Unverified Personal Gnosis (UPG)
The Lore
Be afraid, be very afraid! The reconstruction of ancient
Heathenry has put a lot of emphasis on The Lore. Making his the be all
end all of knowledge. First, the lore is important in understanding and
recreating the spiritual and religious practices of the ancient Heathens. However,
it was transcribed by Christian monks and has been interpreted by a lot of
people with different ideas. Pick up a few copies of Hávamál, go the same
stanza in each and you are going to find different interpretations. The meaning
might be somewhat the same, but the words are different. Basically, from the
first transcription to the latest, each other instilled their own person bias into
it. They used their personal understanding and knowledge to transcribe, interpret,
and translate. This is one of the first things I learned when getting my history
degree, the author, often unintentionally, puts his own feelings and opinions in
all he does. Isn’t that just UPG?
While I have hundreds of books on the subject, I do not put
all my eggs in one lore basket. I do believe that personal experience is
beneficial to the individual, the family, or the tribe. I believe that the
rejection of UPG by some is simple holder over anger from Christianity. Christians
often say they talked to God or Got talked to the or they had some sort of
religious experience. As heathens we tend to pish posh these experiences and say,
“silly Christians.”. This rejection of all thing Christian is our Heathen bias.
Individual UPG
Many Heathens are solitary just because of geography. I am
pretty solitary these days where once we had a great tribe, but I moved to the
middle of nowhere… anyway. UPG is somewhat of an individual experience. One might
seek out UPG through meditation and trance or it might just find them. How an individual
has a religious experience is sometimes by chance. I was sitting in a bar
and Woden sat down beside me and ordered a drink… No matter how, one has a
UPG experience, in many ways it is personal. I have read a few places that as a
Heathen you should be respectful and not talk about such things, but I’m
not so sure. You should be able to discus you experience with fellow heathens
with out fear, analyze it and make an assumption based on your feelings and the
opinions of your peers. It is your experience, and you can choose o shar, accept
or reject. You can make it a part of your personal beliefs or not.
Tribal UPG
Some believe that a tribe or group can had UPG together. This
would be, I assume, at some celebration, blót, etc., where the group all experience the presences
of a spiritual being. Let’s say that during blót some sort of euphoria or other unexplained phenomenon
occurs and many if not all of the tribe has the same or very similar experience.
This experience changes or enhances a tribal practice. Doesn’t this UPG then become
part of the tribal beliefs and practice? I would say it sure would. However,
that does not mean that it becomes part of the universal big picture. It is
purely tribal and localized. Historically we know that religious practice was
localized and varied by community. The practice of one village was not the same
as another, however they might be similar. These subtle difference are created
by UPG.
UPG and the Big Picture
In the old days of Christianity, the priest was the one who
talked to God and God talked to him. If you the pleb wanted to get a message to
God, you would go to the priest and pray with him. The priest was the conduit
to God. Over time this idea changed with Henry VIII, Martin Luther, and so on. The
King became the spiritual leader and eventually this privilege was passed down
to the people. In ancient Heathenry there is some evidence of spiritual leaders
that were a mor direct route to the gods, and there is evidence that the
people could do the same. In modern Heathenry we all tend to believe that any
one of us can communicate with the gods and supernatural beings with out help
form some spiritual conduit figure. Personally, that is the way it should be.
UPG in the greater Heathen community seems to be taboo and
mostly rejected. I did a search on the subject and a lot of Heathens seem to
publicly reject the UPG concept. It seems that somehow UPG is blasphemy in the greater
Heathen universe. “Who are you to question The LORE!” Anyway, because I
believe Heathenry is tribal I believe that on the world stage UPG will be
rejected. One reason, no one wants to go on the record saying this is how it is
because of my personal experience. I have seen a lot of Heathen authors and
YouTubers shown the door because they offered a personal opinion based on UPG. Anther
reason, we have become scholars. Over my almost 40 years as a Heathen, I have
seen a ship to scholarly Heathenry that places all most all emphasis on lore,
sagas, and texts. We have become purely academics. Again, nothing wrong with
learning and history, but there has to be balance. Myself, I spend more time in
practice than in books. As Heathenry stands today UPG will never be accepted on
our Heathen universe, it will remain individual and tribal.
My UPG
I have had UPG experiences and in many cases I accept them,
in some I do not. I have been able to enter a trance state and travel out of
body to communicate with the gods. I have had conversations in pubs with both
Woden and Thor. I can feel the spirits in trees and on sacred grounds. Physical
feelings that are like vibrations or small electric shocks. I have received signs
and gifts from the gods when I have asked for things through prayer and offerings.
Throughout the years these things have influenced how I practice and, in the case,
when I was Dryhten of my tribe it influenced all of us because I was trusted as
a leader.
I do not dictate my UPG to others. I might discuss it and
debate it, but I have never told anyone this is how it should be (because I
said so). My UPG is mine and if I am a tribal leader and the tribe decides that
my UPG is valid they can chose to accept it or reject it. That’s what makes UPG
ok.
As Heathens we need to accept the fact that everyone is
going to have a unique experience and somewhat different interpretation. We do
not have an official bible, prayer boor, or any of that. What we have is a
bunch of individuals, organizations, tribes, and individuals with unique
perspectives.
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