I dint have Norse heritage,but I have felt the call of the Gods my entire life and I really believe in them.I felt that I was born a pagan since I was 5 years old and I am following the Asatru path now,but I dint have Norse heritage.Is that OK?
But I have felt a VERY strong connection between me and the Gods my entire life.
To make up for your lack of Norse heritage you will have to build a long boat, fill it with your friends and launch periodic raids along the English coast line. Once you can successfully sack York, you're in the club.
That will depend on the Asatruar you ask. Those of a Folkish tradition will generally tell you that you need Norse blood to to follow the Norse ways. Those of a universalism mindset will disagree and say that the gods call whom they will.
Bear in mind that all of the Teutonic tribes have claim on the gods of the Norse, though they may pronounce the names differently. Odin was known as Wotan in Germany and Woden in England. Likewise Thor was known as Thunar or Donar depending on the region.
If you have any heritage from western Europe, you very likely have Teutonic blood. From the Lombards in Italy to the Goths in Spain to the Franks, Normans, Angles, Saxons, Rus and many others - all are of Teutonic heritage.
No. I cannot agree with the worship of gods created by men. We are cautioned about worship ping the "created, rather that the Creator". I would suggest the study of other forms of worship (brief), as that will afford a better control, or benchmark, by which to choose. We are also directed to "TEST" the spirits. Some are not what they appear to be, and can be very damaging. Be well, and be blessed.
The Divine calls who it will. And really, none of us know the full story of our heritage...we have unrecorded ancestors through force or passion in our pasts. So, who knows, you might have Norse ancestry and not know it.
I am often asked how I discovered I was a pantheist/pagan, why I "chose" that faith, and all I can say is I didn't. I was one all along, but lived another religion outwardly as that is how I was raised, till finally the struggle of trying to live a faith that didn't reflect my beliefs or experience seemed pointless. I gave up the faith I was raised in and began to practice the faith I was born to. Later I found others who practice the same faith, but I didn't chose it, it is just who and what I am and have always been.
In a very powerful ritual a few years ago on Winter Solstice, I and the other participants gathered and accepted our place in the Universe, and acknowledged that we don't know all of the connections, but we are willing to live with the truth of them. That we know that in our blood, is the blood of leaders, cheaters, givers, takers, lovers, rapists, peacemakers, warmongers. That the land we walk on is the place of graves, births, passion, sorrow, joy. That we would be open and willing to live out who we are, and work with what we have.
Sounds like you are doing exactly that! I am glad that you have found a way that nourishes you.
I suspect that Asatru, like other Pagan religions and probably others as well, is self-screening. People who make meaningful connections to the Gods will probably stay, regardless of ethnicity. Those who don't probably will leave, again regardless of ethnicity. You don't need Antone's approval or to join Antone's group to practice Asatru. My Heathen page is here: http://home.earthlink.net/~jordsvin
Check it out, there's tons of info. Please email me from there if I can be of help. Yours, Jordsvin
I honestly don't think genetics is a big a factor as some people make out..there is after all no pure race on the whole planet, each and every one of us is a Heinz 57.
Myself I'm likely a mixture of Dane, Celt, Scot, Mercian (Jutes and Saxons) Norse and given how prolific their influence on European history there's more than likely some Hun, Mongol and probably "Moor" in there too. The Mongols were so prolific that about 1 in 10 (possibly 1 in 5) human males possess Ghengis Kahn's Y chroma some!!
What I think really makes the difference isn't so much your ancestry (although it is important to respect your ancestry) but rather where you were born, what culture you were born into and what language that culture speaks. In my case living in the east Midlands of England I was born into lands once occupied by the Mercians who have claim to the last heathen king of English history and the Danes (we were routinely raided by Norsemen as well and they did settle near here) and the town in which I live has a name rooted in Old Norse as well as being prominently featured in the Old English heroic poem of Havelok the Dane. Obviously the English culture has Germanic roots and the English language evolved primarily from pro to-west Germanic.
As such this land and the people who live on it have ties to the Aesir and Vanir through a multitude of sources, I just happen to have listened more than some of my countrymen.
