Depends on how you define fuck over. Odin likes to take his warriors to him when he wants to, rather than when they want him to, and he gives victory to whomever he feels like, rather than whomever would be best for his people at the time and so on. He 's known to park his warrior women inside rings of fire for falling in love like Freya wants them to. Some would call that fucking you over, and some also call him the fickle god. Frey sent a man to threaten the woman of his dreams with all sorts of horrible, debasing things, in order to persuade her to submit to marrying him. Freya uses magic to get her way. Thor threatens people with violence if they refuse to do what he wants them to, and all the male gods are womanizers that love, leave and break hearts all for a roll in the hay that will make life very difficult for the affected woman after, and on an almost hourly basis according to some. Loki is actually the simplest to handle (expect him to act like a misunderstood two-year-old) in terms of seeing it coming.
That's beside the point, though. They never asked for the kind of blind faith that Christians and Moslems require. When/if they want something specific from you, they'll come and outright ask you. While you're in this world (at least) you have to question everything. If you don't, it is to your advantage to convert (although I don't recommend it!). Their god adores people who do things by knee-jerk reaction. Odin respects those who don't. That's a complete 180.
So, Bates, this whole argument is what I was getting at with that question about wheter the men are there for their leader or the leader there for their men. Apply the answer you think is right to this equation, and you will know if your answer was the right one.
Also, what line of thinking was it that screwed up your thesis? I mean, which part. I forgot to ask. Your line of thought is probably a valid one, since your lines of thoughts are usually not entirely unfounded in something. It might be something interesting to look at, and I might learn something new...
F Slim, I was thinking about what you said about offerings earlier, but I forgot to add it to the post at the time. For what it's worth, in Hymskvida's secon verse, Ygg (=Thor) says "Þú skalt ásum oft sumbl gera", i.e. You should make feast for the Aesir often. That means that there is historical presedence for you and them or one of them or you and a friend or two getting together to have a meal or a drink or a dance to honour them. It does not spell out how to have fun, but the idea is to gather in their honour. It does not say it cannot be in a bar with a bunch of friends or in the sticks with just you and a bonfire. It also does not say it has to be one of those, or a gathering in a circle with a mead horn. The fact of the matter is that all Indo-European religions that I have ever studied in depth have a holy drink/edible that contains fermented honey. The fact of the matter is that there are myths surrounding mead being a holy and precious in the ON mythology. The fact of the matter is that honey was difficult to come by and it was a sacrifice to have to use up so much of it for mead when you really could have put it to better use in other foodstuffs (it was the only sweetner available to the Norse). The fact is that the written texts and the archaeological evidence shows that mead was the drink the ON would have chosen for ritual, and the religious myths suggest that even the gods did so (and I only got one answer to my question on this forum about to whom the gods sacrifice...). This is why I personally use mead. Today, though, other things are precious to us. A peanut butter sandwich is precisous to a starving man. We have sugar now. Honey is not so important to us. Many prefer beer. The Eddas say Odin is the only one who drank wine - that was because wine was not a domestic product to Scandinavia (it was too cold to grow grapes, so only the very powerfulest of the powerful would have had the chance to get wine from far away, from below the Roman limes) so you can imagine how powerful a symbol it was that Odin drank wine. Today we can drink wine if we are old enough to buy it. Maybe the thing that you would like the Aesir to have are what's most precious to you today. Maybe what's most precious to you is your thoughts, or your poetry. Maybe it's a fun night with your friends on the town. Then dedicate that to them or him or her.
I've a fundimental problem with people who feel that one must keep rules ridgid and static. I choose to worship in the old style because it is what works for me and "them". I don't think anyone has the right to tell you that your way of worshipping is wrong, unless it does harm or disrespect to someone else.
