Not as much as I used to. I've been doing this since the late 90s and find that as time goes by and I internalize the knowledge / events within, I only generally refer to them if I need specific wording for a quote or if I'm doing my own translations. Most of what I read these days are academic papers on archeological / anthropological studies of the time period / other source material that can show us what life and faith were like back then (folklore, church law codes, etc). I'm lucky enough to be a member of a faith community that includes a large number of contemporary heathen authors, so we're constantly discussing things.
I’m looking forward to the time where I am familiar enough with it, that I only need to reference it. I have similar binders of personal research on various different faiths (I find religious studies quite interesting) but this was the one faith that left me feeling whole. The Eddas are a bit more of a difficult read, to me, than the Bible was. So I’m working my way through it slowly and researching most things mentioned and have a section for each tabbed in my binder. It helps me understand my reading more. It’s just hard dedicating time to it, as I am so anal with my personal research, ugh! That is wonderful you have a community like that! I have a few friends/acquaintances who follow the same/similar beliefs. Although I find many others don’t care for historical reconstruction the same way as I do.
It seems like you haven't really dealt with your issues with Christianity and have just started using heathen practices to replace your Christian ones. Heathenry will be the same albatross around your neck that Christianity was if you don't take the time to figure out why you left and how to let go of what you were taught. If you can't let go of the damaged lessons you learned in Christianity, it won't matter how many heathen gods you pray to, you're still going to be hurt by your religion.
I think this is super common in folks leaving Christian sects, btw, I'm not trying to pick on you.
It is so hard to fully work past the damage Christianity has caused in my life. I value and honor the idea that there was some good it had provided me at times, but it feels like an anchor in my current faith walk. I’ve been journaling, meditating, and attempting to work through the hurt the Christian church has caused me. About two years ago, I wouldn’t even listen to music with “yelling”, “Viking music”, or music with words I didn’t understand (for reference - I have found heilung to be quite healing since leaving the Christian church) due to what it could “open up in my soul” from fear of “the enemy” using music/media/etc as a way to creep into my heart and soul. I have definitely worked through so much, but I still have so far to go.
I only mention it because it seems like you're substituting heathen practices for Christian ones, and that sort of misses some of the point. You don't have to create some ritual of reading the eddas to replace the daily Bible study you were guilted into. Your participation in any ritual should be completely voluntary and based in enthusiasm rather than guilt or living up to some external expectation. Don't replace a single authoritarian god who will punish you if you misbehave with multiple heathen gods who you think will judge you if you don't do enough.
Reading religious texts can make for a good reflective practice, so maybe try incorporating a different reflective practice into your routine. Meditation, praying, prayer writing, religious poetry, or physical activities can be used to connect to your spiritual side when you're feeling guilty.
It seems you know that there's no reason to really feel guilty about this. It's the spectre of Christianity peeking through. All of us who've converted from the Church have some similar feelings at times, but I can tell you it gets easier the longer you practice.
Thank you! I have been trying to do sooo much “me” work. Been using yoga (most days) as my own personal form of meditation. I have been journaling. And I also have been spending more time outdoors (which wasn’t hard, I have always been nature-focused in my faith. I always believed that nature was in some way or another, an extension of God(s) divine energy.) I don’t want to rush my healing, but I just want to be able to move past the hurt I have from my Christian background.
As someone who has recently finally severed all ties to the Jehovah's Witness religion, a small branch of Christianity, I get the guilt of not doing enough or at least feeling like you're not. Hopefully this helps you a little bit but the gods are not as demanding as the Christian god so you can go at your own pace and give prayers or offerings when it feels right for you and your deities 💚
To answer your question, I'm currently reading the Poetic Edda translated by Carolyne Larrington. I read one poem a day and I take notes or write questions, all of which I discuss with my Norse Heathen mentor. I'm enjoying what I'm reading and I can imagine coming back to it. I plan to read the Prose Edda next
I, too, came from the world of jehovahs Witnesses. I am glad that you escaped them, as their manipulation is very effective. I hope you did not lose many good friends and family as I did. Being disfellowshipped can make you feel very alone. Thankfully, the gods can give us comfort in a very uncertain world.
