Beowulf Grendelsbane, who is brother-in-law to the commander of the fortress, and the heroic defence of the fort against Danish attackers.
VI. The Skaldic Poems[4],which include:
1. Austrfararvísur, which depict a skald shut out of a household because he is Christian and the inhabitants are devotees of Óđinn and are planning on honouring the ancient Gods.
2. Bandadrápa, a fragmentary poem praising the Norwegian King Eirík, and explicitly mentioning that he conquered “in accordance with the will of the gods”.
3. Bjarkamál, another fragment, mentioned in the Fóstbrœđra saga as being used by King Olaf to rally his out-numbered troops before the Battle of Stiklestad; it is dedicated to one of Hrólf Kraki’s band of warriors, Böđvar Bjarki.
4. Darrađarljóđ, which tells of twelve Valkyries gathering the slain after the battle of Cluain Tarbh, which was fought between the Irish High-King Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig and the rebellious King of Leinster Máel Mórda mac Murchada, both of whom contended with mostly Norwegian and Danish mercenaries, and the latter of which was assisted by the Norse King of Dublin, Sigtryggr Silkiskeggi.
5. Lausavísir Hallfređrs, which is a collection of personal one-stanza poems of the poet Hallfređr Óttarsson lamenting his conversion to Christianity and subtly honouring Óđinn, Njörd, Freyr, and Freyja.
6. Haustlöng, which tells the tale of the kidnapping and recapture of Íđunn and the slaying of Hrungnir by Ţórr.
7. Hrafnsmál, which is a conversation between a Valkyrie and a Raven about the deeds of Harald Hárfagri.
8. Húsdrápa, which tells of Ţórr’s fishing of Jörmungand, the funeral of Baldr, and Heimdallr’s retrieval of the Brísingamen from Loki.
9. Kálfsvísa, which is a dedication to the horses (a sacred animal to our ancestors) ridden by the greatest heroes of legend and history in the estimation of the author.
10. Karlevimál, which is found on the Karlevi Runestone, raised by relatives or followers of the gođi Sibbi Fuldarsson, who fell at the Battle of the Fýrisvellir, and gives one of the names of Óđinn, and tells of Ţrúđr, one of the daughters of Ţórr.
11. Krákumál, which is the dying words of Ragnarr Lođbrók, reflecting on his deeds and life and containing the sense of fulfilment he is said to have had at his death.
12. Óđins nöfn, which lists all the names of Óđinn.
13. Ragnarsdrápa, which is dedicated to Ragnarr Lođbrók and tells of the attack of Hamdir and Sorli against King Jörmunrekkr, the never-ending battle between Hedin and Högni, Ţórr’s fishing for Jörmungandr, and Gefjun's ploughing of Zealand from the soil of Sweden.
14. Ţórsdrápa, which is dedicated to Ţórr and tells of how he came to possess Mjölnir.
15. Vellekla, which tells of Hákon Sigurđsson’s heroic defiance of Harald Blátönn’s attempt to force Christianity on Norway at the Battle of Hjörungavágr and his later campaign against Harald in the latter’s Kingdom of Denmark.
VII. Other Germanic works with no unifying category:
1. The Lay of Hildebrand (Hildebrandslied), the only extant pagan text written in Old High German, which tells of a Zweikampf between father and son. It is incomplete, but in every text which mentions Hildebrand, he defeats or kills his son, showing the triumph of the elder spirit over the younger, and the superiority of old traditions over new inventions.[5]
2. The Saga of the Geats (Gutasaga), not one of the Ancient or Historical Sagas, is a Saga written on Old Gutnish rather than Old Norse proper, and tells of the local creation myth of the Geatish people and of the history of Gotland before the coming of Christianity.
3. The Merseburg Incantations (die Merseburger Zaubersprüche), originally written in Old High German, are two examples of continental galdr for the liberation of prisoners and the healing of horses.
The actual arrangement of the texts—i.e. how they should actually be printed—must be decided based on how they can be definitively translated and by whom. It is assumed that no one person can do translation of every single one of the texts, which means that the work will require a team, and that team’s version of the collected texts would be a singular work, perhaps divided into volumes. Otherwise, individual definitive translations would be required. Regardless, the texts will have to be grouped and arraigned. A tentative proposal in this regard shall be for the works from source I and VI be united into a single text to be simply called Edda, such that all poetry is united in a single versified volume. The versification should follow a standardised Book-Stanza-Line format, such that the first four lines of Hávamál 138 would become Edda 2:138:1-4. Such versification should be easy for poetic works, and it may be that, in fact, all Skaldic poetry presently extant in Sagas should be copied and included in Edda as well, to ensure easy reference and citation.
