AFA UPDATE

A PROJECT OF THE ASATRU FOLK ASSEMBLY

Issue 148

July 27, 2011

Contact email: afa@runestone.org

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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

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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!

FORMER MEMBER who just failed to renew your membership? Had something
come up that caused you to drop out? Miss us? Come on back...We're still
here for you! Send in a new application today!

New from the AFA Online Store - Craft items by AFA member Chrissy
Sparks! See them at http://runestone.org/onlinestore.html !

ASATRU, A DAY OF POWER, AND MIDGARD'S GLORIES

Brad (Folkbuilder Coordinator for the AFA) and his lady, Gili, have
stayed with us the last couple of days as we prepare for the Asatru Folk
Assembly's big upcoming event. We knew that yesterday would be a
powerful day when we watched an eagle circling over the house. I've
never seen an eagle here before. For that matter, I'm not sure I have
ever seen an eagle, so encountering one yesterday morning was certainly
unusual.

Soon we were in the car and driving up to Lake Tahoe to show Brad and
Gili some of local scenery. We had just passed Emerald Bay when an
osprey (see my post on July 8th for more on ospreys) flew right in front
of the car, carrying a sizeable stick for its nest - another wonderful
sight.

Arriving at Taylor Creek, we walked the nature trail through the meadows
and marshes. We passed through groves of quaking aspen which strongly
reminded us of the birches that play such a powerful role in Northern
lore. As we strolled, we examined our mode of awareness - trying to
experience natural things as they were, unmediated and without
expectation, attempting to sense the divine in the world around us. The
aspen themselves had a presence that was almost tangible. I could
understand how our ancestors sensed the numinous "Birch Goddess" behind
the phenomenon of the birch tree. When we had finished the walk I felt
calmed, relaxed, my soul nourished. When we paused for lunch, I jotted
notes on how people might replicate our experience at Midsummer.

An hour later we were at Eagle Falls, where we felt the might of the
rune Laguz in the roaring waterfall. We were getting in the car to
depart when a woman, who had volunteered to take our picture, recognized
our hammers. She told us about her friend, a woman of Scandinavian
descent, who wore a hammer and was due to have a baby any time. Getting
an AFA business card from the car, I wrote the Berkano rune on it and
noted that she should invoke Freya and Frigga for a good birth. Nothing
may come of it for the AFA, but who knows? Besides, it was the right
action in the situation.

Significant birds, new ways of perceiving the holy in nature, another
connection for our ancestral way...It had been a day of power, giving us
a new awareness of the wonders of this world in which we live.

May we - all of us! - have many more such days!

ASATRU UNLIMITED - MIDSUMMER IN THE SIERRAS!

We're almost ready to kick off another Asatru extravaganza, in the form
of the AFA's "Midsummer in the Sierras." The list of presentations is
impressive.

I've chosen my own topics to highlight issues that I feel need to be
urgently addressed within our community. My first talk, on Friday, will
be on "Finding the Gods in Nature." In it, I'll refine and expand on
recent blog posts on how we can perceive the numinous qualities - the
divinity, if you will - of the natural world surrounding us.

My second presentation asserts that we men and women of European
heritage are, in fact, a people (or, if you prefer, a family of closely
related peoples) and contends that we need to start thinking of
ourselves as such. How should we treat each other? How ought we relate
to other peoples around the world? Why is this subject taboo?

On Saturday, I will talk about resilient communities. One of the AFA's
goals is to create communities across the country and around the world.
These will be made up of AFA members and will seek to implement the
AFA's Declaration of Purpose. Community can manifest in many forms, from
a simple network of people to much more complex forms. I will propose
the building of a "resilient community" in the Northern California area.

Finally, on Sunday, I will lecture on "Runes for Transformation."

Stephen Pollington, our special guest from England, will speak to us on
"Hall and Hoard: Display and Status in the Meadhall," "Hall and Harrow:
Art and Material Culture, a Glimpse into the Iron Age," and "Runes in
the Anglo-Saxon Tradition." Those of you who have seen his presentations
will understand our enthusiasm for his material!

David James, Asatru elder, will show us more of his work in the form of
a study on "Old Worth and New: The Values of the Northern Folk" and an
exposition on "Composing Liturgy and Poetry." David has been with the
Asatru revival in North America from its inception.

Glen Holstein will present on "Why We Need Our Reawakened Gods: A Brief
History of our Folk." Glen has a way of taking complex scholarly
concepts and putting them into terms we can all understand. His talk
will provide us with context and perspective as we experience the rest
of the gathering.

Jim Erikson will share valuable information on preparedness and urban
survival for these "interesting times" in which we find ourselves. Jim's
knowledge and his engaging sense of humor are legendary. On a
complementary note, Bill Shelbrick will instruct us in basic first aid.
Bill's a highly-trained medic and former Air Force parachute jumper who
will give us some skills for confronting medical emergencies.

