Cultural Desecration in Ireland

Below is a news release from Tara Watch. I have reposted it here because we all need to be made aware of how fragile our heritage is. In a world dominated by materialism rather than idealism, the past is something that is gone. For Asatru, the past is the foundation of the present and, actually, it is not gone at all - its effects are always with us.

True, Tara is not a Germanic site. It is nevertheless part of our European heritage and deserves our support. If demolition like this can happen at Tara, it can happen anywhere else and we need to be on guard against it.

http://www.tarawatch.org

Here is the text of the news release:

'Roestown National Monument Hurriedly Demolished to Avoid Injunction'

A highly important and unique national monument, consisting of a Bronze Age complex of underground beehive-shaped caverns, connected by a series of interconnected passageways, has been removed in the past few days from the pathway of the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara, County Meath, Ireland.

Roestown was a stop-off point for the High Kings on the way to the Hill of Tara from the royal residence. It lies around a mile north of Dunshaughlin, where the M3 motorway will intersect the N3.

Images can be found at: http://tarawatch.org/?p=304 . See also
http://m3motorway.ie/Archaeology/Section2/Roestown2/

Solicitors' letters had been sent to Meath County Council, the Minister for the Environment, and the National Roads Authority in February, putting them on notice that this newly discovered site was a national monument. They were warned that destroying it would be a violation of the State's constitutional duty to protect the national heritage, and that under the National Monuments Act all work on the site should cease and it should be reported to the Director of the National Museum.

Instead of reporting the newly discovered national monument to the National Museum, the authorities have rushed in and demolished the site, before an injunction could be placed on it. Further legal advice will be taken on how to proceed. Efforts will be stepped up to legally protect all of the 38 newly discovered sites in the Tara region that remain intact.

In February, The Hill of Tara Complex was nominated to the 100 Most Endangered Sites List, published by the World Monuments Fund in New York, and a decision is expected in June. If it is placed on the list, it is conclusive evidence that Tara is a site worthy of UNESCO World Heritage Site protection. See: http://tarawatch.org/?p=335.

Vincent Salafia of TaraWatch said:

"The secret demolition of Roestown is an illegal act, and there will be consequences.

"This is the Saint Patrick's Day gift that the Irish Government has given to Irish people around the world. Shame on them."

"While the Government Ministers are swanning around the globe, preaching the gospel of climate change, at home they are advancing one of the most environmentally and culturally damaging projects ever conceived.”


National Roads Authority Site:

http://m3motorway. ie/Archaeology/ Section2/ Roestown3/
http://m3motorway. ie/Archaeology/ Section2/ Roestown1/
http://m3motorway. ie/Archaeology/ Section2/ Roestown2/

The Asatru Folk Assembly

The AFA has been around since 1994, but its roots go all the way back to the first stirrings of the Germanic religious revival in the United States.

The mission of the AFA is "to practice, promote, and further evolve the religion of Asatru, thus forging it into a powerful and effective tool for building a better world." Note the active tone here: We want to make a difference!"

Since its founding, the AFA has sponsored countless gatherings, published successful newsletters, and been repeatedly quoted in the national and international media. The AFA has proposed new ideas, challenged the status quo, and generally pushed the boundaries of the possible.

We are a membership organization and we do accept your tax-deductible contributions!

Please visit our web site at http://runestone.org.

Earn A Penny for the AFA with Each Internet Search!

Goodsearch - at http://www.goodsearch.com - will pay us a penny each time you use their search engine. To have those pennies come to the AFA, you need to type “Asatru Folk Assembly” into the field labeled “Who do you Goodsearch for?”…Then search away! (Please search honestly, however - it’s not right to take advantage of their generosity.)

This may seem like a tiny amount, but it will add up if enough of us do it!

Beowulf Was Black? (Are We Angry Yet?)

