00:02:08.820that we always continue to bring about the base of our faith around he who is the most clarified
00:02:20.320of the tripartite. He is the striker. In every European, Proto-Indo-European,
00:02:27.460Aryan tradition of branches, the striker is clear, clean, and bold, bright, shining, strong.
00:02:37.600There's no mincing words about him. I think that the only mystery behind the striker is that a lot of people have a tendency to confuse him, especially in the stories. Now, bear in mind, I'm not talking about Thor in any sort of – I'm not trying to be unpious.
00:02:56.960What I'm really going for is the stories are stories of how our ancestors and how the ancient stories were related, and they have changed over time.
00:03:07.780So when we see certain things of, like, the late Nordic period, we can see Thor in relation to the way our ancestors saw him.
00:03:16.520But Thor is not in stasis in the Edas.
00:03:22.720he's a very dynamic uh god or what i would call a the catalytic god he's the god that really
00:03:29.800breaks through thresholds he's the god that once he gets involved everything starts rolling he
00:03:36.820ruptures the barriers he breaks things down so that everything can flow again and so you know
00:03:43.560if you're dealing with a lot of personal issues in your life i think um garnering from the stories
00:03:49.860Looking at him in that lens when you're reading the stories can kind of inspire you to also become a catalystic switch in your own life that you can cut through, break through barriers.
00:04:03.260And the only way you can do that and the only way you can really kind of go against the tide of flow of weird or of Orla is to do drastic action.
00:04:13.800So he, in a way, represents, I think, divine will.
00:04:16.900um he is the will of the gods and in a way like us our soul is going in through the tide of weird
00:04:29.220and through orlock the what you have to do in order to break the the the cycle to to really
00:04:35.520start anew is to willfully project yourself into something throw yourself in wholeheartedly
00:04:42.580whole-headedly, with all your might, and stand up in a moment, even sometimes against yourself,
00:04:51.280and you can then begin to grow. And if you are blessed by him, he will allow that path to be
00:05:00.540seen. You'll make it. You'll have to make it. He's not going to make it for you. But once you
00:05:06.580do see that path you know at that time the strength that you're you're that he's with you
00:05:12.320that he is pushing forward with you and um and he wants to see you succeed um and i think that's
00:05:21.280one of the biggest powers that comes from him so if you're a new beginner and and you've come back
00:05:26.240to the faith of your people and you want to really start to tackle the divine because i often tell
00:05:33.520people like the first thing that they should do is really start to understand about giving bloat
00:05:37.060to your ancestors, giving bloodings to your ancestors and to the land spirits, because
00:05:41.540those they're directly around you and connected to you. But when you really start to wrap your
00:05:46.900head around how the gods play in the world, and we might have preconceived notions from other
00:05:52.940religions or just the lack of clarity on things. Sometimes the best start is to kick literally
00:06:01.040everything right straight down the middle, go straight for the throat. And Thor, Donner,0.94
00:06:09.360Thunaraz, he is the catalyst that breaks that, that makes the gateway. And so I would say like
00:06:17.480in learning to pray, it's about asking him to bear witness to the moment and then throwing
00:06:28.100yourself in completely and wholeheartedly. Um, and I know that's, it's kind of a weird thing.
00:06:33.920I'm not, I'm not coming from a lore angle. Uh, lore is good. Lore is fine and it's wonderful.
00:06:39.380And it has lots of value. And I would even say eternal seeds that were planted by the gods
00:06:44.140themselves for us to find again and to work through. But when we're talking about real
00:06:50.760tangible faith thor is one of the closest gods that you can physically see when he shows up in
00:06:58.900storm when he's there you can feel him in the air as the air literally ionizes you can feel him there
00:07:07.100and it it doesn't take it isn't very hard for a person who's new to suddenly just cross over
00:07:15.360that threshold wow i'm dealing with a real willful being that's not biological in the way that i know
00:07:25.680it but he's here and i know he's here i can feel him that that has a tendency to throw people off
00:07:32.640and i i and in a sometimes in a good way again catalyst throws them off changes things up and
00:07:38.800then all of a sudden they grow so if you're new to the faith the first house that i would recommend
00:07:46.320you um give gift to give worship to give piety to and give give exchange to would be thor 100
00:08:00.720thor is known as the the friend of man and as the protector of midgard and i think in that sense
00:08:08.800He really is one of the most approachable as far as if you're starting out to build that kind of, to start building that gift cycle and start building that relationship with.
