Germanic neopaganism (also known as heathenism,
heathenry,
or Germanic heathenry)
is the contemporary revival

Neopaganism

Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...

 of historical Germanic paganism

Germanic paganism

Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period...

. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria

Esotericism in Germany and Austria

This article gives an overview of esoteric movements in Germany and Austria between 1880 and 1945, presenting Theosophy, Anthroposophy and Ariosophy, among others, against the influences of earlier European esotericism.-Knights Templar and occultism:...

. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s. Since its first times heathenism has developed according to diverse denominations

Religious denomination

A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name, tradition, and identity.The term describes various Christian denominations...

, the most prominent ones amongst all being Ásatrú

Ásatrú

is a form of Germanic neopaganism which developed in the United States from the 1970s....

, Odinism

Odinism

Odinism is a type of Germanic Neopaganism.Odinism may also refer to:*Norse paganism** the cult of Odin- See also :*Odinist Fellowship*Odinic Rite*The Odin Brotherhood*Wotanism, a Völkisch / White Nationalist movement*Wodenism...

, Forn Siðr and Theodism.
Attitude and focus of adherents may vary considerably, from strictly historical polytheistic reconstructionism

Polytheistic reconstructionism

Polytheistic reconstructionism is an approach to Neopaganism first emerging in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and gathering momentum in the 1990s to 2000s...

 to syncretist (eclectic

Eclecticism

Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases.It can sometimes seem inelegant or...

), pragmatic psychologist

Psychologism

Psychologism is a generic type of position in philosophy according to which psychology plays a central role in grounding or explaining some other, non-psychological type of fact or law...

, occult

Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

 or mysticist

Germanic mysticism

Germanic mysticism or Germanic occultism may refer to* Ariosophy* more generally, various schools of Esotericism in Germany and Austria* various modern systems of runic magic...

 approaches. Germanic neopagan organizations cover a wide spectrum of belief and ideals. Different terms exist for the various types of Germanic neopaganism. Some terms are specific in reference whereas other are blanket terms for a variety of groups.

Terminology and groupings

Some proponents use Heathenry distinctively for strictly polytheistic reconstructionist approaches, excluding syncretic, occult or mysticist

Germanic mysticism

Germanic mysticism or Germanic occultism may refer to* Ariosophy* more generally, various schools of Esotericism in Germany and Austria* various modern systems of runic magic...

 approaches such as Armanism. The term Heathenry is promoted by non-denominational groups or umbrella organisations such as the British Heathen Alliance, the American Heathen Nation, and the Canadian Heathen House.

Ásatrú

Ásatrú is a modern Icelandic compound derived from Áss

Ass

Ass may refer to:* The mammal Equus africanus asinus better known as the Donkey** Asinus subgenus* North American English informal term for buttocks* áss, one of the Æsir in Norse mythology* Ass , by Badfinger...

, which refers to the Æsir, an Old Norse term for the gods, and trú, literally "faith". Thus, Ásatrú is the "Æsir's faith". The term is the Icelandic translation of Asetro, a neologism coined in the context of 19th century romantic nationalism

Romantic nationalism

Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...

, used by Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...

 in his 1870 opera Olaf Trygvason . Ásatrúar, sometimes used as a plural in English, is properly the genitive of Ásatrú.

Modern Scandinavian forms of the term, Norwegian Åsatru, Swedish Asatro, Danish Asetro (Ēsatrēowð in Anglo-Saxon), were introduced in Neopaganism in Scandinavia

Neopaganism in Scandinavia

Neopaganism in Scandinavia is dominated by revivals of Norse paganism .-Norway:The Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost formed in 1996 and Foreningen Forn Sed the fellowship has about 50 Faithful formed in 1999...

 in the 1990s.

In Germany, the terms Asatru and Odinism were borrowed from the Anglosphere in the 1990s, with a chapter of Odinic Rite

Odinic Rite

The Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...

 formed in 1995 and the Eldaring

Eldaring

The Eldaring is a Civil Service Organisation, founded in August 2000, which offers information about Asatru to the German-speaking countries. “Eldr” is old Norwegian and means fire, so Eldaring can be translated as “Ring of fire”, meaning a ring of fireplaces, hearths, etc.Asatru is a recreation...

 as a partner organization of The Troth

The Troth

The Ring of Troth, now called simply The Troth, is an American-based international Germanic neopagan organization. The Troth was founded on December 20 , 1987 by former Asatru Free Assembly members Edred Thorsson and James Chisholm. However, neither is any longer involved with the organization...

 formed in 2000. Eldaring takes Asatru as a synonym of Germanic neopaganism in general, following usage by The Troth. Other organizations avoid Asatru in favour of Germanisches Heidentum ("Germanic Heathenry"). Eldaring is the only pagan organization at the national level in Germany self-described as Asatru.