There’s a “World Premiere Gala” in Sharonsville, Ohio today for a new movie - Beowulf: Prince of the Geats. This Beowulf flick is a little different from any of the other ones we’ve seen; most noticeably, Beowulf is black in this one. For that matter, Northern European faces are virtually nonexistent among the cast, if we can judge by the photographs on the web site (http://www.princeofthegeats.com/ ). The casting agency must have been fresh out of blondes for some reason.

If you think this is no big deal, think again. What would be the reaction if Bruce Willis was chosen to play Martin Luther King? Or Brad Pitt cast as Pancho Villa? If this is “no big deal,” why do African Americans get so upset about whites in blackface? Of course it’s a big deal; every other ethnic group understands the dynamics at work here. Only European-descended people don’t get it, for reasons we’ll discuss in the final paragraph.

Now, the actor who plays Beowulf may be a great fellow and a superb practitioner of his craft. He probably loves his mother, takes good care of his dog, and is warm and generous - none of which is the point. Apparently he hasn’t thought through how wrong this is. Or maybe he just doesn’t care - who knows? The bottom line is that having Beowulf played by a person of African descent is an outrage that would not be tolerated by any other group in American society. This is our culture, our heritage, and the people who make movies should damned well keep their hands off it.

Fighting valiantly on our side is the blogger at Prince of the Lies (http://princeofthelies.blogspot.com/ ), who clearly “gets it.” Unfortunately, I did not learn of this site until a few days ago, and preoccupation with other matters kept me from visiting it until yesterday. But even there, the news is disheartening: Prince of the Lies has not been updated in more than a year. Even worse are some of the comments his (Her? It’s not clear…) posts have elicited.

At the bottom, the problem is that most Eurofolk do not realize we are a people. Men and women of Germanic ancestry form a distinct group, nested inside the larger but still very distinct European group that constitutes our “Greater Family.” We are not just isolated and disconnected individuals. We are bound to each other by networks of ancestry and culture that transcend space and time. Only when we understand this essential fact will we have (1) the good sense to be angry at those who mutilate our heritage, and (2) have the gumption to stand up and do something about it. Until then, we will continue to be victimized by cultural predators.

Freedom and Asatru - Links

Despite what kids are taught in school, our Western traditions of freedom under law derive overwhelmingly from the culture of Northern Europe. (Both words, "freedom" and "law," have Teutonic roots.) It is our task to maintain this gift from our ancestors. In Asatru, freedom is a religious issue!

The national identification card proposed in Britain may not be mandatory... yet…but you won’t be issue a passport if you don’t have one.

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54644

“Total Information Awareness” was the most ambitious governmental surveillance program in history. It got cancelled…only sort of!

http://infowars.net/articles/march2007/080307TIA.htm

Environment and Asatru - Links

The Earth is our mother, called variously in our mythic lore Frigga, Nerthus, and Jord. As the most intelligent species on the planet, humans end up making many decisions for all the other forms of life that live here - so let us choose wisely.

“But back in the 1970’s they were worried about global cooling…Global warming is just another fad.” That’s one of the arguments you hear in the climate change debate. Here’s one response to this argument.

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=94

The northern hemisphere has just undergone the warmest December-January period since records started being kept in 1880, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

http://tinyurl.com/2fzha6

Polar bears face possible extinction. Well, that’s hardly news - but it’s good to be reminded. It would be a poorer world without them.

http://tinyurl.com/yw72ag

What’s behind the die-off of honey bees? Are they succumbing to the pollution, and if so, what species are next?

http://tinyurl.com/yqkt4k

More on bees, and how you can help them get through their present crisis.

http://tinyurl.com/25gvrj

Jack LaLanne Should Be One of Us!

Those of you who are of my generation will remember Jack LaLanne. He was that energetic, muscular guy who had an exercise show on television back when TV was black and white. He opened the first modern-style health club in America - in Oakland, California, back in 1936.

He’s still alive…really alive!...and he’s 93 years old. “I can’t die,” he says, “It would ruin my image.”

