08 Jul 2010
Oil good; Dems bad

This is an explicitly political column from the 2000 presidential campaign, and an ignorant one at that - so how did it end up in my Asatru category? Because shining through Coulter's stupidity comes one simple paragraph that illustrates perfectly the essential difference between Heathenry (and any earth based, pagan faith) and Christianity:

The ethic of conservation is the explicit abnegation of man's dominion over the Earth. The lower species are here for our use. God said so: Go forth, be fruitful, multiply, and rape the planet -- it's yours. That's our job: drilling, mining and stripping. Sweaters are the anti-Biblical view. Big gas-guzzling cars with phones and CD players and wet bars -- that's the Biblical view.

What could I possibly add to that? I'll be wearing my sweater this winter ...

Al Gore's idea of "standing up to 'Big Oil'" is for all of us to ride bikes and wear heavier coats in the winter. We're supposed to ratchet back our expectations so that we don't disturb some migratory bird by drilling for oil in Alaska.

(link) [Jewish World Review]

21:43 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

21 Jun 2010
A Faining for Midsummer, 2010

The HarrowWe had our Midsummer celebration yesterday, on Midsummer's Eve. We had fourteen in attendance, and a feast of (pasture raised) pork chops, pasta salads, melons, cakes and pies. A great time was had by all. But this was a very different Asatru ritual from those I have conducted in the past, and I would very much like to get some feedback from my heathen (and non-heathen, for that matter) readers. By all accounts it turned out extremely well.

We called it a faining as opposed to a blot, as the latter literally means "blood", and in eldritch times implied an animal sacrifice, with the sacrificial animal being the main course at the feast. In modern times blot has come to mean a ritual similar to a sumbel, where participants share a horn of mead, ale or beer, offering it as the sacrifice in lieu of blood. This formula came to prominence in the 1980's, and was really popularized by Edred Thorsson in his A Book of Troth. Thorsson called his ritual structure a blot, and it's been the basis for nearly every Asatru ritual I've attended over the last 22 years.

There was no alcohol involved yesterday. None at all. I've attended rituals where a separate horn with cider was passed for children and recovering alcoholics, but this was the first I've been to (much less written and presided over) that involved no booze whatsoever. So "faining" seemed a more appropriate name for this ritual, as while gifts were clearly exchanged, there was no "sacrifice", animal or alcoholic.

There was no hammer warding, either. That was another feature of modern ritual that came originally from the old AFA and was popularized by Thorsson. Now, Ravenswood, the kindred I co-founded in 1992, opens every ritual to this day with a hammer warding. But the ve (holy space, containing the harrow, or alter) used by Ravenswood has never been enclosed, as was traditional in eldritch times. The ve here at our farm is enclosed, and it has been warded with the Hammer many times. So there was no need to use a hammer warding to establish ritual space. But there was still a need to set the tone for the folk, and "get things rolling" so to speak. I settled on using my Worship is Remembrance poem.

And since we had both children and recovering alcoholics present, water from our deep well was used - representing the Well of Wyrd in the horn, and the Dew that Nourishes Yggdrasil at the offering. Rather than a boast or toast, the participants shared a memory of [Mid]summer past. Lorraine had helped me in putting together a list of summer memories, and she read them before the horn was passed to set the mood. This sort of took the place of the reading from the lore that has become a fixture of Ravenswood rituals.

She ended up passing the horn to each of the folk as well. It is very traditional to have a woman handle the horn in sumbel (even though Ravenswood doesn't follow that tradition). We had thought about this, but discarded the idea as there was no alcohol involved. It just sort of happened, and we went with the flow.

We also put considerable energy into the bulletin - a habit of Ravenswood's that I started and continued here. This was the first one, however, that I ever printed in color, and on good paper. The illustration turned out beautifully, and really set the tone for honoring the wights of the land. Thor gets thanked profusely by Lorraine and I for his good work in warding our stead, but I sometimes think we overlook the lesser wights, whose contribution to the well being of the farm is immeasurable.

I kept with that spirit in closing, where I used a poem I'd written several years ago to the harrow. That worked really well, too, partly, I think, because of the rhyme and rhythm of the poetry itself.

A Faining for Midsummer is up as a pdf - download it, use it, adapt it, share it - but most importantly, let me know what you think!

21:01 /Asatru | 1 comment | permanent link

04 Jun 2010
What headstones say about the living

Fascinating post on an interesting new blog. From a heathen perspective, a headstone (or, preferably, a runestone) is the most visible and public reminder of our ancestors. When your faith includes a strong component of ancestor worship, that's a pretty big deal. A stone commermerates and remembers a person, for the benefit of our descendants.

Cemeteries are known for telling the stories of the people buried there. But the symbols on headstones and monuments can tell a different story: how our view of death has changed over time

(link) [CNN Religion Blog]

22:06 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

02 May 2010
By Oak and Ash And Thorn

Oh, do not tell the Priest our art,
For he would call it sin;
But we have been out in the woods all night
A-conjuring Summer in!
And we bring you news by word of mouth,
Good news for cattle and corn!
Now is the Sun come up from the South,
With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

 

Puck of Pook's Hill

09:21 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

25 Apr 2010
Separate Truths

Fascinating article, especially in it's perception of differing goals for differing religions, and suggesting that multiple truths can be equally valid.

