On April 10, 2023, the AFA marked the first official celebration of a Day of Remembrance for John Yeowell, known as “Stubba.”
Yeowell enjoyed a long life and did many great works in spreading our faith in the Aesir. He lead a full life, starting out by serving in an Irish division of the military, and later the French Foreign Legion, earning distinction and being decorated by General Charles de Gaulle, and served in WWII, before returning to his home country of England. His life is somewhat shrouded in mystery, as he preferred, but he became aware of his cultural English heritage and came to know of the Aesir in the 1950s when he met another of our Heroes, John Gibbs-Bailey “Hoskuld.” Together, they would proceed to research and re-establish what they dubbed “Odinism” and go on to found an organization dedicated to the worship of the Holy Aesir as “The Odinic Rite.” Gibbs-Bailey, being at least a decade older than Yeowell, had been an Odinist since the 1930s, and, by the time the two met, had been involved in a number of proto-Odinist groups. Yeowell felt the call of the Gods and eventually felt that Asatru was the natural religion for those of Northern and Indo-European descent and sought to reclaim the religion and birthright of his Ancestors.
In 1973, believing they had codified a solid structural framework on which to build, they went forward practicing and disseminating our native religion until 1980, at which time the name of the formal societal organization was cemented simply to “The Odinic Rite.” Together with Hoskuld, Stubba laid the foundation of the Nine Noble Virtues — Courage, Truth, Honour, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Self-Reliance, Industriousness, and Perseverance, which we still use today with the addition of the tenth Noble Virtue, VICTORY. They together established connections with fellow devoted believers, notably ‘Folkmother’ Else Christensen, another one of our Heroes, who they corresponded via letters, newsletters, and publications, such as The Odinist, steadfastly spreading the religion of Asatru. This is now what we call “Folkbuilding.”
Our Folkbuilders are continuing this tradition constantly, bringing more and more of our Folk Home every single day, just as Stubba, Hoskuld, and the Folkmother did, every month contributing an article to our own newsletter, The Runestone. Stubba would eventually lead the Odinic Rite as the “Director of the Court of Gothar,” which is equivalent to being the Alsherjargothi. John Yeowell lived a full and long life, and his dedication to the Aesir never wavered. He was Courageous in leaving Catholicism. He spoke the Truth in his letters. He gained Honor for his service in the war, and he exhibited Fidelity in his devotion to the Odinic Rite. He exhibited Discipline in living Nobly and embodied Hospitality in caring for his Folk. He was Self-Reliant, typing many newsletters laboriously by hand on a typewriter, consistently being Industrious, and he Persevered until the end of his life. We Hail these Heroes for their foundational and right Noble actions in the reclamation of our birthright and inheritance of the worship the Aesir.
It is important that we Honor and remember not only the Heroes of the distant past, but those in more recent days whose efforts have contributed to the renewal of our Faith.
Hail Stubba!