The Eyes of Odin

By Andrew Webb

The Eyes of Odin contains two books that are essential to understanding Norse religion and the value that it can bring to your life.   Andrew Webb has done what no other has done before through the compressive breakdown of Nordic concepts and symbolic language. “Using the language of our forefathers to bring new meaning to our lives and the way in which we view the world, he has given us a new ethical approach to life; the Middle Way of the Nordic peoples.” – Gennie Enterline

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jul 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781645365198

Andrew Webb

Andrew Webb is the founder and Gothi-priest of Kindred Kreators, an Asatru kindred registered with the secretary of state. He has been studying and practicing Asatru/Odinism for 16 years. He has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, philosophy, and world religions from Eastern Washington University.

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About the Author

Andrew Webb is the founder and Gothi-priest of Kindred Kreators, an Asatru kindred registered with the secretary of state. He has been studying and practicing Asatru/Odinism for 16 years. He has a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, philosophy, and world religions from Eastern Washington University.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the members of Kindred Kreators, namely Melannie, Sharon, Mark, Zeke, and Juli who spent endless hours of reading for errors and questioning passages for clarity until all five approved.

Copyright Information ©

Andrew Webb (2021)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Ordering Information

Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Webb, Andrew

The Eyes of Odin

ISBN 9781643787909 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781643787916 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781645365198 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020909728

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published (2021)

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 33rd Floor, Suite 3302

New York, NY 10005

USA

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Acknowledgment

This book acknowledges the contribution of the professors of Eastern Washington University who have supported this book by their educational skill and counsel to the point of agreeing to be on our Board of Advisors of Kindred Kreators Prison Project, namely Dr. Kevin Decker (Philosophy), Dr. Garrett Kenney (English/Religion), Dr. Terrance Macmullan (Philosophy), Dr. Robert Sauders (Anthropology), and Jocelyn Dehaas (Anthropology).

Dr. Kevin Decker

Advisory Board Member

Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Eastern Washington University

Many of the principles that Mr. Webb teaches are to be found in the self-published booklet ‘Odin’s Eye: Seeing Life with the Eye of God.’ Using his own time, skills, and money, Mr. Webb has exhaustively researched Norse mythology and axiology in order to demonstrate how the beliefs and values of ‘our ancestors’ can be applied today. What is remarkable about his effort is that he has produced, through this research, a ‘virtue theory’ of ethics that rivals Greek and Christian efforts for their robustness. ‘Odin’s Eye’ makes reference to the examples of Norse deities like Odin and Balder, and the metaphorical significance of mythological creatures from the Norse pantheon like elves, dwarves, and giants with a force and vivacity that makes me wonder why people ever stopped believing in them.

Dr. Garrett C Kenney

Advisory Board Member

Associate Professor of English/Religious Studies

Eastern Washington University

Mr. Webb has shared with me his self-published booklet ‘Odin’s Eye: Seeing Life with the Eye of God’. I read this booklet with delight. Essentially, he argues that balance is the essence of the good life and that balance is achieved by aligning one’s needs, wants, priorities, responsibilities, and relationships with a center that is anchored powerfully in that which is good. Mr. Webb describes this balance and center against the backdrop of Nordic myth and symbolism and presents an ethic that compares favorably in its appeal with the golden mean of Aristotle, the middle way of the Buddha, and chung yung of Confucius."

Preface

Most books about the Norse Vikings are either, historical, providing the facts of the past and anthropological interpretation of artifacts. Or, they are mythological, simply retelling the Viking myths, trying to organize them into coherent stories. Or, they are religious, presenting religious rituals and methods of worship of the elder gods of the North. However, the Eyes of Odin is a two-volume set that presents the spirituality of the Viking religion applied. It begins with, Odin’s Eye, which focuses on Norse spirituality expressed in your public life, your family life, and personal life, culminating in a spiritual life, lived for good. It is followed by Odin’s Inner Eye, which is the sequel to Odin’s Eye. It focuses on the spiritual life experienced internally. It presents the Nine Noble Virtues the Norse lived by to feel good internally, and the Nine Traditional Roles the Norse performed to be good externally. Together, they present functional spirituality for the good life.

