The Goddess Cult in the Viking Age

Looking at the evidences of Goddess-Cult and Worship in Viking Age Scandinavia.

Bibliography at the end of this video.

00:00 - Introduction
02:17 - To Her
04:04 - Mythology and Cult
10:25 - No Sacred Scriptures
12:40 - Goddess Society
14:53 - Frigg and Freyja
17:28 - Names of the Land
20:55 - Cat Afterlife
22:15 - Cult of the Dísir
24:24 - The Reality of the Goddess
27:33 - The Power of Life and Death
28:30 - Spinning and Weaving
31:08 - Bibliography

My Social Media:

#goddesses #vikingage #paganism

[VITAMIN-DEATH]

Even "heartstruck" Mr. Harger is a breath of fresh air.

[verasolomenko]

“People say everything can be sacred… Well, If everything is sacred, then nothing is.”

👏👏👏

[agucci]

Very good and healthy, wishing you many more

[bradfordperry]

Arith, this may sound odd, but I want to thank you for consistently releasing content that sometimes challenges what I thought I knew or opens my mind to things I had been wholly unaware of. Your videos also help me navigate my bad times by sometimes reminding me that I'm a part of something larger. Thanks for that, and please keep up the outstanding work you do.

[nicolasnamed]

Hey Arith, don't feel like you have to be apologetic in mentioning the importance your relationship has had to you! I think it's wonderful when anyone on earth is a romantic person, and I am glad the relationship has been important to you even if it didn't ultimately work out. I hope for minimal hurt for you moving forward, and that you may find love again should you look for it. Sending my well-wishes your way ❤

[rmdewberry]

Exactly what I love about pagans-- beautiful, personal connections and expressions. Thank you!

[poolguyunfiltered]

A wonderful, thoughtful, and informative video as always. On days where I feel like I am being drawn too much into the "woo woo" of paganism, you're videos always seem to help anchor me back to the more animistic leanings I feel to be more "true" in my spiritual experiences. It's very easy for us who enjoy the myths and sagas to latch on to the stories and try to turn them into a sort of bible. It's also easy for us fill in the blanks with whatever we can come up with due to the lack of historic evidence.

I find UPG to be a powerful tool in helping us understand our place and how we can interact with deities and Other Persons. However, it should not be confused with religion or dogma. The unfortunate lack of historic evidence pertaining to the goddesses do not make them any less important in our spiritual journeys should we feel their pull.

As for your heartbreak, thank you for being brave enough to share it at least little bit with us. While the vast majority of us have never and probably will never meet you in person, your videos over the years inspire a connection. The content which you provide is balanced in historic research yet remains respectful to our individual spiritual journeys. When you refer to us as "my dear friends", we feel it. When you lay your own stressors and hardships in life out there for us to witness, we feel that as well.

Take care of yourself, and thank you for all that you do.

[wuothanar]

I have said this before, and I will say it again; you deserve a larger audience, good sir.

Keep up the good work, your efforts are greatly appreciated.

[arizonaraven]

TY Arith so sorry on the broken heart! You will recover and move on.

[illiatiia]

Your introduction moved me, I feel I can share the love and pain in your words.

May you find reimbursement for that love in everything you do, and all that surrounds you.
🕊️

[pmac]

Dear Arith, I am a fairly recent follower of your work on YouTube but I have been consistently impressed with what you have to say, your knowledge and the seriousness and diligence which you apply to your subject. You have helped me a great deal to understand not only those ancestors of our’s who were the Nordic and Germanic peoples and some of their culture and other ancient cultures too but many other aspects of how it is we can express our appreciation of the divine. It is clear to me from your manner, your modesty and equivocality and your open heart that you are not merely an intelligent man but also a sympathetic and empathetic person. You are an example to me and also to others. I am looking forward to your next and further work. My heart goes to you

[tommaddox]

I haven’t made it completely through the video and will already comment, what a great video. Another great point made on this subject

[teresafigueiredo]

Let's take care of that "frida"! Life has many Loves, some hurt others not, but they all make us feel alive!

[sarahgilbert]

One of my great-great-grandmothers has always seemed to call to me.
My grandmother had a very complete ancestral gallery at her home, from painted portaits and shadow outlines to photos.
Thea was but one of them. She was hung in the outer foyer along with her husband's portrait, because those two were too big for the other rooms. (Outer vs inner foyer, simply because the house had once been a duplex, the outer had been the common entry).
The trouble I've had with Thea, is that she was a woman married into the family, and the mother of another woman married into the family.
Hence, no one has ever looked into her as a person. Only the male line was important.
However, a few things we have always done, were said to have come from her! Such as making a hole in the eggshells before discarding them so that the sea witches wouldn't play with them making them sink, and at the same time cause a ship to go down!
Where did she get that from? How old is that tradition? Was she what we now call a hereditary witch? What else did she do or know? Did she teach her daughter other things, which were lost because there were no more female descendants until .. me? But by then, my great-grandmother was long gone, and all I had was her looks (as a teen, her spitting image!) and a feeling of Thea's portrait calling to me.

[coranova]

Thank you again for another video and your time!
Honestly, I'd watch videos of you talking about anything😅🖤

[ernamoller]

Thank you Arith for a very interesting and informative video. Sorry to hear about your lost love. Stay strong dear friend. Best wishes from South Africa 🇿🇦

[SagasInStitches]

Very informative video as always. Thank you. Also, some people come into our life, for a short or longer period, even though they don't stay, they have in some form or another, given a valuable lesson. Maybe you don't see it now, but some day I am sure it will make sense, if it doesn't already :)

[tdfox]

Thank you so much, especially the distinction between Mythology and Religious Practice! This had not yet occurred to me, and it makes so much sense and explains sooo much I was wondering about. Also, I’m so excited to learn more about the Goddess Worship practiced by my ancestors so that I may reclaim that heritage and reconnect with my origins ❤

[boscosun]

this video got better and better. watch the whole thing

[markdpricemusic]

Wonderful presentation making some crucial distinctions about myth// ritual// religion// ''the sacred'', and oral-litrarty tradition. Without that kind of analytic work too much tends to get bundled together and retro-fitted.... in UK pagan studies much mischief was done by the White Goddess of Robert Graves, which is wonderfully poetic and imaginative - and also historically irresponsible. Perhaps one of the big problems in Northern European ''Goddess studies'' is the fact that the richest texts emerged after Christianity infiltrated the traditions. So although there are tantalising hints of pre-Christian notions of female divinity in the Vitnisisur af Mariu and the Draupa af Amriugrat etc, it is heavily inflected by the emergent ''Cult of the Virgin'' . One thing I can think of which seems relevant is the role of women in Lamentation... in the semi-Christianised rural parts of Ireland and Karelian Finnland it was exclusively women who sang the chants for the dead.. right up until the early 20th century.