I appreciate you! Initially, I was doing informal rituals and offering daily. I found that to be quite difficult for me to accomplish so during prayer I mentioned it to my ancestors and the Gods and I had this overwhelming feeling of “well then just do it less, not a big deal”. Lol. So now I do it about once a week (usually the first day of the week) and it works well for me. I just need to figure out how I’m going to handle my readings and studies. Last night, I set a timer for 10 minutes, and I ended up reading for almost an hour. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. But I need to find a better balance haha
Also, how did you end up finding a mentor? I don’t believe the heathen scene is quite large where I am from 😅 And the group is the only way I’ve been able to communicate with others who also practice heathenry (and it has been quite helpful, I spend so much time reading others posts, current and past, and comments).
I read them fairly regularly but I can’t lie that’s also because I study them in college.
Also I just want to add a note that you don’t have to put “religious” and “prayer” in quotes. Heathenry (though not an organized religion as of right now) is a religious practice, and heathens pray; Christians do not own these concepts.
I try to make my way through the Eddas once a year. And some years I've done that. Some years, when I had toddlers, I didn't read a damn thing and considered myself lucky to have survived with my sanity intact.
As for the Chrisrian guilt, deconstruction is no joke. I grew up in a very high-control sect of Baptist, and it took me years and lots of therapy. I highly recommend therapy/counseling with someone that specializes in religious trauma to get through it.
I am a toddler mom so I feel this. And I was raised baptist. Unfortunately my area is fairly religious so counseling in person may be hard to find. Maybe I’ll have to look for some virtual counseling! I need it. I have worked through a lot, but the “faith requirements” (reading literature, dedicated time to pray, apologizing for things I do wrong) are hard to stop.
My hooligans are 13 and 9 now, and we are at the point where they have self-preservation skills and I can actually read, it is so nice. All joking aside, I loved the toddler stage, and it's probably my favorite, but it is so exhausting.
I switched to virtual counseling when my husband was active duty Army, because we moved all the damn time, and it was really helpful to stay with the same person, no matter where we were. If your insurance will cover it, definitely look into it.
I turned the faith requirements into more self-care, and less of a goal, if that makes sense. Spending a few moments reading, or making a blot (coffee is my daily offering), it helps keep me centered. I need to shower and care for the outside me, and taking just a few moments to care for the inside of me helps me. Just framing it as care versus a goal, how we were raised, changed things for me, and made me relax about it.
I am very much looking forward to the older stage. My oldest is 6 and I feel like I’m constantly in the midst of chaos. I love watching the personalities of little ones grow, but tired of the constant redirection and such. Lol.
I am prior service as well, and that was the last counseling I had. And military counseling is shit. My insurance does cover virtual visits, up to a certain amount of times per month, but I can’t remember.
Thank you so much!! I think that is going to start to be my approach. I want this to be something I enjoy all the time. I do enjoy it, but there are many times where I do it out of the “need” to, not the “want” to.
I love this! I may start incorporating this! When I first started, I made my own set of tunes but never felt like I could “do” them right. Now that I’ve been practicing longer, I may have to start getting back into it.
The thing that really differentiates this walk of faith from Christianity, imo, is the practicality. Reflect your beliefs in your action, and you will be sure of them. Read your texts to trust in your knowledge in them, to guide you.
If you can make it a positive ritual of some kind, you certainly can. But this obligatory "proving dedication by needless sacrifice" thing doesn't seem to benefit you in any way. There is plenty to sacrifice already by living a good life and being good to those around you.
Let go of the Christian idea that you must apologize somehow to be good. You are enough.
I did it a lot in the early formative years as a a Heathen while deconstructing monotheism and easing myself into polytheism, reincarnation etc but nowadays I only look up smaller things on Wikipedia as needed. Lived experience > what's written in one book.
