Going along with the "we need a folk-lore category'' theme and finding no other place to put it...
I feel absolutely vindicated! For days now I've been on the heathen boards asking about the origin of the Vanir, because everywhere else in the Edda the origins of the different races and deities of being are specifically addressed except for them. Which is weird, because the Aesir and Vanir had a huge war, and some of the Aesir are even Vanir deities. It didn't make sense, logically. Yet, elsewhere in the myth we have these two beings- male and female- born from Ymir that are never explained and I've been saying, to deaf ears, that I think they were the Vanir because nothing else makes sense. And tonight I found a source that says the exact same thing.
:bounce:
(...Just thought I'd share. )
The Gods we worship write their names on our faces; be sure of that. A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
As believers in the folk-religion we are studying, we seek after mysteries that expand the scope of our gods and our understanding of them, not reductionist theories that reduce them to manageable and socially productive "functions".
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