The History Of Asatru Kindreds In Vinland

The first kindreds were formed in Vinland in the early 70's. The Asatru Free Assembly strived to found Kindreds at this time, and while the Odinist Fellowship did not, members of the Fellowship formed Kindreds all the same. There were also a few independent Kindreds that were already in existence at this time and some of them later joined both the AFA and the OF. When both of these pioneering groups disbanded, it was the Kindreds of these former groups that vowed to learn from the lessons of the past and form the Asatru Alliance. The number one lesson to be learned is that national organizations are certainly necessary and do much to promote the growth of our religion, but they are subject to failure and disbandment. All the while, the Kindreds survive!

Of the many Kindreds that were formed in the late 60's and 70's only two survive: Arizona Kindred and Wulfing Kindred. Although it is estimated that there are about 100 Kindreds in Vinland today, how many of THESE will be around in a few short years? Only those with an iron will, boundless courage, and clear and level head will survive and prosper.

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The Spirit Of Odin

WE regard Odin as the most important of our gods. For this reason, whatever one thinks of when meditating or pondering on the Gods and Goddesses and their differing powers, each aspect of that power is part of the great Allfather.

What is peculiar and interesting about Odin is that he is one and many. He is like the mind itself, in which there can be dark thoughts and light thoughts and thoughts toward war as toward peace. There can be those of creative art and there can be the negative attributes of chaos and destruction. All these, are reflections of the human mind, counterbalanced by ideas on one side of positive idealism and on the other by negative idealism.

Man is not separate from his gods for he is in divine link through blood, spirit and being. Surely this must be a more realistic picture of a force which is at the back of creation. All these elements are bound together in proportion within a spiritual force which plans and orders things. Odin comes close to being how things really are.

The most satisfactory way to approach a god of the spirit is to go on the path towards spirit: to love the use of the word, to love music, to love anything which is inspired. If we in our lives can share some of this then we shall surely know Odin. When we do something well, when we write well, talk well, even fight well, whatever we do that has passion and is inspired, it has the handiwork of Odin in it. Planning, skill, craft and mind power, in all this we can know him, for he represents that point of light that all creation comes from, for he is the Oddr. If, therefore, one wishes to know Odin then the need is to discover what is without, what is outside in life, on the land, in the wood or the brook, in space and beyond, for it is also within. The power that comes from the oddr is deep within and in the greater aspect of the folk soul. All have that innate spark, the ability to commune with the point of creation. What then of the Christian god?

The Eastern concept is that one and all must humbly submit and cower before a supreme and ultimate will in fear or be damned in defiance. One must follow in blind faith and without question, be one of a flock of sheep, to regard a god as the beneficial shepherd. But Odin, god of the North, does not want spiritual slaves. He is for heroes, for the doers of deeds and of actions. O3in's folk stand proud and noble, without mental chains. He shuns those who skulk and those who would plead f or divine favour. Because he is leader among the gods he expects men and women to be great, to model themselves upon the Odinic archetype and live by example. This at the end of the day can only be done through the use of gifts which are beyond the rational, beyond logical procedure, whereby it involves the senses of the deeper unconscious levels of the mind, that which is just as real, just as vital as everyday events that happen and occur in the mind.

Odin is able to stir these deep ancient waters and to move people. But ultimately action rests with the individual. Upon the ship of life one can sail well, steer it straight and in the right direction, knowing that the god of our folk is always there. From out of the past, into the present and forward toward the future the Oddr, the high god Odin Allfather will always be, for he has always been.

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Nordic Pagans In The United States

When Nordic Pagans in the United States speak of their European origins or ancestors, there is a certain ambiguity in terms of what Nordic Paganism is, where it came from, and whom it is for. It is common for Nordic Pagans to describe Asatru or Heathenry in very broad and general terms as being the religious Expression of the cultural heritage of “Northern European” peoples or even, as in the Runestone passage noted earlier, of “European-descended” peoples. Considering the diversity of nations and language groups that have existed in Europe and even Northern Europe from ancient times to the present, the lack of precision about which particular linguistic or cultural group the modern religion is derived from or related to is striking. There seems to be a tendency among many Nordic Pagans to “essentialize” Northern Europe and sometimes Europe in general as the “land of our ancestors,” without actually explaining which ancestors in which land, speaking which language, and so forth. As most Nordic Pagans center their religion on the worship of Odin, Thor, and other gods found in the Old Norse–Icelandic literature, what seems to be occurring is a use of the religious heritage of one particular part of Northern Europe as a convenient, shorthand way of respecting the collective religious heritage of a more diverse set of past peoples and cultures, that of pre-Christian Northern Europe or even Europe in general. The general vagueness of American Nordic Pagan views of the Northern European “homeland” is a poignant Commentary on the distance that divides American Heathens and Asatru followers from the lands of their spiritual ancestors, but it also helps to mediate conflicting definitions of Nordic heritage and divergent loyalties toward different specific regions of Northern Europe.

