Reclaiming Raven

[@YPibydd]

We have sacred raven and crow mythology in Wales also. From our Mabinogi, sacred myth tales, our goddess Branwen (white or sacred crow) and her brother Bendigeidfran (blessed white crow) the giant. This is wonderful Rune.

[@mittenista]

Due to my experience with certain other channels that shall remain unnamed, I felt quite a bit of trepidation when I first found yours. Thank you for being an actual decent human being who can discuss topics like Nordic culture without descending into barely concealed bigotry and dog-whistles to racist ideology.

[@Biggiiful]

If you're hearing dog whistles to bigotry....you're the bigot. Such a terrible analogy that keeps being used.

[@mittenista]

@@Biggiiful Bruh, the dude associates with alt-right types, takes umbrage with new historical findings that interfere with his white-power fantasies of the past, and is convinced that "they" are trying to "erase our biocultural history" in an attempt to support immigration. But *I'm* the bigot. Sure. Jog on fash, I got no interest in what you're peddling.

[@NordicAnimism]

@mittenista - thanks a lot! I actually regard constant vigilance and outspokenness on these issues to be sine-qua-non of dealing with Euro-descendant culture at all.

[@alexmanning9961]

@@mittenista just out of curiosity which channels did you find problematic? I ask because I like to avoid those.

[@autumncuevas852]

Probably WisdomofOdin. There are multiple pagan channels that have called out his BS.

[@erikaima9482]

Came for the raven, stayed for the rousing speech.

[@tarapayne4945]

❤word❤

[@hornandhearth2581]

That talking about the white Raven gave me chills. Love this so much and thank you for creating this flag and symbol for unity. Be blessed

[@NordicAnimism]

thanks or this! Do check out the video specifically on the white Raven 🙂

[@marktaylor1376]

It’s interesting how beginning of this year many people talked of us transitioning into the age of Aquarius, the rise of the white raven is simply a different language way of saying the same thing. Great video!

[@TheNinjaFromNuevo]

I love the initiative and it arrives not a moment too soon. Joining with you and others around the world in solidarity!

[@Cynthia.B]

I absolutely love this idea! It's a beautiful design. Checking out your shop, I was happy to see it is also printed on clothing. I have 2 Raven t-shirts already, though! Thank you for caring and coming up with this brilliant idea! 💚

[@1974heathinn]

It is a great design. The passionate speech behind it is amazing.

[@pjamescowie]

An awesome reclamation of the raven motif - I love the deeper meaning imparted by the integration of the face mask! I'll put this to good use, if I may, and publicise your great work through my various channels. Idea: we should lobby the Unicode Consortium to include a raven emoji in a future update (with both black and white variants).

[@ml-squared]

I've been following your content for a few weeks now and I wanted to thank you for putting out such thoughtful, and educational videos on these topics! All the best

[@katherinebitney1547]

Thanks for this, Rune. Truth, and a timely re-connection.

[@bobvanhook65]

For over 20 years, I have identified with Raven as my animal spirit. About 3 years ago, before Covid, I felt a shift and became White Raven. I don't claim to be anything but a human aspect of a networked world. Thank you for bringing this raven totem to us. Now let's raise the flag!

[@theherbwitchshoppe7137]

What a timely and proactive initiative! It makes my heart sing ❤️

[@Pdqute11]

Dr. Rune Rasmussen, Thank You. Your Raven Flag is Wonderful. Totemic Nature of Raven!!! Hunan and Hunan and Nunan. I love your art work to reclaim Animism. The Petroglyph 2022 Viking Tagging.

[@robertparkersworld8838]

Thank you so much for sharing your perspective, Rune. The animistic worldview transcends any concept of the modern nation-state or nationalistic identity, and you articulate that so well.

[@jackieweltman1760]

Pursuant to the points made in parts 1 and 2, with respect to raven-as-person, I'm surprised that it wasn't mentioned that, you know, ravens can talk! Like other social & super smart birds, they are fabulous mimics and even - with their intelligence - conversationalists (in their own way).

[@bekkibearheart7939]

Thank you for your impassioned plea for a return to our animist roots and a loving connection with the Earth and all terrestrial beings. I will be sharing this widely with my own network. My own mission for the last 40 years has been social activism for the earth, shamanic healing, and shamanic teaching as a path to right relationship with beings spiritual and physical. For 34 years my partner in this work was my anthropologist husband, now deceased. A student of mine alerted me to your video on cultural appropriation, so I went looking for more of your work. I am of Danish (my father) and Hungarian (my mother) ancestry, living and working in the US. They taught me respect and love for the Earth and all beings- an important value held by all of our ancestors. They also made sure I knew the myths and stories of my ancestors, as well as the myths of many other peoples. We are all One.

