AFA UPDATE

A PROJECT OF THE ASATRU FOLK ASSEMBLY

Issue 155

April 5, 2012

Contact email: afa@runestone.org

Please tell your friends about AFA Update and suggest they subscribe! They
can do so by going to:

AFA_Bearclaw-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

WHERE TO FIND THE ASATRU FOLK ASSEMBLY ONLINE:

AFA website - http://runestone.org

Asatru Rising podcast - http://asatrurising.podbean.com

Our videos on You Tube - http://www.youtube.com/smcnallen

The AFA blog at - http://asatruupdate.blogspot.com

AFA MySpace at - http://www.myspace.com/asatruupdate

Follow the AFA on Twitter - http://twitter.com, username AsatruAFA.

The AFA mission statement: "to practice, promote, and further evolve
the religion of Asatru, thus forging it into a powerful and effective tool
for building a better world."

AFA MEMBERSHIP - If you like what you see here, and agree with the
Declaration of Purpose as found on our web site at http://runestone.org
...send us a membership application!

AFA NEWS

A Note from Steve

"A Note from Steve" opens the most recent issue of the AFA members'
publication, The Voice. It's so pertinent to the way we're feeling now that
I decided to reprint it here, in AFA Update.

It's hard to describe the blast of creativity and optimism roaring through
"AFA Central" for the last week or two. I"ll just say that great things are
happening, and that we're a little high off all of it.

Part of the excitement comes from the news that Changes is playing at AFA's
"Midsummer in the Sierras." Robert Taylor and cousin Nicholas Tesluk are a
musical treat, but that's only part of the attraction. There's an attitude
that accompanies them. Robert may be the youngest older person I know -
intensely talented, outspokenly critical of the system, wise and young at
heart. His cousin Nicholas is less flamboyant, but no less skilled and
passionate. They are realistic idealists, romantics to the core.

The Midsummer schedule of workshops is another part of the ferment. One
theme is spiritual evolution - not in theory, but in practice. This includes
topics such as Runenyoga, working with your personal strong and weak points,
runic divination, developing the sense of self, wisdom from the
Eddas...you'll be exposed to this and more. The other thread is about
communities and lifestyle. We'll talk about naming children, building bonds
with AFA members in your area, self-sufficiency, personal preparedness, the
emerging Asatru "back to the land" movement, getting land and erecting hofs,
and the establishment of thriving, resilient AFA communities. We'll do more
than chatter about these things, we'll start to implement them!

The newsletter you hold in your hand reflects the energy pulsing through the
AFA right now. You'll read about meetups and larger events like Zoniemoot,
the upcoming Ostara in Heavener, and Jambermoot. Things are happening out
there! We're highlighting AFA member-owned businesses, in the conviction
that we need to help each other economically as well as spiritually. Young,
fresh talent is stepping forward in the form of Folkbuilders and writers.
The list of good things just keeps growing.

At times like these, I sense that if we tweaked what we do just a little bit
and gave a big push...there would be an Asatru breakthrough of the sort
we've always wanted. In fact, I am making that my personal goal. You can
make it yours, too. C'mon and lend a hand! Write me today and tell me what
you can do to make our vision come true!

Hail the Gods!

Hail the AFA!

Steve McNallen

AFA "Midsummer in the Sierras" Slated for June 21-25!

The AFA's major annual event is set for June 21-25, at our traditional site
in California's beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains! Limited to AFA members
and friends, this year's workshops and lectures will center on two important
themes: tools for spiritual and religious practice, and the building of
community. Attendees can expect sessions on naming children, energy work
from a Germanic perspective, stathagaldr, runic divination, self-analysis
and evolution, taking the first steps toward personal disaster preparedness,
ways of encouraging local communities, and of course Steve's comments on
"the big picture" regarding Asatru in the world today.

As if that wasn't enough - our own Lauren Charlesworth will be marrying
Jonas Anderson on Saturday, June 23! Wahoo!