At least since the first petals of the counterculture bloomed across Europe and the United States in the 1960s, it has been fashionable to affirm that all religions are beautiful and all are true. This claim, which reaches back to “All Religions Are One” (1795) by the English poet, printmaker, and prophet William Blake, is as odd as it is intriguing. No one argues that different economic systems or political regimes are one and the same. Capitalism and socialism are so self-evidently at odds that their differences hardly bear mentioning. The same goes for democracy and monarchy. Yet scholars continue to claim that religious rivals such as Hinduism and Islam, Judaism and Christianity are, by some miracle of the imagination, both essentially the same and basically good.

(link) [Boston Globe]

12:38 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

21 Apr 2010
Orthodox experts considers Iceland volcano eruption a sign of God's wrath

Who do they think did this? If we're looking for spiritual causes, there's another possibility that should be considered... but then again, sometimes a volcano is just a volcano.

Eruption of the Iceland volcano is a display of God's wrath, the Association of Orthodox Experts believes.

(link) [Interfax]

via Hardscrabble Creek

22:53 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

05 Mar 2010
Human Culture, an Evolutionary Force

Nice to find some scientific support for my holdings on the whole folkish-universalist argument.

It's not nature vs. nurture, it's nature and nurture.

Culture has become a force of natural selection, and if it should prove to be a major one, then human evolution may be accelerating as people adapt to pressures of their own creation.

(link) [New York Times]

19:32 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

01 Feb 2010
All You Need Is Love

Why was I born? To some extent, this is not a question at all. A question usually implies a choice - why is it x and not y? There is no choice here: asking "Why wasn't I born?" is a contradiction.

Yet this question has been considered at some level by every human who's ever walked Midgard. Some are seeking a purpose, some are seeking enlightenment. I'm looking for an answer.

So let's get physical and rephrase the query. My real question isn't "Why do I exist?", but rather "What is it about me that makes me unique? Why am I 'me', and not somebody else?"

I remember when I was a little kid, it had to be when I was 6 or seven, the girl next door - was her name Becky? - insisted that her mom and dad had "made" her. I was equally adamant that God had made me, and her and everybody else. My Sunday school teacher said so! But she asked the obvious (and pretty perceptive for a first grader) question: if God made her, why did she look like her mom?

We are, biologically, our ancestors. Here's a thought that'll blow your mind: fifty thousand years ago, somewhere in Eurasia or Africa, two humans mated. If they had not done so, you would not exist.

On a biological level, it's safe to say that you were born because of all of your ancestors that successfully mated, and raised their brood to maturity. Sounds kinda sterile, eh? But take a look at the emotional side...

What's the primary motivation for human mating? Is it mere attraction? Availability? Lust? I think it's probably safe to say that the primary motivation for mating, across cultures and across the centuries, has been an emotional desire. This may be for security, or to please one's family, or it may even be a violent outburst, but commonly the emotion that motivates us to make the beast with two backs is love.

I think it's probably a safe bet to say that the vast majority of your ancestors felt an emotional bond with their mates, and I guarantee that they felt an emotional bond with their children (because unloved children typically do not thrive). Those bonds are what we today would call love.

You were born because your ancestors loved. They loved each other, and they loved their offspring.

This love - this desire to mate and raise children, is the basis for our survival as a species. If we are indeed children of the universe, then love is the universe insuring it's own propagation.

From the perspective of the universe, the Beatles were right.

21:46 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

28 Nov 2009
Copyright and Heathenry

As most readers of this blog are aware, copyright is a subject near and dear to me, and has been for several years. In my professional life, I depend on copyright to make my living (I'm a programmer for those unaware), and am fairly well versed in the legal aspects of the subject, though IANAL.

Everything one writes (publication aside) is considered copyrighted, and republication without permission of the copyright holder, whether for profit or not, is a criminal matter.

That being said, I believe that copyright will prove to be one of the greatest obstacles to the spread of heathenry if we collectively do not understand it, and continue to stand by it for matters of our writings and other works.

We (heathens) are a small group - no matter how you count us or whom you include as "us". The market for our written works is correspondingly tiny. Yet we are a scholarly lot, with a lot to say, and we produce (relatively) massive amounts of work analyzing and translating our lore, giving vision and voice to our worldview.

But look at the sales ranking on Amazon for our works. See how many of our most important books are available in your local public library. How much money has anyone made writing serious heathen tomes? Even the academics that are not heathen do not live by sales of their works: they'll all professors caught in the publish or perish world of the ivory tower.

This leads to an important side effect - how many of our organizations give away books (or even expanded pamphlets) at fairs, gatherings or moots? None - because none can afford to purchase the works from the author or artist, in additional to paying for printing or distribution. We have no organizations like the Gideons, passing out our lore or Eddas, because none of the modern translations of our lore are free from copyright.

