From: thorfinn@wixer.cactus.org (Thorfinn Einarsson)
Subject: Re: Documented Evidence
Organization: Real/Time Communications
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 93 06:26:58 GMT

Greetings to Those Who Embrace Scholarship!

>George Paap <george_paap@email.sps.mot.com> writes:
>At the Pagan Student Alliance (at University of Texas) I met
>two people who are practicing a family tradition (different 
>traditions, one of whom is in the family).

Over a year ago, I attended a PSA function where a woman from Houston
claimed to be a member of a 2000 year old Celtic Wiccan tradition.
As proof, she extended her arm and told me to feel the heat radiating
from her hand. Needless to say, I wouldn't buy a car from her.

Then there was the PSA faculty sponsor who claimed to be part of an
ancient Slavic pagan family tradition. During the PSA Witch War against
scholarship (or was it Evil Satanists, no, make that Neo-Nazis, well
perhaps it was Male Sexists), this Slavic pagan supported a smear 
campaign against the Ring of Troth. He was later discovered to be a 
fraud. Up to this day, there still has been no willingness on the part
of last year's leaders to apologize or make amends for the bigotry and
sexism which was unleashed upon the Ring of Troth, James Chisholm, 
Edred Thorsson, and myself. 

>How may scholars are
>out there looking at history from a pagan perspective?  My hope
>is that it is growing, and that one day we can read nice, dry,
>inoffensive academic articles on the historical archeological basis of
>our beliefs, but it will be while.  This is a movement in its infancy for
>most people (myself included).

*Idunna*, the official journal of the Ring of Troth, is leading this
movement. It should be noted that over a year ago, *Idunna* was
publically ridiculed at a PSA meeting by one of its prominent members.
In the Yule-Month issue, there is an article by Edred Thorsson
entitled, "How to Be a Heathen: A Methodology for the Awakening of 
Traditional Systems", which is the essence of a talk he presented to
the PSA on 22 November 1991. (Book People carries *Idunna*)
It should be noted that Edred was not allowed to speak at a regular 
PSA meeting because, "He's a Satanist!" Edred is a member of the 
Temple of Set, which is recognized by the U.S. government as a religion,
and denying him an opportunity to address a regularly scheduled meeting
because of his religious affiliation, is religious discrimination.
His talk was held on a weekend evening and was unofficially boycotted.
Edred Thorsson (Stephen Flowers) received a Phd in Germanic Studies
from the University of Texas, and his dissertation topic was 
"Runes and Magic" (you can find it at the PC library). He has written
at least 12 books on magic and paganism and is currently working on 
four more. He is treated as slime by many pagans in the Austin area
who are bambi-types, suffer from bi-polar mentalities, inflict political
correctness on others, or are afraid of their own shadows. 

The Warden of the Lore (in charge of the Elder Training Programme)
of the Ring of Troth is Kveldulf Gundarsson. He is working on a Phd
from Cambridge UK, and his dissertation topic concerns itself with
the Cult of Odhinn. He has written *Teutonic Magic*, *Teutonic Religion*,
and has two historical fiction books under the name Stephan Grundy.
The first, *Rheingold*, was published in Germany (in German) last October 
and is now on the *Der Spiegel* Best Seller List. He has been interviewed 
in *Der Spiegel* and also made the cover of *Buch Actuell* along with 
another interview. The second book, *Helgi*, is not out yet. In the 
Yule-Month *Idunna*, Kveldulf writes a very scholarly article on 
Valhalla (Valho,ll: part 1) which is part of his dissertation.

Alfredhr Ingvisson is a member working on his Phd in Medieval Scandinavian
Literature at Berkeley and is working on reviving the Cult of Freyr. 
He submitted an article for *Idunna* last Fall called, 
"Scandinavian Witchcraft: Not Asatru, not Odinism, and not Wicca."
He has just come back from several months of research in Sweden.

James Chisholm received a MA in history from the University of Texas
where he specialized in Roman, Greek, and Germanic history and languages.
He has done many important translations concerning Germanic Heathenism.
At present he is working on a Phd. 

Prudence O. Priest, SteersWoman of the Troth, joined the Covenant of 
the Goddess and the Asatru Free Assembly in 1981, and in 1984 she started
publishing *Yggdrasil* (Freya's Folk). Her leadership abilities, experience,
and wisdom help her in steering the ship of Troth. The late Fritz Leiber
was a member of Freya's Folk and of her coven, Amaranth Energies. There is
a letter of Fritz Leiber's passing in the current *Idunna*. 

There are many other people who are contributing to the cause, such as
Diana Paxson, Grendel Grettisson, Helgi Torleif Dagsson, Swain Wodening,
Eric Wodening, Gert McQueen, Alice Karlsdottir, Ymir Thunarsson,
and Freya Aswynn.

The Ring of Troth is sponsoring a U.S. tour for Freya Aswynn, author of
*Leaves of Yggdrasil*, this Spring. More developments will be posted
as events solidify. 

I recently saw a book list for the ADF elder training program (or whatever
it's called), and I was very impressed. I have no idea of the inner
politics of ADF today, but from what I saw, if someone wants to study
Celtic Heathenism, the ADF is the scholarly way to go.

The proper study of paganism is paganism (with apologies to Alexander Pope).
Paganism was and is comprised of folk religions. In Northern Europe, that
translates to Germanic, Celtic, Baltic, Saami, and Slavic.

There is much work to be done to revive the Old Religions. We need heathen
scholars to translate the Old Irish Sagas and other ancient Celtic sources. 
Depending on one's focus, many languages will need to be learned in order
to read contemporary internal and external sources, archaeological evidence,
ancient folklore, and modern works of scholarship. By studying these sources 
in the original languages, we may rediscover the ancient wisdom and the true
magical ways. Who here is willing to make the personal sacrifice of achieving 
a degree of higher education in the pursuit of reviving Heathenism? 
It's not easy. Those who make it up as they go along will attempt to thwart 
those who choose the scholarly approach by smear campaigns and Witch Wars.
This I know!

Troll Hugs and the Kiss of the Valkyrie!
=-= Thorfinn Einarsson =-=-=-=-=-= ALU =-=-=-=-=-= O'dhinn er alfadhir! =-=
"En stundum vakti hann upp daudha menn o'r io"rdhu edha settisk undir hanga;
fyrir thvi' var hann kalladhr draugadro'ttinn edha hangadro'ttinn."
=-= ALU =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ynglinga saga ch. 7 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ALU =-=
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