Asatru Folk Assembly - Baldr, Heimdall, and other Gods of our Folk (Academy Storytime)

00:00:00.000 We're going to learn a little bit about some of the gods, and I know you've probably heard

00:00:25.600 the names of Odin and Thor but we're going to learn about a few more and this is uh as part of

00:00:33.980 Dallaire's book of Norse myths so let's see what we can learn here let me get to the right page

00:00:42.320 that is not the right page that I want I want this page here

00:00:50.580 So we're going to start by reading about Baldr, the god of light.

00:00:58.900 It bothered Odin greatly that the Asir had broken the promise to Fenrir, for a god must never break his word.

00:01:09.720 But the monstrous wolf could not be left free as a threat to gods and men. 0.92

00:01:15.780 He turned for comfort to his son Baldr.

00:01:20.580 who had not taken part in the deceits. 0.57

00:01:24.080 The Iser always turned to Baldr when they were troubled,

00:01:28.940 for he was the kindest and gentlest of gods.

00:01:34.620 No one could think anything but pure thoughts in his presence.

00:01:40.480 Flowers sprang up from the ground wherever he stepped,

00:01:45.640 but even the whitest and most beautiful of them,

00:01:48.880 The Baldrblom was not as fair as his brow. 0.92

00:01:56.020 Everybody loved him, not even the spiteful gnomes and uncouth Jotuns could dislike Baldr. 1.00

00:02:05.520 The light from his shimmering hall shone into the farthest corners of the world, 1.00

00:02:11.920 and it was there that he sat in judgment on his golden throne.

00:02:18.880 He never took sides and was so kind he could not bear to met out punishments.

00:02:27.940 Although the Iser brought the disputes to Baldr, they seldom followed his advice.

00:02:35.180 It was too gentle and forgiving.

00:02:39.880 Baldr lived in great happiness with his loving wife, Nana, and their son, Forseti.

00:02:47.380 For Seti was as constant as Nana, his mother, and as just as his father, Baldr.

00:02:57.460 Calmly, he studied the laws of the world and laid down judgments according to them,

00:03:04.300 and his rulings always held.

00:03:07.820 He became the chief judge of the Aesir.

00:03:11.500 Heimdall, the Watchman of Asgard

00:03:19.740 Heimdall, another of Odin's great sons, was the watchman for the Aesir.

00:03:28.860 Early in the beginning of time, he had been born by nine sisters, nine lovely Jotun maidens.

00:03:37.260 having so beautiful mothers so many beautiful mothers he was wonderfully handsome and he had

00:03:46.340 a truly dazzling smile but his teeth were of pure gold heimdall was an excellent watchman

00:03:56.740 His clear blue eyes were so keen that he could see to the end of the world, so sharp were his ears that he could hear everything, even the sound of the wool growing on the sheep down on Midgard, and he needed no more sleep than a bird.

00:04:24.040 Odin had given him a trumpet horn, the Gjallar horn, to blow whenever he saw danger approaching.

00:04:37.280 The sound of this horn was so loud that it could be heard shrilling over the whole wide

00:04:45.800 world.

00:04:48.240 Straight as a ramrod, with a Gjallarhorn at his side, Heimdall stood at the landing of

00:04:55.960 the Rainbow Bridge, the Bifrost, watching and listening so that no enemy could sneak

00:05:05.680 into Asgard.

00:05:08.540 It happened one day that a woman dressed in glimmering gold came walking up the rainbow.

00:05:18.500 The smoldering fire in the rainbow did not burn her feet, and Heimdall did not blow his

00:05:27.300 horn.

00:05:29.440 He only stared at her, for she was bewitchingly beautiful.

00:05:35.760 and he did not stop her from entering Asgard.

00:05:40.740 All the Aesir flocked around her and admired her.

00:05:45.600 She was Gullveig, and she had come from the world of the Vanir gods, the faraway world 0.50

00:05:55.040 of the Singing Winds. 0.98

00:05:59.260 as Golveg was, she really was a wicked witch. 0.97

00:06:06.380 She had come to Asgard because she wanted gold, and the Æsir had plenty of it. 0.99

00:06:15.700 In no time at all the Æsir had begun to quarrel among themselves, each one trying to bring

00:06:24.720 the most gold to Golveg.

00:06:28.900 Odin saw that she had brought evil into his peaceful home, and he angrily stood up and 0.95

00:06:37.660 declared that Gullveig was a witch who must be burned. 1.00

00:06:43.940 She was put to the stake. 0.89

00:06:46.500 Three times the fire was lit, and three times she rose from the flames in a different shape.

00:06:55.980 Their lust for gold burned hotter than the flames.

00:07:03.220 Njord, Frey, and Freyja

00:07:11.340 The Vanir were peaceful gods who ruled mild winds and gentle rains, but when they heard

00:07:21.420 of Gullweg's mistreatment, they grew very angry.

