My morning Asatru devotionals are an important part of my religious life. First, I greet the day with the (slightly modified) words of the valkyrie Brynhild in the Eddic poem Sigrdrifumal -
Hail to the day! Hail to the sons of day!
Hail to night and its daughter!
Gaze gently on me standing here;
Give your blessings on my battles!
Hail to the Gods! Hail to the Goddesses!
Hail to the all-giving Earth!
Wisdom and lore grant me, as long as I live,
And healing hands.
Then I recite a rather longish prayer I have developed over the years. It includes the petition, "May I be worthy of Valhalla..." No surprise there; I am sure many of us hope and strive to be accepted into Odin's hall. But perhaps fewer ask the next item: "May I be worthy of Midgard, worthy of life."
We often take life here in our world for granted. Jaded and habit-driven, we ignore the treasures that surround us. The first ray of the sun's rising, the piping of the finch in springtime, the breath of a breeze against our skin...Those who say material existence is evil are wrong; it is a veritable paradise, if only we will look, and listen, and feel. Life is good, and we should daily embrace it to ourselves.
The gift of life is a great one, and I try to be worthy of it by being aware of the beauty around me...by serving life rather than death...by protecting this Earth, our home, as best I can...and, when I sit down to food, by thanking the life that died that I might live - for I would not take that life in vain.
Hail to the ancestors and the Holy Powers, who gave us life! May we live fully and with awareness!
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Asatru and Essence: The Neanderthal Question
Just who are we Europeans? If we follow a native European religion - Asatru - it only makes sense to delve into the question of our fundamental identity, our roots, our origins. "Know thyself," as Socrates said.
Along these lines, the most recent research indicates that the earliest homo erectus inhabitants of Europe interbred with Neanderthals, meaning that modern Europeans carry Neanderthal genes.
In the words of the article, "The Leipzig group’s interbreeding theory would undercut the present belief that all human populations today draw from the same gene pool that existed a mere 50,000 years ago. 'What we falsify here is the strong Out-of-Africa hypothesis that everyone comes from the same population,' Dr. Paabo said. In his and Dr. Reich’s view, Neanderthals interbred only with non-Africans, the people who left Africa, which would mean that non-Africans drew from a second gene pool not available to Africans."
This discovery raises interesting questions. I've seen other articles asserting that modern Chinese also have genetic contributions from interbreeding with older Asian populations. Could it be that the origin of races is more complex than we've thought? Shades of Carlton Coon!
http://tinyurl.com/2uuocug
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Along these lines, the most recent research indicates that the earliest homo erectus inhabitants of Europe interbred with Neanderthals, meaning that modern Europeans carry Neanderthal genes.
In the words of the article, "The Leipzig group’s interbreeding theory would undercut the present belief that all human populations today draw from the same gene pool that existed a mere 50,000 years ago. 'What we falsify here is the strong Out-of-Africa hypothesis that everyone comes from the same population,' Dr. Paabo said. In his and Dr. Reich’s view, Neanderthals interbred only with non-Africans, the people who left Africa, which would mean that non-Africans drew from a second gene pool not available to Africans."
This discovery raises interesting questions. I've seen other articles asserting that modern Chinese also have genetic contributions from interbreeding with older Asian populations. Could it be that the origin of races is more complex than we've thought? Shades of Carlton Coon!
http://tinyurl.com/2uuocug
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Friday, May 7, 2010
Asatru Attitudes Toward Christianity
Reading through posts on Asatru blogs and lists, I often see derogatory comments made about the Christian faith and its followers. This is understandable. Organized Christianity ruthlessly suppressed all the native religions of Europe, including the Germanic religion we today call Asatru. The several thousand Saxon leaders slaughtered by Charlemagne for their refusal submit to the cross were only a very small fraction of our martyrs; Europe succumbed to Christianity after a sputtering war of resistance lasting centuries. It is possible that every man and woman of European descent has direct ancestors who died in defense of our native faith.
So what are we to do with this history, now that a thousand years or so has passed? The scene is complicated by the fact that (1) Asatru is an ancestral religion and (2) most of our recent ancestors have been Christian. True, most of our line is thoroughly heathen - Europe as a whole has been under the sway of Christianity for only between one and two percent of the time that modern humans have lived on the continent - but things are no longer simple.
Here's my take on it: I went through a stridently anti-Christian phase in the years immediately after I decided to follow Asatru. I was young and brash and angry because I had been cheated of my heritage. Now, I am older and somewhat less brash. I still feel the loss of our traditional culture, and I still honor the martyrs of our faith who fell before the steel and fire of Christians. I certainly believe that Christianity is a faulty faith, a foreign imposition on European soil, a way that has done us great damage...But you know, I find it hard to blame the Catholic or Baptist down the street for what Charlemagne did.
In short, I am still in opposition to Christianity as a religion, but I am not against Christians as people simply because of the faith they profess. And to be honest, many of them live our virtues better than some of us do.
