LONDON – Over the weekend, the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that they were planning to host its first Winter Nights event at Stonehenge on October 28, 2023, at 7 PM.
Within hours, Pagan and Heathen communities and organizations responded blindingly fast and decisively in protest. The AFA has reportedly canceled its plans at Stonehenge, though the event is still listed on their Calendar as a moot.
The AFA was founded in the United States by Stephen McNallen in Northern California in 1994. In recent years, the AFA has expanded across the USA, establishing several hofs (temples) in California, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Florida.
“While AFA leadership has often couched the group’s bigoted views in “cultural preservation” rhetoric,” says the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which lists the AFA as a hate group, “the ‘Declaration of Purpose’ on the group’s website belies those curated claims in stating: ‘If the Ethnic European Folk cease to exist Asatru would likewise no longer exist. Let us be clear: by Ethnic European Folk we mean white people.’ Such beliefs in white genocide undergird the AFA’s adherence to ethnocentrism and rigid gender roles, two through lines connecting AFA’s ideology to that of the broader far right.”
Original Winter Nights announcements via change.org
The AFA now operates outside the United States, with a presence in Canada, South Africa, and Argentina. In August, the AFA announced on X that James Saunders of England has been appointed the newest Apprentice Folkbuilder for the Þórshof District. The district is based in North Carolina and includes the region north of Georgia to Eastern Canada, Greenland, and all of Europe.
When the AFA Stonehenge moot was announced, The Pagan Federation and the Police Pagan Association released the language of a petition and call to action. Soon they were joined by 48 other organizations of Pagans, Heathens, Druids, and Witches in opposition to the AFA’s Stonehenge event.
Andrew Pardy, founding chair of the Police Pagan Association, also began a petition on Change.org that garnered a thousand signatures in just a few hours. The initial goal of 2,500 was achieved a day later. The petition remains active and continues to gather signatures.
“The AFA openly and proudly promote a racist, homophobic, misogynistic and anti-Semitic interpretation of contemporary Germanic Paganism,” the petition states, “that is abhorrent to the law-abiding and inclusive Pagans and Heathens of the UK represented by the groups who have co-authored this correspondence.”
The petition adds, “We cannot allow the AFA to desecrate a symbol of our cultural heritage and a site of spiritual significance to Pagans across the UK with their imported brand of racist, homophobic, misogynistic, and anti-Semitic Paganism that shares nothing with the inclusive contemporary iteration of British Paganism, and which is fundamentally incompatible with the wonderfully diverse multicultural communities of the UK.”
The solidarity of the UK community was supported and underscored in the petition. “We will state here, that any further attempts to establish a significant presence in the UK will be met with a similar display of solidarity, in which the many inclusive Pagan and Heathen organisations and the thousands who responded herein, will once again unite and stand up against you in order to protect the Pagan faiths of our country from your hateful interpretation of Heathenry, an interpretation that shares nothing with the true faith which you claim to practice, and which is fundamentally incompatible with the wonderfully diverse multicultural communities of the UK.”
AFA logo
“The Pagan Federation is proud to have joined forces with over 40 other organisations and groups,” Sarah Kerr, President of The Pagan Federation, told The Wild Hunt, ” as well as nearly 2000 individuals, to send out the clear message that extremism isn’t welcome within Paganisms here in the UK.”
She underscored giving the AFA no succor and resisting any foothold the organization hopes for in the UK. “Ensuring that the Asatru Folk Assembly isn’t given any kind of welcome on our shores is essential to keeping our community safe from the extremism that would misappropriate our beliefs, traditions and sacred sites for their purposes.”
“We will continue to work together to fight any extremism that seeks to undermine the strength and integrity of our community, sending the message loud and clear that these beliefs and behaviours are not welcome here with us,” she added
Asatru UK shared similar comments with TWH. “Since the founding of Asatru UK in 2013 our community has always held to our deeply felt spirituality and belief in inclusivity. Anyone can worship the gods regardless of sexuality, gender or race. We have a thriving community of Heathens who feel safe and secure in the knowledge that their religion is no longer seen as just another outlet for spreading bigotry and hatred by the wider world.
“The Asatru Folk Assembly represent the fascist extremism that seeks to utilise Paganism as a shield in the world today,” they added. “Their beliefs in white supremacy and racial separatism are the complete opposite to what Pagans and Heathens in the United Kingdom believe in.”
They echoed Kerr’s comments to keep the AFA out of the United Kingdom. “One of the biggest threats that modern Pagans face today is being labeled as racist and bigoted by those who mistake them wearing and displaying the sacred symbols for that of the same symbology that is worn and bastardised by the folkish and the far right, of which the Asatru Folk Assembly are at the forefront. The AFA has no established communities here in the UK and to safeguard our inclusive and peaceful communities it is of the utmost importance that we prevent that from ever occurring.”
Kerr also noted her pride in the community’s response against the AFA’s plans. “On a personal note,” she said, “I offer my deepest thanks to each and every person involved in this effort. Without the power that comes from people coming together in ways like this, extremism wins and today we showed them that won’t happen on our watch.”
At the time of publication, the following inclusive Pagan and Heathen organizations have endorsed the Pagan Police Association statement and call to action:
The Police Pagan Association
The Pagan Federation
Asatru UK
Witchfest
Vanatru UK
The Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids
The Defence Pagan Network
Clan Dolmen
The Confederation of UK Heathen Kindreds
Pagan Seminary
Pagan Aid
Life Rites
The British Druid Order
The Druid Network
Hendon Heathens
Kith of the Tree and the Well
Dawn of the Oak
The Doreen Valiente Foundation
Children of Artemis
West Byfleet and Woking Moot
Heathens of Yorkshire
The Grove of Aletheia
Anglesey Druid Order
Pagans of the North
Coven of Gaia
Heathen Women United
Witches of Gaia
Pagan Chaplains Association
Scottish Pagan Federation
Essex and Harts Heathen Kindred
Tamesis Grove
Sacred Earth Activism
Norse Wicca UK
Heathens of Mercia
Heart of Brigantia Coven
The Druid Camp Association
The Heathen Harlots
Banbury Pagan Circle
The Asherah Grove
The Order of Celtic Wolves
Northampton Pagans
Coven of the Moon and Tide
West Byfleet and Woking Moot
Heathens of Yorkshire
The Grove of Aletheia
Anglesey Druid Order
Bedfordshire Pagans
Guernsey Pagan Alliance
Berkshire Witches and Wiccans
Ring of Ghosti
Temple of Inanna
For those wishing to join the petition, it remains active on change.org: Stop the Asatru Folk Assembly Winter Nights event at Stonehenge.
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