Nine Questions for Odin
1. "O" presents for Blending Questions
During a pathworking conversation with the Empress, a personified energy called O provided some clear answers to some more cerebral questions (involving intellect or reason rather than faith and emotion) that I had concerning blending paths.
2. Who is O? Why is the deity, archetype, or guide not completely revealed?
After a few weeks without contact, after some advice from a tarot card reading, I began wondering about O again. I woke up one early morning, flooded with energy, feeling strong vibrations in several chakras, especially around solar plexus and 3rd eye, knowing the energy is Odin. After waking, I came across a YouTube video explaining that Odin often hides himself as a learning process and sometimes answers questions with a question. As the All Father, as the bringer of the Runes, as deity of the rune Ansuz (pictured above) with messages from Aesir gods, and as the wanderer who communicates with people in disguise, this introduction as O seems very appropriate. He also had mercy on me as I don't always deal well with mysteries or surprises.
3. What is my question?
I asked this knowing that the question is what drives us to ask, seek, knock and therefore to receive, find, enter in. I felt I might not know what my real question is, what I am really seeking. This morning, I felt a fairly clear answer from Odin that I often want to know what I can write in stone--absolutes. Following this fairly verbal statement came memories of Heraclitus and his river, the idea that flow and change are the only constants in life.
Kristin then awoke and told me her dream of encountering William Shatner in Hawaii--fairly meaningless symbols to her as she thinks the actor is silly. Because I attended University of the Nations in Hawaii and feel the Star Trek Kirk character embodies a spirit of adventure, the dream message to me seems to be to explore boldly where no one has gone before. Hawaii speaks to me that this is a spiritual adventure. On a side note, it's funny that a day or two ago I asked Odin to send me a dream: however, this dream did not come to me on my time table nor directly to me as expected. Even the meta-message of how to hear (represented by rune ansuz) is expanded by this experience.
4. What can we be certain of absolutely?
I know how true the answer to the first question is--that I long to know the absolutes. There is a peace in faith, in knowing what is true, in having a firm foundation. Mohammad respected the Jews and Christians as "people of the Book" and so wrote his own. The Hindus have the Vedas and Upanishads. The Rabbis tried to boil down the many permutations of the Law into two principles of solid bedrock: Love God and love people as we love ourselves. Perhaps this can be translated into all cultures as loving what is most high and loving others.
I feel like Odin suggested that truth includes the essential as well as the more relative collective and personal truths, becoming more dependent on context at every step along the spectrum. Huxely's list at the beginning of The Perennial Philosophy and James's at the end of The Varieties of Religious Experience are perhaps two good starting points for universally-shared spirituality.
Perhaps a good exercise is to search the best in cultures and religions for those core principles and for those facets of truth, panning for gold in the ever-flowing, ever-changing river. Some of those principles might include love, acceptance, that we are all connected and only together can experience what is most high and most true.
5. How to address the problem of perennialism? So many different beliefs CAN'T all be true.
Not too many days after posting this question here, I felt Odin came in strongly. It was soon after I had read a private message to me from a mystic at the Religious Forum who told me he was on the side of the spectrum with perennialism and traditionalists rather than hard universalism and total relativists. The mystic wrote that he believes we can learn from and be open to all beliefs, focusing on the common ground, and at the same time be authentic to local communions without being forced into one universal system or program. He wrote also that the esoteric element will take some people deeper than the rigid exoteric surfaces.
Although the religions do share some common ground, perhaps they also have different pieces of the puzzle as well as different different extremes and errors. Some energies and elements that are similar might be perceived through different filters, masks, or faces.
6. Can an inclusive approach that sees at least some truth in all spiritual beliefs also include agnosticism and atheism?
