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
Saturday, October 31, 2009
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
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Asatru, the Disir, and the Seven Mothers of Europe
Autumn is here again, and with it the festival of Winter Nights. We who follow Asatru are thinking once again on our female ancestors - the Disir. Some of us, like the folks who attended the very successful AFA Winter Nights celebration yesterday in New Hampshire, have already honored them ritually. Many more of us will do so over the course of the coming week.
Science is giving us new ways of relating to the Disir. Beyond the first few generations, most of our foremothers are not known to us by name. Our mothers, grandmothers, and a couple of “greats” after that, and the average person has named all he or she knows. But modern genetics has taught us some things about our female European ancestors, and has even given them modern names to represent them to us.
Dr. Bryan Sykes, in his book The Seven Daughters of Eve, tells of the seven “clan mothers” from whom more than ninety-five percent of modern native Europeans are descended. Here's what Sykes writes about these women:
The seven [genetic] clusters had ages between 45,000 and 10,000 years...And, by purely logical deduction, the inescapable but breathtaking conclusion is that the single founder sequence at the root of each of these genetic clusters was carried by just one woman [emphasis in the original] in each case. So the ages we had given to each of the clusters became the times in the past when these seven women, the clan mothers, actually lived. It required only that I gave them names to bring them to life and to arouse in me, and everyone who has heard about them, an intense curiosity about their lives.
Dr. Sykes named the seven clan mothers of Europe Ursula, Xenia, Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine, and Jasmine.
Even though the names are modern (The first letter in each name stands for the scientific classification of the cluster), they give us at least “nicknames” for hailing and honoring these mothers. For me, they have become representative of all the Disir, and give me one more avenue by which to approach all my female ancestors.
I will be using these names ritually when my household and other AFA members celebrate Winter Nights next Saturday.
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Science is giving us new ways of relating to the Disir. Beyond the first few generations, most of our foremothers are not known to us by name. Our mothers, grandmothers, and a couple of “greats” after that, and the average person has named all he or she knows. But modern genetics has taught us some things about our female European ancestors, and has even given them modern names to represent them to us.
Dr. Bryan Sykes, in his book The Seven Daughters of Eve, tells of the seven “clan mothers” from whom more than ninety-five percent of modern native Europeans are descended. Here's what Sykes writes about these women:
The seven [genetic] clusters had ages between 45,000 and 10,000 years...And, by purely logical deduction, the inescapable but breathtaking conclusion is that the single founder sequence at the root of each of these genetic clusters was carried by just one woman [emphasis in the original] in each case. So the ages we had given to each of the clusters became the times in the past when these seven women, the clan mothers, actually lived. It required only that I gave them names to bring them to life and to arouse in me, and everyone who has heard about them, an intense curiosity about their lives.
Dr. Sykes named the seven clan mothers of Europe Ursula, Xenia, Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine, and Jasmine.
Even though the names are modern (The first letter in each name stands for the scientific classification of the cluster), they give us at least “nicknames” for hailing and honoring these mothers. For me, they have become representative of all the Disir, and give me one more avenue by which to approach all my female ancestors.
I will be using these names ritually when my household and other AFA members celebrate Winter Nights next Saturday.
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Saturday, October 10, 2009
An Asatru Event: Winter Nights
Winter Nights is the fall celebration held in honor of the Disir. In modern Asatru, the Disir are often thought of as the female ancestors - those known to us by name, and the countless unknown ones who stand invisible behind them.
In early Iceland, Winter Nights was celebrated on the Saturday between October 11th and 17th. Modern Asatruar vary that date in either direction as necessary. The Celtic holy day of Samhain (dimly reflected in the modern Halloween) carries much of the same tone as Winter Nights and comes at about the same time of year.
The McNallen household will honor the Disir on Saturday, the 17th, in accordance with the old tradition. AFA members and selected “friends of the AFA” are invited to attend, and should contact us for details. We will tell stories, make things, remember the mothers of our respective clans, and give blot to the Disir. We will laugh and feast and make plans for the future. It will be a good time.
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
In early Iceland, Winter Nights was celebrated on the Saturday between October 11th and 17th. Modern Asatruar vary that date in either direction as necessary. The Celtic holy day of Samhain (dimly reflected in the modern Halloween) carries much of the same tone as Winter Nights and comes at about the same time of year.
The McNallen household will honor the Disir on Saturday, the 17th, in accordance with the old tradition. AFA members and selected “friends of the AFA” are invited to attend, and should contact us for details. We will tell stories, make things, remember the mothers of our respective clans, and give blot to the Disir. We will laugh and feast and make plans for the future. It will be a good time.
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
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