Asatru

A Beginner's Guide to the Heathen Path

By: Erin Lale

Narrated by: Leslie Howard

Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Asatru is a modern pagan tradition whose roots lie in the ancient myths, folklore, sagas, and historical artifacts of those who lived in pre-Christian times in what is now Iceland, Scandinavia, Scandinavian-influenced Scotland, Germany, and other parts of northern Europe. In Asatru, Erin Lale provides listeners with an accessible introduction to this heathen religion, one of the fastest growing religions in the United States and Europe. The book includes these key topics:

• A brief exploration of Asatru's mythology and prehistory, its contact with Rome, and its history up to the present day
• A comprehensive survey of Asatru's many gods and goddesses
• The rituals, including holiday celebrations, toasting rituals, weddings, and other life events
• The moral virtues of a true Asatruar: courage, honor, loyalty, truth, hospitality, industriousness, self-discipline, self-reliance, and steadfastness
• The magical practices of rune divination, spells, and bersarkrgangr
• A look at the "universalist" and "folkish" interpretations of the Asatru tradition and the "hijacking" of the symbolism of the northern European religions in the 19th and early 20th centuries

©2020 Erin Lale (P)2020 Tantor

Less about Asatru

This book seemed less about Asatru and more about pushing the LGBT agenda. There is some good information in this book, but the out right propaganda for the LGBT lifestyle blatantly overshadows the good material.

don't waste your time

there are plenty of better books to read in the bad our religion , don't waste your time

Gods

Great book! so much different details and information on Asatru and the true faith of the Gods! If you're someone who is looking for what faith group you might fall within, or if you're just someone who likes history, this book is for you!

Great starting point

Very well written guide to Asatru.
Definitely will listen again and again to mine all the nuggets of information.

A Great Introduction

A solid, quick listen for anyone interested in the Asatru religion. The book covers everything from gods to holidays to morals to history and all in between. The narrator’s voice is pleasant to listen to. My only recommendation is to listen carefully when they start running through the comprehensive lists!

good book for beginners.

alot of the information in this books is redundant to people who have researched the path, but for a beginner, it is a very good starting point.

Introduction into Asatru.

If you are looking to get into Asatru, I definitely recommend this book. It will introduce you to the key players and some that you don't realize you may need. You will learn about different practices and what the community finds overall acceptable. This is a starting point for your new journey into Asatru.

Exceeded expectations

I'm not a beginner in the faith, but enjoyed this thoroughly and it helped fill in several blanks for me. For any Pagan or anyone with interest therein, I highly recommend.

amazing

I truly loved this book and the great information within. I highly recommend it and find it paramount to anyone's new journey into the Gods.

Asatru

Very informative and kept me going throughout . Interesting and well wrote. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about Asatru.

Very good brief introduction to Asatru

Very good introduction to Asatru with lots of additional resources given for further reading. Good tempo of reading with a pleasant women voice. A lot of focus is placed on American way of practice which from one side informs what possibly to discard in other versions of it, but from the other side creates an impression of book being address mainly to American readers.

A beginners guide

This book sets the scene for basic heathenry practices for beginners to Asatru or interested in the Old Gods (aka Norse Gods). She clearly outlines practices based on American tradition, and tries to give suggestions for European practices. This book is suitable for audiobooks due to Leslie Howard’s easy listen voice, and I admire her for her pronunciation of Old Norse and different languages, which clearly would be lost in a book. There’s a few bits n pieces I do not agree with but that is the beauty of heathenry, and some elements I think Erin Lale could have mastered better, hence not reaching full five stars. It nonetheless deserves four big stars. Despite my knowledge of heathenry and Asatru I enjoyed this book and I’ll listen to certain parts of it again. Enjoy.

Great introduction to Asatru

It was an easy listen with lots of helpful information. I thoroughly enjoyed this and think it is fantastic for anyone new to Asatru or Heathenry.