Valhalla, Folkvangr: Where Do Pagans Go?--Storytime Castle Pagan Traditions, Myth, Legends

welcome back heathens believe it or not you are not on my YouTube channel right now you were on my Instagram page and that acid that you took is just now kicking in that's right you are trippin balls my friend gonna take a few hours to wear off but in the meantime let's pretend like this is an actual video and then when you wake up later you can question whether or not the information you have is real or not so one of the biggest questions I have and I always say that at the start of videos because I get a lot of questions from you guys and I love it the sheer amount of interaction and conversation that goes on between discord there's a little bit that goes on on Reddit but not a whole lot and then Twitter and Instagram and tik-tok and in the YouTube comments the sheer amount of conversation that goes on is wonderful it's absolutely wonderful I come back to trying not to swear so that we don't get demonetised when we finally get there because you guys have blown out of it well that didn't last very long out of the water as far as getting us there so thank you for that but valhalla I get it a lot where who actually goes to Valhalla what are the actual afterlife's now of course as I say in every video I do not know better I just know different and please do your own research read the stories and do understand that these are just the stories that I grew up with they do not necessarily have any founding in academia or in mainline belief systems that being said let's get ready to die in battle my friends know there are four heavens not exactly heavens there are four tiers of the afterlife you have Valhalla which I'm sure you all have heard you have full vogner which I'm sure few of you fewer of you have heard of then you have hell which everybody's heard of you the hell exists in actually a lot of lawyers and it's called Hell in a lot of lawyers so that's interesting but the one you've likely not heard of is the one you will have heard me references being called Avalon Avalon is actually referred to as make meal now make meal is but it is the the third tier of what we would refer to as heaven now we're gonna go into who goes teach one of these how they get there and what the purpose essentially is of each one of these things based on the stories that we know now we're gonna start with the obvious one we're gonna start with Valhalla so let's get there Valhalla is more or less warriors heaven but there's a lot of misconceptions as to who gets in and who and how they get there so who gets in and how they get there is not at least how we learn is not how it is perceived typically so yes warriors who get in but the way that you gets in and where you get to sit and it is a tier of tables so the highest tables are observed for the greatest warriors who died in the greatest battles and that is based on the amount of Valor that you earn in your lifetime based on the things that you do the things that you achieve and a lot of people confuse this with like the oh the more good deeds you do gets you into heaven no you have to follow your path if you will and I hate using that word because all of the trendy pagans use it but you have to follow what you are intended to do and in the meantime also work to attain valor and that's done through training for battle that's done through winning battles and that's done through dying in battle now a lot of people believe that the most valorous and the people who die in the most brutal ways those are the people who get to go to Valhalla but that's not true so when there is a battle and the battle is finally ended then the Sun shines on the battlefield for the first time the battlefield is split in two and the areas that the Sun shines on though that half get taken by the Valkyries to the high tables of Valhalla and they are sorted by the amount of Valor they earned in their life into which tables they're going to sit up then the rest are ferried off in carriages and on horses now in that and that's another thing that is is kind of up for debate in a lot of the legends we hear that it is on horses and in some its encourages drawn by great rounds so I like to pretend that it's both you don't have to you can pick one of the other if you like goats more than horses or horses more than goats you can pick your side I like to pretend that it's both and that the really big people like me got a horse and all of the smaller warriors they got to ride in the carriages with the rams that's what I like to believe so you can pick what you like but those people get to go to full vogner and what they do and folk vogner is essentially the field of heroes or field of warriors but I think that the direct translation from Old Norse is its field of people or or field of men and that is the section of heaven that is overseen by Freya now we say we say owned by often or it belongs to but notes these souls are overseen by and they're not actually souls either but that's some that's something for another video are overseen by Freya and those in Valhalla are overseen by odin typically now when we when we talk about these two there is something that separates the people who go to these two different places and where they are status wise in those areas and status is it doesn't mean as much in the afterlife it's more of just the honor of being allowed to do something it's it's you earned the honor to sit at the same table as Odin or you sit at the same table as as tier and the other sons or you know so on and so forth going down in the tiers of the tables in Valhalla and in the fields it's basically there is a it's a cultivation style heaven so it's like form land and meadows and you know essentially a sort of paradise but the way that you get in and the tears of full vogner are based off of your virtue so fold vogner is based on tears of virtue and Valhalla is based off of tears of valor now and that's basically it they split right down the middle there is no other differentiation a lot of people think that folk Magners like women's heaven but there's nothing in any of the mythologies to suggest that's true except for one comment in