The term Vanatru is coined after Ásatrú, implying a focus on the Vanir

Vanir

In Norse mythology, the Vanir are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods and are the namesake of the location Vanaheimr . After the Æsir–Vanir War, the Vanir became a subgroup of the Æsir...

 (another Old Norse word for "gods", possibly denoting another divine group) rather than the Æsir

Æsir

In Old Norse, áss is the term denoting a member of the principal pantheon in Norse paganism. This pantheon includes Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Tyr. The second pantheon comprises the Vanir...

.

Forn Siðr

Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 Forn Siðr, Anglo-Saxon

Old English language

Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

 Fyrnsidu, Old High German Firner situ and its modern Scandinavian (Forn Sed) and modern German (Firne Sitte) analogues, all meaning "old custom

Mores

Mores, in sociology, are any given society's particular norms, virtues, or values. The word mores is a plurale tantum term borrowed from Latin, which has been used in the English language since the 1890s....

", is used as a term for pre-Christian Germanic culture in general, and for Germanic Neopaganism in particular, mostly by groups in Scandinavia and Germany. Old Norse forn "old" is cognate to Sanskrit purana, English (be)fore and far. Old Norse siðr "custom", Anglo-Saxon sidu, seodu "custom", cognate to Greek ethos

Ethos

Ethos is a Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the power of music to influence its hearer's emotions, behaviors, and even morals. Early Greek stories of...

, in the sense of "traditional law, way of life, proper behaviour". In meaning, the term corresponds closely to Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 sanātana dharma, a term coined as a "native" equivalent of Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

in Hindu revivalism.
In contradistinction to Ásatrú, inn forni siðr is actually attested in Old Norse, contrasting with inn nýi siðr "the new custom", and similarly Heiðinn siðr, contrasting with Kristinn siðr, and í fornum sið "in old (heathen) times".
Forn Siðr is also the name of the largest Danish pagan society, which since 2003 is recognized as a religion by the Danish government, meaning they have the right to conduct weddings and funerals.

Heathenry

Heathen (Old English

Old English language

Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

 hæðen, Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 heiðinn, Old High German heidan) was coined as a translation of Latin paganus, in the Christian sense of "non-Abrahamic faith".

In the Sagas

Sagàs

Sagàs is a small town and municipality located in Catalonia, in the comarca of Berguedà. It is located in the geographical area of the pre-Pyrenees.-Population:...

, the terms heiðni and kristni (Heathenry and Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

) are used as polar terms to describe the older and newer faiths. Historically, the term was influenced by the Gothic

Gothic language

Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...

 term *haiþi, appearing as haiþno in Ulfilas

Ulfilas

Ulfilas, or Gothic Wulfila , bishop, missionary, and Bible translator, was a Goth or half-Goth and half-Greek from Cappadocia who had spent time inside the Roman Empire at the peak of the Arian controversy. Ulfilas was ordained a bishop by Eusebius of Nicomedia and returned to his people to work...

' bible for translating gunē Hellēnis, "Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 (i.e. gentile

Gentile

The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....

) woman" of Mark

Gospel of Mark

The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...

 7:26, probably with an original meaning "dwelling on the heath

Heath (habitat)

A heath or heathland is a dwarf-shrub habitat found on mainly low quality acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. There are some clear differences between heath and moorland...

", but it was also suggested by Jakob Grimm in his Teutonic Mythology that it was chosen because of its similarity to Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 ethne "gentile

Gentile

The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....

" or even that it is not related to "heath" at all, but rather a loan from Armenian

Armenian language

The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...

 hethanos, itself loaned from Greek ethnos.

The Miercinga Rice Theod and several other groups, narrow the sense of the word to Germanic Neopaganism in particular, and prefer it over Neopagan as a self-designation.

Some proponents use Heathenry distinctively for strictly polytheistic reconstructionist approaches, excluding syncretic, occult or mysticist

Germanic mysticism

Germanic mysticism or Germanic occultism may refer to* Ariosophy* more generally, various schools of Esotericism in Germany and Austria* various modern systems of runic magic...

 approaches such as Armanism. The term Heathenry is promoted by non-denominational groups or umbrella organisations such as the British Heathen Alliance, the American Heathen Nation, and the Canadian Heathen House.