How much different would Christian evangelical efforts look if they asked for a set price for the literature they drop off on nearly everyone's doorstep?

I'm not proposing that we go door to door with the Eddas and door hangers proclaiming that "Odin Hung on the Worldtree for YOUR Runes!" - I am proposing that our authors and artists, our scholars and godmen, loosen up on the copyright of their works and allow free distribution. This single step alone, in my humble opinion, would do more to "spread the word" than anything else we could do, while keeping us free from the taint of proselytizing.

I would suggest that we (as heathen authors and artists) look at what our real motivations are. Are we writing to earn a living? Some of us are, especially those of us who are established authors of fiction. Most of us are not. Most of us write (or paint, or draw, or sing and make music) out of our love for the Shining Gods and Goddesses, and out of a desire that our names be remembered in the long years that follow as one of those who first led the Folk back to the Tru path.

"Fair fame never dies for he who has earned it."

To that end, I have placed all of my written and recorded works into a Creative Commons attribution and share-alike style license. (In some cases, mostly from the early Nineties, I wrote my own, but would suggest others visit the Creative Commons or GNU Documentation sites for more information and a wider range of licenses). This includes all of my posts here, in other forums and on our personal site. Those words of mine which are unmarked I have insured are in the public domain, and can be copied, resued, mashedup and remixed at will.

My goal here is not my enrichment in Midgard - my goal is that all of Midgard will once again hear our voices from the North, and consider what they mean and can do. And hopefully remember my name as one of those who played a small part in our renaissance.

I ask all heathen authors and artists to consider this position.

08:13 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

25 Nov 2009
Houses of the rising sun

Interesting stuff - I can find no references to directional orientation of any known heathen temple in the the north. The east has always been associated in the Indo-European religions with beginnings, so I suppose it would make sense to orient temples towards the rising sun. Modern heathenry tends to face north a lot... but that's surely a modern innovation.

New research at the University of Leicester has identified scores of Sicilian temples built to face the rising Sun, shedding light on the practices of the Ancient Greeks.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

20:16 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

15 Nov 2009
Furry fixation

I have to credit Lorraine for this insight: maybe these "furries" have a longer history than we might suppose:

The thrilling hybrid figure of a man with antlered head, round eyes, a long beard, animal (lion?) paws instead of hands, the tail of a wild horse, and his sexual organ placed beneath the tail seems to be a more important personage than a 'sorcerer,' as he is called....Abbe Breuil was right to call him the 'God of Les Trois Freres'....[This Master of Animals and Forests is] shown moving, probably dancing.
The Language of the Goddess

Why do some folk don animal suits and go grooming?

(link) [BBC News]

23:40 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

11 Nov 2009
Day of the Skulls

A fascinating look at how the church fights, wrestles with and eventually tries to subsume native beliefs, in this case ancestor worship. One has to wonder how much of this same process happened all over Europe a thousand years ago.

Ancient rituals and Catholic belief collide in Bolivia

(link) [BBC News]

19:28 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

25 Oct 2009
Christians 'should wear crosses'

And Heathens should wear Hammers ...

Do You Wear Your Hammer?

Do you wear your Hammer
Around your neck each day?
Does it say 'I'm Asatru!'
Or is it tucked away?

Does your speech do credit
To Asatruar kind
Or do your friends have cause to doubt
Your cleanliness of mind?

Will you answer truly
When asked your state of faith?
Do you, in face of Christendom
Vanish like a wraith?

Do you search for knowledge
And credit Odhinn's aid?
Do you show Frigg's charity
and love that will not fade?

Have you defended clan and kin
Against the sland'rer's edge?
Or have you, by your nod,
Helped to drive the wedge?

Are you fost'ring hatred
In breast that should be clean?
Are you worthy of the task
Or are your motives mean?

What you do today, my friend,
Is how you shall be known.
And by inference, all of US
By your actions, shown!

And thus do Asatruarfolk
All, each other represent!
In thought, and word and action.
In garb and temperament.

And we ALL represent the Gods
For from Them, we descend!
REMEMBER that fact DAILY
My Asatruar friend!

Do you wear your Hammer
For Asatruar Kind?
You must wear it on your clothing
AND WEAR IT ON YOUR MIND!
    ©1995 Sylvia Stevens

A bishop calls for Christians to wear their crosses to work to show Christianity is not going to 'disappear quietly'.

(link) [BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]

22:11 /Asatru | 1 comment | permanent link

11 Oct 2009
Witches' lore

Nice to see this preservation, despite the best efforts of Christian missionaries to eradicate the native religion and domination of an essentially foreign culture.

Would that northwestern Europe had been so lucky...

Taiwan's aboriginal mediums pass on traditional skills

(link) [BBC News]

16:12 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

10 Oct 2009
Winter Nights 2009

Today our farm is hosting the Winter Nights celebrations for Ravenswod - it's becoming almost a tradition to have it here. We're expecting about 35 guests, so this will be the extent of my blogging for today - we're gonna be busy indeed.

Hail the Aesir, Hail the Vans, Hail to Alf and Dis!

07:24 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

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