Oaths, Shild, Frith, Luck & Wyrd
Five Essays Exploring Heathen Ethical Concepts and their Use Today
Description
Links to purchase below
The Five Essays:
Oaths: What They Mean and Why They Matter
The Practice of Oathing
Threads of Wyrd and Shild: A Ninefold Rite of Life Renewal
Heathen Frith and Modern Ideals
Webs of Luck and Wyrd: Interplays and Impacts on Events
Here are five essays that explore aspects of Heathen ethics, based on customs from Heathen times but adapted for modern use.
There are two areas of particular importance in Heathen ethics. One is the growth and maintenance of ethical personal power or might and main: the inner strength and drive that is necessary to develop and sustain a good character and reputation, and to achieve worthy deeds during our life. The second is the pursuit of relationships and community life that promote individual, group, and community well-being and effective functionality.
Any thoughtful reading of Heathen history, old texts, tales, poems and sagas will show how important these two factors were in ancient Heathen life. This was generally illustrated in the old tales by showing the painful, cascading disruptions that were caused by failures of, and transgressions against, these ethical values and aspirations.
Modern Heathens can benefit from understanding ancient Heathen ethical views: both their strengths and their weaknesses, their pros and cons. Only by a thoughtful grasp of these concepts can we make best use of the elder ways as Heathens living in today’s world. This book offers philosophical discussions of certain Heathen ethical concepts, as well as guidelines for using these concepts to live ethically strong and spiritually healthy lives as modern Heathens.
Overview of the contents:
Essays 1 & 2: Oaths and the practice of oathing. The metaphysical meanings of Heathen oathing practice are discussed, along with extensive guidelines and suggestions for wise, healthy and safe oathing practice. “Fulfilled oaths build Heathen might and main, increasing our personal power.”
Essay 3 discusses the concept of ‘shild’ or moral obligation, moral debt, guilt or wrongdoing. It examines the connections between shild and one’s wyrd, and provides a ritual framework with extensive guidelines to help one in a process of life-renewal by addressing one’s burden of shild. “Unpaid shild wounds our might and main; taking responsibility for shild heals personal power.”
Essay 4 deals with the concept of ‘frith,’ which means not only ‘peace,’ but the whole social fabric that maintains peace and good relationships among families, groups, communities. “Frith is a fabric of interwoven might and main, created and shared by many: the roots of relationship and community.”
Essay 5 examines old concepts of ‘luck’ and their relationship to wyrd, then proceeds to analyze the roles of luck and wyrd in some of the historical events surrounding the time of Heathen conversion, and draw ethical conclusions from this analysis. “Luck and wyrd can be expressed through flows of might and main, discovered along the hidden, complex paths that lead to Heathen wisdom.”
Taken together, these essays offer thought-provoking insights and suggestions for living an authentically ethical Heathen life today.
Note that most of the chapters in this book are also available on my website, https://heathensoullore.net/. As with all of my books, I want to make sure that people who are interested in what I write have access to my work, whether they can afford the books or not. But if you can afford the book, your purchase is a great compliment and support to me, and I thank you! I am delighted if you choose to buy this book from any bookseller, but in response to many queries, I will mention that I receive a larger portion of the profits if you purchase from Lulu.
Click here for a detailed table of contents.
Publication Reviews
“Contemporary Heathenry is pretty good at making mead and getting together with the Gods, but what about the moral and ethical guidance / principles that most people expect from a religion? Some might say that Commandments are what we’re trying to get away from, but inevitably a time comes when we need some guidance. In Oaths, Shild, Frith, Luck & Wyrd, Winifred Hodge Rose draws on her extensive scholarship and experience to explore what the lore has to tell us about how the Old Heathens viewed certain ethical questions, and to offer suggestions on how these perspectives can help us deal with the challenges that we face today.”
~Diana L. Paxson, author of Essential Asatru: A Modern Guide to Norse Paganism
“Oaths, Shild, Frith,Luck & Wyrd both provides tools for individual and collective healing, and articulates important questions and challenges that we must consider as we adapt the knowledge and life ways of our ancestors to our contemporary context.”
~Sara Axtell, Ph.D. Lecturer, Family Social Science, University of Minnesota; Teacher and Elder, Healing Roots
Links to Purchase
Paperback book, available through Lulu.
E-book, available through Lulu.