The term Heathenry is promoted by UK groups such as Heathens For Progress.

Odinism

The term Odinism was coined by Orestes Brownson

Orestes Brownson

Orestes Augustus Brownson was a New England intellectual and activist, preacher, labor organizer, and noted Catholic convert and writer...

 in his 1848 Letter to Protestants. The term was re-introduced in the late 1930s by Alexander Rud Mills

Alexander Rud Mills

Alexander Rud Mills was a prominent Australian Odinist, and one of the earliest proponents of the rebirth of Germanic Neopaganism in the 20th century. He was a published author, lecturer and Barrister. He founded the First Anglecyn Church of Odin in Melbourne in 1936...

 in Australia with his First Anglecyn Church of Odin and his book The Call of Our Ancient Nordic Religion. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Else Christensen

Else Christensen

Else Christensen , 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....

's Odinist Study Group and later the Odinist Fellowship

Odinist Fellowship

The Odinist Fellowship was the name of an early Odinist organization, founded by Else Christensen and her husband Alex Christensen in Canada in 1969...

 brought the term into usage in North America. In the UK, Odinic Rite

Odinic Rite

The Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...

 has specifically identified themselves as "Odinists" since the 1970s, and is the longest running group to do so.

The term "Odinism" tends to be associated with racialist Nordic

Nordic theory

The Nordic race is one of the racial subcategories into which the Caucasian race was divided by anthropologists in the first half of the 20th century...

 ideology, as opposed to "Asatru" which may or may not refer to racialist or "folkish" ideals. As defined by Goodrick-Clarke (2002), Nordic racial paganism is synonymous with the Odinist movement (including some who identify as Wotanist). He describes it as a "spiritual rediscovery of the Aryan

Aryan

Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...

 ancestral gods...intended to embed the white races in a sacred worldview that supports their tribal feeling", and expressed in "imaginative forms of ritual magic and ceremonial forms of fraternal fellowship".

The term Wotanism is used in a somewhat different sense from Odinism. It is the name of a racialist Neopagan current initiated by David Lane.

In more recent times, the Odinist community in Australia has endorsed the "Melbourne Creed" of Odinism, which is a 9-point statement of belief, "An Odinist Creed."

Theodism

Theodism, or Þéodisc Geléafa originally sought to reconstruct the beliefs and practices of the Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...

 tribes which settled in England. þéodisc is the adjective of þéod "people, tribe", cognate to deutsch. As it evolved, the Theodish community moved past solely Anglo-Saxon forms and other Germanic tribal groups were also being reconstituted; Theodism, in this larger sense, now encompass groups practicing tribal beliefs from Scandinavia and the Continent, following in the model set forth by the Anglo Saxon theods founded in the 1970s. The term Theodism now encompasses Norman, Frisian, Angle, Saxon, Jutish, Gothic, Alemannic, Thuringian, Swedish and Danish tribal cultures. This relaxing of the original term "Theodism" functionally identifies Germanic Neopagans who practice or advocate Neo-Tribalism

Neo-Tribalism

Neotribalism or modern tribalism is the ideology that human beings have evolved to live in tribal society, as opposed to mass society, and thus will naturally form social networks constituting new "tribes."-Sociological theory:...

.
http://www.thetroth.org/memsvc/stewards/flyers/benw/doctorbeowulf.pdf

Urglaawe

Urglaawe ("primal faith" in Deitsch

Pennsylvania German language

The Pennsylvania German language is a variety of West Central German possibly spoken by more than 250,000 people in North America...

) is a North American tradition within Heathenry and bears some affinity with other traditions related to historical Continental Germanic paganism. It derives its core from the Deitsch healing practice of Braucherei

Pow-wow (folk magic)

Pow-wow is a system of American folk religion and magic associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch.-Origin of the name and practices:Its name comes from the book Pow-wows, or, The Long Lost Friend, written by John George Hohman and first published in German as Der Lange Verborgene Freund in 1820...

, from Deitsch folklore and customs, and from other Germanic and Scandinavian sources. Urglaawe uses both the English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and Deitsch languages.

