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http://www.irminsul.org/aw/aw.html
http://www.asatru-u.org/beginner/asau-beginner-outline.htm
WHAT IS ASTARU?
Two articles by Odinsvolk and Hunter of VOK is merged.
http://www.odinsvolk.ca/O.V.A.%20-%20ASATRU%20INTRO.htm
WNW.valleyoakkindred.com
NAME:
Asatru is an Scandinavian term consisting of two parts: ASA (Genitive of Asir) referring to the Germanic Gods and Goddesses (of both the ASIR and the VANIR), and TRU meaning faith. Thus Asatru literally means faith in the gods, although it is commonly misunderstood to mean 'true to the Asir gods'. The faith is also referred to as Odinism or Norse Germanic Heathenry. The Old Norse term for 'heathenry' is "heidni". Yet another Old Norse designation is "Forn Sidr", meaning "the ancient custom".
Asatru is a somewhat modern term in Old Norse. Astaru is an Icelandic translation of the Danish word Asetro. This word was invented in the early 19th century by scholars studying the Norse Germanic pagan religion and folk beliefs along with the Eddas and Sagas.
The earliest use of the term Asatru that anybody has so far able to find was its use in a song written by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. It was written around 1873 as part of the third scene of Grieg's opera Olav Trygvason, of which only the first act - the Heathen one - was ever written. But the word was coined sometime before that, earlier around the 1820s, as part of the Scandinavian Romantic movement.
The term Asatru became official when the religion was recognized by the Icelandic government in 1972 at the urging of the poet, Sveinbjorn Beinteinsson. Today the term refers to the re-birth of the ancient ethnic pre-Christian religion of northern Europe in its modern manifestation.
In the 1930's, Alexander Rudd Mills coined the term Odinist and founded the "The First Anglecyn Church of Odin" for his countrymen of northern European ethnic heritage. His acivities resulted in his arrest and political detention by the Australian government during World War 2.
Asatru is a living religion, practiced by a rapidly growing number of people throughout the world. Asatru is a polytheistic, nature-oriented faith grounded in an honouring of the High Gods of the Aesir and the Vanir, the reverence for ancestors and our moral code is implicit in the observance of the Nine Noble Virtues
Those who practice Asatru are called Asatruar, Asafolk, Tru Folk, Odinists, Germanic Heathens or just worshippers of the Germanic religion.
HISTORY:
Asatru's beginnings are lost in prehistory, but as an organized system, it is older by far than Christianity. Strictly speaking, since Asatru is the religion which springs from the specific spiritual beliefs of the Northern Europeans, it is as old as this particular branch of the human race.
After having few, if any, practitioners for many centuries, this religion was revived as Asatru in the 19th century by the Geatish Society. It received a special impetus in the late 1960s and early 1970s when Sveinbjorn Beinteinsson was instrumental in getting Asatru recognized by the Icelandic government in 1973 and a several organizations sprung up in England, Germany, and North America.
GODS:
There are two groups of Gods in the Germanic pantheon; the Aesir, who are the predominant group, and the Vanir, some of whom have been adopted into the Aesir. The gods are, of course, mysterious and unknowable in some sense, but in another, they are very knowable. One may know them from the stories of their various actions, and one may further know them by spiritual experience. They seldom announce who they are when they appear in a dream or in some other way, but one generally knows.
These deities of Northern Europe are best known to most people as the Gods and Goddesses of the Old Norse legends, although these same Deities were once worshiped by most of the peoples of pre-Christian Germanic Europe. But because the Old Norse legends provide the best knowledge of them, we usually refer to them by their Norse Germanic names.
Many people are primarily committed to one god or goddess. Males tend to follow male gods, and women to follow female ones, but not always. It is largely a matter of compatibility, for the divinities have strong personalities, and even the Gods and Goddesses we hear little about can make their presence strongly felt.
CELEBRATIONS:
The basic religion of Asatru involves keeping the major festivals of the year, which generally fall on the solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarter days with one or two exceptions. These festivals can be kept personally, with the family or one or two friends, or with an organized Asatru group.
The two main styles of ritual celebrations which are done to honor the Gods and Goddesses and to keep ones troth are called the blot and the sumbel. In addition to these there are also numerous social and cultural activities.
