The Importance of UPG

In the Northern Tradition (a very large umbrella term that I am using to discuss the Nordic/Germanic pantheon that sometimes intertwines with Celtic and Finnish or Slavic Deities and associated practices), much ado has been made by Heathen reconstructionists and "fringe Heathens" alike about whether or not the Gods still interact with us, and speak with us, and how much we can take accurately out of our extant written Lore.

If you've read even a small portion of this site, you are probably aware that I work heavily with UPG, or Unverified Personal Gnosis.  By this we mean something that is experiential that is not present in the written Lore, whether it is about a specific characteristic of a Deity, or Their "past history", or what They want from a specific individual... your mileage may vary.  I am not 100% dependent on UPG.  I have a good knowledge of the Eddas and Sagas, and have read many "201" texts such as Bede, Tacitus, etc.  However, I also look at archaeology, which frightens Heathens who would only like to think about the period of 500-800 C.E. as being "acceptable Heathen practice" -- this being of course the conversion era.  People have lived in the Northlands for many thousands of years, and while we cannot strictly reconstruct every practice they had (e.g. human sacrifice), we can look at the bigger picture of what they were doing and what it means for us.

We have far less primary source material than, say, the Hellenes, and what we do have, has to be read with a grain of salt because it was *not* written by Heathens.  If you claim to go "strictly by the Lore", there is only so much that the Lore can offer on making a viable religious tradition.  Also, I highly doubt Odin traveled far and wide, cut out His eye, and hung on a tree so we could be slaves to dogma in books.

UPG is an important part of my practice.  I believe the Gods never stopped dealing with humans, but humans stopped dealing with Gods out of political convenience.  I believe the Gods are aware of what times we live in, and are concerned about the planet and its people.  I believe also that the Gods deal with individuals individually, and it may be that Deity X accepts an offering from Person Y and will bless Person Y without chatting too much and disrupting the life of Person Y, whereas Deity Z may decide they find Person A to be quite interesting, for various reasons, and use the quirks of Person A's brain wiring to "get through".

There is a step beyond UPG, which is called Peer-Corroborated Personal Gnosis, or PCPG for short.  PCPG is a UPG confirmed by at least 2 people working within the same tradition who have had unrelated visions and/or encounters with said Deities or wights and can state that said Deities or wights gave them similarly corresponding information about Themselves.  Much of my UPG is actually PCPG.

To ask the obvious "God-touched, or crazy?" question, as noted in my article about my disabilities, I have Asperger's Syndrome and PTSD, and this in and of itself is not enough to influence hallucinations/delusions.  Furthermore, there is a clear difference between the visionary experiences of pre-Christian religionists, and schizophrenia.  While I do believe it is possible to be both God-touched and mentally ill, it has been proven that schizophrenia symptoms are more often than not random bursts of noise than anything coherent, and if there is coherence, it is almost always critical, negative voices, often commanding harmful activities.  In my own personal case it is more of a conversation and if I am Told something by the Gods, it is always for my own benefit or that of others.  That doesn't mean it's always good to hear -- I've been pushed out of a lot of comfort zones, but ultimately I needed it.  My spirituality has been of growth and change, but has helped me grow and change in positive ways, and one of the things that I find glaring with psychiatry is that we live in a post-religious, secular society, and issues that were normally addressed by clergy or shamans are now being pathologized by psychiatry and given medications and therapies that sometimes work and sometimes do not work.

Religion is not necessarily harmful in and of itself.  It is what you do with that religion, and those mystical elements, that determines whether or not it is healthy.  And quite frankly, I have seen Heathens who have never had anything "wyrd" happen to them, who are stuck in a very dogmatic and narrow mindset similar to that of people in cults.

It could be argued, and rightly so, that to have any kind of "woo" will automatically put you at odds with secular society, and many who have the right brain wiring for "woo" also have the right brain wiring for depression, anxiety, and other issues.  I know I experience this myself, and anyone who wants to be God-bothered because It Is So Cool needs to take a step back and think about what they are asking for.  The Gods have helped me with a lot of things, including getting my life back together.  But that it was deconstructed in the first place should be a clear warning that this is not an RPG game, it is not a LARP, it is not something out of anime.

I have been in The Land of Wyrd long enough that people know they can open up to me about things, including some very strange things, things that mainstream Heathens would probably outlaw them for given the chance.  I have had wyrd enough experiences of my own to know that most people are not lying about their woo if they stand something to lose by it.  However, I have also encountered a fair amount of charlatans who would like to sit back and watch the trainwreck for their own personal amusement, as well as self-deluded people who want to be special and certainly more special than the ones who they take advantage of.

In analyzing my own UPG and that of others who come to me, I run things through what I've come to term the Bullshit-O-Meter.  Your mileage will definitely vary, but here's the way my Bullshit-O-Meter responds to determining whether or not something is valid:

1- I have experienced such revelation from Deity X myself, via Deity X.
EXAMPLE: A common UPG about Sigyn being a "half-breed", and Frey being sacrificed at Lammas.

