“How to pray to Odin” – from long lost history to the modern days
Are you engrossed in the Viking culture? Are you curious about “How to pray to Odin? The godfather of the Norse, of wisdom, death, divination, and magic. If so, this article is for you.
We have folklores and a tower of books about him. But the thing is Norse mythology, in general, is covered in a mysterious veil. The Vikings did not have any form of documentaries storing, therefore, even the mythology is some sort of puzzle. And yet, Odin, as the God Father, is the most curious. In this article, I would like to show you “how to pray to Odin” and later, a small discussion about praying in the modern days.
Praying in other religions
We do not know when exactly praying began. Perhaps it dated back to 10,000 BCE when civilization was formed, or even earlier when people were still living among scattered hidden tribes in the woods or secluded areas. To define praying, it is in the line of the spiritual field, in which people use praying as an invisible bridge to communicate to the divine beings, or we often called them “God”. The way people pray varies from one religion to another. They can pray on special occasions such as Thanksgiving. The wishes can be transformed through incantation, hymn, silent prayer, etc. It could be a personal intention or for others. In this part, I introduce to you the praying comes from Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, three well-known representatives.
Christianity
According to the Christian gospel, Jesus taught his disciples to pray to Lord. This is the model praying for adoration, confession and petition in Christianity. The most common ending way is to say “Amen”, which translated to “so be it”. Families often pray before starting dinner, as always depicted in a thousand movies.
Islam
Islamic praying, on the other hand, is different. The ritual is called “Salah”, and you must have a clean body, a clean place, wearing purity clothes to perform this. The prayers pray at five times a day:
- Salat al-fajr: dawn, before sunrise
- Salat al-zuhr: midday, after the sun passes its highest
- Salat al-’asr: the late part of the afternoon
- Salat al-maghrib: just after sunset
- Salat al-’isha: between sunset and midnight
This ritual has been over 1400 years old, be practiced five times a day by millions of Islamic prayers all over the world. In Islamic countries, it is often the scene of prayers come to mosques to practice the ritual every day. It sets the rhythm of the entire country.
Buddhism
Buddhism praying is considered as a secondary, supportive practice to meditation and scriptural study. According to Gautama Buddha, the prime figure of Buddhism, human beings possess the capacity and potential to become liberated, or enlightened, through contemplation, leading to insight. Prayer is seen mainly as a powerful psycho-physical practice that can enhance this contemplation, which is mainly referred to as meditation. Meditation, therefore, is the core of Buddhism praying.
How to pray to Odin
As you have been introduced to praying performed in three different religious. Now we come back to the Norse, which we intentionally think that they maybe share one or true similar ways with Christianity’s rituals (because of complicated history and movie’s portrayal). But in fact, it is not.
They do not “pray” to Odin
The concept of praying is from the Abrahamic regions where people think that it will be like Christianism. So, there are things should be clarified:
- Switching “God”, “Jesus” to “Odin” or “Thor” (the thunder god) is not that simple. You can just replace the names and expect that the ritual will work the same.
- The Vikings do not have churches. Their home is the nature, the exuberant forests. Therefore, the ideal place to perform the ritual is going to the forests, where you can release yourself from all the material things to go back to the origin.
- The pagans also do not have something like “Bible”, as a result, no guidelines or orders existed to show which one a worshiper should do to show their adoration to Odin.
The ways a native does
Most heathens look upon the god like Odin as their ancestors. As such, one addresses them, communicates with them, and beseeches them, but never “prays.” Besides, the Vikings are fearless people, they are the warriors, it is their nature. For that reason, they do not kneel before their gods. Yet, there are still some ways to “connect” to the deities. “How to pray to Odin”, in an appropriate way.
- You can invite him to your place by saying his name. Legend says that Odin loves poems, it does not require a specific one, and it is acceptable that you can write a poem by your own to express your admiration to him. Or you can find poems online and read them loudly or whisper the words in quiet.
- Norse gods prefer flattering words, hence, you can call Odin “a wise wandered”. I think this is the perfect describing.
- The last step is saying the purpose of your request, reason you invite him, what things you wish to be granted.
Praying in the modern days
To be honest, I think there exists no disciplined practice, an accurate one to guide everyone “How to pray to Odin”. Any method is accurate, because the important things is about your attitude, that you feel grateful to be alive, through daily simple activities like when you go to the campfire, surrounding yourself in nature. Every morning you wake up, pour coffee in your mug, and enjoy the sunlight. Even if someone would be atheist, I believe praying is the thing you consciously do. When you were worried about a person, or you wished you could have something. A praying is unintentionally built, and that is wonderful. All need a peaceful moment, far from the hectic lifestyle nowadays.
Ultimately, my first intention was to present you steps by steps “how to pray to Odin”. Then through this article progressed, I think the best lesson you can learn is to use praying as a meditation to ease the stresses in your life. And live a fulfilling life at every second.
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