When using norse code to discern the runes you shouldn't do it one rune at a time. You should Hávamál laid out at once.

"I’ve never prayed or given offering to you before but I have felt your pull” that gave me goosebumps

As someone who was raised without religion, I'm struggling to fall into prayer. But this video is helping, so thank you.

I told a Christian friend recently that I was Heathen his response was to ask me if I was “slitting chickens throats in my garden and offering them to the gods” my response was to ask him if he was burning unmarried women for practicing witchcraft in his garden to please his god, luckily we laughed and are still friends mainly because he’s not a devout Christian and hasn’t been to church for a long time

As a new pagan who has come from the Christian faith, this was very helpful. The only channel I was listening to for the longest was The Wisdom of Odin. But I find your videos to have so much more factual and historical information. So ready to see more videos. Again, thank you. Gods guide you.

"Norse code" the pun police are here 😂

I grew up in Sweden, in a village called Landvetter. I always thought it came from "direction and view of the land" but never considered that the "vetter" part also can mean spirits ("vätte", in Swedish).

When I pray I offer honey, food, and spices or scents. I prefer to use candles as prayer focal points. I try to only ask the Gods for aid when its a dire need. I use quick prayers to praise. I'm still new to paganism but I feel a strong connection to my Gods and I might be on the right track because I've noticed many of my practical requests are granted. I'm appreciative of the pagan community as a whole on KZfaq. I feel more free as a pagan then ever as a Christian!

I pray mostly to Freyja. If I need to ask another deity for help, I ask Freyja to ask with me. Freyja came to me before I knew who she was. I was just a young kid who was going through a really tough time and didn't have anybody who I could really TURN to. My family loved me, but things were tough for them, too, and they didn't have the time to help me. But, Freyja did. She has helped me so many times.

I do not know if you will see this, but I wish to thank you. For years I've heard of the Norse Pagan religion and Vikings, and something about them has always felt right. I was baptized Catholic but never attended church, nor did it feel right to pursue. But looking into the Norse Pagantry and reading about it's history and how it's taught and videos like this, make me feel like this is the right path that I am travelling on. I sometimes feel out of character aligning myself as a Norse Pagan, as I'm a mixed Mexican-American, but at the basis it simply feels right to me. These videos are an immense help, so I thank you truly.

As one raised as a southern Baptist I remember prayers over feasts would take so long one would find themselves feeling quite faint with hunger in waiting for the ending of the prayer

I've spent my life as an atheist, a while ago I started to find interest in norse paganism. For a long I put off my interests because I didn't know how to go about it, but thanks to videos like this I feel comfortable enough to start practicing. Thank you so, so much.

You had me at “ I was raised Southern Baptist so I can say that” haha. I was raise Irish Catholic so I see how we end up seeking the gods

This is exactly what I have been struggling with for the past couple of years since I began finding my way. I admit I have been trapped in the mindset of not wanting to pester the gods with "my small and trivial day to day things", and "Is THIS a worthy thing to pray to them for?", as well as "I don't have anything appropriate to offer, maybe it's best I just work through this one myself" so many times. Occasionally I direct a one-sided conversation when I'm alone to either Odin or Tyr when there is a difficult conundrum/dilemma that I need to put my thoughts into words to properly asses what's going on but I'm unsure if that really counts for anything. I like to think that including them in my inner dialogue helps align myself to them in some small way, but idk. I never really "got" how to pray to the Christian God, and I think that's carried over.

It feels good to have some sort of guidance behind, but if anybody feels to do it otherwise, it is ok to deviate from that structure of course. The relationship with the gods is the most important thing

that norse dad joke at the beginning XD and that southern baptist line about it being 2+ hours, I really felt that lol

I've come to this path alone with only small amounts of teaching. I'm absolutely binging your channel right now.

