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Arahari
08-15-2009, 12:17 PM
http://celto-germanic.blogspot.com/2008/10/reincarnation-celto-germanic.html


How did our Germanic and Celtic ancestors view reincarnation? Is this simply a view confined to the Aryan Hindus or can we find traces of such a concept nearer to home?
I believe we can.
Edred Thorsson[Dr Stephen Flowers] writing in his The Book of Ogham makes the observation;
`It is often said that the ancient Celts believed in "reincarnation". This is not true if by "reincarnation" it is meant that the psyche-including personal memories-was thought to be transferred from a dead person to the unborn in an arbitrary fashion. The idea that a Celtic chieftain could be `reborn` as a Roman soldier or an Indian potter would have been unthinkable. But they-along with all their fellow Indo-Europeans-did hold that the essential powers and abilities of the dead were almost genetically passed on to their descendants and relatives within the tribe or clan. This genetic chain reaches all the way back to the Gods and Goddesses themselves. The descendants are the ancestors reborn. As the ancient Celts were not as alienated from the reality of their bodies as modern people often are, the idea that the descent of the body from one form to another was paralleled by a spiritual descent was only natural-and so it will be again.
Classical authors mentioned a belief in immortality held by the Celts. The Greek ethnographer Poseidonus was probably the original source for most of these early references. He equated the Celtic doctrine with that of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras. Julius Caesar probably used Poseidonios as his source when he wrote:

A lesson which they[the druids] take particular pains to inculcate is that the soul does not perish, but after death passes from one body to another; they think this is the best incentive to bravery, because it teaches men to disregard the terrors of death.
[De bellico Gallico VI, 14]`

In Listian teaching Germanic time was not a simple matter of past, present and future. Our ancestors did not think in such simplistic terms and linear time was not an Aryo-Germanic concept. Today many of us are used to thinking in linear time but this is no doubt a left-over from our unfortunate enforced xtianisation. As anyone who has studied the bible will be aware the semites in general and the jews in particular do think in linear time and frame their prophecies in this way.In contrast according to the most ancient sacred texts of the Aryan peoples Aryan man conceived of time as being a progression of cycles, not in the sense of going round in a circle for things and events to repeat themselves incessantly but as a series of cycles moving forward like the waves on the ocean, moving forward rather than round and round. According to the works and teaching of Guido von List man repeatedly incarnates. There is nothing new in this doctrine for this was a well known teaching in the ancient Aryan world both in the East and the West but what makes his teaching slightly different is his use of cyclical time within this concept, ie Entstehen>Werden/Wandelns>Vergehehen zum NeuerstehenArising>Becoming/Change> Passing Away to New Arising.

This formula can be applied to not only humanity but the entire organic world. All creatures, all things animate and inanimate go through this tripartite process. One can see this reflected in the three Norns: Urd Verdandi SkuldUrd=Became, Verdandi=Becoming, Skuld=Blame[result of Karma or to use the Listian term, Garma]. Germanic time is not to be viewed as static but a process of becoming. Significantly the German verb werden is used-to become rather than sein-to be. Life is dynamic and the only constant is change. The whole process of Entstehen>Werden/Wandeln>Vergehen zum Neuerstehen through countless incarnations represents a single day of Brahma.The German verb werden[to become] is used rathen than sein[to be] because it conveys the feeling of continuing change and evolution. This continuing change, development and evolution is to be strived for in a progressive sense. Our aim in essence is to rediscover the" lost master word": "Dieser Name wird als das `verlorene Meisterwort`, der `verlorene Name` in den Mysterien bezeichnet, das der Meister suchen soll, denn dieser Name gaebe ihm alle Macht und Kraft der Gottheit selbst." "This name is described as the `lost masterword`, the `lost name` in the mysteries, that the master should seek, because this name would give him all power and strength of godhood itself."In other words we are to rediscover the key to our own divinity, to realise the god within, that we are god-in the making or becoming.The tripartite formula generally is to be discovered in many aspects of the pre-xtian Indo-European world, in the caste systems of the Indo-Europeans and even in the ancient triune respresentation of deity which undoubtedly was plagiarised by the xtian church.This tripartition is expressed by von List as dreieinig-dreispaeltige Dreiheit or the trifidic-triune triad as translated by Dr Stephen Flowers[Edred Thorsson] in The Secret of the Runes[Das Geheimnis der Runen].In Die Religion der Ario-Germanen in Ihrer Esoterik und Exoterik Guido von List explains that we are in effect our own ancestors and our own descendants being reincarnated continually within the same race, nation, tribe and clan."Darum errichteten sie Familien und Familiengueter, da sie wussten, dass sie ihre eigenen Nachkommen sein werden......""That`s why they established families and family goods, because they knew, that they will become their own descendants........"

