- Odinic Rite
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The Odinic Rite (OR) is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin. It is a reconstructionist religious organization focusing on Germanic paganism, Germanic mythology, Norse paganism, and Anglo-Saxon paganism, whom some consider to be part of a Neo-völkisch movement.
Contents
Odinism
The term Odinism was coined by Orestes Brownson in 1848, in his 1848 Letter to Protestants.[1]. The term was re-introduced in the late 1930s by Alexander Rud Mills in Australia with his First Anglecyn Church of Odin and his book, The Call of Our Ancient Nordic Religion[2]. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Else Christensen's Odinist Study Group and later the Odinist Fellowship brought the term into usage in North America.
Today the Odinic Rite defines Odinism as the modern day expression of the ancient religions which grew and evolved with the Indo-European peoples who settled in Northern Europe and came to be known as "Germanic". The Odinic Rite shuns such descriptions as "Viking religion" or "Asatru" insisting that the Viking era was just a very small period in the history and evolution of the faith.[3]
History
In 1973 John Gibbs-Bailey (known as "Hoskuld") and John Yeowell (known as "Stubba") founded the Committee for the Restoration of the Odinic Rite or Odinist Committee in England[4]. In 1980 the organisation changed its name to The Odinic Rite after it was believed that it had gained enough significant interest in the restoration of the Odinic faith.
In 1988 the Odinic Rite became the first polytheistic religious organisation to be granted "Registered Charity" status in the UK. While the charitable status did not bring much benefit to the organisation, they felt that it was a victory in their fight to have Odinism taken seriously.
In 1989 Yeowell resigned as Director of the OR's governing body, the Court of Gothar. The Court then unanimously elected Heimgest as its Director and he was officially installed in this position on 23 April 1989 at the White Horse Stone in Kent. Prior to his involvement with the Odinic Rite Heimgest had belonged to a small group known as the Heimdal League,[5] a closed group which disbanded in the mid 1980s. Some members of this group joined Heimgest in moving to the OR as they considered it had "the potential to best present the ancestral religion of Odinism to the modern world".[6] Heimgest remains the Director of the Court of Gothar.
John Yeowell resigned from the Court of Gothar entirely in 1991 and left the Odinic Rite. Also in 1991, an expelled member of the OR, Ingvar Harrison set up a rival Odinic Rite using the post office box name "Edda" as opposed to the official group's box name of "Runic" which is still in use by the OR today. In 1996 Yeowell was accepted back into the official OR. Shortly after this, Harrison asked Else Christensen if he could rename his group the Odinist Fellowship. This request was declined as Else was a close personal friend of Heimgest, however the group continued to use the name and the Edda post office box.
Structure
The OR is headed by a Court of Gothar which can consist of up to nine members. The current court has 3 members. They are supported by an administration team and advised by various information officers who make up the information committee.[7]
The OR has national branches in France (ORF)[8], North America (ORV, 1997) and the Netherlands (ORN, 2006)[9] and individual members spread over many other countries. The Odinic Rite has legal status in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States.
The basic unit of the Odinic Rite is the individual member. Hearths are groups of adherents who gather to perform ceremonies known as Blóts or Blotar (See 'Book of Blotar' ), at which they honor their deities and their ancestors. The motto or watch-words of the Odinic Rite are "Faith, Folk & Family". The Odinic Rite is mostly considered a folkish Odinist society.
Upon joining the OR, members have the title "Apprentice" and use the letters AOR (Apprentice Odinic Rite) after their names. After a period of active membership, members may request to take the "Oath of Profession". If approved they will take part in a ceremony during which they swear an oath of fealty to the gods and to the Odinic Rite. They must make a "torc", a small crescent-shaped shield said to derive from a historical British military decoration (not to be confused with the "torque"), with which they are presented during the ceremony. Professed members use the letters OR after their names. Members appointed to the Court of Gothar are identified by the letters CG after their names.
The Odinic Rite incorporates various sections which specialize in a particular field. They are:
- Prison Affairs Bureau — to facilitate community for Odinist prisoners and for people of our faith leaving prison, and to insure religious rights for incarcerated Odinists.[10]
- Guardians — set up in response to the threat to the White Horse Stone mentioned below. Guardians groups regularly gather to do environmental work and to clear trash from sacred or special sites.[11]
- Acorn Hollow — dedicated to Odinist home-schoolers / parents and resources for Odinist children from days out to crafts and educational resources and events.[12]
- OR Fyrd — promotes physical and spiritual well being through exercise, martial arts, meditation etc.[13]
- OR Media — provides educational and entertainment media to Odinists. Their first CD, Folk Spirit — A Compilation of Odinist Artists, was released in 2009.[14]
Politics
The OR website has a disclaimer to the effect that they are politically neutral and that members who involve themselves in political activity do so as private individuals not as representatives of the Odinic Rite.[15].
