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Originally Posted by IrishJay
I think it is safe to say the the large majority of Odinists/Wotanist/Asatruar do not take the myths literally or even believe that the gods and goddesses were literal figures.
I - and many others - view them as mythological figures that were created over time from real people who were legendarily made gods and goddesses because of prodigious deeds, feats of strength, skill in conquering, beauty, etc..
If we take them seriously as actual gods then we would HAVE to believe that Ymir licked man into existence from a block of glacial ice, which is just about as preposterous as the xian myth.
What they are; however, are figures that we can look towards as examples of how to live and paying homage to our Northern European ancestry. Our festivals, blots and sumbels are all a link to our ancient heathen past...the way we were meant to live.
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I cant disagree with any of that.
I enjoyed reading Julius Evola's writings on Norse myth in "Revolt against the modern world." He derived many symbolic meanings and Traditional themes from them I was completely ignorant of for the many years since childhood I have cherished Nordic myth along with Greek myth and Christian stories as well. It's been harder for me to appreciate the Christian viewpoint and I shared much the same sentiment as the antis here, but have come to a more flexible synthesis today.
Thanks for explaining the value of considering myth as such. Can you talk more about this? Perhaps with specific examples?