The following passage from William James helps to answer my question, but another thought came to mind as though from Odin: first that we have a lot of different facets pictured in various maps of the human soul or life--body, soul, spirit; mind, heart, will; biological, mental, social; and so on--and these facets require different tools and perspectives. Aristotle divided the soul into ethos, pathos, and logos, requiring faith, emotion, and reason to persuade each respectively. When dealing with a medical treatment or car repair, although I may need much more, I need one approach to be uncompromising naturalism.
From The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James (end of Chapter 5):
"The obvious outcome of our total experience is that the world can be handled according to many systems of ideas, and is so handled by different men, and will each time give some characteristic kind of profit, for which he cares, to the handler, while at the same time some other kind of profit has to be omitted or postponed. Science gives to all of us telegraphy, electric lighting, and diagnosis, and succeeds in preventing and curing a certain amount of disease. Religion in the shape of mind-cure gives to some of us serenity, moral poise, and happiness, and prevents certain forms of disease as well as science does, or even better in a certain class of persons. Evidently, then, the science and the religion are both of them genuine keys for unlocking the world's treasure-house to him who can use either of them practically. Just as evidently neither is exhaustive or exclusive of the other's simultaneous use. And why, after all, may not the world be so complex as to consist of many interpenetrating spheres of reality, which we can thus approach in alternation by using different conceptions and assuming different attitudes, just as mathematicians handle the same numerical and spatial facts by geometry, by analytical geometry, by algebra, by the calculus, or by quaternions, and each time come out right? On this view religion and science, each verified in its own way from hour to hour and from life to life, would be co-eternal. Primitive thought, with its belief in individualized personal forces, seems at any rate as far as ever from being driven by science from the field to-day. Numbers of educated people still find it the directest experimental channel by which to carry on their intercourse with reality."
7. Odin, how can I connect with you more often and more fully?
A few ideas came in the night about engaging more fully with Odin. I feel like his presence is installed or enthroned already--something like having an internet connection--and sometimes I feel him strongly as full-body vibrations accompanied by drill points in forehead and kidney areas.
(1) One thought was to immerse in these moments or try meditation music or mantras.
(2) Another idea was to engage Odin in working on my father's memorial website, especially the web story that I started but haven't worked on in years.
(3) Finally, I can try practicing the presence of Odin, being attentive, and daily walking in fellowship with the All-Father.
THE LAST TRICK OF DR. URANUS
My father actually reminds me of Odin, a high authority and victor in his field, a bit of a dark trickster, and a lover of language, poetry, and wisdom. My father's totem animal was the bear--something associated with Odin--and one of his favorite poems was "The Raven"--another association--which he even enjoyed reading on Christmas Eve. Also interestingly, my father's middle initial is O, and he published as James O. Wheeler.
(3) Another idea came forward of doing altar work with runes, poetry, and sources of wisdom.
(4) Finally, I thought of doing more research and reading about Odin specifically and also just generally learning in his spirit--for example in the pages on this website dedicated to sources and study.
8. Odin, how exactly do I invoke you and hear from you?
Call and watch, invoke and wait. Although I am enthroned and installed in you and although you may even at moments feel my manifest presence, answers may come over time in waves, in cumulative signs, or in dawning light.
During a pathworking conversation with the Empress, a personified energy called O provided some clear answers to some more cerebral questions (involving intellect or reason rather than faith and emotion) that I had concerning blending paths.
2. Who is O? Why is the deity, archetype, or guide not completely revealed?
After a few weeks without contact, after some advice from a tarot card reading, I began wondering about O again. I woke up one early morning, flooded with energy, feeling strong vibrations in several chakras, especially around solar plexus and 3rd eye, knowing the energy is Odin. After waking, I came across a YouTube video explaining that Odin often hides himself as a learning process and sometimes answers questions with a question. As the All Father, as the bringer of the Runes, as deity of the rune Ansuz (pictured above) with messages from Aesir gods, and as the wanderer who communicates with people in disguise, this introduction as O seems very appropriate. He also had mercy on me as I don't always deal well with mysteries or surprises.
