Flar's Freyja
January 8th, 2003, 11:51 AM
Received this article in an e-mail and I am posting it for information and discussion purposes only. I am not the author of this article.
Who Are the Asatruar?
It's hard to stereotype us, except that we try to be
true to the Aesir.
By Nissa Annakindt
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/75/story_7567.html
There are many names for the kind of people I call
"Asatru": Norse Pagan, Heathen, Odinist, the Troth,
Theodish Belief, even "the religion of the Vikings."
Some of us insist on one term and reject the others.
In any case, we are the folk who are "true to the
Aesir"--the literal meaning of Asatru. We worship the
ancient Gods of the Germanic people of Northern
Europe: Freya, Thor, Odin, Frigga, Balder, Hel, Sif…
We are not Wiccans. We believe in many Gods, not a God
and a Goddess; we meet in Kindreds, Hearths, and
Garths, not covens and circles. An Asatru priest is
called a gothi; a priestess is a gythia--though in
some groups, they may be called elders. We have a
Bible--more than one actually. We use the Poetic Edda,
the Prose Edda, and the other ancient sources, such as
the Germania of Tacitus, to understand the true roots
of our faith.
We tend to be more diverse in our opinions than the
Wiccans. We have political conservatives and moderates
as well as liberals, feminists, and those suspicious
of feminism, gay people, and people worried about "the
gay agenda." And many of us don't fit any political
pattern--supporting both gun rights and gay rights,
for example.
We don't trace the history of our religion back to
Gerald Gardner. Our religion was revived in 1907 in
Germany by the artist Ludwig Fahrenkrog. One of
Fahrenkrog's followers, Dr. Ernst Wachler, built an
outdoor theater, the Harzer Bergtheater, and produced
plays on Germanic themes. During the Nazi era,
Fahrenkrog was forbidden to hold public meetings, his
group was forbidden to use their group's symbol, the
swastika (which they had been using since before the
Nazi movement came along), and Dr. Wachler, a man of
Jewish ancestry, was sent to Auschwitz, where he died.
The German group died away in the years after the war
(though it has since been revived). It was around 1971
that Asatru again sprang to life. Groups began to form
independent of one another, in Iceland, England, and
the United States. There are a number of Asatru groups
in the U.S. today. The Asatru Folk Assembly, the
Asatru Alliance, the Troth, the Odinic Rite-Vinland,
and the American Vinland Association are some of the
best-known groups.
One belief that some, but not all, Asatru believers
share is that ancestry is important to one's spiritual
life. Specifically, it is believed that a person with
one or more ancestors from Northern Europe will get
better spiritual benefits from Asatru than would a
person with no Northern European ancestors. Similarly,
one might believe that an American Indian would get
more benefit from American Indian spiritual traditions
than would a European-American dilettante. Some people
wrongly fear that this belief might feed race
prejudice, but, quite obviously, there are people of
all races who have at least one Northern European
ancestor.
One source of spiritual wisdom that we have in Asatru
is the runes. The runes are an ancient alphabet, but
more than just an alphabet. The runes are arranged in
a meaningful order, in meaningful groupings. They have
been used for magic and divination, but they can also
be used for prayer and meditation. There are many
books on runes, most of them utter nonsense. Choose a
rune book by Edred Thorsson, Freya Aswynn, or Kvedulf
Gundarsson.
How do you learn about Asatru? First, go back to the
ancient sources--the Poetic and Prose Eddas, for
example--and to good scholarly books about the Norse
and Germanic peoples and their religion. This takes
precedence over the unsupported opinions of modern
people about what our ancient religion is.
There are a great many periodicals on Asatru, and it's
a good idea to subscribe to a variety. My own, the
Nine Virtues News, is a weekly newsletter that covers
a lot of religious freedom news and includes Asatru
religious articles as well. (Subscription price is $30
a year, $40 in Canada; write to Nine Virtues News,
W4213 Co. Rd. 360, Daggett, MI 49821 USA.)