the ADA's were some I don't even remember exactly who it is but some woman claims that she's waiting for Freya to come and claim her other than that there's no real reference to that and there's nothing in our stories that suggests that's true now to be clear in what we understand and believe both men and women can go to either fold vogner or Valhalla but it's much less common for women to go to Valhalla because the way that the the energy system works makes it a lot harder for women to gain valour but much easier for them to gain virtue so in predominance you will see more women in folk vogner than you will in Valhalla and you'll see more men in Valhalla than you will in folk Bergner know where you will see people who have the highest combination of both the highest combination of both virtue and valor but within upkeep of Honor now honor is something else that is entirely different honor is based off of how well you maintain tradition and heritage those people well actually you know what hang on wait to the end you have to wait till the end for the juicy parts people who have done nothing in their lives and they die people who live off of the honor of others people now and keep in mind I did say this in a YouTube video stealing honor symbols or anything of the like claiming the honor of others can have you barred from the afterlife that's a major thing you do not get enter or any of the after lives and that includes hell if you have stolen honor and that includes claiming family that is not yours claiming the honor or of the victories of family that are not yours even claiming money and property that you did not earn that is seen as stealing honor and that blacks in blackens your soul and if you take a black mark on your soul from this it makes it very very difficult to get into any of the after lives now hell is probably my favourite of the lot because it is one of the biggest misconceptions that were lazy or that inherently did not perform any sort of valor or virtue or honor in their lifetime they get sent to or if they commit atrocities now it's important to notice that when it comes to battle there is no good or evil you don't there's not an evil side of the battlefield and a good side of the battlefield it is just battle battle is honorable no matter what unless you do something dishonorable in battle but for the most part very hard to do and again I can do videos on any of these topics you guys just let me know down below and a lot of you guys feel like you're leaving too many comments saying like oh I want this and I want that and I want this I can't make the videos if I don't know if you guys want them so if you put it in the comments or you tweet at me at real slim Jesus or you put it in the comments of my my photos over on Instagram or if you message me or comment on a tik-tok video I don't know you guys want the videos if you don't tell me so please comment away because your that's how I get ideas for videos is when you tell me what you want to know now getting back into it hell is like a giant recycling pan plant it sends people through trials it sends people through pain and through adversity and that causes the soul to cleanse a clock causes the spirits and the mind to cleanse and basically reset and then those souls are sent back up in to Meg mail and like mail is essentially it is the it is we call it Avalon because it's a more relatable thing and Avalon from Arthurian myth is based off of mac mail and it's I pronounce it Mac man but it's make mail properly and that feels weird to say so I say Mac mail and this is the the garden of souls or the meadow of souls or the meadow of warriors it's also referred to as the meadow of lights and that has to do with what I talked about about energy and magic being referred to as so loss in ancient Gaelic mythology but again that's another video that I'm gonna have to do at some point but those souls have sent back up and they're actually grown as flowers and fruit trees in the gardens of MAG mill and those who have the highest combination of virtue and valor and the highest levels of honor serve in the gardens of macmail to help nurture these reborn souls and new souls back into life and then send them back down to earth so the only permanent of all of these heavens is actually mag mel when you serve in the gardens of mag mel when you tend the guards of mag mel that is permanent you stay there forever you do not stay in full magner or Valhalla forever and that's the big twist that I love that is it not in any of the mythologies that you see is that you have to maintain your levels of virtue and valor levels of virtue are found by serving Freya in the fields of folk Vagner and by winning valor in the fights and in the battles and in the revelries of the halls of odin and if you do not maintain those you can be kicked into hell and sent back through the cycle in to the gardens of mag mail I hope you guys enjoyed this because you guys have been asking for it for a very long time and this is actually one of my favorite mythologies and I know I say that about everything but I love these stories the reason why I'm so excited to share them is because I grew up with them and I love them and I'd love to share them and tell them and I never thought I'd get the opportunity to do so because I didn't think people were interested in this stuff so I am so glad that you guys have been enjoying them so much if you are not subscribed which most of you are but if you are not subscribed please destroy that subscribe button with the almighty force of the grandest warrior of your clan and then very gently caress and ting the Bell next to it so you will be notified whenever I upload video and you can of course follow me on all of the other things but until the next video which I don't know what it'll be actually next video is going to be on the wind spirits from frozen - and then the video following that will be a video talking about the festivals of st. Patrick's Day and of course I'll have a bunch of gaming videos and other fun videos in between dattaji guys over in between these lore videos but yeah that's it so remember my friends to stay bloodthirsty and always all hail you

