In writing the previous blog, it occurred to me that this would be a good time to restate the values of Asatru as demonstrated in our lore.
Probably the best known summary of these is found in the Nine Noble Virtues. In their original presentation, these were -
Courage
Truth
Honor
Fidelity
Discipline
Hospitality
Industriousness
Self-Reliance
Perseverance
Different versions of this list have been written and published over the years, but the ones given here are the originals published by the Committee for the Restoration of the Odinic Rite in the early 1970's.
These must not be mere words on paper, or on a computer screen - they must be the standards by which we live our lives!
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Veterans Day and the Feast of the Einherjar
Another Veterans Day has come and gone. Flags have been furled, taps have faded in the distance, and the flowers and flags are on the graves of the fallen. Many of us who follow Asatru are veterans, and even now Asatruar are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
What is it about our faith that gives it such a martial air? Is it, as some assert, a warrior religion trapped in the values of an elder age? Or is there more to it than that?
Forty years ago, when I was first drawn to the Gods of the ancient Northlands, I was attracted by the way of the warrior. I was young, male, and filled with a determination to join the army. Today - after many years on active duty and in the reserve components, my vision is clearer: Warriors do not constitute a society by themselves. They are an essential part of a broader society that includes men and women of many callings. Without the warrior, the rest are vulnerable. The warrior stands between the tradesman, the farmer, and the artisan and all who threaten them.
Asatru is not a warrior religion, per se - though it is "warrior-friendly." It is a religion of mechanics and housewives, professors and factory workers, athletes and scholars. We praise not only grim Gods like Odin, but the loving and sustaining ones like Freya and Frigga. Asatru is for all of society, not just one segment.
Notwithstanding this, we have a special day for honoring the brave who have fallen in defense of their friends, their tribes, their way of life: the Feast of the Einherjar. The Einherjar are the chosen heroes who are taken into Odin's hall after death. There, they prepare for conflicts yet to come. Not all make it into these elite ranks, but it is only fitting that the Feast of the Einherjar is celebrated on Noember 11th, the same date as Veterans Day.
In honoring the Einherjar and our veterans, we are also honoring the values by which they lived and died - courage, strength, honor, and duty. These are the backbone not only of martial service, but - along with other virtues - of our faith, Asatru.
Hail the Fallen!
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http:runestone.org
What is it about our faith that gives it such a martial air? Is it, as some assert, a warrior religion trapped in the values of an elder age? Or is there more to it than that?
Forty years ago, when I was first drawn to the Gods of the ancient Northlands, I was attracted by the way of the warrior. I was young, male, and filled with a determination to join the army. Today - after many years on active duty and in the reserve components, my vision is clearer: Warriors do not constitute a society by themselves. They are an essential part of a broader society that includes men and women of many callings. Without the warrior, the rest are vulnerable. The warrior stands between the tradesman, the farmer, and the artisan and all who threaten them.
Asatru is not a warrior religion, per se - though it is "warrior-friendly." It is a religion of mechanics and housewives, professors and factory workers, athletes and scholars. We praise not only grim Gods like Odin, but the loving and sustaining ones like Freya and Frigga. Asatru is for all of society, not just one segment.
Notwithstanding this, we have a special day for honoring the brave who have fallen in defense of their friends, their tribes, their way of life: the Feast of the Einherjar. The Einherjar are the chosen heroes who are taken into Odin's hall after death. There, they prepare for conflicts yet to come. Not all make it into these elite ranks, but it is only fitting that the Feast of the Einherjar is celebrated on Noember 11th, the same date as Veterans Day.
In honoring the Einherjar and our veterans, we are also honoring the values by which they lived and died - courage, strength, honor, and duty. These are the backbone not only of martial service, but - along with other virtues - of our faith, Asatru.
Hail the Fallen!
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http:runestone.org
Saturday, October 31, 2009
The Asatru Folk Assembly Mission Statement
The AFA envisions a future in which a substantial percentage of European-descended people worldwide have returned to their ancestral Germanic religion, bound together in an extended community of the Folk serving their spiritual, social, and economic needs - the “Nation of Odin.”
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Asatru, the Dead, and "Hallucinations"
We Asatru-folks have just finished celebrating Winter Nights. Right around the corner is Samhain - the popular culture calls it “Halloween” - which is more or less the Celtic equivalent. Both these holy days deal with the nearness of the dead.
Asatru, like other traditional religions around the world, has an elaborate lore regarding the dead and their condition in the afterlife. In addition to this, there is the well-documented experience of ordinary men and women in which they sense the presence of newly-dead kin and friends.
If you believe you've been contacted by someone who has recently died, you are not alone. According to one study, more than half the people surveyed reported experiencing this phenomenon in one form or another. This could be a very definite event accompanied by sound or sight or what we might call poltergeist activity, or something much more subtle - a sensed presence.
Unfortunately, I can't find the article that described this study, nor can I remember the percentage breakdown on the conclusions. What I do recall is that scientists were asking the question: “Why do people have these hallucinations?”
