Henry Folkersen
Then the music of the sounds of Copenhagen rises up, and I feel the spirit of Gefion in the air, in the water, and in my mind.
Most recently The Viking Way to Power, a motivational book based on the legends, was published as a Kindle e-book, so joining my previously book The Bahamas Chronicle. Now being mostly retired I concentrate on managing the investments of the Folkersen Family Trust.
I listen, and the music of the city gladly announces that I have been tested and found worthy. I have done as both my uncle and Gefion wished. I have written the story of the Viking way to power.
Thank you to The Carlsberg Foundation for commissioning the development of the Gefion Fountain in 1897, and to Anders Bundgaard the sculpture who completed the work in 1908. Also to the fine people of Copenhagen who have taken good care of our fountain all these years. Without them I would not have a story.
The legend of Gefion is likewise recorded in the Sagas and we must give the ancient skalds credit for having vivid imaginations, for surely the Island of Sjaelland where Copenhagen is located did not get carved out of Sweden, nor was Sweden really a country two thousand years ago. Odin himself, later, after he had established Denmark by obtaining the allegiance of the local chieftains, moved further north and did the same in Sweden.
A vivid imagination is a wonderful gift. We can imagine that the origin of the Gefion Legend involved Gefion using trickery and cunning to bring Sjaelland under the control of Odin. As a reward, the Sagas further state that Gefion married Skjold, a son of Odin, and thus became the matriarch of the dynasty of the Skjoldings that governed the land after the demise of Odin.
Having now further embellished the legend by applying the principles needed to gain power, we must wonder even more about Odin, who had the power to motivate Gefion to her conquest. He tested her and found her worthy to carry on with the kingdom of the Danes that he founded. The kingdom still exists to this day as one of the oldest continuous kingdoms in the world.
The Viking Way To Power
by Henry Folkersen
Introduction
For example, Odin was a real man who arrived in Denmark about two thousand years ago and became Denmark’s first king. His stronghold still exists as the city of Odense. Likewise, many of his entourage may have been transposed into heroic god characters because great storytellers have had fifty generations to embellish the tales. The Viking Way to Power further embellishes two of the legends. Heimdall in the Song of Rig sired the three social classes of thralls, freemen, and nobles, and his description of the distinctions form the framework for how each rank manages their life while contributing to the nation as a whole.
The Legend of Gefion demonstrates that by inspiration and motivation it is possible to achieve great personal growth and success and move from the lowest rank to the highest. Gefion was offered as much land as she could plow around in a day. Using four oxen she laid claim to a large parcel of land, but she had to use trickery to take possession. Her time limit demonstrates the necessity of planning and time management, and the four oxen are used to describe the four skills needed to succeed in any venture.
The process followed by Gefion is as apropos today as it has been through the ages, yet the ways must be learned by those of each generation who aspire to gain the full measure of power that destiny has allotted to them.
Power in the Viking sense isn’t measured in wealth or in physical strength. These are the benefits and rewards of power. Viking power is measured in the scope of the personal vision for the future and the strength of the resolve to reach it; this story describes both how to develop a vision for the future and how to gain the strongest resolve for reaching it. Power is therefore determined by how courageously victory is pursued, rather than by the size of the plunder. The utmost power, as demonstrated by Gefion, is the power to direct the course of destiny. Gefion’s power is the basis upon which a dynasty has persevered for more than two thousand years, surviving to the present day.
The Viking Way to Power, apart from involving the two legends, is also a personal tale, for while I was born in Gefion’s realm I gained much insight into the success and failure of business ventures by being a commercial real estate developer in Canada and the United States. I have witnessed a hundred businesses strive and succeed or fail, including retailers, professional practices, and trades. The four elements described in this book apply to everyone, regardless of the nature of the venture.
We therefore follow Gefion as she shows the way, but hidden behind her stands Odin, who has an even greater plan of his own.
In keeping with the spirit of the Viking age that still moves in all who quest for power, raise then the drinking horns and drink deep.
To victory or death, there can be no surrender.
We begin the journey.
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