About the alleged Abrahamic origin of Asatru.
Have you ever walked in the Scandinavian woods at night? If you ever do, and look in the darkness between the trees, you will find it perfectly clear why our ancestors believed in folklore and gods. It’s in our blood – that has been shaped by our environment for an eternity. If you, as a European man or woman, were born alone in the Scandinavian woods and spent your whole life there, you would without a doubt develop celebrations for the coming of spring, the summer and winter solstice, the harvest and so forth. Abrahamites do not have to place these thoughts in our heads.
The arguments for Asatru having a Abrahamic foundation are very loose, but let’s say they’re halfway right (for now). Let’s say Asatru is contaminated with Abrahamic thought and Balder’s death and rise is a Abrahamic add-on – the whole myth around Balder’s death is not important. The Asatru community does not really celebrate Balder’s death or rise, and I do not think our ancestors did either. We celebrate nature’s course and what is logical – the four seasons, a good harvest, our deceased ancestors, our pregnant women, our newborn children, good fertility, good luck in war and travel. To celebrate these things is deeply rooted within us. Another logical aspect of Asatru is that each god has certain skills – if you prepare for a fight you call on Tyr (the god of war), if you feel ill you call on Eir (the goddess of healing) and if you go fishing you call on Njörðr (the god of the sea). A god for each purpose and a blót for each occasion.
If Asatru already is Abrahamic, why would ”they” bring forth a second wave of thought control (in the form of Christianity)? Christians tried their best to get the ”Heathens” to abandoned their ways, but they did not succeed. Eventually they gave up and took on a new tactic and re-branded the celebrations – Christmas, or Yule, is a perfect example of this. Why would the Christians work so hard to eradicate the Pagan manner if it’s all the same thing? As we all know – when northern Europe became Christian, most Pagan customs became outlawed.
The argument that the Nine world of Yggdrasil is the same as the Ten spheres of the Tree of Kabbalah is very thin. Firstly, nine and ten are two different amounts (nine being a sacred number in asatru). Secondly, the worlds of Yggdrasil should be described as ”empires” or ”lands” – not as ”spheres” or ”orbs”.
The myth about Odin sacrificing himself by hanging in Yggdrasil, pierced by his own spear, might be a late add-on. Whether the Norse Pagans honored their gods with human sacrifice or not is debatable. The few the historical texts that claims this were written by Christians – thus, not very reliable. The chronicler Adam of Bremen, who wrote about a blót in Uppsala (Sweden), and the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, who wrote The Prose Edda, were both Christians. Adam of Bremen did not even see the blót in person, he only heard about it through the Danish viking Svend Estridsen – who was also a Christian.
Ullr (the god of winter and hunting) is a skiing god and I doubt he could have originated from anywhere else than Scandinavia – and the depths of the Scandinavian people.
Lastly, Asatru is very different from the Abrahamic religions. Like all European Paganism Asatru favors och honors heroism and strength, while the Abrahamic religions are all about submitting under God.
Odin give us wisdom.
Thor give us strength.
/L
Asatemplet 