Jack still works out two hours a day with weights and cardiovascular exercise. He doesn’t eat white flour or sugar, but he consumes a lot of vegetables, and he likes his daily glass or two of wine.

So what does a fitness icon like Jack LaLanne have to do with Asatru? Well, lots. Most obviously, he is a great example and an inspiration - for getting in shape, for will power and decisiveness, but most of all because he loves life. "Billy Graham is for the hereafter, I'm for the here and now!" he’ll tell you. "The good old days are right now! Focus on this moment!”

And here we hit a fundamental tenet of Germanic religion. It wasn’t until I read James C. Russell’s excellent (and highly recommended) The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity that I saw religions classified into “world rejecting” and “world accepting.” Asatru is very much world accepting - we see the world not just as a transit station on the road to somewhere else, but as a place that is good in its own right. We love the world. We love life. And so does Jack.

A New-Agey magazine ran a series of interviews on the subject of “enlightenment.” Most of the people interviewed were meditators, yogis, religious philosophers and such - and they all came from the standpoint of Eastern thought. There was a lot of talk about "being" rather than "doing," about surrendering, about "going with the flow." Jack LaLanne was also interviewed, and he took just the opposite tack: Get out there and do, take charge, discipline yourself, be happy and love life. A better statement of Germanic values, the values of Asatru, would be hard to find!

Here's a great article about Jack:

http://www.reuters.com/article/gc08/idUSN0716528320070319

Who Was Holger Danske?

Gates of Vienna is a blog (http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com ) concerned with the defense of the West against Islam - the theme of my post yesterday. A few days ago, one of the blog owners/writers unveiled a wonderful logo featuring a Danish flag. Superimposed on the flag is a helmed, fearsome figure with one glaring blue eye…and his name is Holger Danske.

Holger Danske is a semi-legendary figure from the early Middle Ages, and there are many ideas about just who he was. The version on Gates of Vienna (http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2006/12/twelfth-viking.html ) tells us that he was a Dane who had fought against the Christian Franks. However, in 732 CE the Islamic threat (in the form of the Saracen invasion) caused Holger to put aside his differences with the Franks and to fight alongside Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours. The Saracens were defeated and pushed back into the Iberian peninsula (from whence they would be completely ejected by Queen Isabella in 1492).

Denmark was not even nominally Christian until 826 CE, and most people remained predominately Asatru for another century or so. Holger Danske would have been one of us.

When his tasks were done, Holger retired to a secluded location and fell into a deep sleep, from which, it is said, he will awaken in Denmark’s greatest hour of need. He’s pictured with one eye - the other is…Closed? Missing?

One eyed…Dane…Asatruar…from a land where the cult of Odin was powerful…to return in Denmark’s hour of greatest need…could it be that “Holger Danske” is one more of the All Father’s many nicknames?

Asatru - Defending Europe from the Islamic Invasion

Historically, Christianity has gotten all the credit for the defense of Europe against Islamic invasions. Fair enough; Christian warriors fought the decisive battles against Islam on European soil that saved the West - notably Tours in 732 CE and Vienna in 1683 CE. Followers of Germanic religion might have made a bigger contribution, but we had been driven to the fringe of Europe long before Muslim armies arrived on our doorstep.

However, men sworn to Asatru were fighting Muslims in the Middle East at an early date. These were members of the Varangian Guard, the elite troop in service to the emperor of the Byzantine Empire. A treaty between the Norse Rus and the Byzantines was sealed in 911 CE, regulating the military service of Scandinavians in the Empire. At this early date, many or most of these men would have been Asatru.

The most famous Varangian was Harald Hardrada of Norway. Harald himself was at least nominally Christian, but many of the men who fought alongside him would not have been. Under Harald, these warriors stormed through the Middle East. In one campaign they reportedly seized eighty Muslim strongholds and attacked Jerusalem itself. On another occasion they fought to win Sicily back from Muslim control.