As with other Teutonic

Teutons

The Teutons or Teutones were mentioned as a Germanic tribe by Greek and Roman authors, notably Strabo and Marcus Velleius Paterculus and normally in close connection with the Cimbri, whose ethnicity is contested between Gauls and Germani...

 religious and philosophical traditions, adherents of Urglaawe may have differing beliefs in worldview and theological

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 view. One of the main deities Urglaawers worship is Holle

Holle (goddess)

Holle is theorized as an ancient Germanic supreme goddess of birth, death and reincarnation who predates most of the Germanic pantheon, dating back to the Neolithic before Indo-European invasion of Europe. She also appears as "Frau Holle" in Grimm's Fairy Tale #24. Alternative names for this...

, an ancient Germanic mother goddess passed down in the Deitch folklore.

Wotanism

The term "Wotanism" distinguishes a form of Heathenry with political overtones. Wotanism

Wotanism

Wotanism is the name of an American Heathen religion or socio-political current based on Germanic paganism and the doctrines of David Lane. Wotan is the German name for the Germanic god known in Norse as Odin...

 is the name of a white supremacist

White supremacy

White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...

 current initiated by David Lane. It is based on the essay entitled Wotan by Carl Jung

Carl Jung

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...

. Unlike other Heathens, most Wotanists emphasize dualism

Dualism

Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...

 and view the gods as Jungian archetype

Archetype

An archetype is a universally understood symbol or term or pattern of behavior, a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated...

s. Wotanists consider the Havamal

Hávamál

Hávamál is presented as a single poem in the Poetic Edda, a collection of Old Norse poems from the Viking age. The poem, itself a combination of different poems, is largely gnomic, presenting advice for living, proper conduct and wisdom....

to be their holiest text.

Beliefs

Germanic Neopaganism (as opposed to Neopaganism

Neopaganism

Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...

 in general) is often defined as reconstructionist

Polytheistic reconstructionism

Polytheistic reconstructionism is an approach to Neopaganism first emerging in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and gathering momentum in the 1990s to 2000s...

. Adherents are mostly polytheists, having faith in a number of gods and goddesses, but in practice a pantheistic or "soft polytheistic" outlook is common; the Icelandic Ásatrúarfélagið defines "Asatru" as "Nordic pantheism".

Most Heathen or Germanic denominations share a worldview underlain by the concepts of Wyrd

Wyrd

Wyrd is a concept in Anglo-Saxon culture roughly corresponding to fate or personal destiny. The word is ancestral to Modern English weird, which retains its original meaning only dialectally....

, Orlog, Rita

Rta

In the Vedic religion, Ṛta is the principle of natural order which regulates and coordinates the operation of the universe and everything within it. In the hymns of the Vedas, Ṛta is described as that which is ultimately responsible for the proper functioning of the natural, moral and sacrificial...

 and Yggdrasil

Yggdrasil

In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is an immense tree that is central in Norse cosmology. It was said to be the world tree around which the nine worlds existed...

 (or Irminsul

Irminsul

An Irminsul was a kind of pillar which is attested as playing an important role in the Germanic paganism of the Saxon people. The oldest chronicle describing an Irminsul refers to it as a tree trunk erected in the open air...

). The Wyrd (from Common Germanic

Proto-Germanic language

Proto-Germanic , or Common Germanic, as it is sometimes known, is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all the Germanic languages, such as modern English, Frisian, Dutch, Afrikaans, German, Luxembourgish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, and Swedish.The Proto-Germanic language is...

 *Wurþiz), sometimes described as the "Web of Wyrd", is both the subjacent principle of all things and the ceaseless interweaving of all the processes and events — both physical and metaphysical — which beget reality. It is eternal, but at the same time it is perpetual changing. The Wyrd is the interconnectedness of all events and things, the wholeness of all nature.

The pantheon

Pantheon (gods)

A pantheon is a set of all the gods of a particular polytheistic religion or mythology.Max Weber's 1922 opus, Economy and Society discusses the link between a...

 of Heathenism comprehends various gods divided traditionally into three "races", the Ases

Æsir

In Old Norse, áss is the term denoting a member of the principal pantheon in Norse paganism. This pantheon includes Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Tyr. The second pantheon comprises the Vanir...

 or "Anses", the Wanes

Vanir

In Norse mythology, the Vanir are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods and are the namesake of the location Vanaheimr . After the Æsir–Vanir War, the Vanir became a subgroup of the Æsir...

 and the Ettins or most commonly Jotuns. Every Heathen tradition uses different names for the gods based on the particular ethnic culture they are drawing from. The Ases mostly pertain to the sphere of human society, they govern the arts, force, law, wisdom, et cetera; on the other hand the Wanes embody elements and forces of nature, such as fertility, water, beauty. The Jotuns are the gigantic, elemental, primordial chaotic forces which the gods interact with and sublimate in their creative action of shaping reality. Anyhow the different divine races often overlap in domain and function.

