w bio 391

2001-2004 us army. 2011-2012 homeless. 2007-2008 30k from grandmother. 2014-2015 20k from VA & 30k from SSDI. Nikola Tesla 3,6,9 secret. Hermetic theory of nothing creating everything connected to the Rodin coil amplifier.



I grew up in a fantasy world, not that it is a bad thing. I say that because I feel that we all need some fantasy and or hope in our lives. I was adopted, never met or wanted to meet my biological family. I figured that they didn't want me, so why should I look for them. I went to a Lutheran pre-school and the spiritual wonder that I received from attending has stuck with me my entire life; more on that later. I don't feel that me or my life has is or has been better or worse than anyone else's. What I write is about how I dealt with some things in my life in order to give idea's to other people, that might help them. While I was young, from the age of 5 to 11 or 12 (the time frame that I am able to remember) I idolized my older brother. He was the one who influenced me to get interested in D&D, real magic and the SCA. (The Society for Creative Anachronism/ www.sca.org) This was during 1980-1987. One of the main things I remember is that he beat me up a lot and the only person who tried to help was my older sister. I was lucky, in 1987 my brother joined the Navy and I didn't have to be worried and scared about another beating. That could come at any time for any reason. During those six years that I am able to recall, I didn't sleep well, because he would stand outside my door to stare at me and some-times come in to beat me. In all the time I can remember my father has mostly been an absent father and my mother would just ignore things and pretend they weren't there or going on. My dad worked all the time and when he wasn't working, he was working in the garage, on other people's cars or things for the house or stuff for him. My mother would clean the house constantly; so, it was clean, but she didn't really get involved in our lives much.

I remember spending a lot of time at my Grandparents house, I think that was partially my mother's way of keeping me from getting beat up so much. I don't think any of this helped much because I have always been emotional and an empath. We had a cat that would injure and kill birds, that I would make my mom take to the vet. I did this until my mom basically said that she wasn't going to take the birds there anymore because they were going to die anyway.



Pantheism: is the belief that all reality is identical with divinity,[1] or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent god.[2] Pantheists do not believe in a distinct personal or anthropomorphic god[3] and hold a broad range of doctrines differing with regards to the forms of and relationships between divinity and reality.[4]

Pantheism was popularized in Western culture as a theology and philosophy based on the work of the 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza,[5]:p.7 particularly his book Ethics, published in 1677.[6] The term "pantheism" was coined by Mathematician Joseph Raphson in 1697[7][8] and has since been used to describe the beliefs of a variety of people and organizations.

Pantheistic concepts date back thousands of years, and pantheistic elements have been identified in various religious traditions.
There are a variety of definitions of pantheism. Some consider it a theological and philosophical position concerning God.[5]:p.8

As a religious position, some describe pantheism as the polar opposite of atheism.[9]:pp. 7 From this standpoint, pantheism is the view that everything is part of an all-encompassing, immanent God.[10] All forms of reality may then be considered either modes of that Being, or identical with it.[11] Some hold that pantheism is a non-religious philosophical position. To them, pantheism is the view that the Universe (in the sense of the totality of all existence) and God are identical (implying a denial of the personality and transcendence of God). Mesopotamia was in Turkey and Sumer was in Iraq. Sumerian was one of the first languages.
History of the world
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the history of humanity. For the entire history of Earth, see History of Earth. For a field of historical study, see World history. For other uses, see History of the world (disambiguation).

Humanity's written history was preceded by its prehistory, beginning with the Palaeolithic Era ("Early Stone Age"), followed by the Neolithic Era ("New Stone Age"). The Neolithic saw the Agricultural Revolution begin, between 8000 and 5000 BCE, in the Near East's Fertile Crescent. The Agricultural Revolution marked a fundamental change in history, with humans beginning the systematic husbandry of plants and animals.[2] As agriculture advanced, most humans transitioned from a nomadic to a settled lifestyle as farmers in permanent settlements. The relative security and increased productivity provided by farming allowed communities to expand into increasingly larger units, fostered by advances in transportation.

Whether in prehistoric or historic times, people always had to be near reliable sources of potable water. Cities developed on river banks as early as 3000 BCE, when some of the first well-developed settlements arose in Mesopotamia,[3] on the banks of Egypt's Nile River,[4][5] in the Indus River valley,[6] and along China's rivers.[7][8] As farming developed, grain agriculture became more sophisticated and prompted a division of labor to store food between growing seasons. Labour divisions led to the rise of a leisured upper class and the development of cities, which provided the foundation for civilization. The growing complexity of human societies necessitated systems of accounting and writing.

