I have a problem, I was speaking with this person on line and she said her religion was Asatru. We were great friends and all, but after I told her I was Bisexual and my ancestry was from Africa she said that she could not talk to me anymore because its against her religion and its nothing personal.
Could anyone of this religion or knowledge of it please let me know what I did that changed our whole friendship because I'm just stunned at what I did.
This is a great site to answer your question. I don't want to write my own beliefs because I know very about Asatru first hand. But, like I said this site will definitely answer your questions. By the way, I am sorry for the disintegration of your friendship.
As I know, several of the fundamental Asatruars are like that. I find it highly amusing as everything I've read about Norse culture has implied that they were willing to be friendly towards groups of people who fought well; many African tribes fitting the bill as far as I could tell.
There is nothing, and I'll say that again NOTHING in ?satr? anywhere that would prevent this person from being your friend.
This person is a homophobic racist which is utterly against all the wisdom passed down from our northern ancestors and this person should be frankly ashamed of herself.
As if ?satr?ar don't already have to fend off stupid accusations of Nazism thanks to Hitler's regimes abuse of our symbolism we still have to deal with the occasional idiot like the person you mention
There's a collection of Nidstangs on the Internet posted specifically to curse people like this person posted by genuine ?satr?ar and other Gemanic heathens all over the world.
Be glad you're rid of her and get on with your life.
I'm sorry your friend has acted this way
she doesn't sound like a good friend to be honest, and you will be better without someone with that negativity
how she can claim to be Austria is beyond me, all pagan Esq religions and beliefs are based on understanding,r aspect, balance and tolerance
Asatru has, to a certain (and very very small) degree, been adopted by white supremacists, it isn't the faith, it is the people that have done this. It is an extremely small number of people, and seems to tie into their own skewed attitudes...think Noe-nazi rather than Asatru really
None of the Heathens I know would countenance such a world view.
Asatru is frequently regarded as one of the Neopagan family of religions. That family includes Wicca, Celtic Druidism, and re-creations of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and other ancient Pagan religions. However, many Asatruers prefer the term "Heathen" to "Neopagan" and look upon their tradition as "not just a branch on the Neopagan tree" but as a separate tree. Unlike Wicca, which has gradually evolved into many different traditions, the reconstruction of Asatru has been based on the surviving historical record. Its followers have maintained it as closely as possible to the original religion of the Norse people.
Asatru or ?satr? is an Icelandic word which is a translation of the Danish word "Asetro." Asetro was "first seen in 1885 in an article in the periodical "Fjallkonan". The next recorded instance was in "Hei?inn si?ur ? ?slandi" ("Heathen traditions in Iceland.") by ?lafur Briem (Reykjav?k, 1945)." It means "belief in the Asir," the Gods. "Asatru" is a combination of "Asa" which is the possessive case of the word ?sir (Aesir) and "Tru" which means belief or religion.
Throughout Scandinavia the religion is called Forn Si?r (which means the Ancient way or tradition), Forn sed (the Old custom), Nordisk sed (Nordic custom), or Hedensk sed (Pagan custom). Other names are:
Norse Heathenism, Germanic Heathenism, the Elder Troth, the Old Way, Asetro, Vor Si r (our way), Forn Si r (Ancient way), Forn sed (the old custom), Nordisk sed (Nordic custom), or Hedensk sed (Pagan custom), Odinism or Folkish ?satr?.
The religion's origin is lost in antiquity. At its peak, it covered all of Northern Europe. Countries gradually converted to Christianity. In 1000 CE, Iceland became the second last Norse culture to convert. Their prime motivation was economic. Sweden was ruled by a Pagan king until 1085 CE.
Icelandic poet Gothi Sveinbjorn Beinteinsson promoted government recognition of Asatru as a legitimate religion; this status was granted in 1972. Since the early 1970's, the religion has been in a period of rapid growth in the former Norse countries, as well as in Europe and North America.
Personally I have quite a few Heathen friends, and whilst their religious attitudes can be a little dogged at times (they feel more "traditional" than more recent neo-pagan faiths and this can come across as arrogance) we are all human beings under the sun; just as we wear different clothes, we have different faiths.
You do meet odd people on line - be careful, and be happy with who YOU are!!
Halcon
You'll find that most Astra's are liberal people.
Sadly, there are some groups that believe in the same gods we do but use religion to foster a conservative agenda. Happens in every faith.
Your friend is surely from the Odinic Rite (we call them the Odinic Right) or of the most right-winged factions of the AFA. Some groups use Astra to promote white supremacist beliefs, but they are a minority.
That some Astra denominations (foolish ones) don't accept people of non-Germanic background (be it ethnic or cultural) does NOT mean they shouldn't be friends, or even lovers, of people of other backgrounds. So your "friend" is not even a regular foolish Astra, but a white supremacist bastard. You'd have clashed anyway if she wasn't Astra. She's a homophobe and a racist, that's all. It has nothing to do with her faith.
Personally, in our kindred we accepted people of all ethnic backgrounds, we just needed to consider their values "germanic" to accept them to tribe and kindred. (we had a rite of acceptance into the tribe for all people. It started as a way to admit people of non-germanic descent, but we extended it to people of germanic descent too. Descent does not equal values)
It sounds like she is just using her religious choice as an excuse to be a racist idiot. I do not know of anything in the Norse religion that says one word condemning a persons race or sexual orientation.
Sorry your 'friend' turned out to be a bigot. There are many great Asatruars, but as with ALL religions there are always a few bad apples.
)o( Blessed be
wow. she doesn't sound like a very good friend. I don't know much about Asatru, but i know that there is no reason why she couldn't be your friend. she sounds more racist than anything.
As people have already said, this is bull. There's nothing within Astra that would dictate such attitude. I'm afraid your friend had entirely personal, homophobic and racist reasons for not speaking with you anymore.
Well, what can I say, if she's willing to forget your friendship over something like that, she never was a real friend to begin with. Tell her to take her racist and homophobes Cr*p somewhere else and search for a real friend who will accept you as you are.
Asatru Religion question?