In addition to the intense presentations and our rituals (Our blots and
sumbels are renowned for their power), there will be time for swimming in
the pool or hiking in the forest - and just plain relaxing.

AFA members will not want to miss this very special gathering!

Changes and Lasher Keen to Play at AFA Midsummer!

If you've attended either of the last two Midsummers with the AFA, you'll
have heard the music of Lasher Keen - innovative, mystical,
shamanic...Nothing stirs the blood like their paen to Odin! We're happy to
say that Dylan, Bluebird, and Sage will be with us again this year.

But we've also have a very special musical treat for you - Robert Taylor and
Nicholas Tesluk of Changes! Controversial, creative, and on-the-edge, Robert
and Nicholas have been in and around the Asatru movement since the revival
began in the 1970's. They've launched some of the most important cultural
and intellectual currents in the Germanic/Traditional scene over the last
few decades. Believe me, Robert's fireside tales themselves are worth the
price of a plane ticket to California!

Two New AFA Folkbuilders Take Office

Two veteran AFA members have stepped forward to take up the duties of
Folkbuilders in their respective areas - Heather Clinkenbeard in southern
California, and Marc McLeod in central California. Brent Olsen, former
Folkbuilder for central California, stepped down recently to devote his time
to being a new father.

Folkbuilders are those men and women who give the AFA a local face all
across the United States, and around the world. They make new members feel
at home, help them to connect with others in their areas, and build the
sense of togetherness that makes the Asatru Folk Assembly not just a
national organization, but a community.

Latest Issue of The Voice, AFA Monthly Members Newsletter, Almost Ready to
Go...

...and what an issue it is! Running ten pages, it includes a report on the
"Zonie Moot" hosted by the AFA in Arizona, news and pictures of the "March
Moot" in northern California, and a lot more - poems, news of AFA member-run
businesses, and a lot more! The Voice is mailed as a PDF to all AFA members,
as a benefit of membership.

It will be sent to members tonight or tomorrow.

The Asatru Folk Assembly is a membership organization. If you like what you
read here, and agree with our Declaration of Purpose as found on our web
site (http://runestone.org/about-the-afa/declaration-of-purpose.html
)...fill out an application!

FROM STEVE

An Asatru Temple Unearthed in Norway. And then...

As a man of Asatru, the faith of ancient Scandinavia and the Germanic lands,
I was intrigued by a story in the news...

The site was old; dating from the fifth century. A circle of stones, 15
meters across and each stone standing a meter high, provided a central focal
point. Leading up to the circle was a processional road that had not felt a
human foot for a thousand years. To one side there had been a wooden
structure supported by strong wooden pillars resting on firm stone
footings,but the wood had disappeared long ago. The whole array had been
carefully, lovingly buried in peat, preserved from plow and weather,
deliberately hidden from those who would harm it, awaiting the day it would
be safe to once again acknowledge the old Gods. Surely, those who covered it
must have thought, the Christian madness will someday pass and our
descendants will be glad that we have saved this for them...

When an intact pre-Christian temple was unearthed in Norway, archeologists
were overwhelmed. Comments like "Unique!" and "Unprecedented!" splashed
across internet news pages.

But now, it has been demolished - bulldozed to make way for a housing
development.

Could the pagans of old, as they tenderly buried the holiest place they
knew, have imagined a world where gold was more important than Gods? Where
their own descendants would raze their temple so that the profane houses of
thralls would forever crush that which they loved? When the steel blade of
the bulldozer bit into the sacred earth, the present spat on the past. The
clear intentions of the ancestors were ruthlessly betrayed...for money.

What would I have done, had I been magically transported to the site at that
crucial moment? Had I been the bulldozer driver, would I have refused, and
lost my job? Yes, I think so. Had I been a bystander, would I have risked
prison, injury, even death to stop the machine? I hope so. I am only a man,
no hero. But sometimes, being a man is enough - if he is doing the right
thing. As the poet wrote,

"And how can man die better than facing fearful odds