Path to the Ancestors: Exploring Ancestor Worship within Modern Germanic Heathenry

By Swain Wodening

Long has the topic of ancestor worship in modern Germanic Heathenry been largely overlooked. While many within Germanic Heathenry worship their ancestors, other than a few mentions in books, blog posts, web pages and small publications there has not been a work dedicated to the topic. This short book seeks to be a first of its kind and broach the topic. In many ways it is the tale of the path of Swain Wodening from dedicated worshiper of the Germanic gods to worshiper of the ancestors. Not much information exists on the topic so this book is full of personal experiences. This work explores the reasons one should worship his or her ancestors. It details what evidence there is in surviving Germanic texts. Finally rites to the ancestors are provided for one to use or adapt.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wodening Publishing Company
• Release date: Aug 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310515934

Swain Wodening

Swain Wódening, one of the founding members of Englatheod and the Ealdriht, started his Heathen life back in 1984 along with his brother. He learned of the AFA the year it disbanded, but in 1989 he learned of and joined the Troth. Shortly thereafter, he learned of Theodism, then solely an Anglo-Saxon phenomena, and joined the Winland Ríce in 1993. He rapidly advanced to the arung of lord by writing articles and attracting new members. In 1996, after several disputes with the leadership, he left to form the Angelseaxisce Ealdriht with Winfred Hodge Rose. The Ealdriht grew to be the largest Anglo-Saxon Heathen and Theodish organization to ever exist. The Ealdriht eventually became the Miercinga Theod in an effort to encourage regionalism, and to return to a purer form of Theodish Belief. He led that organization until June, 2006 when he resigned to seek a deeper spirituality. His former wife Teresa then took over leadership. The Miercinga Theod disbanded in March, 2008 when Teresa sought a more private life, and left public Heathenry. In June of 2007, Eric, Swain’s brother formed a new theod, Englatheod, and Swain became one of the founding members. Englatheod eventually became a part of White Marsh Theod. Swain is currently a member of Wednesbury Shire of White Marsh theod. He has one son, Oswin, and resides in Missouri.

Book preview

Path to the Ancestors

Exploring Ancestor Worship within Modern Germanic Heathenry

By Swain Wodening

Published by Wodening Publishing Company at Smashwords

Cover Photo by Skvattram

Cover Design by Dan Capp

Copyright 2012 Berry Canote

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy at the one of the various online ebook vendors. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter I: Why Worship the Ancestors?

Chapter II: Ancestor Worship in the Lore.

Chapter III: Our Ancestors

Chapter IV: The Ancestral Altar

Chapter V: Rites to the Ancestors

Conclusion

Glossary

Bibliography

* * * *

Introduction

This work has been written with the thought in mind of expanding Germanic Heathen ancestor worship. It is written for one that knows something of modern Germanic Heathen religious practice. That is a member of its intended audience would be someone that knows how to make an offering and perform most other rites. If you are a beginner, it is hoped this book is easy enough to figure out, but you are encouraged to buy my book Path to the Gods: Anglo-Saxon Paganism for Beginners.

Much has been written on worship of the gods, of the rites to do such, but little has been written on paying respect to one’s ancestors. There are a few webpages of not very long length, and a few blog posts, each one of them giving a bit of an overview. There is nothing in great detail, only brief articles and chapters in books giving lip service to the veneration of the ancestors.. The practice of ancestor worship is an area of Heathenry that is lacking in information. It is therefore hoped this little book can help change that, and that perhaps others will seek to write longer more detailed works. This book is merely a starting point, something to give folks things to think about as well as provide ways folks can begin honoring their ancestors.

This book is not purely a Reconstructionist work. Indeed, most of it comes from my own experiences. Where possible I do try to draw on evidence gleaned from the ancient texts of the Germanic peoples and their neighbors’ texts about them. Some of the material is taken from related Indo-European cultures. And in places I draw on the ideas of academics on ancestor worship. However, there are many gaps in our knowledge of ancestor worship among the ancient Germanic peoples. That being such I have had to fill in those gaps with my practice of ancestor worship as well as that of Anglo-Saxon pagan friends and family. I do hope people are not put off by that. Ancestor worship in modern Germanic Heathenry is an area we largely have to innovate. This book therefore is a bit of an innovation. The rites presented here are largely one’s I developed. By no means should it be cited as an authoritative work on Germanic Heathen ancestor worship. It is only the tale of Swain Wodening’s personal journey, a presentation of what little evidence for a cult of the dead there is left, and rites developed by me in my own practice.

Over my almost 30 years of being Heathen my ways of worship have changed. When I first became Heathen, the runes played a big part of my practice, and I pretty much only gave honor to Wóden (Odin). Within a year I began worshipping the other gods, but I still focused on the greater gods mainly Wóden (Odin), Fríge (Frigga), Þunor (Thor), Ing (Freyr), and Tiw (Tyr). After about five years of being Heathen I dropped the use of runes from my practice. I felt at that point I did not need to use rune magic if I was giving gifts to the gods and goddesses and was receiving blessings in return. Also about that time I realized that if one worshiped Wóden (Odin) he or she best acknowledge Fríge (Frigga) as well. I based this upon the tale of the naming of the Lombards as told in the Origo Gentis Langobardorum. I will not retell the whole tale here as I have told it in several of my other books, and it is also freely available online via other resources. Leave it to say Fríge (Frigga) tricked Wóden (Odin) into naming the Lombards, and thus indebted him into giving them victory over the Vandals. During this time I pretty much worshiped solitary or with my brother. There was no group around at the time to worship with. Eventually though I found others to worship with and began communal worship. This communal worship consisted of rites to the greater gods and goddesses. The only time the ancestors might come up was during the rite of symbel during the ancestor round.

I continued my worship of the gods and goddesses for many years this way. At that time I participated very much in communal worship. That was my focus. Even when I was not worshiping with a group I was worshiping with my family. While I would do simple prayers and occasionally make small offerings on my own these were not the focus of my practice of Heathenry. Our kindred would gather together and do rites to the greater gods and goddesses; usually whatever god or goddess we thought was important to that particular holy tide. It never occurred to us to pay our respects to the ancestors.

Reviews for Path to the Ancestors

[Haggstromi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It’s slay. Norse pagans scare me but this was cool!!! Also goes over Germanic paganism (not the same as Norse paganism) and that’s my focus