Germanic Neopaganism has a strong leaning towards animism

Animism

Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....

. This is most apparent in the worship of Álfar (or Elves), land-spirits

Landvættir

Landvættir are spirits of the land in Norse mythology and in Germanic neopaganism. They protect and promote the flourishing of the specific places where they live, which can be as small as a rock or a corner of a field, or as large as a section of a country.-The nature of landvættir:Some scholars...

, the various beings of folklore (Kobold

Kobold

The kobold is a sprite stemming from Germanic mythology and surviving into modern times in German folklore. Although usually invisible, a kobold can materialise in the form of an animal, fire, a human being, and a candle. The most common depictions of kobolds show them as humanlike figures the size...

, Huldufólk

Huldufólk

Huldufólk are elves in Icelandic folklore. Building projects in Iceland are sometimes altered to prevent damaging the rocks where they are believed to live. According to these Icelandic folk beliefs, one should never throw stones because of the possibility of hitting the huldufólk...

), and the belief that inanimate objects can have a fate of their own.

It is believed that Elves or land-spirits can inhabit natural objects such as trees or stones. These spirits can, and do, take sides in the affairs of the inhabitants of their land.
This is in imitation of historical Norse paganism

Norse paganism

Norse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...

, which had strong animistic tendencies, as reflected in sagas such as that of a wizard who goes to Iceland in whale-shape to see if it can be invaded, who is attacked by land-spirits while going on shore, and is forced to flee.

It is believed by some Heathens that inanimate objects can have a soul of their own, or a fate, and therefore should be given a name, the most common cases being the naming of weapons like Gram

Gram (mythology)

In Norse mythology, Gram is the name of the sword that Sigurd used to kill the dragon Fafnir.It was forged by Wayland the Smith and originally belonged to his father, Sigmund, who received it in the hall of the Volsung after pulling it out of the tree Barnstokk into which Odin had stuck...

. The objects are not “charged” before use, but have the fate or innate power within them a priori.

Ethics and soteriology

Ethics in Germanic Neopaganism are guided by a concept of personal ørlög or wyrd

Wyrd

Wyrd is a concept in Anglo-Saxon culture roughly corresponding to fate or personal destiny. The word is ancestral to Modern English weird, which retains its original meaning only dialectally....

, encompassing the notions of both fate

Fate

Fate commonly refers to destiny, a predetermined course of events.Fate may also refer to:* Moirae or Fates, in Greek mythology* Time and fate deities, personifications of time and human fate in polytheistic religions- Film and television :...

 and luck

Luck

Luck or fortuity is good fortune which occurs beyond one's control, without regard to one's will, intention, or desired result. There are at least two senses people usually mean when they use the term, the prescriptive sense and the descriptive sense...

. The belief in Wyrd — a concept of fatalism

Fatalism

Fatalism is a philosophical doctrine emphasizing the subjugation of all events or actions to fate.Fatalism generally refers to several of the following ideas:...

 or determinism

Determinism

Determinism is the general philosophical thesis that states that for everything that happens there are conditions such that, given them, nothing else could happen. There are many versions of this thesis. Each of them rests upon various alleged connections, and interdependencies of things and...

, similar to some Graeco-Roman concepts of destiny

Destiny

Destiny or fate refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual...

 is a commonly held belief amongst most Germanic Neopagans.http://www.asatru-u.org/beginner/asau-beginner-outline.htmhttp://wodening.ealdriht.org/swain/asatru.html People's personal destinies are shaped in part by what is past, in part by what they and others are now doing, by the vows they take and contracts they enter into.
The Germanic Neopagan community is primarily bound together by common symbological and social concepts. Personal character and virtue is emphasized: truthfulness, self-reliance, and hospitality are important moral distinctions, underpinning an especially cherished notion of honour

Honour

Honour or honor is an abstract concept entailing a perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects both the social standing and the self-evaluation of an individual or corporate body such as a family, school, regiment or nation...

.http://www.runestone.org/flash/declaration.htm
Germanic Neopaganism notably lacks any discussion of redemption or salvation

Salvation

Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...

.

