Oaths, Shild, Frith, Luck & Wyrd: Five Essays Exploring Heathen Ethical Concepts and their Use Today

Oaths, Shild, Frith, Luck & Wyrd:

Five Essays Exploring Heathen Ethical Concepts and their Use Today

Winifred Hodge Rose

Copyright

© 2022 Winifred Hodge Rose.  All rights reserved. Brief quotations with full citation are permitted, for the purposes of criticism, teaching, or scholarship.

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Introduction

Modern Heathen practice ranges along a spectrum running from strict retro-Heathen approaches to very modernized ones.  Retro-Heathens seek to practice as closely as possible to what we know of old Heathen times, often choosing a particular Heathen culture such as Anglo-Saxons, Goths, or other tribal groups as their model.  Modernized Heathens are more adapted to the perspectives of their ‘host culture’ and worldview.  During more than thirty years of being Heathen, I have had experience with Heathen practices across this spectrum, and have gained and learned much thereby.

Among the important lessons I have learned is that there is a great deal of value in the old Heathen ways, including their ethical perspectives and folkways, and it is very much worthwhile to seek to understand them better.  At the same time, history shows the inevitable problems and difficulties of some of their approaches, which is true of any society, anywhere and any time.  No society is able to reach and maintain a perfectly balanced ethical system.  Added to this is the fact that society and culture have changed a great deal since Heathen times, and we all need to live and function in this world today.  Whatever ethical approaches we adopt need to take these considerations into account. 

The word ‘ethics’ comes from the Greek ethos, which refers to ‘customs, character, nature’.  Ethos is used in English to mean the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations (Oxford Languages).  Put simply, ethics at root means ‘the way things are customarily done; the right way to do things based on our own society’s customs.’  Let’s explore this in a Heathen context now.

In my understanding, there are two interrelated areas of particular importance in Heathen ethics.  One is the growth and maintenance of ethical personal power, or might and main: the inner strength and drive that is necessary to develop and sustain a good character and reputation, and to achieve worthy deeds during our life.  The second is the pursuit of relationships and community life that promote individual, group, and community well-being and effective functionality.

Any thoughtful reading of Heathen history, old texts, tales, poems and sagas will show how important these two factors were in ancient Heathen life, and will show their complex interactions.  This was generally illustrated by showing the painful, cascading disruptions that were caused by failures of, and transgressions against, these ethical values and aspirations. 

I see ‘might and main’ as a common thread that ties together the subject matter of the five essays in this book.  Might, as in mighty, powerful, is a familiar term in modern English.  Main, as it is used here, is less so.  It is the descendant of Anglo-Saxon maegen, Old Norse megin.  It refers to power, but is also related to virtue and ethics.  Maegen is defined as strength, power, vigor, valor, virtue, efficacy, a good deed, a miraculous event (and the power behind it).

Modern Heathens often use this term in reference to spiritual and moral power.  Thus, ‘might and main’ refer to all the powers of our being: physical, spiritual, mental, moral, the power of our will and of our vision. 

I believe that elder Heathen ethics were based upon these powers of might and main, and how they can be developed and applied in daily life.  Ethical persons use their might and main in ways that benefit themselves and their communities. 

In this book, I explore specific concepts that were of central importance to elder Heathens, and discuss how they can be used in our own lives as modern Heathens seeking to grow and use our own ethical might and main for the betterment of ourselves and our world.

Oaths

A path to support Heathen might and main: growing personal power.

This was a practice that was much honored in the past and is something that I believe is often missing in today’s culture.  Ancient Heathens swore oaths: oaths of loyalty, oaths to accomplish certain deeds, oaths to support their reputations and their relationships.  Such commitments shaped the circumstances of their lives. 

Oaths can serve to strengthen one’s will, one’s character, one’s relationships.  Failed oaths and commitments, on the other hand, were and are very damaging to ourselves, to our relationships and reputation.  Fulfilled oaths and commitments strengthen our spiritual power, our might and main, while failed oaths erode our strength of character and inner power. 

My essays Oaths: What They Mean and Why They Matter, and The Practice of Oathing, offer a modern Heathen perspective on the nature and power of oaths and boasts, with cautions and advice about how to build one's personal power, one's maegen or main, to follow this Heathen path safely and to best effect.

Shild

Wounded might and main; healing personal power.

Anglo-Saxon scyld or shild meant, among other things, moral obligation, debt, responsibility for wrongdoing.  All of us, at some time or another, make mistakes, fail at something that has bad consequences for us and others, commit wrongs.  As well as doing these ourselves, others also do such things in ways that have harmful consequences for us.  Things go wrong, luck turns against us, we feel like our life is unraveling.  What should Heathens do, in such circumstances?  How do we deal with guilt, with regret, with harm done by us, and to us?  These are important questions within any religious and philosophical context. 

