Virtues - Vision

“Vision: The ability to broaden one's perspective, to have a greater understanding 
of our place/role in the cosmos, relating to past, present, and future.” 1

1. The ability to think about and plan for the future using intelligence and 
    imagination, especially in politics and business.
   1.a. Someone's idea or hope of how something should be done or how it will be 
          in the future.
2. The ability to see
3. A person or image that appears to someone, for example, in a dream or a 
    religious experience.
4. Someone or something that is very beautiful.2


Around the year 1000 CE, in Iceland, a lawspeaker by the name of Þorgeir 
Þorkelsson faced an unenviable decision. The Christians of the island had decided
 that they no longer wanted to live under  Pagan laws, and the Pagans didn't want 
to forsake the gods of their ancestors. Moreover, if they did not convert, the king 
of Norway, a Christian himself, had also threatened to essentially impose a trade
 embargo on the island which relied on imports for its survival.3


 Aside from the slow death that the economic sanctions would bring to the island,  
Þorgeir had to avoid the more immediate threat of violence at Thing and social 
division. In other words, this was a decision that would require true vision, the kind 
of vision that takes into account factors both seen and unseen, and so Þorgeir 
went 'under the cloak'. When the lawspeaker emerged, he decreed that all would 
convert officially, but would be free to worship the gods in private. I think Þorgeir 
Þorkelsson demonstrated the kind of true vision as ADF defines it with his decision,
 as not only did Iceland survive that crisis and remained united, but the old Gods 
have returned. I like to think that this return was the unseen factor revealed to
 him under the cloak, and that he was truly wise and made a decision that 
encompasses past, present, and future. The old bonds are honoured, the island 
thrives yet, and the gods are to receive a new temple. 4



Words - 249

1

In Our Own Druidry: An Introduction to Ar nDraiocht Fein and the Druid Path (p. 62). Tucson, Arizona: ADF Publishing.

2  Vision American English definition and synonym | Macmillan Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from   http://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/vision

3 Aðalsteinsson, J. (1999). Under the cloak: A pagan ritual turning point in the conversion of Iceland (2nd, extended ed., pp. 80-81). Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan, Félagsvísindastofnun.

4 First Asatru temple in 900 years? (2015, April 24). Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://www.mbl.is/english/news/2014/10/14/first_pagan_hof_in_900_years/