The Einheriar and the Army of the Dead

Within Man there is something which is of a divine, higher origin, which is called in Norse Lore the litr godi. Together with this we recognise a divine and holy force at work in the growth of living things. There is that in Man which is not destroyed in death, and this we call the Life-Force. In some higher people this Life-Force lives on in its own body - these are the Immortals. In the Immortals the Life-Force or Divine Spark is far stronger and more powerful when they are no longer mortal Men. These Immortal Warriors are the Einheriar.

As powerful beings the Ancestors - the Immortals - live on to aid and fight alongside the Gods against the Forces of Darkness and Chaos. These are the Army of the Dead ruled and led by Woden the Wild Hunter-God, Wolf-God and Raven-God. The Souls of the Dead, as the Army of the Dead, take part in the battles of the living. The Germanic Mannerbund were ecstatic and cultic warriors in cultic union with the dead warriors of the Folk.

The souls of the dead warriors were symbolised by the wearing of masks, skeletal masks. This is linked to 'Halloween' which is really the Festival of the Dead and the Festival of the Einheriar, October 31st to November 11th. At this time the Ancestral Spirits return through the lifting of the veil between the worlds, return to guard the order which they established. The masks were the egesgrima (Old English) - the 'Terror Mask' - eges being 'Igg/Ygg' who is Woden - The Terrible One. The egesgrima is the Aegishelm - the 'Helm of Terror', the 'Helm of Igg'. It signifies the Cult of Woden as 'The Terrible One'. (*) The Cultic Warriors of the Mannerbund, once they were initiated into the Brotherhood, belong to the Immortals, and thus physical death means nothing to them, death is not feared. The hallowed members of the Cultic Bunds are Immortal and one with the Spirits of the Dead; the Heroic Dead incarnate in the bodies of the living amongst the Folk.

It may be that what some call the 'soul', which we may here refer to as the 'Life-Force' incarnates or resurrects in part, whilst the other part remains to fight this Holy War on another level, to fight as the 'Einheriar' beside the Gods. Thus part resurrects or incarnates on the physical level, leaving another part to fight in another 'dimension'. Thus the Fallen Hero wills part of his being to resurrect to continue the Eternal Struggle on Earth, like the 'avatar' or the 'boddhisattva'. Maybe, we cannot be sure, but this is an idea worth considering.

Woden is the Hidden God, the Unseen God of the Dead, the Unseen Dead. He appears in dreams as a figure dressed in black, or in black and red, a faceless figure. Where his face should be in the black or red hood there is a total blackness - a Void. Woden peers to us from the Void. Woden is today awakening the Folk-Soul of our people, awakening the Einheriar who are resurrecting in the Folk-Youth. The Harii, a section of the cultic warriors of Germania, blackened their bodies and painted themselves to look like skeletons - the Army of the Dead!

'But the Harii, savage as they are, enhance their inborn wildness over and above the strength in which they surpass the peoples just enumerated, by device and moment: black are their shields, their bodies painted; for battles they pick the blackest nights, and by their very dreadfulness - and more: the semblance of an Army of the Dead they produce terror. No foe can bear their strange and, so to speak, infernal aspect, for in every battle the eyes are defeated first.'

Tacitus - Germania.

Red is the colour of strength, vigorous youth, the Life-Force, Thunor the Thunder-God, of war. Black is the colour of night and the Cult of the Dead. Red and Black is the colour of the Einheriar and of the God of the Dead. We can see a clear account of these type of warriors - the Ulfhedhnar or 'Wolf-Skins' in the tales of Sigmund and Sinfjotli who, we are told, had slain  with their swords many of the Race of the Joten. The Joten are the 'Eaters of the Souls of the Dead', the enemy of the Immortals. The Eternal War between the Goten and the Joten goes on into Ragnarok, where we are today.

The killing of the Young Fool in the dramas is the death and resurrection of the Woden Initiate. Woden is the 'April Fool' who presides over the Dawn, the Spring and the 'Resurrection'. The figure of the Long Man of Wilmington is the 'April Fool' - Woden. The wod is the ecstatic trance, wrath, rage, divine intoxication, fury, frenzy; Woden is The Frenzied One and the Master of Wod (en/an = 'master').