The Asatru Folk Assembly and the Odinic Rite encourages recognition of an ethical code, the Nine Noble Virtues

Nine Noble Virtues

The Nine Noble Virtues or NNV are a set of moral and situational ethical guidelines codified by John Yeowell and John Gibbs-Bailey of the Odinic Rite in the 1970s....

, which are culled from various sources, including the Hávamál

Hávamál

Hávamál is presented as a single poem in the Poetic Edda, a collection of Old Norse poems from the Viking age. The poem, itself a combination of different poems, is largely gnomic, presenting advice for living, proper conduct and wisdom....

from the Poetic Edda

Poetic Edda

The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends, and from the early 19th century...

. In addition to the Nine Noble Virtues there are other ethical axioms, such as the Nine Charges recognised mostly by the Odinic Rite

Odinic Rite

The Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...

 members. Specific Heathen denominations may implement also their own sets of values, for example Fyrnsidu has the Twelve Great Thews and the Sidungas, Urglaawe

Urglaawe

Urglaawe is a tradition within Heathenism and bears some affinity with Asatru and other traditions related to historical Germanic paganism. It derives its core from the Deitsch healing practice of Braucherei, from Deitsch folk lore and customs, and from other Germanic and Scandinavian sources...

 has additional Five Noble Virtues,

Although Germanic Neopagans revere the forces of nature, Germanic Neopaganism is not a "nature religion" in the sense of other currents often found in Neopaganism

Neopaganism

Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...

, and adherents oppose neither technology nor its material rewards. More mystical currents of Heathenry may be critical of industrialization or modern society, but even such criticism will focus on decadence

Decadence

Decadence can refer to a personal trait, or to the state of a society . Used to describe a person's lifestyle. Concise Oxford Dictionary: "a luxurious self-indulgence"...

, lack of virtue or balance, rather than being a radical criticism of technology itself.

Regarding afterlife

Afterlife

The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...

, the Heathens may hold different views. According to the Heathen lore, the soul is not a single entity, but a composite of parts both physical and metaphysical, a microcosm of the immense macrocosm. The soul is typically thought to have nine to twelve parts, however some Heathens combine some of the soul parts. These beliefs makes sens since according to myths man was created by the gifts of three gods, Odin

Odin

Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....

, Hoenir and Lodur.
A popular belief among Germanic Neopagans is that of reincarnation

Reincarnation

Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...

; the Heathen view of reincarnation is exposed in the concept of Apterburder contained in the Edda

Edda

The term Edda applies to the Old Norse Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, both of which were written down in Iceland during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the Viking Age...

.Edred Thorsson. Runecaster's Handbook: The Well of Wyrd. Red Wheel/Weiser, 1999. pp. 14-15. The Apterburder (roughly "rebirth") is the process whereby the essence of a man is handed down to his generations allowing him to be reborn later in the same kinship; in other words Heathens believe that reincarnation happens within the boundaries of a kinship, a genetic lineage — for example the grandson is the reincarnation of the grandfather or even earlier generations.

Rites and practices

The primary deities of Germanic Neopaganism are those of the Germanic pantheons. Heathenry also has a component of ancestor worship or veneration

Veneration of the dead

Veneration of the dead is based on the belief that the deceased, often family members, have a continued existence and/or possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living...

. In the simplest form of the adherent's personal practices, direct ancestors (sometimes referred to as Dis) are often praised and honoured during the rituals of sumble and blot

Blót

The blót was Norse pagan sacrifice to the Norse gods and the spirits of the land. The sacrifice often took the form of a sacramental meal or feast. Related religious practices were performed by other Germanic peoples, such as the pagan Anglo-Saxons...

. Animism

Animism

Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....

 or land veneration is most evident in the rituals dedicated to the Elves and Wights (spirits similar to the Shinto

Shinto

or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...

 lesser Kami

Kami

is the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...

).

Blót

Blót

Blót

The blót was Norse pagan sacrifice to the Norse gods and the spirits of the land. The sacrifice often took the form of a sacramental meal or feast. Related religious practices were performed by other Germanic peoples, such as the pagan Anglo-Saxons...

 is the historical Norse term for sacrifice

Sacrifice

Sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or the lives of animals or people to God or the gods as an act of propitiation or worship.While sacrifice often implies ritual killing, the term offering can be used for bloodless sacrifices of cereal food or artifacts...

 or ritual slaughter. The word blót actually translates to "blood." Historically, the ritual slaughter of a farm animal was central to the rite. Germanic Neopaganism does not usually include this practice. In Germanic Neopaganism, blóts are often celebrated outdoors in nature. A blót may be highly formalized, but the underlying intent resembles inviting and having an honored guest or family member in for dinner. Food and drink may be offered. Most of this will be consumed by the participants, and some of the drink will be poured out onto the soil as a libation

Libation

A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid as an offering to a god or spirit or in memory of those who have died. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in various cultures today....