00:07:27.500 The witch had, after all, come from their realm, and she had to be avenged.

00:07:36.260 So they armed themselves and stormed up the rainbow. 0.57

00:07:43.040 Warned by Heimdall, the Isil rushed from their halls to stop the attackers. 0.87

00:07:50.660 But the Vanir breached the fence around Asgard and lined themselves up into battle formation. 0.95

00:07:59.660 On the great and sacred field of Aida, there the first battle fought in the world took

00:08:07.040 place. 0.87

00:08:09.120 It was fierce but evenly matched, and when the Æsir and the Vanir saw that neither of

00:08:17.220 them could win. They agreed to put down their weapons. To ensure a lasting peace, they gave

00:08:27.560 each other hostages. Odin sent his brother Honir to the world of Lovania. He was a very

00:08:37.700 handsome god, long-legged and swift of foot.

00:08:43.640 But he was also a bit slow of thought and speech.

00:08:47.940 So Odin persuaded Mimir, the wise in ancient Jotun, to go with him as his advisor.

00:08:56.460 The Vanir gods were so taken in by Honir's stately appearance that they made him their

00:09:03.600 chieftain.

00:09:06.000 But as time went on, they found that he could not make a single decision without asking

00:09:11.940 Mimir. 0.99

00:09:14.000 They thought the Æsir had cheated them by sending someone stupid and unimportant as 0.99

00:09:18.860 a hostage, and this made them angry. 0.99

00:09:26.880 They did not dare harm Odin's brother, but they wanted revenge.

00:09:33.860 So they cut off Mimir's head and sent it back to Asgard. 0.99

00:09:40.000 Odin felt very unhappy about it and sent word to the Vanir that he had acted in good faith.

00:09:47.540 Honir, one of the oldest of the Aesir, and Mimir, the wise old Jotun, were the best he 0.80

00:09:56.120 could give them for hostages. 0.94

00:09:59.620 Then he used his magic powers and blew life back into Mimir's head. 0.82

00:10:07.220 Ever after, in times of distress, he went to Mimir's head for counsel. 0.70

00:10:16.120 Onir stayed with the Vania and there were no more quarrels between the Æsir and the

00:10:22.300 Vania.

00:10:25.060 The Æsir, for their part, were delighted with the hostages that came to Asgard. 0.97

00:10:32.560 The Vanir had sent their god, Njord, and his two children, Threy and Threya.

00:10:42.720 Njord was a very stately in appearance, was a good and fruitful god.

00:10:51.220 He wove gentle winds to fill the sails of ships, and he blew out wildfires.

00:10:59.940 The Aesir gave him a sparkling hall with a shipyard by the shore of the celestial sea.

00:11:09.400 Threy was a god of fertility.

00:11:13.660 He sent life-giving showers and sunshine to earth, and brought rich harvests with him.

00:11:22.580 He had a sword which gleamed as brightly as the sun, and a horse which could dash the

00:11:30.340 roaring flames.

00:11:33.160 And the Aesir gave him the ship that could fly over land and sea, and the marvellous

00:11:40.840 golden boar that the gnomes had made when fray rode the boar across the summer sky

00:11:50.440 its golden bristles shining like sun rays lit up the darkest valleys increasing many fold the

00:12:02.120 crops on earth. The Isir gave Frey a palace in Alfaim, and the elves waited upon him.

00:12:15.000 Freya, Frey's sister, was the goddess of love. She came to Asgard in a carriage drawn by grey cats

00:12:25.800 with her little daughter Nos on her lap. Nos was so sweet that her name was used to describe

00:12:35.660 anything really delightful. Freya, most beautiful of all the goddesses, was often sad for her 0.85

00:12:48.160 husband, Od, had disappeared. He was a wanderer and a dreamer, and had been lost in one world

00:12:57.980 or another. Freya often went looking for him. Sometimes she drove off with her cats, and

00:13:07.800 sometimes she flew off as a falcon, for she had a suit of falcon feathers, which carried

00:13:16.600 her swiftly through the air when she puts it on.

00:13:21.880 The Isir built a hall for Freya in Asgard, which was almost as big as Odin's.

00:13:30.800 It had to be so big because Freya was very fond of company, and her hall was always thronged

00:13:39.980 with many merry men.

00:13:43.720 Still, Threya would often think of her lost husband and weep herself to sleep.

00:13:50.280 But she was lovely even when she wept, for her tears rolling silently down her round cheeks were pure droplets of gold.

00:14:05.720 Bragi, God of Poetry

00:14:09.020 When the matter of hostages had been settled, the Aysir and the Vanir sealed their pact of peace in a strange way.

00:14:23.620 They gathered around a huge vat, chewed certain berries, and solemnly spat the juices into the vats.