In the case of non-poetic sources, such as II, III, & IV, these should be arranged in a second volume, titled Sogur, meaning “Sagas”. This will likely be a multi-volume work, considering the large size of many of the sagas. The arrangement of books in Sogur could likely be Volume-Book-Chapter-Paragraph-Clause; however, this is burdensome. A far simpler approach would be a Book Title-Chapter-Sentence, such that each sentence is numbered for easy navigation. In this way, a random passage from Hervarar saga ok Heiđreks Chapter 3 might be styled Hrv. 3:13-21. Those sagas belonging to categories, such as the Ásmundar sögur, would be merged into a single series, such that a random selection from Ásmundar saga kappabana would become Asm. II 5:1-6. Into the collection of the Sogur should also be the Gutasaga, fitting best with the Ancient Sagas.
This leaves only the Anglo-Saxon works and the two German works. Since all of these belong to the Saxon tongue, either OE or OHG, it makes sense to derive the name from there. Just as Edda would be all poetic scripture and Sogur would be all prose scripture, this last category would need a name for the unifying characteristic it shares; all of it is in the form of poems, or lays. The OE for this is leođ, the plural of which would be leođes. The OHG, meanwhile, uses the similar liod. Like the umlauts have been dropped from Sogur to make it easier to cite and give it multilingual compatibility, so too perhaps an adaptation of the Saxon dialects might be attempted with Leods. This would include much annotation for the correction of Christian inaccuracies in the Anglo-Saxon texts, but would nevertheless be able to fit all continental scripture into one workable volume. The division of Edda, Sogur, and Leods gives the canon three principle divisions: an important symbolic gesture as much as it is practical. Unlike the Christians, there is no dualism to our scripture, and the number three has great significance to our ancestors, as does every third multiple of three: 3, 9, 18, 27, 36, 45, &c.
Omissions
There are, of course, significant omissions from the above canon, and there is purpose in that: many of the Sagas and poems and other works were composed by Christians and heavily Christianised. The most extreme examples are, of course, Anglo-Saxon literature, which is so heavily Christianised that the most pagan works in the corpus are already mentioned above. The literature written in OE is not alone, however; many skaldic poems written in praise of Norse chieftains, jarls, and kings, were written about Christians in praise of their missionary efforts. Saxo Grammaticus, for example, took the Aeneid as his inspiration and composed the Gesta Danorum at the orders of the Archbishop of Lund. To consider this work as scriptural in its entirety would require the same treatment be given Beda Venerabilis’ Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum. Like the HEGA, the Gesta Danorum does include some valuable information, and even directly quotes original skaldic poems from pre-Christian times, but when it translates these into Latin it exaggerates them so much that it is difficult to believe they are the same thing. Take, for example, GD 2.7.4, the opening of the translation of the above listed Bjarkamal. The Latin reads thus:
Non ego virgineos iubeo cognoscere ludos
nec teneras tractare genas aut dulcia nuptis
oscula conferre et tenues astringere mammas,
non liquidum captare merum tenerumve fricare
femen et in niveos oculum iactare lacertos.
Evoco vos ad amara magis certamina Martis.
Bello opus est nec amore levi, nihil hic quoque facti
mollities enervis habet; res proelia poscit.[6]
Meanwhile, the Old Norse original of the poem for this section reads:
vekka yđr at víni
né at vífs rúnum,
heldr vekk yđr at hörđum
Hildar leiki.[7]
The difference is so pronounced that to translate the passages seems superfluous; the author of the Gesta Danorum, indeed, hasn’t done translation himself so much as he’s written a new poem taking the old for inspiration.
Likewise, there are many works which aside from heavily paraphrased corruption, speak of Christian deeds or criticise the deeds of Kings as “pagan”. There are further some Sagas which are explicitly Christian in message and nature; one will notice that the Brennu-Njáls saga is conspicuously absent from the canon. Not because it is not useful—indeed, one will find it cited frequently—but because the message it contains has no significance to Heathenry except as a heavily interpreted text, and a text which must be interpreted in the negative since the central characters and main plotline justify Christianity. Other sagas featuring Christians or Christian themes, such as the Eyrbyggja saga, do need editing to make them appropriate for scriptural use. The coming of Christianity to Iceland in this saga is marked explicitly, and a noticeable change exists in the saga between pre-Christian and Christian times. When such a clear and explicit divide exists, it invites us to sever the Christian infection from the healthy text, as one cuts a gangrenous limb from a healthy body. In addition to these two categories, those texts which are pre-Christian but nevertheless have no religious significance have also been omitted. In this spirit, significant texts such as the Grœnlendinga saga and Eiríks saga rauđa have been left to the realm of historical or deuterocanonical information, since not only do they describe Heathenry in the negative way and Christianity in a positive way, but their insights into Heathen mores, ritual practises, and otherwise religious knowledge are non-extant.
