Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Heroes Of Asgard

The Heroes Of Asgard Cover

Book: The Heroes Of Asgard by Annie Keary

This is a complete telling of the Norse Gods of Asgard from their mythical creation to Ragnarok (The Twilight of the Gods). This is an action pack tale with giants and elves Gods and mortal men.

Evidently, when they wrote the Edda (12thC Norse poem collection) (13thC Norse poem collection compiled by Snorri Sturluson, Containing Norse myths, poems, and treatise on poetry) they were not aware of English. However, there is no excuse for the later translations. If you want to know the gods and their story, but have no time to cut though exotic lengthy prose, then this is the book for you. The stories are straight forwarded and have a contemporary feel. Still they are of the time and place they should be and not superimposed on today's century.

The illustrations add a dimension to the stories. Being in a sketch form adds to your imagination and helps explain some concepts.

After the Introduction the chapters are:
Odin
How Thor went to Jotunheim
Frey's Wooing
The Wanderings of Freyja
Inuna's Apples
Baldur's Death
The Binding of Fenrir

Download Annie Keary's eBook: The Heroes Of Asgard

Books in PDF format to read:

Yacki Raizizun - The Secret Of Dreams
Andrea Haugen - The Ancient Fires Of Midgard
Asatru Free Assembly - The Lessons Of Asgard
Annie Keary - The Heroes Of Asgard

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Asatru As A Group Practice

Asatru As A Group Practice Cover As a group practice, we can explore how people interact as well as the kinds of enduring social structures that people develop. Asatru provides many opportunities for group practices. The two most common rituals, the blot and the sumbel, are group rituals. Lore study groups are another way that people involve themselves in group activity. Many Asatru practitioners also belong to one or more of the several national or local organizations of various sizes.

Asatru is experienced as a group activity through its many festivals and gatherings. For some, group practice is paramount. In this way, identity and solidarity is developed while Asatru’s religious values are expressed between the participants. By participating in these group activities, the religion becomes a living community and communal experience.

Some of the enduring social structures of Asatru are known as hearths, garths, kindreds, steads, sippe, skeppslag or tribe. With the exception of the word tribe, these groupings are composed of maybe up to two dozens individuals who pledge to each other certain obligations to practice, participate in and promote the religion together.

Recommended reading (pdf e-books):

Frater Fp - Sigils In Theory And Practice
Anonymous - Wicca Beliefs And Practices
Reeves Hall - Asatru In Brief

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

What Is Asatru

What Is Asatru Cover

Book: What Is Asatru by Pagan Pride Project

Asatru is a Norse term meaning literally a faith or belief in Gods, specifically the Old Norse and Germanic Gods known collectively as the AEsir. Asatru has its roots in ancient customs and beliefs, although it is best known from the Viking age when the old world view and the emerging Christian faith clashed and which was the period that the stories and customs were written down. As with many other ethnic or folk Religions there was no specific name for the religion, although Asatru, Vor tru, "our faith," or Forn Sed, "ancient customs/ways" are phrases/words that are used in the modern world to describe this faith. The religion was part of the culture, and the beliefs revealed not only in the mythology, but also in the customs, ethics, and laws, much of which has survived as a cultural ethos.

Download Pagan Pride Project's eBook: What Is Asatru

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Thomas Voxfire - What Was Aleister Crowley
Anonymous - What Is Wicca Article 2
Arthur Edward Waite - What Is Alchemy
Lil Bow Wow - What Is A Warlock
Stephen Mcnallen - What Is Asatru

Monday, July 12, 2010

Corruption Of Asatru

Corruption Of Asatru Cover It is not unknown for otherwise decent religions to become corrupted by incorporating racist, sexist, anti-semitic, and homophobic beliefs. For example:

- The Christian Identity movement is one wing of the Christian religion which has adsorbed such beliefs.

- During the early part of the 20th Century, The National Socialist Party in Germany under Adolf Hitler attempted to pervert Asatru by grafting parts of the religion onto the Nazi racist beliefs. This blasphemy died by the end of World War II, although some neo-Nazi groups -- largely in the U.S. -- are now attempting to continue the practice.

This type of activity is in no way related to the restoration of Asatru as a legitimate Heathen religion. There is a very strong anti-racist, anti-Nazi stance among national Asatru groups in the Scandinavian countries. This is also found in almost all Asatru groups in English speaking countries. They typically have a clear rejection of racism written into their constitutions. Unfortunately, some anti-racism groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (in its Megiddo report) have mistakenly accused the entire religion of racism.

Many people are exposed to the name "Asatru" through role playing games, such as Mage: The Ascension. Unfortunately, the Asatru of these games bear little resemblance to the real religion.

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Stephen Mcnallen - What Is Asatru
Asatru Free Assembly - The Lessons Of Asgard
Austin Osman Spare - A Book Of Satyrs
James Eschelman - Invocation Of Horus
Anonymous - Odinism And Asatru

Sunday, July 11, 2010

God Heimdall Names

God Heimdall Names Cover Heimdall has several other names, among which we find those of Hallinskide and Irmin, for at times he takes Odin’s place and is identified with that god, as well as with the other sword-gods, Er, Heru, Cheru, and Tyr, who are all noted for their shining weapons. He, however, is most generally known as warder of the rainbow, God of heaven, and of the fruitful rains and dews which bring refreshment to the earth.

This god also shared with Bragi the honor of welcoming heroes to Valhalla, and, under the name of Riger, was considered the ancestor of the various classes which compose the human race, as is set forth in the following myth:

“Sacred children,
Great and small,
Sons of Heimdall!” -SAEUND’S EDDA (Thorpe’s tr.)

