One statement every group claiming to be Theodish makes is
that Theodism is difficult and not for everyone. Even
though this statement has become trite; it is true.
Theodism is difficult and not for everyone. The use of
ancient languages as ritual liturgy, the use of archaic
weaponry as symbols of numinous power, livestock sacrifice,
the strict observance of taboo, thralldom, the study of
obscure philosophers; all this is necessary for the
purposes of any theod and requires a great deal of time and
effort to accomplish. Theodism is often criticized
vehemently by those who know little about what it is we do
or why. Generally, the majority of these “criticisms” are
based on ignorance, shallow knowledge of lore and theology,
rumor and innuendo. It is irksome when these falsehoods are
all given more weight than facts about who we are and what
we do. Given our insistence on retaining the most
rigorous and sneered at elements of Theodism; one is
justified in wondering what about Sweartfenn Theod is so
appealing. One might wonder what sort of person would want
to be a part of something that is difficult to do and
derided by most heathens. While I'm not interested in
“selling” anyone on Theodism, I would like to suggest that
a certain sort of person will feel right at home with us
while most people will not.
When trying to judge whether or not a person is suitable
for our theod, a certain quality of character is foremost
in our considerations. It has been my experience that you
can teach a person of good character almost anything and a
person of poor character nearly nothing. A person of good
character who knows little of Germanic heathen culture is
far ahead of the most learned scoundrel. A person of good
character can learn our thew, read lore, spend time in
thought, word and deed to become one of us and will do
well. Without the characteristics of integrity, honor and
reverence for wisdom a person is really not going to be of
much worth to us. By only allowing the finest of folk into
the theod, we protect ourselves from the absurd game
playing that has been an unfortunate feature of Theodish
history. We also draw quality people by being exclusive.
Thralldom serves other purposes but it remains an excellent
way to separate the wheat from the chaff. This is
one of the purposes for thralldom. It takes the
sort of qualities that we look for in an individual to make
it through the worthing process of thralldom. Our kind of
people are dedicated, mentally tough, posses a willingness
to set aside their own ego in order to learn from the wise
and knowledgeable, are virtuous and can keep good humor in
the face of difficulty.
Sweartfenningas often think of themselves,
and have been accused of, being idealists. I'm not
referring to the “idealist” school of philosophy. By
"idealist" I mean a person that focuses on the pursuit of
the qualities and characteristics that were held in the
highest esteem of our Germanic ancestors. Our idealist
believes in the mythic hero. Our idealist believes in a
great and virtuous culture of a strong and proud people.
Our idealist also sees modern culture as degenerate and
knows he's nearly alone in his thinking and aspirations.
Our idealist knows that the fight against the degeneracy of
the modern world is one that is stacked against him. I will
call this fellow, the Jaded Idealist.
The Jaded Idealist believes that there is
such a thing as a true hero. This stands in opposition to
the common contemporary depiction of “action adventure
heros.” These characters are generally portrayed in a
cynical fashion and implying the idea that even “heroes”
aren't really all that heroic just lucky and possessing a
good PR team. They are tough, they are victorious, they
inflate their own legends and exploit anyone that will move
them toward riches, power and fame. This is not our sort of
hero.
The heroic ideal that we are look to for inspiration is the
embodiment of the highest ideals of Germanic culture. This
sort of hero is bold, courageous, cheerfully endures
hardship and sets himself or herself against that which
disrupts the wholeness of their community and culture. In
the modern world, it is not practical to fight such forces
with steel and fire as our ancestors did. It would be
disastrous to do so. In this world our battle with entropy
often comes in the form of preservation. We work hard to
preserve knowledge of ancient language, customs and wisdom.
We practice ancient crafts such as mead making, carving and
herb lore. We conduct ourselves in ways that would be
familiar and acceptable to our ancient forebears. All of
this flies in the face of the modern falsehood of
"progress" being among the highest of goods a society can
accomplish
It follows then that Jaded Idealist values and seeks out
groups of people who collectively believe in the highest
ideals of honor, tradition and community. Honor, tradition
and community are things beyond the reach of mere gold and
can only be won through hard and diligent work. He
recognizes that virtue is not something that an individual
achieves in a vacuum. There must be a cultural context for
virtue to live and thrive. One such culture is the
Anglo-Saxon people of pre-Christian Europe. A people of
substance and virtue are just the sort of people our
idealist wishes to surround himself with. It is though, our
wyrd to live in an age where goodly and worthy folk have
become hard to find. In fact, such people are thought to be
quaint by "sophisticated" and "cosmopolitan" culture we
find ourselves in.