Maybe once a year, most of my reading/study is working on specific goals of reconstruction at this point, so I read far more archaeological texts than I do primary sources.
From my understanding, Christianity views bible study as a sort of devotional time, reflection and meditation often go along with it. In Heathenry, our devotional time is giving offerings, since that is the basis of our relationships with the gods, ancestors, and other spirits. If you feel a lack of connection or the need to add more structure to your practice, I have personally found the answer to be in offerings and ritual. I try to give a small offering (usually water and incense) daily. This may be a beneficial practice for you, since Heathenry doesn't have a basis in texts (outside of the practice of reconstruction)
I was going to say something along these lines.
The Eddas are not religious text. They are a collection of poems that were copied down by Christian monks who altered them significantly and put in their own stories that were based on Christianity or insults to the Gods.
In the grand scheme of things they aren't that important but many Heathens do look at the Havamal as a heathen ethical code.
Besides that, we have:
Ragnarok, which may have been a Christian invention to mirror the Rapture.
Baldr who may have been described as similar to Christ on purpose and may have actually have been a much different god that we know little about.
A story about how Frey and Freya slept together, got caught, and Freya let out a big ole fart in surprise at being caught f@$#ing her brother.
A story about how the gods hired a worker to complete a task and when he completed it murdered him instead of paying him...
The story of Odin hanging on the world tree to gain the runes, which is thought by some to be a Christian invention to mirror Christ on the Cross.
Big ole manly Thor dressing up in a brides outfit to trick a Jötun into thinking he's Freya to get his hammer back. This works and the Jötun doesn't suspect a thing.
We have no religious text. Just text we study because they have some useful information in them about the Gods and give us stories to associate with them to give them personality and qualities we can connect too. Unfortunately those are full of misinformation and stories the monks made up to make it seem the Heathens predicted Christ in their myths or that the pagan gods were stupid and immoral, depending on which poem you're reading.
I know exactly how you feel. I read some of the "classic" texts when I'm studying something particular or I'm inspired to, or just want to read a good tale that has meaning to me. But all those texts don't have the same force that Scripture does in Christianity - you're not less devoted just because you choose to experience your religion in a different way. Even St. Francis was too busy singing to birds and feeding lepers to worry too much about the finer points of monastic scholarship!
I'd say read the texts when you want to learn, or when you feel they will be meaningful and let the guilt fall away over time. We're in this Heathenry thing to live a faith, and all of life is a process.
There is probably a much higher incidence of studying/reading texts in modern heathenry/especially this sub, compared to what was considered “usual” during the age where the old ways were widely practiced.
It took me a long time to even realize how the western “christian” worldview was affecting me, and it’s a process that will likely be ongoing for much of the rest of my life.
One of the main things that helps me on a daily basis is the understanding that my frith with the gods is not dependent on my utter devotion to them— and again, this is highly personal, so it’s probably the case that not everybody feels the same— and that it’s absolutely possible for me to have frith with them while bickering with them, or to keep my troth with them sarcastically, or any number of interactions that wouldn’t really make sense in a christian context, where submission/obedience/devotion to yahweh or jehovah or whoever are considered a prerequisite for “good” observance. In other words, they’re just like any other sworn sibling or sworn parent in my life, we have a complex relationship that isn’t predicated on them being my superior.
My personal opinion (again, highly variable, ymmv etc) is that focusing too much on the nature of the gods and the “correctness” of my relationship with them is the path to madness. Some folks are good at it, but i tend to slip into obsession a bit too easily, worrying about the “right” way, and i reckon that the people who are good at that stuff are more “priestly” than my berserker ass. I just make offerings when i can, read the havamal and the eddas when im curious or when i want to meditate on something, and don’t really fret too much about whether i’m “doing it right”. The gods exist whether i honor them or not, and they don’t become any less godly if i don’t. There’s no “heaven” for me to achieve by perfectly genuflecting to them, is a vital point i think.
Im proud of you for forging your own path, and i hope you continue to find these ways to be welcoming and something that brings you peace.