With civilizations flourishing, ancient history ("Antiquity," including the Classical Age,[9] up to about 500 CE[10]) saw the rise and fall of empires. Post-classical history (the "Middle Ages," c. 500-1500 CE [11]) witnessed the rise of Christianity, the Islamic Golden Age (c. 750 CE - c. 1258 CE), and the early Italian Renaissance (from around 1300 CE). The Early Modern Period, sometimes referred to as the "European Age",[12] from about 1500 to 1800,[13] included the Age of Enlightenment and the Age of Discovery. The mid-15th-century invention of modern printing, employing movable type,[14] revolutionized communication and facilitated ever wider dissemination of information, helping end the Middle Ages and ushering in the Scientific Revolution.[15] By the 18th century, the accumulation of knowledge and technology had reached a critical mass that brought about the Industrial Revolution[16] and began the Late Modern Period, which starts around 1800 and includes the current day.[17]

This scheme of historical periodization (dividing history into Antiquity, Post-Classical, Early Modern, and Late Modern periods) was developed for, and applies best to, the history of the Old World, particularly Europe and the Mediterranean. Outside this region, including ancient China and ancient India, historical timelines unfolded differently. However, by the 18th century, due to extensive world trade and colonization, the histories of most civilizations had become substantially intertwined. In the last quarter-millennium, the rates of growth of population, knowledge, technology, communications, commerce, weapons destructiveness, and environmental degradation have greatly accelerated, creating opportunities and perils that now confront the planet's human communities.[18]

Early humans
Genetic measurements indicate that the ape lineage which would lead to Homo sapiens diverged from the lineage that would lead to the bonobo, the closest living relative of modern humans, around 4.6 to 6.2 million years ago.[19] Anatomically modern humans arose in Africa about 200,000 years ago,[20] and reached behavioural modernity about 50,000 years ago.[21]


Cave painting, Lascaux, France, c. 15,000 BCE

"Venus of Willensdorf", Austria, c. 26,500 BCE
Modern humans spread rapidly from Africa into the frost-free zones of Europe and Asia around 60,000 years ago.[22] The rapid expansion of humankind to North America and Oceania took place at the climax of the most recent ice age, when temperate regions of today were extremely inhospitable. Yet, humans had colonized nearly all the ice-free parts of the globe by the end of the Ice Age, some 12,000 years ago.[23] Other hominids such as Homo erectus had been using simple wood and stone tools for millennia, but as time progressed, tools became far more refined and complex. Perhaps as early as 1.8 million years ago, but certainly by 500,000 years ago, humans began using fire for heat and cooking.[24] They also developed language in the Paleolithic period[25] and a conceptual repertoire that included systematic burial of the dead and adornment of the living. Early artistic expression can be found in the form of cave paintings and sculptures made from ivory, stone, and bone, showing a spirituality generally interpreted as animism, or even shamanism.[26] During this period, all humans lived as hunter-gatherers, and were generally nomadic.[27] Archaeological and genetic data suggest that the source populations of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers survived in sparsely wooded areas and dispersed through areas of high primary productivity while avoiding dense forest cover.[28]

Rise of civilization
The Neolithic Revolution, beginning around 10,000 BCE, saw the development of agriculture, which fundamentally changed the human lifestyle. Farming developed around 10,000 BCE in the Middle East, around 7000 BCE in what is now China, about 6000 BCE in the Indus Valley and Europe, and about 4000 BCE in the Americas.[29] Cultivation of cereal crops and the domestication of animals occurred around 8500 BCE in the Middle East, where wheat and barley were the first crops and sheep and goats were domesticated.[30] In the Indus Valley, crops were cultivated by 6000 BCE, along with domesticated cattle. The Yellow River valley in China cultivated millet and other cereal crops by about 7000 BCE, but the Yangtze River valley domesticated rice earlier, by at least 8000 BCE. In the Americas, sunflowers were cultivated by about 4000 BCE, and corn and beans were domesticated in Central America by 3500 BCE. Potatoes were first cultivated in the Andes Mountains of South America, where the llama was also domesticated.[29] Metal-working, starting with copper around 6000 BCE, was first used for tools and ornaments. Gold soon followed, with its main use being for ornaments. The need for metal ores stimulated trade, as many of the areas of early human settlement were lacking in ores. Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, is first known from about 2500 BCE, but did not become widely used until much later.[31]


Cuneiform writing, Mesopotamia
Though early "cities" appeared at Jericho and Catal Huyuk around 6000 BCE,[32] the first civilizations did not emerge until around 3000 BCE in Egypt[33] and Mesopotamia.[34] These cultures gave birth to the invention of the wheel,[35] mathematics,[36] bronze-working, sailing boats, the pottery wheel, woven cloth, construction of monumental buildings,[37] and writing.[38] Writing developed independently and at different times in five areas of the world:[39] Egypt (c. 3200 BCE),[39] India (c. 3200 BCE),[40] Mesopotamia (c. 3000 BCE),[41] China (c. 1600 BCE),[42] and Mesoamerica (c. 600 BCE).[39]

Farming permitted far denser populations, which in time organized into states. Agriculture also created food surpluses that could support people not directly engaged in food production.[43] The development of agriculture permitted the creation of the first cities. These were centres of trade, manufacturing and political power.[44] Cities established a symbiosis with their surrounding countrysides, absorbing agricultural products and providing, in return, manufactured goods and varying degrees of military control and protection.