Channel: Black Dragon Tavern

Views: 4,193

Rating: 4.9482203 out of 5

Keywords: Slim Yeezus, Real Slim Yeezus, The Real Slim Yeezus, Pagan, Ireland, Gaelic, Heathen, Celtic, slim yeezus, therealslimyeezus, commentary, educational, tiktok, tik tok, tik, tok, Folkvangr, Valhalla, Irish Heaven, Norse Heaven, Viking heaven

Id: aBtrBhTdsqI

Length: 14min 6sec (846 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 02 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/lexymarieart]

His view of Hel as a place for dishonourable or lazy people seems more like a Christianised concept of Hel tbh. The pagan conception of Hel seems pretty peaceful and neutral. It's not a place of glory, but there's definitely no suggestion that it's a place of "trials and pain" like this guy suggests. In many ways it seems to be almost like a shadowy or dreamlike version of our own world, with different halls and destinations within it, some better than others. Hel is just the underworld, it's not like the Christian hell or heaven.

As for Valhalla... I think that people put far too much emphasis on Valhalla tbh. People often seem to try to equate it with heaven, as if it's somehow a moral/ personal failing not to make it to Valhalla when you die. But it isn't a place you go for being a good person. It's a place for heroes or warriors, or the modern day equivalent. Most of us aren't that, and that's fine. There's enough honour in living a good life, doing right by your family, community, ancestors and descendents.

[u/thatsnotgneiss]

He is going by so called "family tradition" and not actual information. To be fair to his position, this is pretty consistent with romantic Viking revival era ideas which were heavily influenced by Victorian death culture and nationalism in Britain. These ideas were still being seen in the post WW2 viking revival books aimed at young men.

So he's wrong, and I am fairly sure I know where the info his grandfather taught him came from.

[u/Sachsen_Wodewose]

What is there to say? He claims at the beginning of the video that none of this is based on lore or academia, but he also claims that these are the stories that he grew up with, which to my mind would be folklore, but whatever.

At one point in the video he freely admits that Avalon comes Gaelic mythology, which I don’t know if that’s true or not, I do know that it comes from Arthurian legend though.

This is just his personal take, his personal beliefs.

He did hit on a concept that is part of my own UPG about the afterlife, which was a little odd, but also okay.

[u/OccultVolva]

To throw in some good words or my opinion of Hel and Helhiem whenever this topic comes up. With comment on 'hel>underworld>bad' like with Hell. Even the Christian perspective doesn't quite make sense that a lower world or underworld 'is inherently bad' since we still have graveyards that bury people in the underground. There's always been that spiritual connection with doing this esp as a faith where there are such things as burial mounds

Sounds like this guy has very narrow-focused research or view as there's plenty of variety and contradictions. An Underworld like Hel in many ancient cultures isn't a negative place by anthropology. We have some burial items like hel shoes amulets that seem to feature Hel that aren't 'punishment' items to shame people.

Even if we look at texts only there's information there too if you want to draw one piece of a conclusion from when its referenced too. With 'warriors who die well in battle go to Valhalla, non-warriors go elsewhere' etc but we do have some texts that ref in poetry an image of those who died in battle from performing 'marvels' go to Heljar (Hel as a place). As well as some rivals in battle going that way too.

Flest hirð, sús tœði {hraustum fœði døkks hrafns} vel, vas dauð, áðr dǫglingr næði at støkkva á land. Ǫll skipun {konungs Jóta} skóp {snjǫllum skerði hrings} furðu þá; hverr fótr vas þá genginn til Heljar.

Most of the troop, who served {the bold feeder of the dark raven} [WARRIOR = Sveinn] well, was dead by the time the prince managed to leap ashore. The whole company {of the king of the Jótar} [DANISH KING = Sveinn] performed {for the valiant damager of the ring} [GENEROUS MAN] a marvel then; every foot had then marched off to death’s realm.