This book is based on the Northern Way, which is the folk-religion of the common people of Northern Europe. Odin’s Eye seeks to harmonize physical nature with our spiritual nature. It seeks to find the good in both nature and mankind, to balance and harmonize that good, in order to find the good life. It is not just a nature religion that follows the patterns and powers found in external nature. It is a natural religion because it includes the soul uniting the internal divine and animal natures found there.

Religions in our culture are divided generally into Eastern and Western. Examples of Eastern religions are Hinduism and Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. Examples of Western religions are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These Western religions originated in the Middle East and migrated west. Odin’s Eye is based on the Northern Way, which is not a Western Religion or an Eastern Religion. It is a Northern religion born out of Northern European origin that does not fit into the other two types. It is a middle way with different principles, values, beliefs, and objectives that seeks the good life for oneself, for others, and for nature.

Another way to look at it is from a prophetic religion versus a natural religion point of view. Prophetic religions begin with a prophet, whether that is Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, Buddha, Confucius or any other specific person identified in history. Prophetic religions are tied by belief to the words and instructions revealed to that prophet or by that prophet. So, they are limited to the boundaries of what that prophet had to say in the past. To believe or think beyond that prophet’s revelation is to leave that prophetic religion behind in your search for higher truth than that prophet had to reveal.

Natural religions, on the other hand, grew naturally out of communities of people. There is no specific person that can be pointed to for its origins. People had spiritual experiences as they lived, dreamed, and interacted with nature and shared those experiences with each other. They found others had similar experiences and feelings. They then developed words and concepts, as well as, rituals, to discuss and portray those common experiences. These became the standard frame of reference to discuss and pass on the benefits learned from those common experiences to future generations. Native American religions, Australian Aborigines, African religions, and original Northern European religions are of this type. These religions are not bound by any one person but are only bound to the truth of the thoughts and feelings they contain. So, they grow and develop as the community discovers more truth as their awareness expands through their natural and spiritual experiences of life.

Odinism (or Asatru = True to the Aesir) is a re-constructionist religion of the North. It relies upon the common language, concepts, and rituals developed among the Norse, Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon people to benefit from what our ancestors discovered, but then continues the path of discovery among the common folk. So, it is Odinist, in that it centers on the god, Odin and his family of gods and goddesses to discuss, inspire, and portray the good life. Odin is a God of wisdom.¹ He is not an all-knowing God. He is a learning God that seeks to increase his knowledge and wisdom continually.² So, he is an example for us to always be learning how to better live the good life.

There are two races of gods according to the Norse conception called the Aesir and Vanir. Odin is the king and All-Father of the Aesir gods and goddesses of Northern Europe. The Aesir are the gods and goddesses of humankind. They promote social order and consciousness among humankind. They are in contrast to the Vanir gods and goddesses of nature and well-being who link the intuitive with physical sensations—but which in either case strives toward the direct experience of reality.³ The Aesir gods include some Vanir among their god-folk, but the Aesir and Vanir represent different races of gods who have joined their forces together under Odin’s rule.

Another way to look at the difference between the Aesir and Vanir is the Aesir are inside gods concerned with the soul and its well-being in life. They rule over the inward man, or the souls, expressed in character, of men and women. Conversely, the Vanir rule over the outward man, or the body and its survival and well-being in nature, expressed in healthy good.

We have all heard the word, holy, when it comes to God stuff. In fact, terrible things have been done in the name of a holy God. However, the root meaning of the English word, holy, is healthy and whole.⁴ So, what our ancestors meant when they said, holy, was something healthy, happy, and whole. In that case, nothing terrible, scary, or bad could be done in the name of holy gods. Only, healthy, happy things could be done in the name of holy gods. There is physical health, we call that being healthy. And there is spiritual health, our ancestors called that being, holy.

The English word, good, comes from the Old English word god.⁵ Therefore, an easy way to understand inward and outward gods and goddesses is simply to see them as inward and outward good and goodness. That is the way our ancestors of the Northern Way saw the gods and goddesses. The good and goodness in us comes from somewhere. They called that source of good and goodness—god and goddess. Add holy to a god or a goddess, and it just means healthy good or healthy goodness. So, the Aesir gods refers to inward or spiritual healthy good, and the Vanir refers to outward or physical healthy good.