Now if you live in a place and a culture such as my own then regardless of your genetics your ties to the land and your ties to your culture should lend themselves well to heathenry, if however you live in a completely different culture then you will find it harder to associate with the Aesir and Vanir and instead would find it better to connect to the local dieties..however since you say the Aesir and Vanir have already connected with you I imagine the question of culture is already answered.
Accept for the nuts Folkist groups. You dint have a problem.
Universalism vs. Folkism. the whole argument is very complicated. However it was more of a 90's argument. For the most part the matter has already been settled across the spectrum of Asatru and Norse Heathenism. Very few groups are purely Folkist, or universalism. Most Kins judge applicants of Kinship on a case to case basis, but do prefer Cucasian members and encourage marriage and relationships inside the faith. (like most minority religious groups still do to this day.)
Due to Asatru's Particularly individual compo nets a definite, or even strongly general answer can not be given as to what problems you might face. I can tell you that if you asked to join a kin and where not cucasian then there would be an incredible influx of inter kin pollitics as old arguments revived and new ones take precedence.
There are universalist groups left around if one can find them. However the majority of Norse heathenry has moved to moderate Folkist.
I persoanlly think the more the marrier, and would welcome you into my own kin.
It is best for you to familiarize yourself with you own family tree as far back as you can find. Your accepteance into the Kin will be mostlikely dependent upon 3 categories.
1) Your racial back ground. Although being cucasian pretty much gives you qualification it is best to be prepared, not to mention it is very important to know where you come from and is a personal growing experience i reccomend to any one.
2) Your abillity as an Asatruar/knowlege. Knowing the text, knowing the issues, and knowing the practices will play greatly in your favor and it will asuage even hardest folkist into relaxation. Apparent willingness to learn and take part is substituteable for knowing.
3) Kin approval. If you have this then you are in hands down. This is the most important aspect of applocation to a kin, becuase in the end they are the ones who will decide. However iof you do not have 1 the other 2 options in place then it may or may not be enough to make the case.
Everything is pivitol on the Kin, and your appeareance to them. Becuase they will ultimately decide everything.
I personally would like to welcome you, and offer any support or assistance that you may need. The entierety of the R and S Asatruars and reconstructionist heathens are fully happy to assist you.
Sure.
Well, the opinions on this are divided in the Heathen community. The Folkish Heathens say that you can only have the birthright to follow the ancestral gods if you are of Germanic or Norse heritage.
The Universalists say anyone can be Asatru.
I say - if the Gods have called you, who are we to judge whether the Gods are right or not?!
It is unfortunate that the Nazis usurped the Runes and Heathen legends to create possibly the most successful marketing campaign for junk the 20Th century ever saw, better even than McDonalds, Coke and Nike! Because of this Heathenry has attracted all manner of racist, bigot ted and misogynist fools. If we turn to the sagas we will see our ancestors were happy to trade and live with all manner of races such as the Sami who look very different to the Danes.
Just because someone is white doesn't make them Norse or Germanic, they could be French or Italian; in the same way it doesn't matter if you are black, Asian or from Mars, if you accept O?inn as All Father and embrace the ?sir, Vanir and V?ttir into your life then you are Heathen. The Anglo-Saxons, Frisians and Norse were busy inter breeding with the races they came into contact with and it didn't bother them so why should it bother us now. If someone tells you that you cannot worship the Gods then tell them to boil their head!
I can only re-iterate the points raised by other respondents, the simple fact of the matter is that limiting oneself to Nordic ancestry for the Germanic Folkway is an isolationist idea, and frankly is outside the worldview of our Germanic Folk. Our ancestors could be found from one end of Europe to the other, and even in North Africa.
We're a rather wide travel ling bunch, and the silk road had a northern route and even the Vikings traded far and wide enough that a statue of a Buddha was found at the trade cent re of Birka.
Isolationists our ancestors were not. And neither should we be.
Welcome! Anyone that says they are Tru are Tru until they prove otherwise by their words or actions.
Moderates and Universalist Asatruar say welcome. Folkish types want a bloodline like the SS did. Not sure how many in America pass the tests - we're all pretty much mixed here.
As a Folkish heathen, I guess my first question would be, "are you SURE about that?"
