Gathering
of First
Nations

page 3

Crossword - 2
The smarter sex - 4
Grizzlies tix - 8

Volume 21 - Issue 10

 

 

Gons OS The Dorcscanp

_ by Ciaran Meeks

A thousand years have passed and the old gods are
stirring. Churches are torched in Norway, biker wars
thunder across Scandinavia, and the rage of Black northern Europe, elements of the Internet where no less than 12
. : eee : which are prominent in the Celtic | Asatru Websites are listed on-line
Metal music roars like a vitriolic death machine. These — wiccan tradition. The most well __in the Yahoo! Web indexing
. kn f these deiti F ice.
events are bound together by a rebirth of the old wind Dies tony sutilinr uv chic’ 2°. Yow Wangiab ale inh bas
Re oe ° . ° ° he Wi ti f the Tripl ization t te Ni
Viking religion. Alarmists prick up their ears and raise Goddess and her consort, the _paganiem in the United States i
Horned God of the hunt, the

paganism in the United States is
their voices. Satanists! Nazis! Evil! But what is the truth {crests and the beasts), Nerthus, started by Stephen MeNallen in

the earth, agriculture, fertility, and In 1972, Norse paganism was
death. Many students of religion _ officially recognized as an existent
consider them to represent a and legitimate religion. The most
survival of the pantheon of the recent example of the renewed
much older Goddess religion of interest in Asatru can be found on

the Asatru Free Assembly (AFA),

 
  
  
 
  
  
 
  
   

and Njord. 1971. Other groups include the
of Asatru? The mythology of the Norse Odinist Fellowship in Florida, the
t was.a misty, rainy A t T , this revolves around a time lost in Odinist Committee in England, the
I a Fa ae ak es tik ATO st. solide d sede ee os antiquity wherein the Aesir and Northern Way (tied to the AFA) in
base near Reykjavik, Iceland. ing even, as it evokes , Mie None wasted, later See on ay Pee ees

me mY er tne te

-merging. The gods are said Heathen Way in San Francisco and
to dwell in the mystical Asatruarfolks in Iceland to name
realm of Asgard, beyond _ but a few. Like other forms of

= the Bifrost, Rainbow Paganism, there is a healthy

= Bridge. Odin’s diversity of views. The AFA
handmaidens, the publishes “The Runestone,” a
Valkyries, gather the souls of quarterly journal, and hold a

Beneath the shroud of low clouds _ images of a primal

in the sky a small group of protest- _ past, of a set of beliefs

ers had gathered around the base _and way of life

to protest the presence of foreign thought long gone.

troops in their country. However, despite
From out of the crowd one remaining relatively

figure stepped forth, bringing with unknown for the most part, the

—

COO mI

him an indefinable, yet powerful
presence. A pagan priest witha
flowing white beard bearing a staff
with a horse’s head carved upon
it—Sveinbjorn Beinteinsson, a
priest of the ancient Norse Asatru
religion. At first he neither said nor
did anything, then, planting the
pole in the ground he turned his
baleful gaze towards the NATO
base and raised his voice to chant a
curse much as his Norse ancestors
did before meeting their enemies
in battle centuries ago.

“I raise this nid (insult) against
nuclear weapons and all warfare...]
raise this nid against the destruc-
tion of life and the land, so help me
Freyr and Njordur...” (from National
Geographic, “Iceland: Life Under the
Glaciers” by Louise E. Levathes, Vol.
171, No. 2, Feb. 1987, pg. 187.)

ancient pagan Norse religion of
Asatru is making a comeback, both
in its original birthplace in Scandi-
navia, and in North America.
Asatru, or Odinism, means
“belief in the gods” in Old Norse;
adherents claim affinity to
the Aesir, the major
race of gods and
goddesses of Norse .
mythology. The
Aesir include gods :
that many people -:
are familiar with:
Odin the All
Father, his wife
Frigga, his sons
Thor, Balder and
Loki the Trickster,
and others. The Aesir is a race of
sky gods, who are more aggressive
and powerful than the other group,
the Vanir. The Vanir are gods of

  
  
 
  
 
  
 
 
  
  
 
  
  
 

fallen warriors and bring them to
Valhalla, Odin’s great hall. The
warriors spend their time feasting
and fighting, anticipating
Ragnarok, the final battle between
gods, giants and men, wherein
gods and men are destined to be
defeated by the giants,

may begin anew.
Asatru, like
Wicca and other

all but extermi-
nated by the
Christian

years ago, but
is enjoying a
resurgence in more modern
times. In Iceland, as in the other

and the cycle of life

pagan sects, was

church over 900

yearly three-day festival called the
Althing after the ancient Norse
gathering of the same name.

The Althing is held ina rural,
forested area and consists of
rituals, fellowship, music and
feasting. The Heathen Way also
publish a newsletter called
“Yggdrasil” after the mythological
World-Tree, or centre of the
universe. The Arizona Kindred
also publish a newsletter called
Odin’s Folk and the Northern Way
publish “Pagan Unity News”.
(Note: This information was taken
from the book “Drawing Down the
Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-
Worshippers, and Other Pagans in
America Today” by Margot Adler.
Revised and expanded between 1979
and 1986, it is somewhat outdated, but

Scandinavian countries, the ancient _ still an excellent resource.)

restrictions were removed in 1874.

continued on page 5

 

The Other Press January 211997 1