Yet they all function together as collective for the common good. Each has a unique function interdependent on the others. For example, of the Aesir gods, Odin is known as the God who inspires wisdom in mankind.⁶ His wife, Frigga, is the goddess who inspires us with compassionate love.⁷ Thor, Odin’s son, is the God of power.⁸ Inwardly, his inspirations give power to the will for willpower. The God Tyr gave mankind law and order.⁹ Of the Vanir gods, such as Frey and Freya, his sister, are known as the twin god and goddess of peace and plenty.¹⁰ Each of these gods and goddesses (and others as well) take counsel with each other in Asgard to pursue good for the world.¹¹

The word, Vanir, is plural for the word, Van. Van means, the first of an army or the foremost position in an advancing line. In that sense, the Vanir are a race of gods who were foremost over the Aesir, when it comes to the body in nature.¹² Since they are the first or foremost gods over the Aesir in nature, their name implies they are the first or foremost good we should be concerned about before the good of the Aesir. In other words, we should be concerned with the survival of our body in nature foremost, before we should be concerned with the benefit of our soul in life. That is, for the simple functional reason that if we cannot survive in our bodies, we cannot benefit our souls in life. So, survive first through the Vanir, which also means progenerate your family line, then work on improving your soul through the Aesir, including that of your family line. There is a balance between the two that must be achieved, a harmony, if you will, that even the soul recognizes as important, but how to survive in life comes first, then how to live life.

The word, Aesir, means, Highest roof beam of a house.¹³ That is, the highest functional action supporting a home. In addition, since the word, good, comes from the Old English word, God, therefore, the Aesir are gods who promote the highest good of functional action¹⁴ The Aesir combines the intellectual with the intuitive as they strive toward the real and powerful, aiming for the highest levels of self-transformation of character in the soul.

In the Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson recorded the tales of the Norse, describing twelve gods and eight goddesses who sit on the high seats of judgment and who are made up of both Aesir and Vanir. These gods and goddesses were not merely aloof and transcendent deities sitting around in judgment, but the lore teaches that they were intimately interactive with mankind. These gods and goddesses often visited mankind, sometimes in disguise, helping them with counsel or power and even siring offspring through them.¹⁵

Odin is the God of Balance and wisdom. Odin can also be pronounced Woden from which we get Wednesday, derived from Woden’s Day. His name literally means wisdom,¹⁶ but Odin is derived from the Old Norse Odr for spirit and wind.¹⁷ His spirit of wisdom keeps us from wandering too far from the center of his eye, that is, the best he can see life to be for his offspring. He is the chief God of the Aesir, the All-Father, the God of wisdom and Sovereignty, including Magic and Might. His goal is the Balance of lifecycles for the perpetuation of Midgard, literally middle garden, the world of men called, Middle-Earth. This balance is maintained by honor achieved through wisdom.

Odin is sometimes called the one-eyed God. The reason for this name is he gave up one of his eyes to drink from the Well of Mimir and get more wisdom.¹⁸ Therefore, he is often portrayed as a long, white-bearded man with a big, pointed hat with a wide brim that is bent down over one eye, the one eye that is missing. With the one that remains, he looks out over the world.¹⁹

This is one of his descriptions in myth. Myth for most people these days means something not true. However, myth for our ancestors did not mean a fictitious story, instead, it meant symbolic truth. Myth is the same as dream language the back of our mind uses to speak with us at night when we sleep. Our mind uses images we are familiar with to communicate with us symbolically for true problems we are trying to solve in our waking inner life.

Once we begin to view the lore or myths of our ancestors, who followed the Northern Way, as symbolic truth, we will begin to see the wisdom embedded in the lore. For instance, when it describes Odin with one eye watching the world around him and the other eye removed and cast into the Well of Mimir, it is actually describing in a symbolic fashion that Odin looks outward with one eye and looks inward with the other. For what can a blind eye see, but inside?

