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Oaths

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Oaths in Heathenry, Asatru and Norse Paganism

One of the phrases you’ll hear out there in the wide world of Asatru and Heathenry is that “oaths are an extremely important part of our faith.”

There’s some truth to that, but get this: Oaths are important everywhere.

To keep one’s word, or to speak one’s words carefully and truthfully is not something that is particularly religious in character. I can’t think of a single religion that’s going to tell you “yeah who gives a toss what you say, screw em.” Maybe if Piracy were a religion? Not sure.

Remember: most of this “oath stuff” comes from Heroic Literature, where people frequently acted in ways that were exaggerated or mythic, rather than a historical record of how people actually behaved day-to-day. While keeping your word has always been important, the notion of swearing a poetic oath is subject to romantic distortions. Not just our own romantic distortions, but distortions inherent within heroic literature.

Let’s take a moment to go through it, talk about it from both a historical and a practical perspective, and find out where this fits in your life.

Oaths of Fealty were the cornerstone of the Feudal System.

Oaths of fealty (loyalty/service) were the basis for the Feudal Socio-Political order, which was kept together by a network of such oaths.

A peasant would swear fealty to a Count, a Count would swear fealty to a Duke, a Duke would swear fealty to a King and a King would swear fealty to an Emperor. These oaths of fealty came with obligations to contribute for the common defense either in sending resources to your Lord in exchange for protection, or by being part of the levies (armies) raised when it came time for war.

Oaths were a Family Obligation as much as they were an Individual Obligation.

These oaths of fealty were generational. If I swore fealty to someone, my children would be obligated to that same oath I took, and their children, their children’s children and so on. They’d also owe that fealty to the succeeding generations of the family to whom I made my oath, or if a title changes hands, they’d have to swear fealty to the new family that claims that title.

For example, the current Duke of Wellington may not have personally sworn fealty to the current Queen of England, he has the same obligations that his great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather had swore to back in 1814 to whoever the King or Queen of England was at the time, save for any changes that his Liege-Lord would have made, or if the family who occupied that position had changed.

Oaths, Honor and Luck

The long Shadow of Groenbech and the Culture of the Teutons

A lot of early thinking about the importance of oaths in Germanic society came from a philologist in the early 20th century named Vilhelm Groenbech. Groenbech wrote the definitive survey on Germanic Heroic literature and poetry at the time called “The Culture of the Teutons” where he attempted to derive a picture of pre-Christian Germanic/Norse culture through a close reading of their literature and poetry.

It’s looked at as fanciful right now, to put it mildly, but the picture he constructed was critically influential to early attempts at reconstructing the pre-Christian Germanic worldview, culture and religion. Some people still swear by “COTT” to this day. To be fair to Groenbech, anthropology was only in its infancy then, so really the only game in town was philology or the “study of classical literature.”

Honor and Luck

Honor and Luck were two of the animating forces Groenbech identified in heroic literature, which he interpreted as being animating forces in everyday Germanic culture rather than mere storytelling devices. Heroes of old were compelled either by their Honor or their Luck to action. Oaths deeply effected both.

To summarize shortly and crudely, Honor had to do with reputation within a given community. Luck had to do with the relationship with the forces beyond–the spirits, the Gods and destiny.

For literary heroes like the ones Groenbech studied, an oath could make or break them. If you spoke an oath to accomplish a feat, you had to do it or you suffered ignominy with whomever heard that oath. If your reputation was suspect, someone (like Unferth did to Beowulf) could challenge your honor and your ability to keep an oath.

Oathbreaking also could effect your relationship with the divine. In fact, a broken oath could effect the Luck of whomever heard the oath that was broken. Whole communities could be destroyed as the ill-luck of the broken oath worked its way through generations.

But once again, this is heroic literature we are talking about. You don’t write something in heroic literature if it’s not of epic importance. Everything in a saga, myth or a poem is on the scale of the epic. You never see someone brushing their teeth in an epic, do you?