Good video. There is still a common misconception that, "We do not pray." More pervasive is this bad idea that, 'We do not kneel." I sure do. I've done it at a public blot. I've bowed as well, though I can't source it, I still do it. I usually stand, as you say, due to physical comfort. I worship gods from more than one pantheon, but I am very heathen heavy. I think part of the problem is Steve McNallen having pushed the Konan the Barbarian idea where we simply don't ask for help but rather achieve achieve achieve in spades and then show the gods the reat booty we have won in their honor by way of battle... and only battle, and we should never ever ask for help like ever because heathen are always completely self reliant... unlike those mere mortal hippie Christian liberal. OK, that's hyperbole, but the point is, one problem is we have this misconception in North American heathenry that we can't just be regular humans who ask for help sometimes and aren't always #WINNING! Obviously, it's good tp out in our share of the work, but asking for help is a legit form of prayer. And, yes, sometimes, we can't always make offerings, or when we can, they aren't always the best. Sometimes, all we have is a piece of ham sandwich and apple juice. Odin says to give within our means, after all, and sometimes, our means are meager. It's OK to give something other than mead. Maybe someone is a recovering alcoholic. Maybe someone just doesn't drink. Maybe a person puts their heart and soul into making fudge, so fudge is a more meaningful sacrifice than a horn full of mead that they had shipped to their house. My situation is that, I fortunately know enough Heathens IRL and have enough lay people's sources to have a good idea what to do and what not to do and to break Catholic habits of thinking about things like religious observance. Now, what to do about Baltic observance? Well, I have to learn some songs in other languages. Until then, I feel safe using Heathen ritual as an acceptable roadmap. What do I do about offerings to Mesopotamian gods? Um...... I learned one format in an audiobook called "Mesopotamian Religion", but there are really no books that I know of that are lay people's 101 type books to get one's practice off the ground. So I'm gonna do it wrong. I accept that. As I learn and practice, I will do it better and better. I will go slow though because doing things better and better takes time. Anyway, thank you for the video. I think MANY new heathens need to learn, "Yes, you get to pray. Yes, you get to ask for help sometimes. Yes, you g et to make offerings that aren't not the heads of your enemies. No. You don't have to shout loud enough for them to hear you in Asgard. Yes, we sometimes kneel. Yes, I'm serious. Yes, the arch heathens knelt. Yes, it's in source material. No, not every heathen does it the same. There is no one excat right way. No, you don't have to be a Viking. No, you really aren't a Viking. Yes, cool period cloths, but no, we're not Vikings, and that's OK." :-D I needed to learn all of this in my own time, and I'm sure I need to learn more! And I will.

This is great. I whole heartily agree with this.

Wonderful video, and it's great to see you so active again!

This helps me on my path to be more of a self practicing Asatruar. I know a lot of other folks, who follow the Norse tradition, will get at me for being self-practicing, but it's the path that works best for me. I have to quote the late Robin Williams when I say, "I used to think the worst thing in life was to be all alone, it's not. The worst thing in life is to be around people who make you feel alone." Why be a part of a so-called "community," of anything, much less other Asatruar, if all there going to do is put you down and limit you. I don't buy into either the Folkish or Universalist Concepts of Asatru. I Hail to the Gods in my own way, but that doesn't mean that I don't keep an open mind and limit myself to only wisdom from Asatru. I also like what Bruce Lee said, in regards to Jeet Kune Do "Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, and add something uniquely your own." So in other words fuck the idea of, "you're not a real heathen/Norse Pagan/Asatruar, because you (insert lame excuse here)."

All your videos are so well done and informative. PLEASE keep them coming!

Glad I came across your channel, good stuff. It’s insane how only a couple years ago there wasn’t much content on this nature , now there’s a plethora of everything you can think of , appreciate your efforts!

People that have reverted back to their cultural religions fascinate me. I honestly would have thought that that well would have been poisoned by Christianity and Secular reasoning. I'm an atheist myself and I'm very much intrigued by your content on all of this. You're doing fantastic work!

Just found your channel and I love the clarity in which you express the concepts. Thank you.

Thank you for this - the sincerity and respect is refreshing.

This and other videos like these from several creators have been helping me on my own path, thank you so much and keep up the great work ^_^

I just discovered your channel here a few weeks ago. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, knowledge, and wisdom. Love all the videos so far. AWESOME Job!

Thank you Ocean! This is a very informative video.

I love your videos super informative and well-spoken.

Excellent video. After watching your style of content on Heathenry, I don't know how I ever watched anybody like WoO and took them seriously. Your content is much more mature and informative.

Your content is really good. You don't over do it, (like a southern Baptist prayer xD) and you don't minimalize it to the point of nothingness. Just enough info to get us going in the direction we seek. Thank you for sharing. And thank Odin that you have the knowledge and the wisdom to share!

Had to join you're advice is amazing for new people to the faith like myself

Nice to see this kind of intro content entering the KZfaq stream. I think recent events have shown there are a LOT of people out there looking for it, and this is the kind of content they should find! Thanks for everything you do!

I'm a new young follower of the Norse Gods and I just found your channel, and it's so much more helpful than I thought it would have been. It's nice to know I'm not alone in what I chose to follow. Thank you for sharing what you know, it really does help clear things for me and am sure for others too.

Thank you! Regarding land wights, in Finland we have a tradition to leave porridge out as an offering to the house tonttu (Swedish: tomte, nisse), especially around Yuletide. This was a form of thanks for the care that the tonttu gives the household and its livestock throughout the year, and to ensure that this care would continue. I have always found this tradition very intriguing.

