This resource takes a great deal from Our Troth Vol. 3 and was generously donated by the publisher for the free enjoyment of all Heathens. It has been heavily edited for online reading, and a lot of information as well as an annotated bibliography is in the original book. If you’d like to read more, please buy the book!
Hospitality and Inclusivity in Asatru
Hospitality and inclusivity are intrinsically connected in Asatru, which means that an “Asatru” that is not inclusive is fundamentally in conflict with our beliefs.
The Havamal is a lesson about Hospitality.
Modern Heathens will endlessly cite quotes from the Havamal as if it’s the Heathen Qu’ran. But it isn’t. It’s a poem and the “wisdom” contained therein is just one part of the poem. There is also the story-frame that sits around the poem, which is that a wanderer has come to the door and asks for a place by your fire.
I say “your” fire because the poem does not specify who the host is. This could be your door, your fire, your table. This could be your meal, your company. The wanderer doesn’t say.
The wanderer sits down. He has nothing to offer you. He says so even before he sits down that he has nothing to give you but a story and some wisdom. If you offer him hospitality, he offers you no payment for it. He offers you his story. That’s all.
Why do you give it to him? Perhaps it is because you have “been there, done that;” and you know what it’s like to travel under difficult situations, and you know very well what the weary traveler has been suffering. Or it could be because you feel the urge to help the weary traveler as the Gods help us–out of pure benevolence.
Either way, the weary traveler, the stranger, the foreigner, gets a spot by your fire and a seat at your table. It is the very gift of life you are giving to him.
What does Odin need with hospitality?
It should be obvious to you, if you’re Heathen, that Odin isn’t going to die if he’s left outside in the cold. Why is he at your door, then? What’s he doing there? He doesn’t need to be invited in, and yet there he is at your door.
Perhaps it is a test. It is a test of whether or not someone has the benevolence or the compassion to open the door and welcome the stranger. If so, then this person would truly understand the gifts that the Gods give us, and truly would appreciate the wisdom that Odin has to share.
Did Odin need your hospitality? No.
Hospitality is at the heart of Symbel which is about more than making space for the guest in our home, it makes space in our hearts.
When we sit to Symbel and invite people in, we welcome them to share more than a drink. In fact, we may not share an actual drink at all (alcohol isn’t compulsory). The true essence of Symbel is sharing hospitality.
It is inclusivity itself. Everyone who holds the horn or the cup is an equal at the table. They have equal right to speak or stay silent as they choose. We all make space for one another to speak in Symbel the true feelings of our hearts.
Hospitality is at the heart of Symbel which is about more than making space for the guest in our home, it makes space in our hearts.
I used to travel a lot in the Mojave Desert, some of the harshest desert in the world.
I always tried to maintain my pickup truck well, carry plenty of water and survival gear, and drive carefully, but there were times when my truck got stuck, blew a tire, or broke down. In those times, there were always people who helped me most generously—sometimes fellow tourists, sometimes ranchers, sometimes Mexican migrant workers. And when I encountered others who’d broken down, I always did whatever I could to help them, even if it meant losing an entire day.
That’s the unspoken code of desert travel: you don’t abandon someone in trouble, and the reason is that next time it could be you.
People with experience in the desert back country know very well what it’s like to blow two tires, on a rocky dirt road, ten miles away from the nearest town, in a place with no cell phone service, when the temperature is over 110°F (43°C) and there is no shade. When we see someone in that situation, we feel compassion—we suffer with them, because we know exactly what it’s like to be in that situation.
The same was true in Iceland, where the glaciers and lava-rock fields will still kill you just as dead as the Mojave Desert will.