Taking Back the Yule

As the winter holidays approach, there is some confusion among Asatru/Heathens on how to celebrate the Yuletide. The immediate response is to dig in one's heels against an obvious Christian Holiday - or is it?

Other the other side of the issue, the Christians are bemoaning the pagan practices of the holiday and urging people to "put Christ back in Christmas." The real secret is that Christ never belonged there in the first place. This holiday is the Yuletide, and its roots belong to Heathen traditions. Extract the baby in the manger and what's left is all the old heathen practices of our Norse ancestors.

The root of the word "Yule" come from the Old Norse "hjol" or wheel. It begins at Winter Solstice when the wheel of the year turns and the days grow longer and continues for twelve days until New Year's Eve. Most of the Yule traditions are family-oriented, and the celebrations do not require any officiating clergy, although this could be an option. Here are the traditional details of the Yuletide.

Winter Solstice Eve is known as Modhranict or "Mother Night." Modhranict is a time when Frigg, the All-Mother is honored. At sundown, the decorated Yule log is carried into the house with great ceremony. The mother or lady of the house as the protectress of the home lights the Yule log. Then she goes to the doors and windows of the house and decorates them with greenery (usually holly), and says prayers of protection against evil.

On Winter Solstice day or Yule Morning, the family will gather to salute the Yule Morning with a song for good fortune and blessings of the new year, which technically starts on this day. During the remainder of the Yuletide, a time of rest is ordered and only necessary work is performed.

Three days after Modhranict is Jollnir's Day. On this day Odin under the name of Jollnir (wheel-man) comes in a blue hood and robes (sometimes red with blue trim) to grant wishes. This may be where the "Santa" tradition comes from. A person can be dressed up to play Jollnir for the children.

On the night of the twelth day or "Twelfth night" or New Year's Eve, there is a great feast in honor of Freyr, the god of bounty. This is the night when Old Odin (Father Time?) represented by the oldest man present yields his seat Hidskjalf temporarily to the young Freyr (Baby New Year?), represented by a young man of warrior age. A boar (Pig?) is roasted and served at the feast. This may be the origin of serving the Boar's Head at Yuletide. Of course the sagas recall this is how Freyr was able to spy Gerd, the fair giantess. The mind of reason yields to the passion of love and the night is a time of great jolliness.

With certain modifications to adapt to modern times these traditions can be remembered and practiced during the Yuletide. Even today, in Sweden the usual holiday greeting is "God Jul!" which translates directly as "Good Yule!" During the holidays when you are greeted with a friendly "Merry Christmas!" do not respond with confusion, hostility, or defensiveness, but rather smile knowingly and say: "Good Yule."

This is our time, our holiday, and it's time to take it back again.

Heathen Holiday Decorations

Now that the stores are full of holiday decorations, it's a good
time to get some Asatru/Heathen decorations of Asatru/Heathen
significance. There aren't a lot of Thor's Hammers, but here are
some decorations you can find:

• Reindeer - The animal that symobolizes tranversing difficulties. It is the animal of the rune Isa.



• Moose - This is the true animal symbolized by the rune Elhaz - not the American elk or wapiti.



• Snowflakes - the six pointed base is an alternate of the rune Hagalaz and the tips usually form a bindrune with Elhaz. The eight-pointed variant is usually some form of the Aegishjalmer.



• Icicles - a type of the rune Isa.



• Four-pointed star - the symbol of the north star which is a symbol for Tyr.



• The fir tree and the mistletoe are symbols for Baldr.



• A Santa in blue robes with a hood can represent Odin as Jollnir (Wheel-man), who comes after Yule (winter solstice) to grant wishes.


So, use your imagination and creativity and you will be able to decorate your home in the traditional Yule fashion!

Who Started It?

Back in the old days when two children were fighting some adult would pull them apart, and the first thing the adult would say was, "Who started it?" The instigator would receive a much more serious punishment than the other combatant.

In the school environment today both children are punished equally, no matter who started it. This practice is born of a school administration that is too slovenly to ferret out the real troublemakers in the school. As a result, the school bullies are permitted free range. The students who wish to do well in school will back down from bullying in order to avoid suspension. This degenerates the students in a mindset of victims who can't stand up for themselves. Consequently, school violence goes unchecked while the educators wring their hands and moan piteously about their sufferings.

