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1IHODINISTINTHOLOGY .

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AN ODINIST ANTHOLOGY TABLE OF CONTENTS

......................................hy ASatr;? -..................ow Chr is t ian i t y Come to Northern Europe 6Sme od in is t Va lues ............................ * . * . 1 3..............................ietzsche and Odlnim 14...................................n I n di v id u a li t y 18..................................n Human Eff ort 19....................................etageneti~s 21'Fate" i n Asatru by Edred Thorsson . . * . -2i s a t r i : One Man's Reason by A . J. Dlllon-Davis . * . . . . . * . . 2 9

.............................din: A God i n Cri sis 33...............................he Ho ne r of Thor 36The Vanir . His tor ica l Background . . -3Frey ...........................................41Freya .......................................... 3....................................erthus/NJord 44S c a n d i n ~ ~ i a l ~unes ............................... 4 6.....................unecast by Jeffrey R e Redmnd .........eligion and Relevance *.....*54TheNewNoose .................................... 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Womans Place by Al i ce Rhoades -5Totalltarianlsm by George Saunders .. . . . 0.61

...........................he i s a t r i ~ r e e s s e m b ~ ~ -6.....................ecomnended Reading fo r Od in is ts 66m p g e s t o n e .................................... 7

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PREFACE PRELUDE

WHY ASATRU?T h i s anthology represents some of the contents of THE

RUNESTONE over a span of more than ten Years, from issu enumber two almost to the Prese nt. During th is decade-longhis tory of pub1 1cat ion, THE RUNESTONE and the organizationwhich 1t represents underwent a mu1 t i tude of changes, becom-in g more so~histicated,broader i n perspective, and morepol ished i n Presentation w i t h the Passage of time, Hopefullythe reader will be able to trace this evolution.This c o l l ~ c t i o ~s designed to Provide the Person newto Odinisml, or Asatru, w ith something beyond the si n l eleaflets which may have been his or her introduction to there1 igion. I t i s by vo means comprehensive, b u t i t will givethe st ude nt of Asatru a wealth of information which w i l l makei t ea si er to Proceed on to othe r sources of gre ate r depth andc o m l e x i t ~ . I n this respect It f i l l s a gap which has longbeen an irritant to new asat ruarar2,The articles have been edited for gramnotical andtypogra~hicalerrors, and i n some cases they have been"tightened upn by deletion of irrelevancies, b u t the flavorof the original has been kept - blemishes and a l l . Our be-ginnings were humle, to say the leas t, and the fi rs t funb-l i n g a t t w t s to Present our world-view seem a li t t le p i t i -able from today's standpoint, B u t every venture has to beginsomewhere, and we have come a long, long way from tho se ea rl ya t t emt s t o p u t thoughts to Paper, This slim volume is pre-sented i n the firm be1 ief tha t gut- Jgurney has barely begun,and that THE RUNESTONE and the Asatru Free Assembly w i l lattain heights which today cannot even be seen because ofthe clouds which obscure the s m i t of a cc on l ishment.

I would like to thank the authors of these selectionsfor th eir support, along w ith Prudence, f lodd~ , and Ar iel .I t cou ldn' t have been done without them.S e ~ h e n . McNal 1enDenaic California 1982

a I

This i s a reworked vers ion of the or i g ina l f ly er we wrote to promote Asatru .in one form or another since the early 1970s. and st i l l con stitute s a good ovsubject - hence i t s choice as the f i rs t se lect i on i n our anthology.For thousands of years our ancestors surged across land and sea iconquest, trad e, and explor atio n t ha t has come down in sto ry and is t i r our imaginations even today. The Vikings took Part i n thisthe relat ed Germanic tri bes on the European continent. We the irwhether Scandinavian, Engl ish, German, Dutch, Frank1sh, or relatedraw upon these mighty forefathers for our inspiration today.Courage, vi tal ity , and love of freedom are our sp iri tua l bUS examine tpat iqherl tance, as e x m l f led i n our an ces tra l re1 iOdinism; or esat ru.Asatru places an exceptionally h igh value on hunan freedomviduality, This applies b o t h i n worldly and i n spiritual mattersstrong that we honor our deiti es, b u t do not grovel before them.gods and goddesses are models, inspi rdt ions, self-aware person if forc es of Nature and even frie nds , bu t never are they our masteslaves, W do not bo w befo re them when we ca ll on them, nor do whuman sovere ignty to them, W do not beg from them, sa cr if ic in g handout, I t i s t rue that Odin, our h i g h god, is called "All Fatdoes not imply inferiority or submissiveness on our part. Amongples3 and i n Germanic society generally, defiance and strength ofsidered favorable traits i n children, for they indicated a C O Presponsibili t y and independence. So 1t is petwep us and our goThe family is one of the pil la rs of Asatru, BY tradition always been devoted to their family, clan or extended family, anorganic social forms are as imortant as ever. This is not mereis a guarantee of l ib er ty, Where the family and it s natural extfunctio ning Properly, the power of competing en ti ti es , such as thbe limited . Where they ar e nonexistent or crippled, a ll wwer gState by default, and freedom dies.W beli eve i n the efficacy of human action, By heroic actake your life i n your hands and be the master of your sou l. Yopawn of historical forces, condermed to whine about being barn innever made". Fate, th e momentum of past events, is something YO

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Courage i s one of the more cons~ icuou sNorthern v i tues. We of isatrl ;are taught to t ra in ourselves i n courage - the courage to face an enemy i n bat-tle, to ri sk a1 1 to do what i s right , to defend our be1 efs, and to be uncomro-mising with ourselves. Freedom, family, and tri be would not lon g ex is t withoutcourage. I t is a Part of a str inge nt code of conduct, o f honor, perm it t ing nosh irk ing of one's duties, no oathbreaking, and no ignoble acts,Needless to say, a l l these values are under ass aul t today. The economicslave masters, the beha viori sts, the gene tic engineers who would remove ourasgressiveness, the follower 8 o f slave sods, a l l who preach the grey glo balmonoculture - these cannot to le ra te the exis tence o f th e fr ee man and woman, the

unchained ones, because the comparison shows th e i r weakness. There i s a con-certed effort underway to pull down the fre e ways o f our ancestors and replacethem wit h a combination of the sheep flo ck and the an th il l, Now more than ever,we need a return to our natural fai th, the rel j9i onl of our ancestors,So much fo r the socia l im li ca t i on s o f Asatru. What do Odinists believeabout the supernatural, an a ft er 1 fe, and othe r usual re1 giou s concerns? Weare supported by modem physics and by ~a r a ~ sy ch o lo g ~hen we sta te th at t he reare oth er worlds o f bei ng than our own, and our gods J&, as surely as you,o r I,

Our dei tie s are several, each concerned wit h a di ff er en t aspect of theunivers e. Odin i s Father of the Gods, god o f wisdom and poe try and magic, Thori s the stalwart f r ie nd of the farmer, the freeholder, the warrior, and to i l er .Frey governs growth, JOY, and Pros~ er iy , Balde r ep i omizes courage temperedwith goodness.But a rel igi on without a goddess i s halfway to atheism, Frigga i s thewi fe of Odin and mother o f th e gods. Freya is the beaut i fu l l i fe-g iver , theeternal feminine, Nerthu s i s our be loved Mother Earth, whom we seek to he al ofher wounds,The Germanic concept of an af te rl i f e i s fu l l y consistent with our otherbeli efs. Those who l i v e worthy li ve s go to the realm o f the gods, Asgard, af te rdeath, Evild oers and oathbreakers are sent to a Place of et er na l gloom, cold,and fog. There'is also a persi stent tra dit io n of reincarnat ion with in thefamily l in e i n Asatru,

Tragic al y, the forced conversion o f the Germanic Qeoples to Ch ris tia ni yresul ted in the loss of much of the anc ient re l ig ious be l iefs and ~ra c t i ce s ,What survived, however, was su ff ic ie nt to ensure that the s p lr i ual essence o fOdinism would be ava i ab le t o modern man, For those who Dossess the necessa rycourage, devotion, and w i 11, the ?o ss ig il i y of achiev ing d i re c t contac t w i hthe sp ir it ua l forces inherent i n Asatru remains viable . For others, a genuine

but lesser degree of conta ct wit h these wellspring s o f wisdom and possible.Our f ai th i s Pract iced i n numerous ways. We celebrate the equinoxes5 as par t of the endless cycle o f the year, and we observphases of the noon. There are other sp ecial days i n which we honogoddesses or remember gre at pe rsonages now gone on to the Othe r Wus must pra ctic e alone, but where possib le we organize to ca rry oumonies and to promote fe l lowshi p among our b roth ers and sis te rs nothe i r r igh t fu l t r ib e, Our organizat ional s t ruc ture cons ists of a archy, wit h each congregation or "kindred" lar ge ly autonomous. Thtem i s designed to maximize those values of freedom and sel f-r eli anhold so dear.Basically, though, our rel i gi on Is a matter of everyday l i fi nco rmra t e i t in to everyt hing we do. Every time we dis pla y couraagainst tyranny and bureaucracy, are h os ~l ta bl e o guests, o r helpenvironment, we are performing a rel ig ious act. Our grow a ct iv itexp lora tion and adventure, ind ivi dua l expression, and comnunion wsp ir i tu al forces, Loyalty and brotherhood m n g members i s recogsupreme virtue. W st ri ve always to lmld our characters so as to our ki n6 and our gods,The pre ser vat ion of our freedoms, and the continuance of oumands a retur n to our nat ive re1 sio n. We cannot offer you a 1 fe ease, W do of fe r you a chance to grow in courage, se lf -r el lance,W do of fe r an opportunity t o grow c loser t o nature i n the prac t icol d ri tu al s of our ancestors, to celebrate the progress of the setake of th e essence of our people. We of fe r you a chance to f ig hna l str ug gl e between the fr ee and the slave, between those who w1 fe on t hi s pl ane t and those who would destroy i t , I f t h i s s t r i ksiv e chord i n your soul, i f th is i s more im orta nt than haying $Jgion as a crutch - jo in us i n the freedom and adventure of AsatruWant t o l ea rn yore?# Subscribe to THE RUNESTONE a qua rte rOdinlsm. Write to: Asatru Free A s s ~ ~ ~ ~ Y J,O.Box 1832, Grass V

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HOW CHRISTIANITY CAME TO NORTHERN EUROPEI ITo understand the re-emergence o f Asatru we should f ir st know how C hris tina i ty came to rep laceOur ancestra l be l ie fs . Host peop le do not rea l iz e the,b loodshed , po l i t i cs , and incred ib lefnvestment of ef fo rt tha t was needed to supplant Aratru in the Northlands. Inposing thea r t i f i c i a l o v e r t he n a t u r a l i s n e ve r ea sy .Th is a r t i c l e i s an ear ly one, appear ing In Issue nunbcr s ix o f THE RUNESTONE - hemanner of the conversion (perversion?) to Ch ris tia nit y has long been a matter of importanceto the Odinist movement.

