[QUOTE=Eirwen;613790]Hey there

I've always been interested in Norse mythology, I think it's absolutely fascinating. I'd like to learn more about Asatru because I think that the Nine Noble Virtues are something everyone should strive for and I generally like the idea of heathenry. I don't know if Asatru is the religion for me but I'd like to research it and understand it even if my "journey" doesn't stop here. So, I have some questions:

1. I've read and studied The Eddas and I'm looking for more sources. Could you recommend some good books about Asatru?

2. I'm trying really hard to understand the concept of wyrd. I theoretically know what it is but I still think it's quite complicated. Could someone try to explain wyrd to me (I've already checked out everything about it on the internet)?

3. How important are kindreds? I don't like doing things in a group, I "function" best when I'm on my own. Would being a "solitary Asatruar" be considered weird or even wrong?

4. Is there anything else I need to know? :D

Thanks :)[/QUOTE]

You can get along fine as a solitary, as I did for years.  There is a wealth and warmth to a kindred that is far more rewarding than you can guess, but you have to be in the place that you are ready for it.

Try Dianna Paxtons "Essencial Asatru", its a decent starting point and its reference list is pretty much a stepping stone to the meatier readings.  The joke is the Asatru is the only religion with homework, and like most jokes, there is more than a little truth at the core.

There are two concepts that combine to fix your place in the universe; orlog and wyrd.   Orlog is your connection to your kinsmen, those who live, those who have passed beyond, and those yet to be born.  Orlog is also your connection to your friends, your enemies, and all those persons who brush against your life.    Wyrd is your fate, your doom, that which cannot be escaped.  If Orlog is the sweep of the whole of the tapestry as seen from all possible interactions with the thread that represents your life, then wyrd is the length of your thread, and the cut that marks its end.

You can prevail against anything but your wyrd.  If you make poor choices, you can fall before your time, tangle and snap your thread before you have woven its apointed length, but you will not live one hearbeat beyond your hour, the well of wyrd holds the fate of man, god, jottun and planet.

Some beleive you must lay down and accept your fate, but we heathens know better!  Fight!  For against any foe, any disease, any despair you can triumph.  There is no wrong in standing up to your fate, for that is the proving of you.  You may face a bear armed only with a garden trowel and know victory, for that was not your wyrd; you may trip and fall on a loose brick on your garden patio and be dead before the echo of your shout, if that was the wyrd that awaited you.