THE OATH – Magical and Psychological Considerations

When we are professed in the Odinic Rite we take an oath. Let us just reflect for a minute or two on the inner implications of this.

As we all know, we can come across the kind of situation when we might make a promise that we cannot keep. This is part of the human condition. But an oath such as we take in the OR as a professed member is quite a different matter.

Although the OR as such is not a ‘magical’ organisation in the same sense as a coven or lodge it nevertheless does use a magical principle in oath taking. When, as sometimes happens, we don’t get on with the people in the community we have joined and taken an oath with we are always at perfect liberty to leave. I have myself changed my religious affiliations more than once.

What one just does not do after leaving is to stab former comrades in the back and seek to bring the community of which one was a member into disrepute by making accusations in the hope of gaining favour with other people who hold different views or with the intent to gain financially. It seems obvious to me that if a person leaves a group and breaks an oath given then the next group which will have the privilege of admitting him to fellowship would be well advised to consider the likelihood that any oaths taken there will also be broken. Unless one ‘takes a measure’

I would like to point out the dangers of accepting in a group anyone who has previously broken an oath. The bad wyrd or karma incurred by the breaking of an oath can reflect on such a group when they accept such a person.  An oath such as that taken at Profession cannot be broken without repercussions as it involves a command to the unconscious.

If two people on behalf of the group-collective take an oath one takes it and the other gives the oath. If either one then breaks it then the unconscious magical part of the wronged person will automatically immediately respond to the breach of oath and will hone in on the other person and – SMACK!

This is a result of disturbing balance between two people taking an oath (two people being involved in a contract). One side breaks the contract but because the oath has been exchanged (and this even mere so if it has been a blood oath) there exists a link that will immediately invoke a response from the other person, backed up by the collective mind of anyone else who has taken the same oath. If afterwards, even years later, one would rescind the oath and break it one lays oneself open to a magical, automatic invasion because the oath was taken on both the conscious and the subconscious levels. There would be a reaction.

Even if the person to whom the oath was given has no malicious intent the mere fact that the oath has been taken on a magical level, and at that moment being meant sincerely (even supposing one has been drunk the first time round and the oath was therefore retaken), the breaking of the oath will automatically initiate an equal and opposite reaction that will result in the penalties which were invoked when the oath was taken. On a common psychological level the disastrous effect is that an oathbreaker will never be able to trust himself again.

Individuals should consider very carefully whether they really wish to be oath-bound. And perhaps a community such as the Odinic Rite should examine people more carefully before considering them for Profession.