Few myths about Ch ris tia nit y are as a1 1-pervading as the myth tha t Ch ris tia nit yhas spread i t s Gospel around the world by peaceful conversion and the use oflove and reason, and few l ie s have served the C hri sti an cause more fa1 th ful ly eM i 11 ons o f people throughout the e arth have been taught from ch 11dhood that 1was peaceful conquest, not force, tha t brought Ch rls tla ni y to the pagan Peoplesof the world,Ulr ist ia nltY D on both i t g munpne and i t s mystical levels, i s the anti -thesis of h u m freedom and of Asotru. I t has always been the tradl ional 'opponent o f the Viking ethic , and i t was Christ ianity that set the old relig iono f the Norsemen into dec line, Thus i t behooves us to set hi sto ry stra ight, andto examine more closely the process by which Northern Europe became convertedto the Christ ian cam.O ff ic ia l history, i n one of many monunental oversights, to ta ll y ignoresthat there were people whO dled defending thelr heathen7 beliefs - pagan martyrs.I n NO~WQY, i t was Olaf Tryggvason and Ol af t he Ho ly who gain ed fame as propa-gators of the new re1 glon , As one source puts 1 , "These two waged unceasingba tt le against the heathen gods, smashing th el r idols , burnin g the lr temples,and e i t h e r d r i v in g ou t t h e l r f o ll o wers o r ~ u t t l n ghem to a painful death in thename of Chr lst" . I n Ha lo g a la n d , e s~e c ia l l~ ,en clung with tenacity to Odinand Thor, One Eyvlnd K ln n rl fl was to rtu red wit h red-hot embers u n t il he die d -s t i l l a heathen. b u d the Powerful, another infl uen tla1 followe r o f the ol dways, was also to rtu re d to death, Tryggvason then had the ga ll to approp riateRaud's sh ip fo r hi s own use, renamed "Long Serp entw , Th orl i e f t he Wise wasanother man who coul d not be threatened from h is be1 efs, and he Presen ted theChr lstla ns w lth something of a s ~ e c i a l roblem; because of h is great wisdom andamtable Perso nality, no one could be found to murder him. Klng Olaf en1 ls te dthe ai d of H all fre d the Icelander to put him to death or, fa il ins that, to atlea st b l nd hlm. The would-be assasln succeeded i n takin g one of T ho rl le f'seyes, but was moved by shane o r pity, and could not find i t In hlmself to takethe oth er. Thus was Thor lle f, l i k e the god Odin to whom he was true, l e f t wlt hbut one eve,6

Even in Iceland, where Olaf Tryggvason hlmse lf di d not lesion and where scholar Lee M, Hollander remarks on the "absencefanat ic ism" on the part o f the Chr is t ians, we f i nd the usual hati an missionary ac t i vi ty , The evangelic al band led by the pr iedescrlbed i n flJalls Saga as going on. " to F l o ts h l i d and preach iThe strongest opposit io n come from Ve rt rl d i the Poet and hi s sk i 1 ed Ve rt rl d l ". DesPi te Thangbrand's considerable successesleas t nominal Chri st ians out o f the Icelanders, he st i l l went tp l a l n l n g o f ill reatment, The great Chr ist ia n King o f Norway Icelan ders i n hi s count ry rounded up and cast in to the dungeon, the order to have them put to death, The only reason thls grisnot c ar ri ed out was because two Icelander s, Gizur the White andJason, offe red t o sai 1 to th ei r homeland and preach Chrl st i anl tt a n t s o f t h e i s la n d (N la l ' s m, Chapter 104). I t was the se tt he A lt hi ng , I ce la nd 's g r ea t le s l s l a t i v e ond J u d ic i a l ~ ~ ~ e mget Chr ls t lan i ty accepted as the s ta te religion. The man who mdeclslon (which was, as the saga relates, a w l l t i c a l one desigspread ci v i 1 war from ren ding the countr y) was a heathen, one TPr ies t, Despite hls de cision whlch made Iceland a Chrls t lan nota in a1 owonces fo r re 1 glo us freedom. His words were, "The peing on these prac t ices openly sha ll be outlawry, but they sha lable i f they are done In priva te". Imnedlately af te r thl s sencontinues pare nthetlc ally, "Within a few years a l l these heatheabsolutely forbidden, in p r iv a te as we l l as in pub lic" . Thus dsure o f the t rad i t iona l Ice land i$ f reedom d ie .Ch r l s t l a n persecution of ~ s at r; was not 1 mite d to IcelaScandinavlo; other G em nl c heathens elsewhere were subject to s ion . In Ho l lander 's in t roduc t ion t o po et ic he remaf i r e and sword wrought more conversions i n the Herovinelan kingand England than did peaceful missionary ac t iv ity , so too i n tht l e would have been heard of sagas, Eddic lays, and skal dic Dobeen fo r the fortu nate existence of the pol i ical refuge of remDespl te the ho rri ble deeds of the Ch rist ians i n Icelond, the reout the Te utonic wo rld was even more severe. The Church aimedthan the e xt i nc t io n of heathens and the ir be1 efS,

I f murder and the pr eJ ud i~ ia 1 xerci se of the law were men accept the Chr is tia n' s f ai th , the re were always economlc p

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King o f Norway had on esPecially t ight stranglehold on the isolated Greenlandcolony which, because of the sever1 y o f i t s c l m t e and the dangers o f i t s longand hazardous trade routes with the nations of Europe, found it s e l f perpe tuall yf ight ing for mere surv iva l . Er ic the Red and other prominent pagans i n th isoutpost o f Norse c iv i l iz a t io n were threatened wi th a cessat ion o f t rade wi thNomay unless the Greenlanders adopted Chr ist ian 1 y (The V i kin g Sett lements &North Ameriu, by Frederick Jo Pohl, page 21). I n other words, th is colony ofmen, women, and ch il dr en was threat ened wi th im nediate s uf fe ri ng and eventua ldeath, The story o f the extremes to which Chris t ians have ty ~ i c a l l y one i norder to spread the i r r e l i g io n i s not l im i te d to Norse Peoples, or even toEurope. Indians o f the American Southwest were ki l le d fo r enter ing th ei r cere-monlal klvos, and cousins far th er south saw th ei r in fan ts ' sk ul ls smashed bySpanlsh soldiers who, having Just baptised the babes, fu l f i l le d the ir b loodyduty i n the f i n belief that the children were being dispatched to heaven.But surely, YOU w i l l ask, i s not th is in to lerance a un iversa l th ing?Have not non-CLristions practiced i t as res olu tely as the Christ ia ns? While in-tolerance i s admittedly no new thing, hi st or ic al examination shows that theJudeo-Chris t ian r e l i g io n i s one of the few to teach in to lerance as an i n t r i ns icand estob l shed part o f 1 t s doct ri ne. Most heathens have shown themselves re-markably uninterest ed i n forci ng t he ir re li gi on on others o r condemning them fo rfollo wing other gods, though o f course there are exceptlons, Herodotus was onlyone of m ny prominent pagans who tra vel ed t o fo re ign lands and comnented not un-favorably on the gods o f the peoples he vl si ed, He nos not i n the sl ght estanxious t o conver t them or to condemn them to e ter nal torment j us t because theywere not followers of his particular rel igi on. The Judeo-Christ ian rel igio n, onthe other hand, has from the very beginning taught tha t no other rel igi ons a reto be tole rate d. Consider those heathens who were ki l l e d or dr ive n from the1rancest ral lands because Jehovah had declared t ha t the y must belong to h i sChosen People - no matter who was ther e fi rs t, or who had se tt le d it , or whatmeans must be used to tak e i t fr om t h e m , t r m e r J i t wasn't re al ly murder!).

The Norsemen were not a t f i r s t openly h os ti le to Chr isti an clergymen. I twas only when Christian missionaries began abusing customs and using coercionand otherwise making a nuisance o f themselves th at the ant i-C hri sti an backlashoccurr ed, The much pub1 ci ze d raid s on churches and mIna ste rie s were ca rr ie dout not with any thought of opposing Chrlst ianitY, but s i m l ~ecause that waswhere the lo ot was to be found. The toler anc e of th e Wgan Scandinavians canbe discerned from reading these words from the journal kept by Archbishop R im-bert, who traveled to the North in the 800s: "With great dif fi cu lt y they (the8

missionaries) continued the1r journey on foot, tr av el 1 ng wheneverboat across the waters tha t crossed th ei r route, and arr ive d fi na ltown in the land of the sveag, cal led B i ka. Here they were welcoking, whose name was Bjor n. The delegate s to l d the ki ng the purpojourney. When he knew i and had discussed 1 with hi s fa1 hfu l fgave them permission to stay - wi th the former's approval and to pgospel of God. He also gave freely in th is i nstruction ."The contrast between Bjorn at Birka and the prohibitions whthe conquest of Christiandom i n Icel and i s obvious.Can you imagine what would have happened i f a boatload of Vsa i led UP the Thames in to London and asked perm issi on t o e sta bl s hcon ver t people to Odin? They would have been massacred on the spoam sure, dispatching a nurber of C hrist ians t o th ei r Heaven or HeSuch re1 gi ou s i nto ler anc e seems rampant among monotheists.i s easier for polytheis ts to conceive of the existence and the vagods, having as they do a pl ur al is ti c conception of de ity.Those who brought C hri st ian ity to the Norse peoples were skuse o f propaganda and di st or ti on , Two pr in ci pa l ruses were used. depict ing of Christ and the awstles as a young warrior and his bafol low ers , something which any Norseman co uld unders tand because icept which entered in to his dai ly l ivi ng. Needless to SOY, th i s iaccurate representation of Chr ist ianity , ond is in fa ct di ametr icthe basic values and philosophy of the Chri stia n reli gion , which iand anti -he roi c, This was glossed over to make the re1 gi on palatNorsemen, who would never have accepted i had they been aware ofan1 y re al ly was, o r to what degree i would enslave the1r descenfa r f u ture .Another t r ic k used by the bearers of the new re li gi on waing the ol d Pagan tem le, to ere ct the l oc al church on the saneidea was that since people were i n the hab it o f coming to one aconduct th ei r rel ig io us ceremonies, they would more re ad il y complace to worship the Chris t ian god. L ikewise Chrls t ion re l ig i oarranged to be held at the some t ime o f the year as the o ld Pavals. BY u t i l i z in g such s ino le behavioral tact ics, the Chri st i"outf lank" the Heathen relig ion, pouring Chri st ia n substance i ni f not Pagan, were at l ea st si mi la r i n some respects to the forre1 g ion. Inst ruc t ions i n great deta i 1 were g iven to the missthem exactly how to 90 about this technique.

Unfortunately, i t worked. Due t o nunerous reasons - heti an missionaries, lack o f cohesion among the followers o f the

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the lack of wr i t t en l i te ra ry ar t s as f lex ib le as the ones used in the landsoccupie d by the Chri st ons, and the use o f bribes, violence , and economic coer-cion, Ch ri st ia ni ty became the predominant re li gi on i n those lands where Odln andThor had reign ed f o r so long, As could be expected, Paganism went in to de cli neonce the re1 glo n att alne d sta te Power. The world i s lmneasurably worse o f f f o rtha t fac t ,But le t there be no more ta l k o f the k ind-hear ted Ulr is t ians, holy andl o v i ~ g , who cane to st eer th e savage barbari an from hi s misguided way, Letther e be no more heard o f Pagans who rushed in t o th e errbrace o f the Church. I tnever happened th at way, and the I e t h a t 1t did occur in th is manner i s a I etha t has served the Chr ist ian cause too long. Let the tr ut h be known and wew i l l have struck a blow agai nst tyranny, and fo r those brothe rs of ours who lon gago died fa i thful to the o l d gods, the gods of freedom.

