One of the foremost dogmas of the modern world is that children must be 'socialised', they must always be with other children, never alone with themselves. This dogma spreads into the grown-up world where the 'loner' (or perceived 'loner') is often seen to be a threat; when explaining some maniac who lets loose on a killer spree the term 'loner' more than likely appears in the press and media. As if everyone who seeks solitude, peace and quiet where they can think, is an 'extremist' or a 'lunatic'. Let us look at this from a different perspective, a perspective appropriate for a more sane world that we would wish to live in.
Friedrich Nietzsche foresaw the splitting-off into two distinct types of man - the 'Ultimate Man' who would have the slave-mentality and herd-mentality, and the "Superman' who would have a master-mentality and rugged individualism which creates great strength and the 'Will-to-Power'. The former - the 'Ultimate Man' - is the dying species of mankind, the masses of today, 'The People', the consumer; the latter - the 'Superman' - will one day be the master of the Earth and will create a renewal of Nature and the spiritualisation of the Earth. To prepare the way for the 'Superman' it is necessary that those who will this break away from the 'mob', the 'masses', the 'consumers' and become hermits or solitudes. This he sees as a necessary step to the creation of the Superman.
Thus, it is necessary today to become 'solitaries', to break free as far as we can from this society. I say 'as far as we can' because it is necessary to do this over time, step by step, achieving the small 'victory' at each step of the way. As Nietzsche stated, these 'solitaries' will one day be a 'people', a 'chosen people' because they have chosen to do this of their own free will. Out of this 'chosen people' will come the Superman - of the future.
'The Strong Man is Mightiest Alone' - People need to be alone sometimes, alone to be able to think without distraction. Being separated as a Folk-Community should never need to be a drawback, since there are times when we need to work alone, to work as individuals, but foremost to drive ourselves of our own Will. To strengthen the Will. This is the will to overcome, to go beyond, to strive to go beyond our own limitations. This has to be something personal, something only you can do, something only working alone can do.
'Socialisation' is merely a catch-phrase to hide the agenda to have children pushed into the 'mob', forced to 'integrate', forced to become part of the modern 'collective', into the herd, the flock of sheep led by their 'shepherds'. This is why the first thing that those who are appointed to oversee 'Home Schooling' ask if the child is 'socialising'; so long as they are still pushed into the herd that is alright. Woe betide the one who needs to be alone sometimes! As I said, this flows over into adult life where everyone is encouraged to join some group or other, to work with others, and above all to be driven by others - and not driven by themselves. Today there is a drive for 'integration' into the 'multi-cultural society'; everyone has to become part of this, even if it means becoming part of a degenerate, decaying and dying society - becoming the 'Ultimate Man'.
Many people who have come to us to join the Woden Folk-Community first ask the question - 'Is there anyone else I can contact in my own area? Fair enough, people today who do what we do can become isolated, but should this really bother us? No! Because we operate as a small group of Wodenic Activists, together with supporters who make up the Woden Folk-Community, then we will be few and far between. In the USA people will be even more spread out, this continent being much larger than our small island. But this should not be a hindrance, it should not make us give up because we have to work alone. Think on this, once you start to get involved there is someone in your area - YOU! From this you can build up through your own effort and will.
I have to work alone most of the time because there is now no-one else in my area, or at least no-one who works with me within Wodenism. That does not stop me doing what I have to do, indeed it drives me on to do what I have to do - I have to drive myself. We are also part of the Woden Folk-Community and are definitely not alone, even though we have to work alone most of the time. Our Folk-Moots here in England bring us together. Then we work as a group, as a Folk-Community. Our strength lies in the many individuals striving in some way towards bettering themselves, and joining the struggle for the freedom of our Folk and the healing of the Earth.
There are going to be times when we may get complacent, or times when we feel that we cannot go on with the work; this is natural, I have felt like this many times, even more so of late. Times when we feel down, we feel things are not going right, and at these times we make excuses to ourselves, excuses to get out of doing what we have to do. We make excuses so that we do not have to do something. Doing so is a sure sign of weakness, and it is this weakness that we need to overcome. Making excuses is a weakness and invokes 'because'; 'because' is negative and must be transmuted into something positive. 'I cannot do this because....'. Because of what? Because I do not feel like doing it? Because I cannot be bothered to do it? Making excuses is a weakness of mind because it gets us out of doing something through convincing ourselves that we have an excuse for not doing something. Yes, no doubt we all do this, but we have to train ourselves out of doing so.
When you say 'I cannot do....because' or 'I cannot go...because' think clearly of what you are about to say; is this because you really 'can't' or is it because you cannot be bothered. And then think about the excuse you are about to give yourself. Is this true, or something you are about to make up to convince yourself that you cannot do it? Making excuses to yourself is a weakness; convert this into a strength by doing what you thought you could not do. Will yourself to do it.
Although we work alone it is also important that we build the Folk-Community, the Tribe of Woden. We have always used the Wolf Totem as our own and the mottos -
The Strength of the Wolf is the Pack
The Strength of the Pack is the Wolf
Wolves Amongst The Sheep
Rise and Rise Again
Until Lambs become Wolves
The Wolf Pack is a fitting symbol for our Folk-Community since it is a 'pack' of 'individuals' and not some sort of collective in the modern sense of the term - it is not a 'herd' or 'flock' with a 'shepherd' to lead it. But any such Folk-Community will be stronger when the individuals within it are strong and individualistic. Rugged individuals who can work alone, and strong enough to drive themselves, and have an abundance of the Fiery Energy and Life-Force needed to carry on against all odds. Individuals who are able to carry the Flame of Freedom into the future.
