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MODERN ASATRU: Where did it Originate? (Revised – 2009) By Michael Lee-Price [The Wayfinder] Disclaimer: In no uncertain terms does this article intend to assert or associate Modern day Odinists or Asatru Kindsmen with the NAZI movement or White Supremists. The information contained within this article are my findings after extensive research. Many if not All those Asatru and Odinists I have met and associated with in most part are men and women of the highest calibre and ethos. Please also, refer to footnote. According
to Wikipedia, “Ásatrú (Icelandic
"Æsir faith") is a new religious movement
which is attempting to revive the Norse paganism
of the Viking Age - as described in the Eddas
- prior to the arrival of Christianity. Ásatrú was established in the 1960s and early 1970s in Iceland, by the Íslenska Ásatrúarfélagið
an organization founded by Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson.
Ásatrú is an officially recognized religion by the governments of Iceland (since 1973), Denmark (since 2003) and Norway.
The United States government does not officially endorse
or recognize any religious group; however, numerous Ásatrú groups have
been granted nonprofit religious
status going back to the 1970s. While the term Ásatrú originally referred specifically to the Icelandic
adherents of the religion, Germanic neopagan and reconstructionist groups widely identify themselves
as Ásatrú, particularly in the USA. In this wider sense, the term Ásatrú
is used synonymously with Germanic neopaganism
or Germanic paganism, along with the terms
Forn Sed, Odinism, Heithni,
Heathenry and others.” [1] From my own research I have discovered other documentation of interests on
several inspirational modern figures who may have had a great impact
on the Germanic neopagans and reconstructionist movement. To state that
Guido Von List was one of the inspirations of modern day Asatru is wrought
with danger and will open up a whole can of worms, but irrespective
of this, the evidence is that Von List did at the very
least have a great impact upon the movement. Guido Von List was born Karl Anton List on October
5th 1848, in Veinna, the son of a prosperous middle class
leather goods dealer, and Maria List (née Killian). List
renounced his Catholicism when he was 14 with a solemn oath that he
would one day build a temple to Wotan (Woden/ Odin). By his own account Guido wrote: “It was
in the year 1862 - I was then in my fourteenth year of life - when I,
after much asking, received permission from my father to accompany him
and his party who were planning to visit the catacombs [under St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna]
which were at that time still in
their original condition. We climbed down, and everything I saw and
felt excited me with a kind of power that today I am no longer able
to experience. Then we came - it was, if I remember correctly, in the
third or fourth level - to a ruined altar. The guide said that we were
now situated beneath the old post office. At that point my excitement
was raised to fever pitch, and before this altar I proclaimed out loud
this ceremonial vow: "Whenever I get big, I will build a Temple
to Wotan!" I was, of course, laughed at, as a few members of the
party said that a child did not belong in such a place… I knew nothing
more about Wuotan than that which I had read about him in Vollmer's
Woterbuch der Mythologie.” [2] Throughout
the latter half of the 19th century and into the very early
pre-first world war period of the 20th century, the German
pseudo-intellectual circles had became obsessed with the movement compounded
of pagan rituals and notions of Nordic purity invented by this Occultist,
who even today, is seen as one of the most important figures in Germanic
mysticism and runic revivalism in the late 19th , early 20th Century. Today, many of List’s detractors will state
that Von List can be discounted as his work
was largely esoteric involving a version of the runes, and that his
18 Rune system is largely one of personal invention arising from a period
of blindness and an experience of UPG during that time. Most Heathens
feel that Von List's Armanen rune system detracts from legitimate Rune
work in the same way that Blum's rune work does. At best, List is a
historical curiosity, at worst he is a clever charlatan. Personal opinions aside, Von List's belief that religion was a form
of sun worship, with its priest kings as legendary rulers of ancient
Germany and his claimed that the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church
in Austria-Hungary constituted a continuing occupation of the Germanic
tribes by the Roman empire, albeit now in a religious form, and a continuing
persecution of the ancient religion of the Germanic peoples and Celts,
is arguementally
the inspiration of many occultist and pagan authors who came after him. “In fact, by the 1870s Von List had a sizeable
group of followers, dedicated to observing pagan feasts at the solstices
and equinoxes. [3] The most famous depiction
of such an event is his celebration of the summer solstice on 24 June
1875 at the ruins of the Roman City of Carnuntum. [4] As the 1500th anniversary of
the Germanic tribes defeat over this Roman garrison in 375, the evening
carried a lot of weight for List. Carnuntum became the title
of List's first full-length novel, published in two volumes in 1888.