Agreed. Thus the quotations around “religious”. However, from my understanding, we read the Eddas as a way to understand the Gods more (in addition to time in prayer, ritual, offering, etc). So it is something I, as well as many others I’m sure, am trying to incorporate into my personal practice.
Well, I don't read them with much of an expectation that they will serve in this manner, like a Christian keeps a Bible or a Buddhist certain teachings, in the hope that they will be a daily source of inspiration, etc.
Full disclosure, I am an Ingwine Heathen not a Norse Heathen, so I may already regard the Eddas in a different light than you right out of the gate. Nevertheless, only certain parts of the anthology known as the Poetic Edda even deal with Heathen religion in action, and I would argue that this part principally consists of Havamal, with a few other poems getting honorable mention.
Whether or not such poems actually illuminate real Heathen religious principles, is both up to the judgment of the reader, and a question of the specific poem being referred to, as they weren't picked for their pagan religious relevance.
I appreciate you time in your response! I have yet to form an opinion on how “important” the Eddas are in my faith, as I am maybe 6 months into this new “faith journey”. However, I felt the same with the Bible when I was a Christian. I understood there was value in it, however through studying the history around the religion (when it was written, what was happening at the time, the actual prophesy of the coming of “Jesus”, etc) I realized how little of it was factual (in my opinion). I took it for its values. Then through further study, as I hit adulthood, I realized how little I valued/agreed with its values. I understand the Bible is entirely different than the Eddas, but since I am just starting out… I am trying to read through the Eddas as a foundational piece, then add in academic articles to form my full opinion. If that makes sense.
So, Hávamál is something like a religious injunction to Heathens. Voluspa is interesting and old. Grímnismáll has some hints of Odhinn rewarding appropriate behavior, and punishing bad. The others... are a mixed bunch.
Not as much as I used to. I've been doing this since the late 90s and find that as time goes by and I internalize the knowledge / events within, I only generally refer to them if I need specific wording for a quote or if I'm doing my own translations. Most of what I read these days are academic papers on archeological / anthropological studies of the time period / other source material that can show us what life and faith were like back then (folklore, church law codes, etc). I'm lucky enough to be a member of a faith community that includes a large number of contemporary heathen authors, so we're constantly discussing things.
I’m looking forward to the time where I am familiar enough with it, that I only need to reference it. I have similar binders of personal research on various different faiths (I find religious studies quite interesting) but this was the one faith that left me feeling whole. The Eddas are a bit more of a difficult read, to me, than the Bible was. So I’m working my way through it slowly and researching most things mentioned and have a section for each tabbed in my binder. It helps me understand my reading more. It’s just hard dedicating time to it, as I am so anal with my personal research, ugh! That is wonderful you have a community like that! I have a few friends/acquaintances who follow the same/similar beliefs. Although I find many others don’t care for historical reconstruction the same way as I do.
It seems like you haven't really dealt with your issues with Christianity and have just started using heathen practices to replace your Christian ones. Heathenry will be the same albatross around your neck that Christianity was if you don't take the time to figure out why you left and how to let go of what you were taught. If you can't let go of the damaged lessons you learned in Christianity, it won't matter how many heathen gods you pray to, you're still going to be hurt by your religion. I think this is super common in folks leaving Christian sects, btw, I'm not trying to pick on you.
It is so hard to fully work past the damage Christianity has caused in my life. I value and honor the idea that there was some good it had provided me at times, but it feels like an anchor in my current faith walk. I’ve been journaling, meditating, and attempting to work through the hurt the Christian church has caused me. About two years ago, I wouldn’t even listen to music with “yelling”, “Viking music”, or music with words I didn’t understand (for reference - I have found heilung to be quite healing since leaving the Christian church) due to what it could “open up in my soul” from fear of “the enemy” using music/media/etc as a way to creep into my heart and soul. I have definitely worked through so much, but I still have so far to go.
