{"collection":"Paganism & Neopaganism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/pag/ravenbok.htm","path":"pag/ravenbok.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/pag/ravenbok.htm","text":"RAVENBOK: THE RAVEN KINDRED RITUAL BOOK\nBY LEWIS STEAD & THE RAVEN KINDRED\n3RD EDITION\nCopyright (c) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 by Lewis Stead. All rights\nreserved. Permission granted for free electronic distribution provided\nof this work in (and only in) its entirety. Hardcopy editions are\navailable for $8 from Asatru Today; 11160 Veirs Mill Rd L15-175;\nWheaton MD 20902.\nFORWARD: THE HISTORY OF RAVENBOK\nWhen I first became involved with Asatru, there was little available\nin the popular press on the subject of our faith, so I began to write\nan essay here and a pamphlet there on various topics of interest to\nNorse Pagans. At various times I entertained the notion of fleshing\nout these various pieces into a book and submitting it to a publisher.\nEventually good quality books became available on Asatru, such as\nkveldulfr Gundarsson's TEUTONIC RELIGION, and I decided to take a\ndifferent route. While commercial books were available, the best\ncontender was trapped in a publishers pipeline for almost 2 years, and\nthere was a clear need for information to be made available quickly,\nand more importantly to people who didn't want to spend money to find\nout a bit about the Norse tradition. I compiled everything together\nin the Spring of 1993, and released the book to the public free of\ncharge through various computer networks such as America Oline,\nCompuServe, and the Internet\nSo far, hundreds of people have downloaded (and presumably read)\nRavenbok from various computer networks. This new medium has allowed\nus to reach people with an unprecedented speed and ease. It also\nallows frequent updating, since there is no cost to produce or obtain\nthe most recent verison. I have been very gratified by the comments\nI've received, and would encourage other would-be authors to think\ntwice about whether we need yet another $9.95 production from Mooncash\nbooks or whether our community would be better served by free\ninformation. I've always been most interested in getting the\ninformatino out to people. If there's already something in\nbookstores, why not get it out to a new audience? After all, religion\nis about sharing the faith of the Gods, not making money.\nRavenbok is a continuing project, andthis third edition is new and\nexpanded. It is the first one to carry the name Ravenbok, which comes\nfrom the original computer name of RAVENBOOK.ZIP. It first saw\nphysical print in the summer of 1993.\nFinally a quick word about intellectual property rights. While it has\nbeen released free of charge, Ravenbok remains copyrighted by me. It\nmay only be distributed electronically, FREE OF CHARGE, IN ITS\nENTIRETY, with nothing added or removed. Print copies are available\nat the address above, and Ravenbok may not be distributed in hardcopy\nform either free or for charge. The appendixes are pamphlets my\nkindred distributes, and are meant to be distributed. eel free to\ncopy them, and add your own kindred's name and address (please leave\nours too!) and hand them out.\nFinally, my thanks to my kinsmen for providing me with support, ideas,\nand contributions to this work. While I have done the bulk of the\nwriting, this book represents the ideas and concepts of The Raven\nKindred as much as they do my own.\nLewis Stead ([email protected]) June 1994, Wheaton, MD\nINTRODUCTION\nLess than a thousand years ago the elders of Iceland made a fateful\ndecision. Under political pressure from Christian Europe and faced\nwith the need for trade, the Allthing or national assembly declared\nIceland to be an officially Christian country. Within a few centuries\nthe last remnants of Nordic Paganism, which once stretched through all\nof Northern Europe were thought dead. However, Iceland was a tolerant\ncountry and the myths, stories, and legends of Pagan times were left\nunburnt to kindle the fires of belief in later generations. In 1972,\nafter a long campaign by poet and Gothi Sveinbjorn Beinteinsson,\nIceland once again recognized Nordic Paganism as a legitimate and\nlegal religion.\nIceland and Sweden were the last two bastions of the Pagan religion\noriginally practiced by the people of the various Germanic tribes.\nToday Nordic Paganism also known as Odinism, Heathenism, Northern\nTradition, or Asatru (an Old-Norse term meaning \"loyalty to the Gods\")\nis practiced in virtually all the countries where it originally\nflourished as well as America and Australia. It is one of a body of\nreligions calling themselves Neo-Paganism which include Druidism, the\nrevival of ancient Celtic Paganism, and Wicca or Neo-Pagan Witchcraft.\nHowever Asatru remains largely unknown even within the community of\nNeo-Pagan believers.\nThis book is intended as a basic introduction to the beliefs and\npractices of the Raven Kindred of Asatru. We do not pretend to be\nexperts and won't act as if we were. Rather we are simply believers\nin the Old Gods seeking to share our practice and research with others\nwho are true to the Aesir. Our aim is to present a simple guide which\nwill allow easy understanding of the principles behind Asatru and to\ngive hints for further study and exploration.\nWhile we attempt to be historically accurate to our religion's roots,\nit's important to note that there are many things that we simply don't\nknow or which aren't written in stone. It is very important to us to\nstay as true to the ways of the old Pagans as is possible. While we\noccasionally need to flesh out our systems where we don't have direct\nevidence of our ancestors ways, we are not likely to simply make up\nthings. In those places where the various myths, legends, and\nfolklore are not clear, we have tried to indicate this.\nThe most important thing for modern people to remember about Asatru is\nthat it is a religion. It is not a system of magick or spirituality\nor \"New Age Practice\" which can be grafted onto something else or onto\nwhich other \"systems\" can be grafted wholesale. Asatru is a word\nderived from \"As\" a God of the Aesir family and \"tru\" meaning troth.\nTo be Asatru is to be bound by loyalty and troth to the Old Gods of\nthe North. While we may believe in the deities of other religions and\npeoples, and even respect them, these are not our Gods. While we may\ntake part in rituals dedicated to other Gods at Pagan festivals or\necumenical gatherings which encompass many other religions, we must\nnot forget that Asatru is our religion and our primary concern. One\nsimply does not collect membership in Asatru (or any other religion)\nas if one were collecting stamps. Our Gods are real and worthy of our\nrespect. For modern Asatruar, troth also means being loyal to the\nways in which our religion was practiced in the past; thus we are not\neclectic and tend to focus on learning about our ancestors ways of\nworshipping. We do not present our way as the only \"true\" Asatru, but\nwe do feel that all Asatru should be solidly connected to its roots in\nancient Norse practice. Where we do not know the certain answer to a\nquestion, there is room for exploration, but not for simply making\nsomething up out of whole cloth. While inspiration from the Gods is\nan important part of our movement, this is not \"make believe\" and any\nadditions to the historical system should be made with respect to our\nancient roots.\nToday many people \"practice\" a number of different religions feeling\nthat this is the best way to avoid intolerance, we have a completely\ndifferent view of the world. Asatru is not a universal religion. We\ndo not see ourselves as a path for everyone. We are true polytheists\nand see the world as encompassing many religions which worship many\nGods. While we do not deny the beliefs of others, we also do not\nconfuse them with our own. The idea that \"it is all one\" is anathema\nto the true Heathen. To claim that Odin is the same God as Zeus is\nmadness. Would one claim that green and red are the same merely\nbecause they are both colors? If one disagrees with this perspective\nor finds it limiting so be it. Our belief is also that Asatru is not\na path for everyone and it is better to find ones own way rather than\nbend the religions of others to fit ourselves.\nIn accordance with this non-universalist conception, as much as we\nhave been able to, we have not adopted the practices of other Pagan\nreligions or magickal systems. Those familiar with Wicca will note\nthat most modern Neo-Pagan systems are derived from it. This is not\nthe case with Asatru. Our religion began with reconstruction based on\nwritten sources dating from the ancient Pagan period. This has been\nfollowed by over 20 years of innovation and practice within the\nHeathen community. While we make no pretensions that this has\nresulted in a system that is identical with that of our spiritual\nancestors, it is at least a system that is our own.\nIn saying this I would reiterate that we do not put down any religion\nfor it's beliefs. We merely ask for the integrity of our own. We are\nnot rejecting other systems because they are wrong or because we think\nill of them, we are rather choosing Asatru because of our love and\ndevotion to it.\nTHE RITUALS OF ASATRU\nThe Blot\nThe Blot is the most common ritual within Asatru. In its simplest\nform a blot is making a sacrifice to the Gods. In the old days this\nwas done by feasting on an animal consecrated to the Gods and then\nslaughtered. As we are no longer farmers and our needs are simpler\ntoday, the most common blot is an offering of mead or other alcoholic\nbeverage to the deities.\nMany modern folk will be suspicious of a ritual such as this. Rituals\nwhich are deemed \"sacrifices,\" such as the blot, have a certain lurid\nconnotation and have been falsely re-interpreted by post-Pagan sources\nin order to denigrate or trivialize them. The most common myth about\nritual sacrifice is that one is buying off a deity e.g. one throws a\nvirgin into the Volcano so it won't erupt. Nothing could be further\nfrom the truth. The other common misunderstanding of sacrifice is\nthat the gain some type of energy from the action of killing or the\nfear or suffering of the animal. This is also untrue, in actuality,\nif you do any kind of slaughtering--ritual or mundane--correctly there\nis neither. Our ancient spiritual forebears were slaughtering animals\nbecause they were farmers, and sacrifice was simply a sacred manner of\ndoing so and sharing the bounty with the Gods.\nThe Norse conception of our relationship to the Gods is important in\nunderstanding the nature of sacrifice. In Asatru it is believed that\nwe are not only the worshippers of the Gods but that we are\nspiritually and even physically related to them. The Eddas tell of a\nGod, Rig (identified with Heimdall), who went to various farmsteads\nand fathered the human race so we are physically kin to the Gods. On\na more esoteric level, humankind is gifted with \"ond\" or the gift of\necstasy. Ond is a force that is of the Gods. It is everything that\nmakes humans different from the other creatures of the world. As\ncreatures with this gift, we are immediately connected to the Gods. We\nare part of their tribe, their kin. Thus we are not simply buying off\nthe Gods by offering them something that they want, but we are sharing\nwith the Gods something that we all take joy in.\nSharing and gift giving was an important part of most ancient cultures\nand had magical significance. Leadership was seen as a contract\nbetween a Lord and follower. It is said, \"A gift demands a gift.\" A\ngood leader among the Norse was known as a \"Ring giver,\" and it was\nunderstood that his generosity and the support of his war-band were\nlinked and part of a complementary relationship. Giving a gift was a\nsign of friendship, kinship, and connection. Among the runes, gebo G\nencompasses the mystery of the blot. In English, the rune is named\n\"gift,\" and the two lines intersecting are representative of the two\nsides of a relationship both giving to each other. By sharing a blot\nwith the Gods we reaffirm our connection to them and thus reawaken\ntheir powers within us and their watchfulness over our world.\nA blot can be a simple affair where a horn of mead is consecrated to\nthe Gods and then poured as a libation, or it can be a part of a\nlarger ritual. A good comparison is the Catholic Mass which may be\npart of a regular service or special event such as a wedding or\nfuneral, or it may be done as a purely magical-religious practice\nwithout any sermon, hymns, or other trappings.\nThe blot consists of three parts, the hallowing or consecrating of the\noffering, the sharing of the offering, and the libation. Each of\nthese is equally important. The only physical objects required are\nmead, beer or juice; a horn or chalice; a sprig of evergreen used to\nsprinkle the mead; and a ceremonial bowl, known as a Hlautbowl, into\nwhich the initial libation will be made.\nThe blot begins with the consecration of the offering. The Gothi\n(Priest) or Gythia (Priestess) officiating at the blot invokes the God\nor Goddess being honored. This is usually accomplished by a spoken\ndeclaration with ones arms being held above ones head in the shape of\nthe rune Elhaz Z. (This posture is used for most invocations and\nprayers throughout Asatru.) After the spoken invocation an appropriate\nrune or other symbol of the God or Goddess may be drawn in the air\nwith the finger or with the staff. Once the God is invoked, the Gothi\ntakes up the horn. His assistant pours mead from the bottle into the\nhorn. The Gothi then traces the hammer sign (an upside down T) over\nthe horn as a blessing and holds it above his head offering it to the\nGods. He then speaks a request that the God or Goddess bless the\noffering and accept it as a sacrifice. At the least one will feel the\npresence of the deity; at best one will be able to feel in some inner\nway the God taking of the mead and drinking it.\nThe mead is now not only blessed with divine power, but has passed the\nlips of the God or Goddess. The Gothi then takes a drink of the horn\nand it is passed around the gathered folk. In our modern rituals each\nperson toasts the deity before they drink. Although this sounds like\na very simple thing, it can be a very powerful experience. At this\npoint the mead is no longer simply a drink but is imbued with the\nblessing and power of the God or Goddess being honored. When one\ndrinks, one is taking that power into oneself. After the horn has\nmade the rounds once, the Gothi again drinks from the horn and then\nempties the remainder into the hlautbowl. The Gothi then takes up the\nevergreen sprig and his assistant the Hlautbowl and the Gothi\nsprinkles the mead around the circle or temple or onto the altar. If\nthere are a great number of the folk gathered, one may wish to drop\nthe drinking and merely sprinkle the various folk with the mead as a\nway of sharing it. In a small group one might eliminate the sprinkling\nand merely drink as the blessing.\nWhen this is done the Hlautbowl is taken by the Gothi and poured out\nonto the ground. This is done as an offering not only to the God\ninvoked at the blot, but it is also traditional to remember the\nNerthus, the Earth Goddess, at this time, since it is being poured\nonto her ground. Many invocations mention the God, Goddess, or spirit\nbeing sacrificed to, and then Mother Earth, as in the Sigrdrifa Prayer\n\"Hail to the Gods and to the Goddesses as well; Hail Earth that gives\nto all men.\" (Sigrdrifumal 3) With this action, the blot is ended.\nObviously this is a very sparse ritual and if performed alone could be\ncompleted in only a few minutes. This is as it should be, for blots\nare often poured not because it is a time of gathering or festivity\nfor the folk, but because the blot must be poured in honor or petition\nof a God or Goddess on their holiday or some other important occasion.\nFor example, a father tending his sick child might pour a blot to Eir\nthe Goddess of healing. Obviously he doesn't have time to waste on\nthe \"trappings\" of ritual. The intent is to make an offering to the\nGoddess as quickly as possible. At some times a full celebration\nmight not be made of a holiday because of a persons hectic schedule,\nbut at the least a short blot should be made to mark the occasion.\nHowever, in most cases a blot will at least be accompanied by a\nstatement of intent at the beginning and some sort of conclusion at\nthe end. It might also be interspersed with or done at the conclusion\nof ritual theater or magic.\nOne important thing to note about any Asatru ritual is that ours is a\nholistic religion. We do not limit our Gods or spirituality to a\ncertain time and place. While the sacrament of the blot is usually\npoured as part of a ceremony, the feast afterwards, singing of sacred\nsongs, reciting of poetry, toasts at mealtime, Morris Dancing, etc are\nall part of our religion. At the first Raven-Thing, our annual\nfestival, we began with a great feast, then we held a blot ritual\nwhich involved a mystery play of Thor and the Frost-Giants.\nAfterwards, we held a sumbel. All the gathered folk sat for the first\nthree rounds dedicated to the Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors, but\nafterwards people came and went (politely and quietly) as they wished.\nThe atmosphere of the whole evening was one of ritual and celebration.\nWhen done appropriately, there's no disconnection between the parts.\nAsatru is also a very vibrant, intense, and somewhat rowdy religion.\nInvocations to the Gods, particularly outside, are often shouted at\nthe top of ones lungs, and are punctuated by loud \"Hails!\" which are\nechoed by the folk When someone in an Asatru ritual says \"Hail!\" or\nhails a God (\"Hail Odin!\" for example) it's appropriate to repeat\nafter them in a similar tone and loudness.\nThe Sumbel\nOne of the most common celebrations noted in tales of our ancestors is\nthe Sumbel or ritual drinking celebration. This was a more mundane\nand social sort of ritual than the blot, but of no less importance.\nWhen Beowulf came to Hrothgar, the first thing they did was to drink\nat a ritual sumbel. This was a way of establishing Beowulf's identity\nand what his intent was, and doing so in a sacred and traditional\nmanner.