Lewis Stead

The Ravenbook

modern Asatru

tradition. This does not mean that they are the only rituals that

modern Asatru perform, but in one way or another most rituals revolve

around one or both of these generic ceremonies.

Profession

Profession is one of the most important ceremonies in Asatru. To

Profess ones belief in and kinship to the Gods should be an important

turning point in ones life and the beginning of a new understanding of

the self. Profession is, however, a very simple and rather short

ceremony. In our kindred we usually profess people during a regular

meeting, but either before or after the blot offering.

Profession is not an occult or initiatory ceremony. It is nothing

less than its name: one professes (declares, affirms) his wish to

become one of the Asafolk. This oath is usually taken by the

Kindred-Gothi on the oath ring or some other Holy object as follows:

The Gothi stands in front of the altar and says Will [insert name

here] please come forward. After he or she does so Are you here of

your own free will? Is it your intention to solemnly swear allegiance

and kinship to the Gods of Asgard, the Aesir and Vanir? If the answer

to both these questions is in the affirmative the Gothi takes up the

oath ring (or some other holy object upon which oaths are sworn) and

holds it out to the person professing and says Repeat after me. I

swear to ever uphold the Raven Banner of Asgard, to follow the way of

the North, to always act with honor and bravery, and to be ever true

to the Aesir and Vanir and to Asatru. By the Gods I so swear. By my

honor I so swear. On this Holy Ring I so swear. Hail the Gods. The

kindred then replies Hail the Gods! and the Gothi finishes Then be

welcome to the service of Asgard and the Folk of the Asatru.

The essence of Profession is making a commitment to Asatru. It should

not be undertaken without thought and prayer. When one Professes, one

is leaving behind other faiths. If one isnt yet comfortable in doing

this, then Profession should be put off, perhaps indefinetly. It

should be reiterated here that there should be absolutely no pressure

put on people to Profess. False or coerced Professions merely cheapen

the ritual and the commitment that it represents. It should also be

said that Asatru ritual is open to anyone. You do not need to have

undergone a ritual of Profession in order to attend kindred events or

worship the Gods.

There may be other celebrations connected to a Profession, just as

other religions hold Bar Mitzvah or Confirmation parties. When

someone joins our kindred, we hold a Sumbel of nine rounds, each

dedicated to one of the values of Asatru (see below) and toast those

values to the new kinsman.

THE ASATRU VE

There are probably as many modern theories of what an ancient Norse Ve

or Hof (temple, holy place) looked like as there were ancient Norse

temples. Ive heard everything (with full scholarly accompanyment)

from groves in the woods to constructed buildings which were the basis

for the later Stave Churches of Scandinavia. In general, I think the

multiplicity of descriptions throughout the history of our folk

indicates that our people were of a wide and practical mind about what

should be present in a temple and what form it should take. Our

modern practice tends to reflect this.

The first distinction we might make in our modern practice is between

altars that people have in their homes, and the setup of the rooms

that we perform group rituals in. For rituals, we tend to use any

place which is large enough to fit everyone into. We try to mask the

normal use of the room, which in the past has included such things as

covering the television set with a cloth and moving some of the more

obtrusive furniture out of the room. The one other preparatory thing

that I cant recommend highly enough indoors is to line the room with

candles and get rid of any artificial lights. The darkness isnt an

important part of the religious elements of the ritual, but it gets

rid of a lot of distractions.

The altar itself is actually a rather simple affair. We usually

commandeer a small table for this purpose. Theres no specific setup

for an altar in Asatru, other than it should look pleasant and hold

all the implements you will need during the ritual.