Yes, that's right...hallucinations. Science, supposedly an unbiased, open-minded discipline, dismisses the spiritual as nothing more than illusions produced by grief!
I am not so simple-minded as to think that every anomalous event must have some supernormal or supernatural explanation. But to decide that the spiritual explanation must be rejected out of hand, and that hallucination is the only acceptable solution, doesn't seem to be to be a genuine search for the truth.
Meanwhile the rest of us will continue to take comfort in the validation of our Asatru belief - namely, that there is more to us than the mere physical, and that some bonds extend beyond time, space and mortality.
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Asatru, like other traditional religions around the world, has an elaborate lore regarding the dead and their condition in the afterlife. In addition to this, there is the well-documented experience of ordinary men and women in which they sense the presence of newly-dead kin and friends.
If you believe you've been contacted by someone who has recently died, you are not alone. According to one study, more than half the people surveyed reported experiencing this phenomenon in one form or another. This could be a very definite event accompanied by sound or sight or what we might call poltergeist activity, or something much more subtle - a sensed presence.
Unfortunately, I can't find the article that described this study, nor can I remember the percentage breakdown on the conclusions. What I do recall is that scientists were asking the question: “Why do people have these hallucinations?”
Yes, that's right...hallucinations. Science, supposedly an unbiased, open-minded discipline, dismisses the spiritual as nothing more than illusions produced by grief!
I am not so simple-minded as to think that every anomalous event must have some supernormal or supernatural explanation. But to decide that the spiritual explanation must be rejected out of hand, and that hallucination is the only acceptable solution, doesn't seem to be to be a genuine search for the truth.
Meanwhile the rest of us will continue to take comfort in the validation of our Asatru belief - namely, that there is more to us than the mere physical, and that some bonds extend beyond time, space and mortality.
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Choosing Your "Best Friend" Among the Gods of Asatru
Those of us who follow Asatru usually choose one deity or another to be our patron (or matron!) among the Holy Powers. One can think of this as selecting our “best friend” among the Aesir or Vanir. The condition of having such a Godly best friend is called fulltrui in Old Norse.
Over the years, I have noticed two more or less predictable patterns. Typically, the personality of the worshiper corresponds to that of the chosen deity. Presumably this is because we tend to choose friends (whether divine or human) who are somewhat like ourselves. The powerlifter or biker may select Thor for a patron. The female martial artist may choose Freya, the poet may prefer Bragi or Odin himself. A side-effect of entering into fulltrui with a God or Goddess much like yourself is that it reinforces your best characteristics.
On the other hand, some folks follow a very different pattern. Paradoxically, the man whose biceps are the same size as his wrist may also take Thor as his best friend. The not-so-bright may choose Odin as his patron, the homely woman call upon Freya, and so forth. In this case, people choose deities who are the opposite of themselves. This may of course be a matter of simple self-delusion on the part of the humans involved, but there is another possibility: Maybe there is an advantage to entering into fulltrui with a God or Goddess who models not what you are, but what you want to become. The difference is that in the latter situation you are aware of your weaknesses, and are determined to change yourself.
Many and wonderful are the tools of self-transformation!
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Over the years, I have noticed two more or less predictable patterns. Typically, the personality of the worshiper corresponds to that of the chosen deity. Presumably this is because we tend to choose friends (whether divine or human) who are somewhat like ourselves. The powerlifter or biker may select Thor for a patron. The female martial artist may choose Freya, the poet may prefer Bragi or Odin himself. A side-effect of entering into fulltrui with a God or Goddess much like yourself is that it reinforces your best characteristics.
On the other hand, some folks follow a very different pattern. Paradoxically, the man whose biceps are the same size as his wrist may also take Thor as his best friend. The not-so-bright may choose Odin as his patron, the homely woman call upon Freya, and so forth. In this case, people choose deities who are the opposite of themselves. This may of course be a matter of simple self-delusion on the part of the humans involved, but there is another possibility: Maybe there is an advantage to entering into fulltrui with a God or Goddess who models not what you are, but what you want to become. The difference is that in the latter situation you are aware of your weaknesses, and are determined to change yourself.
Many and wonderful are the tools of self-transformation!
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Summoning the Female Ancestors in Asatru
When we called upon the Disir at our Winter Nights feast last weekend, these are the words we used. As you can see, this invocation consists of three parts: One to the Disir in general, one to the seven “clan mothers” described in Bryan Sykes's book, The Seven Daughters of Eve, and one to specific female ancestor of those of us in attendance.
Ancient mothers, holy and wise! You look on us, your sons and daughters, from beyond the grave and you give your gifts of love and luck and inspiration. Death is not a wall, but a veil, and you whisper through it, nourishing our souls as your milk once fed our bodies. You gave us the gift of life, and now we strive to be worthy of that gift, and to pass it on to our descendants that our clans may live forever!
We call you to be among us...We call the primordial Seven Mothers of our homeland!
[Selected women say “We call Ursula...” and so forth, using the names provided in The Seven Daughters of Eve.]
...And we also call the mighty women of our own family lines to be with us...I call Christine [My choice; each person was asked in advance to select a female ancestor to summon]...