The victims grow up believing they have no self-determination and that government or someone must take care them. The bullies grow up to be criminals, as an overwhelming set of tragic statistics have proven already. This is not an environment that encourages democracy and freedom; this is an environment that encourages a prison-state.

So, if you want to encourage democracy and freedom, you need to ask, "Who started it?"

A Nation of Whores

Here on the west coast Monday Night Football airs at about 6:00 pm. This past Monday there may have been a few fathers who had the uncomfortable moment of explaining little 6-year-old Johnny what a naked lady was doing in a football locker room.

The Desperate Housewives promo on Monday Night Football has raised a question of just where in Niflheim is the nation going. Desperate Housewives is a natural progression of the Sex in the City phenomena that proposes that women are more "liberated" when they behave like trollops. After years of Madonna, Britney Spears and their ilk exalting mass-marketed prostitution under the guise of "art," whoredom has finally reached the suburbs. Now it is perfectly normal for the average housewife to behave like a whore in public.

Anyone who thinks this is confined to Hollywood needs to listen to the endless parade of losers on the Dr. Laura Show who can't understand why they feel so bad after cheating on their spouse or some other equally morally-depraved behavior.

Has America lost all sense of dignity and decency?

Lest any readers wink at such a development with a tolerant eye, here's a thought for you: When we become a nation of whores, then your sister is a whore, your wife is a whore, your daughter is a whore, and your mother is a whore.

Messages to Our Soldiers

The US Army is providing a webpage where you can post messages of encouragement to the soldiers who are currently in the fight. Our military is doing a superb job, and I urge you to make use of this forum to give our soldiers an "attaboy."

The webpage is located at:
http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/tooursoldiers/

Veteran's Day

Let us take time on Veteran's Day to show our thanks for those who have served and are serving in the military to defend our nation. Their great sacrifice ensures the freedom we enjoy and the American way of life.

Veterans' Day is also Einherjar's Day. It is a time to honor the einherjar, those who have fallen in battle. They sit upon seats of honor in Valhalla. Or Sessrumnir. Remember Freya chooses half of all those fallen in battle, and she gets first choice. This is the day to pour an offering and raise your horns to the einherjar.

If any of you saw Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, do you recall the scene the scene where King Theoden raises his horn and shouts "All hail the honored dead!" I know of some folk who actually stood up in the theatre and yelled "Hail!"

Runes for Warriors

The current war in Iraq prompts the need for Rune charms for military personnel in the combat zones. I found a webpage that posts a number of Rune charms for warriors. It's located at:

http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/warrior.html

The Aegishjalmer is my personal favorite. It is also know as the "Helm of Awe," "Helm of Fear," and "Tarnkappe" in the German. This was the rune used by Sigfrid in slaying the dragon, Fafnir. It is especially powerful when marked in red.

Asatru Dog Tags

Arnhodi Ullerssonof Hildulf Kindred, aka Sgt. Shane Johnson, stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama, now carries military identification tags (dog tags) that indicate his religion as "ASATRU." In the past Norse Heathens or Asatru soldiers, airmen, and sailors could only indicate "NO REL PREF" (no religious preference) as their their religion on their dog tags.

Recently the military expanded the types of religions stamped on the dog tags to include "WICCA" and "SATANIST," but Asatru was not considered a legitimate religion. This changed when Arnhodi Ullersson requested that his dog tags indicate his religion as Asatru. He was required to show proof that Asatru was a legitimate religion. Arnhodi provided them with a whole stack of documentation on Asatru organizations in the US. His request was granted and his dog tags were stamped with "ASATRU."

Hopefully, this will set a precedent for other Asatru and Norse Heathen military personnel to change their dog tags to reflect their true religious beliefs.

Runes

There are a lot of misconceptions about Runes floating around. Many folk view them as an alternate form of Tarot. Nothing could be further from the truth. The runes have been around a lot longer than the Tarot. Runes used in divination were described by the Roman historian Tacitus. Vinca writing, a kind of proto-rune system dates back to 5,000 to 6,000 B.C.E.