BLOT:
Blot is an Icelandic word meaning blessing, and involves pouring out mead, ale, or other drinks onto the Earth as a sacrafice to the Gods & Goddesses, as well as sharing that blessing with the participants by passing around a drinking horn with that mead or ale, or by sprinkling some of the mead or ale on the participants.
An Asatru religious ceremony is called a Blot, Pronounced "bloat". Eight major Blots are celebrated by Asatruers each year. These are listed below, with the modern English name of each given first, followed by its Old Norse name in parenthesis, and its approximate date -- although the usual practice is to hold the Blot on the nearest weekend.
Disfest (Disablot) 31 January
Ostara (Ostara) 21 March
May Eve (Valpurgis) 30 April
Midsummer (Midsumarsblot) 21 June
Freysfest (Freysblot) 1 August
Harvestfest (Haustblot) 21 Sepember
Winter Night (Vetrnaetr) 31 October
Yule (Jol) 20th December - January 1st
There is also the Alfablot to honour the Alfar. Other Blots are also held for special life events such as weddings, funerals, coming of age rites, etc.
SUMBEL:
Besides the Blot, there is another kind of Asatru ceremony called the Sumbel, which is a kind of formalized religious toasting. Sumbels are held whenever people want to hold them.
The sumbel is a ritualized toasting in which a horn with mead or ale is passed around and each participant makes a toast, a boast, an oath, or says something significant over the drink. It is said that the words spoken at a sumbel echo throughout all the Nine Worlds so words spoken there should be thoughtful and meaningful.
PRACTICES - ARTS:
Some who practice Asatru only adhere to the religion, keeping the festivals with blots and sumbels, but some are also involved in the esoteric arts of Germanic magic, such as the use of Runes and the shamanic practice known as Seidhr.
Other popular activities include the making of traditional crafts and honing of ancient skills, including: archery and other ancient sports, mead and ale brewing, rune carving, cooking, sewing, writting poetry and linguistic studies, camping and more. Many Asatruar are avid scholars and will read a great deal, including pursuing obscure texts, in order to gain more knowledge. We're known as the religion with the homework.
MORALS:
The Asatru way of life esteems: courage, honour, hospitality, independence (and liberty), individuality (with self-reliance, family and self-responsibility), industriousness (and perseverance), justice (including an innate sense of fairness and respect for others), loyalty (to family, friends and folk), truthfulness, and a willingness to stand up for what is right.
NATURE of ASATRU:
The Germanic Heathen religion of Asatru is an indigenous, ethnic, and ancestral faith much like many African, Oriental, Native American and Native Australian Heathen religions. It represents the indigenous pre-christian spiritual beliefs of the Germanic peoples and a return to our traditional values. This spiritual practice is the veneration of the ancestral Gods and Goddesses of the Pan-Geramnic peoples (Northern Europeans), which includes the peoples, and their descendants, of present-day Scandinavia, England, Germany, Holland, Austria, Iceland, and Belgium among others.
Among the Folkish groups, there is a tendency to insist on people explore their ethnic roots in their spirituality, some refusing anyone not of Northern European ancestry. Some are restrictive as to sexual orientation as well. Very traditional in approach to the lore and religion.
Among Tribalist - there is a middle-of-the road attitude, each group deciding what factors matter in choosing members. The goal being to form an extended family group. Tribalists tend to be more traditional in approach to the lore and religion.
Universalist groups are more accepting on all levels, no matter are the orientation or ethnic background. They're also more open to letting other traditions and pantheons be merged with Asatru, sometimes referred to as WiccaTru (a term held in disdain by many non-Universalist Heathens)
As the ancestral religious "common law" of the Northern European peoples, Asatru can survive by tradition much like the Anglo-Saxon common law, and does not require a lot of theology and dogma, just like the British parliament evolved without an equivalent of the U.S. Constitution. Important source material include ancient accounts of our ancestors written by their contemporaries, the prose and poetic Eddas written in Iceland during its golden age of saga literature, but other guidance can be found by studying the folklore, history, and antiquities of the Germanic peoples as well as the religions of their ethno-religious cousins (Druidism/Celtic & Greco-Roman religion, and early Hinduism).
The Asatru approach to religion is very similar to the motivating factors behind the Protestant Reformation in
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Asatru in Wales?