All this, and I haven't even touched on the blots, the sumbel, the
magnificent meals and all the rest! Midusmmer in the Sierrras...It's
going to be unforgettable.

FREE DOWNLOADS AREA ON ASATRU FOLK ASSEMBLY SITE!

We are testing a new downloads area for people who want to go and
register on the AFA site. We will have things like rune fonts, excerpts
from books, and lots more in the days to come. You don't have to be an
AFA member to sign up!

Registering for the site is easy. Just create an account, we'll activate
it, then you'll have access to the downloads area. (This will appear as
a module on the top right hand side of the page). Of course, there will
be additional material only for AFA members, but we also want to provide
some fun stuff for friends of the AFA. This will allow us to be able to
send you the AFA Update/Bearclaw newsletter - for those who aren't
already signed up.

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

If you have any problems registering for the free downloads, please
e-mail webmaster@runestone.org Have fun!

http://runestone.org/component/users/?view=registration

ASATRU, THE ARCTIC, AND OUR FUTURE

We are Northern people, our bodies and spirits shaped by the ice and
snow for forty thousand years. The weak, those who could not cooperate,
those who could not plan ahead, perished in the harsh environment. The
result is - us. Reduced to our essence, we are strong and stern, able to
both compete and cooperate. Our capability for delayed gratification and
frugality is well known. We are survivors. While not all of us epitomize
all these traits all the time, they are the underlying template of our
being.

What a tragedy if the landscape that forged us became only a memory!

In the farthest north, the land where the Pole Star sits atop the World
Tree, things are especially bad. The Arctic is heating twice as fast as
the rest of the planet. The realm of the Axis Mundi itself is undergoing
drastic change. If the Great Ice is gone and only bare ocean takes its
place, how will this affect North-folk on a deep psychological level?

Surface temperatures in the Arctic for the last five years have been
higher than for any other five-year period since record keeping began in
1880. This comes from a new report from the Arctic Monitoring and
Assessment Program, an international group within the Arctic Council.

Higher temperatures means less ice. On July 16, Mark Serreze, director
of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, noted that the Arctic ocean
had been losing as much as 150,000 square kilometres of sea ice per day.
He stated,

"The extent [of the ice cover] is going down, but it is also thinning.
So a weather pattern that formerly would melt some ice, now gets rid of
much more. There will be ups and downs, but we are on track to see an
ice-free summer by 2030. It is an overall downward spiral."

Does this mean that we should reconcile ourselves to the disappearance,
at least in summer, of the ice at the top of the world? Of course not.
We have the power to influence events. Our will matters. As followers of
a religion that treasures the experience of the Gods in the natural
world, we cannot help but be concerned about that natural world. A world
without polar ice - a world without arctic seals and polar bears and the
rest of the intricate northern ecological web - is not the world that
shaped us. We owe something to nature, and to the numinous presence that
hides behind natural phenomena. The world is alive with essence and
being. We disregard it at risk to our physical existence - and our
spiritual health.

For a link to things you can do to serve life, go to:

http://tinyurl.com/3jzhs8s

For links to the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program study, go to
these two links:

http://tinyurl.com/3nmf4p2

http://amap.no/swipa/

Links - Self-Sufficiency, Saving Money, and More!

"Prosperity in Any Economy" The Homesteading Mom

A tremendous blog with vast stores of useful information on canning,
home remedies, frugal living, recipies, home construction, and much
more. Be sure to visit the store, with its fine selection of how-to books!

http://tinyurl.com/3va9myd

Do-It-Yourself Geothermal!

http://www.geothermalheaters.com/geothermal-diy/

"Interesting Times" Magazine

"Survive and Thrive in the Cyber-Punk Future of Today" - this is a
fresh, intelligent publication with a young orientation. If you realize
we live in "interesting times" in the Chinese sense of the phrase,
you'll find tons of stuff to stimulate your brain and give you a
survival edge.

http://interestingtimesmagazine.com/

CALENDAR

July 28 through August 1 - AFA's "Midsummer in the Sierras." See our
extensive posts in this AFA Update! More information available on the
AFA web site http://runestone.org .

August 9 - Day of Remembrance for King Radbod. This Frisian king ejected
Christian missionaries and upheld our ancestral faith in his land,
against great pressure. Pour a libation to the ancient Frisian Goddess
Friagabi, "Giver of Freedom" and declare yourself free from alien creeds.

August 13 - Full moon at 11:57 AM, Pacific Time

August 19 through August 21 - Folkish Summer Hallowing. Steve and Sheila
will be there! See the "Folkish Summer Hallowing 2011" Facebook page for
details.

Hail the Holy Ones!

Hail the AFA!

Stephen A. McNallen

Asatru Folk Assembly

VISIT OUR WEB SITE at http://www.runestone.org.

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_________________________________________________________________

--
FFF
Dirk

http://www.neopax.com/technomage/ - My new book - Magick and Technology