Altars & Asatru At Home
If you've ever been to one of our Hofs or national events, you're aware that there's nothing like standing in a ritual with the Alsherjargothi or his Witan, alongside other Folk devoted to our Gods. Those moments live with you forever, and can be life-affirming.
However, what do we do in between those events? How do we set ourselves up to experience as much Asatru as possible?
The first step I recommend to the many people who ask this question: set up an altar at home! You can get as esoteric with this as you prefer, but at minimum, an altar is simply a sacred space within your home where you keep ritual items and speak to your Gods and Ancestors. I share here two pictures of my altar so that you can get an idea of what should be present on an altar.
As you can see, my altar includes not only ritual items (horn, bowl, Runes), but also personal items that are special to me (axe from my father, seax knife, ordination certificate). I approach my altar every day for one reason or another, typically just to sort of take stock of the weight of sharing Troth with the Æsir. I do a Three-Rune pull once a year to give me a general outline of what I can expect for that year, and occasionally a Single-Rune pull to answer a question I may have for the Norns. Some people pull a single Rune every single day and meditate on that Rune's concepts throughout their workday. Some approach their altar and say the prayer to the Day from the Sigrdrífumál every morning (you can read even more about that prayer in Gythia McNallen's article just below).
Besides altar work, you can always officiate Blöt or Sumbel at home! For Blöt, all you need is an offering or gift, and a receptacle such as a bowl to leave the offering in if it is something like mead. Simply invoke the God or Goddess, say a prayer, and leave the offering. For Sumbel, you can have your family and/or kindred gather outside or in a dining room, then pass the horn around hailing Gods, ancestors, and heroes. For more detail on these rites, feel free to send me an email at teast@runestone.org.
I hope this short article proves helpful to our Folk who crave more Asatru in their daily lives! Please don't hesitate to contact myself or any of the Gothar with questions!
Gothi Trent East
