Thor our Defender

"The mightiest of [the Gods]... is Thor. He is called Asa-Thor and Auku-Thor, and is the strongest of Gods and Men."
From the Younger Edda

Thor is Midgard's defender against all evil wights--- who better to turn to in this Wolf Age of terrorism, murder and broken families?

Thor is among the Gods best known to our folk today. Even those who know nothing of our faith and traditions may be familiar with the name Thor, if only from seeing the comic book 'Thor' on newsstands.

We Asatruar habitually wear an emblem of the Thor's Hammer, no matter who our fulltrui (patron God) is. We also make the holy sign of the hammer over our own bodies or in the air over things we desire to bless.

In our age of physical danger through crime, war and terrorism, we may think to call on Thor mostly for physical protection. But remember that it is the Jotuns--- the evil spiritual beings--- that He is most renowned for combating.

The spiritual dangers that face us every day are not much spoken of. No one likes to be thought of as a primitive nut who is afraid of 'evil spirits'. But it is not hard to find examples where a spiritual or philosophical evil has had the real, material power to destroy people.

Think of the Jim Jones cult which committed mass murder/suicide because the warped mix of Christianity and Marxism they believed taught them it was right to do as their leader ordered them.

Think of all the crimes and other misdeeds committed by people who have accepted the notion that old-fashioned moral values are a thing of the past. One of the Manson girls rationalized it wasn't a bad thing to stab a pregnant Sharon Tate to death because she did it out of love.

If such things are not the real-world equivalent of 'evil spirits' haunting the world I don't know what is. And such evil things are a constant danger to our own minds and souls.

We may not be inclined to listen to some cult-leader, but every day we are exposed to countless television programs, books and movies which in subtile or blatant ways try to weaken our moral values. Patriotism and having religious values are a joke at best in the television world. Commonly, the guy who expresses patriotism or religious beliefs at the beginning of the show will turn out to be the murderer at the end.

The moral value of chastity has been wholly forgotten in our popular culture. Even the 'good girls' on television shows go to bed with their boyfriends before marriage, even on the first date.

Swearing is considered not a bad habit or a vice, but a f----ing blow for freedom of speech. Being kind to other people isn't important (unless they are ethnic minorities) because it's more fun to make fun of people for being fat or having too much body hair.

But when we give in and allow these 'evil spirits' of popular culture to start changing our attitudes, we weaken our sense of right and wrong, which in the end may lead to us doing evil or illegal things or destroy our family, marriage or friendship relations.

Thor is our primary fighter against the evils that we may face, spiritual/philosophical ones as well as the ones involving bullets.

Asa-Thor our Defender, protect us through your might from the evil things we face--- from evil men and their weapons, to evil thoughts and our own weaknesses. Defend us in our daily battles, oh Thor!