The development of cities was synonymous with the rise of civilization.[a] Early civilizations arose first in Lower Mesopotamia (3000 BCE),[46][47] followed by Egyptian civilization along the Nile River (3000 BCE),[5] the Harappan civilization in the Indus River Valley (in present-day India and Pakistan; 2500 BCE),[48][49] and Chinese civilization along the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers (2200 BCE).[7][8] These societies developed a number of unifying characteristics, including a central government, a complex economy and social structure, sophisticated language and writing systems, and distinct cultures and religions. Writing facilitated the administration of cities, the expression of ideas, and the preservation of information.

[50] Entities such as the Sun, Moon, Earth, sky, and sea were often deified.[citation needed] Shrines developed, which evolved into temple establishments, complete with a complex hierarchy of priests and priestesses and other functionaries. Typical of the Neolithic was a tendency to worship anthropomorphic deities. Among the earliest surviving written religious scriptures are the Egyptian Pyramid Texts, the oldest of which date to between 2400 and 2300 BCE
Romulus & Remus:
In Roman mythology, Romulus and his twin brother Remus were the founders of the city of Rome. They were the children of Rhea Silvia and Mars (or in some variations the demi-god hero Hercules) and their story is recorded by many authors including Virgil who claims their birth and adventures were fated in order for Rome to be founded.

THE BIRTH & PARENTAGE OF ROMULUS & REMUS
Romulus and Remus were the direct descendants of Aeneas, whose fate-driven adventures to discover Italy are described by Virgil in The Aeneid. Romulus and Remus were related to Aeneas through their mother's father, Numitor. Numitor was a king of Alba Longa, an ancient city of Latium in central Italy, and father to Rhea Silvia. Before Romulus' and Remus' conception, Numitor's reign was usurped by Nimitor's younger brother, Amulius. Amulius inherited control over Alba Longa's treasury with which he was able to dethrone Numitor and become king. Amulius, wishing to avoid any conflict of power, killed Nimitor's male heirs and forced Rhea Silvia to become a Vestal Virgin. Vestal Virgins were priestesses of Vesta, patron goddess of the hearth; they were charged with keeping a sacred fire that was never to be extinguished and to take vows of chastity.

A SERVANT PLACED THE TWINS INTO A BASKET ONTO THE RIVER TIBER, & THE RIVER CARRIED THE BOYS TO SAFETY.
There is much debate and variation as to whom was the father of Romulus and Remus. Some myths claim that Mars appeared and lay with Rhea Silvia; other myths attest that the demi-god hero Hercules was her partner. However, the author Livy claims that Rhea Silvia was in fact raped by an unknown man, but blamed her pregnancy on divine conception. In either case, Rhea Silvia was discovered to be pregnant and gave birth to her sons. It was custom that any Vestal Virgin betraying her vows of celibacy was condemned to death; the most common death sentence was to be buried alive. However, King Amulius, fearing the wrath of the paternal god (Mars or Hercules) did not wish to directly stain his hands with the mother's and children's blood. So, King Amulius imprisoned Rhea Silvia and ordered the twins' death by means of live burial, exposure, or being thrown into the Tiber River. He reasoned that if the twins were to die not by the sword but by the elements, he and his city would be saved from punishment by the gods. He ordered a servant to carry out the death sentence, but in every scenario of this myth, the servant takes pity on the twins and spares their lives. The servant, then, places the twins into a basket onto the River Tiber, and the river carries the boys to safety.

She-wolf mosaic
She-wolf mosaic

THE DISCOVERY OF ROMULUS & REMUS
The river god Tibernus ensured their safety by calming the river, and he caused their basket to catch in the roots of a nearby fig tree. The tree was located at the base of the Palatine Hill in the Velabrum swamp. The twins were first discovered by a she-wolf or lupa, who suckled them and they were fed by a wood-pecker or picus. Eventually, they were discovered and cared for by a shepherd and his wife: Faustulus and Acca Larentia.The two boys grew up to be shepherds like their adoptive father. One day while they were herding their sheep, they were met by shepherds of King Amulius. These shepherds started a fight with Romulus and Remus in which Remus was captured and taken before King Amulius. Romulus gathered and incited a band of local shepherds to join him in rescuing his brother. King Amulius believed that Rhea Silvia's children were dead; he did not recognize Remus or Romulus. Romulus freed his brother, and in the process killed King Amulius.

