The Ásatrú Edda

Introduction In the age of innocence, the age of peace and plenty, when our ancestors lived without vice or villainy, there came the first lore. The Gods sent to their protégés a divine teacher, an immortal among mortals, who would bring all the necessary implements to build a culture and a civilization. At first the lore was simple and direct; telling of the creation of worlds, of mankind, and the Gods’ conflict with the powers of Chaos. As time passed more and more stories developed, de-tailing the complex and beautiful natures of these benevolent deities, the Æsir and Vanir, while explaining their relations to one another and their dealings with the world. At the core of this very ancient tradition, reaching back many thousands of years, lies the epic chain of events, beginning with Ginnungagap and ending with Ragnarökr and the subsequent renewal. The chain is a sacred institution that lies within the cultural and religious expres-sions of the people of the North that has existed since the time of the earliest Indo-Europeans. The idea of cohesion, so important in many hierologies, resounds in the tales of the Ásatrú pantheon as part of the necessary logic behind the skáldic heritage. As new stories would arise, new episodes would be added to the epic as they fit into the chronological order of events. At the same time, local customs and beliefs could form that would not be deemed appropriate for the greater body of lore, and so would remain within the town or community it developed in. Eventually, the stories would be recorded, although in a severely corrupted form, in a treatise that would forever label them as Edda. Although the text was composed three hundred years after the conversion to Christianity, for those who honor the ancient deities, this would become a holy term. The most commonly accepted definition of Edda comes from the Old Norse language, where it means “Great-Grandmother”, representing the idea of elders telling the sacred tales to their descendants. In ancient times, these were told as part of an oral tradition, where storytellers would pass the narratives down through the generations. To know and understand the lore was a sacred responsibility, one that gave its keepers prominent positions within their tribes or clans. The diligence with which this duty was upheld is evidenced by the survival of the customs them-selves, which evolved over centuries, embodying the cultural manifestations of the folk will. The pre-Christian poems of what would be known as the Poetic or Elder Edda, along with those of the elaborate and enigmatic skáldic discipline, would act as the primary representatives of this ancient inheritance. Then, in the midst of this cultural evolution, there came a foreign invader upon Northern soil. Christianity began its campaign of forced conversion that would take centuries to complete, while the old ways started fading out early on. It was only by chance that the fragments of Ásatrú lore were able to survive as a product of church propaganda. In order to convince the masses to convert, Christian leaders had to explain why these people had been worshiping “false gods” for millennia. To the uneducated peasants the answer was easy their ancestors had been tricked by demons into deifying them, causing the folk to turn away from the “true faith”. However, the learned nobility had established their lineage through the pantheon, and valued their familial relationship with the Gods as part of their royal heritage. The nobles were, by far, the most important part of the church’s conversion tactics, for they would convert their subjects to the new faith, and they could make war if they were not pleased. Therefore, a more appropriate response was needed for their concerns, which would have to coincide with that given to the lower classes. Thus, the euhemerist movement began. The Christian clergy told the heathen nobles that their Gods and Goddesses were actually human kings and queens who had achieved such repute among their people, they were eventually elevated to divine status. An elaborate doctrine was created to back up this claim, including the complete reformation of the old lore to fit this new idea. The Teutonic deities became heroic Trojans, and a false etymological relationship between “Asia” and “Æsir” was developed. In the end, this plan would backfire, since the actual recording of the traditions themselves would be valued most, while lies about human Æsir from Troy would be all but forgotten. Many years later, during the Germanic Renaissance of the late 19th century, scholars all over Europe would collect, translate, and piece together the fragments as best they could, in order to form a coherent system of lore from Northern Europe. During this era, modern mythological research was born. Although often falsely classified as “Norse”, these stories represent an ancient body of religious beliefs that were once celebrated from Austria to Iceland, and beyond. The most prominent scholar of this Renaissance was, without a doubt, Jacob Grimm, the German linguist who gathered popular traditions and stories remaining from the North’s heathen past, and meticulously researched every detail, pioneering the field of investigating these customs in his work Deutsche Mythologie (“Teutonic Mythology”). Following Grimm was Swedish poet and author Dr. Viktor Rydberg, whose Undersökningar i Germanisk Mythologi (“Researches Into Germanic Mythology”) and Fädernas Gudasaga (“Our Fathers’ Godsaga”) would be the most thorough, yet most underrated texts ever written on the ancient ways. These latter books have served as a template for the present volume. Shortly thereafter, in Australia, 1936, Alexander Rud Mills established the Anglecyn Church of Odin, officially heralding the rebirth of the Ásatrú or Odinist religion. At the time, it seemed as though this new awakening of an old path would be quite prolific. However, with the coming of World War II and false allegations made by an overly paranoid Australian government, many of the early Odinists were led to concentration camps, and the light of Óðinn would remain dim for the time being. It would not be until the late 1960s, when Danish born Else Christensen, inspired by Mills’ work, would relight the flame of Ásatrú among the Gods’ descendants in America and Canada. Her group, the Odinist Fellowship, worked diligently in spreading the word that the old faith was indeed born again, this time for good. Earning the name “Folksmother”, Else was a true force to be reckoned with, for her strong will and life-long dedication to Odinic beliefs would help set the stage for many to follow in her footsteps. Although still facing persecution (in her 80s Else was falsely imprisoned and deported from the U.S. due to her success with the Odinist Fellowship), these defenders of the faith will always be remembered and honored within the Ásatrú Nation. From there, the message grew like wildfire, with organizations cropping up all over the Western world, and individuals finding the path on a daily basis. In America, there would be the Ásatrú Free Assembly (to become the Ásatrú Folk Assaembly) and the Ásatrú Alliance, from England the Odinic Rite would spread across the globe, whereas the Ásatrúarfelag in Iceland would become the first nationally recognized Ásatrú organization in modern times. To this day, the faith still faces opposition from those who would make false accusations based on outdated misconceptions. In spite of this, the religious revival continues to evolve and move forward in ever more positive directions. The celebration of European ethnicity may seem threatening to some, but should be recognized as the beautiful and uplifting experience we Ásatrúar know it to be. The Ásatrú religion is, by all means, an esoteric belief system, only because it embodies the cultural values of the peoples of the North. In this way, it is no different than other ethnic religions found in India,