\nThe sumbel is actually quite simple. The guests are seated, usually\nin some formal fashion, and the host begins the sumbel with a short\nstatement of greeting and intent, and by offering the first toast. The\nhorn is then passed around the table and each person makes their\ntoasts in turn. At the sumbel toasts are drunk to the Gods, as well\nas to a persons ancestors or personal heroes. Rather than a toast, a\nperson might also offer a brag or some story, song, or poem that has\nsignificance. The importance is that at the end of the toast, story,\nor whatever, the person offering it drinks from the horn, and in doing\nso \"drinks in\" what he spoke.\nThe sumbel is also an important time for the folk to get to know each\nother in a more intimate way than most people are willing to share.\nModern society is at two extremes. At one end are the emotionless\nbeings who have been robbed of their soul by modern industrial secular\nculture. On the other side are those pathetic \"sensitive New-Age\nguys\" who spend their lives consciously attempting to stir their\nemotions and who force an unnatural level of intimacy between\nthemselves and others. There are some levels of emotional intimacy\nwhich are not meant to be openly shared with strangers. Doing so\nreduces their meaning to the mundane. At sumbel, barriers can be\nlowered in a place which is sacred to the Gods and the Folk. Thoughts\ncan be shared among companions and friends without embarrassment or\nforced intimacy.\nOne format for the sumbel with a history in tradition is to drink\nthree rounds. The first is dedicated to the Gods, the second to great\nheroes of the folk such as historical figures or heroes from the\nsagas, and the third to personal ancestors, heroes, or friends which\nhave passed from this world.\nAnother theme for a sumbel is past, present, and future. This type of\nsumbel is more of a magical ritual than one of celebration. The idea\nis to make toasts which bring up some aspect of your past and present\nsituation, and a third toast or brag which represents your wishes for\nthe future. One might make a toast to the first Asatru ritual one\nattended as the past, a second to the companions and kindred then\ngathered, and for his third toast might state that he intends to be\ninitiated as a Gothi in the coming year. The purpose would be to link\nthe coming event of his initiation with the two already accomplished\nevents of pledging Asatru and finding a kindred -- two other important\nrites of passage. In this case initiation as a Gothi then becomes\nsomething which is linked to a chain of events that have already\noccurred, rather than an isolated action which might occur. Thus\nmagically, this moves the person towards his goal.\nA third and everpopular type of sumbel is a free-for-all where stories\nare told, toasts are made, and bragging is done until all the gathered\nOdinists are under the table. Perhaps this is not quite so esoteric\nor purposeful as the previous ideas, but it's certainly in keeping\nwith the examples of our Gods and ancestors. In any case, no matter\nhow relaxed a sumbel has become, I have never seen one that was merely\na drinking event. Some of the most intense experiences I have had\nwith people have come from such \"open ended\" sumbels.\nThese are only ideas. The sumbel is a very freeform type of thing and\nthe framework is very simple to adapt.\nThe blot and sumbel make up the mainstream of our modern Asatru\ntradition. This does not mean that they are the only rituals that\nmodern Asatru perform, but in one way or another most rituals revolve\naround one or both of these \"generic\" ceremonies.\nProfession\nProfession is one of the most important ceremonies in Asatru. To\nProfess one's belief in and kinship to the Gods should be an important\nturning point in ones life and the beginning of a new understanding of\nthe self. Profession is, however, a very simple and rather short\nceremony. In our kindred we usually profess people during a regular\nmeeting, but either before or after the blot offering.\nProfession is not an occult or initiatory ceremony. It is nothing\nless than its name: one professes (declares, affirms) his wish to\nbecome one of the Asafolk. This oath is usually taken by the\nKindred-Gothi on the oath ring or some other Holy object as follows:\nThe Gothi stands in front of the altar and says \"Will [insert name\nhere] please come forward.\" After he or she does so \"Are you here of\nyour own free will? Is it your intention to solemnly swear allegiance\nand kinship to the Gods of Asgard, the Aesir and Vanir?\" If the answer\nto both these questions is in the affirmative the Gothi takes up the\noath ring (or some other holy object upon which oaths are sworn) and\nholds it out to the person professing and says \"Repeat after me. I\nswear to ever uphold the Raven Banner of Asgard, to follow the way of\nthe North, to always act with honor and bravery, and to be ever true\nto the Aesir and Vanir and to Asatru. By the Gods I so swear. By my\nhonor I so swear. On this Holy Ring I so swear. Hail the Gods.\" The\nkindred then replies \"Hail the Gods!\" and the Gothi finishes \"Then be\nwelcome to the service of Asgard and the Folk of the Asatru.\"\nThe essence of Profession is making a commitment to Asatru. It should\nnot be undertaken without thought and prayer. When one Professes, one\nis leaving behind other faiths. If one isn't yet comfortable in doing\nthis, then Profession should be put off, perhaps indefinetly. It\nshould be reiterated here that there should be absolutely no pressure\nput on people to Profess. False or coerced Professions merely cheapen\nthe ritual and the commitment that it represents. It should also be\nsaid that Asatru ritual is open to anyone. You do not need to have\nundergone a ritual of Profession in order to attend kindred events or\nworship the Gods.\nThere may be other celebrations connected to a Profession, just as\nother religions hold Bar Mitzvah or Confirmation parties. When\nsomeone joins our kindred, we hold a Sumbel of nine rounds, each\ndedicated to one of the values of Asatru (see below) and toast those\nvalues to the new kinsman.\nTHE ASATRU VE\nThere are probably as many modern theories of what an ancient Norse Ve\nor Hof (temple, holy place) looked like as there were ancient Norse\ntemples. I've heard everything (with full scholarly accompanyment)\nfrom groves in the woods to constructed buildings which were the basis\nfor the later Stave Churches of Scandinavia. In general, I think the\nmultiplicity of descriptions throughout the history of our folk\nindicates that our people were of a wide and practical mind about what\nshould be present in a temple and what form it should take. Our\nmodern practice tends to reflect this.\nThe first distinction we might make in our modern practice is between\naltars that people have in their homes, and the setup of the rooms\nthat we perform group rituals in. For rituals, we tend to use any\nplace which is large enough to fit everyone into. We try to mask the\nnormal use of the room, which in the past has included such things as\ncovering the television set with a cloth and moving some of the more\nobtrusive furniture out of the room. The one other preparatory thing\nthat I can't recommend highly enough indoors is to line the room with\ncandles and get rid of any artificial lights. The darkness isn't an\nimportant part of the religious elements of the ritual, but it gets\nrid of a lot of distractions.\nThe altar itself is actually a rather simple affair. We usually\ncommandeer a small table for this purpose. There's no specific setup\nfor an altar in Asatru, other than it should look pleasant and hold\nall the implements you will need during the ritual.\nOther than whatever sanctification rite (hammer rite) you wish to do\nin order to consecrate your space, there's nothing else to be done: no\nsquiggly Hebrew letters inscribed on the edges of a 9' circle, no\nalchemical elements or \"quarter castings.\" The layout of the folk\nduring ones rituals is determined by your space--there's no magical\nformula that requires a circle or any other shape. If the room is\nsquare, arrange people in a square. We tend to form up in a\nsemi-circle with the altar in the front, and the Gothi and Valkyrie on\neither side of the altar.\nOf course, whatever else one wishes to do to decorate ones ritual\nspace is up to them. I know people who have decent sized statues of\nthe Gods. Our kindred has a kindred banner (The Raven Banner!) which\nwe usually hang behind the altar. Pictures of the Gods, statuary, etc\nare all appropriate.\nWhen one is outside, other considerations come into place. I would\nnot recommend doing ritual outside at night or in darkness, unless one\nhas been at the site during the day and/or one is planning on spending\nthe night. Getting to the site and setting up in the dark tends to\ntake too much time and detracts from the overall experience. I highly\nrecommend rituals at dusk, or if you can drag your kinsmen out of bed,\nat dawn. Holding a Balder-blot, and meditating on his loss and the\ntemporal nature of life while watching the setting sun is a truly\nincredible experience. The best places to hold rituals tend to be in\ngroves that are sufficiently mature for the shade to have killed off\nmost of the ground vegetation (traditionally the continental Germans\nheld their rituals in groves) or open fields where one can see the\nsky. Check that the space you have selected is reasonably flat and\nthat if you plan on people sitting down that the ground is dry and\nwithout poison ivy. Unless you have a firepit, I don't recommend a\nfire--it's more trouble than it's worth. Forget candles and incense.\nThese can be useful psychological aids indoors, but outside they look\nridiculous--I'll never forget the ridiculous image of a Wiccan ritual\nI attended during which a person with utter seriousness and pomp\ncarried a single stick of incense around the ritual site.\nMost everyone I know who is a practicing Pagan of any type has some\ntype of space set aside in their home for occasional honoring of the\nGods. In some ways this may be a more important thing to concentrate\non than the setup of your Ve for group ritual work because the form of\nyour home altar takes the place of the ritual trappings found when\nworking with a group. The major purposes of a home altar are to\nremind one of the place of the Gods in ones life, and to provide a\nconvenient and regular place to make occasional offerings and prayers\nto the Gods.\nHome altars tend to be very eclectic. In our home, we have the top of\na bookshelf set aside with an altar holding our usual ritual tools,\nand a few candles. We have another friend who has no permanent\nshrine, but carries a statue of Thor in a small wooden box. One side\nof the box can be removed to display Thor, and under the God's seat is\na small piece of lava taken from Thingvellir. It's not necessary to\nhave all or any of the tools for the blot on ones home altar, unless\none plans to perform full blots at it. Offerings in the home tend to\nbe candles or incense; not traditional, but simple and part of our\nmodern culture.\nTHE HOLIDAYS\nThe ancient Norse knew four major holidays the Spring and Autumn\nEquinoxes which we call Summer and Winter Finding, and the two\nsolstices which we call Midsummer and Yule. However, there were many\nother minor festivals and modern Asatru have added even more. A\ncalendar of Raven Kindred rituals is provided in an appendix and I\nalso encourage anyone to find as many as one is willing to meet for.\nWe meet monthly, but some groups meet 8 times a year and also\ncelebrate the cross-quarter days of May Day/Walpurgis,\nHalloween/Samhain, February eve or The Charming of the Plow, and\nLammastide or Freyfaxi,\nMost of our rituals also honor only one or a few Gods or Goddesses at\nany one time. However, there is no reason why the entire pantheon\nshould not be offered prayers and thanks at any occasion. This would\nbe particularly appropriate at the major holidays. Unlike most other\ngroups in the Neo-Pagan movement, we do not necessarily honor Gods in\nmale/female pairs. The boy/girl notion is one taken from the Pagan\nfertility religion of Wicca and isn't necessarily appropriate to our\nGods, who often represent things other than fertility. So while a\nSpring ritual held in honor of Freya and Frey as fertility deities\nmight wish to honor them together, there is no reason to include Frigg\nin a ritual dedicated to Odin as the God of War.\nYule\nYule is the most important holiday of the year. Everyone is familiar\nwith the shortness of the deep winter days, but in the Scandinavian\ncountries this is of even greater importance. At the Yuletide there\nis almost no sunlight at all, and the climate would have people bound\nin their homes waiting for the return of Spring.\nYule is a long festival, traditionally held to be 12 days or more.\nAfter Yule the days began to get longer and the festival represented\nthe breaking of the heart of winter and the beginning of the new year.\nYule was the holiday of either Thor or Frey, although there is no\nreason not to honor both Gods in modern practice.\nFrey is the God of fertility and farming and was honored at Yule in\nthe hopes that his time would soon return. Frey is also an important\nGod at this time as shown in the myth \"The Wooing of Gerd.\" Gerd is\nFrey's wife, and she was once a frost giant. Frey had seen her while\nhe was seated on Odin's High Seat, and was utterly taken by her, but\nshe would not yield until Skirnir, Frey's messenger or perhaps Frey in\ndisguise, threatened her with an eternity of cold. In this way, Frey\nbrings back the summer times by wooing a daughter of cold and frost.\nHis love for her brings warmth to her heart and to the land.\nThor's position at Yule is a bit more savage. He is the sworn enemy\nof the Frost Giants and Jotnar who rule the winter months, and as such\nis honored as the God who's actions fight off these creatures and\nbring back the spring.\nOur kindred also honors Sunna, the Sun Goddess, at Yule. However, we\nfeel she is more important at Midsummer, when she is at her height.\nThe most important symbols of Yule are still with us today. Most of\nthe supposedly secular customs of Christmas are actually Pagan in\norigin. Evergreen trees and holly which remained green throughout the\nlong nights and cold were a promise that spring would once again\nreturn to the land. These symbols may also have been a connection to\nthe nature spirits who have sway over the return of the warm days. The\nmodern conception of Santa Claus as an elf, for whom offerings of milk\nand cookies are left, is possibly a modern continuation of leaving\nofferings for the Alvar and other nature spirits. The idea of\nchildren staying up all night in the hopes of catching a glimpse of\nSanta Claus may be a remnant of people staying awake to mark the long\nnight and remind the sun to return. (In the latter case it's\nconsidered an adequate substitution to leave a candle going all night\nto light the way for the returning sun.)\nYule is a weeks long festival, not just a single holiday. The Yule\nseason begins on the solstice, which is the Mother Night of Yule, and\nends with Twelfth Night on January sixth. As a point of interest,\nJanuary seventh is St. Distaff's day, which Nigel Pennic has\nsuggested may have been a day sacred to Frigg, whose symbol is the\ndistaff.\nWhile one might expect a rather dour theme to a holiday held in the\ndarkness and cold, Yule is a time of feasting and gladness.\nThe most important custom at Yule for modern Pagans is the swearing of\nYule oaths. Our kindred does this at Twelfth Night (aka New Years\nEve). We hold a sumbel and we keep the Yule wreath handy for anyone\nwho wishes to swear an oath for the coming year.\nThere are simply so many different Yule customs, both ancient and\nmodern, that one has almost limitless possibilities even when staying\nwithin Scandanavian and Germanic customs. In modern practice one\nmight honor Sunna on the Mother Night, then hold a blot a few days\nlater to Thor, a feast for New Years day which is shared with the\nhouse and land spirits, and then finish on Twelfth Night with a ritual\nto Frey, whose time is then officially beginning.\nSummer Finding\nSummer Finding is also known to many groups as Ostara, the holiday\nsacred to the Goddess for whom the modern Easter is named. She is a\nfertility Goddess and her symbols are the hare and the egg. She was\nan important Goddess of spring to the ancient Saxons, but we know\nlittle else of her other than this. Some have suggested that Ostara\nis merely an alternate name for Frigg or Freya, but neither of these\nGoddesses seem to have quite the same fertility function as Ostara\ndoes. Frigg seems too \"high class\" to be associated with such an\nearthy festival and Freya's form of fertility is more based on\neroticism than reproduction.\nThe obvious folk tradition at this time of year involves eggs. These\nwere colored as they are today, but then they were buried, or more\nappropriately, planted in the earth. Some have suggested that the act\nwas purely magical, the fertility of the eggs would then be\ntransferred from the animal realm to the plant realm and would\nincrease the prosperity of the harvest. It's also possible that they\nwere left as an offering to the alvar and the spirits of the plants.\nIn any case a blot should be prepared to the Goddess of Spring,\nhowever one wishes to honor her, and also to the spirits of the land.\nMidsummer Day\nThe summer solstice was second only to Yule in importance to the\nancient Northmen. Some groups mark this day as sacred to Balder, but\nwe disagree with this. While Balder can be seen as a dying and\nresurrected Sun God, in the mythology we are most familiar with, he\ndoes not return to life until Ragnarok and it seems like \"bad karma\"\nto symbolically kill the sun when you know Baldr doesn't come back\nuntil the end of the world. Instead, we mark this day as sacred to\nthe Goddess Sunna, who is literally the sun.\nOne idea for midsummer is to remain awake all night and mark the\nshortest night of the year, then at sunrise to perform a \"Greeting of\nSunna\" and a blot to her.