Lesbigays in
Germanic Paganism
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(Reprinted from "Rainbow Wind"
Magazine)
This may not be a very easy article to write. For one thing, there is not
a great deal of surviving evidence on the matter at hand. This is in sharp
contrast to the relatively large amount of Lesbigay-relevant information
surviving from Classical Paganism (Greek and Roman, don't say "Greco-Roman"
or Sophia X Pharou may really come after you with that Labrys of hers, she's half
Greek and doesn't like the Romans, althought she will eat their pizza - you
have been warned - you have been warned). (Editor's note: the Romans did
not invent pizza; the tomato hadn't been introduced yet - therefore, there
are plenty of reasons to like the Italians - especially Sicily, colonized
by the Greeks - but not the Romans!) There are other factors also. There
is a definite right-wing, homophobic nut fringe on the edges of Germanic
Paganism. Fortunately, the vast majority of the community isn't like that
at all, and there is a great deal of participation by openly Lesbigay and
Transgendered individuals, as I mentioned in my article in the previous edition
of this publication. Also, there were elements of homophobia in the very
warlike, "macho" Viking period, which is when most of the material we have
dates from. Earlier (and later) periods were mellower. Scandinavia today
is one of the best places on Earth to be Lesbigay, and Scandinavian tolerance
and civility go pretty far back. Draconian anti-gay laws typical for the
rest of Europe for the most part were far milder or absent altogether there.
Now might be a good time to discuss Viking-age and medieval Scandinavian
attitudes toward gay sex (remember, the concept of "sexual orientation" goes
back only to the late 19th century). In a nutshell: sex between women seems
to have been ignored entirely (sorry ladies), as far as surviving legal documents
and literature are concerned. The attitude toward male sexuality was similar
to that found today in traditional Hispanic culture. Pardon my bluntness,
but as long as you were a "top" you could have sex with anybody or anything
you pleased without social censure. "Bottom" guys tended to be looked down
on as "unmanly". Vikings, by the way, often raped their male as well as their
female captives! Their society had rather rigidly defined sex roles, and
all this seems to have had more to do with power, control and misogyny than
with homophobia per se. Interestingly enough and in spite of all this, Viking
Age Heathen women still had far more rights than their female contemporaries
living in Christian and Islamic countries!
As far as I can tell, the commonest place for Lesbigay and Transexual-identified
persons (the surgery didn't exist back in those days) was in the worship
of the Vanir, one of the two families of intermarried Norse Gods (the other
being the Aesir). The Vanir are the more Earth- and fertility- oriented of
the two families. This tendency for Lesbigay Heathens to gravitate toward
the Vanir was not only true back in the "old days" but seems to still hold
today. Why all these gay people in a fertility cult? It doesn't seem to make
sense at first, but on closer examination it is pretty logical. For one thing,
they evidently did rituals in which sex was a key part. The "hobby hoss"
Beltaine parades still performed in the British Isles with their transvestite
'Betsies' (as seen in the film/book "The Wicker Man") may be a remnant of
these, by the way! Please note that ancient and medieval Germanic Heathens
sank their human sacrifices in bogs consecrated to the Vanir instead of burning
them in a wicker man. Today, we substitute baked doughboys for the human
victims of yesteryear. Sex, as most of you already know, can raise a great
deal of magickal energy, and since gay sex can't make babies, all that energy
is available for something else - like blessing the crops, healing, etc.
The priests of Ingvi Freyr (my patron God and One of the Vanir) scandalized
Christian missionaries with their crossdressing, bells on their dresses,
and effeminate gestures. You can bet your ritual robe that they were at the
very top of the Christians' hit list once they took over and "converted"
the country, which is another reason relatively little is known about all
this! Vanir worship is also associated with intuitive, shamanic-type workings,
called seidhr in Old Norse. In the Viking Age,
seidhr was seen as "unmanly"
and done mostly be women and by men who today would be considered gay or
bisexual. Freya, a Vanir Goddess, discovered it and taught it to Odin, an
Aesir God. Odin was seen (despite being the "Allfather" and having strong
associations with warfare) as being of somewhat suspect masculinity. I'm
a seidhmadhr (seidh-man) and I have observed that being female, Lesbigay
and/or Transgendered is a plus when doing this sort of work. Straight guys
can do it too, but it seems to be a bit harder for them! This should be no
surprise, since in a great many cultures, there was/is a much larger percentage
of Lesbigays and Transgendered folks among their shamans than in their general
population. By the way, folks seriously interested in learning oracular
seidhr
(a group shamanic working where all involved do a guided journey to the gates
of Hel, the realm of the Dead, the Deep Unconcious and the abode of much
wisdom, and there wait while the Guide sends a seer/ess through the gates to
answer questions put to him/her by the group) should
email me and I'll forward your name and address to
my teachers, Diana L. Paxson and Laurel Olsen, who do some correspondence
teaching (for the cost of photocopies only) and do workshops at very reasonable
prices (we're talking $50, not $500) around the country. I do teach oracular
seidhr but only in person in Lexington, Kentucky USA as that's all I have
the time to do. Fear not, all this is amply warded, under the
patronage/protection of Freya and Odin, and we do guide you back and help
you ground when we're done! It's the safest necromancy you'll ever do, and
all our dead people are volunteers, and haven't asked for anything in return
but the pleasure of our company and the bit of energy we give them.
As you can see, there is plenty of room and welcome in the Germanic Community
for Lesbigay and Transgendered folks, so if these are the Gods and Goddesses
who are calling you, welcome aboard! Most of this information in this article
came from the following two sources, and I heartily recommend them both:
1. The massive Our Troth, published by the Ring of Troth, on whose High Rede
I serve; please see the link to The Troth's website later in this article;
most of Our Troth is online (and free) and linked from there. More
specifically, from the chapter of that book entitled "Fro Ing", which is
another name for Freyr. The chapter on Fro Ing was written by Helgi T. Dagsson,
William Conrad Karpen, and Eric Wodening. Our Troth is slightly over 700
pp. long. You need this book if you're seriously interested in our
path. 2. The Ostara 1995 edition of Idunna, the magazine of the The Troth
(there may be back issues available, and there are several very good articles
on this and related topics, although Diana L. Paxson's "Sex, Status, and
Seidh: Homosexuality in Germanic Religion" is the one to which I am specifically
referring). You can subscribe to Idunna for $20 in the USA, and may also
join The Troth for no extra charge when you subscribe. See
The Troth web page. The Troth does
not discriminate based on race, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc.
all works used by permission of the authors
last modified
07/20/2003