Most especially, I am not interested in "Christian bashing." I don't automatically assume all Christians are bigots or fools - because they're not. My parents were Christians, and my grandparents, and so on for many generations. I honor my Christian ancestors just as I do my pre-Christian forebears, because blood is thicker than water - and, specifically, thicker than the water of the baptismal font.
Our task in regard to Christianity is simple: We are, in some sense, in competition with it for the soul of our people. Reasoned criticism of Christianity is one thing; ad hominem attacks are another. The former helps us accomplish our mission, but the latter hurts our efforts. If we are negative and angry, people who might otherwise regard us well, or even join us, will not hear our message. Hostility stops communication. We must conduct ourselves in a way that reflects well on our beliefs, and that suggests a maturity and confidence leading us to treat others with the respect due them.
Hail our holy Gods and Goddesses! Hail the ancestors, and hail the generations yet to come!
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
So what are we to do with this history, now that a thousand years or so has passed? The scene is complicated by the fact that (1) Asatru is an ancestral religion and (2) most of our recent ancestors have been Christian. True, most of our line is thoroughly heathen - Europe as a whole has been under the sway of Christianity for only between one and two percent of the time that modern humans have lived on the continent - but things are no longer simple.
Here's my take on it: I went through a stridently anti-Christian phase in the years immediately after I decided to follow Asatru. I was young and brash and angry because I had been cheated of my heritage. Now, I am older and somewhat less brash. I still feel the loss of our traditional culture, and I still honor the martyrs of our faith who fell before the steel and fire of Christians. I certainly believe that Christianity is a faulty faith, a foreign imposition on European soil, a way that has done us great damage...But you know, I find it hard to blame the Catholic or Baptist down the street for what Charlemagne did.
In short, I am still in opposition to Christianity as a religion, but I am not against Christians as people simply because of the faith they profess. And to be honest, many of them live our virtues better than some of us do.
Most especially, I am not interested in "Christian bashing." I don't automatically assume all Christians are bigots or fools - because they're not. My parents were Christians, and my grandparents, and so on for many generations. I honor my Christian ancestors just as I do my pre-Christian forebears, because blood is thicker than water - and, specifically, thicker than the water of the baptismal font.
Our task in regard to Christianity is simple: We are, in some sense, in competition with it for the soul of our people. Reasoned criticism of Christianity is one thing; ad hominem attacks are another. The former helps us accomplish our mission, but the latter hurts our efforts. If we are negative and angry, people who might otherwise regard us well, or even join us, will not hear our message. Hostility stops communication. We must conduct ourselves in a way that reflects well on our beliefs, and that suggests a maturity and confidence leading us to treat others with the respect due them.
Hail our holy Gods and Goddesses! Hail the ancestors, and hail the generations yet to come!
Steve McNallen
Asatru Folk Assembly
http://runestone.org
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Blond Mummies from Central Asia Touring America!
Members of the Asatru Folk Assembly - or anyone else, for that matter - living in or near southern California, Texas, or Pennsylvania, are about to get the chance of a lifetime.
The famous blond mummies from Urumchi, on the edge of Mongolia, will be making appearances in Southern California, Houston, and Philadelphia. These are the mummies proven by DNA analysis to be Europeans - the farthest-east expression of our ancestors in ancient times. They are tall, with the long skulls typical of Europe, and their textile weave is similar to that found among the Celts. China occupies the land where they were found; the Chinese call it the province of Xinjiang, while many of the locals think of it as the nation of East Turkestan.
The suspicion that these mysterious European people may have introduced the wheel and other important technologies into China is embarrassing to the Chinese regime, and awareness of the mummies has at times been suppressed by the government.
The exhibit, which closes in Santa Ana, California on July 25, moves to the Houston Museum of Natural Science Aug. 28 and stays until Jan. 2. From Feb. 5 to June 5, the exhibit will be at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia. You won't want to miss these if you live within driving distance!
http://tinyurl.com/3y76jft
Asatru Folk Assembly
runestone.org
The famous blond mummies from Urumchi, on the edge of Mongolia, will be making appearances in Southern California, Houston, and Philadelphia. These are the mummies proven by DNA analysis to be Europeans - the farthest-east expression of our ancestors in ancient times. They are tall, with the long skulls typical of Europe, and their textile weave is similar to that found among the Celts. China occupies the land where they were found; the Chinese call it the province of Xinjiang, while many of the locals think of it as the nation of East Turkestan.
The suspicion that these mysterious European people may have introduced the wheel and other important technologies into China is embarrassing to the Chinese regime, and awareness of the mummies has at times been suppressed by the government.
The exhibit, which closes in Santa Ana, California on July 25, moves to the Houston Museum of Natural Science Aug. 28 and stays until Jan. 2. From Feb. 5 to June 5, the exhibit will be at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia. You won't want to miss these if you live within driving distance!
http://tinyurl.com/3y76jft
Asatru Folk Assembly
runestone.org
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