Hail Wigglians,
Asatru doesn't really do initiation the way Wiccans do. We do have initiatory rituals, but there are no degrees, as that implies there is a start and end to your path that some can be farther along than others. I am a leader in my own community, and consider myself at best a journeyman. We are a community, not a hierarchy in spiritual matters. We can be a bizarre mixture of democracy and feudalism in running our community, but there is not any sense of the godhi being closer to the gods than any other participants in the ritual.

We do not have magical lineages the way Wiccans do, because we know the gods to be our kindred, and we need no intercessors to re-join our sacred ancestors.

Because we are structured as communities rather than magical lodges, Asatru is better able to deal with the population explosion than Wicca was. It is because we concentrate on community first, and introduce the mysteries and magical methods last, that we are able to deal with nubi-palooza. Asatru is called the religion with homework, we can take a flood of Kindergarteners. In coming together as a village to explore our roots, all of us, both newcomers and old timers, we learn of each other as we explore the layers of meaning in the lore, the runes, the faith that come to light in the joining of many different points of view and life experiences. I learn as much as I teach, and find myself laughing as new people offer their own dissenting views on topics of rune and lore, as I hear them describe almost perfectly the tradition of another tribe; a modern diversity of opinion mirroring the ancient diversity that is our legacy. Rather than being watered down, as you feared Wicca was becoming, I would respectfully suggest that we are becoming a mature community that can share a common root and core belief, while supporting multiple healthy and harmonious branches of practice. This is strength and richness of community, not a watering down of the root belief.

posted by: John T Mainer on 2011-05-15 18:15:44

Did they really ID Fritz? Dyonisis himself will be choking on his wine! You make me really wish I could have joined you at a Heathen heavy Pantheacon. I really felt I got a taste of what I missed listening to you.

PS I loved the deism discussion, Like Mojo I would be a purple. Hard polytheist, with the understanding that the gods can be both real and symbolic just as light can be both partical and wave. They make themselves knowable in various ways to us, but we are so not up to grasping the whole of them.

posted by: John T Mainer on 2011-03-05 23:47:05