First of all, our God/esses were honored throughout Northern Europe, not just Norway and Iceland. If your ancestors, any of them, came from anywhere north of the Rhine . . . you have Germanic bloodlines (of which Norse bloodlines specifically are only a subset).
Furthermore, the English---as in the Angles---originally migrated there from the Cimbrian peninsula, in what is now basically Denmark. They were joined there by the Saxons, from southern Germany, and the Normans, at that point from northern France but originally Ingvaones and Jutes from what eventually became Sweden.
Scotland, Orkney, Ireland, and Northumbria were all colonized by Vikings, and Norse DNA persists there . . . along with many Norse customs.
In Spain, the Arians and Ostrogoths are both of Germanic origin, as are the Rus in Russia and Ukraine, the Goths and Vandals in northern Italy, and the Franks for whom France is named.
The spelling and pronunciation changed from one region to the next---one should speak of Germanic religions, Germanic folkways, not a single unified "faith"---but all these people were united by common thew, shared worldview, and followed (with significant regional variations) more or less the same gods and goddesses.
You might be a whole lot more "Folk" than you think, in other words.
That said, bear in mind, however, that heathenry IS an indigenous, ethnotribal folkway . . . and that historically, it is based far more in *ancestor* worship than "feeling a connection to the gods."
It is common, nowadays, to view all religions as part of one vast spiritual smorgasbord from which one can pick and choose as one pleases . . . but some things are the property of the people or peoples among which they arose. All too often modern, universalist neopagans and neoheathens see this folkway as a *set of techniques to be learned,* essentially, without realizing that this idea is based in an industrial/technological age Anglo-American worldview . . . whereas indigenous religions tend to see context as *everything,* and ceremonies and rites removed from that context become despiritualized and meaningless.
A contigent certainly exists within Asatru intent on tarring Folkish heathenry with the ol' Hitler brush, while blandly opining that "anyone who wants to be Asatru can be" . . . but they never seem to stop and think about what a thoroughly spoiled, self-centered, 20th century American attitude this is----not everything is for everybody, nor can be, and some things simply cannot be treated as portable, or detachable from their originating cultures.
Universalists seem to always define the Folkish POV as "race-based," when in fact it is a matter of cultural context and ancestral heritage. The two are not the same.
Absolutely YES. There are a few groups out there that say no, but there are more that agree with me. If the Old gods of Northern Europe call you, who the Hel (yes, Hel has ONE "l") am I to say different.
there is a group called Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) who have a website rune stone.org. They used to have a list of Norse heathen groups by state, you could probably find others of like mind. The Viking Answer Lady also has a site, but you would probably have to go ogle it to see where it is. She has contacts also with listings of Kindreds and hearths. Feel free to contact me anytime via e-mail and I will give you any information that I have.
A lot of Asatruar/Heathens of the more Folkish persuasion would say that no, if you don't have Nordic heritage you can't possibly be hearing the call of the Norse Gods.
This, in my humble opinion, is BS.
The Gods call whom They will, and it is utter hubris to assume that one knows the Will of the Gods or knows why the Gods call to any one individual, or even dictate who can or can't possibly "hear" them. It is extreme arrogance at it's worst.
The Gods have Their own reasons for calling to the people They will. And They do call all sorts, regardless of bloodlines or ethnicity or whether you are one of the "Folk" (I hate that term).
If you are truly hearing Their call and want to study about Them, worship Them, and call yourself one of Their own don't let any mortal stop you. It doesn't matter what they think....it matters what the Gods think.
Poor Folkish people are getting bashed here. I do feel the honest need to clear that up a bit.
Folkish people do not believe in "pure blood" or any of that nonsense. They do believe that there is a strong tie between a cultural pathway, such as heathenism, and ones culture. There is nothing wrong with that and I tend to agree that you are closest to your roots.
As stated by someone above, the Germanic/Norse gods stretched from Iceland, to Norway, to Russia to freaking Italy. They were everywhere. Chances are you very much have a link somewhere to the ancestors. Our ancestors didn't care, why do we?
But yes heathery is about FAR more then just the gods.
Asatru??Help?