Varangian Asatruar had no interest in winning Jerusalem for Christians (though some of them may well have come along for the fight, just the same), but they helped defend the Byzantine Empire against the Muslims who, centuries later, were to eventually conquer Byzantium. The Varangians took the battle to the Islamic heartland fully half a century before the First Crusade in 1095 CE.

Europe is once again being invaded by aggressive Islam. Today, the weapon is not the scimitar, but demographics and terrorism. Perhaps the defense of our ancestral lands lies not in a revival of militant Christianity, but a resurgence of that which is truly European - our native religions including, among others, Asatru.

We must find our soul before we can protect our soil.

Saint Patrick's Day, and All of That

Here it is, March 17^th, and as a man of largely Irish descent I face my annual dilemma. What does an Irishman who follows the pre-Christian faith do while everyone else is drinking green beer and donning their “Kiss me, I’m Irish” tee shirts?

I am, of course, also German, Scottish, and (Gulp!) English, but with a name like McNallen I can’t help but be involved with this day. I have stood on the ancient graves of the Irish part of my bloodline, and nothing is quite the same after that.

Does this have anything to do with Asatru? Yes. Like Hilda Davidson expressed in her book Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe, I believe that the Germanic and Celtic religions are two branches of a common European belief, and I would prefer to stress the things that tie us together rather than the things that keep us apart. Culturally, spiritually, and genetically the differences between our two groups are really very small. I have no trouble quaffing my Guinness from a Viking drinking horn.

Needless to say, I side with the Druids over Patrick. But as for the day itself - it’s not so much about Patrick anymore, except in Ireland where people don’t drink green beer but go to church instead. In the Irish diaspora, March 17^th is not about being Catholic but about being Irish. And that is exactly what I celebrate this day - the portion of my ancestry that comes from Eire. Green is a good color for the Druids, and as far as that stuff about the shamrock and the Trinity…well, the number three has always been important to Celts and for that matter to Indo-Europeans of all nations. Any connection with Christianity is purely coincidental.

I will have a Guiness or two today, and perhaps pour a glass of Mr. Jamison’s fine whiskey to the heroes and Holy Ones of Ireland. I will wish for the friendship of Celts and Germans as brothers and sisters sprung from the soil of Europe, and honor those of my own line who fell for Ireland. I will work on reseeding the lawn and think of cousin Brendan in County Tyrone, who plants the endangered trees of his native land on his acres. But about Patrick, I will think no more.

Remains of Ancient Norwegian Tower Discovered

Workers clearing the way for a new hotel in Trondheim found the remains of a stone tower dating from the time of King Sverre in the 1100’s. This makes only two stone structures not related to the Church to be found in the city from early medieval times.

The tower, which stood more than twenty meters high, was mentioned in a saga account of a massacre occurring in Trondheim in 1206 CE.

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1687823.ece

Walking with Tibetans

Last Saturday Sheila and I spent most of the day marching through San Francisco with a couple of hundred Tibetans and a handful of fellow European-Americans. We were protesting China’s illegal occupation of the Tibetan nation and the plethora of atrocities that have accompanied it.

What does this have to do with Asatru?

Point Five in the AFA’s Declaration of Purpose concerns “the promotion of diversity among the peoples and cultures of the Earth, in opposition to global monoculture.”

It goes on to say that -

The AFA supports the efforts of all cultural and biological groups to maintain their identity…People of all cultures and races must stand united against the forces that would transform us into perfectly interchangeable economic units dominated by a financial or governmental elite.

When we stand alongside the Tibetans, our actions say that it is good for all peoples to be distinct and to work out their own destiny. What is true for the Tibetans is, of course, also true for people of European heritage and everyone else.

It was a pleasure and an honor to walk alongside men and women who know that they are a distinct, unique people! One of the AFA’s many tasks is to remind our own European-descended brothers and sisters that we, too, are a people - not just a swarm of isolated, unconnected men and women - and that we should value ourselves accordingly.

