First off, my name is Rev. Dr. John R. Tooker. I am ordained in the Universal Life Church. I was born on November 22, 1963, in Montreal, PQ, Canada, and am named after the 35th president of the USA, who, on that day, had the misfortune to be assasinated in Dallas, Tx.
I have been a practisioner of Odinism, also known as Asatru, since about 1985. This faith has given me great strength, throughout these many years. As a matter of fact, I am a recovering alcoholic, as of March 1, 1995. I truly believe that I made it to sobriety, in part, thanks to the strength that I've gained from Odinism.
Please don't think that this site was set up to prostelytise! I do not want to prostelytise, as I don't consider that a valid way to attract new members.
I intend this site to be, more than anything, a site where people can come, and pick up a few facts about Odinism, and, perhaps, to gain a better understanding of this great Norse tradition.
One thing that I would like to state, straight off, is that Odinism is not a couple of things. 1) It is not a religion or cult, designed for bloodthirsty barbarians, bent on raping pillageing and burning, not necessarily in that order. Granted, the saga's of days of yore are exciting and historical, but in these post yore days, it's a good idea to remember that the activities described in thes saga's, are the exploits of a small group of the people known as "Vikings". As shown by archaeological discoveries in places such as York (Yorvik), in England, the northern countries, and on the east coast of Canada, more Vikings spent their time farming, trading (they had to get those sea fareing skills somewhere), and producing some exquisite gold work!
2) The minimal trappings that the National Socialist party took, whole cloth, from the Odinist faith, such as the Sigil rune, well known as the symbol of the SS, and the swastika, aka one version of the sun wheel, as well as a sacred symbol to many other Faiths.
Those nutcases had nothing to do with the real tenets of Odinism. My theory is, that the symbology got used because it helped the nazi's play on the average German wo, at the time, was caught in the midst of a grinding depression, where a hausfrau had to pay practically a wheelbarrow full of deutchmarks for a loaf of bread. When there was bread to be had. Who can blame even that great a number of generally decent folk, for being fooled by a relatively small group of bullies, who had a knack for using whatever methods they could, to further their ends?
I'd also like to mention that I put this page uo on December 30, 2000.
I will be developing it, hopefully, for quite a while. So, if it seems a touch sparse right now, please bear with me. I will try to update it at least once a week, at the start, anywho. Thanks for your patience!
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