ROMULUS BEGAN TO DIG TRENCHES & TO BUILD WALLS AROUND HIS HILL: THE PALATINE HILL.
ROMULUS & REMUS ARGUE
After Amulius' death, the brothers rejected the citizens' offer of the crown of Alba Longa and instead reinstated Nimitor as king. They left Alba Longa seeking to found their own city, and each set out to find the best locale. The brothers quarrelled over the location of the foundation of their new city; Romulus wished to start the city on the Palatine Hill, while Remus wished to found it on the Aventine Hill. In order to settle their disagreement, they agreed to consult augury; augury is a type of prophecy in which birds are examined and observed to determine what actions or persons the gods favour. Each brother prepared a sacred space on their respective hills and began to watch for birds. Remus claimed to have seen six birds, while Romulus said he saw twelve birds. Romulus asserted that he was the clear winner by six birds, but Remus argued that since he saw his six birds first, he had won. The brothers remained at a standstill and continued to quarrel until Romulus began to dig trenches and build walls around his hill: the Palatine Hill.

DEATH OF REMUS & FOUNDING OF ROME
In response to Romulus' construction, Remus made continuous fun of the wall and his brother's city. Remus was so bold as to jump over Romulus' wall jestingly. In response to Remus' mockeries and for jumping over his wall, Romulus, angered by his brother's belittlement, killed him. There are several versions as to how Remus was killed on the day Rome was founded. In Livy's version, Remus simply died after jumping over Romulus' wall, which is thought to be a sign from the gods of Rome's power and fate. According to St. Jerome, Remus was killed for his mockery by one of Romulus' supporters, either Fabius or Celer, who killed Remus by throwing a spade at his head. Afterwards, Romulus mournfully buries his brother, bestowing upon him full funeral honours. However, most sources would convey that Romulus killed Remus. Remus' death and founding of Rome are dated by Livy to April 21st, 753 BCE.

The Lost Gods: The Romans (Planet Knowledge)
The Lost Gods: The Romans (Planet Knowledge)
BEGINNINGS OF ROME: WAR & PEACE
Romulus named his city Roma after himself. Following the foundation of his city, Romulus instated a government system which implemented senators and patricians. As the popularity of his city and government system grew, so did the population. Rome's initial population was supplied by fugitives, exiles, run away slaves, and criminals and other cast offs. Due to the inflation of the male population, Rome was unable to produce any generations of their own. As a result of the low ratio of women to men, the newly Roman men decided to abduct women from a neighbouring city. They invited the Sabines and Latins to a festival of Cronus at the Circus Maximus, and while the men of these cities were distracted, the Roman men carried off their women into Rome. Many of these women were persuaded to marry; however, in response to this rape or abduction of women, the Sabine and Latin men went to war against Rome. Romulus was the definitive winner of this war and his victory was Rome's first triumph.

A TRUCE FORMED BETWEEN THE ROMANS & SABINES ALONG WITH TATIUS & ROMULUS AGREEING TO FORM A JOINT REIGN OF TWO KINGS.
Although defeated, the Sabine king, Titus Tatius, attempted to assault Rome by marching on the Capitoline citadel. The citadel's commander's daughter promised to open the gates for the Sabine army if they gave her whatever "they bore on their left hand." When the Sabine army passed through, the poor girl expected hundreds of golden bracelets, but unfortunately she was crushed to death by their large shields. The Sabines besieged the Romans and the Romans almost lost until Romulus prayed to Jupiter for help. Jupiter answered, aiding the Romans to a final victory. Eventually, a truce formed between the Romans and Sabines along with Tatius and Romulus agreeing to form a joint reign of two kings. They jointly ruled for five years, and integrated each other's customs from calendars, gods, and even military tactics. This was a time of peace within Rome, but this intercity harmony ceased due to Tatius' actions. After these prosperous five years, Tatius was caught sheltering some of his allies who had robbed the neighbouring allied Lavinians and murdered some of their ambassadors. The Senate decided that Tatius must go to Lavinium to sacrifice and appease both the locals and god in regards to his crimes. While in Lavinium, Tatius was assassinated and Romulus became the sole king of Rome. For the next 20 years, Romulus sought to expand Rome's land through war. When Numitor died, Romulus incorporated Alba Longa into Rome's government and lands. Through Romulus' reign, he slowly became more autocratic and the Senate became resentful.

Romulus & Remus Panel of the Franks Casket
Romulus & Remus Panel of the Franks Casket

DEATH OF ROMULUS
The life of Romulus has several endings depending on the myth and source. In one myth, Romulus mysteriously disappeared in a storm or whirlwind. Romulus is claimed to have ascended to the heavens to become a god by several eye-witnesses. There was the suspicion that Romulus' death was plotted by the Senate in order to reassume their own power. Livy writes about these events, while Cassius Dio writes about how Romulus was surrounded by hostile, resentful senators who "rent limb from limb" the senate-house, which was then followed by an eclipse and sudden storm (which Dio claims to be the same phenomenon that happened at his birth). Romulus disappeared in 717 BCE as reported by Plutarch at the age of 53, but Dionysius of Halicarnassus reports that he died at the age of 55.

