For a quarter century, I have tried to "sell" people a religion called Asatru. It was a big mistake.
I was sure I could offer the world something very good and very important - something which would enhance the life of the individual, cure at least some of society's illnesses, and promote the interests of the European-descended peoples. Why, then, were people not "buying" it?
Quite simply, I didn't know what it was I was trying to sell.
In The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity, Dr. James C. Russell writes -
"[T]he term 'religiosity' is often used when referring to religious elements of Indo-European and particularly Germanic societies, while the term 'religion' is usually reserved for Christianity and other universal religious movements. This is due to the organic relationship of the religious elements of folk-religious societies to other elements of those societies. Religious elements tend to be more extensively diffused throughout a folk-religious society, whereas, in a society where a universal religion predominates, religious elements tend to be more isolated in specific doctrines and practices." (page 107-108)
In other words, our ancestral culture did not put religion in one box, politics in another, economics in still a third, and so on. All these things affected each other so closely that they should be thought of as grains of sand mixed with gravel and with fine silt - each was part of the matrix for the others.
Vine Deloria, as I recall, made very much the same statement in regard to American Indian tribal society, so this integrated approach is by no means unique to ancient Europe.
To illustate my point, notice the difficulty we have in finding a definitive word for our religion. We call it "Asatru," yet some writers dispute the antiquity of the term and claim that it was unknow in pre-Christian times. Most other suggested terms have been much more vague. "Vor Tru," or "our troth," is one such. Essentially this and similar labels mean pretty much "our way" or "the manner in which our people do things." A precise word for our religion was not always available, because we didn't have a body of belief and practice that was set aside from the rest of tribal life. The blending was so complete that religious elements were part and parcel of everything else; a distinct term was not needed. Nevertheless, for ease of understanding I shall use the term "Asatru" to mean the totality of religious elements found dispersed throughout prre-Christian Germanic society.
More than Belief
It should be clear from all this that Asatru is much more than a matter of believing in a given doctrine, or following certain clearly defined cultic practices. Religious ideas and practices woven into a hundred minor activities that made up the routine of existence, not laid down in some pagan equivalent of catechism or Church law. Emphasis was not on believing, but on being and doing.
The very translation of the word "Asatru" is consistent with this analysis. It does not mean those who "believe in" the Gods, but rather those "true to, or pledged in troth to," the Gods.
Given this fundamental truth, those who claim that "Asatru is open to anyone who believes in the Aesir and Vanir" simply do not get the point. Asatru cannot be blended with Wicca, or Hermeticism, or Marxism, or anything else inconsistent with the essential culture of tribal Europe, because our native way reflects a whole life-fabric which will not tolerate alien elements. To rip our native religiosity out of its natural context and try to practice convenient bits along with a mishmash of material from other cultures is facile, sterile, and insulting.
I am on record elsewhere that "Asatru is not just what we believe, it is what we are." I drew flack from some quarters for that statement - but given the nature of folk religions, I stand resolutely by it. Asatru is not like a hat, or a coat, which can be donned and doffed at will. Rather, it is an integral part of us, like our arms or our head.
Politics and Religion
It has become axiomatic in American society that religion and politics should be kept strictly separated. In a multicultural, non-tribal society like that of the United States, this division is beneficial - it protects members of any one group from forcing their beliefs on the others, or from taking unfair advantage of political power. In organic folk groups, however, the situation is different. As we have seen, there was no clear distinction between government and the Gods. Support of the tribal religion was synonymous with loyalty to the group. To be a member of the clan or tribe or nation was to pledge loyalty to its deities. In fact, the tribe typically thought of itself as descended from the Gods and Goddesses. How, then, could matters of religion not be relevant to everything that affected the people? The holy Powers provided victory in war and guaranteed the prosperity of the harvest. While religion had its individual expressions, it was to a very large extent the pillar of public life, as well.
We Asatruar live inside a larger society on which we cannot and would not impose our values. However, religion and politics do overlap for us in one very important sense: Anything which affects the Folk by definition deals with our religion, and similarly, all which concerns our religion impacts on the welfare of the Folk.
The Declaration of Purpose of the AFA is a perfect example of this principle. In it, you will find a demand for the restoration of our traditional community and the establishment of a just social order, not to mention an affirmation of our right to exist! To some religions these are social issues, not spiritual ones per se. For us, it is otherwise - they are part of the seamless tapestry that makes up our collective life.
This does not mean, of course, that the AFA intends to endorse candidates or comment on specific legislation. We are forbidden from such political activity as a recognized religious group. However, when public affairs impact on our beliefs, we can and will enthusiastically speak out.
The Asatru Alliance has a prohibition against bringing mundane politics into religious gatherings, but their motivation is clear and justified: The intention is to reduce divisiveness, to prevent exploitation by those who would cynically promote an outside doctrine at the expense of Asatru, and to protect Asatru's reputation - specifically, to squelch accusations that the Alliance in particular or Asatru in general is a front for totalitarian political activity. This is different from what I'm talking about above, and I support them in this policy. Still, on a larger level, there should be an understanding that politics and religion are intertwined, and I think most Asatruar within and without the Alliance comprehend that fact.
Asatru and the Life of the Tribe
At the beginning of this article, I told you that I had made a mistake in trying to promote Asatru as a religion. The error was this: Asatru is not just a doctrine. It is more than a distinct thing called a religion, and it is more than a set of rites and observances or even beliefs. It is the spirit inherent in the tribal-cultural experience of the European tribes, and I should have been presenting it as such.
Many people don't need (or don't think they need) "religion." If they do want one, there's always Christianity or Islam or Buddhism or any of a hundred New Age cults. What they need is the unified experience of a communal life that relates them to the Mighty Powers, and also to their fellow men and women. They need to belong to a family that includes fellow Asatruar, their own ancestors, and the Gods and Goddesses.
We must show them the totality of that vision, not just the part which we can artificially extract and label "religion."
It is time for us to build the new Euro-tribes. In coming issues of The Runestone, I will have more to say about just how we can set about that historic task.
