Else Christensen

Else Christensen (1913–2005), also known as the “Folk Mother”, was a pioneering Danish figure in the emergence of Asatru and Odinism in the post-World War II era.

Else Ochsner was born in Esbjerg, Denmark, in 1913, and met her husband, Alex, in 1937. She and her husband became syndicalist activists before the war and thus were under heavy scrutiny by Nazi occupation troops. An informant tipped off the German police that Else and her husband possessed numerous firearms and they were arrested and detained under suspicion of being involved in the partisan underground. They were released, but toward the end of the war Alex spent six months in a camp outside of Elsinore for his alleged syndicalist involvement.

After the war, the Christensens emigrated to Canada. In the early 1960s, they heard of a Proto-Odinist named Alexander Rud Mills who had an Odinist group in Australia and had written a small book called The Call of Our Ancient Nordic Religion.

In 1969, Else and her husband founded a group called The Odinist Study Group which later evolved into The Odinist Fellowship. Alex died in 1971, and Else continued her work, relocating to the United States. Else published a newsletter called The Odinist for many years.