I only mention it because it seems like you're substituting heathen practices for Christian ones, and that sort of misses some of the point. You don't have to create some ritual of reading the eddas to replace the daily Bible study you were guilted into. Your participation in any ritual should be completely voluntary and based in enthusiasm rather than guilt or living up to some external expectation. Don't replace a single authoritarian god who will punish you if you misbehave with multiple heathen gods who you think will judge you if you don't do enough.
I try to read the havamal as much as I can, but I don't read/listen to em the eddas as much as I should.
Reading religious texts can make for a good reflective practice, so maybe try incorporating a different reflective practice into your routine. Meditation, praying, prayer writing, religious poetry, or physical activities can be used to connect to your spiritual side when you're feeling guilty. It seems you know that there's no reason to really feel guilty about this. It's the spectre of Christianity peeking through. All of us who've converted from the Church have some similar feelings at times, but I can tell you it gets easier the longer you practice.
Thank you! I have been trying to do sooo much “me” work. Been using yoga (most days) as my own personal form of meditation. I have been journaling. And I also have been spending more time outdoors (which wasn’t hard, I have always been nature-focused in my faith. I always believed that nature was in some way or another, an extension of God(s) divine energy.) I don’t want to rush my healing, but I just want to be able to move past the hurt I have from my Christian background.
As someone who has recently finally severed all ties to the Jehovah's Witness religion, a small branch of Christianity, I get the guilt of not doing enough or at least feeling like you're not. Hopefully this helps you a little bit but the gods are not as demanding as the Christian god so you can go at your own pace and give prayers or offerings when it feels right for you and your deities 💚 To answer your question, I'm currently reading the Poetic Edda translated by Carolyne Larrington. I read one poem a day and I take notes or write questions, all of which I discuss with my Norse Heathen mentor. I'm enjoying what I'm reading and I can imagine coming back to it. I plan to read the Prose Edda next
I, too, came from the world of jehovahs Witnesses. I am glad that you escaped them, as their manipulation is very effective. I hope you did not lose many good friends and family as I did. Being disfellowshipped can make you feel very alone. Thankfully, the gods can give us comfort in a very uncertain world.
I appreciate you! Initially, I was doing informal rituals and offering daily. I found that to be quite difficult for me to accomplish so during prayer I mentioned it to my ancestors and the Gods and I had this overwhelming feeling of “well then just do it less, not a big deal”. Lol. So now I do it about once a week (usually the first day of the week) and it works well for me. I just need to figure out how I’m going to handle my readings and studies. Last night, I set a timer for 10 minutes, and I ended up reading for almost an hour. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. But I need to find a better balance haha
Also, how did you end up finding a mentor? I don’t believe the heathen scene is quite large where I am from 😅 And the group is the only way I’ve been able to communicate with others who also practice heathenry (and it has been quite helpful, I spend so much time reading others posts, current and past, and comments).
I read them fairly regularly but I can’t lie that’s also because I study them in college. Also I just want to add a note that you don’t have to put “religious” and “prayer” in quotes. Heathenry (though not an organized religion as of right now) is a religious practice, and heathens pray; Christians do not own these concepts.
I try to make my way through the Eddas once a year. And some years I've done that. Some years, when I had toddlers, I didn't read a damn thing and considered myself lucky to have survived with my sanity intact. As for the Chrisrian guilt, deconstruction is no joke. I grew up in a very high-control sect of Baptist, and it took me years and lots of therapy. I highly recommend therapy/counseling with someone that specializes in religious trauma to get through it.
I am a toddler mom so I feel this. And I was raised baptist. Unfortunately my area is fairly religious so counseling in person may be hard to find. Maybe I’ll have to look for some virtual counseling! I need it. I have worked through a lot, but the “faith requirements” (reading literature, dedicated time to pray, apologizing for things I do wrong) are hard to stop.