Of course the greatest omission has not yet been discussed. The greatest issue facing the compiler of a canon is what to do with Snorri Sturlusson: he is, without a doubt, one of the most invaluable contributors to Folkish tradition, and is probably more responsible than anyone else for creating the ability to assemble a canon. Why, then, has he been left out of it? The reason for this resides in the fact that the Snorra Edda, as it is called, is simply not scriptural. It contains important excerpts and quotes from lost or fragmentary scripture, and is a helpful tool for interpretation, but the text itself does not treat the Gods or religious tradition. Rather, it speaks of historical persons and ancient Anatolian kings who came to be revered by the primitive Germanic barbarians and eventually deified. Primitive etymology joins Christian disgust with idolatry to create one of the most detailed Euhemeristic departures northern literature has ever seen—admirable, but not heathen.
The book’s purpose also has significant problems; far from an effort to preserve culture for its own sake, this didactic text was written out of concern for lack of knowledge amongst poets. Poesy in Sturlusson’s day was failing because the skalds no longer knew or understood whence their kennings came, largely owing to some very dedicated missionaries who were happy to see knowledge in the old Gods disappear completely. Sturlusson, however, felt that unless skalds knew a kenning’s origin, there was no way they could use it meaningfully—it would become nothing more than a cliché, whose meaning would be blurred and change significantly over time. In this spirit, he gathered together absolutely everything he could find on the old ways, spoke to surviving relatives of the men written of in the sagas, and gathered up all the old skaldic poems and myths and folklore he could, and wrote down the origins of the poetry. His goal was to construct a genealogy for his poets of the words and phrases they used from the knowledge he could gather of the old faith and practises. In other words, he was a philologist and an antiquarian—useful, indeed, but not holy. In regards to his other major works, the Ynglinge Saga, the Heimskringla, he is, again, a historian. In fact, his contributions in many ways are greater to the realm of history and mythography than to heathenry in any way—to include his works, in other words, would be precedent enough to include those of Georges Dumézil, Max Müller, Sir James Frazer, or even J.R.R. Tolkien—all equally useful to our faith in their studies, interpretations, compilations and, in the latter’s case especially, adaptations, but not worthy of being called prophets.
The Deuterocanonical Books
Significant excerpts from the Snorra Edda and Heimskringla are included in the canon; the skaldic poetry he cites and includes is simply too significant to omit, and, since it is quoted and not of his own pen, it qualifies as scriptural: written by our ancestors for Heathen times, certain that their descendants in one thousand years, two thousand years, three thousand years would still believe in the Gods and offer Them obeisance. Likewise, any skaldic poetry that appears in the omitted sagas that is worth including has also been included. It is, due to the interim nature of our ancestral scripture, necessary sometimes to sift through the papers and take hold of and revere only the jewels one finds. It is for this very reason that only one rune-stone has in fact been included in main scripture, because it contains a complete work of skaldic poetry, and is remarkable in that. The rune-stones are our ancestors’ earliest form of writing, the earliest recordings of our mythos in the form of logos; but as such they are even more fragmentary than most manuscripts. In the case of picture stones, it is difficult even to consider them texts. Therefore, it seemed most appropriate to allow the rune-stone tradition augment the written scripture preserved in manuscripts, to allow it a special, elevated place amongst the deuterocanonical texts.