2- I have experienced the same revelation about Deity X, via Deity Y who is close to Deity X.
EXAMPLE: UPGs about Gunnlod and Bestla, which others have had and Odin has confirmed in my discourse with Him.

3- I have not personally had that UPG, but it mostly "pings" with me via my understanding of Deity X and Their domain/life/relationships with other Deities.
EXAMPLE: Some who agree with me/others that Ullr and Holda are most likely Vanir, but don't work with Ullr and Holda enough to know.

4- I have not personally had that UPG, but it sounds plausible.
EXAMPLE: A UPG that Vali, the son of Loki, is now hopelessly insane after having been changed into a wolf to kill Narvi, which I have not had, but sounds within the realm of possibility.

5- While I feel that UPG is possibly plausible, I do not believe it is 100% accurate due to what Deity Z told me about said situation and/or my understanding of the Lore.
EXAMPLE: Some of the "minor details" about elf-names or the lineage of certain wights, etc.

6- I do not feel there is any way your UPG could be accurate of Deity X as per Their historical Lore as well as the common perceptions of Their current following in Midgard.
EXAMPLE: The UPG that Heimdall is a Vanir, or that Rig is Odin, both of which directly contradict the written Lore as well as many people's experiences of said Deities.

7- You're completely full of shit, and either deluded, out for attention, or really fluffy.
EXAMPLE: Someone who once told me he "fucked Hela last night" (I apologize for the blasphemy, but that is literally what he said) and I immediately knew that was BS based on my understanding of Hela, not to mention others who are Owned by Her.  (Needless to say, I stopped talking to said individual not long thereafter, as that was just a little too much for me to take.)


One of the other things that factors into my evaluation of UPG is that we are dealing with Gods who operate on non-linear time and can be in multiple places at once as well as appear at different points in time, which is why, for example, some people encounter Loki pre-binding, some encounter Loki during His binding, some encounter Loki post-binding, and none of these accounts are "wrong".  Some people encounter Baldur in Helheim, some people encounter Him prior to His death.  It is possible for two people to experience the Gods on different timelines and still both be "right".
Moreover, the UPG should be useful information or it's ultimately just between you and the Deity.  A God wanting to be intimate with Their mortal-spouse is really not an earth-shaking revelation to people who don't have that kind of relationship with said Deity, and most people really don't need/want to know about that anyway.  Compare this with information about Loki being freed from the binding and resuming life elsewhere, which other people may want to discuss. 

As far as the Northern Tradition, which is very heavily reliant on UPG for a living and relevant practice, the UPG should not wildly contradict established Lore or there should be multiple agreements from separate sources (as in, PCPG).  The UPG can fill in the blanks of missing Lore bits but should, again, be compared and contrasted with others.  The Eddas are not the ultimate authority here, but the Gods Themselves, and if there's 3 different people all with different "takes" on it and nobody else to confirm/deny, it may well be that it's not meant to be wholly known, as the Gods still shroud some of Themselves in mystery for our sake.

I feel that disagreements over someone's personal gnosis should always be handled calmly and rationally, and with the aforementioned statement that just because someone has a contradictory UPG does not make it completely "wrong".  If five people have a UPG about a myth, and 4 out of 5 have the same UPG on a specific event, with 1 person differing, I am more likely to take the 4 as being "factual", however the 1 may not be completely "wrong".  The only time I ever see UPG as being wholly "wrong" is when it is used to co-erce others into doing things that are against their standards of ethics.  I understand it is not the Gods'/spirits' jobs to make our lives comfortable or easy but lines do have to be drawn somewhere.  People should not be bullied into doing things, full stop.  Many "high-woo" types exude a certain amount of power but they must never forget that with power comes responsibility.

I write this article because I am heartily sick of endless disclaimers on my site to appease others who are UPG-phobic.  But any thinking person would realize that I am not claiming to speak for All, only Myself, and maybe give information that will be helpful to Others.  Unless you are strictly reconstructing Heathenry or some other Old Belief -- and good luck with that in the 21st century -- some UPG will naturally be a part of your practice, whether you are only occasionally gleaning information or doing so quite often as some kind of visionary.

Ultimately spirituality is between you and your spirits of choice, or the Universe if you're a non-theist.  And though you may be "doing it wrong" for what I need spiritually, it may not be wrong for you.  However, to decide to start trouble because somehow my doing it wrong affects you, or to decide that your UPG is so special you are entitled to be an asshat, is not good.  I tend to be pretty "live and let live" -- just because someone's UPG is contradictory to mine doesn't make it "wrong", and even when I think someone's UPG is very inaccurate, it doesn't necessarily mean their entire spirituality is flawed, or a sham, etc.  As I've experienced the Northern Tradition over the years, I find that most people who are "out" about being Wyrd to some degree, are not faking it and should have some support to know that they're on the right track, somewhere, somehow.  I write mostly as a public service, and in that service I hope to give encouragement to those who have UPG about the Gods, whether minor hints or major nudges.

(C) 2008 Sigrun Freyskona.