[5] For this - as for so much else -
we are dependent on List's own somewhat fictionalised account, first
published in Vienna in 1881. Basically, the ritual elements of this
outing included the arduous task of gaining access to the so-called
Heidentor
("Heathen Gate") of the city (which List
mystically identified as the gate from which a German army set out to
conquer Rome in 375 C.E.), the drinking of ritual toasts to the memory
of the local spirit ( genius loci ) and the heroes of the past, the lighting of a solstice fire,
and the laying of eight wine bottles in the shape of the "fyrfos"
(Swastika) in the glowing embers of the fire. List and his company then
awaited the dawn.” [6] Whether these events be fictional
or not, it strikes me as being very visual and an endorsement of ritualistic
ceremonies carried out today by pagans and heathens on solstices and
equinoxes all over the world. Guido Von List died, after many years
of ill health, of pneumonia, in Berlin on May 17th 1919 at the age of
70. It is unfortunate, that it was not
until after his death, in the 1920s that the National Socialist movement
(Nazis), whilst still in its infancy and under the leadership of a young
occultist named Adolf Hitler, adopted much of Von List’s writings for
its own purposes. More over, it was not Von List himself,
who inspired Hitler in his own pursuits of the occult, but Dr Jorg Lanz
von Liehenfels a former Cistercian monk who in 1907 had opened a temple
of the ‘Order of New Templars’ and had in 1909 met a 20 year old Hitler
and pursued him to join the order. Lanz von Liehenfels was a disciple
of Guido Von List and ran a magazine entitled, “Ostara”. It was through
his influence that Hitler spent a great deal of time studying oriental
mysticism, astrology, hypnotism, Germanic mysticism and other aspects
of Occultism. The Thule Society came into being
approximately during the rise of Nazism, and took over where von List’s
rather amateurish organization had left off in the years before the
First World War. As previously stated due to the Thule Society’s direct connection to the Nazis and this
connection alone has caused many Heathens to distance themselves from
Von List. It must be stated that there is absolutely no link with the Modern
Asatru movement with Nazism, the Thule Society or any other racist motivated
movement. The mid-20th century up to today, as seen passionate men
and women like Alexander Rud-Mills, Garman
Lord, Else
Christensen, Sveinbjörn
Beinteinsson, Stephen McNallen, Rurik Grimnisson,
Osred, Dirk Schmitt, Phillip Castle and Leif Njordsson instrumental
in bringing back the true meaning of the Nordic, Germanic and Icelandic
faiths, myths and traditional religious beliefs. The first real attempt at producing a true Asatru religious movement
in the 20th century was Alexander Rud-Mills in Melbourne in the 1930's,
This lasted for about 10 years before it was "shut down" by
the Australian government during WW2 and Mills interned. “Alexander Rud Mills was one of the true pioneers of Odinism,
not only in Australia but worldwide. Little research has been done on
Mills’ life and the events that led him to adopt the faith of Odinism.
The Odinic Rite Australia has taken up this challenge, to explore the
life and works of Rud Mills whom we embrace as one of our own. Rud Mills, like many pathfinders, was a man of his era,
and some of his attitudes may seem discordant today. But as a seeker
of genuine wisdom, he was always willing to amend his views if and when
further evidence came to hand.” [7] “Rud Mills was an
early and prominent Odinist in Australia, and one of the earliest proponents
of the rebirth of Odinism in the 20th Century whose role in the emergence
of Germanic Neopaganism in that country before and during World War
II resulted in his arrest and political detention by the Australian
government. A lawyer and published poet, Mills strongly advocated pre-Christian
Germanic faith as a decidedly healthier path for peoples of northern
European ethnic heritage than either Christianity or Marxist materialism.
He successfully founded an Odinist church in 1936. The Australian wartime
authorities, wrongly concluding that Mills and fellow Odinists were
Nazi sympathizers, arrested and interned him and other Odinists in detention
camps during the period 1942 - 1944. Mills was cleared of any wrongdoing by a judicial panel,
but received no compensation for his imprisonment. Mills' writings influenced Else Christensen, contributing
to the Germanic Neopagan revival of the 1960s and 1970s” [8] Researching Alexander Rud Mills, I am drawn to the conclusion
that although not and never inspired by Von List, Mills fulfilled Von
List’s dream of building a Temple to Wotan, in this case, the Odinist
church. "Garman Lord formed The Witan Theod in Watertown, New York in 1976, which was
the first Theod group. A few years later, the Moody Hill Theod emerged
as an offshoot of the Witan Theod. While having some commonalities with
the budding Ásatrú and Odinist movements, Theodism primarily derived
its origins as a reaction to Seax Wicca. Theod attempts to adhere to
a more historically accurate reconstruction of Anglo-Saxon religion
in a distinct contrast with Seax Wicca. The other extant North American
heathen organizations such as the Asatru Free Assembly and the Odinist
Fellowship were then focused primarily on the Viking Age and the Icelandic
pre-Christian religion. Theodism is focused on the lore, beliefs
and social structure - particularly the concept of thew or customary
law - of various specific Germanic tribes. The most glaring distinction
between Theodism and other modern manifestations of Germanic Neopaganism
is that while many groups are attempting to reconstruct the pre-Christian
religions, the Theodish are also attempting to reconstruct the tribes,
hierarchical social orders and even languages of the pre-Christian Northern
Europeans. In 1983 after being on hiatus, the Witan
Theod became the Gering Theod (pronounced 'yerring'), a play on words,
meaning "the Sprout of the Sprout". In 1989 the Winland Rice
was formed which was an umbrella organization of Theodish groups, with
Garman Lord chosen by consensus as the Æþeling or "lord".