00:08:24.580um in the lore uh when his eyes flash he can be terrifying and you know a frightful thing to
00:08:37.100behold but also you know he's a god that has a joviality about him a sense of humor and known
00:08:45.960like i said as the as the friend of man in that way and i find that that's a lot of people's first
00:08:53.120interaction or first approach to Ausatru is through a better understanding of Thor. And that
00:08:59.000was the case, you know, certainly when I got involved in Ausatru, I think that building
00:09:06.000relationship with Thor was, was the first, the first Ausa that I was able to, to build that with
00:09:15.460and grow from there. So I certainly think that's the case. A lot of stuff about Thordernite. Again,
00:09:23.940so many of, especially the first gods that we're going to go through in this cycle are
00:09:29.420gods that people are generally familiar with. But we're very happy in the course of the broadcast
00:09:36.540to discuss smaller elements or more obscure things or interesting questions. We'll kind of
00:09:44.160take the conversation wherever you guys want to take it. I'm
00:09:47.520gonna go ahead and start hitting some of our questions here.
00:09:52.560I wanted to piggyback on something you just said, though,
00:09:54.780before we do I during I do a little prep and start
00:09:59.780research, you try to gather some things. And one of the things
00:10:02.400that are was the the heighty of Thor. Ah, do you do a dupe
00:10:09.240huger huger is how it said dupe huger and it means deep-souled or deep-minded like
00:10:18.940not necessarily it's about being quick-witted it's more about having ancient wisdom wisdom that
00:10:27.280is applicable in a way that is sometimes subtle like it's it's uh the understanding of like when
00:10:35.460you see someone who's very large, very big, you look at them and you automatically face value
00:10:40.260their strength. But what you don't account for sometimes is how deep-minded they are,
00:10:46.500how applicable wisdom they have, and that can make them extremely a formidable force. And I
00:10:53.780think that that high detour towards Thor really applies, is that the idea that he is filled with
00:11:01.920deep wisdom and applicable wisdom. So I wanted to share that
00:11:07.860because I found that one was kind of a off. And I hadn't run
00:11:11.840into it in a long time. So, so you know, I want us to get to
00:11:16.500your experiences with the mural, but we're going to hold on
00:11:19.440that just a second, because I see one of the questions in the
00:11:22.360queue is about that. So let's start hitting a couple of these
00:11:25.560fin asks, Do you think when lightning strikes something
00:11:28.720specific, that could be an act of Thor. What do you think, Svon?
00:11:37.120So, I would say first and foremost, I have usually taken it that way, yes,
00:11:45.200so I'll say that first, but that actually could be an argument or a debate. In some sense,
00:11:53.920Our ancestors knew that when the striker strike things, it was a furious moment.
00:11:59.060And so they did not necessarily always see the strikes that he was, you know, lamenting upon the forces of chaos in the sky as just being purposeful, but more like a thrashing out so that things could happen.
00:12:19.400And this is always seen in a lot of the lore stories, you know, when they when like when Ruska and Thialfi, when they first get taken into service by Thor, the idea that he's extremely hot tempered and his eyes are glaring and his beard is bristled.
00:12:38.740And so there's always a sense of fury that's tempered by a cooling down and a love for the folk.
00:12:46.660So I think that this in the stories is really talking about the nature of and the power of lightning or the power of storm in the idea that our ancestors always viewed the striker as you didn't want to stand in his way or be anywhere really around him when he was raging because there was no control.
00:13:08.740And so with that, there is the argument to say that our ancestors saw and understood that when things were going crazy, it wasn't a personal vindictive slight against you.
00:13:22.340It was, you know, considerable all the way around.
00:13:25.500It's the same as when he gains the whetstone under his helm.