Hel is a death goddess and often in poetry and text (and life) people tend to fear death, want to escape death, or feel grief when they feel someone is taken away, invited away, flirted away by death which muddles the narrative poetically. Yet this doesn't mean even in some texts the person taken always lived a 'bad life' or 'punished' when they are taken at the end of their days by Hel or seen as 'shameful'. Kings who died of old age are still celebrated or considered brave and mighty in life before they pass on. With the mix of 'hel took my enemies' like texts and these ones, it could be read more as 'death comes for us all and in different ways' and how that was written depends on the author and whose commissioned it and who they are writing about. Once again is we go by old texts and poetry of varying context and dates.

Snarr siklingr réð {beðju Þundar} þría vetr ok sjautøgu, áðr * {einkadóttir ǫðlings} kom at ræna lofðung lífi.

The brave lord ruled {the bedmate of Þundr <= Óðinn>} [= Jǫrð (jǫrð ‘earth’)] for three and seventy years, before {the only daughter of the chieftain [Loptr] <= Loki>} [= Hel (hel ‘death’)] came to rob the ruler of his life.

Þat frá hverr, at sǫkmiðlendr skyldu sakna Halfdanar. Ok {hlífi-Nauma hallvarps} tók þjóðkonung á Þótni. Ok Skæreið drúpir of beinum {brynjalfs} í Skíringssal.

Everyone learned that the mediators had to feel the loss of Hálfdan. And {the protecting Nauma <goddess> of the cairn} [= Hel] took the mighty king in Toten. And Skæreið mourns over the bones {of the mailcoat-elf} [WARRIOR] in Skíringssalr.

Kveðkat dul, nema {Gnô Glitnis} hefr hrør Dyggva at gamni, þvít {jódís Ulfs ok Narfa} skyldi kjósa konungmann. Ok {mær Loka} hefr of leikinn allvald {þjóðar Yngva}.

I call it no secret, but {the Gná <goddess> of Glitnir <horse>} [= Hel] has the corpse of Dyggvi for [her] pleasure, for {the sister of the Wolf and of Narfi} [= Hel] had to choose the king . And {the maiden of Loki} [= Hel] has outplayed the sovereign {of the people of Yngvi} [= Svíar].

Ok {mær Hveðrungs} bauð þriðja jǫfri ór heimi til þings, þás Halfdanr, sás bjó Holtum, hafði of notit dóms norna. Ok sigrhafendr fôlu buðlung síðan á Borrói.

And {the maiden of Hveðrungr <= Loki>} [= Hel] invited a third ruler out of the world to a meeting when Hálfdan, who lived in Holtan, had used up the allotment of the norns. And afterwards the victorious ones buried the ruler in Borre.

En Eysteinn fór fyr ási til {meyjar {bróður Býleists}}. Ok nú liggr {lǫðuðr rekks} und {beinum lagar} á braddi raðar, þars élkaldr straumr Vǫðlu kømr at vági hjá gauzkum jǫfur.

And Eysteinn went because of the sail-yard to {the maiden {of the brother of Býleistr <mythological being>}} [= Loki > = Hel]. And now {the inviter of the warrior} [RULER] lies under {the bones of the sea} [STONES] at the edge of the ridge where the blizzard-cold stream of the Vaðla empties into the bay near the Gautish prince.

Also sometime Heljar or other words aren't talking about pagan afterlife per say but written in a time period and narrative context when they would be referring to Christian Hell or a mix of both, which blurs everything further from understanding what pre-Christians thought on the afterlife or what happens to 'bad people' in the afterlife. Or how we contextualize what 'bad' means compared to then and now. Though many do believe death as a type of journey where one might face or reconcile parts of their life is out there in many forms.

To throw in, people here may also have different views because they haven't had a negative spiritual experience reaching out to Hel or Helheim or Heljar. Some people (including myself) find her helping loved ones pass on or journey on and the place being a nice hall where people or their memories feast and rest in peace at journeys end or before rebirth (if we're adding this attested in texts old belief too). I do think spiritually it's very good to make peace and remove too much anxiety about death and Hel. Pressuring yourself to reach Valhalla out of fear of Hel, is a terrible way to live and will take a toll on you.

[u/opulentSandwich]

I can't focus on this guy's voice long enough to figure out what the hel he's saying. Someone wanna give me a tl;dw?