Can you picture it, people living as Odin described in the Havamal?
A community of people farming organic goods, and they all trade with each other. Some are builders, some farmers, and a smith or 2. They live far outside of any cities or towns..
Leave The Cities Behind.
These people are independent, but not cut off from civilization and modern luxury. They have solar panels, and wind generators. Along with Internet access, and automobiles. Some of them even work regular jobs in the nearest town. They all own their land and homes, it's not a commune. Social and religious beliefs are shared between a majority of them. The few that aren't religious, still want a peaceful, and prosperous community. The conflicts almost never happen, and they are easily solved when they do.
Sound too good to be true?
Well it's not, and surprisingly actually cost far less than traditional suburban or city living. For the cost of a standard suburban home in America at an avg. cost of $275,000.⁰⁰, someone could buy 20 acres in Tennessee or West Virginia for $30,000 and throw up a barn, and a nice farm house for another $100,000. Then you spend another $10,000 on fences, and another $10,000 on livestock. For $150,000 you can have a whole farm. Not huge, but by far large enough for a family to self sustain on. It even leaves room for a few ranch or farm hands houses out back, or just a bit of land to dig a pond on.
No more HOA fees, or restrictions. No more city ordinances to follow, or parking tickets. It comes with the ultimate freedom. A freedom that Odin wanted for all of us.
The Havamal on Self Sustaining.
We know that Odin wanted us to be independent and beholden to nobody, by the following stanzas.
Havamal 36
Better a house, | though a hut it be,
A man is master at home;
A pair of goats | and a patched-up roof
Are better far than begging.
Havamal 37
Better a house, | though a hut it be,
A man is master at home;
His heart is bleeding | who needs must beg
When food he fain would have.
-Hávamál v36-37, Bellows translation.
There is a lot that we can take away from those 2 stanzas. Most of it centers directly around independence.
It doesn't matter how meager it is, if it's your house it's better than renting.
It doesn't matter how little livestock you have, as long as you do, you are going to be fed.
You should never have to beg, or be beholden to others.
Let's do some basic math. The cost of renting for 1 year, at $1,500 per month is $18,000. If your rent is $2,000 that same year is $24,000. That puts the total after ten years of renting between $180,000 - $240,000. That's more than enough to buy a farm. Yet if you rented, by the end you have nothing to show for after the 10 years. You have no equity in it, and you can't sell it.
Odin would be pissed to see us doing this.
You rent a house for 10 years, and it pays the mortgage for the owner. By the end of the 10 he owns the house, and you have nothing.
Don't be a renter. .
Be an owner.
Thank you for reading. As always, hit the Share, and Like button 💚 as if it was a Jotun attacking your cattle. The support of a little click goes a long way.
If you like the concept of the article above, you can help in multiple other ways to support the Pagan Post, and the writer.
https://www.givesendgo.com/PaganSacredGrove
https://www.greyhornpagans.com/