00:13:31.040As he strikes, Thrym, he hits the whetstone and it goes under and constantly agitates him, even to the point where Arendelle's wife, he tells her, you know, I brought him home.
00:13:48.640She leaves and thus leaving the whetstone in his head.
00:13:51.460And so there's this constant state of agitation. And so I think that, again, is another emphasis on how, depending on the fury of the situation, it may not be willfully done.
00:14:07.280However, like what I said is I do believe that it can be willfully done.
00:14:12.800I think that perhaps there is a sense of control in it as well because I've seen some – sometimes – I'm actually probably the only person I've ever known that has a friend that's been struck by lightning three times.
00:14:36.420And he lives up in up in Montana. And he's been I actually was there for one time when he was struck on a on a rifle range in Hawaii.
00:14:45.060Terrifying stuff, especially considering that there's not a lot of thunderstorms in Hawaii.
00:14:51.580So I've I've often wondered this as well. Could it be done personally? Could it be done willfully?
00:14:57.780Could it be done with intention? And I think I'm not going to say that gods can't do anything.
00:15:03.100so my go is yes it can be willful and yes it can be purposeful but also too it can also be
00:15:12.580random it could be furious it could be an emanation of power that isn't necessarily
00:15:18.160linked to a purpose and i think that's also important for us to understand because the gods
00:15:24.800do act in the world and there is weird from it and i think that when they when thor looses himself
00:15:32.620from heaven into the middle world, it's known that what's going to happen is going to cause
00:15:40.000Orla. So that's my answer on that one. It's kind of a political answer, a yes and a no,
00:15:46.720but I don't want to say that they can't do anything because I don't know. I couldn't be
00:15:53.020that mouthpiece, but I do feel that I've seen instances where it seems purposeful. And then
00:15:59.380And I've seen instances and reading from the lore where it seems to be that our ancestors knew in the wisdom that just don't be around because it's going to get bad.
00:16:12.560You know, you mentioned that was kind of a political answer or whatever.
00:16:17.560The answers to a lot of these questions aren't clean because life's not.
00:16:22.120There's so many variables in reality. And I think that we'd be doing a disservice if we were to pretend that, you know, there's only one right answer to any of these questions.
00:16:37.600There's so much overlap and there's so much depth to our faith.
00:16:41.320And I think that's one of the rich things about it that add value and truth to it is that we're honest in that.
00:16:48.980um our gods and their interplay with nature is fascinating and i think we
00:16:57.860i think we need a deeper understanding of our gods than just thor equals lightning and thunder
00:17:05.640um odin equals ravens like i've said on the on the right odin and ravens thing yes odin
00:17:12.680chooses ravens to communicate signs to people often ravens also exist and do raven stuff
00:17:20.240completely unrelated to the alpha um lightning and weather patterns and weather stuff happens
00:17:26.980right um that stuff happens regardless of thor willing it to because it's natural and it happens
00:17:37.680But certainly, like Svahn said, Thor, if he wants to, can direct lightning to hit something.
00:17:44.700I think there's plenty of times that that has happened in the course of the history of our fault.
00:17:51.120But every lightning strike isn't a directed wrath of Thor.
00:17:59.580um and that's that's the the gray area that people aren't comfortable with but it's true
00:18:06.820and it's real um being able to determine those things is an art in and of itself to be able to
00:18:12.880interpret when something is a meaningful synchronicity and when it's just natural
00:18:19.760stuff happening and is it meaningful just because it speaks to you in a particular way or is it
00:18:27.600Meaning, you know, is it meaningful from within to without or is it meaningful from without to within?
00:18:34.300And I think that sometimes it's both of those things. Sometimes it's neither. Sometimes it's one or the other.
00:18:40.040But, yes, certainly could it be? Absolutely. I'd never rule out that possibility.
00:18:44.700I think that the idea of Thor and the storm, Thor and thunder, Thor and lightning, we need to not forget.