First-Ever "Dwelling Mound" in Germany

An article in Der Spiegel reports something new in German archeology - a “dwelling mound” of the sort created by the occupation of a site for thousands of years. The accumulated debris of daily life eventually forms a mound that rises above the surrounding terrain. Dwelling mounds are found all over the world, but this is the first one discovered in Germany.

The mound, near Oberroblingen in Saxony-Anhalt, dates back about 7,000 years. It was occupied until about 5,500 years ago, then in the Bronze Age people moved into the abandoned site and lived there for another three centuries.

Among the finds was the burial of two young people who had been decapitated. The remains of several animals, to include a horse, dogs, and a calf, were found with them. Evidently the two were sacrificed or executed.

For more, go to

http://www.spiegel.de/international/0%2C1518%2C470120%2C00.html

More Thoughts on Statues

The story of the Leif Erikson statue has set me thinking about art, history, power, and political correctness.

The Leif Erikson statue was something of an anomaly in a world where people of European descent are not exactly looked upon favorably. Instead of being refurbished and planted in a new and better location, we’re more used to seeing statues of Eurofolk torn down and replaced by someone, anyone, not of European heritage.

A magnificent bronze of pioneer Thomas Fallon languished eight years in a San Jose warehouse because local politicians, under the sway of militant minority activists, thought it was too white. It was finally unveiled in a neglected minor park, after three other statues, each honoring a different racial group, were in place. Even then, there was a loud group of protesters on hand to express their displeasure. It’s worse in the South, where statues of Confederate generals grow fewer, year by year.

He who controls the past controls the future. The erasing of European-American history on the North American continent goes hand in hand with our demographic implosion and our impending replacement. When the European-American percentage of the United States population drops to between thirty percent and fifteen percent as predicted for the end of this century, will there be any statues of us at all?

The survival and welfare of the European peoples is, for Asatru, a religious question. Asatru is the way of our people. Our fate is its fate.

This is why the Leif Erikson statue is a very good omen indeed - we are shown that events can run in our favor, if we exert our might and will. We should earnestly support Leif Erikson International, and for that matter each and every expression of our traditional culture. Hopefully, some of that Leif Erikson stubbornness will rub off on us!

March 9 - Day of Remembrance for Olvir

Olvir was a Norwegian who organized sacrifices to the Gods in defiance of King Olaf Tryggvason, who was fanatically Christian. When Olaf discovered Olvir was planning rites for the coming of spring, he killed him. Olvir's fellow patriots were murdered, mutilated, exiled, or fined, depending on their degree of complicity. Honor this Asatru martyr by welcoming the Goddess of Spring on Ostara (Easter), thus proving that Olaf did not, in the long run, succeed.

I use the word "patriots" to describe Olvir and his friends deliberately. Olaf was not a loathsome individual only for his murderous suppression of our indigenous religion, but because he was an all-around tyrant who centralized control of Norway and stripped jarls and freemen alike of their traditional liberties.

Leif the Lucky...Er, Stubborn!

A statue of Leif Erikson has looked out over the Seattle waterfront for the last forty-five years. At the beginning of this month, workers began the job of taking the 17-foot bronze Viking off his pedestal for repairs and for moving to a new location about 200 feet away.

Alas, it was not that easy. Leif resisted all efforts to give him a new home. First, the laborers discovered concrete had been poured inside the figure’s hollow legs. Then, it was unexpected rebar-reinforced tie-downs. Finally, four days after the start of the project, Leif was bundled onto a truck and on his way to the workshop.

The incident was a matter of pride to local Scandinavians, some of whom renamed him “Leif the Stubborn” for his tenacity.

The refurbished statue will be re-erected nearby in a special plaza honoring Scandinavian immigrants. It will be on a new granite base, surrounded by thirteen boulders on which runes will be carved.