In my essay Threads of Wyrd and Scyld: A Ninefold Rite of Life Renewal, I offer background and guidance for a Heathen ritual to address problems in life that are caused by wyrd and shild, either inherited or self-created, that are damaging one's life.  I discuss the concept of wergild: methods to recompense and rebalance the harm that may have been caused by our actions and / or the actions of our forebears that still affect us today. 

This Heathen rite is designed to address ethical questions such as: I have done something wrong, or my kin have done something wrong, or a wrong has been done to me that I have carried forward in my own life and affected others wrongly thereby; now what should I do about it?  My luck, my orlog, my wyrd, have gone askew: why is this happening?  How shall I remedy this?

Frith

Interwoven might and main: the roots of relationship and community.

Ethics, customs, ‘good’ behavior at root support the social fabric, the web of relationships and interactions that make up a healthy and well-functioning community.  The old word ‘frith,’ often translated as ‘peace,’ describes this web of relationships that maintains the peace and the many social goods that result from such a state.  (My own name, Winifred or Wine-frith in its older form, means ‘friend of frith, friend of peaceful interactions’.)

Oaths fulfilled support frith; forsworn or failed oaths damage it.  When wrong behavior damages frith, then it’s important to find ways to restore frith between ourselves and others whom we relate to. Frith, in many places and circumstances of our times, is something that is severely threatened or lacking altogether. 

It is worthwhile taking a look at this old concept of frith, its roots in the past, and the way it shapes itself today, to get a clearer idea of its meaning and its value for human society.  This is what I undertake in my essay Heathen Frith and Modern Ideals.

This essay begins by discussing the ancient roots of Heathen frith—the fabric which weaves together and maintains a community, however small or large.  It goes on to discuss the role of frith in religious conversion, the newer roots of frith in modern ideals, and describes some of the pitfalls that can arise in the pursuit of frith.  The overall focus is to become aware of the dynamics of frith, both positive and negative, so as to pursue it mindfully and to best effect.

Luck and Wyrd

Flows of might and main: hidden paths of Heathen wisdom.

‘Luck’ is a mysterious phenomenon; it is something that was of great importance to Heathens in the past.  Why? What is luck, what influences it, how does it increase or decrease?  What is the connection between luck and ethics, if any?  What about the connection between ethics, luck and fate or wyrd?

My essay Webs of Luck and Wyrd: Interplays and Impacts on Events provides an overview of the complex beliefs about luck in some of the ancient Heathen cultures.  It examines traditional views of luck and wyrd through the lens of Heathen history, seeking insights into the influences of these concepts in wars, conflicts, and the political processes of the conversion from Heathenism to Christianity.  This essay draws lessons that we can apply today, concerning the roles of luck, wyrd and wisdom in our life.

Applied Heathen ethics

Any system of ethics, from any time and place in the world, is nuanced, complex, subject to fluctuations and change.  This is because human nature and the circumstances of human life are nuanced, complex, and subject to change!  Ethical ideals need to provide us with structure and stability as a basis for conducting our personal and social lives.  At the same time, they need to fit us, fit our nature, they need to be something we can work with, that enhances our well-being.  Ethics are ideals that we strive toward, but must also be patterns that we can live with, without distortion of our inner or outer self.

To achieve such a delicate ethical balance between inner personal needs, and outer community needs, requires wisdom, another quality that was greatly admired by ancient Heathens, and often seems to have fallen by the wayside today. The full expression of Heathen wisdom requires not only knowledge, experience, and insight.  It also requires a deep understanding of Heathen metaphysics, of the hidden workings of wyrd, orlog, the cosmic powers, of spiritual beings such as the Deities and ancestors, and the inner powers of Earth, Nature, and the Otherworlds. 

Wisdom requires the long view through time and space, this-worldly and otherworldly phenomena, personal and other-centered space.  It requires the commitment of all our faculties: thought, reason, analysis, synthesis, imagination, intuition, sensory and emotional processing, patience, hindsight, foresight, memory, and dream.

Another quality that is implied throughout the discussion of Heathen ethics here is generosity: a generosity of spirit which acknowledges that the ethics of living with and working with a community are worthwhile.  It is worthwhile to build our own reputation and self-respect within a larger whole of also respecting others, their needs and deeds.  It is worthwhile to mend our relationships and interactions when they go wrong.  It is worthwhile to weave frith, and keep