. Home-brewed mead

Mead

Mead , also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water. It may also be produced by fermenting a solution of water and honey with grain mash, which is strained immediately after fermentation...

 as the "Germanic" drink par excellence is popular.http://asatru.org/gothar.htmlhttp://www.thetroth.org/memsvc/stewards/flyers/tarndt/Blot_Basics_10_31_03.pdf

Offerings during a blót usually involve mead or other alcohol, sometimes food, sometimes song or poetry, specially written for the occasion or for a particular deity, is delivered as an offering. The blót ritual may be based on historical example, scripted for the occasion or may be spontaneous. Certain Germanic Neopagan groups, most notably the Theodish, strictly adhere to historical formulaic ritual, while other groups may use modernized variants. Usual dress for a blót is whatever suits the seasons — many blóts are outdoors, sometimes at sacred sites. Some Germanic Neopagans, most notably the Theodish, wear clothing modeled on those of the Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...

 or Norse 'Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

' during ritual, while others eschew this practice.

When the rituals are communal, the officiant is normally a priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

. Heathen priests are usually called godi

Gothi

A goði or gothi is the Old Norse term for a priest and chieftain. Gyðja signifies a priestess.The name appears in Wulfila's Gothic language translation of the bible as gudja for "priest", but in Old Norse it is only the feminine form gyðja that perfectly corresponds to the Gothic form...

or "godman/men", and priestesses are called gydia or "godwoman/women". The proper plural of godi (or gothi) and gydia (or gythia) is godar (or gothar). Heathen places of worship can be ve

Vé (shrine)

In Germanic paganism, a vé or wēoh is a type of shrine or sacred enclosure. The term appears in skaldic poetry and in place names in Scandinavia , often in connection with a Norse deity or a geographic feature. The name of the Norse god Vé, refers to the practice...

, simply "sacred enclosures" which can be woods or natural shrines, and hofs

Heathen hofs

Heathen hofs or Germanic pagan temples were the temple buildings of Germanic paganism; there are also a few built for use in modern Germanic neopaganism...

 or "hovs", temple buildings which can be constructed within a ve or not. Currently two hofs are planned for construction in Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

, one in Reykjavík

Reykjavík

Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...

 and one in Akranes

Akranes

Akranes is a port town and municipality located on the west coast of Iceland.It is the ninth most populous town in Iceland after Mosfellsbær and Árborg with a population of 6,623 people...

, the latter designed by Heathen artist Haukur Halldórsson

Haukur Halldorsson

- Haukur Halldórsson :Haukur Halldórsson was born 1937 in Reykjavík is an Icelandic artist and member of the Íslenska Ásatrúarfélagið....

.

Sumbel

Symbel (OE

Old English language

Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

) and sumbel (ON) are terms
for "feast, banquet, (social) gathering", occasionally used to refer to a special type of solemn drinking ritual attested in more or less comparable forms among various Germanic

Germanic peoples

The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...

 warrior elites. In such instances, symbel involved a formulaic ritual which was more solemn and serious than mere drinking or celebration. The primary elements of symbel are drinking ale

Ale

Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...

 or mead

Mead

Mead , also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water. It may also be produced by fermenting a solution of water and honey with grain mash, which is strained immediately after fermentation...

 from a horn, speech making (which often included formulaic boasting and oaths), and gift giving.

According to the reconstruction by Bauschatz (1983), eating and feasting were specifically excluded from symbel, and no alcohol was set aside for the gods or other deities in the form of a sacrifice.

The host of the symbel was called the symbelgifa. One of the officiants of symbel was the thyle

Thyle

A Thyle, was a position of the court associated with Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon royalty and chieftains in the Early Middle Ages with the duty of determining truth of public statements.. Most literary references are found in Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon literature like the Hávamál, where Odin...

(ON

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 þulr), who challenged and questioned those who made boasts (gielp) or oaths (béot, bregofull), if necessary with taunts or mockery (flyting

Flyting

Flyting or fliting is a contest consisting of the exchange of insults, often conducted in verse, between two parties.-Description:Flyting is a ritual, poetic exchange of insults practiced mainly between the 5th and 16th centuries. The root is the Old English word flītan meaning quarrel...