00:18:53.720there there is a literal relationship but there's also a a figurative and an illustrative relationship
00:19:03.160the power and the directed might of the storm that rumbling of thunder and that
00:19:11.080shockingly powerful crack of lightning that strike that that tears down and destroys and
00:19:17.480is one of the most powerful things in nature that shows us the might that is thor the directed
00:19:24.440rage and wrath of that very powerful one of our gods and that imagery is very important
00:19:33.800and i think that the the actual interaction with the phenomenon is is important as well but there
00:19:39.560it's not an exact equation. Thor equals thunder and lightning is a poor understanding of a very
00:19:48.800deep and a very profound God. And I think that if we simplify him just to that, we miss some of the
00:19:59.560point i did want to um state too openly that i from here in the whetstone not three that's that
00:20:10.440is the uh the theft of the hammer um i wanted to you know bring that up and say they're the list
00:20:16.360of his opponents is long and so a lot of times we can very well i you know get the stories confused
00:20:24.200And so I just wanted to clarify, it was Frongnir that when he, you know, fought him, he struck the whetstone while he was standing on the shield and that piece got in there.
00:20:35.940I think it's, yeah, it is important to understand that when we were talking about mythos being coiled up, we were talking about how the gods represent themselves in multifaceted of existence.
00:20:50.200So Thor, or at least a fraction of his might, or a piece of him, or a willful part, or perhaps simply just the presence itself, can manifest in Storm, is part of Storm, but is not always simply just Thor in the clouds or in the cloud.
00:21:16.620I think that that would be more of a, I would say, like a mythological and a more of a, I would even say to a point where when we see our children, you know, they really correlate with the direct notion that Thor is in the cloud.
00:21:31.320But they might not realize that it's more or less a reflection of the power of the god in his material place.
00:21:43.100so when he's interacting with the material world it's often through the manifestation of storms
00:21:49.840and again the question is what what's purpose do storms have and really what storms have is about
00:21:57.280bringing equilibrium of of uh you know pressure up and down um there there's a too much of a
00:22:05.100tipping point something's going too far up or too low down into the area and it needs to be
00:22:11.180re-equalized and oftentimes what happens is that equalization process is is is beckoned with a
00:22:21.760storm so you know understanding that the gods have place in the physical world to to be able
00:22:28.120to do things but they also have a an essence or a power that pervades in the physical world
00:22:34.060And it may be acting on its own or as an extension of the god, not necessarily with his will behind it, I think is important.
00:22:44.700And I really think that the gods do this through the well of Earth.
00:22:48.560But, you know, getting into the concept of Thor not being in every storm is a part where people are a little apprehensive and where they want everything to have meaning, much like the Etruscans.
00:23:06.840You know, they felt like everything was absolutely done, you know, with purpose.
00:23:13.940And I think that the Romans talked about the Etruscans, you know, and the difference between them is that the Romans seemed to have a concept that the will of the gods could be interplayed on the rolling of time, whereas the Etruscans felt like every single thing was intimately connected to the gods.
00:23:32.780and um you know i i i don't know to what if there's folly in that i mean i think there there
00:23:41.140is in the sense that we'll take everything and understanding being so a drastic omen but like
00:23:48.600you said ravens do things sometimes that aren't very you know delightful or like something that
00:23:56.580you would think that oh then sending you a message when you you know see them ripping apart trash or
00:24:02.320trying to survive and live so i was gonna say growing up in alaska where the ravens are are
00:24:08.220very prominent in the winter time you can't drive by a mcdonald's without a a murder of ravens
00:24:16.460hanging out at the dumpster eating whatever they find in there that's not necessarily them them
00:24:23.860communicating from the all father that's them being hungry and scavenging because they're scavengers
00:24:28.300um the storm is very often a chaotic force and a force of destruction to our ancestors0.91
00:24:37.080we're seeing the interplay between natural forces that are associated with the yotnar versus
00:24:42.920their association with the gods is also a very fine line as well um but i'll tell you this and
00:24:51.580for anybody that you know thinks i'm maybe being too cynical every time i hear thunder i feel it
00:24:57.020my soul and i i i say a little prayer of of hail to to thor um so i mean it's don't don't lose that
00:25:07.420wonder just right be critical in your thinking if everything is a divine miracle of the gods
00:25:14.060communicating something to you then the real ones get lost in the static if everything's at volume
00:25:21.020tin, then there's no such thing as an exclamation. So some things have to be mundane in order for
00:25:28.140certain things to be sacred. If everything's sacred, then nothing's sacred.