\nAnother midsummer custom is the rolling of a flaming wagon wheel down\na hill to mark the turning of the wheel of the year. If fire would\notherwise be a hazard, one could parade a wheel covered with candles\nfor similar effect. It is also a time for general merriment and in\nthe Scandinavian countries many of what we know as the traditional May\nDay rituals such as May Poles and Morris Dances were celebrated at\nMidsummer rather than in May.\nIn our area Midsummer occurs during a large local Pagan festival, and\nwe have gone all out in making it a major holiday with blot, sumbel,\nfeasting and drinking. We are currently in the process of\nconstructing a \"sun ship\" which, with sails of copper reflecting the\nlight from small torches, represents Sunna will be brought forth at\ndawning and dusk.\nWinter Finding\nI have not come across a great deal of distinctive traditional lore\nabout the Autumn Equinox that would distinguish it from the Harvest\nfestivals found worldwide. It seems to have been overshadowed to some\nextent by the Winter Nights which we celebrate at the equinox rather\nthan at the more traditional time of mid-November.\nWinter Finding should be treated as a general harvest festival.\nWhichever Gods you invoke for fertility of the land would be most\nappropriate to invoke again at this time. We have honored Frey &\nFreya and Nerthus & Njord for this purpose. You can take your pick.\nEven more so than other holidays, a large feast is appropriate at this\ntime, perhaps concentrating on local vegetables and grains more than\nmeat.\nWinter Nights\nThe Winter Nights are the traditional festival honoring the Disir or\nfamily spirits. It is a time to remember your family, the dead, and\nyour ancestors. (For more information on the Disir see the chapter\n\"Elves and other Spirits.\")\nA Freyablot may be performed at this time as Freya is known as the\nVanadis (i.e. the Dis of the Vanir) or the Great Dis, and she seems\nto be the Goddess of the Disir themselves. This is probably connected\nto Freya's position as recipient of half the battle-slain or her\nability with seidhr. One might also simply want to honor the Disir as\na whole, or attempt to summon and pour offering to your own family's\nDis. A sumbel which toasts ones ancestors and passed on friends would\nalso be in order. If a feast is held, it should be quiet and\nrespectful of the character of the season. Another idea is a silent\n\"mum feast,\" a custom which is found the world over.\nThe various Halloween customs such as dressing in costume or\ncelebrating this time as a time where the worlds of the living and the\ndead connect are more Celtic in origin than Nordic and probably should\nnot be part of an Asatru celebration.\nTHE GODS OF ASGARD\nThe Old Norse reckoned that there were three races of Gods: the Aesir,\nthe Vanir, and the Jotnar. The Aesir are those beings most often\nreferred to in the ancient literature simply as \"the Gods,\" in fact\nthe word \"As\" means \"God.\" They are the Gods of society, representing\nthings such as Kingship, Craft, etc. The Vanir are more closely\nconnected to the earth and represent the fecundity of the land and the\nnatural forces which help mankind. Once there was a great war between\nthe Aesir and the Vanir, but this was eventually settled and Frey,\nFreya, and Njord came to live with the Aesir to seal the peace. The\nJotnar are a third race of Gods and at constant war with the Aesir,\nbut there is not and never will be peace in this battle. The Jotnar\nare never called Gods, but rather referred to as giants. They\nrepresent the natural forces of chaos and destruction as the Aesir\nrepresent forces of order and society. Just as fire and ice mix to\nform the world, this creative interaction of chaos and order maintains\nthe balance of the world. In the end the two sides will meet in the\ngreat battle of Ragnarok and the world will be destroyed, only to be\nreborn.\nThe Norse notion of the Gods was very much involved with tribalism.\nThe Aesir are the Gods of the tribe or clan. The Vanir are those Gods\nwho are allied with the clan, but who are not part of it. The Jotnar\nor Giants are the \"outlanders\" or more simply everyone else.\nThe Norse Gods were not held to be all powerful or immortal. Their\nyouth was maintained very precariously by the magickal apples of the\nGoddess Idunna. More importantly at the end of the world a good\nnumber of the Gods will die in battle. The Northern view of the world\nwas a practical one with little assurance for the future and little\nperfection and the Gods are no exception.\nIt is very important to understand that the Gods are real and living\nbeings. They are not mere personifications of natural forces, nor are\nthey Jungian archetypes that dwell only in our minds--although Jung's\nwork may be helpful in understanding them. Those divinities who we\ncall \"Gods\" (i.e., the Aesir and Vanir) are also \"personal deities\"\nwho take an active interest in the affairs of mankind, and seek\nrelationships with their followers. This is important to remember\nwhen we perform ceremonies or pray to the Gods. They aren't magical\nsymbols to be manipulated, nor is our religion some type of giant\ncosmic vending machine where sacrifices are inserted and blessings\ncome out. The Gods are living beings and offer us benefits because we\nare their friends and companions.\nThe Gods in the Temple: Odin, Thor, and Frey\nThe three most important Gods were held to be Odin, Thor, and Frey.\nThese were the deities whose statues stood at the altar of the temple\nat Upsalla. They are considered the most important because of what\nthey represent. Mythologer Georges Dumezil has linked these three\ndeities with the three classes of Indo-European culture: the Kings,\nthe Warriors, and the Farmers. Although the fit is not an exact one,\nit is probably true that these three deities most concretely\nsymbolized the various aspects of Norse life and culture and most\npeople would have found a God who represented their life-experience in\none of these three deities.\nOdin is the Allfather, remembered today best as a God of war and of\nthe berserk rage of the Vikings. However, he has other aspects which\nare just as strong or stronger. In the Eddas, he is the leader of the\nGods, but this is a position which most of the Germanic peoples\nattributed to Tyr. It's likely that Odin only became ruler during the\nViking Age, when a God of wile rather than strict justice was more\nnecessary. Being the Allfather, his original position of leadership\nwas probably familial rather than legislative. Most importantly he is\na God of transcendent wisdom and in relation to that a God of magick.\nHe is the God of the Runes, the magical alphabet which holds the\nmysteries of the universe within it. In most of the non-Viking\ncountries, Odin's warrior aspect was played down. In England, where\nhe is known as Woden, he is a gray cloaked wanderer (the inspiration\nfor Tolkien's Gandalf) who travels the country, usually alone,\nsurveying his land. Here again we see him in the position of a father\nfigure, a warder of the land but not necessarily a King. Odin is also\na God of the dead. Half of the slain in battles go to him to prepare\nfor the Ragnarok. (The remaining half go to Freya.) He also has\nassociations with the dead as a practitioner of Seidhr, a form of\nshamanic magick which he learned from Freya and used on various\noccasions to travel to Hel and seek the knowledge of those who have\npassed from this world. It's difficult to classify Odin simply because\nhe was such a popular God during the last stages of Norse Paganism and\nthus absorbed many traits of other Gods.\nThor is probably the best known of the Norse Gods. He is a simple\nGod, the patron of farmers and other folk who are \"wise, but not too\nwise\" as the Eddas advise us to be. Thor is best known for wandering\nthe world in search of adventure; usually found in the form of giants\nor other monsters to kill. He possesses tremendous strength and the\nhammer Mjolnir, which was made for him by the Dwarfs. Mjolnir is\nconsidered to be the Gods' greatest treasure because it is sure\nprotection from the forces of chaos. Using Mjolnir, Thor is a warrior\nfigure, but he is less a professional warrior than a common man called\nupon to defend his land. He loves battle not for itself as do the\nberserkers of Odin, nor does he have a strong code of honor such as\nthat of Tyr--in fact he chronically breaks with honor and kills giants\nwhether they have the protection of \"hospitality\" or not. Thor is\nassociated with thunder, and is also the God of rain and storms, but\nit's important to note that he is not the God of destructive storms.\nThor is nature as a benefit to man. The Jotnar are held to be the\nsource of the destruction found in nature. Thor was the God of\n\"everyman.\" He was simple in purpose, strong, and free. He was most\nbeloved of the freemen farmers who populated the Germanic lands.\nFrey is a God of peace and fertility. If Thor is the God of the\nfarmer, then Frey is the God of the crops themselves. He is a God of\nthe Vanir, but lives with the Aesir to secure their treaty with the\nVanir. His symbol is the priapus and his blessings were sought at\nplanting and other important agricultural festivals. The word \"frey\"\nmeans \"Lord\" and it's unsure if this is the Gods name or his title. He\nis also known as Ing or Ingvi, so some have speculated his title is\nproperly Frey Ingvi--Lord Ingvi. We do not known a great deal more\nabout Frey as few myths have survived which give us any insight into\nhis character. As much as he is a God of fertility, he is also a God\nof peace and Ing was said to have brought a Golden Age of peace and\nprosperity to old Denmark. Horses are held to be sacred to Frey,\nprobably because of fertility connections.\nGoddesses\nIn general we know much less about how our ancestors worshipped the\nGoddesses than the Gods. Later Norse culture was very bound up with\nthe vikings and it is likely that the Goddesses were deemphasized at\nthis point. More importantly, virtually all the mythology we have\ntoday was recorded during the Christian period and Christian culture\nhad little respect for women, least of all independent and strong\nwomen like those of Nordic society.\nFreya is the most important of the Goddesses or at least that Goddess\nabout which we known the most. She is the sister of Frey and along\nwith him was sent to live with the Aesir in order to seal a peace\nagreement. Freya is a Goddess with two distinct sides to her. First,\nshe is the Goddess of love and beauty and second a Goddess of war who\nshares the battle-slain with Odin. Unlike our modern culture, the\nancients saw no contradiction in this. She was also a sorceress who\npracticed the shamanic magick known as Seidhr, which she taught to\nOdin. Freya is the Goddess most often invoked by independent women.\nWhile she is a Goddess of beauty, she is not dependent on men as is\nthe stereotype of so many love Goddesses, but is strong and fiercely\nindependent. She is also known as the Great Dis and probably has\nconnections to the family spirits known as the Disir. In many ways\nshe is like Odin in that she is a Goddess of many functions which are\nnot always obviously related. In modern Asatru, many groups have\nplaced Freya alongside Odin and Thor on the altar, in place of her\ntwin brother Frey.\nFrigg is a most misunderstood Goddess. She is the wife of Odin and\nmany people are too willing to let her be known simply as that.\nHowever, the old Norse had a much different idea of the place of women\nand of marriage in general. While marriages for love were certainly\nknown, marriage was also a business and social arrangement and there\nwere important duties for a wife. These were symbolized by a set of\nkeys which hung at the belt of all \"goodwives.\" This symbolized that\nthe home was under the control of the woman of the house, who was\nequal to her husband. Today we think these duties as very minor, but\na thousand years ago they were far from trivial. Up until this\ncentury most of Europe lived in extended families. A house,\nespecially a hall of a warrior, was not a small building with a\nnuclear family, but an entire settlement with outbuildings, servants,\nslaves, and an entire clan. The wife of the house was in charge of\nstores and trading with other clans. It was she that saw to the\nupkeep of the farm, the balancing of the books, and even to the\nfarming itself if her husband was away trading or making war. It was\nas much a job of managing a business as it was being a \"wife.\" For\nthese reasons Frigg is still very important and can easily be invoked\nbeyond the home. She would, for example, be a natural patron for\nsomeone who owned a business. Frigg also shares a lot of\ncharacteristics with her husband. She is the only other God who is\nallowed to sit in Odin's seat from which can be seen all that goes on\nin the nine worlds. It is said that she knows the future, but remains\nsilent, which is entirely in keeping with the way women of the time\nexercised their power: namely indirectly. While in a better world\nthis might not be necessary, it is still an important tool for women\nwho must exist in a world where men are sometimes threatened by them.\nWhile Freya is a Goddess who acts independent of \"traditional\" roles,\nFrigg is a Goddess who works within those roles, but still maintains\nher power and independence.\nOther Gods\nThere are of course many other Gods and Goddesses. Some of these have\nimportant places in the myths, while some others are mentioned only\nonce along with their function.\nLoki\nThe most perplexing God of Asgard is Loki. He was probably originally\na fire God, but he is best known as the troublemaker of Asgard. In\nvarious minor scrapes Loki arranges to get the Gods into trouble,\nusually by giving away their treasures and then arranging to return\nthem. This is very much in the traditional role of a trickster, who\nkeeps things interesting by causing trouble. However, it's sometimes\ndifficult to see Loki merely as a trickster because his actions are\nsometimes simply too evil to be ignored. Balder was the most\nbeautiful and beloved of the Gods and a pledge was extracted from all\nthe things in the world that they would not harm him. The sole\nexception to this was the mistletoe which was deemed too tiny to be a\nthreat. Amused by his invulnerability, the Gods took turns throwing\nobjects at Balder, which of course had no effect on him. Loki took\nthe blind God Hod and put a spring of mistletoe in his hands and\nguided him to throw it. The dart pierced Balder's breast and he died.\nLater a deal was arranged wherein Balder would be allowed to return to\nlife if all the creatures of the world would weep for him. Only one\nrefused, an ogress who said she cared not a whit for Balder when he\nwas alive and thought him just as well off dead. The ogress is\nbelieved to have been Loki in disguise. For these actions Loki was\nchained beneath the earth and it was arranged that venom would drip\nupon him in punishment that would last until the end of the world.\nWith the death of Balder, Loki goes beyond the level of trickster and\nbecomes a truly evil figure. It is known that when Ragnarok comes,\nLoki will lead the legions of chaos against the Aesir and bring about\nthe end of the world.\nIndeed Loki's actions certainly do seem harsh, but they are entirely\nin keeping with the Norse way of looking at things. One of the\nfunctions of a trickster God is to keep things from becoming stagnant.\nThe trickster causes trouble so that people may evolve, for nothing\nbrings about ingenuity like need. The Norse did not believe anything\nwas eternal. In the end even the Gods would die in the battle of\nRagnarok, which would also destroy the world. Balder's\ninvulnerability was not natural. As the Edda says \"Cattle die, and\nmen die, and you too shall die...\" It was deemed much more wise and\nvaliant by the Norse to live up to one's fate than to try to avoid it.\nIt would likewise be unnatural to return from the dead. One can see\nLoki as merely acting as an agent of nature to return things to their\nnormal and correct course. In such a view, it was not an act of evil,\nbut an intervention to stop an evil against the natural order.\nLikewise Ragnarok must come. It is in the nature of the world to be\ndestroyed and then be reborn.\nOn the other hand, Loki is a God of darkness. As far as we know Loki\nwas never worshipped, at least not in the same way as the other Gods\nwere. Recognition of his action and his place in the universe is\nessential, but Gods of this type are seldom welcome. It is\n\"fashionable\" today to laugh at trickster Gods and see them as a sort\nof jester figure, but we must not forget that their nature is much\ndarker than this even when it does serve a purpose. Change is\nimportant, but nothing changes the world faster and more thoroughly\nthan war.\nTyr\nWhile seldom reckoned today among the most popular of the Gods, Tyr is\nextremely important. He is the God of battle, of justice, and\n(secondary to Odin) of Kingship. The most important myth concerning\nTyr shows both his bravery and honor. He gave his hand as surety to\nthe Fenris Wolf that no trickery was involved in the Gods binding of\nhim. When the fetter in fact did bind the wolf, Tyr lost his hand.\nThe honor and reliance on ones word is often overlooked in this myth\nin favor of an interpretation of self sacrifice. However, throughout\nthe myths various deals are made and the Aesir easily get out of them.\nIt's likely that Tyr could have escaped his fate as well, but one's\nword is one's word and thus Tyr lost his hand because it was less\nvaluable to him than his honor and word. Tyr was held to be the God\nof the Thing or assembly. While the ancient Norse were not truly\ndemocratic, and in fact held slaves, within the noble class all were\nreckoned to be roughly equal. The Thing was a place where the\nlandholders would meet for trade and to iron out disputes among them,\nin the hope of avoiding feuds. Tyr was originally the chieftain of\nthe Aesir and the God of Kingship, but he has been gradually\nsupplanted by Odin, especially during the Viking Age. It is likely\nthis was because of Tyr's strong sense of honor and justice. For\nraiding and pillaging, Odin, the God of the berserker rage, was a much\nbetter patron than Tyr, the God of honorable battle. This is an\nimportant thing to note about Northern religion: it is extremely\nadaptable. There are not hard and fast rules about who is what and\nwhile the nature of the Gods cannot be changed they are more than\nhappy to have the aspects most important to their worshippers\nemphasized. Just as a person uses different skills and \"becomes a\ndifferent person\" when they move or change jobs, so the Gods too have\nadapted to new climates and needs.