Some other Asatru periodicals:
ASA FOLK – Published 4 times a year by the Utah Asatru
Kindreds. Subscriptions are $10 for a year. Send to:
The Eagle's Kindred, PO Box 521737, Salt Lake City, UT
84152-1737.
IDUNNA – Published quarterly by The Troth.
Subscriptions $20 in U.S., $24 elsewhere. Write to:
The Troth, Box 472, Berkeley, CA 94701.
LINA – The quarterly journal of Frigga's Web.
Subscriptions $20 annually (U.S. & Canada) payable to
Frigga's Web. Frigga's Web, PO Box 721554 Oklahoma
City, OK 73172-1554.
MARKLANDER – Published by The Markland Asatru
Assembly, PO Box 398118, Cambridge, MA 02139-0039.
Subscriptions $10 a year (payable to L. Miller).
OR BRIEFING – PO Box 2022, Sandusky, OH 44871. The
Voice of the Odonic Rite. Subscriptions $20 a year for
nonmembers, payable to Odonic Rite Vinland.
VOR TRU – The Journal of the Asatru Alliance. $26 for
a 4 issue subscription. Vor Tru, PO Box 961, Payson,
AZ 85547.
YGGDRASIL – Quarterly Heathen Journal. Subscriptions
$10 in U.S., $13 elsewhere. Make all checks payable
to: Freya's Folk, PMB 165, 537 Jones St. San
Francisco, CA 94102.
After you have been reading up on Asatru for a while,
you will surely come to know that yes, indeed, Asatru
is different. But maybe it is a difference you will
enjoy. You may even find that Asatru is the right
spiritual path for you. If you do feel that way,
please consider joining one of the national Asatru
groups. It really helps us all when we are united.
Suppose you find you don't much care for Asatru?
Suppose you'd rather be a Druid or get into Voudon?
Well, good for you! We Asatru don't believe that there
is One True Religion for Everybody, any more than
other Pagans do. The knowledge you gained in studying
Asatru will certainly prove helpful to you--no
knowledge is without value.
Who Are the Asatruar?
It's hard to stereotype us, except that we try to be
true to the Aesir.
By Nissa Annakindt
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/75/story_7567.html
There are many names for the kind of people I call
"Asatru": Norse Pagan, Heathen, Odinist, the Troth,
Theodish Belief, even "the religion of the Vikings."
Some of us insist on one term and reject the others.
In any case, we are the folk who are "true to the
Aesir"--the literal meaning of Asatru. We worship the
ancient Gods of the Germanic people of Northern
Europe: Freya, Thor, Odin, Frigga, Balder, Hel, Sif…
We are not Wiccans. We believe in many Gods, not a God
and a Goddess; we meet in Kindreds, Hearths, and
Garths, not covens and circles. An Asatru priest is
called a gothi; a priestess is a gythia--though in
some groups, they may be called elders. We have a
Bible--more than one actually. We use the Poetic Edda,
the Prose Edda, and the other ancient sources, such as
the Germania of Tacitus, to understand the true roots
of our faith.
We tend to be more diverse in our opinions than the
Wiccans. We have political conservatives and moderates
as well as liberals, feminists, and those suspicious
of feminism, gay people, and people worried about "the
gay agenda." And many of us don't fit any political
pattern--supporting both gun rights and gay rights,
for example.
We don't trace the history of our religion back to
Gerald Gardner. Our religion was revived in 1907 in
Germany by the artist Ludwig Fahrenkrog. One of
Fahrenkrog's followers, Dr. Ernst Wachler, built an
outdoor theater, the Harzer Bergtheater, and produced
plays on Germanic themes. During the Nazi era,
Fahrenkrog was forbidden to hold public meetings, his
group was forbidden to use their group's symbol, the
swastika (which they had been using since before the
Nazi movement came along), and Dr. Wachler, a man of
Jewish ancestry, was sent to Auschwitz, where he died.