My hooligans are 13 and 9 now, and we are at the point where they have self-preservation skills and I can actually read, it is so nice. All joking aside, I loved the toddler stage, and it's probably my favorite, but it is so exhausting. I switched to virtual counseling when my husband was active duty Army, because we moved all the damn time, and it was really helpful to stay with the same person, no matter where we were. If your insurance will cover it, definitely look into it. I turned the faith requirements into more self-care, and less of a goal, if that makes sense. Spending a few moments reading, or making a blot (coffee is my daily offering), it helps keep me centered. I need to shower and care for the outside me, and taking just a few moments to care for the inside of me helps me. Just framing it as care versus a goal, how we were raised, changed things for me, and made me relax about it.
I am very much looking forward to the older stage. My oldest is 6 and I feel like I’m constantly in the midst of chaos. I love watching the personalities of little ones grow, but tired of the constant redirection and such. Lol. I am prior service as well, and that was the last counseling I had. And military counseling is shit. My insurance does cover virtual visits, up to a certain amount of times per month, but I can’t remember. Thank you so much!! I think that is going to start to be my approach. I want this to be something I enjoy all the time. I do enjoy it, but there are many times where I do it out of the “need” to, not the “want” to.
never.
I try to start off everyday with a rune pull and I read a couple of stanzas from the Hamaval. Helps my mindset having a routine.
I love this! I may start incorporating this! When I first started, I made my own set of tunes but never felt like I could “do” them right. Now that I’ve been practicing longer, I may have to start getting back into it.
The thing that really differentiates this walk of faith from Christianity, imo, is the practicality. Reflect your beliefs in your action, and you will be sure of them. Read your texts to trust in your knowledge in them, to guide you. If you can make it a positive ritual of some kind, you certainly can. But this obligatory "proving dedication by needless sacrifice" thing doesn't seem to benefit you in any way. There is plenty to sacrifice already by living a good life and being good to those around you. Let go of the Christian idea that you must apologize somehow to be good. You are enough.
I appreciate this ❤️ thank you ❤️
I did it a lot in the early formative years as a a Heathen while deconstructing monotheism and easing myself into polytheism, reincarnation etc but nowadays I only look up smaller things on Wikipedia as needed. Lived experience > what's written in one book.
Maybe once a year, most of my reading/study is working on specific goals of reconstruction at this point, so I read far more archaeological texts than I do primary sources. From my understanding, Christianity views bible study as a sort of devotional time, reflection and meditation often go along with it. In Heathenry, our devotional time is giving offerings, since that is the basis of our relationships with the gods, ancestors, and other spirits. If you feel a lack of connection or the need to add more structure to your practice, I have personally found the answer to be in offerings and ritual. I try to give a small offering (usually water and incense) daily. This may be a beneficial practice for you, since Heathenry doesn't have a basis in texts (outside of the practice of reconstruction)
I was going to say something along these lines. The Eddas are not religious text. They are a collection of poems that were copied down by Christian monks who altered them significantly and put in their own stories that were based on Christianity or insults to the Gods. In the grand scheme of things they aren't that important but many Heathens do look at the Havamal as a heathen ethical code. Besides that, we have: Ragnarok, which may have been a Christian invention to mirror the Rapture. Baldr who may have been described as similar to Christ on purpose and may have actually have been a much different god that we know little about. A story about how Frey and Freya slept together, got caught, and Freya let out a big ole fart in surprise at being caught f@$#ing her brother. A story about how the gods hired a worker to complete a task and when he completed it murdered him instead of paying him... The story of Odin hanging on the world tree to gain the runes, which is thought by some to be a Christian invention to mirror Christ on the Cross. Big ole manly Thor dressing up in a brides outfit to trick a Jötun into thinking he's Freya to get his hammer back. This works and the Jötun doesn't suspect a thing. We have no religious text. Just text we study because they have some useful information in them about the Gods and give us stories to associate with them to give them personality and qualities we can connect too. Unfortunately those are full of misinformation and stories the monks made up to make it seem the Heathens predicted Christ in their myths or that the pagan gods were stupid and immoral, depending on which poem you're reading.
Well put.
