DEBATE OVER ODIN By AunMarie Grooms There are two debates in the Greater Heathen

DEBATE OVER ODIN

By AunMarie Grooms

There are two debates in the Greater Heathen community over two different concepts.

1. Odin is a deity who comes after and through the higher gods Orlog (natural law) and the Nine Wood Ogresses,

2. Odin was a mortal man who through right good will and action became deified as a god (this concept comes to the tradition via Snori in his Prose Edda (Reinterpretation of the Poetic Eddas) and his Heimskringla.

These works were his equivalent of a Doctoral Theses written as proof of his ability to interview and collect data as he was becoming a regional law man.

In order to write on this topic he had to toss in his Christian influenced apologies, namely the old gods were just mortal men deified over time.

The answer to 1. Is the concepts of gods vs giants. Gods have your people’s invested interest, while giants can be ambivalent, hostile or apathetic to your people.

Other people’s gods are your people’s giants. Therefore Orlog, and The Nine would not be considered gods as they are indifferent to any people’s well being.

Odin is therefore not a demi-god, but the primary god of his people. Not sure why Curt chose to list them this way. I’m sure he has his own reasons.

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(CD: I used demigod because that is the technical term for men who become gods, rather than gods whose origins are eternal. The old gods fit the pre-ie gods. thor fits the ie gods. Odin appears in the pantheon and ascends. So I’m of the opinion that odin existed. That does not mean I am right. It just means thats my current undestanding. Additioally, in my understanding of religion, that is the best kind of religion to have: man transcendent. )