A MAN OR MYTH?
There is much debate on whether Romulus and Remus were real men or simply a myth or even a combination of both. While most scholars believe that Aeneas, the catalyst of the foundation of Rome, may have existed in some folktale, his Roman mythology was not solidified until Augustus commissioned Vergil's epic The Aeneid. Romulus' and Remus' feats and adventures are somewhat far-fetched to be taken literally, but some scholars attest that their characters may be based on some historic foundation. Foundation myths are often convoluted with aspects of fiction and non-fiction. While it may never be certain if these twin brothers were real, what is certain is that their story was treated with respect and discussed at length even by the ancients.

DEPICTION IN ART
Romulus and Remus are most commonly portrayed together in art and on coins. They are often only seen in art as infants being suckled by the she-wolf. They are featured in this manner on the statue of Romulus and Remus in Siena, Italy. Siena was founded, according to myth, by Remus' son, Senius. Likewise, they are also featured on a mosaic found in Yorkshire from 300 CE known as the Wolf Mosaic. However, the most famous representation in art is the Capitoline She-Wolf. It is a 5th century BCE Etruscan bronze wolf to which two small figures of Romulus and Remus were added in 15th century CE. Romulus' and Remus' mythical lives also inspired many Renaissance artists from Berrettini to LaFosse to Cesari, and even Rubens. (Garcia, 2013)
Scandinavia before and during the beginning of the Viking Age - an isolated barbarian outpost or an ancient culture with age-old traditions for worldwide interaction with other cultures?
(Main source to this piece: "Norge i Vikingtid - ve historiske og kulturelle rter" by Torgrim Titlestad, Stavanger, Norway, 2011.)

...but we believe that if we truly know the truth about our ancestors, we can more easily counter the mockery of foreigners when they claim that we are descended from slaves and bandits. And for those who wish to know old transmissions and how to trace our lineages, it is better to start with the beginning than to begin in the middle. As it is, all civilized nations wish to know the origin of their own society and the way that their lineage was formed from the start..."
(From the introduction to the saga "Landnab", 12th century AD, Iceland)

Early Scandinavian Migrations
The year 9 AD is an important marker in European history. The Roman expansion attempt towards the north was stopped by the Teoteburg forest in North-West Germany. Within a few days a Germanic tribal confederation annihilated the Roman army and their following of far more than 20 000 people. The Roman prestige was deeply hurt.

In the year 61 AD the Celtic queen Boudicca from Norfolk in England made a successful rebellion against the apparently invincible imperial power. She was killed, but the Roman losses were legendary. Both events probably made a rich storytelling tradition that made its traces far beyond where the events actually happened. After the Teoteburg battle, the borders between Germania, Scandinavia and the Roman Empire went between the Rhine and the Donau. There is reason to assume that the rumors of the Roman defeat went around all Scandinavia with one important message: The Romans could be defeated. This situation encouraged Scandinavian migrations and military campaigns southwards, a tendency that increased from the fourth century AD onwards. Most of the Germanic tribes known to the Romans regarded themselves as descendants from Scandinavia who kept in touch with their ancestral homes.

Migrations - Poverty or Politics?
It has been common to assume that the Scandinavian-Germanic emigrations during the late Roman Iron Age were the results of poverty at home. Archaeology has disproved this thoroughly. On the contrary, Scandinavia during the 3rd and 4th centuries AD was an increasingly rich place, with a high degree of wealth, political organization and advanced technology - particularly weapon technology - and with strong and already old ties to the continent. Graves have been found showing that some Norwegian 4th century AD warriors served voluntarily in the Roman army and so forth, not out of necessity but due to curiosity and adventurous attitudes. Some became Roman generals.

Ancient Tribal Democracy
The great change during this time was not poverty but rather a political and cultural "revolution". Up to that point, Scandinavia had been dominated by tribes ruled democratically by parliament and heavily depended on the clan-structure that made up each tribe. With democracy we are speaking of a far more real democracy than the one we find in ancient Greece. All property-owning men and also property-owning women who had been widowed (and thus having no husband to represent them) could speak and vote at the tribal parliaments. In Norway alone more than 27 parliament seats have been excavated, suggesting a relatively direct democracy: While the Athenians in their time gathered in their thousands for parliament, the Norse parliaments consisted of a few hundred each, and each individual had his or her say. The laws were not written down but memorized by all, which meant that everybody had access to legal knowledge. The Norse parliaments would vote on old and new laws and settle disputes. According to Tacitus in 98 AD the "Germans" voted by hand-raising.

