00:01:14.100We can make up new stories, but we cannot make up new myths.
00:01:19.060Myths are not casual tales composed on the spot to make a moral point, or to entertain, or to amuse.
00:01:28.420They are not the products of rational thought, consciously imposed on a particular subject matter, in this case the activities of the gods.
00:01:37.000They speak the deep language of the unconscious, and the more profound levels of our own being respond to them, often entirely bypassing conscious awareness as they do so.
00:01:49.060The mythic motifs found in the northern lore are often consistent all across the Indo-European world, and in some cases even beyond.
00:01:59.340They are created not by the conscious mind, but by the unconscious, one could even say by the gods, and then emerge to consciousness.
00:02:09.560To sit down and deliberately compose modern myths would completely reverse this process, moving from the conscious to the unconscious, rather than the other way around.
00:02:22.940This doesn't mean the old stories can't be paraphrased.
00:02:26.860Accurate retellings retain the essence of the myth and also stimulate an interest in the original manuscripts.
00:02:33.200But modern, consciously devised sermons, posing as myths, do not have this power.
00:02:44.180There is more to genuine myths than meets the eye.
00:02:49.100Both the poetic edda and the prose edda contain many layers.
00:02:53.620Take the half a mile, for example, or in English, the words of the high one.
00:02:58.140On the surface, most of the poem is made up of nothing more than prudent advice for living.
00:03:05.040However, there are deeper aspects to even this apparently straightforward poem.
00:03:10.720Elements that, as Jim Chisholm has shown, are met as a guidebook for higher spiritual evolution.
00:03:16.880Similarly, the story of the Theft of Mead by Odin in the Prose Edda contains specific information on techniques for attaining godlike consciousness and power.
00:03:31.400To cast aside this hidden material, or to claim that a modern homily-motivated myth is just as good as the original, well, that would be a colossal mistake.
00:03:41.980Asatru's myths were written for several
00:03:46.700purposes beyond setting good examples for daily behavior.
00:03:51.380We've seen that Halfomao is not only a practical
00:03:54.480guide for the conduct of one's life, but also
00:03:58.500an encoded handbook for higher evolution. What about
00:04:02.540that other pillar of the poetic edda, the Folospau, or the
00:04:06.480prophecy of the seeress? Scholars tell us that
00:04:10.120Folospau is a didactic poem, meaning that it is
00:04:14.020designed to teach the lore. But I think that
00:04:17.980Folospau is just what the title says. It is a prophecy,
00:04:22.480a vision of things to come, considered so
00:04:25.680important that it was specifically included in the poetic