Modern Day Oaths

Today, many Heathens have made Oathmaking and Oathtaking a part of our religion. Some of us place more importance on it than others. Most oaths we take are within the context of people making oaths to other people in one form or another.

Not many traditions within Heathenry embrace the Feudal hierarchical Oath structure, but some do.

Theodisc Belief (or “Theodism”) characteristically embraces this hierarchical structure of Oaths of obligation. This establishes their organizational structure and lineage. Some organizations follow this model, but not many. It’s not common to see these kinds of hierarchical oaths of fealty anymore except within Theodism or traditions that branch off from Theodism.

Most groups have membership that is “oath-bound” but their obligations either are not defined at all, or have very limited definition

As an example: to take a volunteer position in The Troth, you have to take an oath of service. This is an oath with limited terms that you have to sign and date before you get to take the volunteer position. Kindreds, Freeholds or Fellowships and other types of small practice groups sometimes have more expansive oaths of fealty.

How do I make an Oath?

In the simplest form, you just make a promise to someone to take an action. There are a lot of variations on this and some oaths come with more pomp and circumstance, but that’s the essence of making an oath. You say you’re going to do something and someone says “OK, I’m going to hold you to that.”

Some oaths are made just between two people, others are made between a person and a group of people.

Sometimes people will put additional stipulations on those oaths like a due date and consequences for breaking the oath. In the end, some oaths can end up looking more like contracts than just a simple promise.

Here is a simple community Oath-Making structure

  • Person declares intention to make an oath
  • Another person in the community declares the desire to hear it (or says they don’t want to hear it)
  • Oath-Maker then says what they intend to do
  • An Oath-Hearer can then challenge the Oath-Maker
    • Doubts the reputation of the Oath-Maker (rarely happens and probably results in a fight)
    • Doubts the ability of the Oath-Maker to make good on the oath
    • Demands stipulations if the Oath-Maker should fail the conditions of the oath
  • After challenges are heard and stipulations are accepted, the Oath maker speaks the Oath in full
  • The Oath-Hearer acknowledges hearing the Oath

And then you go back to playing Boggle or whatever you were doing before.

Oaths and Symbel

Symbel is the drinking ritual where things get said over a drinking vessel. The words spoken in symbel are thought to have a kind of mystical power. “Toasts, Oaths and Boasts” is something common you’ll hear when we talk about what people say at Symbel. We talk about the rest in our article on Symbel, but here let’s just focus on Oaths.

You do not need to make an oath in symbel

There is no rule in Heathenry that says you must make an oath at Symbel. You don’t need to do that, at all. You also don’t only make oaths in Symbel. You can make an oath to do something anytime there is someone around to hear it and hold you to it.

OK but why do people do it so often during Symbel?

Some Heathens believe that the drinking vessel we carry during Symbel carries our words to the well of Wyrd–the repository of all of our actions. Now, you could counter and say “isn’t everything we say technically going into the Well of Wyrd?” You’d be right!

You can kneel and say some words anytime you like, but somehow when you pray it is different. Same thing with Symbel. While we can talk over cups anytime, when it’s Symbel, those words take on additional meaning.

Plus by the time Symbel rolls around, people are feeling in a particular mood. After going through a religious ritual like Blot, or a very good Feast, someone might feel like this is the right time for them to make a particularly significant pronouncement.

Can I make an oath to the Gods?

Can you physically do it? Absolutely. Is it permitted to do it? Well, I can’t stop you. No one really can.

But from a certain theological perspective, it presents a pickle.

Because when you make an oath to the Gods, you are by implication saying that the Gods may not know the outcome. Think about it: would you ever make an oath to someone who already knew whether or not you were going to accomplish it?

Imagine if I told you that I was going to buy you a beer next time I see you, and you already knew that I wouldn’t do that, so the oath that you’re hearing from me is worthless. Or let’s say you knew I was going to do it, then there’s no point to an oath because you already know it’s going to happen.

Oaths can only exist between people where the outcome is uncertain for both parties. If you had foreknowledge that I would fail in my oath, then why would you agree to hear it? And if you knew I was going to succeed, why would you bother hearing it?

