Thursatru for Dummies

Great info Percy thank you. This path seems sort of bleak and bland. I think it is sort of disrespectful to be "anti" anything. Especially being dead set against the Aesir, Vanir, and Jotnar. It would seem they don't have a lot going for them LOL. But that is their choice of worship. It bothers me to see heathens being against various divinity of our tradition. I may be mostly an Asatruar by the fact that I largely work with the Aesir, but I sometimes go to the Vanir for help and I pay respect to the Jotnar.

Really, in Heathenry, I think the important thing is to realize that while you may not worship or work closely with a certain force (the Jotunfolk, the Alfar, the wights or any of these) you must still recognize their importance in the overall scheme of things. Declaring yourself against others and anti-this-and-that is just creating needless separations. We don't need any more of that in our practice.

Thank you Percy, I am new to the subject and your 'for Dummies' series has been been very illuminating.

Thank you for the wonderful read.

Glad you liked it.

This thread has been moved to Heathenism from Misc Topics.

The first thing I would like to say is that no True practicing member of this cult would ever consider themselves to be gods, nor do they aspire to be as such. Humans are humans, simple as that. Furthermore, we are specifically an individual practice - covens are put together only as needed, and usually for a very short time. There are Blood Sacrifices as well, from both Aspirant at times, and of the animal variety (as the ancient Norse cults used to). As far as beliefs in this universe and the existent material plane, we await the day it shall be returned back into Chaos. With Chaos I do not speak of mishaps and mischief, I speak of an ancient and churning maelstrom of Nihility. Our Ego is to be destroyed, so our Spirits may be free - in this life and the next.

I have no idea what you're talking about. First of all, Thursatru isn't a cult. It's an offshoot of Heathenry. Secondly, by covens are you referring to kindreds?

this is a very harsh reading of the idea of thursatru. I have my own take and I think it will help more people than this bias, clearly right-handed take on it.

3 major aspects of Thursatru to me are:

1. there is no veneration or worship. if you wish to do that, you have rokkatru and Jotnatru if you really wish to worship frost giants but I wouldn't understand why they would even want your worship to begin with. they are not forces of understanding. they simply are. no need to worship or venerate as they will not see you any different.

2. It DOES hold a kind of gnostic conceptual consideration but only in 1 sense and that is the creator isn't what he says he is. in this case, odin, the creator of midgard, is not worthy of worship as you are, or rather can be, on the same level as he is and for the same reasons. You don't have to hate him or anything like that, and thursatru seems to flow seemlessly into other ideologies as well. but I would hardly call it "religion" as again there is no worship. merely recognition and understanding.

3. It is a left-hand path indeed but only because it focuses on self-improvement instead of improvement of society which if this is the case than anything that helps you improve yourself is a "left-hand path" which I disagree with on its face. but someone with more information on the difference between these concepts could illuminate that further as I don't have the chops to set my word in stone or rune so to speak.

I call it "Odin's religion" under my breath as when you look at his story and the undertakings he endured it is very similar. to seek knowledge at all costs and use it to make yourself a god.

I'm also an atheist and not spiritual at all and consider myself both Thursatru and Pagan and Animist because my worldview aligns with the results these thought experiments bring (these are thought experiments to me as I see the gods as forces of nature as I see everything else. animism is also very important for this worldview and not just some ideological consideration for JUST the gods as all the other entities, land spirits, underworld spirits such as loki who is not considered a god simply because he was not venerated for the same reason you don't need to venerate frost giants or Thursar in general). so make fun all you like but I've connected all of these concepts and filed them under Thursatru to separate itself from Rokkatru. The difference is my own so don't take it as word of any kind. merely my personal experience meant to help you find yours.

Arith Harger has a great video on Thursatru as well but he missed a few things IMO. but watch his videos on the subject anyway. Thursatru is indeed about gathering all information you can including what is true that disagrees with what you believe to be true. that is actually a key point. Magic itself is that which is unnatural. that which is contradictory to life and nature and possibility. This is the essence of Thursatru. Finding the mysterious and hidden knowledge in the places no one else dare look. Doing what needs to be done to get it and understanding that means a kind of self sacrifice as Odin understood while he did this exact thing.

I am 100% of the belief that Odin was a man. A Neolithic German man who lead his tribe to war invading scandinavia where the Vanir were the main gods worshiped. the myths align with this as Odin won and became part of the pantheon when the cult of odin invaded scandinavia and won. the people there simply adopted him into their beliefs as they later also did with the christian god and for the same reason. I think Odin was a legendary figure because he set out to learn more about the universe and his story just escalated into godhood. So while I do believe he was a legendary warrior that lead his tribe to victory in one of the earliest ages of true warfare, I don't believe he physically created midgard, which to me is just the essence of civilization for the german and scandinavian people of the earliest ages, I do believe he was its first real god-king ruler. civilization was either nomadic or small scale before that. The idea of unification on that level was previously unheard of. So I can see the perfect correlation between the myths and what I consider to be the most likely reality. But none of that matters in thursatru because the focus of it is YOU. You are the one that must find the truth on your own. you must seek the hidden knowledge, keep it to yourself, and use it only as basis for your own will to power.

I also want to make clear that becoming a "god" simply means you have achieved control over your life and the balance therein. again, I am not spiritual and this lines up perfectly. its the greatest self-help thought experiment that I've ever engaged in and I very much recommend it but only to those who are ready to look inward very deep and see that there is in fact a very powerful and violent monster within us all. it can be the source of your understanding that allows you to reflect on it, or if you choose, engage it or "let it out" so to speak. but I do not recommend that in modern times. You will not get far and your journey will end sooner than you wish if you do. it is harder, more respectful, and a higher achievement to learn to master controlling it than anything else.

I also couple this with Nietzsche's teachings which help illuminate the modern course of this exact consideration.