What, then, is meant by “deuterocanonical”? Simply put, it is the opposite of protocanonical—i.e. texts that have always been considered scriptural. It is also opposed to the notion of “canonical”—i.e. texts that are presently considered canonical. The word itself comes from the Greek δευτερο meaning “second” and the Latin canon, canonis, meaning “rule, standard”, itself derived from Ancient Greek κανών, meaning “measuring rod”. Therefore, one might construe the meaning to be “a second measurement”, or, the standard, Christian definition “a second rule”. The term originally described those books of the Christian Bible not accepted by all Christians; what is known more popularly as the Apocrypha, from the Greek ἀπόκρυφος, meaning “hidden, obscure”. The meaning of the word in English is far more telling of its meaning as it was originally intended to describe the excepted books—“something of doubtful authorship”. The notion was that the state of divine inspiration, which makes a book scripture by the Christian standard, was unsure or undecided, and therefore the books could not be accepted into the canon of revealed scripture. Our meaning is slightly different; the books are not omitted for doubtful presence of divine authorship—since the only books that are divinely inspired or divinely composed in Ásatrú are those contained in the Elder Edda—but rather because they lack a religious impetus; they have no moral lesson to impart, they do not speak of the Gods, they offer nothing to the community of believers of real, fundamental importance.
In this way, the deuterocanonical books are contrasted with religiously alive texts like the Völsungasaga or the Elder Edda. They do, however, serve a distinct and indispensible function that makes them far more than mere scholarly commentaries, and elevates them to the level of a “second measurement”. The first measurement of our faith comes from the words of the Gods Themselves and the religious knowledge and moral wisdom one can gain only from Scripture. The second is an interpretation itself, and aids us in our understanding of the first measurement—like the magnifying glass needed to read the extremely small print that can sometimes befuddle us and leave gaps in our understanding of the Scripture if we take it by itself. The deuterocanonical books are there to focus the canon by educating us about mundane things, or serving as examples which we can use to contrast with the canon (as in the case of Brennu-Njáls saga). They further serve as a buffer to contemporary or Christian interpretations of our ancestral faith, because, despite lacking the spirit of canonical scripture, they nevertheless were written by our ancestors in a time that in some cases was contemporaneous with the portion of our Folk yet unconverted. They remain, in a historical sense, primary sources of information, and therefore are too special to be counted among other works which help us with interpretation such as the works of Dumézil, Grimm, and Müller.
This, then, is the beginning; the work of compiling this scripture, organizing it, and establishing a standard translation is the work of many, many more years of hard work; indeed, it took Jerome twenty-three years to translate the disparate forms of the Bible into the singular, authoritative form it would take as the Vulgate, and Luther worked for twelve years with several other men to complete his German translation of the already-compiled text. The beginning, nevertheless, has been made; a beginning which will, without a doubt, set off a fiery debate over the acceptability and accuracy of this canon, as well as the logic behind the deuterocanonical texts. It is the hope of this author that this debate will be swiftly executed and terminated; the Christian canon, first proposed by Marcion of Sinope in 140 CE, was not decided until the Synod of Hippo in 393 CE, and was not officially declared until the Synod of Carthage in 397 CE. The immediate organisation of a Synod—perhaps better styled “Althing”—or some other conciliar gathering is absolutely necessary for a decision to be made on this matter that would finally organise our religious texts and form a definitive starting point for new converts to our ancient faith.
[1] Alister E. McGrath, Christianity’s Dangerous Idea (New York: Harper One, 2002), 42.
[2] Stephen A. McNallen, “Three Decades of the Ásatrú Revival in America,” TYR: Myth – Culture – Tradition, 2 (2003-2004), 218.
[3] The use of Latin, of course, is purely for the sake of comparison.
[4] Those poems that are included in Sagas are not listed here, since they are considered an intrinsic part of the Sagas in which they are featured, which are listed above.
[5] The sole exception is the Gesta Danorum, which has Hildebrand killed by his son. The work, however, must be regarded as untrustworthy in this regard, especially considering its corruption, exaggeration, and very loose translations of older poems and stories when the author translated them into Latin.
[6]Saxonis Grammatici Gesta Danorum, ed. Alfred Holder (Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner Verlag, 1886), 59. Trans: “I do not now bid ye learn the sports of maidens, nor stroke soft cheeks, nor give sweet kisses to the bride and press the lender breasts, nor desire the flowing wine and chafe the soft thigh and cast eyes upon snowy arms. I call you out to the sterner fray of War. We need the battle, and not light love; nerveless languor has no business here : our need calls for battles.” Saxo Grammaticus, The First Nine Books of the Danish History, trans. Oliver Elton (London: David Nutt, 1894), 72.
[7] Snorri Sturlusson, Heimskringla: Nóregs Konunga Sǫgur, ed. Finnur Jónsson (Copenhagen: Mollers & Thompsen, 1893), 463. Trans.:“I wake you not to wine// nor to women’s converse,// but rather to the hard// game of Hild.” Lee M. Hollander, Old Norse Poems (New York: Columbia University, 1932), 5f.