00:25:33.260Yeah, I think our ancestors at the Teutonic mindset is to meet everything with a sense of
00:25:41.740measure, try to measure it, merit it, give it some pause don't I mean, it's even talked about
00:25:48.220in the halvamal about not making these kind of like rash decisions on things it trying to gain
00:25:53.900the scope of awareness is important um and again you you hit the nail on the head there is if
00:26:00.300everything is a message from the gods then how can you divvy out that from the din katla asks
00:26:09.500why do you think our ancestors chose to wear uh the mjolnir rather than a symbol of the all-father
00:26:16.140what are your thoughts on that spawn i i just saw that cutler uh sorry there's a song in
00:26:23.900iceland from the raven song cutlet and up nasin is and so i saw it and i was like whoa um
00:26:30.540that is a great question i think that first and foremost it's understood that um thor
00:26:38.300is the culmination of two polaric forces when we talk about the gods of order and we talk about
00:26:45.980the the isir or the asas uh as a whole we see them as uh heavenly uh filled with light with fire
00:26:56.140with air with um dominion and with the idea of of cosmic order the creation of something that's
00:27:03.900different and with the intention of building it within antagonistic forces to continue on beyond
00:27:10.780layers so we see this this overarching cosmic order but what we also know is that from the
00:27:17.780gods we also see natural law be brought under yoke or well in reality there was an exchange there
00:27:24.600there had to be a there had to be a fight and that fight was costly but once those alignments
00:27:30.180were made natural law and cosmic order joined forces to build the center and i think that
00:27:38.240There is no other Asa that really exemplifies that union than the son of Rothen and Yorth, of the sky, of the wind, and of the earth, and of the water.
00:27:55.180These two forces come together, and I think that that wasn't lost on our ancestors.
00:28:00.440Thor is the culmination of those deep, powerful parts coming together in alignment, and there is a literal union, and from that union there is sprung the power of the divine that is coming from natural law and the earth and coming from cosmic order and the sky, and it exemplifies in Thor.
00:28:26.480So Thor is the conduit. He is the catalyst. I've talked a lot about the thrones of power in which the gods, it seems culturally Aryan groups have different thrones or different premises of thrones in which the gods seat themselves for them.
00:28:44.200But one of the things that really talks about the Catalystic Throne is that the conduit between the heavenly and the material.
00:28:54.620You don't see the striker as a chthonic figure.
00:28:58.840You never see the striker as some sort of figure that delves into the underworld or deals with the dead.
00:29:05.620In essence, he is always moving from the middle out and checking the edges.
00:29:14.000He's riding the edges of the middle world, and he's up above riding the edges of heaven.
00:29:20.660And so he's this conduit between the living man, the living soul of mankind and folk and the gods themselves, and he moves in between those.
00:29:32.800So I don't think there's any loss in that.
00:29:36.000If we look at striker comparativenesses, like when you look at the Hellenics and they talk about Hercules, Hercules is seen as half mortal, half godly.
00:29:48.060And for us, that comparison is not ever really made mortal.
00:29:53.820In essence, the natural law and the cosmic order are the sense of what is here in the material and what is also above, and he's in between that.
00:30:03.460So we never really take him into the material world. And that seems to be done even post-Christianity. But the striker being a representation of the gods themselves, the defense of the gods, things hinge on his ability to move from heaven into earth and his correlation of keeping the forces of chaos at bay in this world.
00:31:25.380So when they had the hammer coming out, I think it was probably already established beforehand with Bronze Age axes or axe-style amulets and things.0.80
00:31:38.580But when there was an actual outside force coming in via Rome or, you know, in the Middle East and Christianity itself, the antagonistic nature of that religion culturally attacking, the hammer became an equivalency to the cross.
00:32:01.060And, you know, we have molds where it shows where crosses and hammers were being made, often by the same people.