The organization sponsoring this effort is Leif Erikson International, a non-profit which has funded several statues of the Norse explorer. They are soliciting donations for the completion of the Seattle project, and in time would like to place another statue at the Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows, on the eastern coast of Canada.

We of Asatru live by a code called the Nine Noble Virtues. One of these virtues is perseverance...which is not all that different from stubborness, come to think of it.

For an account of the difficulties of the recent move, go to

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003596177_webleif01.html

To find out about Leif Erikson Intenational and how you can help support their important work, go to http://leiferikson.org/ .

The Asatru Folk Assembly

The Asatru Folk Assembly, or AFA, is the organization that sponsors this blog. It has been around since 1994, but its roots go all the way back to the first stirrings of the Germanic religious revival in the United States.

The mission of the AFA is "to practice, promote, and further evolve the religion of Asatru, thus forging it into a powerful and effective tool for building a better world." Note the active tone here: We want to make a difference!"

Since its founding, the AFA has sponsored countless gatherings, published successful newsletters, and been repeatedly quoted in the national and international media. The AFA has proposed new ideas, challenged the status quo, and generally pushed the boundaries of the possible.

We are a membership organization and we do accept your tax-deductible contributions!

Please visit our web site at http://runestone.org

News Links 3-6-07: Environment and Asatru

The Earth is our mother, called variously in our mythic lore Frigga, Nerthus, and Jord. As the most intelligent species on the planet, humans have the responsibility of not messing things up for all the other forms of life that live here.


Smuggling endangered animals rife in Mexico - Mexico, like so many other countries, insists on devastating the remains of its animal life.
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12315

Carbon dioxide emission from shipping twice that from air travel - In case you needed another reason to not buy anything from China, this latest news tells us that sending goods by ship adds more carbon dioxide to the environment than does flying. The bad news is that ship emissions are not covered by the Kyoto agreement...and shipping is expected to increase rapidly over the coming years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/

0%2C%2C2025725%2C00.html

Report says U.S. emissions to continue to rise - A draft report from the Bush administration admits that U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide will rise to 20 percent above their 2000 value by the year 2020.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,469922,00.html

Shell and British Petroleum to go into the wind business - The following is good news, but we would prefer that individual households erected their own wind or solar apparatus and became independent of the petroleum corporations.
http://heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/
index.cfm?id=6294&method=full

Sea glider to conduct ocean research - This article covers a small unmanned "sea glider" that will go three times deeper than military submarines and run missions lasting a year. The idea is to use this device for research regarding the effect of climate change on the sea, and vice versa. Technology is not the enemy! Eurofolk have always done technology well - very well indeed - but as in all things we must be guided by wisdom and responsibility.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/
0,72794-0.html?tw=wn_index_2

News Links 3-6-07: Freedom and Asatru

Despite what kids are taught in school, our Western traditions of freedom under law derive overwhelmingly from the culture of Northern Europe. (Both words, "freedom" and "law," have Teutonic roots.) It is our task to maintain this gift from our ancestors.

U.S. national ID card rules unveiled - The government calls it "Real ID," but this article from Wired tells it like it really is...a national identification card, and a "defacto internal passport." Who ever thought it would come to this in America?
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/
0,72843-0.html?tw=wn_politics_2

Homeland Security offers details on Real ID - This article has a lot of overlap with the one above, but with more detail.
http://news.com.com/Homeland+Security+
offers+details+on+Real+ID/2100-1028_3-6163509.html

Mandatory fingerprinting of British children - Children from ages 11 to 16 will be fingerprinted and their prints stored in a secret database, according to a new report circulating in Britain. This scheme, which goes into effect in 2010, meshes with the Labor government plan for a national ID card. May our British cousins awaken and remember the ancient rights of Englishmen!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
tol/news/uk/article1466943.ece

News Links 3-6-07: Asatru and Our Ancient Culture

This is a summary of news links regarding our ancient culture - Asatru, early Europe in general, archeological digs and such - that have come to my attention in the last week or two. We cannot build the future if we do not know the past!