The Rice, as it is known, is now the oldest surviving Anglo-Saxon Heathen
organization in North America. One of Garman Lord's earliest gesiþs
or retainers, Gert McQueen, went on to serve as an Elder and Redesman
of the Ring of Troth, an international organization serving the Heathen
community. Gert McQueen was successful in lobbying the U.S. Army Chaplain's
Corps to adopt guidelines for recognizing Heathen religions and Theodish
belief in particular. Together they operated Theod Magazine - and Theod
Publishing also ran a successful small bookshop venture. In 1995 Garman
Lord was raised on a shield as Cynehelmung or presented as king by his
followers. After some tumult within the Theodish community in 1996,
Troth Elder Swain Wodening and Troth Godwoman Winifred Hodge left the
Winland Rice to found the Angelseaxisce Ealdriht, to establish a more
democratic alternative to the Winland Rice. The Ealdriht became the
largest Theodish organization in the Heathen community, until it was
dissolved in November 2004. The dissolution was necessary to facilitate
the growth of two emerging communities of slightly differing tribal
beliefs: the Mercinga Ríce and the Neowanglia Þéod."[9] The next attempt to establish
Asatru as a religious
movement was by Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson. “Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson, the son of the farmer Beinteinn
Einarsson from Litlabotni-on-Hvaljardsbeach and Helga Pétursdóttir from
Drághals in Svindal, was born on Apr. 4, 1924. He died on the 24th
of Dec., 1993, from heart failure. In 1972 he founded the Ásatrúarfélag,
the Icelandic heathen organization, of which he was the chief góði until
his death. Since 1991, Sveinbjörn lived on his land in Drághals in Bergmassiv
Skardheiði (approx. 60 mi. from Reykjavik), where the 6 ½ foot statue
of Þor can be found.” [10] “Sveinbjörn was regarded with much respect and affection
amongst Ásatrú and Heathens. Not only was he a well known rímur singer,
or kvæðamaður, in Iceland, he also gained an audience and followers
in Europe and North America. Sveinbjörn can be heard performing Ásatrú
marriage rites for Genesis and Paula P-Orridge (now Alaura O'Dell) on
Psychic TV's LP Live in Reykjavik and on the double LP entitled Those
who do not. Additionally, former Psychic TV member David Tibet (né David
Michael Bunting) released a CD of Sveinbjörn performing his own rímur
and reciting the traditional Poetic Edda under the title Current 93
presents Sveinbjörn 'Edda' in two editions through the now defunct World
Serpent Distribution.” [11] Simultaneously,
whilst Beinteinsson was establishing the Ásatrúarfélag, “Stephen McNallen, a former U.S. Army
Airborne Ranger, began publishing a newsletter titled The Runestone.
He also formed an organization called the Asatru Free Assembly, later
renamed the Ásatrú Folk Assembly which is still extant. Else Christensen's
Odinism, which is sometimes identified with the term Asatru, originated
around the same period. An offshoot of McNallen's group is the Asatru
Alliance, headed by Valgard Murray, publisher of the "Vor Tru"
newsletter. The Asatru Alliance held its 25th annual "Althing"
gathering in 2005.” [12] Select Bibliography: 1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asatru 2.
http://geocities.com/fnrswulf/index1.htm 3.
“Legions
of Hell” article by Frank Smyth as appeared in “The Occult Connection”
published 1984. 4.
http://geocities.com/fnrswulf/index1.htm 5.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_von_List 6.
http://geocities.com/fnrswulf/index1.htm 7.
http://www.geocities.com/osred/Rud_Mills.htm 8.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Rud_Mills 9.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodism 10.
http://www.angelfire.com/nm/seidhman/beinweb.html 11.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sveinbj%C3%B6rn_Beinteinsson 12.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asatru 13.
Teutonic by Donald A. Mackenzie published 1995,
The Gresham Publishing Company,
London. 14.
Teutonic
by Donald A. Mackenzie published 1995, The Gresham Publishing Company, London. 15.
“Legions of Hell” article by Frank Smyth as appeared
in “The Occult Connection”
published 1984.
Footnote: In 2006 -2007 some person spread the vindictive and malicious rumour that I had discredited the Odinists and Asatru movement and claimed that all Asatru and Odinists were White Supremists and NAZI. This was far from the truth. Where I am sure that their may be White Supremists within the ranks, I never made such a claim. That rumour ensured that this article never saw the light of day at the time and prevented publication until now. The person who started this rumour shall go unnamed.
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