The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/sacrifice)
This is the first time I cross path with what Finns call a hiidenkivi (“cult stone”) and the Swedes a jättekast (“giant’s throw”), and for a little while longer my mind meanders, thinking about the ancient stories that were more than likely told about this place in ages past.
Like a “Sunday Catholic” who is extremely devout on Sunday mornings but lives a decidedly un-Christian life for the rest of the week, we can all too easily make grand speeches over the drinking horn at blót but neglect to put intention into action when we step out into the wider world. Are we honoring the ancestors in our lives? Or are we dishonoring them?
“She pushes me under the water quickly, but there’s no violence to it,” writes Luke Babb in a searing encounter with the spirit world. “Still, I panic. I hold my breath, struggle against her, but this is the sort of thing she is. I am the sort of thing that breathes, and so, despite my body’s stubborn refusal, eventually my lungs pull in and I taste the water in the back of my throat.”
To sacrifice takes courage. In our ethics, to put others or our values above the desires of the individual means to appeal to the better parts of our nature. How often do we teach our children or say to each other that we should “do the right thing”? How often do we applaud words or deeds that demonstrate this higher form of sacrifice precisely because it is so difficult for many people and it is not what most might do if we were in that same position.
In direct contrast to the supposedly universal “golden rule” and the “turn the other cheek” message of Christ, Odin teaches that we have no responsibility to be love our enemies. That particular Heathen teaching is a large part of what leads someone like me to be uncomfortable with some of Martin Luther King’s principles, but it does not mean that the embrace of violence is the answer.”