Honoring Nature

We have a very special relationship with Nature. We frequently make offerings to the Land Spirits. In fact, we often interact with the spirits of the land on a more frequent basis than the Gods themselves. We recognize that we too are a part of Nature –an equal part. We do not rule or have dominion over Nature but rather seek to co-exist with it.

In the origin story of our universe, the great primeval frost giant Ymir was formed from the melting drops of rime resulting from the collision of Niflheim and Muspell. In the first act of divine will to establish the cosmic order, the grandsons of Ymir, Odin and his brothers Ville and Vé slaughtered Ymir and shaped our world from his corpse. The sacrifice of Ymir was the first creative magical act. Snorri Sturluson tells us, 

“The earth was made of the flesh and the rocks of the bones, stone and scree they made out of the teeth and molars of the bones that been broken.” He continues, “out of the blood that came from his wounds and was flowing unconfined, out of this they made the sea with which they encompassed and contained the earth, and they placed this sea in a circle round the outside of it.”

The Grimnismal also reveals:

“Of Ymir’s flesh the earth was shaped of his blood, the briny sea, of his hair, the trees, the hills of his bones, out of his skull the sky.”

It is then of great significance that the first man and woman, Askr and Embla were not created out of nothing by God but rather manifested by Odin and his brothers. Askr and Embla had life as trees –-the very hair of Ymir. Odin, Ville, and Vé gave them spirit, breath, consciousness, movement, as well as the senses of speech, hearing, sight, etc. In this way, we are one with nature and trees of the forest –for it is into such trees that Odin breathed the spirit that makes us human.

Neither is Odin or the other Gods separate from the universe and nature, rather they too are a part of it. The great coming together of worlds at the timeless and spaceless void that was Ginnungagap resulted in life. It is through Odin, Ville, and Vé representing that great combination of Spirit, Will, and Sacredness, that the world and everything in it was manifested in a divine act –-not created.

The trees, stones, springs, and rivers are all formed from that great primal, ur-frost giant. We ancestors of Askr and Embla sense the spirits that inhabit these aspects of Nature. At full moons, and new moons, at our holiday celebrations, at our blóts in the woods, we leave various different sorts of offerings. These “local” spirits relate much easier to us than the Gods for they are very near.

As Ásatrúars we understand the importance of being good stewards of the land. We seek not only to conserve, but to honor the Nature that surrounds us. We don’t subdue or rule over the Earth but rather recognize our shared origin. Therefore, it is only right that we honor the Earth and all the spirits that live within.