There is much to criticize about modernity
and even more to say about the cynical nature of
post-modernism. Many cultural critics have pointed out the
failings of our modern world and continue to do so. Though
we are not always in agreement with these critics on every
issue we do find ourselves in agreement with the main
arguments of such critics as, Ananda Coomraswamy, Rene
Guenon, Wendell Berry, Huston Smith, Friedrich Junger and
many others. The primary issue that we find ourselves in
agreement with such traditionalists is that Western culture
is destroying itself with its focus in the profane and the
ephemeral.
Most Americans have no real conception of what Tradition
is. They do not want to know. Tradition celebrates many
ideas that modernity rejects. The Traditional man or woman
does not belong to themselves but to their community. The
traditonalist understands their place in the natural order,
works for the greater good of the community and lives their
life by the custom and tradition of their people. I do not
use the term "community" in the sense that it is frequently
used today to define a group of people who have the same
special interest such as the "heathen community" or the
"community of scholars." When I use the term community I
mean a group of people who belong to a culture and it
includes the land, the ancestors, the unborn and the living
things that the community relies on for its existence.
Tradition is opposed to individualism that tramples on the
well being of the community. It is a paradox in a sense
that what is good for the community is what is good for the
individual. Tradition enforces hierarchy and demands that
humanity functions within a certain set of limits where
modernists deny the worth of such hierarchies and limits.
The post-modernist denounces hierarchy as an artificial
construct of the patriarchy intended only for exploitation
of the weak and never serving a higher purpose. Tradition
is the antithesis of Enlightenment ideals that are claimed
to be the model for a “civilized” society but often ignored
by the oligarchy that claims dominion over us all. These
modern and post-modern theories are ultimately secularized
Christian thought.
This conception of Tradition is one of the
ways that it is difficult to be a Theodsman. We see the
lies and delusions of the modern and post-modern ideologies
all around us. The modern man holds up “progress” of
technology and egalitarianism and thinks himself clever
while ignoring all the ill these things cause. When
modernist and post-modernists attempt to correct the
destruction of their ideologies they make things worse by
applying a new variation on their already tried and failed
methods. They do all this while ignoring the simple and
elegant solutions that Tradition has for these ills and
could have even prevented were they adhered to.
This denial of Tradition is what makes most
people unsuitable for Theodism. Theodish ideals are
anathema to their way of life. To accept Theodish thought,
and thus Tradition as true, is to understand the enormous
dissonance between how we in the West live and how the
Traditionalist believes the world to function. It is the
case that ancient heathen ideals are not the ideals of the
modern West. Once one accepts this they must decide whether
to take up ancient practice and ideals or to take up the
superficial outer forms of such traditions without
understanding the deeper meanings of those forms. We choose
the former. I expect that Theodism will always be small and
on the margins of any society that measures itself by the
goals of the Enlightenment. Our ideals are not shared by
the host society in which we find ourselves. I like to
think that what Theodism is doing is helping to preserve
the kernels of what was once the core of the Germanic
culture and ideals until the cycle of creative destruction
once again bring Tradition back into its place. That is a
heroic task.
I've laid out the portrait of an idealist who is a
traditionalist at heart and holds up the Germanic cultural
ideals as one of the many valid cultural approaches to
wholeness and well being. Our idealist also knows that this
project of conserving these ideals and passing them on to a
few others is about the extent of what we will be able to
accomplish in the current cultural climate. A cultural
revolution back into Tradition is not in the offing. We
should not underestimate the value of this project of
cultural preservation. It is enormously important that
someone revive and preserve these things so that someday
they may be returned to the prominence they once held.
This leaves us with the question of what our Jaded Idealist
would find appealing about Sweartfenn Theod. I think that
such a person will find something that is often hard to
find for such people. Friendship and fellowship with like
minded people that can be counted on. Our kind of idealist
is a rare and nearly extinct creature. Humans are social
creatures. We want to be with others that are like us. We
want to be with other people who share our ideals and our
hopes and our goals. We want to have role-models for our
children, friends we can rely on in our moments of need and
to celebrate with in our moments of joy. In Sweartfenn
Theod, we believe in the heroic ideal that has served the
Germanic people so well. We hold to ancient traditions as
best we can and seek to preserve them by any honorable
means possible. We welcome anyone who holds to those
ideals. For people like us, taking part in such a group is
something of worth that is impossible to measure. Having
wise and erudite folk to ask questions of, learn from,
worship the gods with and drink with in fellowship is a joy
I have always sought and will always treasure. Any who
think that is something they would like be a part of should
contact me.
Further Reading:
TYR:
Myth, Culture, Tradition edited by Michael Moynihan
and Joshua Buckley
Revolt
Against the Modern World, Julius Evola
Crises
of the Modern World, Rene Guenon
On
Being Pagan, Alain de Benoist