Books in PDF format to read:

Anonymous - Pagan Holidays
Aristotle - On Dreams
Tuesday Lobsang Rampa - Feeding The Flame
Bernard King - Meanings Of The Runes
John White - Toward Homo Noeticus

Asatru As A Philosophy

Asatru As A Philosophy Cover Classical philosophy generally recognizes there being several significant ways of organizing what we know about things: an ethic, defining how one should live; a metaphysics, which defines the nature of the universe, its components and their interactions; an epistemology, which describes what counts as genuine knowledge; and a logic, which provides Principles about how to reason about the things we know. Finally, an aesthetic defines rules for preferred forms and perceptions. Modern Asatru includes each of these components.

There are definite ethical aspects of Asatru which describe how we should live as individuals and together. There are many enduring views in Asatru about how we should interact with our gods, goddesses, ancestors, the landvaettir, fellow folk members and outsiders for our own good and for the good of the folk. Embedded in Asatru is a unique Metaphysics describing the nature of the universe, who we are, the nature of things in the universe, and how they are all causally linked. This metaphysics is millennia old and describes a universe very different from that described by other religions. Given, the metaphysics of Asatru’s universe, we also encounter a unique epistemology. This describes how we can know things about the universe and ourselves. A unique logic also exists to describe how we can think about these things. Finally, Asatru has a unique aesthetic descended from a mix of the principles expressed in our historical art forms combined with a mix of modern romanticism and practicality.

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Henry Cornelius Agrippa - Three Books Of Occult Philosophy Book Ii
Henry Cornelius Agrippa - Three Books Of Occult Philosophy Book I
Yogi Ramacharaka - Yogi Philosophy

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Drinking At The Well Of Mimir An Asatru Man Meanderings

Drinking At The Well Of Mimir An Asatru Man Meanderings Cover

Book: Drinking At The Well Of Mimir An Asatru Man Meanderings by Bil Linzie

I don't consider this volume to be any great piece of research. There are plenty of researchers out there far more knowledgeable than I, and I have no problem with that. I don't consider these books revolutionary in any way either; I seriously doubt whether they will change the practice of Asatru in the modern world. What they are is an Asatru man's view of the world after having been Asatru two years short of a full third of a century. They are my views.

I loved that book and read it cover to cover at least four times a year for the next 3 years. My Grampa Jack was “Linzie religion” and so was I, but I belonged to the Asa-Faith as well. I later bought a second printing of the book and still enjoy it. After 30 years of
Asatru the book has begun to even take on the smell of that original I once held in my hands.

I love the fact that I am a 3rd generation German-American. I now live in the southwest in a predominantly hispanic community and enjoy enchiladas y tamales as much as I do Sauerkraut mit Schinken und Apfeln, but I never mistake where I came from. I read a lot more now than I used to and move a little slower than when I was still chasing Laura (and I do mean chasing—she was fast). I have a family of my own and I am 30+ years and 2000 miles away from the place of my upbringing, but I feel more a German-American now than I did growing up. I wrote this book as an expression of thanks, I suppose.

This book came together over a period of 10 years. I started in 1990 (the year that our town's electricity went out on Superbowl Sunday), and I lost the first thirty or so pages to an old, borrowed Apple IIe. Fortunately, I still had the original handwritten copy. Since that time, I've gone through 3 computers, Windows3.1, Windows95, Windows98, and now Linux/ FreeBSD; countless rewrites, and have lost half my hair, grown long in the tooth, became a Grampa, and got remarried only to have two more sons (one of whom is “Jack” born 99 years and 9 days after his namesake and founder of the 'Linzie-religion'). A lot has happened in those 10 years.

The book actually started out as a 5-page essay but quickly took on a life of its own sprawling out well beyond a ream of paper. The topics wander mainly because I like it that way. It starts with the individual who slowly discovers his Relationship to the world. It starts at the center of the universe, i.e. me–(yes, I'm slightly narcissistic), and then looks out, then up, then down, and then further out. It is not an instruction manual, but rather a record of learning. I've put in beaucoup quotes and named the authors and their books as well. There are plenty of personal Observations in here (actually, the bulk of what's here is personal observations–I just 'scotch-taped' the personal observations Together With quotes).

I put this book out for free. I did that for a reason. If you find that some of my ideas are good, fine, they are there for the taking. Information is really no different from fiddle tunes in my mind. They are both there to be taken–enjoyed. I don't figure the book's a top-seller anyway, so I prefer to give it away. The way of life that the Asa-Faith offers is an enjoyable thing, and this is my way of giving-back. One other thing: I believe that the Asa-Faith should be free and personal. No one can tell another how to experience life, and certainly, no one should pay to learn about how to experience life. I am not against people coming together for Asa-Faith holidays, but I still don't like organized religion any more than Grampa Jack did. I wrote The Asatru Folk Manifesto 1 in honor of him. He was my greatest inspiration, was a family man, and farmer, an upstanding member of our little community, a regular at the Grange, and the best of Grampas.

Download Bil Linzie's eBook: Drinking At The Well Of Mimir An Asatru Man Meanderings

Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):

Michael Ford - The Calling To The First Of Witch Blood An Invocation Of Cain
Regulagedda Akshay - Panchanga Tantra The Magic Of The Indian Calendar System
Meric Casaubon - True And Faithful Relation Of What Passed For Many Years
June Johns - King Of The Witches The World Of Alex Sanders
Bil Linzie - Drinking At The Well Of Mimir An Asatru Man Meanderings