Asatru Rising

In this comprehensive, "big picture" podcast I cover the mission of Asatru in the modern world, discuss the three biggest problems facing our world today, and outline the five tasks that lie before us. This done, we talk about the loss of the European collective soul (think Carl Jung) in a process comparable to individual soul loss in shamanic cultures.  We list some of the main features distinguishing the European soul, describe how we can find that soul again, and present a vision of Asatru in the near-term future that is successful, powerful, prosperous, and influential.  This is a prognosis that is positive, healing, and life-affirming for all involved.  Share the joy!It's a lot to pack into one podcast, but I think the importance of the subject warrants the attention I am giving it here.  Prepare to be uplifted, stimulated, and inspired!

We European-descended people want to drink from everyone's well but our own. Many of us are uncomfortable with Christianity, but keep going to church because "it's the right thing to do" or because "I want the kids to have good morals."  Those who leave the Church find themselves adrift.   Some check out Buddhism, others Wicca or Theosophy or even Islam.  Others give up and become atheists. And of course, some try Native American religion.  But as a friend of ours found out, that isn't the answer.  This podcast tells how he found "our own well," at the encouragement of a Sioux elder.

Is the mythic lore of Northern Europe outdated?  Does it seem irrelevant to modern people?  Should we write new myths about the Gods and Goddesses, giving them a modern face? That question was posed recently on an Asatru list.  In this short podcast, you'll hear my response.

When an intact pre-Christian temple was unearthed recently in Norway, archeologists were ecstatic.  Comments like "Unique!" and "Unprecedented!" splashed across Internet news pages.  The site had been lovingly hidden away, carefully preserved under peat, awaiting the day it would be safe to honor the Gods again  -  for Christianity had gained power in the land, and fire and sword awaited all who followed the ancient faith.  This temple was a gift from the ancestors of a thousand years ago. But now, it has been demolished...bulldozed to make way for a housing project. When the steel blade of the bulldozer bit into the sacred earth, the present spat on the past.  The ancestors were betrayed  -  for money!

Many religions have specific rites to begin each day. Asatru has no such formal practice, but over the years I have evolved a set of personal rites along these lines. Readers may find them helpful as they develop their own. Doing rites in the early morning has changed the way I see the world around me. I muse that, poetically, the world is re-created with each dawn: You can stand in the darkness and watch, minute by minute, as the world is reborn. First, the horizon in the east takes shape...then the trees around you gradually assume their forms, first as dim shadows which, gradually, become more defined...branches and leaves become visible against the ever-lighter sky... forms emerging from the darkness. Each day is a new start, a new beginning, a new world emerging from the void. Join me as I describe how I start my day!

For millions of Americans and other people around the globe, 2010 was a rough year economically and spiritually.  Now, however, there is a fresh sense of purpose and energy out there  -  AFA memberships are climbing, able men and women are stepping forward to help advance our cause, and spirits are high.  Where is the AFA going in 2011?  What are our priorities?  How will we continue our mission of influencing the larger culture in which we are imbedded? Three broad tasks lie before us as this new year opens.  To find out what they are, listen as Steve McNallen explains the AFA's mission in 2011!

Winter Nights is the holy time when we of Asatru honor the Disir  -  the female ancestors of our line, often thought of as being led by Freya, the Goddess of love and fertility.  Is death merely a curtain, a veil, through which the love and inspiration of our foremothers (and all our ancestors generally) can reach us?  Asatruar say "Yes!"  -  the line of ancestors and descendants transcends time and space, and mortality.  Join us as we describe how to honor your own Disir, the mighty women who gave you the gift of life!

Medieval cathedrals were built to show the power of the Christian God over the centuries.  Where are the cathedrals of Asatru?  Should our own faith have any equivalent to these magnificent buildings?  How would our "cathedrals" differ from those of Christendom?  Would Asatru "cathedrals" even be places of worship  -  or would they be something entirely different? This is thinking on a large scale, but it is time Asatruar begin envisioning that which is far beyond our current reach.  Asatru is not a new form of entertainment in a degenerate age, nor a substitute for video games and television triviality, nor is it a club for Viking "wannabees."  To find out more, listen!

In this episode, we take a deeper look at Asatru communities.  We examine how they fall under the "job description" of the Asatru Folk Assembly, and we consider the numerous possible stages through which they might develop  -  from the initial meeting of two or more people, to a full-fledged intentional community with a large piece of land and many buildings.  Not least, we remind ourselves that a community is defined not by real estate, but by people!

There's a lot of talk on the Internet about Asatru communities.  How can we develop these?  More specifically, can a national (international, really) organization like the Asatru Folk Assembly engender that sense of togetherness on a very large scale?  My answer to that is a resounding "Yes!" and in this podcast I discuss how this can be done.   My aim is to make the AFA "the international organization that feels like a kindred."  I know that's envisioning a lot...but hear me out!

What are you doing about your personal evolution?  It's easy to go with the flow, but we change for the better only by conscious effort and a deliberate plan.  So what does it matter, really?  If our spiritual life is good enough for us personally, isn't that enough? Well, not really.  Asatru will be what we make it.  If we are not evolving  -  if we are not wise and strong, if we are lot living "lives of worth," Asatru will be weak.  If on the other hand we have developed spiritually, mentally and, yes, physically, Asatru will reflect those things.  We owe it to our Gods, our ancestors, our descendants yet to be born...and to ourselves...to be the best that we can be. This podcast will give you pointers on how to work on your own evolution.  Change yourself and you will change thousands!

Individuals in shamanic cultures sometimes "lose their souls," and a spiritual specialist has to make a journey to the Other World to recover it.  Can entire peoples be cut off from the wellsprings of their ancestral wisdom and thus, metaphorically, lose their collective soul?  How can we, as men and women of European heritage, make that spiritual journey to wholeness and healing?

The two most prominent peoples of Europe, the Celts and the Germans, are remarkably similar.  While their unique cultures and distinctive histories certainly must be acknowledged and respected, their fundamental unity demands our attention.  According to highly respected scholar Hilda Davidson, author of Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe, we can speak of a common indigenous European religion, of which the Germanic and Celtic religions were (and are) specific manifestations. The Europeans still owe eighty-five to ninety percent of their genetic makeup to the earliest hunter-gatherers to inhabit the area.  In that sense, Europe is one.  The fact that many of us share both Celtic and Germanic heritages may indeed make us "general northern European," but that is hardly the same as saying we are "Heinz 57" or, worse yet, "mutts."  Europeans must not allow themselves to be divided by superficial differences when their similarities are so much more important.

Our first podcast, divided into two parts:  The first is a description of Asatru, focusing on its nature as a native European religion.  The second part discusses how the values of Asatru are put into practice by the Asatru Folk Assembly on the organizational level.