\nBaldr\nWhile we only know the myth of Balder's death, it is clear that he was\na God of some importance. Unfortunately, modern writers, coming from\na Christian background, have tried to turn Balder into a Christ\nfigure. Balder was a God of beauty and goodness, but his name also\ntranslates as \"warrior.\" It is a mistake to turn him into a \"Norse\nJesus.\" The mere fact that he died and will return after Ragnarok is\nnot enough for this equation. Another interpretation of Balder is\nthat of the dying and resurrected God of the Sun. This also seems a\nmistake, as Balder does not return from the land of death. It makes a\npoor symbol to honor Balder on solar holidays, lest the sun not\nreturn! The remaining major interpretation of Balder is as a God of\nmystic initiation. While this fits to some extent, we unfortunately\nno longer know. The equation with Christ has wiped out a great deal\nof lore about Balder and we are left to rediscover his place in our\nmodern practice.\nMinor Gods\nOf the other important Gods, Heimdall is the guardian of Asgard. He,\nas Rig, is also one of the Gods who fathered mankind. Njord is the\nGod of sailing and sailors. Unless one travels on the sea, he is\nprobably of little importance to you, but if one does sail, he is your\nnatural patron. If Njord is the God of sailing and of man's use of\nthe sea, then Aegir is the God of the sea itself. He is married to\nRan who takes drowned sailors to her home after their death. Aegir is\nconsidered to be the greatest of brewers, and our kindred honors him\nin a special holiday due to the importance of mead in our modern\nreligion. Bragi is a much overlooked God who is the patron of\ntaletellers and bards. Other Gods more or less overlooked in the\nmyths include Forseti, who renders the best judgments, Ull, a God of\nhunting who is the male counter to Skadi, Vithar, the son of Thor who\nis as strong as his father, Vali, Odin's son who will avenge his\nfathers death at Ragnarok, and Hod, the blind God who was led to slay\nBalder.\nWhile we might say that certain Gods are more important than others,\nthis is in many ways not accurate. We would be better served to say\nthat some are more popular. The Norse concept of the relationship\nbetween men and Gods was one of friendship. A man would honor all the\nGods as worthy and existent, but would usually find one as his special\npatron. It is not surprising, considering this, that Thor is the most\npopular of Gods. If the average person was searching for a God very\nmuch like himself, Thor would be the obvious choice. Likewise, a God\nsuch as Njord would have been extremely important to sailors and\nfishermen, but would have been almost completely unimportant as a\npatron to inlanders. The less well known Gods are just as powerful as\ntheir more well known contemporaries, they merely have power over a\nless well known aspect of life.\nThere are also many Goddesses other than Frigg and Freya, but we know\nvery little of them. Eir was said to be the greatest of healers, and\nis for this reason very important. There is no healer God as the\nancients held that medicine was a craft for women and not for men, but\nmodern male healers should certainly invoke her. While Skadi has a\nvery small part in the myths, many modern Asafolk find her a\ncompelling figure. She is the snow-shoe Goddess, who travels in the\nisolated mountains hunting with her bow. She is married to Njord, but\nthey are separated as Njord can't abide the mountains, and Skadi can't\nsleep in Njord's hall where she is kept awake by the pounding of the\nsea. She is an excellent role model for women who work alone and who\nare independently minded. Oaths are sworn to the Goddess Var, but\nlittle else is known of her. Lofn might some day be of importance to\nyou, she is known to bring together lovers who are kept apart by\ncircumstance.\nI have merely touched upon the Gods here. It is important for\neveryone who would practice the religion of the North to get to know\nthe myths and the Gods. An appendix is included which outlines\nvarious sources for more information.\nThe Jotnar\nThe Jotnar or giants are the sworn enemies of the Gods. While the\nAesir represent order and the Vanir represent the supportive powers of\nnature, the Jotnar represent chaos and the power of nature to destroy\nman and act independent of humankind. In the end, it is the Jotnar\nwho will fight the Gods at Ragnarok and bring about the destruction of\nthe world.\nIn essence despite being called Giants or Ogres, the Jotnar are Gods\njust as much as the Aesir or Vanir. In many cases they correspond\nvery closely to the Fomoire in Celtic mythology. Most simply put, the\nJotnar are the Gods of all those things which man has no control over.\nThe Vanir are the Gods of the growing crops, the Jotnar are the Gods\nof the river which floods and washes away those crops or the tornado\nwhich destroys your entire farm. This is why they are frightening and\nthis is why we hold them to be evil.\nThe Jotnar are not worshipped in modern Asatru, but there is some\nevidence that sacrifices were made to them in olden times. In this\ncase, sacrifices may very well have been made \"to them\" rather than\nshared \"with them\" as was the case with the Vanir and Aesir. It would\nbe inappropriate to embrace them as friends and brothers in the way we\nembrace our Gods. One doesn't embrace the hurricane or the wildfire;\nit is insanity to do so.\nAs I've suggested earlier, the Jotnar aren't grouped so much by their\ncommonalities, but by their non-membership in the Aesir. Thus, some\nof them are benign, while others are apparently evil to the core.\nAegir, Skadi, and several of the wives or mates of the Aesir are from\nJotnar stock. Others, such as those appearing at Ragnarok, seem to\nhave no redeeming characteristics and are entirely hostile.\nELVES & OTHER SPIRITS\nThe world of ancient Paganism was hardly limited to the worship of the\nGods. There are various other beings who were honored, and \"Elf\nworship\" was often the hardest part of Paganism for Christians to\ndestroy. It was easy enough to substitute one God for another, but it\nwas quite another to tell the common people that the elves which\nbrought fertility to the land were not real!\nIn the various folktales and sagas we find very little which would\nlead us to a concrete system of what spirit was responsible for\nexactly what. Today, we call these various figures, who are neither\nmortal nor God, \"Wights.\" We are sure of the place of the Valkyries,\nwho were responsible for bringing the slain to Valhalla, and also for\nchoosing who in battle would die. They seem, judging by their\nactions, to be supernatural beings of some type. However, Valkyries\nappear in various places as very human figures and their exact nature\nis difficult to determine. Sigrdrifa was a Valkyrie who was cursed by\nOdin because she refused to bring victory in battle to those whom he\nhad chosen. Her punishment was to be married to a mortal, and the\nimplication is clear that this would end her days as a Valkyrie. It's\nequally clear that she has great knowledge of the runes as she tutors\nSigurd after he awakens her. In most respects she seems to be a\nnormal human woman, although a very wise and independent one with\ngreat powers. Elsewhere, Voland and his brothers are said to have\nfound three Valkyries sunning themselves without their swan-coats.\nWhen the brothers steal their feather-coats and hide them, the\nValkyries again appear as otherwise normal women. This does not seem\nentirely in keeping with a supernatural origin, and it's possible that\nsome kind of magickal order of Priestesses has become confused over\ntime with the supernatural beings we know as Valkyries or that mortal\nwomen may somehow ascend to the position. The swan-coat seems very\nsimilar in description to Freya's falcon-coat and the entire issue may\nbe something related to the practice of seidhr. As far as we know,\nthe Valkyrie were not worshipped as such, but were considered more the\nmessengers of Odin. They also serve the mead at Valhalla, and because\nof this whoever pours the mead into the Horn at Blot or Sumbel is\ntoday known as \"the Valkyrie\" (no matter what sex).\nThe other spirits whose place seems fairly clear are the Disir. These\nare spirits who are intimately linked with a family. There is also\nsome indication that they are linked with the land, but this would be\nin keeping with the old ways. We forget sometimes that many\nlandowners in Europe have been living in the same place since before\nthis continent was discovered. The land becomes an intimate part of\nthe family and its identity, so it is natural that family spirits\nwould also oversee the family land. Disir are seen as women who\nappear at times of great trouble or change. They are somehow linked\nto the family bloodline, and seem most closely linked to the\nclanchief. There is one scene in one saga where a spirit, apparently\na Dis, is passed on from one person to another who are not blood\nrelations. However, these two friends are closer than brothers, so\nwhile the link is apparently not genetic, it is definitely familial.\nWe know the family Disir were honored with blots at the Winter Nights\nand that they have great power to aid their family. As far as their\norigin, it's possible that they are ancestral in origin. They may be\nancestors whose power was so great that they were able to continue to\nsee to their clan. Or it's possible that the Disir are the collective\nspirit of the family ancestors. Freya is called the great Dis and\nthere may be some linkage here to her position as a seidhrwoman. We\nknow from the sagas that Seidhr was involved with talking to various\nspirits (including the dead) and its possible that this is the source\nof Freya's name. It is also possible that she performed much the same\nfunction as a Dis to her tribe the Vanir.\nClosely linked to the idea of the Disir is the Fylgia. These spirits\nare attached to an individual person in much the same way that the\nDisir are associated with a family. Fylgia usually appear either as\nanimals or as beautiful women. They correspond to the \"fetch,\"\n\"totem,\" or \"power-animal\" in other cultures. Most of the time the\nfylgia remains hidden and absent, it is only with truly great or\npowerful persons that the fylgia becomes known. They may have\nsomething to do with Seidhr as well, because many sagas offer evidence\nof spirit travel in the shape of animals. This corresponds exactly to\nnotions of shamanism found in other cultures.\nThe remaining spirits include Alvar or elves, Dokkalvar or dark elves\nor Dwarfs, kobolds, and landvaettir. While some have defined one\nbeing as doing one thing and another serving a different function, I'm\nnot inclined to draw very sharp distinctions between these various\ncreatures. They all seem \"elfish\" in origin, and there seems to me to\nbe no pattern of associating one name with a specific function. We\nknow that various landvaettir or land spirits were honored with blots.\nWe also know that Frey is the lord of Alfheim, one of the nine worlds\nwhere the alvar are said to live.\nOf all the remaining spirits, the dwarfs are the most consistent in\ndescription. We know that the dwarfs are cunning and misanthropic in\ncharacter and incredible smiths, capable of creating magickal objects\nso valuable they are considered the greatest treasures of Asgard.\nThor's hammer Mjolnir, Freya's necklace Brisingamen, and Sif's golden\nhair are all creations of the dwarfs. They live beneath the earth and\nhave little to do with mankind or the Gods unless one seeks them out.\nWhat place they had in the religion we no longer know. It would seem\nwise to invoke them as spirits of the forge, but I can think of little\nother reason to disturb them.\nElves are the most difficult magickal race to pin down. Mythological\nsources tell us that the Alvar or light elves live in Alfheim where\nFrey is their Lord. However, we also have the enduring belief in\nfolklore of the elves as faery-folk: beings associated with the\nnatural world. These two conceptions of elves might still be linked,\nhowever, as Alfheim is known to be a place of incredible natural\nbeauty, and Frey, their leader, is an agricultural deity. To further\nconfuse this issue, Norse folklore has a strong belief in the\nLandvaettir, or land spirits who may fit into either or both of these\ncategories. I'm inclined to lump them all together as similar beings\nthat we simply don't know enough about to tell apart. What is\nimportant is that Asatru, like all Pagan religions, honors the natural\nworld and the earth very deeply. Whether one calls the spirits of the\nland as the elves, the faeries, or the landvaettir, or uses all of\nthese terms interchangably, respect is all important. Asatru is known\nfor being one of the most politically \"conservative\" of the modern\nPagan religions, but you'll find few of us who aren't staunch\nenvironmentalists.\nOne of the most important spirits to honor is the house-spirit.\nFolklore is also filled with stories of various spirits variously\ncalled faeries, elves, kobolds, brownies, tom-tin, etc who inhabit a\nhouse and see to its proper conduct. In the usual form of the tale,\nthey offer to perform some housekeeping functions, but eventually turn\non the owners of the house when they are insulted by overpayment. We\ndon't have any concrete evidence for how our ancestors honored these\nbeings, but this is not surprising because such a thing would not be a\npublic observance and it's unlikely it would be recorded in the sagas\nor Eddas. We usually leave a bowl of milk out when we feel we need\ntheir help in something.\nIn general folklore does not paint the various elves and spirits as\nparticularly benevolent figures. With the exception of house spirits,\nwho as spirits of a manmade object are bound to us on some level, they\nseem most interested in staying out of the dealings of mankind. There\nare numerous stories of people who spy upon elf women and force them\nto become their brides. Inevitably the women are unhappy and\neventually escape, leaving their husbands emotionally devastated.\nThere are also numerous stories of spirits who haunt the woods and who\nwill drag wayward travelers into rivers to drown or to some other\nuntimely death. When people do have dealings with the elves these\nbeings seem to operate on an entirely different set of expectations\nthan we do. Most of us would be gratified by the gift of a \"bonus\"\nfrom our employer, yet time and time again in folklore this is the\neasiest way to anger a house spirit. We know that elves were honored\nwith blots, but it's just as possible that these ceremonies were made\nin propitiation to them rather than in kinship as are our blots made\nwith the Gods. We suggest caution in dealing with beings with a set\nof values so foreign from our own. They should be approached in the\nsame way one would approach a person from a country whose ways are\nvery very different.\nIn general, we're also very reticent to make decisions about\nclassifying the various \"other peoples.\" It would be very easy to draw\nlines and place certain spirits into little boxes which label their\nfunction, but that seems overly mechanical and of little utility.\nElves and other \"wights\" are not human, and it might be too much to\ntry to classify them in other than subjective terms. It's probably\nbest to simply make your intent clear, experiment, and use the terms\nwhich work for you.\nDemi-Gods\nThere are a whole classification of Gods which are not truly part of\nthe Aesir, Vanir, or even the Jotnar. Wayland the Smith is the best\nexample of this that we can offer. Wayland, called Volund in the\nNorse version, is the greatest of smiths, but it's clear in the\nmythology that he was more or less a human man. The myth tells of how\nhe lost his wife and was enslaved by a human King. While his powers\nallow him to outwit and take vengeance on the king, it's clear\nthroughout that he's not on the level of a Thor or an Odin. What one\ndoes about these demi-Gods or local Gods is a good question. I see\nnothing wrong with pouring a blot in their honor and dealing with them\nas you would any other God or Goddess. On the other hand, they are\nnot part of the Aesir and I think it might be disrespectful to honor\nthem with the Aesir or as part of a ceremony dedicated to the Aesir as\nthey seem of a different nature.\nAncestor Worship:\nHonoring ones ancestors was one of the most sacred duties of the\nNorsemen. One of the most important parts of greeting new people was\nthe exchanging of personal lineages at sumbel. The worship of the\nDisir is closely linked to ancestor worship. However, it is difficult\nfor modern day Pagans to seriously engage in ancestor worship. We\nare, for the most part, without a strong connection to our heritage,\nand even if we feel motivated we would probably need to skip at least\na thousand years back to find ancestors who would not have been\nappalled by our Heathen beliefs. One substitution for ancestor\nworship in the modern Asatru movement has been the veneration of heros\nfrom the Sagas and legends of our people.\nThe manner of how we honor ancestors is also somewhat troubling. I\nreserve the blot ritual to Gods and other powers, and I'm not sure if\nit's appropriate to pour a blot to an ancestor, no matter how\nimportant he was. I think the most important part of ancestor worship\nis remembering, and the sumbel seems the most important part of that.\nWhile we discuss ancestry, I must mention that some modern Asatru\ngroups, in part because of holdovers from 19th century cultural\nmovements, have placed a great deal of emphasis on ancestry in terms\nof race and ethnic heritage. Many (although not nearly as many as\nsome hysterical commentators would have you believe) have held that\nAsatru was a religion for whites or Northern Europeans only. In my\nnot particularly humble opinion, this is pure idiocy. The basic\nargument for this is that people of other cultures do not share the\nsame background and values. This is certainly true, but the key word\nin my opinion is culture, and all Americans by definition share a\nculture. Also, while I admit I would think it doubtful that people\nfrom outside of our own cultural heritage would be attracted greatly\nto Asatru, if they are it is for a reason and they should be welcomed\nand not shunned. It proves the worth of our religion and way of life\nthat it is so strong that one would leave his own cultural path behind\nto take up ours.