AFA UPDATE

A PROJECT OF THE ASATRU FOLK ASSEMBLY

Issue 155

April 5, 2012

Contact email: afa@runestone.org

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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

For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his gods?"

Money has carried the day. The site was presumably private property,being
developed by a corporation, for profit. I have no objection to profit. But
who owns the past? Who owns the ancestors? Who owns the Gods? Is there a
"right" to bulldoze an ancient holy site in Norway or, as has been done, to
level an ancient stone circle in Ireland...for profit? The most important
things cannot be owned by anyone: I do not "own" my family name. I merely
borrow it to pass on, with added honor, to my sons. I do not "own" the
genetic and cultural inheritance left me by my forefathers and foremothers;
this too I have only borrowed from my ancestors. They are not mine to
destroy.

One of the old rune poems says that "Gold causes strife among kinsmen. The
wolf grows up in the woods." Anyone who has sat in a lawyer's office to
attended the reading of a will has seen this; kin battle to get money, and
hate each other for the rest of their lives. And the wolf...he is none other
than Fenris, the wolf restrained only by the bonds of love and kinship that
we forge with each other, from generation to generation and across the
centuries. When he is loosed, Ragnarok - the great battle at the end of this
cycle of time - ensues.

In Norway, the wolf is loose. The gift of one's ancestors, passed on for a
thousand years, thrown away for a pile or kroner. Not that all Norwegians
would have plowed the temple of their forefathers, and not that America is
any better. We, too, have sold - given away! - our inheritance. Materialism,
narcissism, alienation and superficiality permeate our popular culture. Our
laws, based on ancient codes, are corrupted by the judges. Every man's and
woman's thoughts are the property of the emerging surveillance state. Truly,
this is the time forseen by the seeress: "Wind-age, Wolf Age, ere the world
falls..."

The temple so lovingly preserved by Norwegians a thousand years ago emerged
in this time and place for a reason. This is the time of Awakening -
awakening, that is, if the Gods of honor and valor can win against the gods
of gold and whoredom...if men and women will remember the ancestors...if
blood runs true.

Across the Northlands the ravens stir in the trees. Great chieftains await
the call, heroes strive to be reborn. But we, their descendants - no matter
where on Earth we now live - must call them if they are to awaken.

I call them! I call on Odin and Frigga, Thor and Sif, Frey and Freya! I call
on the ancestors all-holy, and the heroes who sleep in the mounds! Let us
remember that we are the sons and daughters of warriors and poets, mystics
and seers, adventurers and explorers! Even now, the old Gods stir.
Organizations dedicated to the indigenous faith of the Northlands - called
Asatru, or Odinism, or "Our Faith" or by many other names - exist in many
countries. Like the emergence of a forgotten Norwegian hof in 2012, they are
here because a wind of awakening blows through the World Tree. Because...it
is time.

We will chain the wolf.

Update - The stones from the site have been removed and stored, though the
place itself has been "developed," as they say. To follow the situation, go
to the Facebook page "Bevar veet pa Ranheim." There is a web site at
http://ranheimhelligdommensvelforening.wordpress.com/ . We must support this
effort in any way we can. I will post more information as I get it.

The Alamo, Asatru, and Our Duty

A recurrent theme in Asatru lore is that of the band of heroes, surrounded
and outnumbered, fighting to the death rather than surrendering. Of course,
such examples of courage and tenacity are not confined to the Northern
sagas.

On March 6, 1836, the Alamo fell to the army of Mexican General Santa Ana.
For thirteen days, the garrison of around 200 Texans held out against a
force of about 1500 Mexicans. On the eighth day of the siege, Commander
William B. Travis gave any man who wanted to leave permission to do so. One
man accepted; the rest stayed to die rather than surrender.

Such an act seems almost impossible in our cynical and degenerate age. The
men of the Alamo remain a shining example for those of us who live in these
dangerous times. There is a wonderful poem sometimes found in Asatru
circles, written in the old Germanic style, about this battle; it begins

Harsh that hearing for Houston the Raven:

Fools had enfeebled the fortress at Bexar,

Leaving it lacking and looted the while

Hordes were sweeping swift on the land,

Hell-bent to crush him...

(For more, go to http://www.anitra.net/commonwealth/alamo.html ).

But aside from its obvious courage and idealism, what does this engagement
in central Texas have to to do with Asatru?

Quite a lot, actually...

Our Christian friends, if they know Asatru lore well enough, chide us with
statements from another supposedly lost battle: "Your Gods die at Ragnarok.
They may be brave, but they are losers; mere mortals writ large. Why follow
Gods like that when you could follow the God of Abraham?"

The answer, of course, is that by doing their duty and fighting to the
death, the Gods and those great souls who fight alongside them make rebirth
possible. If they do not fight, all ends in eternal darkness and death.
Their resistance, and their resistance alone, enables the great cycle of
arising, being and becoming, and falling away to a new arising. And of
course, there remains the fact that the Gods are reborn into the new world,
so the Christian argument is flawed from the start.

