Two days in a row, huh.
I follow a number of Asatru groups on Facebook. I don't spend too much time reading through the conversations, which I guess kind of defeats the purpose of following the groups, but anyway. I did happen to catch something worthy of thought.
This poster made the claim that, to our ancestors, the idea of having a "personal relationship" with the deities was preposterous. Odin was busy worrying about Ragnarok, Thor was busy fighting jotnar, etc. They didn't have the time or attention to spend answering prayers or developing "relationships." In ritual, the gods were acknowledged, but they paid no more attention to their worshipers than a king pays to a peasant.
There is an amusingly Deistic flavor to this idea -- that the Godhead is remote from mankind. Still, I'm not sure I buy into it. I mean I don't know one way or the other how the ancestors felt but I'm not sure I buy into a Deistic idea of polytheism.
The poster went on to claim that it was the Ancestors to whom most prayer and devotion was offered, and it was the Ancestors who would provide aid. Interestingly Confucian, and logical in that the Ancestors, of the three Kindreds, would have the most vested interest in aiding the living, what with the whole bloodline and lineage and so forth.
On the other hand, not to be impertinent but genuinely asking -- Ancestors are nothing more than dead humans, therefore why should they have any power to bless or assist? I can think of a number of potential answers but further reflection is needed.
There was also the claim made that solitary Asatru is an oxymoron -- that the faith of the Old Ones is inherently communal. See above re: the absurdity of personal relationships. I don't know where I sit on this one either.
Many things to think about.
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