The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/hilmar-orn-hilmarsson)
“Many people think of Paganism as belonging to the past,” says Magnús Jensson, architect of the still in construction Ásatrú temple in Reykjavík. “But this is wrong. Paganism is not the past, Paganism is the present.”
Weekend editor Eric O. Scott reviews the new Sigur Rós album “Odin’s Raven Magic,” which features Ásatrúarfélagið leader Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson.
This is part two of a two part series. Click here to read part one. Transtemporal Care
The Ásatrú practice of blót builds a concept of care in three temporal directions: sideways, backward, and forward. The ritual life of the religion nurtures a sense of both intra- and intergenerational solidarity. The sideways relationship exists between current practitioners.
Ásatrúarfélagið, the Icelandic Ásatrú organization, has attracted widespread international attention since announcing plans to build a temple in downtown Reykajavík last February. Although much of that attention has been positive, it was reported earlier this week by the Icelandic news service Vísir that Ásatrúarfélagið had received hate mail and threats of vandalism from foreign Pagans. These threats have, in turn, forced Ásatrúarfélagið to consider the security of its temple and the relationship of its organization to the rest of the world. According to the alsherjargoði, or high priest, of Ásatrúarfélagið, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, the society began to receive large amounts of hate-mail in February, just after a widely-circulated article about the temple was published in Iceland Magazine. Although the society has always attracted the occasional letter of this sort throughout its four-decade history, this surge of messages was unprecedented.