P H I LOSOPHY OF ASATRU

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I N T R O D U C T I O NAsatr; i s not a ph il os o~ hi ca l e1 gio n i n the sense that someone sat down andlo gi ca ll y devised a system o f thought based on a couple of axioms, then clothe dt ha t i n t e l l e c t ua l s t ruc t u re w i t h mv t holog~, r j ual and the other things thatmake UP a 1 v ing be1 ef . Rather, 0dinism or Asatru emerged from the groupsoul l o o f our woole, and our philosophiz ing i s merely a means o f describingwhat that innate r el ig io n is. In other words, we didn' t make up ~s at r; out ofphi osoohlcal materia ls, because i t i s a D ? r t of us and has ex is te d as lo ng aswe have, We can on l y ana lyze and d iscuss Asa tru i n Ph i1 0 ~ 0 ~ h i~ a lerms as weperceive more and more of i t .

The ar t ic les i n th is sec t ion g ive some not ion of the Phi losophical wor ld-view of Odinism, They cover an assortment of top ics i n a rt ic le s publish ed overan eig ht Year span. While they are in dic at i ve o f Odin ist thought they are notmeant to be by any means de fin it iv e. Some are thought Pi ec e~ ~d es iq ne do st imu-la te e~p lOr at iO n nd SDeculat ion on the Part o f the reader. Asatru has not beens ub je ct ed t o t h e l ea rn e d ~ h i l o s o ~ h i c a lnalys is i t deserves.

SOME ODINIST VALUES

STRENGTH I S BETTER THAN WEAKNESS . . ,Le t o t he rs reve l i n t h e i r vu lne rob i l i t y ! We are no t ashamed to cul t of the ant i -hero w i l l f i n d no support i n us, and the gods wnot for the weak,

COURAGE I S BETTER THAN COWARDICE . . .BY fac ing l i fe 's s t ruggles wi th courage, we constantly ex tend ouWithout courage, noth ing el se can be done!JOY I S BETTER THAN GUILT . . .Let us take pleas ure i n our humanity, rat he r than being ashamedMisplaced gu i l t - because o f our sexuality, or our strength, or has enslaved us long enough!

HONOR I S BETTER THAN DISHONOR . . .We must be true to what we are, and we must in si st on act i ng witrath er than baseness, Our in te ri or standards must be banners hour hearts.FREEDOM I S BETTER THAN SLAVERY . . .We hove no maste r! Those who would enslave us, whatever t h e ir e

enemies. The t o t a l i t a r i an ant nes t i s repugnant t o us who demabracing wind of the Northlands.KINSHIP I S BETTER THAN ALIENATION . . .The is ola t ion and lonel iness of modern l i f e i s fore ign t o us, nosary ev i l . We ca l l our Folk to return to k i t h and k in, to familt r i b e .REALISM I S BETTER THAN DOGMATISM , . .Bl nd fa i th has no Place i n Odinism. Our ancestors may have beemyst ical, but they were a t the same t lme severely prac t ic al. No

sky; we must act i n thi s world rath er than calmly wait f or the nV I G O R I S BETTER THAN LIFELESSNESS , . .Let us dare to be a1 1 tha t we can be! Let us take ris ks and tas

o f l i f e , P a s s l v i t ~ s f o r sheep. We refuse to be mere spectatoANCESTRY I S BETTER THAN UNIVERSALISM , . ,Odinism is not for a l l . I t i s a product of the soul of the Norand i s sui ed by i t s very nature to our needs.

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NIETZSCHE AND ODINISM

f a1 the modern phi losophers. Frie dric h Nietzsche Is perhaps the one closest to the spi r i t ofBsat ru. Unfortm ately, he i s also posslbly the lea st understood phi losopher of our age. Forthose intereste d i n such mat ters, Nietzsche is mentioned i n Carl Jung's "Wotan", where the emi-nent psyc hologist t el ls how the young Nietzsch e was gripped by the Wotan archetype. This com-plex and pro l i f i c think er has much to say to those of us who would retur n to the s pi r i t of ourf o re f a t h ers .The phi oso ~h y f Odlnism or isa tr; as we know i today cannot and must not beide nt i f i ed with the teachings of any one ind iv id wl . To do so would be morethan incorrect, i would be dangerous. Yet, the re i s much to benef i by a studyo f the v ario us p hi osophers who have expressed be1 e fs which impinge upon Norsethought . The ~h l l osop hy f F r l ed r i c h~ ie t zsc h& ~s su rel y one such ex0mPle.Nietzsche has been exp loi ted by various pol t ic a l ideologies, e s~ e ci a l l ythe fasci st. But Nietzsche opposed the State rather than gl or i f yi ng it , refer-r i n g t o i t as a "cold monster" and fig ht in g i t s stead i ly growing wwer over the1 ves of men. The cha rac ter isti cs of Nietzsche, the mn, are contrary t o thebe1 efs of any col l ec t iv is t ty rant ,One chief ch ara cte risti c of Nietzschian thought i s i t s stress on what thephi osopher ca l l ed the n i l - to- 1 ive, the of f 1mo t i o n o f t he 1 f e force and thet o t a l r eJ ec ti on o f i t s o p w s lt e . He c ele br at es th e ~ i o n ~ s i a n ' ~an, whose dy-namic, creative, ecs tat lc fren zy gives him an over wwe rins and over flowin g ex-uberance and a spi r i t of v i ta l t ~ , he Dionysian man, Nietzsche write s, i s "aformula o f h i shest p f f irmat i on (w ha s i s i n the or i g i na l ) , born o f fu l l ness andoverfu l ness, a yea-saying w i hout reserve to suf fer ing's sel f , to gul l 's sel f ,to a l l tha t i s Questionable and s trange in ex is tence i tse l fn , He speaks ofDionysian pessimism, a trag ic, real s t ic approach to 1 fe, The Dionysian heroi s so f u l l o f confidence and so stro ng th at he welcomes the chal lenges and thebuffet ing s of l i f e rather than avoiding them or dreading them as lesser menwou ld do, He i s a m n who would seek them out, loo king for a challenge to h iscourage and ab i l i ty , did they not come to him o f th ei r own accord in the na turalcourse of I fe . Nietzsche ogain and again exwunds th is idea of a vi ta l t y andexuberence which i s so stron g and so insi ste nt, so very l i f e affirming, tha t i texpresses it se lf under the most try in g and unfavorable c i cumstances. I t formsone o f the keystone be l ie fs i n the phi losophy of Nietzsche, In fact, the Diony-sian man gave Nietzsche an answer to f a t a l l ~ m ' ~ , Nietzsche taught what hecal led the Eternal Recurrence, by which he meant th at a1 1 thin gs occur ove r and

over again, in a vast and unbreakoble cycle of re ~e t i t io n . Whanow has happened before, and w i l l happen many more times . Th isever, does not take i nt o conside rat on Dionysian man, who by hlsuers the circunstances before him, exe rcisi ng his w i l l , Thus o ff 1 med despite the tendency o f the universe to fa ta l sm,

Here we see a pa ral l e l . to our own Odinis t bel ief s . Our ren i ely 1 f e affi rming; not f or us are the meek and the modest iin our h m n i t y and in our "naturalnessn. We be1 eve in indulgnatural and heal thy ins t inc ts , Ascetic ism is foreign to us, Ol fe, our energy, our r est les s des ire t o experience new thing s great thing s takes us out o f th e morass that i s the masses, anelement of the Dionysian to i t , The gre ate st he roes of the Noni te ly Dionysian types such as Nietzsche seems t o be ref err ing ings. They were strong, self-co nfiden t, self-in dulg ent, and exw i l l to achieve th ei r desires and to shape the ir world, i n defiwho would bow to any inexorable fate,

A second bas is o f Nietzschian ~h i loso phy s the W i l l t o to Power i s the basis o f Nietzschia n mo ralit y. Since the "deanecessary to fi nd a new standard by which to live , a standard ftruth . Nietzsche found i n Darwin the su wo rt he needed fo r h isW i l l , since Darwin's theory o f evolution saw the strugg le to extio n of l i f e i n i t s most basic and primeval form, as the Proceslog ica l evolution. Nietzsche, however, car r ied Darwin a step was concerned not merely wi th the w i l l to exist, but the w i l l tv i a l i y, energy, sel f-assertion - power! The basis o f mor alitdeclared, must be t h is W i l l to Power, Thi s means, n ot th at "gomined simply by asking what i s conducive to the gaining of wwethat the m n who 1 ives i n accordance w i h the W i l l t o Power, whself-assertive, w i l l have within him the inherent standards denoble or what i s ignoble,This moral 1 y i s a mora l i t y o f t he e l i t e , I t i s t h e r a raccept these sta ndards o r pra ct ce them, and such people elev atabove the le vel of the masses. According to Nietzsche, onl y thwhom more la te r) was tr u ly capable of re al izi ng the W i l l t o Poeven the weaklings, the comnon herd, experienced a need f o r theth e W i 11 t o Power, though, because of the1 r very weakness, suchmust be a c c o n ~ lshed by in di ect means, They are unable to t ru