However, it should be noted that some Nordic Pagans are highly knowledgeable and articulate about the regional varieties of ancient Northern European culture and religion and travel to meet with their Pagan compatriots in Iceland and other nations. Those Heathens and Asatruar who acquire substantial knowledge of the texts, traditions, and languages of the various peoples of pre-Christian Northern Europe are greatly respected in their communities, and they often publish articles in Asatru or Heathen magazines as well as compete in lore contests at Things and other important occasions.

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Runes Around The North Sea And On The Continent

Book: Runes Around The North Sea And On The Continent by Jantina Helena Looijenga

Het onderzoek naar de oudste runeninscripties van het Europese Continent, Engeland en Denemarken voerde onderzoekster van Liverpool aan de Ierse Zee naar Constanza aan de Zwarte Zee; van Zurich naar Bergen; van Parijs naar Stockholm. In dit enorme gebied kende men reeds bij het begin van de vroege middeleeuwen het runenschrift (rond 500 AD). Ergens in dit gebied moet een kern gelegen hebben, waar het begon - vermoedelijk in de eerste eeuw AD. Het localiseren van dat oorsprongsgebied begon me in de loop van het onderzoek te intrigeren.

Het doel was in eerste instantie het inventariseren, het beschrijven en analyseren van runenteksten uit de oudste periode: 150-700 AD. Als onderzoekscorpus waren de runentradities rondom de Noordzee en van het continent uitgekozen. Het uitgangspunt was nadrukkelijk niet Scandinavie, zoals bij runenstudies meestal het geval. Ik meende, dat een verandering van perspectief nieuw licht op oude runologische vraagstukken zou kunnen werpen - en daardoor wellicht bijdragen tot oplossingen. Bovendien wilde ik me niet op een land of traditie vastleggen, maar door middel van het vergelijken van Diverse runentradities proberen meer inzicht te krijgen in doel en wezen van het runenschrift. Waarom ontwikkelde men dit schrift, met welk doel werd het gebruikt, en door wie? Om dit soort vragen te beantwoorden, was het nodig om inzicht te verkrijgen in de cultuur-historische context van de inscriptiedragers. Archeologie en historie bleken onmisbare informatiebronnen; ook de (plaats)naamkunde leverde belangrijke gegevens ten aanzien van het relatief enorme aantal namen in de runencorpora.

Runologie heeft in principe twee poten: paleografie en historische taalkunde. Eerst inspecteert men persoonlijk de objecten en hun inscripties en vervolgens ontcijfert men de runen. Daarna verkrijgt men een of meer lezingen, weergegeven als transliteraties, die dan taalkundig worden geanalyseerd. Deze teksten kunnen niet zonder hun archeologische en historische contexten begrepen worden, vandaar de titel ‘Runes Around the North Sea and on the Continent AD 150-700;

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Wim Van Den Dungen - Enoch And The Day Of The End
Jantina Helena Looijenga - Runes Around The North Sea And On The Continent

What Would My Ancestor Do

Christians are always asking themselves, “What would Jesus do?” though there is no real evidence they ever answer the question; perhaps because they don’t want to know. It would likely oppose what they’re so eager to do. How often do I ask myself, in a similar vein, “What would my ancestors do?” It’s a question that is bound to come up among those who adhere more strongly to historical standards in the reconstruction and revival of ancient religions. We tend to be very ancestor oriented and traditional minded, even as those traditions are being reconstructed and reinterpreted in light of the passing of a thousand years or more. Of course, I’m not a Reconstructionist but a revivalist, if I must take a label. Heathen reconstructionists are no more able to reconstruct the past than Christian reconstructionists. The main reason is that it’s gone and past. Many centuries have passed and the world has changed.

That’s just my opinion and you’re welcome to challenge it. I know there are some pretty strict reconstructionists out there. But look at the context of the past for starters. The climate has changed – twice in some cases, perhaps more if you go back far enough. We’ve had a Little Ice Age and a global warming periods and now an upward trend in temperatures that make a solid case for anthropogenic global warming. In that respect alone the world is different. Some ways of living will be more or less difficult as a result. Whales are on the decline and protected and my Norse ancestors loved to hunt whale. The world has also gotten smaller. Communications and technology have changed everything. The three-tiered universe has been discounted. There may still be people who believe the gods are up and the dead below and we humans are in the middle. I suppose a case can be made in a metaphysical sense that there are other ways to look at this point, or maybe multi-dimensional physics could take care of it. We mostly live in larger communities. We’re not isolated by geography and climate. There is no place we can’t go, no influence we can entirely avoid. Things just aren’t the same.

