The Norse Tradition – Magic And Runes
It is the only system of myths that was not disturbed by a rosary, a thurible, or by any other tool. Even monks whose roots belonged to the Icelandic land did not risk adding something of their own to this system. Even monks. Although one would expect all sorts of things from them. There was a high demand, possibly, during the christianization of northern Europe to white out not just the gods, but also the heroic epos.
And why all this? Because every ruler linked his ancestral line to one of the gods, not directly of course. That ruler had thousands of various ancestors. And those ancestors’ deeds weren’t always saint-like. They solved their problems in various ways. As a result, all the sagas, songs and tales remained. You will be reading them. Read them, and realize that even they don’t represent those ancestors in the best light. They burglarized and killed, sometimes they robbed, they made mistakes. But what is scarier? To make a mistake or to lie and say that you didn’t make one? What is scarier — to lie and then tell everyone that it didn’t happen? Those who brought the Norse tradition to our days were assured that a lie, in any form, is not just bad. It is something that depletes one’s soul.