Raiding and Military Expeditions
This democratic institution was sacrosanct and continued well into the Christian era, but already during the late Iron Age it was challenged: around the beginning of the 3rd century AD new warrior elites seized power based on military control over land and people. Bonds of loyalty between the new ruling elites became more important than biological kinship-ties. The traditional tribal societies based on kinship, family ties and clan-leaders were gradually replaced by political units dominated by chieftains supporting themselves with armies and military might.

These elites maintained the loyalty of their allied farmers by giving them generous gifts. Without pillaging raids creating a material surplus this new power structure would break down. According to the archaeologists Lotte Hedeager and Bjn Myhre this is the main reason behind the migrations and the raids - the raiding was an economic necessity for the new ruling warrior elites. The fact that Scandinavia was rich, technologically and economically and politically advanced during this time made it possible to finance foreign expeditions of rather a large scale.

The reason why groups from Scandinavian tribes could be so successful on the European continent was that they were good warriors and well-equipped militarily. Only a few hundred elite warriors could easily (it seems) conquer large areas. These warrior expeditions quickly expanded with the accumulation of other people and refugee slaves, both from Scandinavia and from the Roman Empire who joined these army-societies where even those of low birth could quickly ascend in rank through the show of warrior skills. The various groups became tribes and easily joined with others in more or less loose confederations.

In this, the continental groups followed the old Scandinavian traditions: Whenever a tribe joined with another, whether lasting or temporally, they made a common council where the most powerful people could meet. They voted in a common leader who would be a chief only during crisis and conflicts, but not otherwise. With this system, they could democratically control their leaders and easily make confederations whenever necessary, for example when met with common enemies. The Romans picked up on this and thought it worthwhile to make alliances with the tribal confederations and made them into "foederati". Thus a "Germanic" war-leader from Norway could become a Roman general while at the same time continue internal democratic self-rule and traditional tribal laws.

Norwegians in Europe around 500 AD
According to Jordanes (485-552) there was during the 6th century AD a federation of several Norwegian tribes under one leader, Rodulf (Hrolfr), and the tribal names mentioned are easily recognizable from (still existing) Norwegian regional names, people from the ancient tribal lands of Ranariki ("Rans Realm" - tfold in Norway and Bohusl in Sweden), Grenland, Agder, Telemark, Rogaland, Hordaland, Heygjaland and Sami people (Granii, Augandzi, Eunixi, Taetel, Rugii, Aprochi). Apparently these warriors were "taller and wilder than the Germans" and "fought with beastly ferocity". Rodulf traveled all the way to Ravenna in Italy and was well received by the Gothic king Theoderic. Modern archaeologists are less and less surprised by such tales, since the southern and western coast of Norway had been in contact with southern European culture and aristocratic families for a long time already.

The Scandinavians who ventured out also often returned. The death of Attila in 453 resulted in the freedom of several tribes who had been subject to the Huns for centuries already. The Rugii tribe, for example, had traveled all the way from Rogaland and south-west Norway (Avaldsnes high seat) and made a little realm for themselves in "Rugiland" close to Vienna since the year 408 AD. Here they converted to Christianity, but to the heretic branch of Arianism. Together with the Herulii from Ske in Sweden, most of them actually returned to their Scandinavian homelands after trouble with the Romans. The sources show that even after centuries abroad, the ties to the original homeland tribes were strong and thriving.
The Real Origin of Viking Raids
"They (the Vikings) were not ignorant barbarians. They knew exactly what kind of military and ideological pressure they were up against."
(Bjn Myhre)
Whenever we hear of Vikings we are presented with the idea of completely unprovoked attacks by ignorant barbarians who performed acts of cruelty and sacrilege more or less for the fun of it. This is a stereotype that needs to be seriously revised. More and more historians begin to agree that the first Viking attacks were the direct result of Christian provocations and a very real threat against Scandinavian culture and religion and a means to secure ancient and very important international trade routes. This article is a continuation of the article on Iron Age Migrations, see here.

The Viking Age...
It is common to say that the Viking Age began with the attack on Lindisfarne monastery in 793 AD and lasted until the battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066 when king Haraldr Hardri (Hard-Ruler) fell. In Britain, even small groups of Vikings operating with three to six ships could wreak havoc, and such raids crushed existing power structures and paved the way for the establishment of the kingdoms of England and Scotland. In Ireland, the Vikings established the first great cities. In the continent they influenced the divisions of the Carolingian Empire and established the realm of Normandy which had an enormous influence on the history of France, England and Italy. Also Norway became a kingdom of its own as a direct result of the Viking Age.

But Viking raids had been going on in Scandinavia a long time before the early 9th century. The various sagas suggest centuries of Viking fleets in the Baltic and Finnish oceans and along the Scandinavian and North European coasts, and Viking chieftains had settled in Aldeigjuborg, Russia, at least by 752 AD. But the raids were given a whole new character from the end of the 8th century AD onwards.

