The Mysteries Of Asatru

An interesting fusion of sorts seems to be transpiring in American prisons, involving the seeming conversion of many white prisoners to the pagan religion of Asatru, prisoners who happen to be White Supremacist. It was a woman by the name of Else Christesnsen who seems to have been responsbile for the recognition within the prison system of Asatru as a bona fide religion, the same as Judaism, Islam, etc. Still, she and the majoriy of Asatru adherents could scarcely have been prepared for the latest results of these eforts.

In fact, perhaps the major Asatru group, known as The Asatru Alliance, is quite adamant, that there is no place within it's ranks for hatred or racial prejudice. Thanks at least in large part to this controversy, they have stated that there shall be no political alignment with either the left or the right within it's ranks.

Still, they are not the last word, or the only word. In fact, the fusion and confusion which I mentioned seems to be due to the presence of two similar though ideologically distinct pagan organizations. The second, not legitimately called Asatru, is known instead as Wotanism, which was founded by a man by the name of David Lane, who intended his sect to be purposefully distinct from what he calls the "folkish" Asatruers, who are for the most part disdained as univeralist and "new age", equated by Wotanists with Wiccans.

Wotan, Lane says, serves also as an antonym, or, W.O.T.A.N.-Will Of The Aryan Nations.

Whereas Asatru tends toward Norse Reconstructionism, Wotanism tends to see their gods, Wotan of course being the most important, as Jungian archetypes. Yet, they seem as well to go beyond this in some respects.

Even the old myth of the warriors death and reward in Valhalla is given a white racialist slant. Those who fight and die for the preservation of the white race, will be sent to Valhalla, where they will engage in many heroic battles, and at night will feast and be tended by beautiful maidens known as Valkyries. Those who do not fight, called Thralls, will upon death be torn assunder and dispersed into the chaos of eternal night, or Helgard.

As for Valhalla, this is seen as not as a literal spiritual afterlife, but actually as a form of reincarnation, where they will then carry on the battle, be blessed with a beautiful wife (who herself will be the reincarnation of a virtuos Aryan woman). Eventually, they will be granted entrance into Valhalla, where they will blend into the Universal Life Force.

All this is for the pleasure of the AllFather-Wotan, or Odin-who it turns out created all races of man for his own pleasure. He needed flesh and blood forms in order to be able to experience death, victory, love, pleasure, etc. In other words, if you fail to provide the All-Father with this entertainment, you are really going to piss him off.

And evidently, to ensure there was plenty of fun and games, he created all races just to compete with each other.

The Asatru, in the meantime, are beside themselves. Their attraction to their religion was not based on any feelings of racial superiority, or race hatred, it is merely an outgrowth of pride in their own racial culture and heritage, which they respect and want to promote in it's positive aspects. They see the Middle Eastern religions, rightly in my opinion, as foreign agents which are unatural to those of European descent.

In other words, the difference in Asatru and Wotanism is a fine line between the positive and the negative. The Asatru should have seen that coming when they initiated their prison outreach programs, but evidently they weren't looking out of Odins good eye.

To the prisoners who embrace the new faith, it is a mark of good behavior, as pointed out to me in a comment on this earlier post I did on the subject. Alignment with a recognized religous group gets you certain privileges and considerations. It also offers a degree of protection from prison predators and scavengers.

It didn't turn out so well, however, for Mark Lenz, Jeffry Remington, and Brent Parker, the last of whom was murdered, stabbed more than fifty times before an altar of Odin, by the other two. Accordding to Lenz, who was just recently executed by lethal injection for the crime, Parker disrespected the gods, did not treat the religion seriously, and so their honor was at stake. Or, maybe it was because the two suspected Parker was planning to attack them. Or, it might have been a calculated murder to gain control of the cult. No one knows for sure.

Ironically, Lenz was orignally sent to prison for a series of burglaries that didn't involve violence, while Parker, the murder victim, had received fifty years in prison for the drunken murder of an associate whom he beat literally to death, then running over his body with his car, later laughing and bragging about it at a local bar. Jeffrey Remington, the co-murderer of Parker, hung himself in his own prison cell some years ago.

Of course, this kind of shenanigans can happen in any religion, and particularly in any prison group. The Asatru groups are, however, understandably dismayed that these activities might come in time to be identified with them. Still, as I pointed out on The Wild Hunt Blog, in a comment on this post which was deleted for some mysterious reason I can only guess at, prison outreach to these people should be continued. But they shouldn't expect these people to overnight become tolerant univeralist minded pagans adhering to concepts of universal broherhood and love.

It is fine to stress pride in European culture and heritage. That is one of the reasons these people gravitated to Asatru to begin with. There is no reason to give up now, due to a few unfortunate incidents, which should in some respects have been foreseen to begin with. Asatru can be a valuable tool with which these people can put their lives back together, and learn to live in positive ways, both inside the prison system, and outside of it, for those who will eventually be released. One thing is for certain. Whether you prefer to think of them as legitimate Asatru, or as Wotanists who have insinuated themselves into a prison outreach program under maybe false pretenses in order for the benefits they might derive from the system, they are there now. The Asatru can try to bridge the gap and try to moderate their behavior through the prison system and hope it sticks in time, or they can denouce them and maintain a rivalry which will accomplish nothing.

Otherwise, they will simply gravitate to the various Neo-Nazi groups on the outside, as they have already been doing. It is a growing trend in the White Nationalist movement as it stands now, and can only get bigger. It didn't have to be that way, and maybe still doesn't have to be that way. But that's the way it probably will be.

The picture above of Odin comes from Norse Mythology Pictures, which are all on the public domain. For anyone interested in Norse mythology, I recommend it highly.