00:14:34.020 These divine juices took shape, and out of the vat rose Kvasir, the spirit of knowledge.

00:14:47.060 There was no question that he could not answer, and no matter how much he was pumped for information,

00:14:54.960 he never ran dry.

00:14:58.320 On the contrary, his knowledge increased.

00:15:04.020 But one day, two gnomes drowned Kvassil in the essence of his own knowledge.

00:15:13.320 Then they ran off with the essence to their home deep underground.

00:15:19.120 There they poured it into three kettles, added honey, and sprinkled it with magic herbs.

00:15:27.480 they brewed a mead so potent that whoever drank of it felt his spirits soar high and free and

00:15:39.720 ringing verse poured from his lips the mead made the gnomes feel so grand that they recklessly

00:15:49.800 killed an old yachtin and his when his wife came looking for him they slew her too

00:15:59.080 but sutting the son of the old yachtin couple found out about it and came to avenge his parents

00:16:09.960 the gnomes could save their lives only by giving him the magic mead

00:16:14.920 Sutting hid the three kettles in a chamber deep in a mountain and set his daughter Gunnlod to

00:16:25.060 watch over them from his throne the Lidskjalf Odin saw the Jotun hide the three kettles and he decided

00:16:38.080 that he must have the mead.

00:16:42.060 So he changed himself into a snake, and warmed himself into the mountain through a crack

00:16:49.200 in the rock.

00:16:51.360 When he came to the chamber where Gudlod sat watching the mead, he took the shape of a

00:16:57.360 handsome young man.

00:16:59.880 How sweet, how beautiful you are, sitting here deep in the mountain by your lonely

00:17:07.600 self he said and indeed it was true gun lad was one of the beautiful yacht and maidens

00:17:18.160 and in her loneliness she liked hearing about it so she smiled and enjoyed the company of her

00:17:26.640 handsome young guest after three days she'd grown so fond of him that she said

00:17:35.840 he might have a sip from each of the three precious kettles she was guarding one sip from each

00:17:45.280 in three mighty goals olden emptied all three kettles then he rapidly changed himself into an

00:17:58.280 eagle and flew off.

00:18:02.640 Poor Gunlord sat weeping beside her empty kettles.

00:18:09.260 But Sutting her father saw the eagle fly away from the mountain, and right away he became

00:18:19.080 suspicious.

00:18:21.420 He also took the shape of an eagle and set off in pursuit.

00:18:27.220 and as Odin had three great kettlefuls of mead inside him, Sutting could fly faster.

00:18:37.740 Heimdall spied the two birds approaching Asgard and saw that the distance between them was

00:18:44.860 becoming smaller and smaller.

00:18:48.800 He knew what Odin had gone for, and he called to the other Æsir and told them to hurry

00:18:56.120 and set out all the pots and kettles out into the courtyard.

00:19:02.920 Odin just barely had time to spit the mead into the vessels and fly to safety.

00:19:11.800 So close upon his heels was Sutting.

00:19:15.680 Thus, Sutting had to return without his mead, and Odin kept it for himself.

00:19:25.380 After that, Odin always spoke in stately verse.

00:19:32.460 He let the other Æsir taste the magic brew, and he gave some to truly gifted men on earth.

00:19:41.960 They became great poets, a joy to gods and men.

00:19:50.040 It had also lost some drops outside the wall of Asgard, and these dropped down to the earth, 0.96

00:19:58.500 three for any fool to gather.

00:20:01.860 But the drops had lost their magic power, and those who gathered them could write nothing 0.96

00:20:08.580 but doggerel.

00:20:12.060 In this roundabout way, poetry came to the world, to lift the hearts of Æsir and men.

00:20:22.340 But Odin felt it always weighing on him that, to gain the gift of poetry, he had betrayed

00:20:29.840 Gunnlod, a trusting maiden, and left her alone to weep over her empty kettles.

00:20:38.340 To make up for it, Odin brought Gunnard's son, Bragi, to Asgard.

00:20:47.460 He recognized Bragi as his son, taught him the power of the runes, and gave him son of

00:20:55.400 Sutting's mead to drink. 0.94

00:20:58.580 Thus Bragi became the god of the bards. 1.00

00:21:04.620 And as a bard needs youth to sing, Odin gave him for his wife Idun, the keeper of the apples 0.99

00:21:14.340 of youth. 0.94

00:21:16.440 Whoever took a bite from her apples did not grow old, and the Æsir depended upon Idun

00:21:24.740 and her apples to stay young.

00:21:29.360 Vidun tenderly caring for him.

00:21:32.720 Bragi always had sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks,

00:21:38.740 although his face was framed by the long white beard of a sage.

00:21:59.360 You

Asatru Folk Assembly - December 17, 2023

Baldr, Heimdall, and other Gods of our Folk (Academy Storytime)

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