00:32:09.060And that, you know, I guess telling in the opportunistic nature of the time.0.88
00:32:15.060But, you know, we have this clear distinction between the people that follow the old way, the foreign said, and the other and that are true to the Alsa.
00:32:26.060And then there are those who are not, who are turning against their ancestors or turning against their people, who are backing with the side of then the money of the Frankish Roman church.
00:32:41.100So I think that that's one of the reasons why they chose the hammer as a symbol of it, because it means standing up against antagonism. It means courage. It means moving forward, not backing down.
00:32:54.900And I think that the hammer exemplifies that and exemplified that for our ancestors as well. Because that's really when the hammer became, truly took off. I think it was there before, but it really took off once we, our ancestors realized there was a force coming in that was going to destabilize things and really start to affect the very soul of the people.
00:33:17.300You know, I think at this point, anything that we that we say is speculation on why our ancestors chose a specific thing, but there's a lot of things to keep in mind, because you specifically asked why Mjolnir as opposed to something more symbolic of Odin.
00:33:36.440everything's Fonset certainly as an amulet of protection Thor is the defender of Midgard he's
00:33:47.920the friend of man he goes out into into the other and battles the giants of chaos to protect and
00:33:56.380keep us keep us safe and protected he's the very emblem of that protection against outside chaotic
00:34:04.600forces oppressing on the Ennengard. So I think that that stands out as probably the best reason
00:34:13.820for it. But as specific as a reason, you know, perhaps rather than a symbol of the Allfather.
00:34:24.700Svan talked about these thrones or these seats that the gods find themselves in. And
00:34:30.800And the lore that comes down to us, we tend to look at it as an ordered hierarchy, but the apex of that hierarchy has fluctuated over time.
00:34:42.600You find in the temple at Uppsala with Odin, Thor, and Frey, you find Thor in the central position, in the position of prominence.
00:34:54.360it's as things ebb and flow the relationships between different groups of people and our gods
00:35:03.420they place different emphasis on gods that have a more special interaction with them
00:35:09.780and so I think that could have factored obvious and what I would go with is certainly
00:35:14.860that talisman of protection and the more that the Christians would wear a crucifix it became
00:35:21.800you know it just became part a symbol of the times to wear an amulet of thor as the you know
00:35:29.440this compared to that and i think it's the same today when people ask well what if i don't want
00:35:34.400to wear a mjolnir what if i want to wear a symbol of random other one of our gods that they have a
00:35:40.600more personal relationship with nobody knows what that means and it doesn't have the immediate
00:35:46.220recognition of that's Mjolnir, that person is also true. And I think that worked the same
00:35:53.700then as it does now. Another really important thing about the use of Mjolnir, not just as an
00:35:59.640amulet, but ritually, was they would use these hammers oftentimes to bless weddings or to
00:36:06.240sanctify things. The idea that Mjolnir can be used as a tool of sanctification is very special in
00:36:14.080and of itself as a symbol of holiness. And I think that's why it's a fitting symbol for our faith
00:36:19.160in general. They would use this at weddings to ensure fertility. They'd use it in different
00:36:23.980rites to sanctify. Thor would use it to resurrect his goats after he got done eating them the night
00:36:32.260before. It being a magical tool of sanctification is also very significant. It's why when
00:36:39.620Argothar in a strange place that's not holy ground and want to sanctify a ritual spot.
00:36:48.180It's done in the sign of the hammer.0.86
00:36:50.380It's done with perhaps a ritual Mjolnir to sanctify and to set it apart.
00:36:57.340Bruce says, Matt and Svan, can you tell us your favorite stories about Thor?
00:37:03.460Svan, what is your favorite story about Thor?
00:37:06.000oh um i mean the theft of thor's hammer i think has been one of my favorites uh mainly because
00:37:19.460of its contestment in i guess in in times and when i was doing a lot of storytelling uh early
00:37:26.900on after i'd come back from the marine corps i i had done some storytelling uh local library
00:37:31.900here in Virginia. And I, you know, I got a chance to tell the stories of the gods,
00:37:39.340you know, just to young kids and really got a chance to kind of hone some of my storytelling
00:37:45.360skills there. And that story really does seem to balance out a perfect amount of comedy.
