Lewis Stead

The Ravenbook

as spirits of a manmade object are bound to us on some level, they

seem most interested in staying out of the dealings of mankind. There

are numerous stories of people who spy upon elf women and force them

to become their brides. Inevitably the women are unhappy and

eventually escape, leaving their husbands emotionally devastated.

There are also numerous stories of spirits who haunt the woods and who

will drag wayward travelers into rivers to drown or to some other

untimely death. When people do have dealings with the elves these

beings seem to operate on an entirely different set of expectations

than we do. Most of us would be gratified by the gift of a bonus

from our employer, yet time and time again in folklore this is the

easiest way to anger a house spirit. We know that elves were honored

with blots, but its just as possible that these ceremonies were made

in propitiation to them rather than in kinship as are our blots made

with the Gods. We suggest caution in dealing with beings with a set

of values so foreign from our own. They should be approached in the

same way one would approach a person from a country whose ways are

very very different.

In general, were also very reticent to make decisions about

classifying the various other peoples. It would be very easy to draw

lines and place certain spirits into little boxes which label their

function, but that seems overly mechanical and of little utility.

Elves and other wights are not human, and it might be too much to

try to classify them in other than subjective terms. Its probably

best to simply make your intent clear, experiment, and use the terms

which work for you.

Demi-Gods

There are a whole classification of Gods which are not truly part of

the Aesir, Vanir, or even the Jotnar. Wayland the Smith is the best

example of this that we can offer. Wayland, called Volund in the

Norse version, is the greatest of smiths, but its clear in the

mythology that he was more or less a human man. The myth tells of how

he lost his wife and was enslaved by a human King. While his powers

allow him to outwit and take vengeance on the king, its clear

throughout that hes not on the level of a Thor or an Odin. What one

does about these demi-Gods or local Gods is a good question. I see

nothing wrong with pouring a blot in their honor and dealing with them

as you would any other God or Goddess. On the other hand, they are

not part of the Aesir and I think it might be disrespectful to honor

them with the Aesir or as part of a ceremony dedicated to the Aesir as

they seem of a different nature.

Ancestor Worship:

Honoring ones ancestors was one of the most sacred duties of the

Norsemen. One of the most important parts of greeting new people was

the exchanging of personal lineages at sumbel. The worship of the

Disir is closely linked to ancestor worship. However, it is difficult

for modern day Pagans to seriously engage in ancestor worship. We

are, for the most part, without a strong connection to our heritage,

and even if we feel motivated we would probably need to skip at least

a thousand years back to find ancestors who would not have been

appalled by our Heathen beliefs. One substitution for ancestor

worship in the modern Asatru movement has been the veneration of heros

from the Sagas and legends of our people.

The manner of how we honor ancestors is also somewhat troubling. I

reserve the blot ritual to Gods and other powers, and Im not sure if

its appropriate to pour a blot to an ancestor, no matter how

important he was. I think the most important part of ancestor worship

is remembering, and the sumbel seems the most important part of that.

While we discuss ancestry, I must mention that some modern Asatru

groups, in part because of holdovers from 19th century cultural

movements, have placed a great deal of emphasis on ancestry in terms

of race and ethnic heritage. Many (although not nearly as many as

some hysterical commentators would have you believe) have held that

Asatru was a religion for whites or Northern Europeans only. In my

not particularly humble opinion, this is pure idiocy. The basic

argument for this is that people of other cultures do not share the

same background and values. This is certainly true, but the key word