Austrian film company brings the sagas to life - The Austrian company Wokafilm is producing a three-part documentary on Iceland and the sagas. Titled The Sagas of Iceland, the three parts will be Immemorial Time, Settlement, and Sagas. You can read more about it at
http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/
?cat_id=16567&ew_0_a_id=267173 .

Trailers and teasers can be seen at http://youtube.com/watch?v=nUhDTlOI65Y and http://youtube.com/watch?v=43bpchgW6VQ

You'll be hearing more about this one! Release date is scheduled for fall, 2007.

Medieval graveyard found in Icelandic basement - Skulls unearthed in the basement of a home may be from the medieval period. Apparently the house was built over a churchyard, which in turn was built over an Asatru site.
http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/
?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=267872

Website for the Mosfell archeological project - Focused on the Mosfell region of southwester Iceland, this project should reveal a lot about the beliefs and customs of the Viking Age.
http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/walker/Iceland/mosfell.html

Do Stonehenge secrets lie by the side of the road? - It may be that parts of an altar, overlooked until now, can be found along nearby roads.
http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/salisbury/salisburynews/
display.var.1230160.0.stonehenge_secrets_may_lie_by_side_of_
the_road.php

"Thanks, Again"

Yesterday evening, right after sundown, I stepped out to get more firewood (It’s chilly here in northern California). I glanced up from the woodpile, and found myself breathless - entranced by the gold and purple clouds hovering on the horizon, and the tall trees, now shadows against the dying light.

The thought went through my mind that in a few months my wife and I will move from this land we have occupied for twelve years, and the thought of losing all this made the beauty of the moment almost more intense than I could stand. The muttering of the aspen trees, the call of the owl, the families of deer that have rotated through this place for those dozen years…all would soon be a part of my past.

We all take things for granted until it seems we might lose them: the transient pleasures of youth, the wonders of a particular home, and even life itself. We walk in a trance through paradise. Midgard, our world, is more beautiful than we can imagine, if only we will see!

Asatru affirms that life is good, and that the world is good. This is not a doleful place where we prepare for the Heaven of Christian belief, nor is it something we want to be “liberated” from, as Buddhists maintain. It is wondrous, full of potential we cannot even imagine.

I thank my ancestors, who gave me the gift of life in Midgard, and I thank all the life-giving Gods and Goddesses. I am blessed, as are we all.

“Thanks, again.”

Cherokees Decide Tribes are Based on Blood

In a statement issued this morning by the Cherokee Nation, descendants of slaves owned by Cherokees in the 1800’s have been stripped of tribal membership. More than three quarters (76.6%) of those voting agreed to limit membership to descendants of “Cherokees by blood” as listed by a Federal commission convened after the War Between the States.

The issue was described as a matter of self-determination.

"The Cherokee people exercised the most basic democratic right, the right to vote," tribal Principal Chief Chad Smith said. "Their voice is clear as to who should be citizens of the Cherokee Nation. No one else has the right to make that determination.”

The decision has brought cries of “racism,” but I side with the Cherokees. It’s their nation. They get to decide who is or is not a member. And as studies of organisms from bees to humans tell us, blood kinship matters.

Here’s a link: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2921413&page=1

Hitting the Streets...for Tibet?

This post ties in with the Solzhinitsyn quote from yesterday.

I am a man of European blood and soul. For tens of thousands of years, the evolution of my ancestors was shaped by Europe. Just as the Ice Age glaciers formed the valleys of our homeland, so they etched the genetic template that made me who I am. Among other things, I am unapologetically Eurocentric; anything else would be unnatural.

