Lewis Stead

The Ravenbook

make up for the impression made on new

people when they are the only ones showing up for a ritual. Also

since Asatru is still a growing religion a lack of regular attendees

will lead to only one view being put across instead of many peoples

personal takes on a subject.

The next duty we have to our kindred is loyalty. I will assume that

every kindred has some sort of leader whether it be an elected leader

or not. This person has taken on the responsibility of being in

charge of the kindred as a whole. I say that we should ask these

leaders what we can do for them to make there job easier. I am not

saying that we have to center our lives around whatever kindred we may

belong to, but sometimes just asking if we can pick up the mead will

take a lot off the mind of the person in charge.

Another duty we have to our kindred is helping the other members of

that kindred. This could include the simple willingness to give a

ride to events, but also on a deeper level to really be their for each

other in times of need. We must remember that while our religion

espouses the glory of the individual, that individual usually only as

good as the community from which he came. We also do not want to be

like other religions we member of the same church are strangers to

each other. The fact that we have chosen the word kindred to name

our religious bodies should mean, in practice as well as definition, a

much closer relationship to each other then is found in most, but

certainly not all, mainstream churches.

THE VALUES OF ASATRU

One of the basic functions of a religion is to offer a set of values

on which mankind is to base its actions. This, sadly, is one area

where Paganism has often failed. The cult of anti-values has held

sway, taking moral relativism to extremes perhaps even farther from

common sense than fundamentalist moral legalism, even to the point

where I have heard rape, murder, and genocide defended on the basis of

cultural differences.

However, values remain important. All one needs to do is look at the

morning paper to see the results of a society that has in many ways

embraced the cult of anti-values. Thievery, murder, and plunder exist

in our cities to extents which would have appalled our ancestors--no

matter how many times they went a Viking. While this is hardly what

the Pagans who have embraced the cult of anti-values had in mind, it

is to my belief a natural outgrowth of the same basic philosophical

concept. The chaos in our country is the dark shadow of the modern

rejection of moral legalism. What should have been an evolution from

a legalistic moral/religious culture to one of flexible honor based

values and self-responsibility has instead become a morass of chaos

and immorality. The lesson we should all learn is that while there is

no definitive list of sins; right and wrong still exist.

As usual Asatru offers a sensible solution. Our faith deals not in

legalisms and rules nor in unchecked chaos and relativism. We instead

acknowledge the existence of right and wrong, good and evil, but we

deal with actions according to basic philosophical concepts that are

applied by the keen intellect of Odin, the simple common sense of

Thor, and the solid honor of Tyr--the gifts of the Gods to us.

Asatru posits that the basic place of moral judgment is within the

human heart and mind. We as human beings with the gift of

intelligence are sensible and responsible enough to determine right

from wrong and act accordingly. The Gods teach us through the

examples of their lives, as chronicled in the Eddas, and through

various pieces such as the Havamal which directly offer us advice. In

the modern history of our faith, various Asatru organizations have

outlined simple sets of values which they hold up as simple guidelines

on how to live ones life.

The Odinic Rite (the major Asatru group in England) has one of the

most cohesive and sensible of all those weve seen and this set has

been adopted by the Raven Kindred as an official statement of our

beliefs. We do this not only as a moral guide for our members, but

also to say to the world what it is that we stand for--our good name

in the community being important to us. Finally, this list is used