The Odinist Path – A hike towards the Odin Conciousness

by Hariulf OR

This article was born a bit by chance. I felt like writing a more personal article, but I experienced difficulty in finding the inspiration, so I hope this article will make sense to you. The idea of this article came to me during a ski touring hike. I had set an objective completely within my reach (it is besides a hike which I often make) but it was a day without. My hike had to lead me from the departure of the cable car at the top of the ski slopes, 900 metres higher. It is not a big difference of heights, nor a big walk, however from the beginning things became difficult. Every step forward was more and more difficult. My itinerary followed the ski slopes and to see people in the cable cars depressed me. It would have been so much simpler to be in cable cars rather than to climb the slope with my skis. But I persevered and three hours later I reached the summit. And I can say to you that I really appreciated the descent in its fair value. I saw an allegory between the hike in on the mountain (on foot or in ski) and the path we follow as Odinists, the path towards a greater consciousness, the Odin Consciousness. We cannot always choose the easy way.

We live in a society where we have the habit to obtain everything right away. For example, to have light, we only have to press a switch. To have some water, we only have to open a tap. I am not hypercritical, I also use all these advantages. If I had to get up to make a fire to drink a coffee before leaving my home to go to my job, I would be the first to complain. I would surely end up going without coffee after having fought for a moment to try to make a fire. It is a characteristic of our modern society: always more, always more quickly!

This society of “everything right away” makes us lose value and sense of things. If we had to fabricate by ourselves our tools, our clothes or our utensils, we would take more care of them. They would have quite a different value in our eyes. If we had to travel by foot, our trip would have a different sense than to simply take the plane. If we want to ski, we can take cable car, it is simpler and quicker, but the satisfaction in the summit is not the same if we attain it by our own means.

Of course, I do not mean that we must go back in time, that we must try to live as our ancestors. What I am saying is that our habit of having everything right away makes us sometimes believe that everything is acquired instantaneously, without effort, without sacrifice. So, sometimes we lack patience, perseverance and determination.

The same is true for spirituality or religion. Some people think that it is enough to read a book, to join an organisation to become instantly an expert on this subject. How many people claim themselves to be “Great Runic masters” or “Super Gothi” at the end of some months of experience? (fortunately this type of person does not exist in the OR, but it is common in other organisations, and on the web). But this is not how things work.

The Odinist path is not easy. To quote a sentence of an article of Asbrandir (Isolation and the Threat of Apathy in ORB 210): “The path you have found yourself on is not easy, the easy path is taken by the masses, you are not one of them, you are one of us, The Vanguard of the New Awakening”. It is a sentence full of sense.

The Odinist path is not a thing that we can learn in a blink of an eye. It is not a thing that we can learn in books. It is a thing that we must live! It is a very long path which will take the efforts of an entire life (and maybe of many others). It will ask for patience, perseverance and even sacrifices sometimes. But what is good about the Odinist path is that it distinguishes between the dedicated people and those who are not . Indeed, a lot people will get lost or give up along the path if things do not evolve quickly enough according to them.

It is possible to compare Odinism with a long mountain hike. When we leave for a hike, we generally set a goal. This can be the summit of a mountain, a panorama, a mountain hut etc. Of course, we must set a goal that we can achieve. It would be foolish and dangerous to set as objective to climb a 4000 meter peak if we have the physical, mental or technical capacities. If we overestimate our forces, we risk, at best, giving up along the way, or worse hurting or killing ourselves.

Once the hike has began, we must manage our rhythm, not to start too fast because we would become tired quickly and we would risk giving up too early. We must adopt a constant pace whether the path ascends, is flat or descends. Indeed, nothing serves to run when the path slopes down and not to be able to continue when the path climbs again. The path is not always flat, there are ups and there are downs. Sometimes the soil is slippery, sometimes stony. Sometimes we might fall on the path. As is often on the mountain, the time can change very quickly . The sun can leave, replaced by big black clouds forewarning a storm. So we have to face the storm before continuing our journey. Sometimes, there are rock-falls, sometimes the path is full of snow. Sometimes the way is blocked ahead of us, forcing us to make a detours. Sometimes we may even wish to give up, to turn around or to sit down and not move any more.

But if we persevere, if we have the patience and strength to continue to put one foot before the other, we can attain our goal. Of course, during this hike we will know moments of joy and sorrow, moments of doubt and euphoria. But what a satisfaction when we attain our goal!

It is similar for Odinism. We must set for ourselves goals that we are able to reach. By setting goals completely out of reach for our level of evolution, in trying to rush things, we risk falling quickly into disenchantment and giving up if we do not see any results coming. We must also get ready for this hike, acquire some knowledge and some solid basis about our faith, culture, identity etc. We are all on different levels of evolution on our path toward the Odin Consciousness. We must be able to judge this evolution and to set our goals accordingly.

Our commitment must be constant. As we know, we are at the beginning of our long way towards the New Awakening and toward the Odin Consciousness. Things will take time and we must be patient and persevering. It is therefore necessary to advance slowly and to take the time to lay solid foundations. Nothing serves to rush, to want to revolutionise everything, to change everything right away. Some people don’t have the patience to wait until solid foundations are put in place, they want everything right away. Unfortunately, these people often tire quickly and give up because things are not moving fast enough for them. They don’t have the perseverance for working on the long term. They are not ready for the long hike on the Odinist path.

As Odinist, we will experience times when we will move quickly forward. Our projects will take shape and evolve. We will feel evolution spiritually and mentally. We will see concrete results. But there will also be “quieter” moments where we will feel stagnate. There will even be moments when we will feel regression, moving back. I think that it is normal. It is simply part of the cycles of life.

Just like on a hike, we must face difficult moments, moments when our path will seem blocked, moments of doubts and perhaps even moments when we will be tempted to give up. This is where strength of will and perseverance will make the difference. If we are able to get up again and to continue moving toward the goal that we set, then we will know a great joy. We will have made a step towards our ultimate goal: the Odin Consciousness. Our efforts and sacrifices will be rewarded.

The Odinist path is not quiet, nor an easy task. Sometimes we will have to face storms and tempests we will have to fight our enemies, both internal and external. Once again, we could be tempted to give up. It is easy to be an Odinist when everything goes well, it is sometimes harder when things become difficult, when our enemies surround us. But if we succeed in fighting them and overcoming them, then we can resume our journey and move ahead.

Nothing will be easy along our path towards a higher consciousness. The odinist path is not a pastime, a path that we begin as a hobby when the mood takes us. This is a path for our entire life! To choose the easy way, to not be ready to make a long and hard path and to claim to be an Odinist, this is lying to oneself and lying to others. To lie to others is one things, but to lie to oneself is more serious. That can prevent us from continuing our path and from reaching our ultimate goal: the Odin Consciousness.

Hael the New Awakening!
Hael the Rite