Comfort, ease, happiness, the safety in numbers, these are all reserved for the man of today - the 'Ultimate Man'. Self-overcoming means taking ourselves out of that 'comfort zone', taking the hard way, taking the way of the 'Lone-Wolf' sometimes; to overcome oneself one must first have to struggle, not 'take the easy way out', not take the easiest route, not seek 'happiness'. Yes, seek Strength through Joy which means gaining in strength and will in the most joyful way we can - enjoy striving and struggling against all odds. We lone-wolves who stand alone against the world - against all odds! Did not Ragnar Lodbrok laugh in the face of death!
We are here not to change society but to change ourselves; how can we change society if we cannot change ourselves? In changing ourselves we can lead others, encourage those who are asleep to awake and change themselves, overcome themselves, overcome their limits and take up the same struggle for freedom. We have to change ourselves, we have to overcome ourselves, our aim is self-overcoming. That means striving to better ourselves, striving to become stronger, striving to become more healthy, striving to become greater, striving to overcome the limitations placed upon us. Striving to become free men and women once more.
'To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life' - to eat of the Tree of Immortality, to become 'as gods', to become the 'Superman'. To him that 'overcometh', those who take up the path of self-overcoming, of self-sacrifice rather than self-preservation. This starts with the 'lone-wolf', the 'hermit', the 'solitary', who is able to stand on his own two feet and not have to have others around to help him. Self-sacrifice, not self-preservation is the key to overcoming the self; when we overcome the self we find the 'Higher Self'.
The essence of Nietzsche's teaching is that man can overcome himself due to his own free will and his own efforts - in this he does not need a 'God' to do it for him. This is where the mistake is made in the idea of 'worship' of a god; this does not mean to venerate a god, bow down before a god, it means to emulate a god, to strive to become like that god. That is the original and true meaning of the word 'worship'; thus we 'worship' Woden not because we bow the knee before him, but we try to become Woden. Woden is an archetype that we strive to become - the Aryan Archetype.
In Nietzsche's Will-to-Power or Will-to-Might we can see the life-energy that permeates everything; indeed, is this not unlike the maegen known to the English? Our word 'might' is derived from the same root as maegen - *magan. It means 'strength' or 'power'; maegen means 'power', 'main strength' or 'force'; thus it is part of the Life-Force that permeates the Cosmos. It is an aspect of the Life-Force conferring confidence, ability, success and the will-to-win. Heroes like Beowulf were said to have an abundance of maegen; this was their personal power which they built up within themselves. The Root *magan means 'to be able', that is, to be able to achieve something. It is their personal Will that enables them to achieve. I think this is what Nietzsche means when he uses the term 'Will-to-Power' or 'Will-to-Might'.
The above shows that maegen is built up in the individual, though some individuals will no doubt have more than others of this force and energy. The aim must be to increase this, to build this up within oneself. In order 'to be able' we have to transmute negative energies into positive energies; to do this we have to transmute the negative thoughts of the mind into positive thoughts - to stop using 'excuses' for not doing something and do it. Weaknesses must be transformed into strengths.
Maegen is in direct opposition to the term used in the Eddas - ergi - a term meaning 'softness', 'laxness' and 'unmanliness'. There can be no softness, laxness or unmanliness within the strong and virile - the Cultic-Warrior. The Socialist feels vile and blames others for it, the Christian does likewise but blames himself. Both strive for 'equality' and only the weak promote 'equality' because they hate anything that is better, stronger, more powerful than themselves. Anything that has more might and main. Judaeo-Christianity tamed the 'Blond Beast' the 'Teuton', as Nietzsche declared; 'Saint Paul' spread the weakness and softness that would render the old Roman Empire powerless against the forces of degeneration and decay. Today it is the remnants of Christianity, the forces of Liberalism, Humanitarianism and Marxist Socialism that preach 'equality', i.e. the weight of the masses pulling anything higher down into its depths!
Another concept linked to maegen and to miht is hael or heil; this is the power of kingship, meaning 'luck' or 'good fortune', but with somewhat different connotations than these words are usually taken to mean. Hael is something inherent in the higher type of man, the kingly type of man; it is also built up in the individual, and can be lost or taken from the individual, just like we see in 'luck'. There is a higher meaning to this in that a sacral king was imbued with 'luck' (hael) but he could also lose it; in such cases the king no longer served the needs of the tribe in that when his 'luck ran out' so did the 'luck' of the tribe. There were instances when the king was given up as a sacrifice when this happened. Certainly his 'luck had run out'!
The Wolf, the Bear, the Boar and the Stag were the animals usually used as tribal totems; these represented the strength of the tribe since all of these animals are associated with strength. The Raven was also a tribal totem, this being the Bird of Battle that feasted on the flesh of the dead warriors. The Horse symbolised the Sun, and was used by the Germanic peoples who were descended from the most ancient Solar Race. The Sun is the prime symbol of Light, of Energy, of Power and of Creation. The Solar-Race are the Creators, the Creative Race. This is the Arya and the Aryan Race.
The aim within Folkish Wodenism is to create the 'Cultured Thug' of Lord Byron, postulated by the late Jonathon Bowden. We usually refer to this as the 'Warrior-Thinker' who is a blend of the 'fighter' and the 'intellectual'. Rather than today's intellectual who has no courage, has no 'balls', no strength to fight, and today's fighter who has little intelligence, we wish to blend the two into one strong individual, strong in mind, strong in body and strong in spirit. This 'New Man' must overcome himself, become stronger in will, in power and in mind and spirit - the highest spiritual beings are the strongest. The Strong Man is Mightiest Alone - the 'Warrior-Thinker' must be the end-product of this urge to self-overcoming, the urge to struggle against all odds, the urge to evolve, to create the Superman.
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