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This would imply that one's world view impacts the way that one can affect the world magically. The modern atheist-materialist thus can't even imagine the things that magically literate inmates of the same culture can do; he can only imagine Harry Potter. Of course, since we all inhabit the same world, even though we all experience it differently, that materialist can still be affected by magic, and according to folks like JMG, the ones who don't believe in magic (or have an unrealistic view of it) are even more easily influenced by it.
Thorsson continues his thought by saying that "Our major endeavor in current operative runology is to restore our lost frame of reference, which will in turn cause our operations to be better. Our ancestors lived in a culture with a high level of cultural context--they spoke a Germanic language, worshiped Germanic gods... We on the other hand, live in a society with a relatively low level of cultural context. We speak a Germanic language, but one that has been hybridized with French, Latin, and Greek elements; the majority of the people worship a foreign god; and our aesthetic universe is eclectic, if not chaotic, in the extreme."
I see what he's saying, but here is the part where we diverge. I like the eclecticity of our world, and I think that it's a possible source of great strength, if one can get over the feelings of overwhelm and nihilism that is... the fact is we don't really know that much about the magic the old Germanic tribes performed, but we do know that the Roman Christians very systematically converted them. Sometimes by massacre, as with Charlemagne, but more often by having more powerful magic, and using the cultural capital of "Romanitas." The systems of magic from the Mediterranean are powerful, even the fragments that we have. Just Astrology alone is way more powerful of a tool than anything we know of from the North. So this is one of the reasons that I am excited about this Heathen Golden Dawn project, and think that it's a project that the Wandering Wise One approves of. Why would we not seek far and wide for the greatest magic to integrate into our kit?
Well, it can be easy to get overwhelmed, to stake out in too many directions, get nowhere except diluted, and never hit water. So this is where I agree with Thorsson. By grounding ourselves deeply in a particular mythos, and I mean deeply, we can cultivate a frame of reference that we can then integrate new skills and tools into.
For instance, the concept of "the planes". This tool has been very helpful for me, especially in my goal of personally integrating the Northern and Western traditions. We have the Material, the Etheric, the Astral, the Mental and the Spiritual. Divinity, which is unknowable to a human, resides on the highest plane (but also, imo, in everything) The human mostly exists in the Material, semi-consciously on the Etheric and the Astral (if you can watch your thoughts, then you're working more consciously on the Astral), but are only at an early stage of developing a Mental body. The Astral and the Mental planes are then the interface between the Human world and the Divine world, or a Rainbow Bridge between Midgard and Asgard... The god forms that exist as images are a way for both the human to reach up towards the divine, and for the divine to reach down to the human. By immersing ourselves in the myths, by making offerings to the gods, by making images of the gods, by praying and listening, we open that channel. We cultivate a frame of reference.