\nAs far as culture is concerned, the ancestry of the ancient North is\nalive and well in modern America. A thousand years ago settlers\nsailed to Iceland to avoid the growing influence of powerful kings and\ncentralized government. This centralization of power was one of the\nthings which Roman Christianity brought with it. Two hundred years\nago, we in America rebelled against our king for much the same\nreasons. Our culture is much more profoundly influenced by the\nVikings than most would care to admit. Our law is based on English\ncommon law, which in turn has roots in Norman and Saxon law. (Both\nthe Saxons and Normans were descended from Germanic tribes.) Our\nculture is based on many of the same ideas which the Northmen held\ndear: the importance of the individual and the belief that individual\nrights outweighed collective rights. Thus, it is my assertion that we\nare all descended, at least in part, spiritually from the ancient\nNorse.\nORGANIZATION\nScholarship offers us little help in determining how organized the\nancient religion of Asatru was. We know that there was a large temple\nat Upsulla, and we know that some areas had taxes which were clearly\nintended to support the religion. We also have abundant evidence of a\nmuch less organized system in which people met in sacred groves or\nbuilt their own Hof's and thus became a Gothi (Priest) or Gythia\n(Priestess). Such temples were generally maintained by the family\nafter the builders death, the title being more or less inherited by\nwhomever was lord over the land.\nToday, most kindreds are independent. The Ring of Troth is the\nlargest organization and is highly structured in governing, but very\nunstructured in beliefs or practices. They offer clergy recognition,\ncharter kindreds on three levels, depending on how organized the group\nis, and have a system of regional stewards to coordinate local\nactivities. There are also many smaller organizations, either\nregionally based or formed from groups with other links, such as The\nRaven Kindred Association or Skergard.\nThe Priesthood\nThe clergy of Asatru are known as Gothi (Godman/Priest) or Gythia\n(Godwoman/Priestess). These are honorary titles only. Being called\nGothi does not mark any administrative or religious power or rank\nwithin Asatru as a whole. The Gothar are those who have chosen to\ntake on more responsibilities. Anyone in Asatru can reach the Gods\nthrough their own prayers or blots without being a Gothi.\nAs to what makes one a Gothi, the requirements would vary from group\nto group. Some might have written criteria, while others might leave\nit up to the persons heart. The true test of a Gothi is not one of\ncredentials, but of whether the folk take one seriously or not.\nCertainly a Gothi is one who has a long term relationship with the\nGods and Goddesses. One does not, for example, simply read this book\nor practice the religion for a few months and then proclaim oneself\nGothi, to do so would invite scorn and laughter. A competent Gothi\nshould have studied the Eddas and Sagas and know the history of our\nreligion. He or she should also know a bit about the runes, and the\nother mysteries of our tradition. One should also note that this is a\npublic office and the Gothi of old had responsibilities as leaders of\nthe community. Most importantly one must be sincerely dedicated not\nonly to the Gods, but to the duties and calling of being a religious\nleader. There's no push to move to a \"higher\" level of the Priesthood\nas there are in religions or magickal orders with \"degree systems\" and\nif you do not feel compelled to take on the responsibilities of being\na Gothi or Gythia, there is no need for you to and much to say that\nyou should not.\nMost persons who were given the title Gothi in the old days were\ndedicated to a single God. The title most often formed their last\nname: Thorolf Thorsgothi for example. This dedication to a God or\nGoddess was usually part of one's family heritage and was passed down\nto your children. While there is no compelling reason why one cannot\nact as Priest to the entire community of Gods and Goddesses, it is\nmost common for one to be dedicated to a single deity. A kindred may\nhave persons who are each dedicated to a different deity, or it may\norient itself towards a single deity as did families in the Sagas.\nOne national organization, The Ring of Troth, offers official\nministerial recognition on two levels: Eldership and Godmen. The\nElder program entails a great deal of study in the ways of our ancient\nforebears. Elders are intended not so much to be everyday ministers,\nbut to be teachers and sources of information for the Folk at large.\nThe second program, entitled one Godman or Godwoman, is intended for\nmore day to day clergy. A Godman must be informed about the lore of\nour modern religion and familiar with the Gods and rituals of Asatru\nand capable of performing them, but does not go into deep academic\nstudy in the manner of an Elder.\nThe Kindred\nThe most basic unit of Asatru religious worship is the hearth or\nhomestead. This is nothing more than it sounds like: a household of\nAsafolk who worship the old Gods and Goddesses. Several individuals\nor hearths may group themselves into a \"kindred,\" which is a term that\nhas many meanings to many different groups. Some kindreds have many\nmembers and function like mainstream churches, others are more\nfamilylike and attempt to hold to their privacy. The place of a\nkindred is more or less analogous to a clan or small tribal group. A\nkindred is made up of people you are familiar with and with whom you\nmeet in person and in it's best sense it's an organic grouping,\nhowever it's not the same sort of bonding that one would find in a\nsingle family or even in an extremely close knit group of friends. In\na true Pagan society, the kindred would be found on the level of a\nfarmstead or small village.\nThe ritual blots are most commonly done on the level of the kindred,\nor in meetings where more than one kindred comes together. The\nrituals of a Hearth might be less formalized and more \"homey\" in\natmosphere. The blot ritual is based on a religious observance that\nwas part of the official public aspect of ancient Asatru, and its\nlikely that there were many other private rituals that would not\nnecessarily be appropriate for a kindred to take part in together. For\nexample, a kindred might not honor the individual family Dis or the\nhouse-spirits unless all members of the kindred lived together or were\ntied by blood as well as companionship.\nMost persons will want to join or found a kindred in their area,\nhowever, before one runs out and begins to solicit people, you should\nthink about what you are doing. The very name of our groupings,\n\"kindred,\" implies a great deal more than does membership in a church.\nToday we are accustomed to religious institutions that are more or\nless anonymous and sterile. A kindred should not be this way. While\nwe must be open to all, we need not act as if we were a public\nfacility with no more intimacy than a department store. It is best to\nstart small and gather people as they come to you. Once you are\nestablished, get involved in the local Pagan community if you are not\nalready. Attend a few events of the local Leif Erikson society or the\nSons of Norway. Open one of your blots to the public and take note of\npeople who are attracted to Asatru.\nA kindred is something which should form organically. It's not a good\nidea to push ones friends into joining unless they are sincerely\ninterested. In the Raven Kindreds we usually wait until people ask to\nformally join, unless we perceive they are waiting to be asked. On\nthe other hand, Asatru is not a secret religion or one open only to\n\"initiates\" as many Neo-Pagan faiths are. We must be open to\noutsiders who are truly interested.\nPeople in a kindred should be aware that they are making a commitment\nto the group. The first duty owed to our kindreds would be regular\nattendance. The kindred cannot function if people do not attend. I\nhave heard some say that making a monetary donation should be\nsufficient. I say this is simply not true. While the money most\ncertainly does help, it cannot make up for the impression made on new\npeople when they are the only ones showing up for a ritual. Also\nsince Asatru is still a growing religion a lack of regular attendees\nwill lead to only one view being put across instead of many peoples\npersonal takes on a subject.\nThe next duty we have to our kindred is loyalty. I will assume that\nevery kindred has some sort of leader whether it be an elected leader\nor not. This person has taken on the responsibility of being in\ncharge of the kindred as a whole. I say that we should ask these\nleaders what we can do for them to make there job easier. I am not\nsaying that we have to center our lives around whatever kindred we may\nbelong to, but sometimes just asking if we can pick up the mead will\ntake a lot off the mind of the person in charge.\nAnother duty we have to our kindred is helping the other members of\nthat kindred. This could include the simple willingness to give a\nride to events, but also on a deeper level to really be their for each\nother in times of need. We must remember that while our religion\nespouses the glory of the individual, that individual usually only as\ngood as the community from which he came. We also do not want to be\nlike other religions we member of the same church are strangers to\neach other. The fact that we have chosen the word \"kindred\" to name\nour religious bodies should mean, in practice as well as definition, a\nmuch closer relationship to each other then is found in most, but\ncertainly not all, mainstream churches.\nTHE VALUES OF ASATRU\nOne of the basic functions of a religion is to offer a set of values\non which mankind is to base it's actions. This, sadly, is one area\nwhere Paganism has often failed. The cult of anti-values has held\nsway, taking moral relativism to extremes perhaps even farther from\ncommon sense than fundamentalist moral legalism, even to the point\nwhere I have heard rape, murder, and genocide defended on the basis of\n\"cultural differences.\"\nHowever, values remain important. All one needs to do is look at the\nmorning paper to see the results of a society that has in many ways\nembraced the cult of anti-values. Thievery, murder, and plunder exist\nin our cities to extents which would have appalled our ancestors--no\nmatter how many times they went a' Viking. While this is hardly what\nthe Pagans who have embraced the cult of anti-values had in mind, it\nis to my belief a natural outgrowth of the same basic philosophical\nconcept. The chaos in our country is the dark shadow of the modern\nrejection of moral legalism. What should have been an evolution from\na legalistic moral/religious culture to one of flexible honor based\nvalues and self-responsibility has instead become a morass of chaos\nand immorality. The lesson we should all learn is that while there is\nno definitive list of sins; right and wrong still exist.\nAs usual Asatru offers a sensible solution. Our faith deals not in\nlegalisms and rules nor in unchecked chaos and relativism. We instead\nacknowledge the existence of right and wrong, good and evil, but we\ndeal with actions according to basic philosophical concepts that are\napplied by the keen intellect of Odin, the simple common sense of\nThor, and the solid honor of Tyr--the gifts of the Gods to us.\nAsatru posits that the basic place of moral judgment is within the\nhuman heart and mind. We as human beings with the gift of\nintelligence are sensible and responsible enough to determine right\nfrom wrong and act accordingly. The Gods teach us through the\nexamples of their lives, as chronicled in the Eddas, and through\nvarious pieces such as the Havamal which directly offer us advice. In\nthe modern history of our faith, various Asatru organizations have\noutlined simple sets of values which they hold up as simple guidelines\non how to live ones life.\nThe Odinic Rite (the major Asatru group in England) has one of the\nmost cohesive and sensible of all those we've seen and this set has\nbeen adopted by the Raven Kindred as an \"official\" statement of our\nbeliefs. We do this not only as a moral guide for our members, but\nalso to say to the world what it is that we stand for--our good name\nin the community being important to us. Finally, this list is used\nwhen someone formally joins the Raven Kindred and we hold a sumble and\ntoast the 9 virtues to the new member in the hope that they will apply\nthem to their life.\nThe Odinic Rite lists the 9 Noble Virtues as Courage, Truth, Honor,\nFidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self-Reliance, and\nPerseverance.\nIt would be hard to get much argument on any of these values from\nanyone. They simply and briefly encapsulate the broad wisdom of our\nGods and ancestors.\nCourage\nIn virtually every statement of values applied to Asatru, Courage is\nlisted first. As Stephen McNallen has said, courage and bravery are\nperhaps the values which the Vikings are best known for. However,\ndespite our history, few of us face such turmoil as a literal battle\nfor ones life. In fact, I believe it might be easier to manifest\ncourage in such a situation than to do so in the many smaller day to\nday occurrences in which courage is called for.\nThe most common of these occurrences for modern Pagans, is the courage\nto acknowledge and live ones beliefs. It is also, sadly, the one that\nwe most often fail at. While we may often be full of the type of\ncourage that would lead us to face a shield wall, many of us quake at\nthe thought of the topic of religion coming up at the office or a\nfriend asking what church we attend. We won't offer easy answers, but\nwe ask this: if you toast the courage of your ancestors to fight and\ndie for what they believed in, can you trade away your religious\nidentity for a higher salary or social acceptance?\nIn an essay on values there is also the question of moral courage. The\nway of Tyr is difficult--to lose ones hand for ones beliefs--but, Tyr\nthought the price worth paying. In a million ways modern society\nchallenges our values, not just as Asatruar who are estranged from\nmainstream religious practice, but for religious people in an\nincreasingly not just secular, but anti-religious culture. Values are\nalso not in favor in modern society. Breaking or getting around the\nrules is encouraged to get ahead. Living honorably is simply too\ninconvenient. I think most people, Asatru or otherwise, find this\nrepugnant, but the only way to change it is to have the courage to\nrefuse to take part in it.\nTruth\nThe second virtue, that of Truth, is the one that most led our kindred\nto embrace the Odinic Rite's statement of values as our own. Early in\nour discussions, we decided that no matter what values we chose to\nhold out as our own, truth must be among them. It is a word that\nholds so much in its definition, and includes such a wide variety of\nmoral and philosophical beliefs that we were all drawn to it as a\nsimple statement of what we stood for.\nAt least one of the reasons we wanted to adopt it was the simple issue\nof honesty. As Bill Dwinnels said at a recent sumbel while toasting\ntruth and honesty: \"if you don't want people to know about something,\ndon't do it.\" Truth, in the sense of honesty, is essential to personal\nhonor and also to any system or morality that is not based on rigid\nlegalism. If one is to uphold an honor code, one must be brutally\nhonest with oneself and with others.\nTruth is also the Truth that comes with a capital T--the kind of Truth\nthat one talks about in terms of religion or morality. It's common to\ntalk of different peoples having different \"truths,\" but it's equally\nimportant to remember that while we acknowledge that each person or\npeople has their own belief as to what Truth is or where to find it,\nthere finally is a single Truth. This is not the Truth as we believe\nit, but ultimate Truth. While we may respect other people's \"truths\"\nand seek our own, we must never forget our search for The Truth. Like\nthe Holy Grail of Christian legend, it may never be ours to reach, but\nwhen we cease to search we perish.\nHonor\nHonor is the basis for the entire Asatru moral rationale. If anything\ncomes out in the Eddas and Sagas it is that without honor we are\nnothing. We remember two types of peoples from ancient times: those\nwhose honor was so clean that they shine as examples to us and those\nwho were so without honor that their names are cursed a thousand years\nafter they lived. Good Asatruar should always strive to be among the\nformer.\nHowever, honor is not mere reputation. Honor is an internal force\nwhose outward manifestation is reputation. Internal honor is the\nsacred moral compass that each Asatruar and God should hold dear. It\nis the inner dwelling at peace which comes from living in accordance\nwith ones beliefs and with ones knowledge of the Truth of what one is\ndoing. It is something deeply personal and heartfelt, almost akin to\nan emotion. It's a \"knowing\" that what one is doing is right and\ndecent and correct.\nIn many ways while the most important of all the virtues it is also\nthe most ephemeral in terms of description. It is all the other\nvirtues rolled together and then still more. The best way I have\nfound to describe honor is that if you are truly living with honor,\nyou will have no regrets about what you have done with your life.\nFidelity\nFidelity is a word that is far too often defined by it's narrow use in\nterms of marital fidelity. By the dictionary it simply means being\nfaithful to someone or something. In marriage this means being true\nto ones vows and partner, and this has been narrowly defined as\nlimiting ones sexual experience to ones spouse. While I have found\nthis to be great practical advice, many treat fidelity as if there\nwere no other ways in which one could be faithful or unfaithful.