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so they dev ise a mor al i t y whlch is ant i - l l fe , but whlch s t i l l enables them tosurv ive and to gain wwer. The1r mora l 1 y pr al se s weakness, defeat, hum1 11 ~ )and res t ra int , and preaches t he "v i r t uesN o f p i t y and an a t t i f l c l a l l ove ofeveryone, to i nclu de one's enemies. These tr a l s are an attem pt to evade con-f l i c t and t o dodge t he rea l issues o f 1 f e . They proclaim as ev i l such thingsas ex al t the except ional man, and set him apar t f rom the re st of h un a ni t~"voluptuousness, wwer of passion, and selfishnes s". The followe rs of thesephil oso phie s of weakness are incap able of these th ing s and, because they cannotcompete w i h the strong and vi ta l persons at whose hands they stand to loserthey seek to pu ll down th is non-conforming and l i f e affi rm in g min ori ty, Demo-cracy promotes the be1 ef th at a1 1 men are equal, and i n the process destro ysthe d is ti nc ti on between the noble and the base. Social ism would abol ish thosewho had proven th ei r sw er io ri ty by succeeding, Ch ris t ia nit y fosters those~ r i n c i ~ l e shlch would fet ter the el i e, and breeds ega li arianism,There i s l i t t l e here wi th which we can argue. L i fe is based on s t ruggle,and only through st r u w le can man f nd v i r t ue and t he deve l omnt o f noblecharac ter is t ics - ndependence, individual i y, courage, pe rsi s ence, andstrength. There can be no doubt that the philosophies o f weakness, such asto ta l democracy, s ocialism, and Ch ri st ia ni ty mentioned by Nietzsche, do ac t asant i - ar is tocra t ic and ant i - in div id ual i s t forces designed to emasculate the e l t eor the nonconformist. Our Norse be lie fs require the utmost efforts from us;they demand th at we at le as t attempt t o r is e above the herd, to make ourse lvesl i v e i n accordance whth a her oic creed. Submissiveness, hum ility, and theavoidance of l i fe rs con f l lc tsa re the ant i thes is o f our way,I s a tru e no bi li ty t o be found i n the Superman, i n those who pra ctic eth e W i l l to Power? Does the cul t iv at io n of th is exuberance, th is streng th andsel f -conf idence, invar iabl~ m a rt a knowledge of the di st n ct on between thenoble and the base? A skept ic w i l l Point to the bu l l i es of the wor ld, Surelythese seem to be Possessed of the W i l l to Power, and even more sur ely a re theylack ing in even the rudiments of n obi l i t y , Is N ietzsche therefore i n error?Not necessari y . Far from having the strong, dominant ego of the Superman o rthe Dionysian, these personal 1 ie s have pi t i fu ll~ndernourished egos whichmust be const antly sustained by excess, They are, i n psycholo gical t en s,com~ens atino or unhealthy egos. The healthy person, wi th a tr ul y secure ego,does not need cruelty, fo r he is not constant ly try in g to reassure himself ofan ythi ng. The man who exe rcis es hi s W i l l to Power, who i s tr u ly s trong andself-conf ident, w l l l know the base from the noble,The Niet zsch ian ideal, as E.L. Allen puts it , i s " real ized in the manwho r ais es hi mse lf above h is f el low s by hi s powers of body and mind, making no1 6

apology for his in t r i ns i c super io r i t y bu t bo ld l y l i v i ng i t out, Hhard, p i t i l ess , and stern wit h himsel f and wi th others, since thehealth-giving qua1 t iesu, The Superman " w i l l be the strong, a lerdent but sel f -d isc ip l ined indiv idual , sel f -c reat ing and l i f te d h inameless multi tude" , Such a concept i s i n keeping wi th the Norsean el i te, an aristocracy, based not on b ir th or social posit ion, vidual ef f or t and indiv idua l at tainment. The free indiv idua l w l lhimself what he can, and no 1 mi tat ions w i l l be place d on. those wsucceed or to excel.Nietzsc he's statements on war have earned him great calumnhi s most controv ersial ut terances. I n mUS SDake Zarathustrq he Ye shall lo ve peace as a means to new wars - and short peabetter than long , . , , Do ye say that a good cause halloeven war? I ay to YOU, a good war ha1 oweth any cause, and courage have done greater things than charity,Some argue th at t h i s was meant in a sheerly me tapho rical vNietzsche was tal kin g about "warriors o f knowledge" rather than lThough our philosophy on war i s deserving of an art ic le to i ts el f ,say th at our b el ie fs on war are a far cry from the Chr ist ian and be1 efs on the subJect.Nietzsche w i l l provide valuable food for thought for anyont he Od in is t re l i g ion , He o f f e rs an a l t e rna t i ve t o t he Chr i st i an i s based on strength and self-assert ion rather than the predigest

c o l l e ct i v is t 1 5 ~ h l l o s o ~ h i e s , e deserves careful - and discrimin

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ON INDIVIDUALITY ON HUMAN EFFORT

Finding the balance between the individual and the crowd i s no t a new problem, but the pressureso f mass so ciet y have made i t a l l the harder for the indiv idu al to surv ive as anyth ing other thanan interchangea ble. face less economic un it. Ye who deplore such dehumnization must find aphilosophical basis to uphold our instin ctu al feel ing that the ind ividua l does indeed matter.The idea i s often encountered, when readin g books on Eastern o r occ ult ph ilo -sophy, tha t the concept of ind ivid ual 1 y 1s lnval d, The opinion is offeredthat the "I" s ever changlng and fluld ; that, fo r ex wl e, we have nothing incomnon wit h the ent i t y tha t we were a t the m e of seven except con tl nu lt ~, moreo r less, o f memory. The venr substance of our ~ h y s ic a l ody has cycled i n thatinter venin g perio d due to the death and reolacement of ind ivid ual body cell s,we are, by th is way of look ing at mon, se ria l creatur es t o whom the label of apermanent l n di vi du ol 1 y c annot be a ~ ~ ledComlete ly aside from any idea of a non-mater ia l Ind iv idual s ~ l r i t u a lessence, I wish to challenge such an idea, Imaintain that the genetlc patternof each individwl provides that essence whlch establ shes the unisueness andln dl vi du al i y of each person, What a person does wi th t ha t genotype determineshow he uses his "destiny", I n fact, mlght we not here have a workable defi ni -t i on of des t iny as the g e n o t ~ ~ lcs s i b i l i t ~ h ich the Ind i vidua l can e i the rfu l f l l l o r no t? There i s no su~erna tu ra lpunishment fo r fa l l i ng to f u l f i l l th i sdest lny, no bad karma. Free w l l l i s supreme wi th in the ou tli nes o f one's poten-t i a l . However, one who b l a t a n t l ~ oes against his own dis ws it io ns tread: f a i l sto f u l fu l l h i s o r he r des t i ny ) m lght tu rn ou t a b i t neu rot l c .This vlew of man, based on biology rather than abstract ~ h i l o s o ~ h i c a lspeculation, a1 ows man the ind ivi du al1 y t ha t some othe r systems o f thoughtwould deny him, I t i s a view whlch should be used to oppose the an ti -i nd l-v idual is ts, for i f we can be convinced tha t we have no ind iv idual i ty , we canbe persuaded to embrace slavery,

I t i s not enough to say with Descartes that, " I th ink, therefore I am." Wto assert that ,''I '12; therefore I DO - and what I do. matters ." This ar tdi f ferences between a t r u a n d C h r i s ti a n i t y i n t h i s r e sp e ct .

There was an o ld s u ~ e r s t i t i o n mong the Norsemen th at a persona l l s c l i pped i f he wanted to help the ~ e s 1 t - l ~n t hei r strugThe redson fo r t hi s was t hat the ghast ly Ship on whlch ~ o k i " panions were to set forth to attack the realm of the gods was mnai ls of dead men - thus, i f one kept hi s nai ls well tr imned awould not be l i ke ly t o contr ibute bui ld i ng mater ia l to the shA s i l l y and p r im i t i ve supers t i t ion? Perhaps so. Bu t ithin g very i m r t a n t about the Norse peoples and relig ion, namf e l t that human eff or t and endeavor mt ter ed. A well-informed

man could make decisi ons and perform action s i n the re al wo rldrea l e f fec t - even on a scale of cosmic inpo rtonce such as Raseem li k e a ve ri ty which needs no w ha si s, but i f i t seems thbecause we take i t fo r granted i n our world-view, In othe r syChr ist ian i ty, i t does not ex is t, While some Christ ians may nothe i r f a i th denies the eff lcacy o f h m n act ion in the world , themselves from a fier y e ter nlt y i n Hell , only Jesus can do i tdone, not th eir s! Their fa te and destiny i s out of t he ir own the hands o f God him sel f. Thus, they are to ld to proy and havto the w i l l o f God, and to "re si st not ev il M . Since the cosmbeen su~wsedlyworked out i n advance, and since they were noactive Part but are merely reduced to pawns which are being fosup erna tura l powers, what need have they of e ffi ca cy ? Even wto save souls for Christ, i t i s not with the idea of c ont ribuof Satan, fo r hi s defeat i s already certa in, Rather, the ideaa l l those souls int o the rig ht camp fo r comfort's sake. H m ndenied as an illusion (as the predestination crowd believes),relegated to relatively minor matters - c e r ta i nl y h m n w i l l nhave anyt hing t o do wi th t he cosmic events of the Universe.

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To us pagan Norsemen, though, human w i l l and power are rea l. W & makea differenc e i n the scheme o f thin gs, Even i f the end result of events was pre-determined and unalterable, i t would s t i l l behoove us to f ight , to exert ourw i l l and ef fo rt . Each o f us can add our own ef fo rt s to those o f the mighty godsat Ragnarok, as i s i m l ie d i n the swer st it io n mentioned a t the beginning oft h i s a r t i c l e . W are far from being the helpless creature that the Christianpictures himself; we know that e v i l can and must be res ist ed, Natura lly, wedefine that e vi l a bi t diff ere ntl y than do the Christians, since we see them aspart of the problem!

A log ical c oro l la w to a l l t h is should be considered thought full^ by usal l . The fo lk bel ie f described at the beginning of t h is ar t i c l e im l i es that weeach can and should do what we can (not neces sarily t rimni ng our na il s! ) to a idour gods i n the impending stru ggle . I f we be1 eve i n human effect ivene ss, thenlet's begin exercising some of i t against our foes. I t is pret ty obvious thatevents of me tah ist ori cal dimensions are shaping up, and whether you ca l l i tRagnarok or ra bbi t ears is i rrel eva nt. What & relevant i s tha t these eventscan destroy US, our values, our rel ig io n forever, unless we win, So, let 'sbegin working fo r vi ct or y now! The hour is much, much la te r than most of usthink . Your ef for ts don't have to be spectacular or even large (though th is i san age requ irin g such eff ort s!) , but at l eas t make i t regular, Write thatlet ter , ca l l that f riend, mai l that l i terature. Every day of our l ives i s askirmish leading that much closer to Ragnarok.

