We at The Norroena Society are dedicated to the thorough and proper investigation of the ancestral traditions of Northern Europe as well as the promotion of our results and expansion of the Asatru faith. By keeping our hearts on the past, our minds in the present, and our eyes on the future we feel that we can maintain a strong institution of higher learning based upon a logical and spiritual understanding of our faith.

Our society is made up of loyal men and women who work as a synergistic whole to bring you a well researched and purely heathen body of customary beliefs. It is our mission to record, for the most part, rather than interpret the traditions of our ancestral path and we feel that we have the means to do so correctly. Interpretation is for the individual; it is up to each and every one of us to find the logic within our beliefs that fits one’s own way without violating our laws.

Because of the conflicts we Ásatrúar have faced over the last few hundred years we are left with some burning questions which many of us feel must be answered; questions such as: How much of our lore was corrupted by the Christians who passed it on to us? Wwhat can we do to restore it to its former glory for us today? And is there anything we have left out of our religious lives?’.

We are going to do everything in our power to answer all of these questions and give our people a new light to see the gods with, for we know that we can and will solve the problems that have plagued us. All of us in the nation of our faith can contribute in this quest, so long as we work together, keep our minds open to necessary changes, and listen to the voices of reason.

One enigma we each must ponder is how a sacred tradition originates and what constitutes its sacredness. Generally when we think of something very old, we recall the familiar adage- "if it was good enough for our ancestors, it’s good enough for us". Such reasoning is fine as long as we do not forget about the powers we hold within ourselves. We are all capable of hearing the voices of the inspiring gods and goddesses. We need only to recognize these moments of divine intervention, when we’re inspired by their presence, and to use what they give to us when they come. Inspiration is the power to keep a religion growing, if care is taken to not disrespect the foundations already laid within it. Without this true form of divine providence our movement would only retain archaic philosophies and exist as an anachronistic society, if it were to exist at all.

The ancient ways, before their transliteration and 'interpretation' by Christians, existed as a living communicative interrelationship between our people and the gods above. In respect for this and the ancient path that developed from it we work for what we believe to be the closest shadow of these ideals and customs by using the investigative methodologies of the pioneers of theological research into Teutonic lore: Jacob Grimm, Rasmus Anderson, Dr. Viktor Rydberg, and others. We allow our inspirations to guide us, but will not use the word “inspiration” or “intuition” as an excuse to betray the works of these men by making up just anything without having evidence to back up our claims. Occasionally we may make some logical speculations but these will be few and far between and based upon sound conclusions in our investigations.

The point of our work is to use our powers of intellect and inspiration, the gifts of the gods, to rebuild our faith in the patterns set down by our ancestors, while, as I have said, keeping our minds in the present and our eyes on the future. We shall use tradition as our foundation, but inspiration will show us the way. We have, as a movement, made much advancement in the past few decades but there is still much to be done. Only as a nation, united in our faith and in our blood, shall we rebuild our sacred legacy.

There are many who believe that we have reached a stopping point in the recreation of the religious traditions of the North, that we have already picked up the charred remains and have cleaned them up as much as possible. We of The Norroena Society do not believe this is so, that in many ways we have just begun to scratch the surface! We look at the documents from the global Odinic community and we mainly see the study of yesterday’s Ásatrú, filtered through the Christian pen, practiced today. The true traditions of our faith are certainly very important to us, but it is time that we make our religious evolution just as important, if not more important, than the ancient customs we hold so dear.

In order for us to commit ourselves to such an ideal, we must have a direction, a map to point us toward our goals. We have found in our researches twelve fundamentals which form the physical culture of any pagan faith. At one point or another every single one of the heathen religions have recognized them. Ours is no exception. They are: Pantheon, Lore/Theology, Ritual/Prayer, Nature, Music, Dance, Magic, Diet, Law, Folk/Ancestry, Combat, and Arts and Crafts. Using this map we shall create a series of texts that shall fully manifest each fundamental.This will be the hierology that we of the Norroena Society shall use in our practice of the Asatru faith, so each text will be religiously applicable. We shall also publish books on some of our investigations that are not directly related to a fundamental, but which benefited the work put into several of them. In each fundamental concept there is an entire field of thought and practice to stimulate the mind and continue the cultural advancement of our people, as well as our faith. If we let but one of them go unnoticed, we will have dropped an important element of our heritage into the abyss that opened in the Dark Ages, and will thus cause its extinction. Those of us who have love for our folk and for our gods and goddesses, certainly do not want to see that happen.

With every one of the fundamentals there are projects The Norroena Society will undergo so that we shall not only write about them, but will also experience them. The results will see to their growth and survival and our recording will insure that they are never corrupted or lost again. We understand the diligence and dedication that it will take to reach the goal of a fully manifested heathen cultural body and we gladly accept the challenges ahead of us. Together we shall raise up the banner of the gods in its full glory and let their light shine once again upon our world!

-The Norroena Society





In Homage to Rasmus Anderson, Founder of the Norroena Society




Even though The Norroena Society was originally a fictional organization invented by Rasmus Anderson to promote the Norroena Library he had collected, it is in honor of his vision that we continue its name. His goal was to educate people on the culture, history and religion of ancient Northern Europe with a collection of some of the best works on the subject. As an actual society, we aim to continue this legacy by developing various projects that will hopefully shed new light on our sacred heritage.

Eventually we hope to reprint and publish all of the original 16 volumes of The Norroena Library, while at the same time expanding the collection with new works we feel are important for the study of early Teutonic culture and traditions. Since we will be building the society from the ground up, there are many exciting possibilities for the future!

It may take us years to realize the many plans we have for The Norroena Society. As we continue to grow, building this organization a piece at a time, we will never lose sight of our beginnings. With this we pay tribute to the founder of our society, Rasmus Anderson.

---

---