Having said that, I strongly believe in supporting the legitimate efforts of other folk to maintain their identity and independence on a shrinking planet. The principle is simple: The more I understand the uniqueness and value of my own people, the more I can see the uniqueness of others. The Asatru Folk Assembly has always opposed the trend toward uniformity and global monoculture - hence the reference to Solzhinitsyn.

Many of you know of my long-term efforts on behalf of the Tibetan cause. Well, any of you who want to strike a blow for TRUE diversity can join me and thousands of other people in the streets next week.

Saturday, March 10, is the anniversary of the day in 1959 when Tibetans in Lhasa rose up against the Chinese invaders. There will be marches all around the world as Tibetans and their friends call China to task for its ruthless occupation and demand freedom for Tibet.

I will drive three hours to be in the San Francisco march. I invite you to be with me there, or to take part in one of the many events being organized around the nation on that day.

For info on the San Francisco event, go to http://www.freetibetmarch.org .

For a list of other marches around the country, go to http://march10.org .

You'll meet some fine people, have a good time, and strike a blow for freedom. Not bad for one day!

A Quote from Solzhenitsyn

I found this quote from Alexander Solzhenitsyn and thought it was worth passing on:

"The disappearance of nations would impoverish us no less than if all men had become alike with one personality, one face. Nations are the wealth of mankind, its collective personalities; the very least of them wears its own special colors and bears within itself a special facet of God's design."

These two sentences express a genuine love of diversity - not to be confused with DIVERSITY, which is a semantic buzzsaw wielded as a weapon against traditional European history, tastes, and values.

Real diversity tells us that we are different...and that difference is good. It says that we all live in a world of Others, and that this fact makes the world a mysterious and wondrous place. There is no suggestion that the differences should be all smoothed out; quite the contrary.

As for politically correct DIVERSITY, however - it ultimately leads to the eradication of differences and the death of true diversity.

We must keep our culture, particularly those parts of it which are deeper and older. McDonald's and MTV we can cast off this afternoon and only be better off, but Beethoven is another matter...and even more should we cherish the system of laws given us by the Anglo-Saxons, and the weaving of a heroic Wyrd, and the chanting of the Runes...

Climate Change and Grain Production

The latest studies relating climate change to food production are grim. The article linked below gives a number of scenarios, some of them really catastrophic. A lot of folks are going to be hungry by and by.

The Earth is our mother, and what we're doing to her is reprehensible.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070224.CLIMATEAGRI24/TPStory/Environment

The Problem of Jesus' Tomb

This last week has seen a lot of arguing back and forth as to whether or not the tomb unearthed some years ago in the Middle East really sheltered the remains of Jesus and his family - to include Mary Magdalene and a child they had together. Whatever the truth of the story may or may not be, the way Mr. Cameron hyped the whole affair makes it all look like a media stunt, and not a very good one, at that.

The biggest point here has been overlooked. Christianity makes the fundamental mistake of thinking that its mythology is history. As mythology, the story of Jesus makes great sense - mostly because it contains both broad outlines as well as specific details "borrowed" from Mithraism and Egyptian religion. Unfortunately, it makes lousy history because it is inherently fantastic and because it will always be vulnerable to things like, for example, archeology.

Myth is metaphor, poetry, and the dream of the race. It is fine for myth to be fantastic; we would be disappointed were it otherwise.

We who follow the Holy Powers of our Germanic forbears understand this. The Gods are real, as are the holy Goddesses, but the Norse tales are not historical accounts of their doings. Rather, the mythic lore tells us truths about the Gods, and ourselves, and the grand themes of the cosmos.

There has never been, nor will there ever be, a market for Germanic relics - a strand of Thor's beard, a "genuine" cast of Sleipnir's hoof print, or the like!

Here are three radically different links on the whole "tomb of Jesus" controversy:

http://rense.com/general75/TALES.HTM
http://aoreport.com/mag/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=608&Itemid=44
http://israelitybites.blogspot.com/2007/02/bones-of-jesus-son-uncovered-in.html