Values
Members of the Odinic Rite are encouraged to live their lives according to the Nine Noble Virtues and the Nine Charges which were "codified from The Hávamál and The Sigrdrífomál (poems from the Elder Edda) in the early 1970's"[16]
The Book of Blotar
The Book of Blotar is a book of rituals published by the Odinic Rite for the purposes of celebrating Odinism. It is frequently lauded for its content and structure and enjoys widespread use by adherents not restricted to the organization's membership. Published by The Odinic Rite 1993 on the direction of Heimgest OR. ISBN 0 950413 7 7 [17] The Book of Blotar shares a common source with, and contains much of the content of, the earlier published Book of Blots [18]
The rituals of the Odinic Rite were published individually by the forerunner of the OR, The Committee for the Restoration of the Odinic Rite. The OR continued this practice and latterly distributed the appropriate monthly ritual with the OR member's journal ORBriefing. This cumbersome and costly arrangement led to the collection of the Rituals in a single volume.[19] This book contains the 12 major monthly rituals of the Odinic Rite, and Rites of Passage, a Healing Blot, Sword Naming, Land Reclamation, Banner Consecration, short invocations, daily rituals etc. Also in depth explanation of need and purpose of ritual, regalia etc. However, this is a text produced by and for the Odinic Rite, and the rituals and other content should not be taken as applying to any other group.
White Horse Stone incidents
During the construction of the railway line High Speed 1, building work was intended in the area of the fifth century hero Horsa's burial site near the historical site of the Battle of Aylesford in Kent. A retired Stubba and the Odinic Rite campaigned heavily and made numerous media appearances against the destruction of the White Horse Stone site and successfully had the route of the railway diverted.
Later in 2004, due to the previous incident, the Odinic Rite successfully campaigned[20] to block the construction of a radio tower mast near the site with a unanimous rejection of the building application by the Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council. Following this second threat the "Guardians of the White Horse Stone"[21] was set up by Odinic Rite members. The group meets regularly at the stone to clear litter and graffiti from the stone and surrounding area.
In May 2006, Orange U.K. sought planning permission[22][23][24] from Maidstone Borough Council to install a telecommunications mast just across the border between the Maidstone and Tonbridge & Malling borough councils. This new proposal was still within 100 meters of the White Horse Stone and so a new campaign was launched by the Odinic Rite. If approved this plan would have seen an 8-meter high mast built in an area designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
This application was refused on 28 July and the following reasons were given:
The proposed mast would be sited in a particular location that would intrude upon views across the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the North Downs Special Landscape Area. In this respect this proposal would be harmful to the natural beauty and scenic quality of the landscape. Furthermore it would also be clearly visible from the North Downs Way and would affect the wider setting of the Ancient Monument for the White Horse Stone. The proposal would therefore be contrary to policies of the Maidstone Borough-Wide Local Plan 2000 and policies of the Kent and Medway Structure Plan 2006.
In popular culture
In 1997 the Director of Gothar, Heimgest, performed galdr – a magical chanting of the runes – on the Sol Invictus album The Blade.[25]
See also
- Neopaganism in the UK
- Germanic Neopaganism
- Neopaganism
- White Horse Stone
References
- ^ The Works of Orestes A. Brownson: Containing the Second Part of the Political Writings, ed. Henry Francis Brownson, T. Nourse (1884), p. 257
- ^ Mills, Alexander Rud. The Call of Our Ancient Nordic Religion. Northern World Pub..
- ^ Odinism - A Defining Moment. A talk by Hengest Thorsson, later published in Odinic Rite Briefing, issue 113, 2009
- ^ Pagan Resurrection by Richard Rudgley(2006)p.240
- ^ Pagan Resurrection by Richard Rudgley(2006)p.239
- ^ personal conversation with Heimgest
- ^ www.odinic-rite.org PDF organization chart
- ^ odinicriteofaustralia.wordpress.com
- ^ www.odinist.nl
- ^ PAB mission statement
- ^ OR Guardian's site
- ^ Acorn Hollow site
- ^ OR Fyrd site
- ^ OR Media
- ^ Odinic Rite FAQ - Does the Odinic Rite take a political viewpoint?
- ^ Nine Noble Virtues and Nine Charges from the Odinic Rite web site
- ^ This ISBN is as it is written in the book and on the Odinic Rite website. It is not in the standard 10 or 13 digit format and appears to be invalid
- ^ The Book of Blots Ceremonies, Rituals & Invocations of The Odinic Rite Composed and edited by Stubba Odinic Rite London 1991 ISBN 0 9504613 5 0
- ^ Introduction - Book of Blotar
- ^ odinic-rite.org WHS campaign
- ^ odinic-rite.org photo album
- ^ www.digitalmaidstone.co.uk PDF
- ^ www.digitalmaidstone.co.uk PDF
- ^ www.digitalmaidstone.co.uk PDF
- ^ www.fluxeuropa.com Sol Invictus, the Blade, review
External links
Categories:- Germanic neopaganism
- Magical organizations
- Ásatrú in the United States
- Religious organizations established in 1973
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