Notes so Far

                        Asatru Syllabus

          Guided self-study with periodic group activities 
                     for motivated students
who want to get a broader, deeper, and more integrated understanding


0   WHAT IS ASATRU?
    (includes historical context, then and now; Asatru "rooms":
    Scandinavian, Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, even Gothic)

    Activity: Sitting out & extending perceptions; informal personal
    offering to being(s) of choice.

    Reading: "Asatru in Brief" brochure
    (http://www.clark.net/~oldsma/whatis.htm); begin reading
    Crossley-Holland

1   THE BLOT
    (includes calendrical and at-need blots; life-cycle rituals)

    Activity: Compose a libation or blessing

    Reading: _Ravenbok_

2   DISIR, ALVAR, AND MATRONS
    (includes landwights, death and the afterlife)

    Activity: draw family tree for several generations, with some
    biographical notes for each ancestor.

    Reading: 

3   THE SUMBEL

    Activity: compose a personal boast, an ancestor boast, and a boast
    about a public hero.

    Reading: Sumbel section from Tacitus; example sumbel from Jomsvikings.

4   GODS AND OTHER ETINS
    (their nature; they are subject to wyrd; highlights of god-roster)

    Activity: Find some specific details associated with particular gods.
    E.g. Name of Thor's hall; name of Sunna's horses.

    Reading:

5   WYRD AND ORLOG
    (includes oaths, blood sibs, and introduce idea of standards of
    conduct)

    Activity:

    Reading:

6   HISTORY OF THE WORLDS FROM BEGINNING TO END
    (includes cosmology, Ragnarok, some context on Snorre's description of
    the next cycle)

    Activity:

    Reading: material from Prose Edda; Voluspa

7   KIN AND ALLIES: OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE GODS
    (includes traditional Asatru-related social systems, role of
    women, Icelandic settlement, introduction to gothi & kindred)

    Activity:

    Reading: extracts from Gwyn Jones; story of Skadhi; Brynhild's
    "I'm on strike" speech from Volsungsaga; story of Thorulf Mostur-Beard

8   MAGICS OF ASATRU
    (includes runes, seidh, spae, galdor, utisetta, folk magic, etc.
    Feeds into sequel course on runes or on seidh-working.)

    Activity: design a hex-sign using a few personally significant runes

    Reading: _Northern Magic_

9   CODE AND CULTURE
    (includes how community defines itself, ethics and conduct standards, 
    how flexibility natural to Asatru fits today's society, sexuality, 
    reconstruction vs. adaptation, source material)

    Activity:

    Reading: "Pentagram and Hammer" article; Jenny Blain's "Identity and
    Divinity" article.


My own starter list of useful lore, more or less in order, if you were
doing it all from scratch by book-learning:

GENERAL REFERENCES (APPLY TO ALL OR MOST TOPICS)

_The Norse Myths_, Kevin Crossley-Holland. This combines the information
from the lays into very clear stories, with good notes. 

http://www.webcom.com/~lstead, Raven Online. Includes _Ravenbok_, an
excellent online book on the gods and practices.

_The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturlusson, trans. Jean I. Young

_Poems of the Elder Edda_, trans. Patricia Terry

_Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe_, and _Lost Beliefs of Northern
Europe_, H.R.E. Davidson. HRED is the best single author on the subject.
Anything she has written would be an excellent resource--these two are
just good to start with. These tie together a lot of information on our
predecessors learned from history, archaeology, etc. into one picture.

http://asatru.knotwork.com/troth/, Ring of Troth. Among other things,
includes _Our Troth_, an online book on the gods and practices.


FOR SPECIFIC TOPICS

"The Pentagram and the Hammer", Gillette and Stead,
http://www.webcom.com/~lstead/wicatru.html . Describes some of the
significant cultural differences between Wicca and Asatru.

_A History of Pagan Europe_, Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick. This is an
excellent overview of European paganism. It is academic, has good
references, is extensively illustrated and very readable.

_Northern Magic_, Edred Thorsson. Clear introduction to the religion and
traditional magic. If you use his other books, you must keep in mind that
his background is in Ceremonial Magic and Temple of Set, and that colors
his view of Asatru.

_The Vikings_, Gwyn Jones.

_Ynglinga Saga_ and _History of Hacon the Good_, both from the compendium
_Heimskringla or The Lives of the Norse Kings_, Snorre Sturlason.
Dover edition available for around US$20. These have basic information
about the gods and worship and are as close to "primary" as we can get.
_Ynglinga_ gives the list of "required" holidays; _Hacon_ gives one of the
only two blot descriptions we have.

_Eyrbyggja Saga_, trans. Pallson and Edwards. (Penguin Classics edition)
Contains the other blot description, a description of a hof, and an
extended treatment of Thorolf Mostur-Beard, who was a "friend of Thor".

_The Germania_, Tacitus, trans. Mattingly and Handford (Penguin Classics
edition). An outsider describing the vigorous and virtuous Germans to the
decadent Romans. Talks about the role of sumbel among other things.

_Beowulf_ (various trans.) and _Saga of the Jomsvikings_, trans. Lee M.
Hollander. This have descriptions of a sumbel, but I don't think you need
to make these sources a high priority.

_Saga of the Volsungs_, trans. and ed. by Byock.

"Constructing identity and divinity: Creating community in an Elder
religion within a postmodern world", Jenny Blain,
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/2171/heath.html.  An analysis of how
the Asatru community defines itself, written by a professional
anthropologist.