The German group died away in the years after the war
(though it has since been revived). It was around 1971
that Asatru again sprang to life. Groups began to form
independent of one another, in Iceland, England, and
the United States. There are a number of Asatru groups
in the U.S. today. The Asatru Folk Assembly, the
Asatru Alliance, the Troth, the Odinic Rite-Vinland,
and the American Vinland Association are some of the
best-known groups.
One belief that some, but not all, Asatru believers
share is that ancestry is important to one's spiritual
life. Specifically, it is believed that a person with
one or more ancestors from Northern Europe will get
better spiritual benefits from Asatru than would a
person with no Northern European ancestors. Similarly,
one might believe that an American Indian would get
more benefit from American Indian spiritual traditions
than would a European-American dilettante. Some people
wrongly fear that this belief might feed race
prejudice, but, quite obviously, there are people of
all races who have at least one Northern European
ancestor.
One source of spiritual wisdom that we have in Asatru
is the runes. The runes are an ancient alphabet, but
more than just an alphabet. The runes are arranged in
a meaningful order, in meaningful groupings. They have
been used for magic and divination, but they can also
be used for prayer and meditation. There are many
books on runes, most of them utter nonsense. Choose a
rune book by Edred Thorsson, Freya Aswynn, or Kvedulf
Gundarsson.
How do you learn about Asatru? First, go back to the
ancient sources--the Poetic and Prose Eddas, for
example--and to good scholarly books about the Norse
and Germanic peoples and their religion. This takes
precedence over the unsupported opinions of modern
people about what our ancient religion is.
There are a great many periodicals on Asatru, and it's
a good idea to subscribe to a variety. My own, the
Nine Virtues News, is a weekly newsletter that covers
a lot of religious freedom news and includes Asatru
religious articles as well. (Subscription price is $30
a year, $40 in Canada; write to Nine Virtues News,
W4213 Co. Rd. 360, Daggett, MI 49821 USA.)
Some other Asatru periodicals:
ASA FOLK – Published 4 times a year by the Utah Asatru
Kindreds. Subscriptions are $10 for a year. Send to:
The Eagle's Kindred, PO Box 521737, Salt Lake City, UT
84152-1737.
IDUNNA – Published quarterly by The Troth.
Subscriptions $20 in U.S., $24 elsewhere. Write to:
The Troth, Box 472, Berkeley, CA 94701.
LINA – The quarterly journal of Frigga's Web.
Subscriptions $20 annually (U.S. & Canada) payable to
Frigga's Web. Frigga's Web, PO Box 721554 Oklahoma
City, OK 73172-1554.
MARKLANDER – Published by The Markland Asatru
Assembly, PO Box 398118, Cambridge, MA 02139-0039.
Subscriptions $10 a year (payable to L. Miller).
OR BRIEFING – PO Box 2022, Sandusky, OH 44871. The
Voice of the Odonic Rite. Subscriptions $20 a year for
nonmembers, payable to Odonic Rite Vinland.
VOR TRU – The Journal of the Asatru Alliance. $26 for
a 4 issue subscription. Vor Tru, PO Box 961, Payson,
AZ 85547.
YGGDRASIL – Quarterly Heathen Journal. Subscriptions
$10 in U.S., $13 elsewhere. Make all checks payable
to: Freya's Folk, PMB 165, 537 Jones St. San
Francisco, CA 94102.
After you have been reading up on Asatru for a while,
you will surely come to know that yes, indeed, Asatru
is different. But maybe it is a difference you will
enjoy. You may even find that Asatru is the right
spiritual path for you. If you do feel that way,
please consider joining one of the national Asatru
groups. It really helps us all when we are united.
Suppose you find you don't much care for Asatru?
Suppose you'd rather be a Druid or get into Voudon?
Well, good for you! We Asatru don't believe that there
is One True Religion for Everybody, any more than
other Pagans do. The knowledge you gained in studying
Asatru will certainly prove helpful to you--no
knowledge is without value.