[@I_scribbles]

Check out Arith Härger channel. Will not disappoint. Hands down best info i came across regarding these topics. I am new to this guys channel so i cant compare.

[@OceanKeltoi]

I dig it. Does it come in blue? :P

[@NordicAnimism]

no - unfortunaly we only have red and green

[@OceanKeltoi]

@@NordicAnimism =shakes fist=

[@elmarm.5224]

Is there any source or possibility to get a blank design of the raven so we can use it in art, own merch and for crafts?

[@emilyhannon3327]

Absolutely loved this! Your wisdom is much appreciated 💚

[@leonmuise]

odin smiles upon you friend. i whole heartly believe in nordic animism. the call to the woods. to be free in the dirt. communicating to the senses of your instincts and letting that out. very thought provoking video. skal!

[@annaaurora81303]

Thank you ⚡🐉 Really appreciate your dedication ⚔️

[@Autumn_Carolina]

is there a way to buy this in the states? id love to fly it.

[@NordicAnimism]

@Autumn Carolina - there certainly is! - just find www.nordicanimism.com. Go to the shop and order :-)

[@kirkha100]

I am grateful for the work you have done. In this past year I have walked 1800 miles through woods and undeveloped places gradually developing specific experiential relationships with the non-human people of those places and the places themselves as persons. I’ve been gradually purging myself of the dominionist poison of the abrahamist mind control cults. I’ve been uneasy about framing my experiences as Nordic. Many of the symbols have been co-opted by the Right to serve nationalist and racist agendas. I’m in the US, where racism is like a gas that permeates everything. I was raised in this atmosphere and struggle to overcome it’s toxicity. You have provided an opportunity to build a framework or structure uncontaminated by the hatred I see around me. This is a relief. I’m coming at this from a concrete physical activity that is bearing fruit like an expanding botanical knowledge and the increasingly relaxed behavior of a small herd of deer that live near me, as well as the increasing boldness of the chickadees and gray squirrels that live there as well. To me, they are persons. I respect Native American traditions, but they are not mine. What you describe feels like coming home to me.

[@NordicAnimism]

I am happy and honored by your appreciation. Thank you very much for these words!

[@mikeybeeIII]

I'm a nonbinary heathen. Thank you for seeing me

[@paganbanjo]

Beautiful. Good speech too, got goosebumps. Is this particular variation that you guys came up with a copyrighted symbol? Would you care if someone got a tattoo of it, say?

[@PeasantByTheSouthernSea]

If I'm understanding Rune, he's giving this symbol to anyone who wants to use it in a way which honours the values he ascribes to it - kinship and relation between humanity and the greater-than-human world. Would make a beautiful tattoo. I'm thinking of making a mask based on the symbol. Thanks Rune. Beautiful work.

[@paganbanjo]

@@PeasantByTheSouthernSea He's also selling the flag on his website for 480 Danish crowns, and so that made me think that maybe it was copyrighted. Which is fair, you gotta eat somehow. I was just curious.

[@NordicAnimism]

@@paganbanjo I am actually trademarking the symbol, mostly to protect it against abuse (I am also giving the symbol to groups I trust) - a sad fact of dealing with Nordic material is that you have to be vigilant about by who and how it is used. - However - if decent non-racist people would use it tattoos or masks, then I would be honored and delighted. That is what it is made for - to be used by good people to signal - as @jordan wyrd is saying - kinship to the greater-than-human world. - I would be grateful if you'd even send me fotos of that, so I can track and document the consolidation of the symbol - [e-mail]

[@DeffoNotToucan]

@@NordicAnimism do I need a permission from you personally in order to have it tattooed? I can assure you I'm as far from fascism, ethnonationalism, etc. as possible. Dont worry :).

[@NordicAnimism]

@@DeffoNotToucan A personal thing like that is (if I understand correctly), a different thing! - But, I'd be very happy if you'd send me a photo of the tattoo :-)

[@amyjones2119]

Hi! Is this totemism seen with other animals too like wolves and bears?

