"The oft-repeated saying that the monotheistic spirit of Yahwistic (early Judaic) religion did not tolerate any mythology, as we have seen, certainly needs qualification. Israelite religion was in older times a rather complex entity, leaving room for the idea of God surrounded by His divine assembly and accompanied by His bodyguards. In this polytheistic trend there was a tendency to express more fully all the richness of divine essence and to get it more concretely visualized." G. Widengren, "Israelite-Jewish Religion: Trends in its history down to the Maccabaean revolt" in Historia Religionum: Handbook for the History of Religions, edited by C. Jouco Bleeker and G.Widengren (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1969), Vol I, Religions of the Past, p.249.With the Protestant Reformation of the Sixteenth century the whole idea of any spiritual entity except Christ between the individual human being and the High God of Christianity, Yahweh ("the Lord"), became outlawed. Then Catholicism's relabeled Earth Mother, Mary ("Mother of God"), plus all of the multitudes of angels, saints and lesser supernatural agencies were banished to the limbo of unbelief. Whereas orthodox Roman Catholicism had previously absorbed every culture's local gods and divine forces into itself and virginized them, the Protestants cauterized Christianity completely, except for the divine saint they called Christ. Christianity had long since renamed the Germanic concept of Weird- the cosmic inframind- as "God the Father." But the new ultra-Christian, re-Judaizing movement of northern Europe went to extremes with the rejection of all pagan elements in the Mediterranean religion. Among other interesting items, they began to kill anyone, especially unmarried, economically self-sufficient women, whom they could accuse of practicing pre-Christian religion, a practice which they diabolized as "witchcraft." In such a manner they suppressed belief in the gods. Our gods. However, it is difficult to suppress manifestations of immortal beings. Today reports of all kinds are appearing about "angels" despite the attitude of amused condescension on the part of America's educated elites and, sometimes, despite consternation on the part of Christian clergy. The word "angel", from the Greek angelos through the Latin angelus, originally meant "messenger". (The word evangelical contains the same root and means "of a good message" or "of good news", hence "of the Gospel".) In many appearances to humans today they show themselves exactly as in Renaissance paintings, with wings and flowing robes. In others, they appear in modern dress. In still others, they have no human form but present themselves as voices or supernatural messages of various sorts. As the Sami (Laplander) shaman Auilo (or Ailu) Gaup notes in a videotaped interview with Reinhold Clinton and Ron McVan, the way in which we perceive the spirit world is culturally conditioned. It is a matter of indifference to the spirit world how we name its various intelligences for that world does not communicate with human language but telepathically, through direct meaning.
For us Asatruar, it is important to remember that when Jordanes wrote his De origine actibusque Getarum (ca. 551 C.E.), he explained the Gothic word anses (Gothic [plural nominative] ansjus, later Norse AEsir) as meaning "semidei", ie "demigods, half-gods", not "gods" corresponding to the Christian universal God. The pre-Christian, Germanic concept corresponding to the latter was Weird (Old English wyrd); this was the overarching, invisible Mind behind the visible universe. All things, including the AEsir, had to bow before its decrees, and so the name Weird came to be translated as "fate".
Christianity has now sterilized itself. Its most fanatical devotees, and especially the bibliolaters who specialize in really good sphincter control, continue to hold to this anti-human creed. But a religion without "all the richness of divine essence" becomes uninspiring after its original socio-cultural matrix has evaporated. As with Islam and Communism, once their seedbed has dried up, such belief systems become merely souvenirs of bygone times. They remain capable of convincing only with the sword, no matter how many backward people they hold in their sway or how great their political power.
The gods- that is, the AEsir and the Vanir- who are now manifesting themselves to our folk are attempting to reassert the primacy of the spiritual over the material. Naturally they are interpreted as "angels" in our Judaeochristian environment: how many times have you heard Euro-Americans speak of the "archangel Michael" appearing to them when it is clear to the discerning mind that this entity is in fact the As, Thor? Or how often do those who have had near-death experiences relate having seen a very un-Jewish "Jesus" who just happens to have blond hair and blue eyes (and is by inference uncircumcized)? There are other elements which do not at all comport well with traditional Judaeochristian indoctrination. There is the famous Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, who is now unfortunately suffering a painful old age in Cave Creek, Arizona. She was one of those who first made the U.S. aware that infinitely strange things were often happening around the death-and-dying scene. Now seemingly forgotten is the fact that for a number of years she promoted and participated in a kind of communal sexual religious activity. Although she gave other names for the various supernatural entities whom she encountered and who induced her to do this, such activity reminds one strongly of the promptings of Freyr and Freya rather than of some Bible-based spiritism. Naturally the atheist and Judaeochristian type cannot grasp that there may be supernatural beings and realities which do not fit their preconceived categories. But for us of Asatru, the gods are real and they are powerful, even if, because of their "angelic" nature, they exceed our earth-bound power to describe them. May they lead us to follow the will of the Weird!
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