Asatru Folk Assembly - Feast of the Einherjar November 2008

The Einherjar are those chosen warriors dedicated to the god Odin, who, upon their death, are deemed worthy of being taken to Valhalla, Odin s hall, and spending their afterlife with him. The Valkyries watch them in their final conflict, their last battle on this earth, as they're putting forth all their power and all their prowess. And if they are worthy upon death, the Valkyrie, those magnificent maidens and their armor flying on their horses, come swooping over the battlefield and pluck up the warriors and take them to Valhalla. Upon arriving in Valhalla, they are met by a Valkyrie who bears a horn of foaming mead to welcome them into the new life in the afterlife.

00:00:00.000 Hello. Today is November the 11th, 2008. It's Veterans Day and all across the United States,

00:00:11.280 our fellow countrymen are honoring the men and women who have served in our armed forces. Now,

00:00:17.160 those of us who follow Ausatru obviously also participate in this because many of us are

00:00:21.780 veterans, but at the same time, there's a deeper undertone to November the 11th for those of us

00:00:28.980 who follow the native religion called Asatru.

00:00:31.540 I'm Steve McNallan of the Asatru Folk Assembly,

00:00:34.780 and I'm here today to talk to you about the Feast of the Einherjar.

00:00:41.480 The Einherjar are those chosen warriors dedicated to the god Odin,

00:00:46.540 who, upon their death, are deemed worthy of being taken to Valhalla, Odin's hall,

00:00:52.460 and spending their afterlife with him.

00:00:55.520 The Valkyries watch them in their final conflict,

00:00:58.980 their last battle on this earth as they're putting forth all their power and all their prowess.

00:01:04.940 And if they are worthy upon death, the Valkyries, those magnificent maidens and their armor flying on their horses,

00:01:12.740 come swooping over the battlefield and pluck up the Einherjar and take them to Valhalla.

00:01:18.700 Upon arriving in Valhalla, they're met by a Valkyrie who bears a horn of foaming mead

00:01:27.980 to welcome them to Valhalla and to wash away the sweat of their exertions

00:01:33.920 and welcome them into the new life in the afterlife, as it were,

00:01:39.060 into the new immortality, their exalted state.

00:01:43.920 They're taken into Valhalla, and there, so the stories go,

00:01:48.200 they spend all their nights in wonderful feasting and all their days in furious fighting.

00:01:54.980 Now the fighting is not without purpose. It's not just recreation of a bunch of hardy individuals.

00:02:02.580 The fighting is to continually hone their warrior skills because the day will come at the Battle of

00:02:11.180 Ragnarok that ends this cycle of time, when the Einherjar will stand alongside Odin and

00:02:18.720 all the other gods in their conflict against the giants and those forces of disorder that

00:02:24.800 would destroy all that is.

00:02:29.680 I think we have to look at the story of Valhalla in a bit of a metaphorical sense.

00:02:35.740 We all know that the best of parties gets old after a day or two, and an eternity of

00:02:40.780 nothing but literally feasting and fighting would soon become a punishment rather than a paradise.

00:02:49.420 I think that the point of the story about Valhalla is that even in the afterlife

00:02:56.380 the individual can attain an exalted situation, an exalted condition, a spiritual evolution

00:03:03.740 in which they still have purpose, they still have cause,

00:03:09.740 they still have great deeds to perform.

00:03:12.620 In other words, death isn't just the end.

00:03:15.140 It's not the end of will and of evolution and of striving,

00:03:19.860 but merely a different venue for continuing that striving and that evolution.

00:03:25.220 So once again, Feast of the Einherjar is upon us.

00:03:29.320 It's November the 11th, and not only across the United States,

00:03:33.480 But all around the world, people who follow Alsatru will be raising their horns, honoring the god Odin, god of battles, honoring the Einherjar who even now are in Valhalla preparing for the conflicts to come, and honoring also our own kin, our own friends, our own family who have served their country and their community.

00:03:57.200 Inheryar is a good time to recall the role of the warrior in our community in our lives given the

00:04:06.860 nature of the world given the nature of human beings there must be that group that places their 0.98

00:04:13.040 lives destructive forces and ourselves and those people are the warriors they serve obviously this

00:04:20.960 includes people like the military but it can include others as well certainly policemen firemen

00:04:26.000 many other people risk their lives in order to protect the rest of us. All those people show the

00:04:32.680 warrior spirit. It's also a good time to remember our own duty, to inculcate in our own hearts the

00:04:41.780 virtues of the warrior. We too must be stronger. We too must be fit. We too must be dedicated and

00:04:52.580 focused and committed not just to our own evolution although that's important

00:04:57.480 too but also to the protection of all those around us to the service of our

00:05:03.140 gods and our folk so on this ain harry are I raised my horn to you and wished

00:05:10.880 upon you the blessings of the gods and of your noble ancestors

00:05:22.580 You

Asatru Folk Assembly - February 01, 2021

Feast of the Einherjar November 2008

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