So we are in fact our own ancestors[direct and indirect] and descendants[direct and indirect] so we must consider ourselves to be merely the bodily carriers of our genetic inheritance and guard our genes well.

ikki
08-15-2009, 01:19 PM
it was done on caves. A otherwise dark cave, except during a special moment.. the winter solistice. There the mother of the would be reincarnated hero was to give birth.
Before and after birth, the stories of said hero were told and retold many times, so as to instill a sense of belonging to those legends into the child.

Only later one could observe whether the magic had worked or not ... and the child had become a hero worthy of the name :D

Lyfing
08-15-2009, 01:49 PM
I'm pretty certain the ancient Germanic peoples didn't hold a notion of reincarnation...

Here are a couple of writings I highly recommend for anyone interested..

Reincarnation among the Norse: Sifting through the Evidence, by Bil Linzie (http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=linzie+reincarnation&fr=moz35&u=www.aetaustralia.org/files/reincarnation2.pdf&w=linzie+reincarnation+reincarnated&d=JdCoLBlMS0En&icp=1&.intl=us)


Abstract

This short article looks at the possibilty of reincarnation as a com-
mon alternative concept of life after death among Germanic heathens
and then as a possible non-standard alternative belief. References in
the Old Norse literary record are reviewed and compared to data from
the non-Norse literary and historical record and finally the archaeolog-
ical record. The evidence is then sorted to propose a model to explain
the existence of the belief in the Eddas.

http://www.angelfire.com/nm/seidhman/reincarnation2.pdf



Investigating the Afterlife Concepts of the Norse Heathen: A Reconstructionist’s Approach, by Bil Linzie (http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=linzie+reincarnation&fr=moz35&u=www.angelfire.com/nm/seidhman/gravemound.pdf&w=linzie+reincarnation+reincarnated&d=OeB_HxlMTOum&icp=1&.intl=us)


Abstract

This paper reviews the modern heathen movement’s commonly ac-
cepted beliefs regarding the heathen concept of Afterlife and compares
them to what is known about the ancient Germanic sense of Afterlife.
The discussion is a continuation of this author’s proposal that the stan-
dards of research among modern heathens be at least consistent with
standards currently acceptable to researchers in other fields of study. As
with previous papers by this author, this document has been subjected to
peer review, and has been adjusted to reflect their comments.
The intent is not to undermine the progress at reconstructionism re-
ported by various groups of modern heathens but to enhance it since we
have attempted to not only draw directly from heathen sources via the
most current research, but have also suggested methods and techniques
with which one should be able to shift one’s frame of reference from that of
the commonly accepted modern era to that which would have been com-
pletely acceptable to most of the various Germanic peoples living during
the Viking Era.

http://www.angelfire.com/nm/seidhman/gravemound.pdf


Later,
-Lyfing

Atridr
01-21-2012, 09:47 AM
Personally, I think that whatever views our ancestors had on reincarnation are only as good as their truth value; we are not here to repeat their mistakes, but to improve upon from what they had perhaps discovered.

Although I think that pondering over the question of reincarnation is of very little importance, for mostly it's just escapistic pastime when our presence would be more needed in the present moment. But this is my view on the subject; As I stated earlier in different thread:

"Our consciousness, the divine spark beyond soul and spirit may reincarnate at some future point in time, but I don't think that it holds any memories, personality traits or anything that defines us as human. In death, all that has form within us, body, mind and soul simply ceases to be, although this may take time and be immensely painful, depending on how attached to our mortal selves we are. Spirit of those people who have such quality, for not many have, enters to the lands beyond the veil of death and through it consciousness may experience some kind of existence beyond death in Valhalla or some other such place. Presumably most such spirits remain indefinitely in the halls of the dead, but it's possible that some of them choose to reincarnate again in to the world of the living, perhaps to fulfill tasks set by gods or fate or powers that are beyond or perhaps just to learn and experience more so that they could reach final enlightenment and release from all existence."

To this I would add, that through our connection to the genetic reality we are spiritually linked to all beings that share the same genetic reality, even to those who are dead or aren't even born. The essence of our blood exists in eternity, and as that spirit is borne by all beings of same ethnic group, it creates an infinite chain in which all parts are united. Thus through that chain we can experience things that have happened to our ancestors, and this propably is the cause of belief in the reincarnation of the type that is described by Arahari.


edit: corrected typo

Weedman
02-14-2014, 10:59 AM
Celts belived in transmigration of the soul