The Revival of Else Christensen

Ancestral altar for Else Christensen, Baldrshof

In the 1980s, the early Odinist and Asatru groups picked up steam. 

The leaders were male, very charismatic, high energy people who took up the mantle (so to speak, that's a Christian metaphor I guess) and pushed the movement forward. Meanwhile, Else Christensen was aging, becoming more isolated after her time in prison. Gradually her significant role in organizing, networking, and influencing the movement declined. 

The Folk Mother faded into the background. You could find her picture on the internet. Occasionally she was mentioned in passing in the writings of the Odinist organizations that grew out of her influence, like the Odinic Rite and the Asatru Folk Assembly. 

Both of these organizations developed a more religious framework for Odinism.  Both these organizations adopted Christensen's approach of subterfuge--being indirect about their white supremacist racial/political leanings. While maintaining Christensen's racial orientation and political aspirations for developing white-only communities, their discourse was much more religion-focused. Direct talk about race and racial politics was pushed into the background, out of public view.

At the same time, this second generation was truly more religious in their interests and focus.  McNallen was a committed ritualist for whom the Norse Gods were very real. He developed a great deal of the early Asatru religious ritual material. Heimgest of the Odinic Rite was a committed esotericist, who used the esoteric reading of Norse myth, meditation, and other magical techniques in the development of a mystical approach to enhancing the Aryan consciousness and folk soul.

An interesting development is the recent revival of Christensen's legacy by the new Asatru Folk Assembly under the guidance of Matthew Flavel. In 2019 the organization announced a more official recognition of Christensen, raising her profile as an ancestor of faith and founder of the movement. In 2021, the AFA launched a day of remembrance for Else Christensen. Spear-headed by the Baldrhof district, the day of remembrance involved simultaneous ancestral blots to Christensen. In the past two years, these efforts have grown into a larger event called Elsefest. Elsefest is a weekend dedicated to building up Christensen's legacy as the Folk Mother among the members of the AFA and especially with the new generation of children. Elsefest involves teaching sessions about her philosophy, crafting memorial objects about her, and performing rituals in her honor. This is clearly part of the shift towards a more Odinist orientation under Matthew Flavel's leadership--as in, more clearly and directly racially oriented and leaning toward the racist radical right. The day of remembrance puts the AFA forward as an Odinist organization. It reconnects and realigns the AFA more explicitly with Christensen's mission to revitalize the Aryan spirit through developing white-only communities and "tribal" cultures.