[@NordicAnimism]

Hey - Amy! Yes it is. Seals, Bears, Pigs - probably other animals too

[@TheMNBlackBear]

Over the last couple of years, I have reclaimed the Raven, Wolf, Odin, Thor, swastika, Celtic & Viking trisquelion, etc., by carving them into metals and leather and wearing them and meditating, contemplating on them. Above all, it is a way to connect with our past and our history. For those who do not know their history will only repeat it. This is also the year of Jubilee, by the way. Unfortunately, we aren't headed toward anything good in this moment. As I write this, literally the entire world as we know it is being undone. Raven circles the sky over the dying embodiment of what once was and will be no more. There can be no chaos without order nor can there be order without chaos. Opportunities abound for those watchful and wary and ready to strike on without the comforts of a sedentary life; without the obese, stupid, weak, coddled, overgrown childish self in tow. Take care to rid yourself of all nonsense. Get active. Become the Raven. The snake will shed his old skin and refresh. For the Raven, nothing ever changes. He is that perpetual link and embodiment to our dark selves, that mystery residing within us. We understand the Raven when we come to understand ourselves. Without the pains and sufferings of Thought and Memory, of Great Effort, Great Action--there will be no understanding, to be sure. Nothing in this life is given. We must take. My self to my self.

[@ThomandTiggs]

A beautiful symbol. Love it and the message you are sharing.

[@galvanic.warlock]

Hell, I'm getting this tattooed

[@kevinceney]

I love this, and join you in spirit !!

[@zacharylindahl]

That's pretty cool, might carve it on a couple of drinking horns if you don't mind

[@bikerbardofohio5076]

That raven design is totally boss!

[@AriaIvancichArt]

Beautiful! Thank u.

[@nordichistory409]

Hey Rune, can you go into dept explaining the symbolism of the Sun Wheel?

[@NordicAnimism]

I most certainly can - check this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJbdZoCtZc-cfdE

[@nordichistory409]

@@NordicAnimism Thank you very much!

[@alexday1191]

I'm all in! Gonna buy 1 flag to start with. I'm the board director of a LARGE pagan community. I'll DM you soon.

[@raphlvlogs271]

corvids resemblance to humans has been noticed for a very long period of time

[@zekecastelli7256]

Very nice. Very good work :)

[@sarahgilbert8036]

Will it come in blue??

[@NordicAnimism]

I doubt it :-) until now we are only planning red and green

[@sarahgilbert8036]

@@NordicAnimism then I have to toss a coin - or a rune - to see which of red or green to get :)

[@sarahgilbert8036]

Red ordered 😊

[@Pdqute11]

Yes the White Raven. Yes the heal the bonds of Kinship to advert Ragnarak

[@I_scribbles]

Those able to hear the call of the old ways, the call of our ancestors, the return to the land, the call of our mother, will hear it. Others will not and not survive that is the way it hast to be. Its not our duty to rally the troops. Its our duty to set the ground for our future generations to survive and not to succumb to more domestication of the human species. We need to release the primal within us and follow our instincts.

[@luckybinger]

Symbolet kan benyttes mange steder, men er der copyright eller lign på det? Meget visionær og oplysende video ...tak fra Bee...

[@NordicAnimism]

Dette specifikke design af symbolet er vores kreation og derfor Nordic Animism Copyright! :-)

[@POLITICUS-DANICUS]

The age of the White Raven has come.

[@MaudMargretheRex]

Wow, Thanks Beautiful

[@ChrisLambert-Yngvegodi]

Ho ho, very Odinic. Good luck, I'm sure it will sell well and I actually like it but personally I have my own fulyr.

[@atlanticdragon4773]

I like the idea but at £50.00 for a flag I won’t buy it. If you get it on Northern Fire at £25.00 then I think you’ll see more uptake.

[@riteandrune]

May I paint this on a pride flag? -Kierra, US

[@NordicAnimism]

We actually allready have a pride version of the flag shop.nordicanimism.com/shop/10-flags/41-the-pride-raven-flag/

[@kaistromberg3584]

Amazing!!

[@antoninaheath3671]

We are Manaraefan.

[@WarWithReality]

Hej Rune. Jeg har lige fundet din kanal og har efterhånden set ret mange af dine videoer, de er skønne. Nu lufter jeg bare en idé, men det kunne være så fedt hvis du har mulighed for at lave en video der omhandler sammenhængen mellem psilocibin og vikingernes kultur samt ritualer. Selvfølgelig kun hvis du har lyst. :)

[@NordicAnimism]

Tak for forslaget. Såvidt jeg ved er der ikke dokumenteret nogen brug af psilocybin blandt vikingerne. Der er dog fundet Cannabisfrø i en pung i en vigtig grav, nemlig Oseberggraven og .... Bulmeurt (tror jeg det var) i vølvegraven i fyrkat (om jeg husker ret)

[@WarWithReality]

@@NordicAnimism Meget interessant, tak for svaret! :)

[@christophermoorhead5147]

I'm all for community, but I have to say I get a little concerned with some people's desire to overlap Nordic symbolism and religion with others. Why even have "Nordic" if you think it's all the same thing anyways? At what point do you add so much to a "thing" that it's no longer that thing anymore? I personally think the inclusion of Native American practices are important for people living in the U.S., in so far as it pay respects to the wights that were here before European settlers arrived, for one example. But is it not still important to have that structure there that, yes, developed from what are the Northern lands of Europe?