Thank you for answering so much questions ❤🖤

the humor and information in your channel is great

I've now watched a couple of your videos and think they're great and have great comments to them. Keep up the good work/postings all :)

I'm totally new to Heathenry, I tend to believe to the Gods but I'm not sure, you're one of the channels who help me and thanks you for that, I don't understand everything, but I'm eager to learn, thanks you

Really insightful, it's great you acknowledge the literature of the Greeks and Romans. I find a lot of strictly Norse polythiests try to go at prayer amd not use the ancient Mediterranean sources, because it's not Norse. The only thing I hear used is Germania. But had the Norse/Germanic peoples integrated into the Greek or Roman society or at least be respected enough to be written about more, I think we would find they shared a lot of customs. Not to mention the very nature of polytheism is to adopt other gods and practices into the faith. The Greeks did it as cited by Herodotus, he literally says the Greeks got the names and nature of the gods from the Egyptians. I think the same attitude needs to be given to Christian practices. It's the religious heirarchy structure that is the problem. Not the personal practices. If we're ever going to reconstruct and revive the old ways, we really have to accept that.

Really enjoying these videos for two reasons. First being on the academic and organic side of information and the realisation on how our religion is. Secondly the side of open discussion, its not restricting any ideas on how to pray or restrict step up and down like the 'Vatican Rag'. Since firstly finding your videos I've gotten much more information, much more soruces YOU display in your videos which is so helpful to encourage independent thinking and researching. You are doing our community great service and I seriously hope your channel grows as its been such a twist of fate to finally find someone who is as well with teaching and discussing our religion with an academic and open minded sense.

This absolutely helped clear my head of so many questions I have had. I began to gain what I once called “fog brain” and felt “a prayer of thanks or guidance would be bothersome” but now I feel more confident in my path again and will once again say my thanks and ask for guidance again. Thank you

Good information, and well researched, as always. Please keep up the good work! You are an excellent teacher, as well as a great ambassador, as it were, for pagans in general and heathens in particular. Well done!

Thanks for this, while I have felt the call of the gods for quite some time, I have only recently heeded their call and figured out who they were. As such, this type of video is infinitely helpful. Weirdly enough ritual is one of the less alien parts to me despite being rather new due to my background in witchcraft and magic, still I struggle with the minefield that is Folkism when trying to find information regarding Heathen ritual. Obviously prayer and ritual aren't exactly the same but I've always found more ritualistic settings when praying to be helpful.

This is great. I really like that you touched on the Landvættir, I generally feel much more drawn to “spirits of place” than I do gods, at least that’s how I perceive them.

I'm glad i came across your videos, and channel. So far, after 10-12 videos, i have to say i do not disagree with anything i've learned so far... I've always been a norse pagan, as far back i can remember, but i've never really educated myself in terms of the gods, and the lore... It's only recently, after a blood clot in the brain, that i've started to really feel that i need some closer connection with the gods... My life has always been really hard, and i've often attributed it to "Karma"... Maybe i was a really bad person in a previous life, so i had to suffer in this one... But about a year ago, i met this really wonderful woman, in NY, and she stole my heart... So the past year have been a real blessing for me, and i often find myself thanking the gods, for their help in making it happen... So, thank you, for some really good and strong content, and helping me evolve as a pagan... You've gained a new follower, and i'll be sure to comment from time to time, with my own personal insights and experiences... Hail all, from Denmark !

This was a very helpful video. Thank you.

I got a Christian ad just before this video 😂. But this was really helpful since I'm still getting used to praying to the gods! ❤️💪

First time I've seen your mug.... So far so good. I'm give your words a ponder

This was so helpful. Thank you.

I appreciate Your work and content. Thank You

Thank you for the excellent information!

This resonates deep within me- I feel this makes so much more sense- and somehow more respectful than the way I was taught etc.

Love you're videos keep up the good work. May the Gods walk beside you always good sir.

Thank you for this amazing video.

Thank you this is helpful, I am still learning, and I need to find books on the deities and spirits so I know where to direct my prayers.

watched a couple vids now, youve won me over, im now subbed and the bell is on. good stuff man

I love that I stumbled upon this page May the gods be with Hail from Canada

I'm a devout Christian, but I always have loved Religious Studies, History, and other such studies, and I used to be SUPER into Norse and Germanic Myth (not in the sense of worship, I was just academically interested). Your channel seems very objective and respectable. Overall I love this channel and respect your way of explaining your beliefs and as far as I can tell you're very tolerant of other religions.

Awesome video and much appreciated

I just wanna thank you so much for all of your content as a new Heathen, particularly the video where you disavow “Wisdom” of Odin, whom I, admittedly, followed for quite a bit before realizing the racist undertones of how they practice. You rock, man, and I love your content (not just your advanced knowledge, but your silly puns at the beginning always give me a chuckle).

The southern Baptist comment had me cackling like a madman. That was one of my pet peeves while attending church. Thank you for the good laugh!

