Valhalla I’m Coming! Articles / History, Legend & Myth Posted by Makarios on Mar 13, 2010 - 02:00 PM By Bernulf Oswin Thought I would take the opportunity to address something I feel is a misconception of Heathenry…a misconception held not only by many non-Heathens, but some Heathens as well. The misconception I’m talking about is that being Heathen is all about fighting, battling and getting drunk…all in the names of our gods, of course…and that the ultimate goal of any Heathen should be to enter Valhalla. This may have actually been true at the height of the Viking Age, specifically among nobles and warriors who were going out to the slaughter every year. Odin – who was originally equated to Mercury by the Romans – was transformed into a furious battle god, who demanded blood, death and mayhem to beef up his ranks of Einherjar. The Christian chroniclers of the age would certainly have agreed…anything that would demonize a Heathen god was to be put in writing, so that people for a thousand years and more would instantly believe the lies. The Christians who wrote a few hundred years after the Christianization would have been obliged to continue these lies, to demonstrate how bloodthirsty and uncivil the Heathens were until they accepted Jesus into their Heathen hearts. But it’s possible that Christians weren’t the only ones who manipulated the truth to their own favor…it is just as possible that Heathen chieftains, eager to increase their wealth and prestige and in need of young warriors to accomplish this, may have also ‘tweaked‘ a little here and there. After all, we can see plainly today the effects of manipulating a religion so as to glorify killing and death. This article is from WiccanWeb.ca   http://www.wiccanweb.ca/ The URL for this story is:   http://www.wiccanweb.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=26532