Folkish vs. Universalist, and other thoughts

To those who don't know, in Heathenry, there's a schism over accepting new people into groups, based on whether or not they have any Germanic/Nordic ancestry. Those who are Folkish-leaning believe that the Gods wouldn't call to someone who didn't have any blood-relation to the ancient Germanic tribes. On the other side of the spectrum, the Universalist-leaning Heathens believe that the Gods can call whoever They want, and it is above our ability to doubt the veracity of this. This spectrum is much like the Conservative vs. Liberal division in American politics, in that there's lots of room in the middle for smaller divisions of leaning, i.e. Uber-Conservative, Conservative, Moderate-Conservative, Moderate, Moderate-Liberal, Liberal, and Uber-Liberal. (I know, I ain't got any Umlott-"U" on my keyboard.) In the Folkish vs. Universalist thing, there's a lot of moderates, myself included. I feel that , while the Gods wouldn't usually call someone to worship Them who isn't of Germanic ancestry, who am I to judge another when they want to acknowledge the same Gods I do, especially in light of the DNA research that indicates that people have ancestry they might not be aware of, from areas they didn't know they had any ancestry. I know I've got German, Czech, English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish ancestry, and almost make a point to jokingly say I've got no Spanish or French blood, if we went back far enough, due to wars and migrations forgotten, I could have anything back there.

On the subject of other religions, I feel that those are fine for them, this is right for me. I can even admire and gleam gems of knowledge from them still, as long as I remember that anything comes from an outside source. In Heathenry, the Lore is most important in rebuilding the mindset of our ancestors in today's world. Kinda a hard row to hoe, but we try. That said, I like reading "Ask the Rabbi" on Gun Owners Alliance. You might not know it from looking at the modern Liberal- majority of Judaism, but they have a long tradition of strong tribalism and a strong belief of near-militant self-defense, that has been "thrown under the bus" for modern times. I understand their history has long periods of subjugation under the graces of the local rulers, and frequently packing-up and moving due to a change of rulers and a change of attitude toward the Jews. I think it's kinda shameful that Christianity is divided over the right of self-defense also, since Jesus clearly told them, "If you do not have a sword, and you have two cloaks, sell one cloak and buy a sword." The world's a dangerous place, nearly ever religion demands that its followers practice some sort of defense against unprovoked attacks on the self and others. I like Thor for that reason, he was a protector of the weak and a destroyer of monsters. Not to exclude the other Gods, I just prefer Thor for this reason. I acknowledge Odin's wisdom and his suffering to gain the runes, and Freyr and Freya being the hosts of fertility, and so on.

Explanations

I decided to start this blog separately from my regular one, mainly because I don't feel comfortable putting the content from this one over there, and the content would be lost in the overall background noise there.

I chose the name Taoist Viking because that encapsulates both aspects of how I view the world. On the one hand, a Taoist views the Natural World and draws the Rules of how the Universe operates from that. On the other, a Viking is a Norseman who traveled the oceans (and discovered North America 500 years before Columbus, and they named it Vinland (spellings vary)) and worshiped the old Norse/Germanic gods, like Odin, Thor, Freya, etc. Ok, both of those are over-simplifications, but they work for this explanation. This is just supposed to be a starting point, expansion can come later.

Strange dreams

This is my first post on this new blog. It's going to be dedicated to chronicling my thoughts and ideas concerning my journey with Asatru.

This first post is about a dream I had earlier today. I've never been to any meetings of other Heathens, so I don't know how accurate it is (I doubt it is at all!).

First, we were meeting in some conference room, with chairs in rows and along the walls, with a table on one side of the room. I don't recall any decorations on the table, not anything like on an altar. I chatted with some of the folks, it was a casual social meeting, nothing formal or ceremonial. I don't remember anything that was spoken between myself and the others. (This is one of the big problems of recalling my dreams; some parts are strong, clear recollections, other parts are very vague impressions.) It was nearing the end of the meeting, we sat down, and the leader asked us to look under our chairs. The chairs themselves had a bookshelf about three inches below the seat, and it was easy to not notice this. I checked under my chair and pulled out a large teabag-sachet of something. I checked under the two adjacent chairs, which were both vacant, and they had different sachets. Each of these sachets had a note attached, with some inspirational, generic phrase, kind of like a horoscope or fortune cookie that reads "you are wise and lucky and will have a good week." Huh? Not very specific. About this time was when I woke up, and was very confused by this dream. What does it mean? Does it mean anything? Do I need to get out more? (Probably.)

I've been more than a little frustrated trying to find other Heathens/Asatruars around here. Regular Pagans a rare enough, the ones dedicated to the ancient Norse and Germanic folk religions are even more scarce! I've made contact with some via the Internet, but nothing has come of this yet, because they usually live too far away for any regular meetings. So far I'm content with reading the forums and email lists and other's blogs, altho that isn't as fulfilling as face-to-face contact.