A Brief History of Asatru in the United States: Part 3 My Return

As I made my reemergence into the real world and back to communal Asatru. I went back to the old standards looking at The Troth and the Asatru Folk Assembly. These two organizations had always been the standard for nationwide Asatru, and before the internet and social media, these groups were how you found fellow Asatruar. A lot, can happen in a decade.

When I looked at The Troth I saw all the old familiar faces. Not much had changed, at all, ever, since 1987. It looked like everything was exactly how I left it. Then I went to the AFA. I have to say I was shocked but not surprised. Given how the AFA had such right leaning politics, it was not a stretch for them to go “Alt-Right” or I like to say Nazi.

What I discovered was that in my absences a lot has changed in the Asatru world. For one, there are a lot more Heathens out there than ever before and they seem to be well informed. Also, Heathenry is a lot more liberal than it ever was in the past. As a bunch of heathens, we were all sort of on the fridges of society and our politics were liberal in a lot of ways, but there were also conservative views tossed in there for good measure. As older heathens, we are products of our generations. Just as the younger generations of Heathens are products of theirs. I am an old guy, but I have always been socially liberal, but I am an old guy. Some of my opinions may seem conservative or even offensive to the younger Heathens. I am cautious today because of our divisiveness and social divisions. In our world today we tend to react and react quickly, but today one “wrong word” and you get exiled. We need balance, understanding, and tolerance, all which come with communication.

I found TAC, The Asatru Community, through Facebook. I would say TAC is a pretty universalist organization and pretty well organized. What I do notice is that the membership seems a lot younger than what I have seen in the past. From my research it would seem that the average age range is mid-20s to mod-30s. They are a younger bunch for sure, but some of us old farts are there hanging about. This much younger membership means that TAC is very socially liberal than most of the other Asatru organizations I have been in contact with. I am willing to bet that some of the older members of TAC disapprove of some of the younger members lifestyles. This is fine, and its natural what is socially acceptable today was not socially acceptable 30 years ago. Look at it this way, 30 years ago a blue mohawk would get your ass kicked, today I see 10-year-olds with color hair and mohawks. You’re welcome, from one of the punks that made it so you could do that!

TAC seems to have a goal of having “Ambassadors” in every state. These Ambassadors are area reps who communicate and organize events. It is a lofty goal. Recently I took on the role of Ambassador in Connecticut, I like to say Northeastern Connecticut.

TAC is not without its dark side. Like many of us Asatruar, when we start on the path of the Heathen we do not have all the answers. Most of the time people, kindreds, and larger Heathen organizations do not advertise they are neo-Nazi racists. That being said, we are human, we make mistakes, and often we are not guided by logic, but hare hearts, our wants, and are needs as humans. We do overlook and ignore things we do not want to see and believe. During my time with TAC revelations have come up that in the past TAC was not inclusive. Those outside TAC have told me as much. Doing some digging of my own, I have found that there were some affiliations with those neo-Nazi types who use Asatru as a tool for hate. It would seem the back in 2016 this was due to a vetting process that was simply not very good. Huginn’s Heathen Hof and other Asatru "investigators" have pretty much concluded the same thing. It is possible that like many new organizations TAC was just looking for quantity over quality and its leadership overlooked or simply missed the signs. This happens, on the locale level and the national.

Since I wrote this, I parted was with TAC. The North East branch of TAC was no pleased with the that fueled social media posts made by TAC board members and  the fact that the Board of Directors seemed to simply ignore the situation and the complaints of its members. We staged a coup and posted a petition demanding change. TAC promptly ejected us, blocked us from all TAC accounts, and deleted our posts and petition complaints. You can view the petition here. Rumors have also recently circulate that  a board member or someone high up in the leadership is being investigated for sexual harassment. This information was given to me by a former member of the TAC leadership, but, I can not confirm its validity and it may be untrue. At this time it is just a rumor. I would recommend not joining TAC and if you are a member, run away as fast as you can.