The Vratya and the Maruts of Indian Lore wear black and fly a Black Banner; the Aesma of Iran fly a black banner, wear black and, like the Vratya, wear a belt (or two belts, one to symbolise the Cult Leader). Black is the colour of these Cultic Brotherhoods. Woden wears black or black and red, and he appears in our dreams as The Faceless One. He peers from the Black Void. His power is the Black Sun.

Woden has many similarities with the Irish Lugh, the Welsh Lleu; indeed there may well be more than we can tell at first glance. The name Lleu is said to mean 'Light', and when we consider that the Greek lycos can mean 'light', but can also mean 'wolf' there is a hint here that Lugh could originally have been the 'Wolf-God' even though nothing has come down to us of this. However, the late Norse and Viking figure of Odin is somewhat different than the earlier Woden who is The Hooded One and the Wolf-God. They are both the same yet some features have been lost; maybe Lleu has gone through a similar change. The Cymru (who may or may not have been what was known as the 'Welsh' today, were said to have come from the 'Summerlands' (Constantinople) and thus must have picked up far more of the southern tongue than the Northern Tribes. Lleu and lycos may thus have been of this tongue. The Irish Lugh closes one eye in battle.

Walpurgis Night has always been, like Halloween, associated with 'witches', but the name seems to infer something of a different nature. It seems to come from a 'St. Walburga', a Christian Saint, which obviously hints of a Heathen form transformed into a Christian one to be used for the purpose of the latter. But the name suggests - 'Burg of the Fallen' or 'Burg of the Dead'. This also seems to link to the Spiral Mounds which were the Walburgen, and thus the spiral seems to be associated with the Fallen Heroes - the Dead Warriors. 'St. Walburga' would thus be none other than our Lady Freya. Freya rules the Walburgen.

The Gift of Ing is the 'Fire of Origins', the Aryan Fire, the Eternal Fire that keeps alive the original Body of Light or Astral Body. This is the Hyperborean Blood, the Igneous Fire or Inga-Fire ('Fire of Agni') which is the Divine Spark or 'Light of the Gods'. This passes on after death and is the power and strength of the Fallen Heroes - the Einheriar. This is the Serpent-Fire or Kundalini which must be awakened in the Hero - the Wera. Again, this is associated with the spiral mentioned above. This Divine Fire or Agni-Fire is the 'Warrior-Fire' - the Fire of Ingwe. This is the 'Fire of Kon' (male) that burns in the Konungr (Cyninga), and the 'Fire of Kona' (Female) that burns in the Warrior-Maiden.

'Truthfully, in this age those with intellect have no courage and those with some modicum of physical courage have no intellect. If things are to alter during the next fifty years then we must embrace Byron's ideal: the Cultured Thug'.

Jonathan Bowden.

We may not have fifty years to change things. We have entered the Ragnarok, and the Eternal War between the Goten and the Joten decrees that we act fast to awaken our Folk. The Horn of Hama has sounded in the depths of our Folk-Soul, awakening Gods and Men to this Great Struggle again. Our Wyrd may be to go down in this Final Battle, and to bring the old world down with us; to wage this Holy War we need to recreate the Germanic Mannerbund made up of our best youth, to recreate the Cultic Brotherhoods, the Warrior-Cult of Woden. If we are already dead, then death can have no meaning!

The 'Warg' or 'Wolf's Head' became the 'outlaw', outside the boundaries of a society. This became a disgrace, but today we have to stand outside this corrupt and rotten society - so we are 'Warg', we are 'Wolf's Heads' and our symbol is the Wolf's Head. This is no disgrace, it is an honour, for we reject this rotten, corrupt and degenerate society. We are the new Barbarians of this falling world!

(*) Ygg or Igg may be related to Ugr (Rudra) and to the Og known here in England and these islands. Igg-Og-Ugr would be 'The Terrible One', a name of Woden in ancient times, and a name to make our enemies tremble. This may even be associated with Ing/Ingwe.

This article marks a turning-point since it is the 88th on this blog. I hope that it starts 2017 in the best way we can. Our Wyrd is to inspire our Folk to greater glory and to awaken our kinfolk to their True Destiny. The Woden Folk-Religion must be spread to the 'four winds' to awaken the Elect of the Folk. This is the Wyrd set for you - the Woden Folk-Community.