00:37:53.280There isn't a lot of necessity for lore to understand what's going on, but at the same
00:37:59.020time it builds the the the dichotomy between uh you know the the the kinslayer at a time in in the
00:38:09.820in the evolution of arc of the stories where he and thor are kind of counter pollating each other
00:38:16.080around a central mission or a central idea and also it really does show uh some connections
00:38:24.960culturally, like with the blessing of the hammer on the lap, showing that myths and our stories
00:38:32.660are like ropes. They have a lot of different tendrils that wrap around to express certain
00:38:38.260things. There's some levity in it, and I think that's something that a lot of people don't,
00:38:43.620they lose, like how you had mentioned with Odin about Gladstein. There is a levity that we have
00:38:48.800with our gods that I don't think should go into um like a sense of uh unpiety or or just where
00:38:57.060it's abashedly kind of rude but there are some of the stories that I see have survived that have a
00:39:02.560lot of levity and happiness with the with the gods but then at the end Thor is Thor and he's
00:39:10.800terrifying. He's scary. And I think that the children realize that Thor doesn't take too
00:39:19.740kindly to his hammer being stolen, that this conduit, this central force of power being
00:39:27.800stolen from the gods, places them in great danger. And Thor takes it upon himself to
00:39:34.880retrieve it and he has to go through all kinds of terrible stuff to get there but he does it
00:39:42.280because he needs to reconnect to it immediately because of the imminent threat that is placed so
00:39:47.700i i would say that that the of thor's hammer is one of my favorite stories um and it really does
00:39:55.120i think it's my favorite because it garners such a a great uh range of emotions and reactions from
00:40:01.420from the children when i talk about it and i say the story and i said it just talked uh did a
00:40:07.020reciting of it at uh winter nights for for the for the kids and a lot of the adults that after the
00:40:12.940auction came out some of them were coming out and they got they caught that story or at least half
00:40:17.260of it and seemed to really like it as well so that's my favorite you know i don't i don't know
00:40:22.780if it's my favorite but it's the one that strikes me when i saw the question i really like the story
00:40:27.180in the alvis mall where thor um has this very clever exchange with a dwarf that's trying to
00:40:37.500trying to get the hand of his daughter and it's it's a really good um first if anybody hasn't
00:40:43.900read it they should it's it's neat it's informative but it also shows a dimensionality
00:40:50.860to thor that i think a lot of people who like to compartmentalize our gods don't get
00:40:57.180Thor, big, strong, not smart box. And that's, that's a disrespect. Thor is a god. Yes, he is amongst gods. He is the strongest. But he's a god, nonetheless, because, because, and I've, you know, as a side note, a little bit of a tangent here.
00:41:16.980life's not fair um people like to equalize as if we're some kind of video game character or
00:41:28.340something that you've got a certain number of points to distribute and if somebody's really
00:41:32.780strong then they have to be dumb or they have to be slow or if somebody's really smart then they0.65
00:41:38.020can't no our gods are the best of all things um the the least smart god is much wiser and0.96
00:41:47.940much smarter than the smartest man that's ever existed um and it's really i don't know i think
00:41:56.900it's special to see thor you know exercise that uh that cunning in that way and so i really like
00:42:04.340Yeah, that's that deep-minded wisdom. And again, too, when we talk about Odin being the god of Skalds, one of the interesting things about Odin is that it is a poem to help Skalds learn the Haiti and some of the different names that they could utilize in poetry, but it's used through the medium of Thor, not Odin.
00:42:31.340Um, so it's, it's a very interesting thing that kind of, it really does shine. That's a great story as well. And I think that one of the first stained glass, um, window pieces that we are going to do is going to be Thor standing in front of Alvis while the sun is coming up, his impending doom on the horizon.
