Odinic Rite
Encyclopedia
The Odinic Rite 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
.
in 1848, in his 1848 Letter to Protestants.. 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. 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.
. 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, 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". 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.
The OR has national branches in France (ORF), North America (ORV, 1997) and the Netherlands (ORN, 2006) 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 Blót
s 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:
and the Nine Charges which were "codified from The Hávamál and The Sigrdrífomál (poems from the Elder Edda) in the early 1970's"
. 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
The Book of Blotar shares a common source with, and contains much of the content of, the earlier published Book of Blots
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. 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.
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 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" 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
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:
– a magical chanting of the runes – on the Sol Invictus
album The Blade.
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
, Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
. It is a reconstructionist religious organization focusing on Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period...
, Germanic mythology
Germanic mythology
Germanic mythology is a comprehensive term for myths associated with historical Germanic paganism, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, Continental Germanic mythology, and other versions of the mythologies of the Germanic peoples...
, Norse paganism
Norse paganism
Norse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...
, and Anglo-Saxon paganism, whom some consider to be part of a Neo-völkisch movement
Neo-völkisch movements
Neo-völkisch movements, as defined by the historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, cover a wide variety of mutually influencing groups of a radically ethnocentric character which have emerged, especially in the English-speaking world, since World War II...
.
Odinism
The term Odinism was coined by Orestes BrownsonOrestes Brownson
Orestes Augustus Brownson was a New England intellectual and activist, preacher, labor organizer, and noted Catholic convert and writer...
in 1848, in his 1848 Letter to Protestants.. The term was re-introduced in the late 1930s by Alexander Rud Mills
Alexander Rud Mills
Alexander Rud Mills was a prominent Australian Odinist, and one of the earliest proponents of the rebirth of Germanic Neopaganism in the 20th century. He was a published author, lecturer and Barrister. He founded the First Anglecyn Church of Odin in Melbourne in 1936...
in Australia with his First Anglecyn Church of Odin and his book, The Call of Our Ancient Nordic Religion. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Else Christensen
Else Christensen
Else Christensen , also known as the “Folk Mother”, was a pioneering Danish figure in the emergence of Asatru and Odinism in the post-World War II era....
's Odinist Study Group and later the Odinist Fellowship
Odinist Fellowship
The Odinist Fellowship was the name of an early Odinist organization, founded by Else Christensen and her husband Alex Christensen in Canada in 1969...
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.
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 EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. 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
White Horse Stone
The Upper and Lower White Horse Stones are names given to two sarsen megaliths on Blue Bell Hill near Aylesford in the English county of Kent. They are generally considered to be fragmentary examples of the Neolithic chamber tomb group known as the Medway megaliths...
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. Prior to his involvement with the Odinic Rite Heimgest had belonged to a small group known as the Heimdal League, 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". 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.The OR has national branches in France (ORF), North America (ORV, 1997) and the Netherlands (ORN, 2006) and individual members spread over many other countries. The Odinic Rite has legal status in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The basic unit of the Odinic Rite is the individual member. Hearths are groups of adherents who gather to perform ceremonies known as Blót
Blót
The blót was Norse pagan sacrifice to the Norse gods and the spirits of the land. The sacrifice often took the form of a sacramental meal or feast. Related religious practices were performed by other Germanic peoples, such as the pagan Anglo-Saxons...
s or Blotar (See 'Book of Blotar' ), at which they honor their deities
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
and their ancestors. The motto or watch-words of the Odinic Rite are "Faith, Folk & Family". The Odinic Rite is mostly considered a folkish
Folkish
Folkish may refer to:*Folk culture, in the sense "of the common people; traditional, sophisticated, yet unconventional"*Völkisch movement of German ethnic nationalism*Neo-völkisch, an ethnocentric current in Germanic neopaganism-See also:...
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
Torc
A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large, usually rigid, neck ring typically made from strands of metal twisted together. The great majority are open-ended at the front, although many seem designed for near-permanent wear and would have been difficult to remove. Smaller torcs worn around...