We can’t even raid monasteries anymore. But then, on the flip side, those Christian reconstructionists, though they might want to, can’t burn us at the stake or pour molten metal down our throats to make us convert either, so there are some trade-offs I can live with. But my point in all this is to say that I can say, “What would my ancestors do?” in a given situation except that the situation in question would probably never have arisen in my ancestor’s world and he would be ill-equipped to deal with it now, were he here. We have no idea how our ancestors would have coped with some of the changes of the past ten to twenty centuries. We can try to imagine but there is simply no telling, not with any degree of certainty.

That’s not to say we should just throw up our hands and surrender to a world culture. We have our gods and we have our beliefs and we treasure the wisdom passed down to us by our ancestors. Across the centuries, they have something to tell us, some important things. Sometimes you have to ignore the little ancestor on your shoulder. Sometimes you would do well to listen. But that is largely why I am a revivalist. Our customs and traditions are important, but they must make sense in the context of the 21st Century, not the first or the seventh or the ninth. Even the Amish, isolated as they make themselves, have to abide by the law, and those who oppose being bound by the Ten Commandments or Sharia Law would do well to avoid proposing the enforcement of old Pagan law codes. So ask yourself what your ancestor would do, but keep in mind when he answers that this is the 21st century America (or wherever) and not 9th century Norway, and if somebody tries to tell you what Jesus would do, remind them that this is 21st century America and not first century Judaea, the Romans are not our overlords and that neither of you are Second Temple Jews.

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Beowulf An Anglo Saxon Epic Poem

Book: Beowulf An Anglo Saxon Epic Poem by Lesslie Hall

The world that Beowulf depicts and the heroic code of honor that defines much of the story is a relic of pre–Anglo-Saxon culture. The story is set in Scandinavia, before the migration. Though it is a traditional story—part of a Germanic oral tradition—the poem as we have it is thought to be the work of a single poet. It was composed in England (not in Scandinavia) and is historical in its perspective, recording the values and culture of a bygone era. Many of those values, including the heroic code, were still operative to some degree in when the poem was written. These values had evolved to some extent in the intervening centuries and were continuing to change. In the Scandinavian world of the story, tiny tribes of people rally around strong kings, who protect their people from danger—especially from confrontations with other tribes. The warrior culture that results from this early feudal arrangement is extremely important, both to the story and to our Understanding of Saxon civilization. Strong kings demand bravery and loyalty from their warriors, whom they repay with treasures won in war. Mead-halls such as Heorot in Beowulf were places where warriors would gather in the presence of their lord to drink, boast, tell stories, and receive gifts. Although these mead-halls offered sanctuary, the early Middle Ages were a dangerous time, and the paranoid sense of foreboding and doom that runs throughout Beowulf evidences the constant fear of invasion that plagued Scandinavian society.

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Books in PDF format to read:

Swain Wodening - Anglo Saxon Witchcraft
Daniel Haigh - The Anglo Saxon Sagas
John Yarker - The Anglo Saxon Chronicle
Lesslie Hall - Beowulf An Anglo Saxon Epic Poem

Does This Mean That Asatru Is Only For People Of Scandinavian Ancestry

We keep talking about the Vikings. Does this mean that Asatru is only for people of Scandinavian ancestry?

No. Asatru, as practiced by the Norse peoples, had so much in common with the religion of the other Germanic tribes, and with their cousins the Celts, that it may be thought of as one version of a general European religion. Asatru is a natural religion for all people of European origin, whether or not their heritage is specifically Scandinavian.

Wasn't the acceptance of Christianity a sign of civilization - a step up from barbarism?

No. The so-called "barbarians" who followed Asatru (the Vikings, the various Germanic tribes, and so forth) were the source of our finest civilized traditions - trial by jury, parliaments, Anglo Saxon Common Law, the right to bear arms, and the rights of women, to name a few. Our very word "law" comes from the Norse language, not from the tongues of the Christian lands. We simply did not, and do not, need Christianity or other Middle Eastern creeds in order to be civilized.

You say Asatru was the religion of the Vikings, among other early European cultures. Weren't they a pretty bloodthirsty lot?

Modern historians agree that the Vikings were no more violent than the other peoples of their times. Remember, the descriptions of Viking raids and invasions were all written by their enemies, who were hardly unbiased. Both the Islamic and Christian cultures used means every bit as bloody, if not more so, than the Norsemen. It was a very rough period in history for all concerned!

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