METAGENET I S

This is the most important art ic le ever to appear i n THE RUNESTONE.One o f the most controversia l tenets of isatr ; i s our insistencmatters - t ha t the re a re sp i r i ua l and metaphys ica l i m l ic a t ionand that we are thus a re l ig ion not f or a l l o f humanity, but raca ll s only i t s own, This be li ef o f ours has led to much misunos a res ul t some have attempted to lab el us as "racis t", o r haf r on t i n g f o r t o t a l i t a r i a n ml t i c a l f on ns ,I n t h i s a r t i c l e we w i l l discuss, f u l l y and a t length, anext century which we have named "metagenetics", For wh il e thw l h genetics, i t als o transcends the present boundaries of thtouches on re1 gion, metaph~sics, and ( m n g other th ings) theo f ~ u n g i a n ' ~rchetypes. The foundations o f m et ag en et ic s l i e tar i an dogma of the 19th and 20th centuries, but rather i n in tol d as our people. I t i s only i n the la st decades that experihas begun to verify these as$-old,beliefs.Anyone familiar with Asatru knows that the clan or famspecia l p lace in ou r r e l ig ion . K insh ip i s p r ized fo r bo th p ratu al reasons, and the cha in of generat ions i s seen as a time-trsomething not l i mi te d by our narrow perceptions of past, preseWhot fi nd in gs o f modern science make th is more than a pious cothere anything special about the genetic bond from a psychic ostandpoint?Consider fo r a moment the curio us connection between twtwins, o f course, have id en ti ca l gen eti c endowment. Hence i tpr ise to f in d tha t pa t te rns o f b ra in cur ren t ac t i v i t y a re r emtwins, nor i s i t unexpected tha t Danish sci ent ist , Dr. N. Jule-found that twins ra ised separate ly have simi a r apt 1 udes and One step beyond these find ings we run across the fa ct th at i n twins are cre di ted wi th extra-sensory percept ion i n regard to fact, Dr. J, B. Rhine, famous ESP researcher at Duke UnlverSitYst at in g that, "Cases have been reported to us from time t o timappear to be exceptional telepathic rapport between identical

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A study o f ESP cases w i l l show that other family members are 1 k e l ~ohave th is rap por t as we ll . How many mothers du rin g wartime have known wi thuncanny accuracy the exact instant that the1 r sons have been injur ed or ki l le d?Countless other anecdotes can be co lle cte d which might be int erp ret ed as havinga genetic ba sis, Such a psychic resonance could be explained by other hypo-theses, to be sure - but when placed i n the context of other information th at wehave, they tend to buttress the heredity connect ion. And a bio log ica l ( orpartly biological) rationale for psychic phenomena should make the subject morepalata ble to "hard-headed rat i on al sts".Going a step further, le t ' s look at rein carnat i on memories. One does nothave to "be1 ieve" i n re incarna t ion as i i s comnonly Presented to accept thereal i y o f th e phenomenon; th er e seems to be eviden ce t ha t peo ple sometimes havememories tha t don't belong t o them - or a t lea st not to the "them" that theynorm all^ consider themselves to be. One i s free t o accept or to r eje ct thel i t e ra l em lanat i ons f o r re incarna t ion as i t i s vulgarly expressed, but thereare other exPlanat ions for the repor ts , There is the ~ o s s i b i l i t y hat thesememories, o r mony of them, ar e ge ne tic memories. Timothy Lea w - who, whethero r no t one agrees w i t h h i s d rw ~ h i l os op h~ ,s no small i n t e l l e c t - i s only oneperson who suspects t h is t o be the case. Leary wrote that whether one called i tthe akashic recordsz0, the collective unconscious, or the "Phvlogenetic uncon-scious", i t could a1 1 be ascribed t o the "neurogenet ic c i cui ", or what heca ll s sign als from the DNA-RNA dialo gue. I n oth er words, these memories arecar r i ed i n t he DNA i t s e l f .I t ' s in tere s t ing to note that i n many cul tures - i n our own Norse tra di -t io n and in the TI ng it Indian lore, among others - rebi r th is seen occurr ings ~ e c i f i c a l l ~n the f an f l y l i n e . A person di d no t come back as a bug o r arabbit, or as a Person o f another race or tr ibe , but as a member of t he ir ownclan. Olaf the Holy, the Norwegian king largel y resw nsi ble for Chris t iani zingtha t country, was named af te r hi s ancestor Olaf ~e ir st a d a il fr , and was believ edto be the ancient king reborn. Natura l ly the Chri st ian Olaf could not tole ratesuch a suggestion, and the sagas re la te how he har shly dis courage d th is be1 e f ,

The TI ngits , though, have preserved th ei r nat iv e re1 gious be1 ef s in toour own t ime, and thus they are su bject to s cho lar ly examinat ion at a muchclo ser range than are our own ancestors, Dr. Ian Stevenson i s the a lu m1 pro-fessor of psychia t ry at the Univers i ty of V i rg ln i a Medical School , and he alsohas an in te re st i n rein carn at ion phenomena. I n fact, he authore d a volunet i t l e d , Twentv Cases Suciqestive of Reincarnat ion, the conservat ive t i t l e ofwhich indicates h is sc ie nt i f ic approach to the sublec t . One o f the cases heinvest igated deal t w i th a modern-day occurrence of wparent rebi r th into thec lan l i ne i n a modern T l i n g i t f an i l y . Wh il e the s t o ry i s t oo l ong t o be i n -2 2

c luded here, su f f i ce t o say t ha t t he ev idence , wh i l e c i r cuns t ani m r e s s i v e , I t may no t be poss ib le t o p rove , i n s t r i c t l y s c ie nthat a T l in gi t was l i t e r a l ly reborn as h i s own grandson - nor dThe po in t i s s i m l y t ha t t he re a re met aphysi ca l im l i c a t i on s t ogenet ic k inship.One wonders, as an asid e, i f r e b i r t h ( wh et he r l i t e r a l r eindiv id ual personal i ty , or the r eb i r t h o f some sp i r i tu al essenc"merely" biological) might not be some so r t o f evolut ionanr bonand t r ibe, whereby the best , w isest , most sp i r i t ua l l y " in tune"a re conserved i n t he f a n i l y l i ne .So far we've worked on the idea tho t the re i s a l i n k betwthe clan concept on one hand, and psychism and re bi rt h on the oa dif fe re nt ta ck now, and look at Dr. Ca rl Jung's archetypes.Jung spoke of the collect ive unconscious - a level of thedependent upon personal exoerlence , The col ec t ve uncansc iousof pr imo rdia l images cal led archetypes. They are not exact l y mrathe r predi spo sit i ons and po te nt ia l i t i es , As Jung said, "Thera rche types as the re a re t yp i ca l s i t ua t i ons i n l i f e . Endless reengraved these exper iences in to our psychic const i tut ion, not iimages f i l l e d w i t h cont en t, bu t a t f i r s t on l y as f fi n t he o r i g i n a l 1, rep resen t i ng mere l y t he poss ib i l t y o f a ce r tpercept ion and act ion."Most modern students of Jung miss a very key fa ct, Jungly t ha t t he a rchet ypes were no t cu l t u ra l l y t ransm i tt ed bu t werei t e d - tho t i s to say, genet ic . He l inked them wi th the phys ioins t i nc t s and wen t so f a r as t o say t ha t , "Because t he b ra in i sorgan of the mind, the co ll ec t i ve unconscious depends d l e ct ly t i o n o f t h e b r ai n ." A more prec ise statement o f the mind/b odvo f t he re1 g ious im l i ca t i o ns o f b io log i ca l k i nsh ip , wou ld be h

But Jung was not sa ti sf ie d to imke thi s connection. He wthat because of t h is b io lo gical fac tor there were d i f ferences i nU ~ C O ~ S C ~ O U Sf the races of mankind, Bo ldl y he asse rted that, "Tquite unpardonable mistake to accept the conclusions of a Jewishoeneral ly val id. (This statement must be taken i n context. I t iirr el ev an t anti-Jew ish remark, but in stead stems from the growingJung and his Jewish teacher, Freud.) Nobody would dream o f ta kinIndian ~ s ~ c h a l o g ~s bind ing upon ourselves. The cheap accusatioSemi t ism that has been leve lled a t me on the ground of th is cr i t ias intel l igent as accusing me o f an anti-Chinese prej udice , No d

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e ar li er and deeper lev el o f psychic development, where i t i s s t i l l i m os s ib le t odi st in gu is h between an Aryan, Semi ti c, Hami ti c, o r Mongolian mental i y, a l lhuman races have a comnon co ll ec ti ve psyche, But wit h the beginning of ra ci ald i f fe rent ia t ion , essent ia l d i f fe rences are developed i n the co l l ect ive psyche aswel l . For th i s reason, we cannot transp lant the sp i r i t o f a fo re ign re l ig ion' i n globo' int o our own ment al i ty w i h o u t se n s ib l e i n j u r y to th e l a t te r . "Thus the l in k between rel igion , which expresses i t s e lf i n terms of arche-types i n the col l ec tiv e unconscious, and biology - and hence race - is complete.Jm g i s sub stan tiate d by more recent research as we1 1. Perhaps the mostimportant such study was conducted by Dr. Daniel G. Freedman, pro fes sor o fbehavioral sciences at the Un iversi ty of Chicago, His res ult s were publ ished inan ar t i c l e i n the January, 1979 i s su e o f l i m n Na tu re e n t i t l e d , "E th n ic D i f f e r -ences i n Babies." Freedman and h is asso ciate s subjec ted Caucasian, Asian,Black, and Nativ e American newborn inf an ts to i de nt ic al st im uli , and consis-ten ly re ceived di ff er en t responses from babies o f each race. Furthermore,these d i f fe rences matched the t ra d i io na l y-ascr ibed charac ter is t ics o f eachrace - the Asian babies were i n fac t le ss ex cit ab le and more passive, etc ,Nativ e American and Mongolian babies behaved sim ila rly , appar ently due to th ei rr e l a t i ve l y c l o se b i o l o g i ca l k i n sh ip , I t i s only a small step from inborntemperament to inborn a t t i tudes to inborn re l ig ious ~red is~osi t ions, hich i son ly a resta t ing i n d i f fe re nt words o f Dr. Jung's theory.Let's look again a t how the clan mystique, the expression of which in the~h ys ic a l o r ld is a 'genef ic one, re la tes to the vani rz l i n par t icu la r , and theancient be l ie fs o f Asatru in genera l .The goddess Freya i s str ongly l ink ed to the clan concept f or she i s theleader o f the female tu t e la ry s P i r i ts c a l led the "d1si rn w O f the d fs i r we read,i n Jhe Vik inq Achievement (P I G. Foote and D. fl. Wilson) that:

" I t i s sometimes d i f f i cu l t to keep th e d l s i r d i s t i n c t f r omv a l k ~ r i e s ~ ~r harsh ~ o r n s * ~n the one hand, and sp ir i t s cal led' f ~l gj ur , ' 'accomanlers,' on the other; and i t i s p robable tha tthe Norsemen themselves had notions about these beings that variedfrom t i m e to t ime and p lace to P lace. F ~l sJ ur ere a t tached tofami l ies or ind iv idua ls, bu t had no loca l hab i ta t io n or ind iv idua lname. They appear to have represented the inh erent f ac ul ty f orachievement that exis ted i n a family's offs prin g. Everyday obser-vation of consonant or discrepant facts of heredity would conf irmt h a t i t was Possib le fo r a f~ l g J a o deser t an ind iv idua l o r tobe rejected by him,"Anclent wisdom meets modem science.

The idea of metagenetics may be thr ea ten ing t o many who hthat there are no differen ces between the branches of humanity, ing, i t is pl ai n th at metagenetlcs i s i n keeping with the most moseeing the world, A ho l i s ti c view of the human en ti ty requires thmatter, and sp ir i t are not separate things but represent a spectrnuum, I t should not be surprising, then, tha t genetics i s seen asp i r i t u a l o r p sych ic ma t ter s , And the ideas pu t f o rt h by those wsciousness as a produc t o f chemistry f i t in to m etagenetics, as we1chemistry i s a functio n of organic st ruct ure which i n turn dependbiolo gica l he ri ag:.We of Asatru are concerned about our ancestral heri tage, aour re l ig io n to be an expression of the whole of what we are, notwe ar b i t r a r i l y assume from wi thout , I t al so e xp lai ns why those wunderstand us accuse us of extreme ethnoce ntrism or even racism -clear from metagenetics that i f we as a people, cease to exist, a lso ,dies, fo rever . We are in t imate ly t i ed UP with the fate of ourfo r A sa tru is an expression of the soul o f our race,This does not mean tha t we are t o behave neg ativ ely towardwho have n ot harmed us, On the contrary, only by understanding wby coming from our racial "center," can we int era ct Ju st ly and wioth er peoples on th is pl ane t, We must know ourselves before we cOur differences are great, but we who lov e human dive rsi ty and valearn to see these differe nces as a bless ing to be treasured, notbe dissolved.