"), 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.
- 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.
- Acorn Hollow — dedicated to Odinist home-schoolers / parents and resources for Odinist children from days out to crafts and educational resources and events.
- OR Fyrd — promotes physical and spiritual well being through exercise, martial arts, meditation etc.
- OR Media — provides educational and entertainment media to Odinists. Their first CD, Folk Spirit — A Compilation of Odinist Artists, was released in 2009.
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..Values
Members of the Odinic Rite are encouraged to live their lives according to the Nine Noble VirtuesNine Noble Virtues
The Nine Noble Virtues or NNV are a set of moral and situational ethical guidelines codified by John Yeowell and John Gibbs-Bailey of the Odinic Rite in the 1970s....
and the Nine Charges which were "codified from The Hávamál and The Sigrdrífomál (poems from the Elder Edda) in the early 1970's"
The Book of Blotar
The Book of Blotar is a book of rituals published by the Odinic Rite for the purposes of celebrating OdinismOdinism
Odinism is a type of Germanic Neopaganism.Odinism may also refer to:*Norse paganism** the cult of Odin- See also :*Odinist Fellowship*Odinic Rite*The Odin Brotherhood*Wotanism, a Völkisch / White Nationalist movement*Wodenism...
. 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
The Book of Blotar shares a common source with, and contains much of the content of, the earlier published Book of Blots
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. 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 AylesfordBattle of Aylesford
The Battle of Aylesford or Epsford is a battle between Britons and Anglo-Saxons recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Historia Brittonum. Both sources concur that it involved the Saxon leaders Hengist and Horsa on one side and the family of Vortigern on the other, but neither mentions who...
in Kent. A retired Stubba and the Odinic Rite campaigned heavily and made numerous media appearances against the destruction of the White Horse Stone
White Horse Stone
The Upper and Lower White Horse Stones are names given to two sarsen megaliths on Blue Bell Hill near Aylesford in the English county of Kent. They are generally considered to be fragmentary examples of the Neolithic chamber tomb group known as the Medway megaliths...
site and successfully had the route of the railway diverted.
Later in 2004, due to the previous incident, the Odinic Rite successfully campaigned 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" 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
Planning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
from Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
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
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
and a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
.
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 DownsKent DownsKent Downs is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Kent, England . They are the eastern half of the North Downs and stretch from the London/Surrey borders to the White Cliffs of Dover...
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the North DownsNorth DownsThe North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent 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 MonumentAncient monumentAn ancient monument is an early historical structure or monument worthy of preservation and study due to archaeological or heritage interest. In the United Kingdom it is a legal term, differing from the American term National Monument in being far more numerous and always man-made...
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 KentKentKent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
and MedwayMedwayMedway is a conurbation and unitary authority in South East England. The Unitary Authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council and part of Kent County Council to form Medway Council, a unitary authority independent of Kent County...
Structure Plan 2006.
In popular culture
In 1997 the Director of Gothar, Heimgest, performed galdrGaldr
Galdr is one Old Norse word for "spell, incantation", and which was usually performed in combination with certain rites. It was mastered by both women and men and they chanted it in falsetto .-Etymology:...
– a magical chanting of the runes – on the Sol Invictus
Sol Invictus (band)
Sol Invictus is an English neofolk and neoclassical group fronted by Tony Wakeford. Wakeford has been the sole constant member of the group since its inception, although numerous musicians have contributed and collaborated with Wakeford under the Sol Invictus moniker over the years.-Overview:For...
album The Blade.
See also
- Neopaganism in the UK
- Germanic NeopaganismGermanic NeopaganismGermanic neopaganism is the contemporary revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s...
- NeopaganismNeopaganismNeopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...
- White Horse StoneWhite Horse StoneThe Upper and Lower White Horse Stones are names given to two sarsen megaliths on Blue Bell Hill near Aylesford in the English county of Kent. They are generally considered to be fragmentary examples of the Neolithic chamber tomb group known as the Medway megaliths...