\nFor we Asatruar fidelity is most important in terms of our faith and\ntroth to the Gods. We must remain true to the Aesir and Vanir and to\nour kinsmen. Like marriage, Profession (the rite in which one enters\nthe Asatru faith, similar to Christian confirmation or Wiccan\ninitiation) is a sacred bond between two parties; in this case an\nAsatruar and the Gods. In order for such a relationship to work, both\nmust be honest and faithful to each other.\nAsatru, although currently being reborn, is at its roots a folk\nreligion and we also uphold the value of fidelity to the ways of our\nancestors. This is why historical research is so important to the\nAsatru-folk: it is the rediscovering of our ancient ways and our\nreadoption of them.\nDiscipline\nIn any discussion of the values of Asatru, discipline is best\ndescribed as self-discipline. It is the exercise of personal will\nthat upholds honor and the other virtues and translates impulse into\naction. If one is to be able to reject moral legalism for a system of\ninternal honor, one must be willing to exercise the self-discipline\nnecessary to make it work. Going back to my earlier criticism of\nsociety, if one rejects legalism, one must be willing to control ones\nown actions. Without self-discipline, we have the mess we currently\nsee in our culture.\nLooking at discipline in terms of fidelity, we see a close connection.\nMany Pagans go from faith to faith, system to system, path to path.\nAsatruar are much less likely to do this. The discipline of keeping\nfaith with our Gods and the ways of our ancestors is part of our\nmodern practice. In this way, we limit ourselves in some ways, but we\ngain much more in others.\nHospitality\nHospitality is simply one of the strongest core values at the heart of\nvirtually every ancient human civilization. In a community/folk\nreligion such as our own, it is the virtue that upholds our social\nfabric. In ancient times it was essential that when a traveler went\ninto the world he could find some sort of shelter and welcome for the\nnight. In modern times it is just as essential that a traveler find\nfriendship and safety.\nIn our modern Asatru community, we need to treat each other with\nrespect and act together for the good of our community as a whole.\nThis functions most solidly on the level of the kindred or hearth\nwhere non-familial members become extremely close and look out for\neach other. It can mean hospitality in the old sense of taking in\npeople, which we've done, but in modern times it's more likely to mean\nloaning someone a car or a bit of money when they need it (that's\nneed, not want).\nPart of hospitality is treating other people with respect and dignity.\nMany of our Gods are known to wander the world and stop in at people's\nhouses, testing their hospitality and generosity. The virtue of\nhospitality means seeing people as if they were all individuals with\nself-respect and importance. Or perhaps from time to time, they are\nliterally the Gods in human form. This has profound implications for\nsocial action in our religion. Our response to societal problems such\nas poverty (that's poverty folks, not laziness) is in many ways our\nmodern reaction to this ancient virtue.\nIn terms of our modern community as a whole, I see hospitality in\nterms of frontier \"barn raisings\" where a whole community would come\ntogether and pool their resources. This doesn't mean we have to\nforget differences, but we must put them aside for those who are of\nour Folk, and work for our common good.\nIndustriousness\nModern Asatruar must be industrious in their actions. We need to work\nhard if we are going to achieve our goals. There is so much for us to\ndo. We've set ourselves the task of restoring Asatru to it's former\nplace as a mainstream faith and by doing so reinvigorating our society\nand culture. We can't do this by sitting on our virtues, we need to\nmake them an active part of our behavior. Industry also refers to\nsimple hard work in our daily vocations, done with care and pride.\nHere's a few concrete examples. If you are reading this and don't\nhave a kindred, why not? Stop reading now. Go and place ads in the\nappropriate local stores, get your name on the Ring of Troth, Wyrd\nNetwork, or Asatru Alliance networking lists, and with other Pagan\ngroups. Put on a workshop. Ok, now you're back to reading and you\ndon't agree with what I'm saying here? Well, be industrious! Write\nyour own articles and arguments. Write a letter to the editor and\nsuggest this material be banned--better that than passivity. Get the\nblood moving and go out and do it. That's how it gets done. The Gods\ndo not favor the lazy.\nThe same holds true for our non-religious lives. As Asatruar we\nshould offer a good example as industrious people who add to whatever\nwe're involved in rather than take from it. We should be the ones the\nbusiness we work in can't do without and the ones who always seem to\nbe able to get things done. When people think of Asatru, they should\nthink of people who are competent and who offer something to the\nworld.\nThis doesn't just apply to vocational work, but to the entire way we\nlive our lives. It is just as much a mentality. The Vikings were\nvital people. They lived each day to its fullest and didn't wring\ntheir hands in doubt or hesitation. We should put the same attitude\nforward in all that we do whether it is our usual vocation, devotion\nto the Gods, or leisure time.\nSelf Reliance\nIndustry brings us directly to the virtue of Self-Reliance, which is\nimportant both in practical and traditional terms. Going back to the\ngeneral notion of this article, we are dealing with a form of morality\nthat is largely self-imposed and thus requires self-reliance. We rely\non ourselves to administer our own morality.\nTraditionally, our folkways have always honored the ability of a man\nor woman to make their own way in the world and not to lean on others\nfor their physical needs. This is one of the ways in which several\nvirtues reinforce and support each other. Hospitality cannot function\nif people are not responsible enough to exercise discipline and take\ncare of themselves. It's for those that strive and fail or need\nassistance that hospitality is intended, not for the idle who simply\nwon't take care of themselves.\nIn terms of our relationships with the Gods, self-reliance is also\nvery important. If we wish the Gods to offer us their blessings and\ngifts, we must make ourselves worthy of them--and the Gods are most\npleased with someone who stands on their own two feet. This is one of\nthe reasons for the Asatru \"rule\" that we do not kneel to the Gods\nduring our ceremonies. By standing we acknowledge our relationship as\nstriving and fulfilled people looking for comradeship and a\nrelationship, rather than acting as scraelings looking for a handout\nfrom on high. It takes very little for a God to attract a follower,\nif worship simply means getting on the gravy train. We, as Asatruar,\nare people who can make our own way in the world, but who choose to\nseek a relationship with the Gods.\nIn mundane terms being self-reliant is a simple way to allow ourselves\nthe ability to live as we wish to. In simple economic terms, if one\nhas enough money in the bank one doesn't need to worry as much about\nbeing fired due to religious discrimination. We can look a bigot in\nthe face and tell him just where he can put it. It's also nice to\nhave something in the bank to lay down as a retainer on a good lawyer\nso we can take appropriate action.\nOn the other side of this is self-reliance in the sense of Henry David\nThoreau, who advocated a simple lifestyle that freed one from the\ntemptations of materialism. Again, here we are able to live as we\nwish with those things that are truly important. Religious people\nfrom all faiths have found that adjusting ones material desires to\nmatch one's ability to meet them leaves one open for a closer\nrelationship with deity and a more fulfilling life. While our\nancestors were great collectors of gold goodies, they didn't lust for\npossessions in and of themselves, but for what they stood for and\ncould do for them. In fact, the greatest thing that could be said of\na Lord was that he was a good \"Ring Giver.\"\nBeing self-reliant also means taking responsibility for ones life.\nIt's not just about refusing a welfare check or not lobbying for a tax\nexemption, but also refusing to blame ones failures on religious\nintolerance, the patriarchy, or an unfair system. The system may, in\nfact, be unfair, but it's our own responsibility to deal with it.\nIn societal terms, we have become much too dependent on other people\nfor our own good. As individuals we look to the government or to\nothers to solve our problems and as a society we borrow billions from\nour descendants to pay for today's excesses. Most problems in this\nworld could be solved if people just paid their own way as they went.\nPerseverance\nThe final virtue is Perseverance which I think most appropriate\nbecause it is the one that we most need to keep in mind in our living\nof the other values. Our religion teaches us that the world is an\nimperfect place, and nothing comes easy. We need to continue to seek\nafter that which we desire. In this imperfect world there are no free\nlunches or easy accomplishments--especially in the subjects we have\nset before ourselves. If we truly wish to build an Asatru community\nthat people will hold up as an example of what committed people can\ndo, then we must persevere through the hardships that building our\nreligion is going to entail. We must be willing to continue on when\nwe are pushed back. If one loses a job for ones religion, the answer\nis not to go back and hide, but to continue until one finds a vocation\nwhere one can more forward and live as an Asatruar should.\nFinally we must persevere when we simply fail. If one's kindred falls\napart because of internal strife, one should go back and start over.\nPick up the pieces and continue on. If nobody had done this after the\ndisintegration of the Asatru Free Assembly, this would probably never\nhave been written. We must be willing to continue in the hard work of\nmaking our religion strong--not just when it is convenient and easy to\ndo so, but when it gets hard, inconvenient, or just plain boring. To\naccomplish without striving is to do little, but to persevere and\nfinally accomplish a hard fought goal brings great honor.\nMAGIC\nAs with most Neo-Pagan religions, Asatru posits a belief in magic and\nthe spiritual realm. However, people must remember that the bedrock\nof Asatru is faith in the Gods, and magic is but a part of our customs\nand folklore, not a substitute for faith or something separate from\nit. Practicing magic, even magic of a Northern type, does not make\none Asatru, nor is the practice of magic a requirement to be an\nAsatruar or to perform rituals in honor of our Gods.\nThe most common type of magic found in the Asatru tradition is that of\nthe runes. The runes are a magical alphabet which in various forms\nwas found throughout the Germanic world. The most common form used in\nAsatru today is the \"Elder Futhark\" (runic alphabets are called\nfutharks, a word constructed from the first 6 runes) which is believed\nto be an older and more true form than the later versions such as the\nAnglo-Saxon set of 33 runes.\nPeople are most familiar with the use of runes for divinatory\npurposes, and they are indeed used for this purpose. Asatru believes\nthat there are forces, shaped by our past and the history of the\nworld, that affect the world and the way the future comes to be. We\nbelieve that the forces of Wyrd and Orlog (without a dissertation to\nexplain them fully, both words translate roughly to \"fate\") can be\nexamined and to some extent tell us what is going to happen. On the\nother hand, we do not believe in predestination. Future events are\nshaped by our actions, and we can change them. If we change our\nactions, we change the future. So the runes are not a perfect\nprediction of what will occur because the future is in flux. They\nare, however, an important tool for exactly the same reason.\nThe most common way to read the runes is to pull forth three runes\nrepresenting the past, present, and future. All of these are\nimportant, because only in looking at the past and present can we\nunderstand a prediction of what will occur in the future.\nHowever, divination is but a small part of runic magic. The runes are\nimportant and powerful symbols that represent the very forces that\nhold the nine worlds together, and they make very powerful\nmeditational symbols.\nThe runes are also useful in active magic. The most common way to use\nthem in this manner is to carve a \"bind rune\" or a symbol made up of\nmore than one rune, all of which together are intended to produce an\neffect. The most common of these would be a rune carved on a single\nline with one rune pointing to the left and the other to the right.\nHowever, the more complex a rune is, the more powerful it can become.\nFor more information on runes, consult the books recommended in the\nappendix.\nAnother important type of magic is called seidhr, which seems to have\nbeen a \"shamanic\" tradition within ancient Asatru. This type of magic\ninvolves going into a trance, and journeying to the other worlds.\nHere, one could journey to consult the spirits of nature, the Disir,\nor the ancestors. Unfortunately little information is left to us\nabout seidhr. We know that Freya was a skilled practitioner and that\nshe taught it to Odin. It was considered to be a woman's magic, and\nOdin is taunted about it by Loki. Although today most persons\nexploring seidhr are women, there is no such prejudice against men\ninterested in it.\nIn what records we do have, the trance of the seidhrwoman was created\nthrough another person singing songs or chanting while the seidhrwoman\nwas elevated on a platform. We don't know much else about the\npractice. However, around the world shamanic techniques are\nremarkably similar, and the main difference seems to be the cultural\ncontext, which provides a map to interpreting the otherworlds. The\nbest approach might to be explore some of the material on the general\nphenonenon of shamanism, and then apply that to what little we do\nknow.\nThe third major type of magic found in modern Asatru is \"galdr\" or\nchant magic. The simplest form of this is \"rune galdr\" or the simple\nchanting and \"vibrating\" of the sounds of the runes in order to invoke\ntheir powers.\nRAVEN KINDRED CALENDAR\nThe Raven Kindred meets on the first weekend of each month and for the\nfour major Norse holidays: Summer and Winter Finding (Spring & Fall\nEquinox), Summer Solstice, and Yule. Traditional festivals which have\nbeen moved to fit our monthly schedule have their traditional date in\nparenthesis. Festivals marked with a \"*\" are particular to the Raven\nKindred. There are other holidays which our kindred does not meet to\ncelebrate, but which are recognized by Asatru and celebrated on an\nindividual or family basis.\nSnowmoon/January\n1st weekend -- Frig's Distaff -- Celebration of Frigga and the home\n(Trad.1/2)\nHorning/February\n1st weekend -- Disting -- Celebration of Freya and the Disir (Trad.\n2/14 )\nLenting/March\n1st weekend -- Founding of the World. Celebration of Odin, Vili, and\nVe*\n3/21 -- Summer Finding - Celebration of the Goddess Ostara. Also a\ncelebration of the Raven Kindred's founding, Spring Equinox 1991.\nOstara/April\n1st weekend -- Alfarblot. Sacrifice to the elves and nature spirits\n(traditionally celebrated as part of Disting)\nMerry-Moon/May\n1st weekend -- May Day/Walpurgis. Celebration of spring which we\ndedicate to Njord and Nerthus. (Trad. 5/1)\nFallow/June\n1st weekend -- Festival of Mead dedicated to Aegir and also to Bygvir\nand Beyla*\n3/21 Summer Solstice -- Dedicated to Sunna, Goddess of the Sun\nHaymoon/July\n1st weekend -- Blot in honor of Baldr*\nHarvest/August\n1st weekend -- Freyfaxi, first harvest and celebration of Frey and his\nhorse (Trad. 8/1)\nShedding/September\n1st weekend -- Discovery of the Runes, celebration of Odin as the God\nof Wisdom (Odinic Rite holiday celebrated 8/25)\n9/21 Winter Finding -- Disirblot (Disirblot traditionally 10/13-10/15)\nHunting/October\n1st weekend -- Tyrblot, celebration of Justice and Honor. (Supreme\nCourt session begins 1st Monday in October)*\nFogmoon/November\n1st weekend -- Einjerhar, celebration of war-dead and Ragnarok\nDedicated to Odin and Freya (Trad. 11/11 -- Armistice Day)\nWolfmoon/December\n1st weekend -- Winterblot, dedicated to Skadi and/or Ullr*\n12/21 -- Yule, multiday festival dedicated to Thor et al\n(Traditionally a festival lasting from the Mother Night 12/21 to New\nYears Day)\nRAVEN KINDRED RITUAL OUTLINE\nThe Raven Kindred has developed a slightly different form of the Blot\nritual which we use. This has come to pass because of a desire for\nmore personal involvement as well as a smaller group of people than\nwould be appropriate for a major blot.\nThe major change, outside of a few cosmetic differences, is that we\nhave added a \"mini sumbel\" to the blot ritual in place of the\nsprinkling in which we offer three rounds of toasts: the first\ndedicated to the God or Goddess being honored and the remaining two to\nanything the participants deem appropriate which is not inimical to\nthe purpose of the blot. (i.e. don't toast the Jotnar during a\nritual to Thor.)\nSetting the mood: Chant to Odin, Vili, Ve\nTo begin each ritual we offer a three round chant of \"Odin, Vili, Ve.\"\nThis serves two purposes. First we are linking ourselves to the Gods\nof creation and thus to the connections between Midgard and the Gods.\nSecond and perhaps more appropriately it allows people to get\nthemselves mentally prepared for the service.\nHammer Rite\nWe offer an invocation to Fire and Ice which are the central elements\nof the creation of the world. We ask that the place we are meeting be\nblessed and Holy for the coming of the Gods.\nStatement of purpose\nWe far too often ignore this, but it's a good idea to have the Gothi\nor Gythia who is presiding greet the participants and state something\ngeneral about the purpose of the ritual. It need not be complicated\n\"We gather together today to celebrate the Winter Nights as our\nancestors did. To honor our ancestors, the Disir, and Freya the Great\nDis and to renew our bonds as a family [kindred].