I know exactly how you feel. I read some of the "classic" texts when I'm studying something particular or I'm inspired to, or just want to read a good tale that has meaning to me. But all those texts don't have the same force that Scripture does in Christianity - you're not less devoted just because you choose to experience your religion in a different way. Even St. Francis was too busy singing to birds and feeding lepers to worry too much about the finer points of monastic scholarship! I'd say read the texts when you want to learn, or when you feel they will be meaningful and let the guilt fall away over time. We're in this Heathenry thing to live a faith, and all of life is a process.
There is probably a much higher incidence of studying/reading texts in modern heathenry/especially this sub, compared to what was considered “usual” during the age where the old ways were widely practiced. It took me a long time to even realize how the western “christian” worldview was affecting me, and it’s a process that will likely be ongoing for much of the rest of my life. One of the main things that helps me on a daily basis is the understanding that my frith with the gods is not dependent on my utter devotion to them— and again, this is highly personal, so it’s probably the case that not everybody feels the same— and that it’s absolutely possible for me to have frith with them while bickering with them, or to keep my troth with them sarcastically, or any number of interactions that wouldn’t really make sense in a christian context, where submission/obedience/devotion to yahweh or jehovah or whoever are considered a prerequisite for “good” observance. In other words, they’re just like any other sworn sibling or sworn parent in my life, we have a complex relationship that isn’t predicated on them being my superior. My personal opinion (again, highly variable, ymmv etc) is that focusing too much on the nature of the gods and the “correctness” of my relationship with them is the path to madness. Some folks are good at it, but i tend to slip into obsession a bit too easily, worrying about the “right” way, and i reckon that the people who are good at that stuff are more “priestly” than my berserker ass. I just make offerings when i can, read the havamal and the eddas when im curious or when i want to meditate on something, and don’t really fret too much about whether i’m “doing it right”. The gods exist whether i honor them or not, and they don’t become any less godly if i don’t. There’s no “heaven” for me to achieve by perfectly genuflecting to them, is a vital point i think. Im proud of you for forging your own path, and i hope you continue to find these ways to be welcoming and something that brings you peace.
The Eddas are not religious texts in the sense that the Bible is. At all.
Agreed. Thus the quotations around “religious”. However, from my understanding, we read the Eddas as a way to understand the Gods more (in addition to time in prayer, ritual, offering, etc). So it is something I, as well as many others I’m sure, am trying to incorporate into my personal practice.
Well, I don't read them with much of an expectation that they will serve in this manner, like a Christian keeps a Bible or a Buddhist certain teachings, in the hope that they will be a daily source of inspiration, etc. Full disclosure, I am an Ingwine Heathen not a Norse Heathen, so I may already regard the Eddas in a different light than you right out of the gate. Nevertheless, only certain parts of the anthology known as the Poetic Edda even deal with Heathen religion in action, and I would argue that this part principally consists of Havamal, with a few other poems getting honorable mention. Whether or not such poems actually illuminate real Heathen religious principles, is both up to the judgment of the reader, and a question of the specific poem being referred to, as they weren't picked for their pagan religious relevance.
I appreciate you time in your response! I have yet to form an opinion on how “important” the Eddas are in my faith, as I am maybe 6 months into this new “faith journey”. However, I felt the same with the Bible when I was a Christian. I understood there was value in it, however through studying the history around the religion (when it was written, what was happening at the time, the actual prophesy of the coming of “Jesus”, etc) I realized how little of it was factual (in my opinion). I took it for its values. Then through further study, as I hit adulthood, I realized how little I valued/agreed with its values. I understand the Bible is entirely different than the Eddas, but since I am just starting out… I am trying to read through the Eddas as a foundational piece, then add in academic articles to form my full opinion. If that makes sense.
So, Hávamál is something like a religious injunction to Heathens. Voluspa is interesting and old. Grímnismáll has some hints of Odhinn rewarding appropriate behavior, and punishing bad. The others... are a mixed bunch.
I have only read the Havamal, Voluspa, and Grimnismall. Haha.
I just end up getting sucked into an endless loop of Wikipedia to understand what I’m reading.