I am a new subscriber and a new follower of the Norsepagan faith, I stumbled across your vids in my feed and I'm like a sponge and want to learn more, thank you for the content. SKAL!

Thank for your work!

jason and the argonauts, love your intro segment

So I'm new to Heathenry, and I've loved your videos! I have since said two prayers. The first was quite awkward and more like rambling. My second just now was a little better, but I'm still getting the hang of it. Not sure if I was supposed to hallow the space, but I figured it's a full moon, why not lol. I find doing a ritual of washing my hands, preparing the offering, and lighting candles gets me into a mood of reverence. The actual prayer was more just me talking to the gods and thanking them for things in my life I've had success with, almost like sharing stories with friends lol, followed by the ask and offering. Maybe I'm making it more mentally difficult than it needs to be, but I hope I'm doing it right. I did enjoy talking with them :) it made me notice I should probably be more grateful for things in my life.

Thank you so much for this video.

Thank you again for your helpful words

I love watching your channel!

Thank you for this ♡

For a long time i wanted to change my faith, your arguments and videos helped to shine a new light on what i should follow, thank you.

Purely addicted to listening to you!

Not gonna lie, the Norse code thing had me in the first half. 😂

Very informative. Thank you.

I am new and learning. This answered alot of my question

Appreciate you endlessly.

A) This is fantastic! I stumbled upon your channel and am so thankful for it. I am learning so much! B) One thing that has always confounded me are sacrifices. I know *about* sacrifices and understand them in theory, but in practice I am just so lost. Do I set aside food and then throw it out? Eat it myself? Donate it? Place it somewhere outside? Etc. etc. I know there are /plenty/ of ways do sacrifice, but it still remains rather daunting

I feel the same way as many here, though I have very seldom prayed, it was in times where I have felt lost or hopeless. This video has cleared up questions in which I never knew who to ask for answers, or where to look. I now can strengthen my bond with the gods

Thank you for your help and on this subject

God damn it, you had me going for a second there. Norse Code, completely blind sided me. I'm pausing to comment and hit that like button just on that. Found your videos after watching several videos from Belief it or Not, and these videos are quite fascinating. Thank you for sharing.

I'm happy the KZfaq algorithm put your channel in my path as I greatly enjoy your content and your voice. Are you by any chance considering a podcast version of this videos? That would be great.

Your content is appreciated. I have been an eclectic witch and Wiccan for nearly two decades and have recently become drawn toward either a new path or something that I may incorporate into my current practices.

Thanks again. This'll be useful tomorrow. I like to pray early in the morning before working out.

My mom's norse pagan, my dad raised me around romani traveller pagan festivals. They raised me to love everyone and everything, i think I'm ready to learn about my faith more. I'm ready to learn with my siblings, no matter your gender, sexual orientation, background or race. Odin welcomes everyone, hes the all father, not the some father. Skal to all my siblings, who have love instead of hate. Love from a nonbinary bisexual pagan, to others like me ❤️

I don’t know why but I started tearing up towards the end of this. I feel like I finally found what I’ve been looking for

Thoroughly enjoyed this video

Great video!

Dude, please, MORE!!!

Another great video! I love how I've been praying is basically what you said! Glad to know heathen praying has a format lol. Question. Could you maybe do a video about evil/malevolent spirits (dare I say demons?) in heathenry? I own many books but can't really find a whole lot on the matter. Again, great content! Keep it up!

finally someone who has done his research! never seen your channel before mate but I'm sticking around. agree with everything you said, every time i see someone post "I don't kneel" or "I walk among my gods and an equal" a small part of me dies.

This is very impressive and informative. I will add these ways to my grab bag of arcane wonder.

Thank you a lot, I had difficulties to pray, cause I didn't know HOW. Thank you very much

I’m not Heathen, though I am a pagan, and would be interested in hearing more about the landwights. Are they something similar to Nymphs or nature spirits? That’s just a guess

Thank you Ocean.

Excited 😊

i would like to share something with prayer that made rny day earlier. i am traveling and the rain began to quickly get very heavy. even the lights of other cars were hard fo see, forget about seeing the road. i called upon any and all who were listening, thanked them for the beautiful rain, but asked all rain deities and anyone else in charge of water to thin the rain. right as i finished, the rain immediately lightened. i can’t stop thinking of how incredible it was. when i reach my destination and get settled, i’m making a foliage crown and laying it in the river, as an offering for their reign over the earth.

Im new to Norse Paganism and am still learning and these videos are informative and inspirational.

I have been seeking knowledge A master of sorts, somewhere to start and inform myself. Thank you ocean Hail to u and your family. May you inspire many more.

I'm soooo happy that I found this channel as I have just come into the heathan faith and wanted to learn more.