\"\nGeneral Prayer\nAt this point one of our members usually offers up a prayer to the\nAesir and Vanir collectively to thank them for their bounty since the\nlast time we met and to ask their blessings upon the kindred and its\nmembers.\nPersonal invocations\nWe reserve a time between the opening of the ritual and the blot\nceremony for people to offer any prayers or other invocations they\nfeel necessary. This is the time when we Profess new members of\nAsatru. Other activities done at this time have included a kindred\nmember thanking Saga, the Goddess of wisdom, for her recent graduation\nfrom college.\nInvoke deity of occasion\nAt this point we make a point to specifically invoke and honor the\ndeity that we are bloting. We attempt to list as many names and or\nfunctions of the God as possible and this serves a dual purpose in\nreminding the attendees of who the God is and why we are honoring Him.\nThis is, however, separate from the offering.\nMeditation\nAt this point we like to remind ourselves why we are here and what the\nGods mean to us. We sit and someone either offers a spoken meditation\nor more often reads a story from the mythology. While most of us\nenjoy the poetic edda, we usually use a modern prose version of the\nmyth as it is easier to follow.\nOffer/sanctify mead\nThe Gothi takes up the horn and his assistant (often called \"The\nValkyrie\" by Asafolk) fills it with mead. The Gothi then steps to the\naltar and holds the horn aloft and asks the God to partake of it and\ncharge it with his power.\nToast to the deity of occasion\nThis is when we begin to deviate substantially from the standard\nAsatru blot ritual. Beginning with the Gothi the horn is raised and a\ntoast drunk to the God. The horn is then passed around to the Folk\nand a personal toast repeated. The only rule here is that the round\nis dedicated to the God invoked. Many times the toasts are personal\nthanksgiving or requests for aid or wisdom.\nAt the end of the round the remains of the horn (and there should be\nsome) are poured into the blotbowl.\nRemaining toasts\nWe then take two more rounds to toast whatever Gods, ancestors, and\nbeings each person wishes. There is not necessarily any continuity\nfrom one person to the next. Brags or oaths are also appropriate at\nthis time. Professions, other major oaths, and major works of\nthanksgiving or praise are usually done before the blot. The second\nand third toasts are usually reserved for small things.\nThank deity\nFinally we always remember to thank the deity and ask for his\ncontinued blessings on the Folk present.\nOath Ring ceremony\nOur kindred has a ceremony that affirms our dedication to each other,\nto the kindred, and to the Gods. Each full Professed and accepted\nKindred member comes forward and takes hold of the oath ring. (We are\nblessed in having a 6\" diameter brass oath ring made for us by a\nkindred member.) One person then recites a rede concerning itself with\nthe symbol of a ring and something which connects us to the Gods, the\nEarth, and to each other.\nI should repeat, only kindred Members participate in this. If you\nhaven't sworn on the oath ring, you don't take part in the ceremony.\nWe have enlarged this at public events to all Professed persons, but\nchange the rede to remove references to the kindred.\nPour libation\nFinally we leave the Hof and pour a libation on the physical earth,\nadjourning outside to do so if we are indoors. The blot hitting the\nground signals that the ritual is truly over. When we are working\nindoors in a living room or other non-dedicated space I always make\nsure I am the first to return and extinguish candles, turn on electric\nlights, etc. This provides a good hint to people's minds that the\nritual is, in fact, over. If we had a dedicated space, the procession\noutside to pour the blot would also empty the Hof and we would adjourn\nto the feast rather than returning to the temple.\nHAILING THE SUN: A SAMPLE BLOT TO HONOR SUNNA AT THE SUMMER SOLSTICE\nThis ritual would be ideally performed at sunrise on the day of the\nsummer Solstice. If possible the folk should gather while it is still\ndark or even better, remain awake throughout the night in vigil. A\nsecondary time would be at noon on the Solstice. This ritual should\nnot be performed at night.\nAt any point in this ritual, within the realm of logic and dramatic\nflow, the parts marked as Gothi and Gythia may be shared among the\nfolk. In addition, the parts are not necessarily sex specific, but\nthe terminology is used as a convenience.\nSet Up: An altar should be placed in the center and the folk should\nform a circle around it, leaving space in the center for the \"action\"\nto take place. For this ritual you will need some sort of mead or\nbeer, a horn or chalice, an offering bowl, a hammer for consecrations,\nand a wheel of some sort, preferably a wagon wheel to symbolize the\nturning of the wheel of the year. Any reasonable tools may be\nsubstituted. The Wheel is placed on the ground near the altar or on\nthe altar with candles around the rim (unlit).\nConsecration of space\nThe Gothi goes to the center of the folk and forms the invocational\nposition of the elhaz rune, both hands in the air at a rough 45'\nangle.\nGothi: We gather here to honor our sacred lady Sunna, who on this\nSolstice Morning, reaches her height of power. All hail Sunna!\nAll: Hail Sunna!\nThe Gythia takes the hammer and walks to each of the four corners and\nconsecrates the space.\nGythia: Hammer, hallow and hold this holy stead, that it will be a\nfitting place for our worship of our sacred lady Sunna! Hammar, Helga\nve thetta ok hindra alla illska!\nGythia returns hammer to altar and faces the altar.\nGythia: I consecrate and hallow this altar to the work of our sacred\nlady Sunna! Here on this Solstice morning may the might of the Gods be\nbrought to our holy stead. May the warm light of Sunna heat our\nhearts and hold our spirits.\nGothi: Our holy lady watches and waits for the blot in her honor. Hail\nSunna!\nAll: Hail Sunna!\n(At this point it would be most appropriate for a song or reading to\nbe performed. It should obviously be about Sunna or the sun or\nsomething appropriate to the day.)\nInvocation\nGythia: Our lady Sunna is the light of knowledge, the warmth of love,\nand the heat of our passion. Let us spend a moment in silence,\ncontemplating those things which she brings us.\nLeave a few moments for silent prayers and meditation.\nGothi: Holy Sunna. Lady of the Sun. Light of the heavens. Ever\npursued and ever free. We gather to greet and welcome you and offer\nyou gifts on this day. We offer to you our prayers and love, our\ndevotion and strength, our kinship and honor.\nAll face the sun and form the elhaz posture.\nAll: Hail to thee Sunna, light of Har newly risen. She whose holy\nlight shone upon our ancestors of old and she who's light will shine\nupon our children. We give you hail and welcome. Fill our hearts on\nthis Solstice morning with your warm rays that your fires may burn in\nour hearts throughout the year. Hail Sunna!\nA few moments of silence are appropriate here.\nBlot\nGothi: Now it is time to offer sacrifice to our holy lady.\nGythia takes horn and Gothi fills it with mead. Gythia holds horn\nabove her head, in the direction of the sun.\nGythia: Here is our sacrifice, the essence of our love and spirit. We\noffer it to you as a token of our kinship and our love. As you drink\nof it, may your power fill this holy hlaut and feed our spirits.\nGythia drinks from the horn and it is then passed around the folk,\neach taking a drink, with the horn returning to the Gythia.\nGythia: Hail to thee Sunna!\nGythia pours remainder of horn into the offering bowl. Gythia and\nGothi take the bowl and evergreen sprig and walk around the folk,\nsprinkling the mead to the four corners and on the folk. Finally they\nreturn to the center and sprinkle the wheel.\nGothi: Hail the sacred wheel of the sun. Now it is the longest day of\nthe year and the sun is triumphant, but all changes and the wheel\nturns.\nGythia lights candles on the wheel and members of the folk take it up\nand parade it around the grounds. A song or chant would be\nappropriate at this time. \"The sun burns, the wheel turns!\" for\nexample. Once the procession is done (this decision should be based\non the subjective feelings of those involved and not planned out) the\nwheel should be returned to the altar.\nGothi & Gythia assume the invocation position\nGothi: Sacred Lady Sunna, Summer Sun now strongest. We thank you for\nyour blessings of warmth and light. May you reign long.\nAll: Hail Sunna! Hail Sunna! Hail Sunna!\nLibation\nGothi takes up the hlaut bowl.\nGothi: Now our rite is ended and the sacrifice is made. The wheel\nturns. To Sunna, to the Gods, to the Goddesses, and to Earth, mother\nof us all, we offer this holy mead, from the Gods to the Earth To us.\nFrom ourselves to the Earth to the Gods. Hail!\nGothi pours contents of the hlaut bowl on the ground, possibly in the\ncenter of the wheel. If this ritual is done indoors, the libation\nshould be poured outside afterwards. We usually trek outside\nimmediately even if the ritual is an apartment. The physical action\nof pouring the libation is an important psychological trigger to both\nGods and men that the ritual is over.\nA DAY IN THE LIFE: A BLOW BY BLOW ACCOUNT OF RUNNING A RITUAL\nOur rituals are held on the afternoon of the first Saturday of each\nmonth. We tell people to arrive at 2:00pm, and plan for a ritual at\n4:00 followed by a feast. This is a rough timeline, intended to\nshepherd people through a complete ritual from when one awakes in the\nmorning, to when people go home.\nAt least one week before, get invitations and/or schedules in the\nmail. If you give folks some sort of paper to hold onto they will be\nmuch less likely to forget about the ritual.\n9:00 Get up. Fritter away time answering e-mail, watching\nScooby-Doo reruns, etc.\n10:30 Clean the house. Get personal items such as bills and\ncheckbooks out of where people might see them. Stash excess books in\nbedroom. Sweep and vacuum floor. Clean kitchen, make sure the\ndishwasher is run and dishes put away so there will be enough for the\nFolk. Put any food or drink items away that one doesn't want the Folk\nto eat. Check altar, clean and dust it, offer a prayer and light the\n24 hour candle on it. Put out any new magazines or books of interest\non the coffee table.\n12:00 Shower and get dressed.\n12:30 First people arrive--at this point the only folks present are\na few \"core\" members of the kindred who are there to help, not just to\nattend. Immediately send people out to buy food and drink.\n1:30 Food arrives. Unpack it and determine what we've forgotten.\nPut out munchies, make sure beer/wine is chilling.\n1:45 Other \"core\" kinsman calls as he is about to leave for ritual\nsite, let him know what previous \"foraging\" trip failed to obtain (in\nour kindred's case, usually gravy mix), and have him/her stop to pick\nit up on the way. Arranging for someone living closeby to call just\nbefore leaving for exactly this purpose is a very good idea.\n2:00 First people begin arriving at house. This is when we tell\npeople to arrive, but generally they float in throughout the\nafternoon. As a few people begin to arrive, seek \"volunteers\" to help\nwith any food prep tasks that can be done at this point like slicing\nvegetables or making stuffing. When this is done, stash it in the\nrefrigerator.\n2:30 If everything has gone well, all the prep cooking stuff should\nbe done and the dishes used washed and dried. Hosts, cooking people,\nand organizers can now relax and socialize.\n3:45 Person who assured you last night they would be coming calls\nto announce they can't make it. Begin to get people to think about\nritual and divide up any parts that aren't previously spoken for. If\nyou are cooking something like a roast that requires more than an hour\nof cooking, put it in now. Get the ritual space cleared out and the\naltar set up. Take phone off hook or turn off ringer\n4:00 If you do so, get dressed (tunics, etc) for ritual. Begin\nRitual. If you have any new people, even if they purport to be\nAsatru, once you have gotten the candles lit, the blot-drink open, and\neveryone ready, go over each step of the ritual. This is also a good\nway to make sure that each person knows when their part is, and\nremembers that they are doing it.\nSet the mood: Chant to Odin, Vili, Ve--When the Gothi/person in charge\nis sure that everyone is ready, start the Odin, Vili, Ve chant. This\ngoes for three rounds.\nHammer Rite--Appropriate person steps forward and takes up hammer, and\nperforms hammer rite.\nStatement of purpose--Gothi ritually welcomes people to the blot and\nannounces what the purpose of the ritual is and otherwise reminds\npeople of why they have come together.\nGeneral Prayer--Someone steps forward to the altar and offers a prayer\nto all the Gods and Goddesses for their blessings and asking that they\nhelp us to have continud prosperity.\nInvoke deity of occasion--Gothi steps to front of altar, raises hands\nin Z position and calls for the God or Goddess of the occasion to come\nforth to Midgard.\nMeditation--Person leading meditation indicates that people should\nsit. A few moments of silence are offered for people to get\ncomfortable. Meditation is offered. When it is over, the keyword we\nusually use is \"rise now and receive the blessing of Odin (or\nappropriate god-name).\"\nOffer/sanctify mead--The Gothi takes up the horn and his assistant\n(called \"The Valkyrie\") fills it with mead. The Valkyrie replaces the\nbottle on the altar. The Gothi steps to the front of the altar and\nholds the horn aloft and asks the God to partake of it and charge it\nwith his power.\nToast to the deity of occasion--After offering the horn to the deity\nand making the first toast, the Gothi passes the horn to the person\nnext to him. If there are a large number of people the Valkyrie\nshould watch and if necessary come forward with the bottle to refill\nthe horn. At the end of the round the remains of the horn (and there\nshould be some) are poured into the blotbowl by the Gothi usually with\nsome appropriate words, and the Valkyrie then refills it. This\nprocess is repeated for the next two rounds.\nThank deity--The Gothi thanks the deity and bids him/her continue to\nwatch over the Folk.\nOath Ring ceremony--The Gothi takes up oath Ring and the full kindred\nmembers come forward and grab ahold. The recognized kindred leader\noffers up the rede. The Gothi then replaces the Ring on the altar.\nPour libation--Someone, often the Valkyrie, takes up the blotbowl and\nleads the people outside for the libration. The Gothi is the last\nperson to leave, and makes sure the door is closed, etc. After the\nlibation is finished, the Gothi hurries back to be the first one in\nand turns on the lights, which is an important cue to everyone that\nthe ritual is indeed over.\n5:00 Ritual Over. Put someone in charge of getting the room back\nto normal. Person in charge of food grabs a few \"volunteers\" and sets\nthem to work getting the rest of the food together. Other folks\nsocialize or help as they wish.\n5:30 Set tables and put out anything that people don't need to get\nfor themselves such as napkins, salt & pepper, butter, etc. Offer a\n\"last call\" for folks to get drinks before the food is served. Slice\nroast and anything else that needs to be. Get serving spoons where\nthey'll be needed or put food onto serving platters, etc.\n5:45 If you are serving food out of the kitchen bring it out. If\nyou aren't, cook and \"volunteers\" grab plates full and then announce\nfood is ready for the rest of the people. Much feasting ensues.\n5:55 Person who called at 3:30 announcing they couldn't make it\narrives. Says he called, but the phone was busy. Host puts it back\non hook.\n6:30 All the food being gone, the feast is declared over. Host is\nthrown out of kitchen and told to sit down while folks wash dishes and\nclean up. (If this doesn't happen, reconsider who is invited.)\n7:00 First person leaves. Hit everyone up for $$ for feast\ncontributions (this would be better done when they arrive, but it\nrarely happens that way). Write down anyone who doesn't have the cash\nand owes you. If this happens with any frequency, reconsider who is\ninvited.)\n8:00 Put The Vikings in the VCR.\n10:30 Vikings movie finishes. Most guests leave.\n11:30 Guests have drifted out until \"core\" kindred members are the\nonly folks left. Talk over ritual and how it went. Bitch and laugh\nabout flakey visitor who will never come back (you hope).\n12:30 Last people leave. Go to bed.\nHOW TO MAKE MEAD\nMead is one of the oldest drinks known to man. In the ancient Norse\ntradition it is beloved of both Gods and men. The patron God of mead\nand brewing is Aegir, a God of the sea, reckoned as one of the Giants,\nwho is the greatest of brewers. It is to him that the Gods went to\nwhen they wanted mead and ale brewed for Asgard. Bygvir and Beyla are\nservants of the God Frey; their names reckoned as \"barley\" and \"bee.\"\n\"Kvasir's blood\" is a kenning for mead. Kvasir was an early God, who\nwas murdered and his blood brewed into mead that gave wisdom. Snorri\ntells us that Odin ate no food, but drank only mead.\nIn modern Asatru, mead is an important part of our basic ritual known\nas the blot. In ancient times, the blot was a sacrifice in which the\nblood of a slaughtered animal was offered to the Gods. Today, we\ngenerally offer mead or ale in a similar manner.\nThe essence of brewing is a true wonder of nature. One introduces\nyeast in to a liquid that is rich in sugars. The yeast eats the sugar\nand excrete's alcohol. In wine, the liquid is grape juice. In beer,\nit is a mixture of water and malted grains. In mead, it is a mixture\nof honey and water, although occasionally people will mix in fruit for\nflavor.\nTo brew mead you will need the follow ingredients for each gallon of\nmead: 2 1/2 lbs of honey, 2 teaspoons of \"acid mix\" (Sold as pre-mixed\nin winemaking stores. It contains malic, tartaric, and citric\nacids.), 1 teaspoon of yeast energizer, one packet of wine yeast (1\npacket of yeast will do for 1P5 gallons of mead, I suggest champagne\nyeast and highly recommend against mead yeast. I have never had a\ndecent mead made with mead yeast. Bread yeast is absolutely not\nacceptable.). You usually make mead in 5 gallon batches.