Being Raised Ásatrú
By Mrs. Emily Shelton, Head of RFU Family Services
I have been asked all my life “What was it like growing up Ásatrú?” Well, I am not sure, as it was just life for me. It wasn’t until I was a teen that other religions came up in conversations. Maybe it was eavesdropping on adult conversations, or just noticing how other people talked, when it dawned on me that it wasn’t an Ásatrú church they meant. I knew other languages existed; Spanish and French were always offered in school. People said Bible, I thought Eddas; people said commandments, I thought Hávamál. I thought they were speaking a different language but of the same thing.
Two times a year—Midsummer and Yule—my family would travel hours to a campsite and spend time with an Ásatrú group. I learned about Gods, Goddesses, and spiritual connections. We had games to see who was the better host, who could name the most Gods and Goddesses, who knew what roles each God and Goddess had, and who knew the most runes. I remember adults wearing t-shirts and jeans, cargo pants, and kids in PJs having a serious ritual in the woods. The best-dressed person was the one leading the ritual and he wore a polo shirt that was tucked in with a belt!
Then once a year my grandparents took me to a church where I had to wear the nicest dress in my closet and shoes I wasn’t allowed to run in, and if I got a hole in my stocking, grandma wasn’t happy. We sang songs in a choir, a guy in a black robe spoke in words I didn’t understand and they sent me to a room with a bunch of kids to watch Veggie Tales and color pictures of a guy with hands nailed to a cross. Many of you have come from that world and know what was happening. I thought the guy on the cross was Tyr, I thought Veggie Tales was about how the Gods and Goddesses became Gods and Goddesses, I thought the guy in a black robe was speaking Norse, not Latin. Because it was Ásatrú I learned first, and I thought this was just a different way people practice Ásatrú. I believed all of that until I was 12, and started asking questions.
We had everyday practices of Ásatrú at home. Dad would tell us a summary of Beowulf, we had a prayer spoken over dinner every night: “Thor bless this food for our health and pleasure, may it give us full stomachs and active minds, so we may work our will, may it bind us to each other and to the earth from which it comes. Hail the Gods, Hail the Goddesses.” For the four of us, each had a line, and we held hands with our heads up! My mother would light a candle and ask Thor to keep us safe at bedtime. I, too, would ask our Gods for things. I was in 4th grade the first time holding my Thor’s Hammer. I asked Odin for knowledge to pass a test I didn’t think I would pass. In soccer, I once asked Freya to grow a tree root to trip another kid. In high school, I once asked Thor to strike a building with lightning so I would never have to attend another math class. Of course, these things didn’t happen. Looking back, I am sure they heard me and had a good laugh about this little girl that didn’t quite understand how talking to them worked. In my innocence, we all learn something. This is how children will think or have a similar experience. My parents didn’t push me to learn the runes' meanings and memorize them; my dyslexia made it really hard for letters and numbers. However, my handwriting has runes in it because I practiced drawing them for so long. H, S, R, I, F sometimes goes up or down, sometimes my P has a point to it.
Now I am 30 with children of my own, and we have family reading night where my husband reads something from our religious books aloud. Fortunately, we have children’s books like Little Wolf and other easy reading like those by Jackson Crawford. With joining Raven Folk United, I lead Family Services and my team has created monthly booklets of information with thought-provoking questions. We have Teen Calls for them to ask questions to our leadership and learning what they do. Our kids will have more!