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"FATE " I N ASATRUBY EDRED THORSSON

Importa t thqughts on an ofte n misunderstood subj ect! Our thanks to one of the tr ul y wise meni n t h e Es a t r u F r ee ~ s r e m b l y o r t h i s s p i r i t u a l i n r f g h t .

In reading about G em ni c mythology and re1 gion, how of ten have we Asatrhararcome across statements concerning the "fatalism " of the heroes, or o f the r e l i -gious world-view of th e anci ent Ny se I n general? Nany times, no doubt, Bu tju st what did "fate" mean to the asatruarar o f old? There have grown UP manymisconceptions surrounding th is word and concevt, s? centr al to our f ai th , Ananalysi s o f th is idea from the perspective of Asatru may shed considerable l i gh ton this sacred subject.I n Engl sh, the word "fate " i s loaded wi th a semantic Qua1 it^ of predes-t nat on, i e,, a trans cende ntal force has alrea dy pre-determined tha t such andsuch happen to a Person, folk , etc . The two Germanic words most of te ntran slate dby "fate" are the Old Norse "8ri6gM and the Old English "wyrd," Aclose study o f these two words i s su it e revealing . 0rl'bg i s a compound of thepr ef ix 0r-: "primal, ol dest, outermost, etc.,' and the ro ot j ig, which i s aplu ral construct ion meaning "lawts)" but origin all^, and l i t e ra l l y " l aye rs . "0 r i6 g i s t h e ~ r lma l- la w, o r ~ r im a l - l a ye rswhich a Person "lays down" by hi s orher past act ion, This i s also true of cosmic processes, but that is anothersaga. The word wyrd contains a sim il ar sua lit y, Wyrd i s a feminine noun devel-oped from the w s t tense of the Old Engl sh verb "weordanw: "to become," or morebasica l ly " to tu rn , " Thus, wvrd i s th at which has become (those l ave rs alre adyla id ) whlch affe ct the present and the future. In Old Norse thi s word is"urdr," the name of the f i r s t Norn.This i s the metaphys ic behind the Germanic system of law, such as Engl ishC o m n Law, based upon Precedent (Past layers of act on) which determine whatshould be done Present and future, This i s i n sharp con tras t t o the Judeo-Romanform of law based upon decree from a transcendental source t ea s, god or kin g) -a sit uat ion in which we increas ingly f in d ourselves today.So f a r i t i s obvious tha t the Germanic concept of "fate" i s c lo se lyconnected w i th concepts of tlme and causality. That which has beyome {the past)con diti ons the Present and the futur e, This, as so much els e i n Asatru, i s ac o m n sense aDProach to the mat ter, The mystery of the Three Norns providesfur the r keys to the understanding of wyrd, The names of the Norns are Urdr(wyrd), Verdandi (" th at which i s becoming," from the same ro ot as urdr ), andSkuld (* th at whlch should become"). The fi r s t two condi tion, but do not deter -26

m the th ir d, These cond itio ns are Produced by the deeds of receive s the f r u i t s o f those deeds, The Norns are no t causal the n ~ n i n o u s ~ ~rganisms through whlch the energies o f actl ons transformed, and red1 ected back t o th ei r source,With in the psychosomat ic comlex o f the ind iv idua l th is the "fylgja," o r "fetch," This psychic organism, whlch i s attavidual, and receives the energies of ind ivi dua l and environmenformulates them in to a repr ojec tabl e form, and then pr oj ec ts thl i f e o f t h e in d iv id u a l wh ere t he y ha ve t h e i r e f f e c t , Th is i s process, and pure ly organic i n stru ctur e. Th is fy lg ja 1s passto the next along fami ly l ine s, or sometimes i t I s t ra n s fe r re d1 m i otions, thus, i n ei th er case, w ss ln g the accumulated pasfrom one 1 f e to another. I t seems cle ar tha t the o l d German"fa te" i s i n no way s im i la r to the Chr is t ian concept o f p redesrather q ui te ak in t o the San skrit concept of karma, a term whife red a t the hands o f Chr is t ian mis in terpre ta t ion , The ancienthat they shaped their own destinies as a result of their own

I t i s a hero ic v i r t ue to s t r ugg le aga inst b r f6gJ a lwaysgreatness o f i t s power w i l l overcome the force of the personalhowever, an other path - tha t of the "v lt ki " (th e "wise one, magreat heroes, such as Sigurdr and Starkadr, are also v ltk ar ,f i r s t knows h is o r h er d r lo g , and th en in te n t io n a l l y an d w l l lfo l low it , or in ra re cases to a1 er i t through magical means.w i l l invest iga te dr lo g to f in d ou t how bet te r to fo l low I t s inThe v i tk i -her o may inv est iga te d r l b i n th ree rea lms o fpersonal, c lanlc, and metapersonal, The f i r s t i s past act ion the perimeters of the present l i f e time, whi le the la tt er two cons1dered as "past 1 ves," one geneologl ca l y determined, andclanic. The f i s t realm can be invest gated through personal past deeds in one's l i f e . The clani c realm is i nvestig ated thhistory, whlch i n olden times was an import ant type o f nuninoumetapersonal, which i s drawn from the co ll ec ti ve unconscious, should not be understood as a "reincarnation" o f the in dl vi dwve s t iga te d t hro ug h se l f -re g re ssio n t e c h n i~ u e s~ ~ ,h is l a t t e r undertaken under sel f -gu idance, o r w i th the a id o f fe l low isa ttechn ique i s ram ant anong the s to re f ron t occu l t is ts , and i s othe most shoddy o f cosmologies . A similar technique nay also b1 0 g i ~a l e se arch . I n a l l t he se f o m o f w v rd l n v es t ig a tl on , trunic divinat ion can become an invaluable aid,

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m e concept o f br l og, and the knowledge of 1 t, PI~ e d c e n tr a l r o l e i nthe rel igi ou s world of the ancien t Germanic tr lbesyan, pnd i t should againoccupy an important place i n the hea rts of modern asatru arar, 0r l ' ig must, how-ever, be approached i n the o ld way o f the Nor th , f ree f rom thy Judp -Chr is t ianconcepts o f p rede st ina t ion and transcendenta l fa ta l lsm. The asatruar i i s no tm n i p u l a t e d by " fa te ," b u t r a th e r i s r e s wn s lb l e fo r h i s o r h e r own 0 r i i g .

ASATRU: ONE MAN'S REASONBY A , J

Mr . Di l lon -D av is ' a r t i c l e has won more acc la im than any o ther s ing l e p iece weI w i l l l e t i t s p e a k f o r i t s e l f .J t gefs downright disc once rting , Whenever I e l l anyone I am a Asatru, I get one of two responses: dis be lie f, then laughter andthe head; or, "but that 's a l l myth, i t ' s untrue," And then I athe business of explaining myself.Disconcerting i t i s indeed, but valuab le, For i t ? thelprocing, I ediscover why I have always been a follo we r o f Asatru, sing o f the re l ig ion o f the Nor thmen,Why me? Why do 1 be1 eve?The simplest reason is that the monotheism of my upbringinph ic al ly and mor ally bankrupt, "The Problem of e v il " remains a pthe olog ian has adequately exp lain ed why th e one god who create d a l l , i s al l -power ful , e tc . so devised the un iverse so tha t a porsentient beinas i s condemned to damnation af te r death, and error before.The whole monotheist world-view makes the universe into a s ol it a ir e Played by a cap ricio us e nt i v who changes the ru les a t demns not only those who cannot accept the changes, but those whthen?. An odd and vengef ul bein a he is, t h i s God, and I ee l thacept ion o f h is malice , I ould not submit to Him, even i f I e l iewould be so undignified.

I stand dumbfounded as I ear h is fo l lowers t e l l me he creverse out of not hing , They are astonished when I suggest th at thuniv ers e i s made of n oth ing , They cannot comDrehend th at the "mbla the r about i s much more a myth, by th ei r des cri ptio n of thingsthey may see as "myth" i n what I elie ve . How can th at which i stha t wh ich is e ssent ia l ly just a dream o f a deity, have "meaning"I, on th e othe r hand, know th at i t was not the gods who mof nothing, but the i nte rac tio n of the universe's pr imeval elemeated the cads, who then went on to sha?e thy wor ld i n th e ir imagThe universe, to a fol low er of Asatru, i s a work of a rt agods stand for l i fe, in ete rnal strugg le against the forces of c

When man stands for li fe , he stands wi th th e gods. When he cre ahe i s one wi th them,But the fo l lower of isa tr; knows tragedy, He knows tha t universe, and the gods themselves, sha l l fa l l , sha l l die i n glordefeat, A new wo rld may ris e, bu t the dragon 's shadow w i l l f a l l

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There ar e no Sunday sch ool /kin de rga rte n haopv endings. Odin, Thor, Frey,a1 1 our brave heroes and comrades among th e A es lr and Vani r w i 11 face that whichwe face, death. And i n thi s, our gods become heroic, as no oth er gods are , Noother pods face doom,A t which point my monotheist f r iend gapes,Yes, I ay, my gods face death, and you ask "why fo ll ow them"? Becausedeath and l i f e are intermixed. Because my gods are clo se enough to my ownna t u re f o r me to admire them in th ei r ceaseless joy , courme, fe r t i l i t y , andc re a t i v i t y i n t he i r l i f e . And, o f course, t o t r y t o emulat e them in t he i rfac ing of th ei r own doom. Because, t o di e well, as they shal l, w i l l g ive t henext wor ld a c lean s tar t ,NO I o not beg anythin g of my gods. They gave me, i n t he ve ry c rea t i onof man and woman, a l l I eed . . . l i fe, mind, w i l l , emotion, What el se cou ld Iwant? \!hen I address them i t i s i n adm ira ti on, i t i s to acknowledae my p a r t i nwhat they have made, i t i s t o ca l l upon t ha t wh ich i s o f t hem in me, A f t e r a l l ,the gods di d not make man to wors hip them, they have no need o f t ha t, They mademan as a work of art . as a re f le ct io n of l theml in Plidgardz6.Re f lec t ion i s t he key , I ollow Asatru because i t ref lec ts the wor ld,The "mvthosuz7 of the North en, a t once jo vf ul and bi t t er , cosmic and homey,comic and tragic , unbel ievable and fu l l o f t ruth, i s I hink a genuine paradigmof Rea l i t y . . , impersonal, personal, and transper sonal . , . i does not te l lme what to do, b ut I t shows me how t o I ve ,Last ly , isat r ; does not c la im to be the only t ruth, but a t ruth, d is -

covered by,a P q ~ l e . For others , there are other t ruth s ,So Asatru, l i k e a l l "paFann religions i s t o l e r a nt - d i s r e s ~ e c t f u la tt imes Perhaps, but tolerant. I t does not, therefore, t r y to press People int omolds, That articular hor ror i s the Past ime of the monotheists, each of whombe1 eves that h i s i s the only way.H i t l e r d i d no t l e a r n h i s t ec hn iq ue s of o ~ ~ r e s s i o nrom i sa t r i , bu t f ron :more than one thousand years of Chr ist a n i ; ~ an! i s feroc ious churchmen,Here I tand. Panan, Follower of ASatru. Mi str us tfu l of churches ands t ruc t u res i n genera l. The gods made me a fre e man, not the servant of a do m ,or a nat ion, or a god. They made me o f the substance of t he universe, o f u l i-mately, t he ir substance, So i f I wish to care fo r mysel f, I must tend thisMidgard as best I an, and gua rd i tHai l Odin! Ha il Thor! Ha il Frey and lo vel y Freya, my love and every-one's, i f they but knew it ; ha i l to a l l mv f r ien ds among the Aes ir and Vani r !