[Next person clockwise says “I call...” and so forth.]
After than, we continued with the offering of the horn and the rest of the blot.
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Ancient mothers, holy and wise! You look on us, your sons and daughters, from beyond the grave and you give your gifts of love and luck and inspiration. Death is not a wall, but a veil, and you whisper through it, nourishing our souls as your milk once fed our bodies. You gave us the gift of life, and now we strive to be worthy of that gift, and to pass it on to our descendants that our clans may live forever!
We call you to be among us...We call the primordial Seven Mothers of our homeland!
[Selected women say “We call Ursula...” and so forth, using the names provided in The Seven Daughters of Eve.]
...And we also call the mighty women of our own family lines to be with us...I call Christine [My choice; each person was asked in advance to select a female ancestor to summon]...
[Next person clockwise says “I call...” and so forth.]
After than, we continued with the offering of the horn and the rest of the blot.
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Asatru - Celebrating the Disir
Asatru has many holy days, but Winter Nights - when we honor the female ancestors, or Disir - is one of the most moving.
October has its own very special feeling. Both life and death seem more immediate, more tangible. The changing weather matches changes in our own souls as we become more introspective, turning inward in preparation for the austerities of winter.
Yesterday, we met with fellow members of the Asatru Folk Assembly to observe this turning of the seasons. Standing around the tree we call Grandfather Oak, we raised our horn of mead high and asked the Gods and the ancestors to be with us, and to look with favor on our deeds that day. The mead was passed from hand to hand. The Holy Powers were hailed, and we reflected on the closeness of our forefathers and foremothers, and on the thinness of the barrier between this word and the next.
Later, we returned to our outdoor ritual area. Raising my fist, I called on the might of Thor's hammer to make this place holy, to let “weal and wellbeing prevail,” and to cast out all discord. I hallowed our simple altar and dedicated it to the Disir.
Having readied the site, we called on the Disir in general. Then, women among the assembled folk invoked by name the Seven Mothers of Europe - the women from whom all native Europeans are descended, according to British geneticist Dr. Bryan Sykes. Having summoned these European Ur-Mothers, we took turns asking specific women of our own family lines to be with us.
A horn of mead was passed around the circle, and each of us placed our own “might and main and troth” into it with a touch of the hand. This giving of our own essence is the real “sacrifice” presented to the Holy Powers; the libation of mead is only the vehicle for this intangible gift. And since a gift calls for a gift, the horn was raised again - only this time, we asked for the Disir to give us their blessings.. These gifts were transmitted to the folk as I walked around the circle, sprinkling each participant with the mead.
This sacred exchange between the Disir and ourselves completed, we closed the rite. One by one we solemnly drew three runes for later analylsis, and returned to festivities and feasting within the house.
We ate and talked and laughed until the lateness of the hour forced our guests, reluctantly, to pack up their belongings and go home. Long after everyone else had departed, Sheila and I sat there, basking in the afterglow and recounting just how well it had gone. What a delightful way to honor our ancestral mothers!
In my next post I will give the invocation I used to call the Disir.
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
October has its own very special feeling. Both life and death seem more immediate, more tangible. The changing weather matches changes in our own souls as we become more introspective, turning inward in preparation for the austerities of winter.
Yesterday, we met with fellow members of the Asatru Folk Assembly to observe this turning of the seasons. Standing around the tree we call Grandfather Oak, we raised our horn of mead high and asked the Gods and the ancestors to be with us, and to look with favor on our deeds that day. The mead was passed from hand to hand. The Holy Powers were hailed, and we reflected on the closeness of our forefathers and foremothers, and on the thinness of the barrier between this word and the next.
Later, we returned to our outdoor ritual area. Raising my fist, I called on the might of Thor's hammer to make this place holy, to let “weal and wellbeing prevail,” and to cast out all discord. I hallowed our simple altar and dedicated it to the Disir.
Having readied the site, we called on the Disir in general. Then, women among the assembled folk invoked by name the Seven Mothers of Europe - the women from whom all native Europeans are descended, according to British geneticist Dr. Bryan Sykes. Having summoned these European Ur-Mothers, we took turns asking specific women of our own family lines to be with us.
A horn of mead was passed around the circle, and each of us placed our own “might and main and troth” into it with a touch of the hand. This giving of our own essence is the real “sacrifice” presented to the Holy Powers; the libation of mead is only the vehicle for this intangible gift. And since a gift calls for a gift, the horn was raised again - only this time, we asked for the Disir to give us their blessings.. These gifts were transmitted to the folk as I walked around the circle, sprinkling each participant with the mead.
This sacred exchange between the Disir and ourselves completed, we closed the rite. One by one we solemnly drew three runes for later analylsis, and returned to festivities and feasting within the house.
We ate and talked and laughed until the lateness of the hour forced our guests, reluctantly, to pack up their belongings and go home. Long after everyone else had departed, Sheila and I sat there, basking in the afterglow and recounting just how well it had gone. What a delightful way to honor our ancestral mothers!
In my next post I will give the invocation I used to call the Disir.
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
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