DragonKeeper
czarica i pijana
Tyra said:Ooooooooh dear, what a question to come up with for a first post!!!! I think you've struck one of the touchiest subjects in modern day asatru. It is quite sumply one of those things that the asatru community is continuosly debating, and the debate is very heated to say the least ( including mudslinging, name calling, nidstangs, spells and all the nice things that Norse people do to eachother when they get angry).
To put the problem into some sort of frame, there are some that feel very strongly that nothing can be stronger than Odin. Then there is the opposing thought, who believe just what you said, that the Norns are, if not more, then at least equally powerful.
If you want my personal opinion, I can give it to you, but I don't know if it's relevant to you - I tend to look at things in a cultural context, and so I think that one cannot exist without the other. The mythology makes it very clear that there are supposed to be two genders, and that they must co-exist. Odin would not be as powerful if he didn't have the Valkyries, the Disir, the Norns and the goddesses. They in turn could not exist without the male gods. Everyone has a place and a purpose in Asgård, just as everyone in this word has a place and a purpose. If you remove one or the other, even Loki, the whole system collapses. To me, it is irrelevant who is the more powerful, as one could not exist without the other. That is why the Thing was run by the people for the people - nobody is any more special than anyone else, there is no almighty judge. If you can understand that concept (that everyone is equal, because each job is just as important for the whole society to function), you can understand how come many things in Scandianvia still work in that way to this day. The Havamal says to be all things in moderation (to be middle wise and so on), so obviously, Odin was well aware of this concept. He was also well aware of the power of those three ladies, but I think it is not a relationship based on fear, but rather of mutual respect.
Does that answer the question?
That is indeed very true Tyra. When Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson was asked about which gods are prayed to he said "Mainly, Thor. He gets the highest of praises. As a God, he is more common than Odin, more people-friendly. He is the god of farms..." So it depends on what each person feels I suppose, but some gods are favored because they posses more "people-friendly" qualities as opposed to some of the others. Yet, all the gods and goddess play an intricate role and if one was left out the system will indeed fall apart. A goddess like Freya is very important and is the counterpart to Odin, so both gods and goddess are equal in this respect. Both create a balance. Also said something about how the society in Iceland was never really patriarchally structured and that women always had more rights and were regarded as equals. Which reminded me of something I came accross during some research. In some of the old Norse laws, including the laws on hospitality, there were laws dealing with womens' rights like the right to divorce and remarry and something about inheritance and presiding over legal matters, especially when the husband or man of the household was not present or dead. Things which the Christian world did not allow. So even this equal sharing of power and distribution of tasks was not only apparent in the world of the gods but also in the society itself.