The Christian, Frankish Threat
It is now often believed that the Viking raids from Scandinavia from the start were attempts to ward off the Frankish expansion. Even in the early 8th century AD the threat from the south could be felt in Scandinavia. The Danes in particular could not but see the danger of invasion from the south and began building large defensive fleets and other ocean-based defensive systems. This was intensified when the Frankish leader Karl Martell (714-741) pillaged Friesland in 734 AD and killed their military leader.

This Frankish victory so close to Denmark was the main reason why the Danes built such a strong naval military fleet, yet even as early as the 720s they had built their first canal defensive system, the Kanhave Canal. Another system of defense was to place poles in the ocean close to the entrance to important ports and power centers. The first Danish maritime military base in Schlei is dated to 734 AD and the first constructions of the great wall known as Danevirke began in 737 AD. The Danevirke was a sort of northern European "Chinese Wall" - the palisade was 4-5 meters high, and from the top the Danes could view well the flat landscape to the south. The Danevirke was North-Europes largest defense construction in its time and lasted until the 11th century AD.

Charlemagnes Suppression
Charlemagne (748-814 AD) became the new Frankish king from 768 AD and spent his entire career expanding his realms in all directions. He also forcefully converted his new subjects to Christianity. In the year 782 AD he force-baptized 4500 unwilling Saxon (the Saxons of contemporary Germany south of Denmark) men by the town of Verden, close to present day Bremen. After baptizing the men, he decapitated all 4500 of them. The massacre was but one in a series of similar outrageous acts against heathens who refused Christianity. Adding to this important religious centers were destroyed and priests and priestesses were murdered, raped, tortured, and so on... The Franks were fought ferociously under the leadership of the Saxon king Widukind who used guerilla techniques as the only means by which they could stand against the Frankish land-army.

The Saxons found natural allies in the Danes and many Saxon refugees went there to tell the tales of massacres, sacrileges and abuse. King Widukind himself went to Denmark in 777 AD and received both moral and practical support from the Danish kings, who also made sure to strengthen the Danevirke wall. When Charlemagne continued his aggression against the Saxons in 798 AD, he sent a representative (diplomat) to the Danish king Sigfred at Lejre (Hleidargard, and ancient royal seat and the very one in which Beowulf once met with his monsters...), a Frankish attempt to stop the Danes from supporting and receiving Saxon refugees.

Democracy versus Dictatorship
But the Danes had heard the tales of Widukind and the Saxon people many times already and understood that their fate could easily also become the fate of Denmark. Reports spread to Norway, since the ocean way between Denmark and important Norwegian power centers in Viken, Agder and Rogaland was very short. It was not only the massacre in Verden and the new religion that frightened them (or, perhaps, angered them... but also the realization that Charlemagnes empire threatened the very core of their cultural and political system.

Charlemagne had crushed the old Saxon societal order where the political and still quite democratic parliament-system played such an important role. Fortunately we have some detailed descriptions of this from the monk Lebuini who was a missionary among the Saxons in 770 AD and wrote down his observations:

"It is the custom among the Saxons that once a year they hold council by the river Weser...There came usually all the chiefs from all the various areas (tribes) as well as 12 chosen nobles, 12 free men and even 12 less free men (slaves? Vassals?) There together they renewed their laws, made decisions in important court cases and decided what to do in the years coming peace and war operations..."

Indeed, other sources confirm that there were some 36 "parliament-men" representing the highest political power in all public cases among the Saxons. To compare, the Icelandic parliament had to begin with 36 leaders. We may reasonably assume that this custom was general among all the Germanic-Scandinavian tribes.

Charlemagne understood that this kind of decentralized democratic ruling system threatened the kind of rule that he wanted, and promptly forbid it entirely as soon as he conquered Sachsen during the 780s. He wanted absolute power monopoly and introduced his own laws overruling all others. Thereafter he also introduced Christianity with violence and the death penalty to all heathens and heretics.

The Very Real Threat
Scandinavian people had never before encountered such a dominant threat against their cultural, political and religious traditions. The way in which Charlemagne ruled was completely at odds with all their traditions. They had seen how he went forth in Sachsen, and saw that he also made attempts to gain influence in England and managed to make an alliance with the English people in 793 AD. It was easy for Scandinavians to see that the alliance between England and Frankland was dangerous and cou
.ld be a way of strengthening the forces against Denmark. Norway lay right next in their path.

Norwegians allied themselves with the Danes in their common interest against further Frankish expansion. In 787, the Franks had established a missionary station in Bremen very close to the Danish border at the time, and represented a possible military challenge against the Danes. They had seen for themselves that Christening under Charlemagnes "protection" was strongly associated with military and political submission.

