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The role
of the Godhar!
I think that some attention needs to be paid to the role of
the Godhar. Whilst in some respects it is 'up to the group' how they will
approach this role there is, in fact, quite a bit of guidance as to how this
roll was understood in the heathen period. This is especially true in
terms of the Icelandic sources, which give a fairly clear indication as to
the roles and functions of the Godhar. Despite the depth of the
Icelandic sources we must acknowledge that the word itself is fairly old and
there are even a few Runic inscriptions, the oldest of which is 5th century,
which use the word or cognatic words to describe a traditional heathen
function. Hence we can be rather sure that the role is a fairly
traditional one even though its exact nature may have changed or been
reinterpreted in the later Viking period.
This being said we must acknowledge that despite the age of the title in
order to have an understanding of its exact function we really do have to
consult the Icelandic tradition. As a title it indicates that the
person holding that title has both social and religious or sacral
prominence. The role is one with both socio-political and religious
functions, the Godhi wielding a form of power that would seem to slide
between our modern categories of politics and religion. This in itself
serves to demonstrate the close link between the world of life, especially
the soicio-political realm and the world of the divine. Which itself
forces the modern heathen to rethink the relation of religion to politics
and social life - our ancestors were not secularists who sought to divide
the sphere of religion from the realm of ethics and politics, rather for
them the divine penetrated all aspects of their culture. Hence the
sacral power of a religious functionary flowed resonated with the temporal
power of the socio-political functionary - one could not hold sacral power
without holding temporal power and one could not hold temporal power without
in turn holding sacral power. A person with a powerful hamingja is a
leader in both realms, for hamingja is a holy main which manifests through
worldly actions, the luck of the leader was something that was intimately
linked to the realm of the holy.
So the role of the Godhi is something like an amalgamation of the duties of
both the chieftain who wields temporal power and religious functionary who
wields sacral power. In the later Icelandic tradition and after the
conversion to Christianity the role of the Godhar became more and more
social and political and less religious. This is a process that we can
see occurring through the history of the Icelandic republic, for obvious
reasons, the social changes that began in the beginning of the Viking era
continue to erode traditional Teutonic values and practices. The
coming of Christianity to Iceland only served to compound these shifting
values.
Regardless of this the title of Godhi is a title that is given to those of
social and sacral prominence. It is a title which indicates more than the
sacral power of the religious functionary and more than the temporal power
of the political official. This is how it must be understood today.
In my own group most people have at some point undertaken to perform some
sacral function, indeed I would hope that all heathens would aspire to
undertaking some form of sacral function. Yet I do not take this to
mean that we are all Godhar, that any person who performs a religious
function should hold the title Godhi or Gythja. If this was the case
then I think that the title would lose much of its meaning and significance.
The Godhar would come to be the majority of our community.
In the Icelandic tradition it does not seem that every mistake that the
Godhar makes is going to cost him his Godhord. The role was more complicated
than the idea that one mistake will cost you your title. Sure the
hamingja of the group is bound to the head of the group just like the
Aettfylgja, the clannic fetch is associated with the head of the group. The
Aettfylgja does seem to be transferable in many senses, but it is not so
mobile as to pop from individual to individual every time a leader messes up
or does something that the group does not agree with. Furthermore when this
does happen, when an action of significance is taken which could have
'negative' consequences upon the hamingja of the group, the most appropriate
(and I think the most traditional) thing to do is to determine a course of
action that would bring equilibrium.
Action and consequence must be met with counter action in order to bring
things back into a state of balance. The law of reciprocity plays out
at the level of action. Significant actions effect orlog and only a
significant counter action can work to bring things back to balance.
Understanding this relation between temporal action and the sacral spheres
of orlog and hamingja is part of good leadership
The honour system especially as it existed in Iceland gives some indication
of how this works in the practical sphere. If the holder of a Godhord in one
area slights my own Godhi, then he has been dishonoured. If my Godhi
does nothing in response then he admits that he is a lesser man than the one
who slighted him and this very inaction is, when considered as a response to
offence, a significant action and thus forms part of that Godhi's orlog.
Furthermore this inaction is a mark that says a great deal about the
hamingja of my Godhi, which is itself intimately linked to the hamingja of
our group. This situation can only be rectified through taking some
kind of action, some kind of counter action - not necessarily violent - that
can equalise things. This serves to try to counter the bad orlog that
has been laid but also serves as a further test of hamingja, a further test
of luck.
Anyway in regard to the role of the Godhi, I think we have a fairly clear
indication of the traditional nature of the role, or at least how that title
was customarily considered. I think that this is a role or a title
that we should give sparingly, it should be bestowed on those members of our
community that show not only a capacity to lead us in Blot but also those
who show the capacity to lead our communities. It cannot serve as a
title for every heathen who has ever offered blot to the gods but rather
should be reserved for those who have played important roles in both sacral
and temporal leadership.
Ragnar -128!
Of; Das Haus Aarlig
In; Al-Thydhjagardh (Australia).
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