GODS AND MYTHS

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I N T R O D U C T I O N ODIN: A GOD IN CRISISIn th is sec t ion we deal w i th gods and goddesses, w i th m~ tho lo gic al andscapesand cosmologies far removed from our everyday existence, What ar e we, as ch i l-dren of the Age of Science, to make o f these fantas t c re ports ? For those of uswho have cast Jehovah from hi s thron e and spurned the f a1 h o f our childhood, i ti s d i f f i cu l t t o en t e r t a in hopes o f any o t he r dei t y ; eas ie r by f a r t o s l i p com-for ta bl y in to atheism or,a vague, i l l - de f i ne d agnost ic ism, Then along comes ab el ie f system l i k e Asatru which says so much tha t we admire - i f only i t wasn'tfo r these awkward supe rnatu ral Ideas o f gods, goddesses, and myths!So what i s a myth, anyway? A century or so ago i t was fashionable tobe1 eve thot myths were to1 1 tol es inve nted by ignorant, superst 1t ous savagest o exp la in na t u ra l phenomena l i k e l ig htn in g and earthquakes. This ra the r snob-bi sh theo ry for got, or refuse d to note, th at our ance stors were men and women ofkeen intel l l?ence and an acutely pragmatic bent. Once the experts realized thateveryone born before 1800 wasn't a gu l l ib le s impleton, other e x~ l an at i on s ad tobe found. The Freudia ns had th e ir chance, o f course, but coul dn' t ca rry theday. Among ot he r thin gs, ooddesses do n't f 1 Freud's cate goric al statement thatthe or ig in of the God image is t he p ro jec ted f a t he r f i gu re !Then along came Carl Jung, who t o l d us tha t gods and goddesses ar e Power-f u l symbols i n our unconscious minds and can behave very much 11ke gods andgoddesses are supposed to do. Most Od ini sts seem to t hi nk t ho t Jung comesclose st t o the mark, and hi s essay t i t l e d Wotan i s high ly discussed i n somec i r c l e s .Myths are "true," but not i n the most I l te r a l sense. Myths are alanguage by which that par t o f our mlnd that i s connected to the r ac i a l mlndattempts to speak to us, I t i s an a t t m t t o c om nu ni ca te s p i r i t u a l t r u t h s t h a tcannot be expressed i n mere words: i t i s a t ra ns l at na o f non-1 inear , non-logica l , ins t inc tua l re al i t y in to a form that the human consc iousness can atlea st t r y to capture, Myths express what we are on a deep, lnv is i b l e level ,And the gods and goddesses? "Mere" symbols? I an only state, w l h manyothe rs who have f irs t-h an d experience, tha t the re are forces i n theluniv:rsewhich Possess the att r i bu te s ascribed to these powerful de it ie s of Asatru, andth at when one c a ll s upon them In the ri ah t way, thi ng s happen. So wh ile I cannot t e l l you that there i s a one-eyed being i n a b lue mantle who ca l l s h imselfOdln - th is Precise knowledge being beyond my ken, and Posslbly irr ele van t i nany case - I an say th at some force/being /ent i t y responds when I a l l upon him.A t the very least, the unive rse behaves as though Odin exis ts !Come to th in k o f it , t h a t' s a l l I can really say about my wife, the P ~ O C ~where I work, or t he paper on which these words ar e wrl t e n . . . ,3 2

Odin - known as Wotan or Woden,to o the r branches of the Germanic peoples -gods i n the mytho logy o f Asa t ru . O f a l l t h e N o r t h e r n d e i t i e s h e i s t h e m o sfaceted. H is domain inc lude s many and var ied func t io ns . f rom war and mag ici n s p i r a t i on i n a l l i t s f or ms .O d i n i s a g o d f o r t h e w a r r i o r a n d t h e p o e t a nd t h e m y s t i c - a l l o f o r f r e n z y i n t h e i r own way , som e i n t h e c l a m o r o f b a t t l e an d o t h e r s i n t h e The comnon denomina tor i s th e a l te ra t io n o f consc iousness wh ich g ives knowlunleashes the powers demanded by one's circumstance. Hi s name appears t o md i v i n e i n s p i r a t i o n , " o r Od.As l o r d o f V a l K O l l, h e s i t s o n h i s s e a t H l i d s k j a l f , f r o m w h ic h h e ct h e w o rl d s i n t h e m u l t i v e r s e . A t h i s f e e t l i e t wo w ol ve s , G e r i a nd F r e k i .perch hi s two ravens named Hugin and Munin. Od in r ides be tween the wor lds horse , S le ipn i r . on m iss ions re la t ed to h is ro le as commander - in -ch ie f o f ththe coming c lash o f Ragnarok .I t i s a g r im aspec t he p resents -somber , d is t an t , a loo f , one eye mp lucked i t o u t t o d r i n k o f w is do m a t ~ i m i r ' s 2 9 e l l . No l i g h t - h e a r t e d d e i thear ted comfor te r o f men, bu t ra the r a purposefu l f i gu re g iven to cunning , o f a n a rm y o f h e r o es t o s t a n d by h i s s i d e a t t h e d ay o f t e s t i n g .Fa ther o f V ic to ry , S t i r re r o f S t r i f e , Spear Thrus te r , Helmed God, Hthe many names he uses as he wanders, disgu ised , on hi s errands i n defense mankind. For no smal l res po ns i b i l i t y i s h is , and o f te n he must adopt an ambut he seeks to w in f o r the good, and fo r us . Which b r ings us to the beg ins e l e c t i o n . . .

Our ch ie f del ty, the one-eyed Odin, has come under severe ~ r isources outside our re1 g lon f o r h i s apparen t f ickle nes s, lawleo f e v i l . I t i s time th at we, who fol lo w Odin and the oth er Aeexamined these charges and effect ively refuted them, f o r we ca nconvert the Western world to our side while suchobject ions, i l l -may be, e x i s t.Perhaps the c hie f charge brought against Odin Is t ha t hechampions a t moments of c ri s i s on the ba tt l ef ie ld , cousins thesu lt i n? i n the vi ct or y o f lesser men who di d not deserve to winnot have tr iumphed without the in t e rven t i on o f Od in , Here t he Choosers o f t he S la in, t ra d i t i on a l l y p lay t he i r v i t a l ro le , andla t i na t he o rder o f Odin i n t h i s regard t ha t t he va l ky r i e Br ~ nhe rse lf the god's wrath. The apparent cru el ty of o v io len t deaage, exp ecia l v when the s la in one was a hero showing so muchhad so many reasons to liv e, must have weighed he av ily on our ai s f o r t h i s reason t ho t t he h igh god ob ta ined a repu t a t i on f o r What answer do we have?

The answer ex1 sts, and i t i s perhaps best expressed i n a Ska*dlc poem wr it t en o t the request of Gunnhlld, the wi fe of

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a f t e r h i s deat h a t the ba t t le of Stainmore in the year 954 C.E. In th is poem,the gods are Prepar ing Valhal la, Odin's h al l , to receive the f a l le n heroes f romthe batt le , inclu ding Erik, and the god Brag1 asks of Odin the etern al quest ion:Why rob of v ic t ory so val ian t a man? The wise god replies -Who knows what aw ai ts us? Even now he Peers,The Gray Wolf, in to the gods' dwe ll ng,The meaning of th is c ry pt i c s tatement i s s i m ~ ly hat Ragnarok approaches,t he f i na l ba t t l e i n which t he gods s t rugg le aga ins t t he ev i l g ian t s , I n t ime,the gods and heroes w i l l b e f i g h t i n g f o r t h e i r v er y s u r v iv a l aga ins t ho r r i b leodds, and the y w i 1l need at the1r si de a1 1 the brave heroes who can be muster ed,

I t i s fo r t h i s reason, t o f i l l the benches of Valh al la i n Preparat ion for thecoming catacl~sms, that Odin must f e l l the hero who deserves ra the r t o havev i c t o r y .A stu dy o f th e ~ d d a ~ 'eveals more and more thot Odln I s a god operat ingunder a perpetual and extreme cr is i s, tho t of th e impending Ragnarok, His i sthe resPon s ib i l i t y , as the father o f the gods, o f p repar ing f o r t ha t aw f u levent. A l l of Odin's a ct io ns must be seen i n that co ntext.Bes ides the tak ina of brave warr iors to f i l l hi s ranks i n Valhal la , Odinhas come under c r l t l c ls m f or h l s seduct ion of theafantessGunnlod Inorde r to w inthe skaldic meod, and for h i s use of necromancy and the b lack ar ts , Cr i t ic softe n forg et tho t the meod of the skalds, so int i ma tel y associated wlth wisdomand in sp i a t on, was a powe rful weapon i n the hands of t he gods, a weapon which

cou ld be used In the i r s t ruug le wi th the forces of ev i l . L ikewise, Odin's useo f necromancy (as i n " ~ o l u s ~ a " ~ ~was done for the Purpose of gain ing v i t a l l yneeded knowledge concern ing the fa te o f th e world, o f th e gods, and of men, tho tthe gods might be better prepared to deal with these events as they occurred,I t would be foo l is h to say, as the Chr is t ian Ignat iu s Loyola put i t , t ha tthe end Ju st if ie s the means, More accurately, some ends Justify somemeans.Surely no one w i l l be l i eve t ha t the f at e o f the cosmos should be decided againstthe forces of good and fn favor of the forces of ev i l ju s t becouse the v lc t0rYof the good forces may req ul r e seduc tion o f maidens and use o f necromancy! The

argument th at I n usin g such means the good guys become "les s goodn does not seempe rt ne nt, Odin may appear le ss perfe ct becouse of these deeds, but sever alpoin ts are apparent:the amount of e v i l conta ined i n these ac ts i s i n f in i t e~ lm al ompared-t o t h e p e r f i d i t y o f t he e v i l g i a nt s,

these acts were not done sel f is hly , or fo r small Purpost h e o ~ p o s ie, andwe have never demanded of our gods tha t they be pe rf ecnot ide nt i fy w i th them), but only that they , l i ke us, s