\nYou will also need some equipment. First, if you don't already have\none, you'll need a good quality pot that will hold at least 2 or 3\ngallons. It should be made of either stainless steel or\nenameled--your basic corn or lobster pot will do. Second, you'll need\na variety of goods sold at the local beer and winemaking store. If\nyou are just starting out, you are probably best off buying a kit\nwhich will contain the following: a five gallon plastic keg the cover\nof which has a hole in the center meant for a stopper (the primary\nfermenter), a plastic siphon hose attached to a piece of hard plastic\ntubing (a racking cane), a piece of hard plastic tubing molded into an\n\"S\" shape (an air lock), a little device that either looks like a tiny\nplunger or two pieces of plastic, one of which fits over the other (a\ncorker), a device that looks like a giant glass thermometer (a\nhydrometer), a bottle brush, a package of \"sanitizer,\" and a bag of\ncorks. Oh, you'll also get a little booklet that will give you\nhelpful advice on brewing grape wines. I've found these booklets are\ngenerally good, but tend to go into more work than is necessary for\nmead.\nThe kit will run around $30P$50, and the individual items about a\nthird more than that if you buy them separately. If you are buying\nthem separately, you don't really need the hydrometer and you can use\nhousehold bleach instead of the sanitizer. The yeast and chemicals\nwill run you another $10, and the honey another $20. I recommend\nlooking at a health food store, where you can often get higher quality\nall-natural honey in different varieties and larger quantites at\nprices much cheaper than at the supermarket. Most beer and winemaking\nstores will be happy to sell you bottles, but I recommend asking at a\nlocal restaurant as they are usually eager to get rid of a few. You\ncan't reuse corks. This is all you need. Your bill for making your\nfirst 5 gallons will be about $80, and will make 20 or so bottles. So,\nthe cost for home-brewed mead is around $4/bottle for the first batch,\nand $1.50 thereafter.\nMaking mead is easy. First find a good quality pot that will hold 2P5\ngallons. It should be either stainless steel or ceramic coated (a\n\"corn\" or \"lobster\" pot is usually a good bet). Rinse it out either\nwith the sanitizer (following the directions on the package) or with a\n10P20% bleach solution. This is to sterilize it. Everything you use\nmust be completely sterile, including any spoons or siphons or\nanything else that comes in contact with the mead including your\nhands. Of course, after sterilizing everything rinse the bleach in\nhot water until you can't smell it, and then rinse it a bit more for\ngood measure. The reason for sterilizing is that yeasts naturally\npresent in air can contaminate your mead, and unlike the helpful\nyeasts mentioned above, most airborne yeast excrete vinegar rather\nthan alcohol.\nDissolve the honey in water, and bring it to a boil, adding the acid\nmix and yeast energizer. If your pot will fit all 5 gallons of water,\nthat's great. Otherwise just put in enough water to dissolve the\nhoney. Bring the mix to the boiling point, and skim off the \"scum\"\nthat floats to the surface. If you wish to add fruit, like a handful\nof berries or apple slices, do this now and cook until they are soft\nand/or dissolved and then strain them out. If you don't want to go\nthrough this, jelly makes an easily dissolved additive. If you do\ndecide to add fruit, make allowances for the qualities of the fruit.\nIf you are adding something tart or acidic like strawberries or\nrasberries, reduce the amount of acid mix you add to the brew.\nOnce you've brought the mix to a boil or boiled down the fruit, pour\nthe mixture into your large vat--which you have sterilized with bleach\nmix and rinsed while you were waiting for the mead to heat up. (Most\nbooks recommend siphoning it into the primary fermenter (the large\nplastic vat), so I suppose I should as well, but to be honest I've\nalways poured it. At the boiling point, there's only so much that can\ncontaminate the mixture.) If the pot you boiled the honey and water\nmixture wouldn't hold enough water, add the remainder to the fermenter\nnow. If you aren't going to be able to boil all the water, which will\ncause most of the trapped gasses to escape, you will probably want to\nuse bottled water.\nPut on the cover and let the mixture cool to room temperature. If it\nis hot, it will kill the yeast. Once it's cool, mix the yeast with a\ncup of water in a small bowl and let it get rehydrated for 10P20\nminutes, then open the primary fermenter, and add the yeast. This is\ncalled \"pitching\" the yeast. Close the fermenter, and put on the\nairlock.\nThe airlock is a nifty little piece of hard plastic tubing, bent into\nan \"S\" shape--looking and acting a lot like the drain pipe under the\nsink. You put some water in it (about 1/2 an inch on each side of the\n\"S\",\" and the escaping gasses from the fermentation will push their\nway through the water in the airlock. This allows the pressure to\nescape, but leaves the fermenter sealed so nothing can get in from the\noutside. (You'll understand it when you see one.) In anytime from a\nday to a week from when you put the cover and airlock on, gasses will\nbegin to bubble out of the airlock showing you that the mead is\nfermenting. All the books tell you this will start within a day, but\nsometimes it takes a little longer. If it doesn't start in a week,\nconsider throwing in another packet of yeast and a teaspoon of yeast\nenergizer. You might also see if the room you have placed your\nfermenter in is too cold. (Cement floors in basements radiate a lot\nof cold and will slow your fermentation to a crawl, even if the room\nis heated.) I've had best results with the fermenter between 65P75!.\nYou might also take some care not to put the fermenter on a carpet.\nSometimes the fermentation will go berserk and foam will ooze out of\nthe airlock during the first week. Usually this only happens with\nbeer, but it can be a mess, so the fermenter should probably stay in\nthe kitchen.\nIn one to three months, you will see the fermentation slow to a stop\nor near stop. This happens either because the yeast has converted all\nthe sugar to alcohol, or, more likely, there is a sufficient amount of\nalcohol to kill the yeast (how did this stuff ever evolve?). This is\nanother reason for using champagne yeast--it is tolerant of higher\nlevels of alcohol, so you will get a much stronger brew.\nYou then need to bottle your mead. Soak the corks in water for at\nleast an hour if not a day before you bottle, to get them soft and\npliable. Sterilize the bottles, and the racking cane and tubing. The\nracking cane is a siphon devide with the intake about a 1/2 inch above\nthe bottom level, so you don't get any of the yeast sludge into the\nbottles. The sludge is pretty disgusting looking and tastes twice as\nbad. You want to make sure not to disturb it. This means not\nswishing around the racking cane. It's also helpful to put the\nprimary fermenter up on the table a few hours before you are going to\nbottle, so any sludge disturbed will have time to settle. One more\nthing--always siphon, never pour the mead, and sterilize the siphon\nand racking cane.\nFinally, you need to cork the bottles. Most kits come with one of two\ntypes of corking devices. Both push the cork through a narrowing\npassage that compreses it, so it will fit into the bottle neck and\nthen expand, forming a seal. The first is a plunger style device,\nwith a hole in the side. You put the cork in, and place the whole\ndevice over the bottle, and then push down on the plunger and the cork\nslides into the bottle. The second type of corker (and the one I\nprefer) consists of two pieces of plastic. One is hollow, and you\nplace the cork inside of it. You then fit the second piece, over the\nfirst. It has a stopper inside which pushes the cork down through the\nhollow piece, into the neck of the bottle. I find this latter type a\nbit more stable. I was always tipping over bottles with the plunger\ntype, this doesn't seem to happen with the two piece one. Very\noccasionally you'll get corks that simply won't go in. This is\nusually due to a knot hidden in the middle of the cork. It usually\nmeans chipping the cork out of the corker with a knife or pushing it\nback the way it came.\nWe've found the bottling works best in teams of three, one holding the\ntop of the racking cane in the fermenter (and avoiding the yeast\nsludge), a second at the bottom of the siphon filling the bottles, and\na third person corking the full bottles. When we get down to the part\nwith the sludge, we usually put that in a separate bottle and drink it\nas soon as its marginally clear to \"test\" the mead. It will probably\ntaste horrid, but this will change with age. If it's vinegar, start\nbuying salad oil because there's not a lot more you can do other than\nmake dressing.\nOnce corked, set aside to age until the mead clears. It's best to age\nit from four to six months, but at least give it time to clear. During\nthis time you can get occasional problems. Primarily, if fermentation\nhasn't entirely stopped, it will continue in the bottle. This is how\nyou get the pressure in champagne and sparkling wines and it can make\na wonderful sparkling mead The problem is that champagne bottles are\ndesigned to hold high pressure, and the cork is a special type\n\"locked\" on with a metal cage. If you get too much pressure, the\ncorks will pop out of the bottles usually spraying mead all over the\nplace (this happened to us when a heat wave started the fermentation\nagain and increased the pressure). There's no real remedy for this,\nit's part of the fun and actually quite rare. If the bottles you open\nseem to be sparkling, then beware of this and store your mead\nsomeplace cool and uncarpeted. If they aren't sparkling I wouldn't\nworry about it. Look on the bright side, the crown caps on beer\nbottles don't pop off, so when the pressure gets too high, the bottle\nexplodes.\nDrink and enjoy.\nBasic mead recipe:\n12 pounds of honey\n10 t acid mixture\n5 t yeast energizer\n1 package champagne yeast\nDissolve honey in water. Bring to a boil. Add acid mix and yeast\nenergizer. Pour into fermenter. Allow to cool. Pitch and add yeast.\nSOURCES AND RESOURCES FOR ASATRU\nCopyright )1994 by Lewis Stead, permission granted for free\ndistribution. Please send additions and corrections to Lewis Stead;\n11160 Veirs Mill Rd L15-175; Wheaton MD 20902 or through e-mail to\n[email protected].\nORGANIZATIONS:\nThe Ring of Troth P.O. Box 25637; Tempe, AZ 85285-5637 The Ring is an\ninternational organization for Norse Pagans of any type. It is\ngoverned by an appointed High Rede of 9 persons who guide the national\naffairs of the Ring. They offer a number of programs including an\nElder training program for prospective clergy, and recognition for\nlocal Kindreds. Dues are $24 and include a subscription to Idunna.\nIf one does not wish to join, Friends of the Troth may receive Idunna\nfor $24 as well. Family memberships are $33 and include 1 copy of\nIdunna.\nThe Raven Kindred Association 11160 Veirs Mill Rd L15-175; Wheaton MD\n20902 The Raven Kindred Association offers correspondence connections,\nhelp with setting up kindreds, regional coordination, booklets and\npamphlets as well as sponsoring a New Year's/Yule Thing. Membership\nis available to kindreds or individuals who agree with the RKA\nDeclaration of Principles. The RKA strongly encourages its members to\njoin other affiliations in addition to the RKA.\nSkergard 9155 Dyer (#B-80-158); El Paso, TX 79924 Skergard is a small\nalliance in the SouthWest with three kindreds and a journal. They are\ngoverned by a High Rede and Asst. High Rede, in conjunction with a\ncouncil of Gothar, representing each God or Goddess.\nKindreds:\nAsatru Fellowship of Illinois; 858 W. Armitage (Suite 139); Chicago,\nIL 60614\nAsatru Fellowship of Ohio; PO Box 271; Carrollton, OH 44615\nBarnstokker Garth; PO Box 1972; Seattle, WA 98111\nChimney Rock Kindred; PO Box 448; Bayard, NE 69334\nDragon's Hearth; 1015 Rutledge Ave; Phoenixville, PA 19460\nErntefreude Hearth; 322 Cedar Ave; Highland Park, NJ 08904\nEyvindr Hearth; 210 Alamo; Las Vegas, NM 87701\nFire and Ice Kindred; PO Box 10036; Cranston, RI 02910\nFirst Iowa Church of Asatru; 1600 Buterfield (Suite #211); Dubuque, IO\n52001\nFreya's Folk Hearth; 537 Jones St #165; San Francisco, CA 94102\nFridrik Kindred; PO Box 1245; Frederick, MD 21702\nGarrison Hearth; RD3 Box 298; Averill Park, NY 12018\nGring Thod; PO Box 8062; Watertown, NY 13601\nGlen Vdis Hearth; 19710 63rd Lane NE; Seattle WA 98155\nGray Wolf Kindred; PO Box 441308; Indianapolis IN 46244\nHamilton Hearth; 15558 Spangler Rd; Dillsboro, IN 47018\nHamm Hearth; PO Box 8152; Bridgeport, CT 06605-0996\nHammer Oak Kindred; 1517 San Francisco (Suite #4); Berkeley, CA 94703\nHammer of Thor Kindred; PO Box 222514; Carmel, CA 93922\nHammerstead Kindred; PO Box 22379; Lexington, KY 40522\nHeidentor Hearth; 1314 1/2 Lindsley St; Sandusky, OH 44870\nHerig Hearg; PO Box 7055; Bryan OH 43506\nHrafnaheimr Garth; 7954 West Third St; Los Angeles, CA 90048\nHrafnar Garth; PO Box 5521; Berkeley, CA 94705\nIrminsul Garth; PO Box 18812; Austin, TX 78760\nMargivegr Group; 1550 Larimer (Suite #170); Denver, CO 80202\nMoonstar Hearth; 1264-L Sheridan Dr.; Lancaster, OH 43130\nMountain Moot Kindred; PO Box 328; Elizabeth, CO 80107\nNund Bara Garth; PO Box 4371; Sunland, CA 91041\nNordland Hearth; PO Box 596; Marshall, MN 56258\nRatakosk Kindred; PO Box 216; Sherwood, OR 97140\nRaven Kindred North; PO Box 1137; Sturbridge, MA 01566\nRaven Kindred South; 11160 Veirs Mill Rd L15-175; Wheaton, MD 20902\nRavenswood Kindred; PO Box 212; Sheridan, IN 46069\nRavenwood Sibja; PO Box 1012; Grand Canyon, AZ 86023\nSkergard Garth; PO Box 1755 (Suite #250); Nederland, CO 80466\nSkergard's Fjallagard Hearth; PO Box 233; Rollinsville, CO 80474\nSkergard's Fjallaheim Hearth; 10621 Birthstone; El Paso, TX 79925\nSkergard's Naglfar Hearth; 6856 Amster Rd; Richmond, VA 23225\nTorwald Kindred; PO Box 417; Rollinsville, CO 80474\nUllrshavn Hearth; PO Box 84396; Fairbanks, AK 99708\nUllsbekk Kindred; PO Box 1156; Denver, CO 80201\nVlissinger Garth; 4019 164th St (Suite #586); Flushing, NY 11358\nVrilhof Hearth; PO Box 472; Cambridge, MA 02139\nWednesbury Thod; Route 1, Box 120; Huntsville, MO 65259\nWolfraven Steading; PO Box 1349; Browns Mills, NJ 08015\nYggdrasil Kindred; PO Box 23940; Tucson, AZ 85734\nZakharias Steading; 984 East 900 South; Salt Lake City, UT 84105\nHlidhskjalf Garth; 1513 Thurlow St; Orleans Ontario K4A-2K9 CANADA\nNorthern Light Hearth; PO Box 8427; Victoria, BC V8W-3S1 CANADA\nWolf's-Joint Hearth; PO Box 36097; Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J-3S9 CANADA\nRecommended Magazines:\nIdunna -- $24/year. The journal of the Ring of Troth. Idunna\nconcentrates on fairly heavy academic subjects, runelore, translations\netc within a religious framework.\nAsatru Today -- $15/year, 11160 Veirs Mill Rd L15-175; Wheaton, MD\n20902. Independent Asatru journal. Concentrates on modern religious\nAsatru with community news and announcements.\nFjallabok -- $24/year, P.O. Box 233; Rollinsville, CO 80474. Monthly\nmagazine which also acts as newsletter for Skergard. General Asatru\narticles and some controversial opinions.\nTheod -- $15/year. P.O. Box 8062, Watertown, NY 13601. Journal of\nTheodish Belief, the ancient Anglo-Saxon religion very closely related\nto Asatru. Digest sized with nice layout.\nThe Runestone -- $10/year; P.O. Box 445; Nevada City CA 95959.\nPublished by Stephen McNallen & Maddy Hutter, this is the\nreincarnation of the AFA's seminal journal on Asatru. Interesting\ncommentary, interested in heroic viking past.\nRecommended Books:\nA Book of Troth by Edred Thorsson (Not a book without imperfections,\nbut presents the basic rituals of Asatru).\nMyth and Religion of the North, E.O.G. Turville-Petre (Excellent\nacademic introduction to Norse mythology.)\nThe Norse Myths, Kevin Crossley Holland (basic mythology in modern\nlanguage and retelling, excellent for readings or meditation)\nOur Troth by The Ring of Troth & Friends of the Troth. (A huge volume\nof Norse rituals and belief compiled by The Ring of Troth from its\nmembers and associates. Highly Recommended. $17 postpaid for Ring of\nTroth members, $25 for non-members.)\nThe Poetic Edda, Lee Hollander translation (basic mythology in an\nexcellently translated poetic version.)\nThe Prose Edda, Jean Young translation (basic mythology)\nRhinegold, Stephan Grundy. (Novel retelling the Volsung Saga, written\nfrom a modern Asatru Viewpoint. Gives an excellent picture of ancient\nGermanic life and religion.)\nThe Raven Kindred Ritual Book (basic text on Asatru ritual and\nbeliefs, $8 from Asatru Today. Available for free download from\nonline services or Moonrise BBS at (301)J593-9609 or e-mail to\n[email protected].\nThe Road To Hel, and any other works by H.R. Ellis-Davison (All her\nworks are excellent introductions to Norse myth and worldview)\nTeutonic Religion, Kveldulfr Gundarsson (basic text on modern Germanic\nPaganism.)\nComputer Network Resources:\nThere is a Runes & Asatru conference on the Pagan/Occult Distribution\nSystem (PODSnet). The following are long term stable boards: The\nMountain Oracle, Colorado: 719-380-7886, Mysteria, California:\n818-353-8891, Sacred Grove, Washington State: 1-206-322-5450,\nMoonrise, Maryland/DC: 301-593-9609, Baphonet, New Jersey:\n1-201-434-5026, Pandora's Box, Ottawa Canada: 613-829-1209, PODS,\nSydney Australia: 61-2-833-1848, PODS Melbourne Australia:\n61-3-796-2180.\nThe Troth Line is an internet mailing list for Asatru. To subscribe,\nsend a message to [email protected] consisting of the following\nmessage: \"subscribe troth \". The list itself is at\n[email protected]. The list operates by echoing messages to your\ne-mail account and is accessable through America Online, CompuServe,\nDelphi, and tens of thousands of other locations.\nAn excellent FTP archive of Pagan material can be found at\nftp.lysator.liu.se and includes a section dedicated to Asatru and\nNorse Paganism.","title":"Ravenbok","type":"page"}