With their intelligence-network in the form of traders, the Danes and the Norwegians gathered the information (confirmed in writing) that they were on the Anglo-Saxon missionary agenda. They had also seen and understood the consequences of Frankish missionary activity. Around 791 Charlemagne had gained so much power that he could go against Denmark.

Christian "Vikings" versus Heathen Vikings...
Like the heathen Scandinavians, Christian Charlemagne also based his power on pillaging just like the Vikings. His officers expected many great gifts, and Charlemagne could only comply by expanding militarily and pillaging his new subjects. The Frankish pillaging has been called an "Orgy of Conquests". Charlemagnes officers and soldiers were motivated by the prospect of spoils.

The Saxons fought relentlessly against the Franks for almost thirty years until they were thoroughly crushed. In 799, Charlemagne chased all the old Saxon clans away and gave their lands to his own men. More than 10 000 free people were exiled and made into serfs. Even the defeated Saxon noblemen were made into serfs, and in this and many other ways the entire Saxon population was thoroughly humiliated.

Charlemagnes alliance with the English and the way his expansions negatively affected the important and age-old Scandinavian international trade with prestigious goods from Asia and southern Europe was another serious threat. They also remembered how they had earlier been able to stand up against the Roman Empire (The Franks were by themselves and the entire Catholic world considered the new Roman Empire, only now it was also "Holy").

The Scandinavians and the Danes understood that they could not stand up against a Frankish land-army. However, they were the masters of naval warfare. They wanted to scare the Franks away. Some historians believe this was the reason for the rapid development of the famous Viking Ship constructions that began in this age. They used some years to build up a new fleet, and before the end of the 8th century this particular kind of war ship was tried out and deemed forever after successful.

The first Viking attacks were most certainly meant to frighten the Franks out of their wits and a majority of them were consciously directed against Christian holy places and monasteries. As Bjn Myhre writes about the Vikings: "They were not ignorant barbarians. They knew exactly the kind of military and ideological pressure they were up against."

Indeed, the many and vicious Viking attacks did have a preventive effect: They showed the Franks and the English what kind of revenge they could expect if they tried to advance further north.

Of course, the expeditions proved very lucrative and worked well to increase the power of ruling elites...

The most important source to this article is Torgrim Titlestads "Norge i vikingtid (Stavanger 2011)
Freyr - Lord, Freya - Lady (both titles) Sig-Tyr as a nick name for Odin. (Sic-tur)


38. Away from his arms | in the open field
A man should fare not a foot;
For never he knows | when the need for a spear
Shall arise on the distant road. - Poetic Edda - Havamol
There are several theories on the origins of the elder futhark. There are 4 major theories: Latin, Greek, North-Italic (or Etruscan) and the indigenous theory. I believe that the elder futhark was mostly used for occult purposes. The younger futhark was used to create the old Icelandic language, which is based on the elder futhark.  

I believe Odin can be seen as a male triune God, similar to the triple Goddess because of several reasons. As heathens, we hail or call on Odin for wisdom, knowledge, guidance with runes and in Seidr vision quests as a male guide. Obviously these aren't the only things we ask Odin for help with or hail him for. Odin sacrificed himself to himself in order to attain the runes and their knowledge, but he went to the underworld in order to retrieve the mead of poetry for the other Gods and accidently the human race. While Odin is in the underworld the God Ullr, rules in his stead, and this story is related to the Oak and Holy Kings who rule six months out of the year during the warm and cold seasons. The God Ullr is seen by some scholars as another aspect of Odin.
Odin notes
Odin, Vili, Ve / Spirit, mins, passion. Odin, Hir and Lothur. Odin, Thor and Freyr.
Dwarves or Dvergr
Responsibility or Karma of the Gods/Universe.
Mirmir advises thought or memory advises thought. Or advices Hir.
Loki maybe Lothur or passion.
Odin, Thor and Loki (spirit, mind and passion)
Aspects of ourselves.
Sacred geometry/ the 1st deity was a Goddess. Before the 1st goddess is nothing, out of nothing is everything.
dmt + psylasyban

Jung (4 major archetypes) and cultural conditioning training until
around age 7 (hypno-therapy),
practice & repetition after.
circus archetype
coordinating data (dimensions)
dr bruce Lipton, Jung, alan watts, Terence Mackenna
habbit vs novilty
(novilty is winning - faster & faster)
Freyr and Gerdr and like yin & yang. Odin or expansion Is what connects them. I believe we can connect Freyr, Gerd & Odin to 3,6,& 9 in Numerology, music & sacred geometry. I believe it is Odin that connects because he wants the experience/wisdom of what life, growth & expansion has done, is doing & will do. The same with Gerd/Death' what it has done, is doing & will do. I believe there is a triune and not a duality to our reality. Everything is a personal perspective of what is wanted and not wanted, but it is the experience that connects it. There is the cause and then the views on and about the cause.