Lewis Stead

The Ravenbook

community. While we make no pretensions that this has

resulted in a system that is identical with that of our spiritual

ancestors, it is at least a system that is our own.

In saying this I would reiterate that we do not put down any religion

for its beliefs. We merely ask for the integrity of our own. We are

not rejecting other systems because they are wrong or because we think

ill of them, we are rather choosing Asatru because of our love and

devotion to it.

THE RITUALS OF ASATRU

The Blot

The Blot is the most common ritual within Asatru. In its simplest

form a blot is making a sacrifice to the Gods. In the old days this

was done by feasting on an animal consecrated to the Gods and then

slaughtered. As we are no longer farmers and our needs are simpler

today, the most common blot is an offering of mead or other alcoholic

beverage to the deities.

Many modern folk will be suspicious of a ritual such as this. Rituals

which are deemed sacrifices, such as the blot, have a certain lurid

connotation and have been falsely re-interpreted by post-Pagan sources

in order to denigrate or trivialize them. The most common myth about

ritual sacrifice is that one is buying off a deity e.g. one throws a

virgin into the Volcano so it wont erupt. Nothing could be further

from the truth. The other common misunderstanding of sacrifice is

that the gain some type of energy from the action of killing or the

fear or suffering of the animal. This is also untrue, in actuality,

if you do any kind of slaughtering--ritual or mundane--correctly there

is neither. Our ancient spiritual forebears were slaughtering animals

because they were farmers, and sacrifice was simply a sacred manner of

doing so and sharing the bounty with the Gods.

The Norse conception of our relationship to the Gods is important in

understanding the nature of sacrifice. In Asatru it is believed that

we are not only the worshippers of the Gods but that we are

spiritually and even physically related to them. The Eddas tell of a

God, Rig (identified with Heimdall), who went to various farmsteads

and fathered the human race so we are physically kin to the Gods. On

a more esoteric level, humankind is gifted with ond or the gift of

ecstasy. Ond is a force that is of the Gods. It is everything that

makes humans different from the other creatures of the world. As

creatures with this gift, we are immediately connected to the Gods. We

are part of their tribe, their kin. Thus we are not simply buying off

the Gods by offering them something that they want, but we are sharing

with the Gods something that we all take joy in.

Sharing and gift giving was an important part of most ancient cultures

and had magical significance. Leadership was seen as a contract

between a Lord and follower. It is said, A gift demands a gift. A

good leader among the Norse was known as a Ring giver, and it was

understood that his generosity and the support of his war-band were

linked and part of a complementary relationship. Giving a gift was a

sign of friendship, kinship, and connection. Among the runes, gebo G

encompasses the mystery of the blot. In English, the rune is named

gift, and the two lines intersecting are representative of the two

sides of a relationship both giving to each other. By sharing a blot

with the Gods we reaffirm our connection to them and thus reawaken

their powers within us and their watchfulness over our world.

A blot can be a simple affair where a horn of mead is consecrated to

the Gods and then poured as a libation, or it can be a part of a

larger ritual. A good comparison is the Catholic Mass which may be

part of a regular service or special event such as a wedding or

funeral, or it may be done as a purely magical-religious practice

without any sermon, hymns, or other trappings.

The blot consists of three parts, the hallowing or consecrating of the

offering, the sharing of the offering, and the libation. Each of

these is equally important. The only physical objects required are

mead, beer or juice; a horn or chalice; a sprig of evergreen used to

sprinkle the mead; and a ceremonial bowl, known as a Hlautbowl, into

which the initial libation will be made.

The blot begins with the consecration of the offering. The Gothi