[@danc1164]

You always have overlap in religions if go back far enough... norse pagan, gernanic and the paganism seen in British Isles had almost identical gods, even the big three overlap .. Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Islam mentions jesus more than the bible does, the old testament is the Jewish bible, all three have same regional origin, if go back far enough religions will have only changed early on due to migration of tribes and the stories told changing over generations .

[@christophermoorhead5147]

@@danc1164 I'm aware, but there are still lines of division where one thing becomes another. What do you call a Christian who recognizes Mohammad as a prophet and the Quran as the final word on Abrahamic morality? That sounds like a Muslim to me. I'm just saying that there's a certain point at which Heathenry/Asatru/whatever you may call it takes on so many outside sources that it's not what it was anymore. I realize this is a difficult point to make regarding a reconstructed religion that we realistically know do little about factually, but there was a point between when Scandinavia was settled by indo-european people and those people's conversion to Christianity where an "authentic" faith unique to that area existed. No, it didn't pop up out of nowhere, it was brought with those settlers and influenced by a number of other factors. But it wasn't Buddhism, it wasn't Christianity, it had influences from the surrounding area and whatever lineage of people settled there brought with them, but it was unique to that time and place.

[@danc1164]

@@christophermoorhead5147 but there in lies the problem, it wasn't really different to gemamic pagan , even pagan in UK had woden with 2 wolves instead of ravens , its clearly all based on an even earlier religion anyway from even earlier time period that was diluted by tribe migration , but I think the point more was to create a community that respects individuality rather than one that tries to force adhesion to another. More spiritual than religious... well that's what I took it as anyway

[@christophermoorhead5147]

@@danc1164 I think it's inarguable that it's more of an individualistic faith, and probably was even as it used to be practiced historically compared to centralized religions with a heirarical clergy. Rather it was the immediate community/village that would have the most influence over how it was practiced. And villages nearby would probably have more similar practices then those further away. And all the villages in one geographic region would probably practice something close to each other than those in another, esp. as defined by geographic dividers like mountains and seas. I'm no expert on the subject, but I think it's safe to say what was being practiced inside of Norway was probably a little difference than Sweden, but were probably more similar to each other than what was practiced across the Baltic, but all were exceptionally distinct from other branches of indo-european religions. I suppose my point is, I think it can be exceptionally valuable to get as close of a snapshot to the original source as you can get, depending on what time and region speaks to you the most. After all, many people came to heathenry from Christianity, it would make sense that they would seek out a form with as little christian influence as possible. Whatever you add or take from it at that point should remain distinct from that original form in your own mind, even if you integrate it in practice. Just my opinion, but we sort of owe it to history not to overlap the two and sell it as the same thing.

[@aronhansen5756]

jeg har da overvejet at lave mit eget ravneflag men har været i tvivl om hvilket et der er det rigtige ;-)

[@NordicAnimism]

@Aron - det rigtige er det jeg har designet :-) - Der findes ingen billeder af vikingetidens ravnflag, så alt er dybest set gætværk. Mit design hviler på jernalderens brocher, Århusmasken og York Ravnpennyen

[@olekluften9776]

Love it. I'll go for white raven and good spirit

[@heathertheheathen8441]

This video deserves 500x this engagement. May the algorithm bless it. I welcome the white raven. 🤍

[@NordicAnimism]

Thank you very much! - do check out Nordic Animism accross platforms. Here: linktr.ee/nordicanimism

[@fritilatvre3770]

...yes det er fedt! købt inden filmen var slut..

[@freakbrunny]

I like your message Sir . Respect.

[@GlobalRage]

If an old man with a white beard has not presented you the banner then FO. Last time it was given was to Earl Siward and he was not some fanboi wanna be hipster.

[@NordicAnimism]

Perhaps I DID get it from Santa.... I've heard that he likes fanboi hipsters quite a bit better than than vulgar nationalist imaginations of proud noble warriors

[@GlobalRage]

Hipster fanboi? More like a feminazi.