00:42:51.200I think that's a great idea. Freyr, I've heard Thor also being a god of gravity,
00:43:00.160and Mjolnir is not his weapon, but from what the lore tells us, different as Thor being
00:43:05.780protector of our ancestors. What is your opinion on his powers? Svan, go ahead and take a swing
00:43:12.880at that okay um yes to both of them again when i when i see uh when we talk about the idea of
00:43:22.500placing our gods into boxes or or perhaps setting up a throne for them to sit in for our for our
00:43:29.980people if as long as it's done with reverence the idea that this is how we culturally see
00:43:35.640the gods or we can again move that tripartite and and see thor at the high seat for the functions
00:43:43.900that we need from him is is good and important but when we start talking about the multiplicity
00:43:50.380of powers i would say yes to all i mean in in regards to when we talk about thor like let's say
00:43:58.640if we were to talk about Thor in a metaphysical sense or metaphysics or in a, I guess, yeah,
00:44:07.060metaphysics. So we're looking at metaphysics and we're talking about the power of Thor and his
00:44:11.800symbology. And I think that since the gods have told these stories to our folk, there was a point
00:44:19.020in which somehow, some way there was a bridge between the gods and man and man received these
00:44:24.640stories, there are hidden truths in them that are even beyond the scope of understanding at the time
00:44:29.960that they were even being spoken. So when we talk about Thor and Mjolnir, Mjolnir being the
00:44:36.740catalystic switch, being the point of connection, seeing the hands, the gloves, the right and the
00:44:44.340left, the polaric powers that need to be placed on the hands in order to hold the switch, to see
00:44:50.040the girdle of power placed around the waist, to see the iron rod placed within that girdle
00:44:56.000is all kind of just a gentle nod to that power that I think on a metaphysical and even very,
00:45:04.300very pliable physical level is understanding that Thor is of the earth and the sky.
00:45:11.300And we know now scientifically there are powers that are between those that we can't see.
00:45:17.600And one of them in particular is magnetism. And so we understanding Earth power, understanding something that was barely understood or was even just being gleaned at.
00:45:31.460But then scientifically, we can look at these things and see them very, very carefully.
00:45:35.520And all of a sudden it makes perfect application with the symbology that was already in place.
00:45:41.940So seeing Thor in connection to magnetism, in connection to electricity, in connection to the electron of the atom, yes, I see it.
00:45:53.320And I think that's when we start to really stop seeing the gods as just simply literature characters and start seeing them as bigger, more powerful things, the scope of understanding how far divinity reaches and how powerful they are.
00:46:11.180Then we go back and look at the symbology and we're like, oh, we start to see like a hidden picture going on.
00:46:19.520We approach the gods from a different place than they approach us.
00:46:26.340um we start out and when i say we i mean i mean our race is as as people start out as children
00:46:38.440who are ignorant of all the things around them and over history uh we as a people have learned
00:46:44.240all these different things but some of this is included in the in the idea when i use when i say
00:46:50.480you can't out science truth truth exists and science brings us closer to understanding those
00:46:58.880truths in a way or to quantifying them or to getting like how stuff exists but the gods aren't
00:47:06.240beholden to stone age science as science evolves i think it's no surprise that we find more and more
00:47:14.560really interesting correlations between our ancestral lore and and our gods um our gods
00:47:22.720interact with us with a full knowledge of science at least sciences as we understand it in uh in
00:47:29.600the physical world and so them communicating and showing truth to our ancestors in these in these
00:47:38.480ways it's nice as we get closer and closer to a more full understanding of science and how things
00:47:45.520work that it builds even even stronger or more bonds to understanding these images of our gods
00:47:54.880and how they showed themselves to our ancestors and that's kind of a beautiful thing and it's always
00:48:01.840it's always important and i know that the nature of how we do anything as humans is uh
00:48:08.480I don't know if empathy is the right word, but we see everything from our lens and from the depth of our experience.
00:48:20.980But it's important to know that we're approaching the gods from an infantile place, and our gods are reaching down to us from the realm of the gods.
00:48:35.600And so realizing that power, that wisdom differential and how that plays in, I think, is a fascinating way of just contemplating our faith.
00:48:46.920We all got we all got time that we do some navel gazing and just contemplating on these things.
00:48:51.360And as long as it doesn't get in the way of actual accomplishment or actual relationships, I think it's it's something we all do.
00:48:58.220And it's it's a special way. And if done right, it brings us closer.