The Eyes of Odin is a two-volume set beginning with Odin’s outer eye, so to speak, followed up with Odin’s Inner Eye, which is the sequel to Odin’s Eye. Odin’s Inner Eye builds on the foundational ideas introduced in Odin’s Eye in a more in-depth way. Therefore, the reader is urged to start here and read Odin’s Eye first as an introduction and format for the second volume Odin’s Inner Eye contained in this book.

With that said, let us begin with Odin’s Eye.

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¹ Odin is, famed for his wisdom, pg. 26. Young, Jean, translator. Sturluson, Snorri (1178—1241 AD). The Prose Edda. University of California Press, Berkeley: 1992. (Hereafter cited as Prose Edda). & Odin is called, Odin the Wise, pg. 25. Davidson, H.R. Ellis. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Penguin Books: England, 1990. (Hereafter cited as Gods and Myths)↩︎

² E.g. Odin seeks rede (counsel) from Frigga and wonders to learn about the wisdom of Vafthruthnir. pg. 42, St. 1. The Lay of Vafthruthnir. Hollander, Lee M., Translator. Saemunder Sigfusson (1056-1133 AD), editor. The Poetic Edda. Austin TX: university of Texas Press, 1962. (Hereafter cited as Poetic Edda). & Odin learns the news every day from his ravens. pg. 63-64. Prose Edda.↩︎

³ Thorsson, Edred. Northern Magic—Rune Mysteries & Shamanism. Llewellyn Worldwide: St. Paul, MN, 2003. pg. 8, 33↩︎

⁴ See Holy, "A deriv. of the adj. *hailo-, OE. hál, free from injury, whole, hale, or of the deriv. sb. *hailoz-, *hailiz-, in OHG. heil, ON. heill health, happiness, good luck, in ON." The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, Vol. I, pg. 1321. (Hereafter cited as Oxford Dictionary)↩︎

⁵Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language: College Edition. The World Publishing Co.: Cleveland and New York, 1966.↩︎

⁶ Titchenell, Elsa-Brita. Masks of Odin: Wisdom of the Ancient Norse. Theosophical University Press: Pasadena, California, 1985 (3rd Ed. 1998). His name means intelligence, wisdom, pg. 281. (Hereafter cited as Masks of Odin).↩︎

⁷ Ibid. pg. 277↩︎

⁸ Ibid. pg. 283↩︎

⁹ Davidson, H.R. Ellis. Scandinavian Mythology. Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd: London, 1969. pg. 52↩︎

¹⁰Gods and Myths, pg. 92↩︎

¹¹Prose Edda: Gylf.14, pg. 40, At first he appointed rulers who, along with him, were to control the destinies of men…there were seats for twelve of them, apart from the high-seat of the All-father.↩︎

¹² Consider, in the battle between the Aesir and the Vanir, the Vanir trod the field of battle and broke the breastwork of Asgard, which means the Vanir were victorious. (Voluspa, St. 24. The Poetic Edda. Hollander translation, pg. 5. And the Voluspa, St. 25, Masks of Odin. Tichenell translation, pg. 94.)↩︎

¹³Masks of Odin: 41↩︎

¹⁴Northern Magic: 8↩︎

¹⁵Poetic Edda.The Lay of Rig: 5-7, 19-21, 33-35↩︎

¹⁶Masks of Odin: Glossary, pg. 281↩︎

¹⁷ Blum, Ralph H. TheBook of Runes—A Handbook for the Use of an Ancient Oracle—The Viking Runes. St. Martin’s Press: New York, 1993. pg. 31↩︎

¹⁸ProseEdda: Gylf. 15, pg. 43↩︎

¹⁹ProseEdda, Gylf. 9, There is a place called Hlidskjalf, and when Odin sat there on his high seat he saw over the whole world and what everyone was doing, and he understood everything he saw. pg. 37↩︎

Volume One

Odin’s Eye Seeing Life with the Eye of

God By Andrew Webb

This is a map to the golden life of the gods using the ancient wisdom of the Northern Way. Its purpose is to help us determine where we are in life, where we need to go, and where in life we need to stay away from. It includes the challenges you will have to overcome to get to the prize, the treasure of life you are looking for, the home you need to live a life of ecstasy. This map is also like a compass. Once you use it to determine where you are in life, it will also point you in the direction you need to go to find