Odin sets a great example fo r us i n th is regard. He asset on and does what needs to be done, even a t grea t sa cr if ce. Fnot le t the e v i l which he must touch corrupt h im.So ends our d efen se of o ur H igh God, so ma1 ign ed by th os ebe tte r, Let us emulate him.

these ac ts may br ing v ic tory , or a t lea s t a i d i n the s truggle ofthe gods,

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THE HAMMER OF THOR

If din is a lo of and unapproachable, h i s son Thor i s the very opposi te. Red bearded, b lus ter y,and f i e r y , he i s a f i gu re o f r aw s t reng th and shee r phys i ca l p rowess. Strongest of the gods i she, and quick o f temper. Luck i l y he i s a f r i end l y god , f avo rab l y d i sposed to human it y ; he i st h e av er ag e v i k i n g w a r r i o r / f a n e r w r i t l a r ge .Thor r ide s surrounded by the thunder created by h is cha r io t wheels as he ro l l s throughthe heavens. T hu s h i s c o n n ec t io n w i t h t h e r a l n s a n d w i t h g ro w in g t h i n gs , a nd w i t h f e r t i l i t y i na more general'ized sense. But , main ly , he is a god of s ength and act ion, where both these$5t t r i bu t es a re used i n t he de fense o f t h e gods i n Asgard and humankind i n Midgard.Bear i n mind tha t t h i s i s a be ing m igh ty I n t hews, no t a mys t i c o r an i n te l l ec tua l .Od in m igh t scheme to work h i s w i l l , Thor w i l l s imp l y g rasp h i s hamner, M j o l l n i r , and se t t o workbashing foemen. O d in may i n c i t e b a t t l e s t o r a i s e h i s h o s t o f h er oe s, b u t h i s s o n w i l l g i v estren gth t o the average warr ior who does the hard work of f l gh t in g the enemy., ,Thor seems to have been the most popular god dur ing th e days befor e Asatru was ec lips edby Chr is t ia ni t y , and indeed, the st rong hamner-wielder was seen as the adversary of th e fore ignfa i th . As a s ign of l oy al ty to Thor and to the o ld ways general ly , many people wore the emblemto wh i ch ou r nex t se lec t i on i s devo ted - he Thor's Hamner.The Thor's Hamner has become one o f th e symbols of the resurge nt Vi kin g re1 l-gion. Variou s designs of th e thunder god's weapon came to be worn a l l overScandinavia during the te nth century, perhaps 1n.response to the crosses worn byChr is t ians , This would be cons is tent w i th the ro le of Thor as the adversary ofChrist , and would symbolize resistance t o Ch ris t ia ni ty and adherence to thePagan gods,The amulet made i n the l ikenes s of the hamner could be qu ite simple i ndes ign o r i t could incorporate var ious other chara c ter ls t lcs ascr ibed t o Thor,For example, i t might have a pa ir of s tar ing eyes, the gaze of which ty pi f i edlig htn ing , or a beard, or th e beaked head o f an eagle , Sometimes the re wererepresented dragons or serpent heads ca ll ng t o mind Thor 's ch ief antagoni st ,the Mldoard serpent3*, The ri ng on which the hamner i s usua lly attached i s nota mere accessory; it , too, was a symbol o f th e thund er god. - A large r i ng waskept i n h i s shrine and oaths were sworn on i t . A t t imes the Pagan Priest wouldwear I t on hi s arm, f l jo l l n ir (th e name given the hamner of Thor) was evid ent lyPictu red as a throwina weapon, wi th a cord attached t o the ring; thus i t i sPic tured on the o l d memor ia l stones.The handle of the hamner i s somewhat sho rt i n ProPo rtio n to the head.Two exPlanat lons for th is are given i n the ol d legends. According to Saxo, thehandle was broken i n a g r e a t b a t t l e , On the other hand, the chronic le r Snorr igives another account. According to him, Loki had cut off the hai r of S i f ,. Thor's wife, and Thor would have k i l l e d him, but Lo kl arranged to have twodwarves make hair for S i f ou t o f rea l go ld . But a t th e same time Lo kl found twoother dwarf smi th ies and set them in cm e t l t i o n wi t h the other two. This3 6

second team o f dwarves forge d a golden boar f or Frey, and theDraupnlr fo r Odin, desp ite Loki 's attempts to hind er them byand st ng in s them as they worked. The t h i r d item made by thehamner, Lok i stung one of th e dwarves on the ey el id as he wabe1 ows, and the handle was a 1 t t l e short as a r es ul t ,Ev ide ntl y the hamner amulet came to be ra the r pop ular of them have been recovered by arche ologists . Host date fromear ly e leventh centur ies , I t seems that they were popular amthe r ic h as well, as those discovered have been of metals asbronze, and si lver,The Power of the hamner was conside red very re al and vsized ones were used to bless a bride, a newborn child , or a are oft en found on the si te s of homes or burle d with hoards oas a magical defense against thieves,We o f the renascent Nordic movement have chosen the hof the symbols of our fa i th , of our be l i ef in the o ld gods, aWay. Thor, bo t h as war r i o r and as an t agon is t o f t he Wh it e ~Place of high honor and esteem i n our hear ts .

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TH E V A N I R - A H IS T O R IC A L B AC KG RO UN D

A lo t of people know something about Odin and Thor and the othe r de iti es we ca ll the Aes ir.Less well known are the Van ir, a whole othe r fam ily o f gods. I t too k th e AFA a w h i l e to re a l l ygive these gods and goddesses their due, and our doing so was an important broadening of ourscope.The gods and goddesses of ancie nt Scandinavia cons1 sted o f two d i s t n ct faml 1 esor tr l be s of delt les, the Aesir and the Vanlr. The Aeslr included Odin, Thor,and othe r mighty beings, and I t i s they who u su al ly come t o mind when theanc ient fa i th of the North lands i s mentioned. They tend to be for cef ul and evenv i o l e n t e n t i t i e s - gods approp riate for the warrlor, the aris tocr at, and themovers and shakers. On the other hand, the Vanlr are the dei t ie s of growth,love, fe r t i l i t y , and prospe r i ty , This neat d iv is i on into two dl f fer en t groups1s by no means absolute, though, fo r Thor of th e Aeslr has a secondary fe r t 11i yrol e, and the symbol of Frey of the Vanir has frequently been found on weaponsand armor dat in p from the heathen period, So there was considerable ov e r l a ~ ~ l n gof func t ions . S t i l l , th is general d iv i s io n in to two broad categor ies i s usefu land essent a1l~or rec t ,Scholars at one t ime thought that these two famll ies of gods belonged todl f fer en t peoples , The theory was that the f e r t l l t y re1 g lon o f the Vanl r wast he f a i t h o f t he ear l i es t se t t l e rs o f wha t i s now Scandinavia, and thot theAes l r - f a l t h was b rough t i n t o t he a rea by i n do -~ ur op ea n~ ~nvaders only a fewthousond years ago, This would explai n the very dlf fe re nt emphasis in the twocul ts , and the myths of co nf l ic t between the Aes l r and Vani r In d im ~re hl s t or y .More recent study, ~ a r t i c u la r l y hot o f the renowned compara t lv ist GeorgesDumezil, i ndi cat es other wlse, I t now seems that both Aesir and Vanlr have deeproots i n Indo-European re l lgl on, and that othe r traces of th ls dual pantheon canbe found i n ancient Rome and India , and indeed throug hout th e Indo-Europeanworld, These fa ct s are imp ortant because thev str ess what many o f us have longf e l t - that, altho ugh the ways of the gods o f fre nzy and force on one hand andthe gods of increase and love on the oth er seem to be contr adi cto ry and anta-gonis t ic , th ls i s only an i l lu s io n, I n ac t ua l i t y they are complementary aspectsbalan cing a Greater whole, The o ld myths recognized t h i s truth , fo r thev madethe Aesir and the Vanir compatible a l l ie s wlt h many t i es and shared funct ion s tobind them into a harmonious unity,Even though th ere i s no re al host11 t y between the two great faml l i es ofgods and goddesses, People i n the o ld days found th at o ften they would be more3 8

s t r o n g l~ t t rac ted to the worship of one group or the other , due temperament and ln cl na tl on . Th is i s so even today, among those o ld f a i t h . One purpose I n wr i t ing th is a r t ic le was t o Prov ide a def in i t lv e source of in format ion for those who feel an af f n i ty fand who wlsh to Pursue furt he r the study of the ol d Vanir- fait h.

The rel i gi on of ol d Scandinavia - ca lle d Asatru, and IncluAeslr and the Vanlr cults - was thriv ing throughout the early Pagain to the Vikin g Age (about 793 C.E. t o 1066 C.E.), But then the conver ted t o C hr ls t l an l t ~ , despi te the s ta lwart s t ruggle of many keep the faith of th el r forefathers. Followers of the o ld gods awho would no t conve rt were kl ll ed , maimed, o r exll ed , The represmendous, and P ar tl y suc ces sful - our knowledge of pre-Chr is t ian rforever impaired because so much was destroyed, But a l l vest ige sre l l a lon , and the impulses which had made tha t re l l gl on relev ant could not be crushed,Devot ion to the Vanir Proved to be more enduring than thatOdln was the god of the rulers, and the rul er s were high ly vl si blth e f l r s t to be converted or k i l ed, Thor. was the god most frequoppo sit ion to Christ , so hi s devotees, too, were visi ble, and thuThe Van1r, thouoh, were more deeply rooted i n the ~s yc h ic orld owho 1 ved by the cyc le of the seasons and the rhythms of Nature. rev olu t io n took t ime to reach the peasant 's level, and open Vanirt inued for qulte a while after the temples of the Aesir had been ddestroyed, Just as gu er ri l l a f ig ht er s make use of isol ated and rth el r operat ions agalns t d ls tan t author i ty , so Frey and Freya surs o r t o f spiritual gu er i l la warfare i n the places where the power could not ea sil y reach. When the re1 glous Establishment extendeto even these remote areas, the ol d bel ie fs s ir n~ ly ent undergrouof fo lk t ra di t io ns , The old gods and goddesses were lar gel y cruspeople's conscious awareness, but th ey were always Jus t below thewhat Jungian ~syc hol opl s tswould ca l l the co l le c t iv e unconscious, release. Tyrants may k i l l any form of open re1 glo us expression,not k i l l the impulses which were responsible for that exoression uchange the very natu re of the people themselves. So, remains o f worship have persisted right down to the Present - o f te n i n c o r ~ oo ff i c i a l Chri st ia nit y, The pagan lus tra t lo ns of the f iel ds now b"blesslngH of the f elds, bu t the essence behind the l ab els remaiEven now we speak of Mother Ea rth - a decid edly non-C hris tian termembedded i n our col ec t ve unconscious tha t a thousond years o f C

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have not been abl e t o erase i from common usage.But things are changing, A t la st the t ime has come fo r the ret urn of theVanir from t he i r l ong ex i le , The a l ien be l i e f o f Christianity has proven itselfunable to meet the des ires and needs of the N orthern European soul, and we standon the verge of a sp ir it ua l re bi rth , Our in st in ct s and emotions, so long re-pressed by a moral code not i n harmony w l h our innermost selves, ar e ready