From a certain perspective, an Oath to the Gods is pointless because They already know whether or not you’re going to succeed or fail in your obligation. This is the theological problem posed by making oaths to the Gods. You can do it, but ask what effect that is going to have? All in all, nothing.

Can I make an Oath to the Ancestors or the Spirits of the Land?

It doesn’t appear from Lore that Ancestor Spirits or Spirits of the Home or the Land have the kind of “outside time” view of events. But here, another question arises: what are the consequences if you fail or succeed in your oath and do they understand what the obligations are?

From a particular theological perspective, it isn’t wise to make oaths, bargains or anything with powers you don’t fully understand. Land and Home spirits come in all shapes, sizes and disposition and not all of them are well-disposed towards you.

Offerings are a good way to “take the temperature” and see how the relationship is, but even then, they might not understand obligations the way we do as humans. The many stories people have of running afoul of the “Fae Folk” should be a good warning. Don’t mess around with things you don’t understand.

Ancestors are a different story. Theologically speaking, making an oath to your ancestors should be fairly straightforward, but a problem arises when you consider what happens if you succeed or fail in fulfilling your obligation. And how would you ancestors fulfill their end of the oath if there were obligations on their side?

Oaths can be dangerous if not well-defined.

Taking an oath to join a Kindred is common practice, but you should be very careful about what’s in that oath. That oath could contain obligations that you are not comfortable with fulfilling, or they could have vague language where you suddenly get held to an obligation that you didn’t explicitly agree to, but that emanated from the vague language in the oath.

For example, say your oath in a kindred is to “render all aid to kindred members in need” and someone decides that means you need to give them all your money in order to help them buy a Pontiac Firebird?

It also can be dangerous because the witnesses of the oath also may believe their integrity is at stake. If the whole community hears the oath and witnesses it, then whether or not that oath gets fulfilled says something about that community.

It is not necessary to take an Oath to be Asatru

Just to be Norse Pagan doesn’t mean you have to take an oath, or make an oath. You do not have to say anything in Symbel or make oaths no matter what anyone says. If you want to make one, make one. Also, no one can force you to hear an oath you don’t want to be a part of.

What happens if I break an Oath?

What happens when you break any promise? People might think less of you. Your reputation as a reliable person suffers. People won’t trust you to follow through on what you say. The more oaths you break, the less people are going to want to be around you when you make them. Eventually, people will just find you untrustworthy. Someone may come to talk to you about the oaths you keep breaking and make an ultimatum.

You shouldn’t break promises to people. That’s not something you want to make a habit of. You certainly don’t want to get known as the person who talks a big game but then doesn’t follow through. Ideally, you will speak softly and have ironclad follow-through.

Making good on your Oaths is part of a good reputation

If you swear to oaths and then make good on them, your reputation for being a person of their word will increase in the community. This applies to any community you’re in, not just Heathen ones. Though Heathens have more formality surrounding oaths, just being true to your word in general is good for your character.

One thing I know that never dies: the reputation of the one who has earned it.

This is a paraphrase of a line from the Havamal. We often bring it up when thinking about oaths, but oaths have a lot to do with reputation.

We see media that shows Vikings as flashy or boastful, proud and sometimes arrogant. We want to counteract that narrative by telling you that Heathens in general appreciate humility more than we appreciate someone who pounds their chest all the time.

Humility is better than Boastfulness

This is as true in Heathenry as it is elsewhere in life. No one likes a braggart. That’s why there are so many bad epithets for people who engage in constant boasting, and that’s even if they can back it up. People like this just suck up all the air in the room.

It is better by far to be gracious when you receive praise for you work from others rather than to be boastful and constantly praising yourself. This isn’t a matter of being meek versus being assertive, it is about being steadfast. It is about being reliable. It is about developing a reputation for yourself as the person who gets things done or who helps others get things done. And ultimately, it’s about the work itself. It is about what you leave behind you.

Your reputation is what you leave behind, and it won’t be measured by how loud you spoke, but by how loudly your actions spoke.