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An interesting idea, certainly. I think something along those lines is already evolving, anyway. We must be very careful of not going down the same route as the Christians and Muhammedanns, though, in treating the books themselves as holy, and forever unalterable.
What's your view on more recent inspired works, such as, for example, the Oera Linda Book?
http://oeralinda.angelfire.com/
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So you would suggest scripture that could be changed over time? Like rewriting segments of the Bible, for instance, to say buggery is perfectly fine? I'm not sure how negative having unalterable scripture is; perhaps I've misunderstood what you mean, though. If that's the case, could you clarify? I am not sure why books should not be holy, if they contain the inspired (or in the Havamal, directly spoken) words of a God or Gods. Certainly divine speech is sacrosanct even if the God in question is not an overbearing or domineering God as the Semites would have it.
"Recent inspired works" seems to be very slippery ground in my opinion. Scripture originates in the primal epoch of a faith, before the departure into disciplined theology. We've already passed that point in our faith, and are starting to enter a time of theological reflection on scripture already inspired by the Gods.
I give my reasoning for not making the Snorra Edda scripture above, but I would be more willing to admit Sturlusson's work than possible inventions like Oera Linda or Die Geheimnis von Runen, for that matter, especially when they so obviously contradict much of the knowledge found in the ancient books. These are our gnostic Gospels; the authenticity is simply too questionable to be admitted to the canon.
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I think you've very much highlighted the problem here, because there are some who would certainly wish to admit books like the Oera Linda into the canon, and so right away conflict is created where there was none before. Who is to say which books are inspired, and which aren't?
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Pagans are on the march
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Well let's take the Oera Linda as an example. The book not only runs entirely contrary to all historiography and archaeology, as well as the existing texts, but it can't be dated to before the 19th century.
Mythology may be many things, and among them an inspiring force, but mythology also reflects actual experiences and archetypal world-feelings that exist in a culture. Not only is Oera Linda completely out of touch with Germanic folklore (except for a few well-place words and phrases), but it doesn't even represent real mythology.
It doesn't actually take a lot to recognise inspired, authentic holy texts from off-the-wall occultist fictions; that's why so many Gnostic gospels were thrown out the window upon arrival by the Church.
Now that's not to say there aren't some blurry lines, and these need to be discussed in detail, but in cases like Oera Linda or, really, any 19th century invention, the fact is that these people are working from a fiction, not from real lore or scripture or the actual communicated spirit of the Folk through time.
In the answer to "who decides", this is addressed in the article on constructing a canon: a Synod decides. Or, if you prefer to abandon the Greek, an Althing decides. We need order and organisation, as you yourself admit, but decisions cannot be arbitrary and they cannot be completely decentralised if we want to actually meet a foreign threat as a unified body of faith.
Furthermore, I don't see any new conflicts being created; indeed, it seems to me a very small minority of people actually think the Oera Linda book is scriptural in any way, and most of them are Theosophists or another such 19th century invented religion rather than Pagans. A conflict already exists between Blatavskyites (who usually can't distinguish between mythology and fiction anyway) and Folkish Heathens; what the construction of a canon with accepted, sacrosanct texts does is merely illustrate the conflict.
In addition, I repeat my assertion above that, "I am not sure why books should not be holy, if they contain the inspired (or in the Havamal, directly spoken) words of a God or Gods. Certainly divine speech is sacrosanct even if the God in question is not an overbearing or domineering God as the Semites would have it."
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Pardon the double-post, but this is why I say the image of pagans is not of a real religion, but of a Wiccan-style quasi-religion made up of a bunch of nudist and/or cloaked idiots running about brandishing "magick wands" and acting like Hogwarts actually exists. In short, that Silver Ravenhead (or whatever its name is) person mentioned before.
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What would happen, as happened with Christianity, is that different sects would emerge, each fighting for their own version of scripture. Surely we can learn from their mistakes? Some of the Gnostic Gospels (not all) have as good a claim to date from the 1st century as the Canonical ones, which were in any case heavily edited. And why could it not be that more recent works such as Oera Linda could form a sort of "new testament"?
How do we know, for example, that the works you cite really do represent the words of a god? And here's another point - many Anglo-Saxonists would reject all Scandinavian texts as hopelessy late, medieval, post-1066. They would argue that, for the English, the only authentic texts are English ones. The Scandinavians, indeed, were enemies of the English.
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That's just the image the media like to project.
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