The men who died at a lonely mission village called San Antonio de Bexar
similarly "lost." Yet, the time they bought allowed Sam Houston to raise an
army, and led to the sweeping Texan victory at San Jacinto on April 21st of
the same year. In a surprise attack, Houston's army killed 630 Mexican
troops and captured 730. Only (Ahem!) nine Texans were killed. The actual
combat lasted eighteen minutes.

Because of this victory, Texas won its freedom and remained an independent
nation for ten years before joining the United States. As recently as the
1980's, a poll of Texans found that 18.5% thought Texas would have done
better on its own.

Great things come from great lives, and great deaths. Our role, like that of
Colonel Travis' volunteers, and like the Gods themselves, is to do our duty
as demanded by honor - whether that duty be fighting and dying, or writing,
or raising our children well, or speaking the truth when that is perilous.
Victory is sweet, life is precious, and we ought to pursue them - but above
all we must meet our Wyrd without shirking or shrinking. One could do worse
than winning what all branches of the Indo-Europeans, from Troy and
Thermopylae to Maldon and Beowulf, would recognize as "bright and undying
fame."

LINKS - on folk and freedom, environment and communities, the distant past
and the emerging future, the straight and simple and the hard to
categorize...

Othin in England: Evidence from the Poetry of a Cult of Woden in Anglo-Saxon
England

Thanks to Blain Friis' "Science of Germanic Heathenry" Facebook page.

http://tinyurl.com/7v7q45q

Research-based cookbook for cavemen and Vikings

The first-ever cookbook based on archeological finds is now out in English.
The recipes are based on research from numerous archeological sites in
central and northern Europe.

http://tinyurl.com/7tw79pt

NSA building the nation's biggest surveillance center

>From Wired - Flowing through its servers and routers and stored in near-
bottomless databases will be all forms of communication, including the
complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Google searches,
as well as all sorts of personal data trails—parking receipts, travel
itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital "pocket litter." It is,
in some measure, the realization of the "total information awareness"
program created during the first term of the Bush administration—an effort
that was killed by Congress in 2003 after it caused an outcry over its
potential for invading Americans' privacy.

http://tinyurl.com/6slmeg7

NSA chief denies statements in Wired article

You can decide who you trust...

http://tinyurl.com/7l3aqcr

Is eight hours of electricity per day in your future?

Long term electricity shortages are usually only seen in war zones, disaster
zones, or extremely poor countries. It's not something we expect to see in
the US or the EU, particularly since ubiquitous, always on electricity is
synonymous with modernity. Regardless, given the way things are headed,
it's likely our future.

The answer? Resilient communities.

http://tinyurl.com/7a3qkua

Raised-Bed Gardening

Advantages to raised-bed gardening include: better drainage, higher yields,
expanded growing season, easy maintenance, and the ability to make effective
use of difficult sites.

Published by the Missouri University Extension.

http://www.extension.missouri.edu/p/g6985

Global warming creates a "new normal" in the Arctic

The September 2011 Arctic sea ice extent was the second lowest of the past
30 years. The five lowest September ice extents having occurred in the past
five years, suggesting that a shift to a new sea ice state continues. The
amount of older, thicker multi-year ice continues to decrease and both the
Northern Sea Route and the Northwest Passage were ice-free in September.

"Given the projection of continued global warming, it is very likely that
major Arctic changes will continue in years to come, with increasing
climatic, biological and social impacts."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Arctic Report Card for
2011, prepared by 121 scientists from 14 different countries, is now
available. A free PDF download of the report, as well as summaries, can be
had at http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/ .

Mini space shuttle looks for online donors

Plenty of billionaires have backed private spacecraft ventures in the hope
of launching suborbital tourism flights. But one aerospace startup has
turned instead to Kickstarter's online donors for help funding a bigger
rocket for its suborbital space shuttle.

The startup's Hermes Spacecraft resembles a miniature U.S. space shuttle
with a shorter body and stubbier wings. Its visionaries at Space Transport
and Recovery Systems (STAR Systems) have asked netizens on Kickstarter — a
crowd-funding website — to contribute $20,000 for a full-size test of a
hybrid rocket capable of putting out 5,000 pounds of thrust.

http://tinyurl.com/7ypbpmf

CALENDAR

April 9 - Day of Remembrance for Jarl Hakon of Norway. Hakon restored the
worship of our true Gods after it had been suppressed by Christian kings.
Recall his virtue by formally renouncing foreign creeds, or by vigorously
exercising your guarantees under the Bill of Rights.

April 12 - Sumarsdag/Sigrblot. The Thursday between April 9 and April 15 was
the first day of summer in the Icelandic calendar. It falls at about the
same time as the annual sacrifice to Odin, for success in the upcoming
raiding season. Welcome the warm months, and make an offering to the Father
of Victory for triumph in your personal struggles!

April 30 - Waluberg. There was a famed second-century Germanic seeress named
Waluberg. We honor her, or the deities Holda, Frigga, or Freya, on this
occasion. Freya is especially appropriate because of her link to sorcery and
seership. Walburga becomes a time for the mysteries of the Earth, for the
working of magic and for peering into the future.

Hail the Holy Ones!

Hail the AFA!

Stephen A. McNallen

Asatru Folk Assembly

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