3. What is my question?
I asked this knowing that the question is what drives us to ask, seek, knock and therefore to receive, find, enter in. I felt I might not know what my real question is, what I am really seeking. This morning, I felt a fairly clear answer from Odin that I often want to know what I can write in stone--absolutes. Following this fairly verbal statement came memories of Heraclitus and his river, the idea that flow and change are the only constants in life.
Kristin then awoke and told me her dream of encountering William Shatner in Hawaii--fairly meaningless symbols to her as she thinks the actor is silly. Because I attended University of the Nations in Hawaii and feel the Star Trek Kirk character embodies a spirit of adventure, the dream message to me seems to be to explore boldly where no one has gone before. Hawaii speaks to me that this is a spiritual adventure. On a side note, it's funny that a day or two ago I asked Odin to send me a dream: however, this dream did not come to me on my time table nor directly to me as expected. Even the meta-message of how to hear (represented by rune ansuz) is expanded by this experience.
4. What can we be certain of absolutely?
I know how true the answer to the first question is--that I long to know the absolutes. There is a peace in faith, in knowing what is true, in having a firm foundation. Mohammad respected the Jews and Christians as "people of the Book" and so wrote his own. The Hindus have the Vedas and Upanishads. The Rabbis tried to boil down the many permutations of the Law into two principles of solid bedrock: Love God and love people as we love ourselves. Perhaps this can be translated into all cultures as loving what is most high and loving others.
I feel like Odin suggested that truth includes the essential as well as the more relative collective and personal truths, becoming more dependent on context at every step along the spectrum. Huxely's list at the beginning of The Perennial Philosophy and James's at the end of The Varieties of Religious Experience are perhaps two good starting points for universally-shared spirituality.
Perhaps a good exercise is to search the best in cultures and religions for those core principles and for those facets of truth, panning for gold in the ever-flowing, ever-changing river. Some of those principles might include love, acceptance, that we are all connected and only together can experience what is most high and most true.
5. How to address the problem of perennialism? So many different beliefs CAN'T all be true.
Not too many days after posting this question here, I felt Odin came in strongly. It was soon after I had read a private message to me from a mystic at the Religious Forum who told me he was on the side of the spectrum with perennialism and traditionalists rather than hard universalism and total relativists. The mystic wrote that he believes we can learn from and be open to all beliefs, focusing on the common ground, and at the same time be authentic to local communions without being forced into one universal system or program. He wrote also that the esoteric element will take some people deeper than the rigid exoteric surfaces.
Although the religions do share some common ground, perhaps they also have different pieces of the puzzle as well as different different extremes and errors. Some energies and elements that are similar might be perceived through different filters, masks, or faces.
6. Can an inclusive approach that sees at least some truth in all spiritual beliefs also include agnosticism and atheism?
The following passage from William James helps to answer my question, but another thought came to mind as though from Odin: first that we have a lot of different facets pictured in various maps of the human soul or life--body, soul, spirit; mind, heart, will; biological, mental, social; and so on--and these facets require different tools and perspectives. Aristotle divided the soul into ethos, pathos, and logos, requiring faith, emotion, and reason to persuade each respectively. When dealing with a medical treatment or car repair, although I may need much more, I need one approach to be uncompromising naturalism.
From The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James (end of Chapter 5):
"The obvious outcome of our total experience is that the world can be handled according to many systems of ideas, and is so handled by different men, and will each time give some characteristic kind of profit, for which he cares, to the handler, while at the same time some other kind of profit has to be omitted or postponed. Science gives to all of us telegraphy, electric lighting, and diagnosis, and succeeds in preventing and curing a certain amount of disease. Religion in the shape of mind-cure gives to some of us serenity, moral poise, and happiness, and prevents certain forms of disease as well as science does, or even better in a certain class of persons. Evidently, then, the science and the religion are both of them genuine keys for unlocking the world's treasure-house to him who can use either of them practically. Just as evidently neither is exhaustive or exclusive of the other's simultaneous use. And why, after all, may not the world be so complex as to consist of many interpenetrating spheres of reality, which we can thus approach in alternation by using different conceptions and assuming different attitudes, just as mathematicians handle the same numerical and spatial facts by geometry, by analytical geometry, by algebra, by the calculus, or by quaternions, and each time come out right? On this view religion and science, each verified in its own way from hour to hour and from life to life, would be co-eternal. Primitive thought, with its belief in individualized personal forces, seems at any rate as far as ever from being driven by science from the field to-day. Numbers of educated people still find it the directest experimental channel by which to carry on their intercourse with reality."
