Asatru Folk Assembly - March 03, 2021


Asatru Morning Rites (2012)


Episode Stats


Length

6 minutes

Words per minute

117.84

Word count

768

Sentence count

46

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

The gods and goddesses never went away. They are with us always. And now they stir, and we reclaim our spiritual birthright. A glorious dawn awaits. Hail our awakening. Hail Asatru Rising.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! 0.97
00:00:30.000 This is Steve McNallan of the Asatru Folk Assembly,
00:00:39.300 bringing you the latest on the revival of the ancestral faith of Northern Europe
00:00:43.940 and the awakening of the European descended peoples everywhere.
00:00:49.160 The gods and goddesses never went away.
00:00:53.360 They are with us always, and now they stir,
00:00:57.200 and we reclaim our spiritual birthright.
00:01:01.340 A glorious dawn awaits.
00:01:03.860 Hail our awakening. 0.73
00:01:05.740 Hail Asatru rising.
00:01:09.860 Today, I want to focus on the actual practice of Asatru
00:01:14.140 rather than merely theory or history.
00:01:17.380 Specifically, I want to talk about daily rituals,
00:01:20.880 and in particular, those associated with getting the day off
00:01:25.200 to a spiritually effective and inspiring start.
00:01:30.280 Many religions have specific rites to begin each day.
00:01:34.420 Asatru has no such formal practice,
00:01:37.320 but over the years I've evolved a set of personal rites along these lines.
00:01:42.460 You may find them helpful as you develop your own.
00:01:46.260 I do my morning rites in three parts,
00:01:49.340 the first of which I'll present today.
00:01:51.480 I'll cover the other two parts next time.
00:01:55.840 Doing rights in the early morning has changed the way I see the world around me.
00:02:01.200 Poetically, the world is re-created with each dawn.
00:02:04.980 You can stand in the darkness and watch, minute by minute, as the world is reborn.
00:02:11.260 First the horizon in the east takes shape.
00:02:14.560 Then the trees around you gradually assume their forms,
00:02:18.640 first as dim shadows which gradually become more defined,
00:02:23.440 Branches and leaves become visible against the ever-lighter sky,
00:02:28.260 forms emerging from the darkness.
00:02:31.360 Each day is a new start, a new beginning, a new world formed from the void.
00:02:38.860 And the sky, darkness still reigns in the west,
00:02:44.460 stars faded now but shadow prevailing,
00:02:47.440 in contrast to the light forming in the east.
00:02:50.020 You can truly see the new day, an entity unto itself, new and unworn, coming toward you over
00:02:58.760 the horizon. This scene never fails to move and inspire me. I faced east, stand with my arms
00:03:08.620 raised high to my sides, the stance of the Elhaz rune, and say these words, Hail to the day,
00:03:16.860 Hail to the sons of day, hail to night and its daughter.
00:03:23.920 Gaze on me gently standing here, give your blessings on my battles.
00:03:30.580 Hail to the gods, hail to the goddesses, hail to the all-giving earth.
00:03:37.420 Wisdom and the Lord grant me so long as I live and healing hands.
00:03:42.800 These stanzas are adapted from Poems of the Elder Etta by Patricia Terry.
00:03:49.720 And as I finish these words, I hold my hands in front of me
00:03:53.780 and say words to the effect of,
00:03:56.840 Help me to heal myself.
00:03:59.640 Help me to heal my people, the sons and daughters of Europe.
00:04:04.540 Help me to heal the earth.
00:04:06.660 I then add the names of specific individuals to whom I wish to send blessings.
00:04:10.860 simple yes by understanding the setting of the rite and the background of the verses you can
00:04:18.900 deepen the experience ideally I perform this rite just before dawn facing east this makes sense of
00:04:26.580 course when greeting the day and I'm fortunate in that I have a spectacular view of the Sierra
00:04:31.740 Nevada as I stand on my deck and faced eastward the panoramic beauty spread before me makes the
00:04:38.760 ceremony especially profound. But other times, as when I leave for work long
00:04:44.940 before the sun peeks over the horizon, I recite the words while I drive to work.
00:04:49.500 The important thing is to do it and feel it every day or as regularly as you can.
00:04:57.000 The two stanzas I've used above are from the ancient Ley of Ziggur Drifa, which
00:05:03.140 you can find in the Elder Edda, also known as the Poetic Edda. They lend
00:05:07.560 themselves naturally to morning exercises. In the story, Sigurd Riffa, who is actually the Valkyrie
00:05:14.020 Brynhild, has just been awakened by Sigurd, the great hero of the Volsung line, when she speaks
00:05:19.820 these verses. She then goes on to initiate Sigurd into the mysteries of the runes and other esoteric
00:05:26.180 subjects. This context applies to you and I as well. Our destiny, if we choose it, is to awaken
00:05:33.560 from our spiritual slumber and pursue wisdom. Perhaps this simple ritual can help you listen
00:05:39.820 to your inner Valkyrie as you go about the day. Next time, I'll talk about some things you can
00:05:46.780 add to your morning rites to make them even more effective, a basic affirmation of life
00:05:51.860 and a statement of your own destiny. This is Steve McNallan of the Asatru Folk Assembly,
00:05:59.040 www.runestone.org
00:06:02.520 inviting you to join us next time
00:06:04.920 for more of
00:06:06.340 Asatru Rising.
00:06:29.040 Hey!