7. Odin, how can I connect with you more often and more fully?
A few ideas came in the night about engaging more fully with Odin. I feel like his presence is installed or enthroned already--something like having an internet connection--and sometimes I feel him strongly as full-body vibrations accompanied by drill points in forehead and kidney areas.
(1) One thought was to immerse in these moments or try meditation music or mantras.
(2) Another idea was to engage Odin in working on my father's memorial website, especially the web story that I started but haven't worked on in years.
(3) Finally, I can try practicing the presence of Odin, being attentive, and daily walking in fellowship with the All-Father.
THE LAST TRICK OF DR. URANUS
My father actually reminds me of Odin, a high authority and victor in his field, a bit of a dark trickster, and a lover of language, poetry, and wisdom. My father's totem animal was the bear--something associated with Odin--and one of his favorite poems was "The Raven"--another association--which he even enjoyed reading on Christmas Eve. Also interestingly, my father's middle initial is O, and he published as James O. Wheeler.
(3) Another idea came forward of doing altar work with runes, poetry, and sources of wisdom.
(4) Finally, I thought of doing more research and reading about Odin specifically and also just generally learning in his spirit--for example in the pages on this website dedicated to sources and study.
8. Odin, how exactly do I invoke you and hear from you?
Call and watch, invoke and wait. Although I am enthroned and installed in you and although you may even at moments feel my manifest presence, answers may come over time in waves, in cumulative signs, or in dawning light.
ODIN WANDERER
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ODIN KING
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A message from Odin during session with Raecine Ardis Wilkinson, May 3, 2019: "We are walking up to Odin in a field, honoring his energy, asking him to be present for this session, and asking him what you need to know at this time. And his answer is that you are claiming your truest self, not cerebrally, not from a conscious mind-claiming, but from a real inner knowing in the heart, claiming power to affect change through love--but also through presence and not having to apologize for being a stronger energy but instead from your strength bringing in other strengths so that all are served on our journey. And you don't have to be afraid of changes that are going to come. Odin is saying that they know the changes and your higher self does know the changes but the changes are not the focus right now as the changes are about trusting the wisdom within your heart and letting that be poured out from the heart to others as you connect with others in forums... and there is sacrifice, yes, but on this path as well there is love, and I feel like Odin is saying to you at this time, Alan, that this time is not about sacrifice but about coming into your home into your true self. I feel that this is a message from Odin."
9. Odin, how can I reconcile worship of personified deity with the admonition in Deuteronomy not to go after other gods?"
Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the
LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish." (Deut 8: 16-19)
The idea came to mind that the reason involves covenant and the culture and context of other gods at that time. The LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob could perhaps demand collective devotion of a nation. Also as with "the Name" of God and of Jesus, perhaps "God" may be translated more inclusively and "other gods" be translated to mean what is false, human made or spiritually toxic.
9. Odin, how can I reconcile worship of personified deity with the admonition in Deuteronomy not to go after other gods?"
Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the
LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish." (Deut 8: 16-19)
The idea came to mind that the reason involves covenant and the culture and context of other gods at that time. The LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob could perhaps demand collective devotion of a nation. Also as with "the Name" of God and of Jesus, perhaps "God" may be translated more inclusively and "other gods" be translated to mean what is false, human made or spiritually toxic.