). Oaths said over the symbel-horn were seen as binding and affecting the luck and wyrd

Wyrd

Wyrd is a concept in Anglo-Saxon culture roughly corresponding to fate or personal destiny. The word is ancestral to Modern English weird, which retains its original meaning only dialectally....

 of all in attendance. The alcoholic drink was served by women or alekeepers (ealu bora "ale bearer"), the first round usually poured by the lady of the house.

The bragarfull "promise-cup" or bragafull "best cup" or "chieftain's cup" was in Norse

Norsemen

Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...

 culture a particular drinking from a cup or drinking horn on ceremonial occasions, often involving the swearing of oaths when the cup or horn was drunk by a chieftain or passed around and drunk by those assembled.

In American Ásatrú as developed by McNallen

Stephen McNallen

Stephen A. McNallen is an influential Germanic Neopagan leader and writer. Born in Breckenridge, Texas, McNallen has been heavily involved in Ásatrú since the 1970s.-Life:...

 and Stine

Robert Stine

Robert Stine may refer to:* R. L. Stine, American writer*Robert Stine, co-founder of the Viking Brotherhood...

, the sumbel is a drinking-ritual in which a drinking horn

Drinking horn

A drinking horn is the horn of a bovid used as a drinking vessel. Drinking horns are known from Classical Antiquity especially in Thrace and the Balkans, and remained in use for ceremonial purposes throughout the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period in some parts of Europe, notably in Germanic...

 full of mead or ale is passed around and a series of toasts are made, first to the Aesir, then to other supernatural beings, then to heroes or ancestors, and then to others. Participants may also make boasts of their own deeds, or oaths or promises of future actions. Words spoken during the sumbel are considered and consecrated, becoming part of the destiny of those assembled. The name sumbel (or symbel) is mainly derived from Anglo-Saxon sources. For this reason, the ritual is not known by this name among Icelandic Nordic pagans, who nevertheless practice a similar ritual as part of their blot.

In Theodism or Anglo-Saxon neopaganism in particular, the symbel has a particularly high importance, considered "perhaps the highest rite" or "amongst the most holy rites" celebrated.

Seiðr

Seiðr

Seiðr

Seid or seiðr is an Old Norse term for a type of sorcery or witchcraft which was practiced by the pre-Christian Norse. Sometimes anglicized as "seidhr," "seidh," "seidr," "seithr," or "seith," the term is also used to refer to modern Neopagan reconstructions or emulations of the...

 and Spae are forms of "sorcery

Magic (paranormal)

Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...

" or "witchcraft

Witchcraft

Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

", the latter having aspects of prophecy

Prophecy

Prophecy is a process in which one or more messages that have been communicated to a prophet are then communicated to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of conditioned events to come as well as testimonies or repeated revelations that the...

 and shamanism

Shamanism

Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...

. Seid and spae are not common rituals, and are not engaged in by many adherents of Germanic Neopaganism. Usually seid or spae rituals are modeled after the ritual detailed in the Saga of Eric the Red

Saga of Eric the Red

Eiríks saga rauða or the Saga of Erik the Red is a saga on the Norse exploration of North-America.The saga chronicles the events that led to Erik the Red's banishment to Greenland as well as Leif Ericson's discovery of Vinland the Good after his longship was blown off course...

: a seiðkona dressed in traditional garb will sit on a high-seat or platform and prophesy in a formulaic manner as women sing or chant galdr

Galdr

Galdr is one Old Norse word for "spell, incantation", and which was usually performed in combination with certain rites. It was mastered by both women and men and they chanted it in falsetto .-Etymology:...

 around her. In the UK, seidr relies less on formal ritual and more informal practices of healing (Blain, 2002b), protection, and for developing links with land and ancestors. It may be related — in past and present — to alterations of consciousness and negotiations with otherworld beings.

The berserker

Berserker

Berserkers were Norse warriors who are reported in the Old Norse literature to have fought in a nearly uncontrollable, trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the English word berserk. Berserkers are attested in numerous Old Norse sources...

gangr may be described as a sort of religious ecstasy, associated with Odin

Odin

Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....

, and thus a masculine variant of the 'effeminate' ecstasy of Seid.http://www.ealdriht.org/spa.html

Romanticist Germanic mysticism

The first modern attempt at revival of ancient Germanic religion took place in the 19th century during the late Romantic Period

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

 amidst a general resurgence of interest in traditional Germanic culture, in particular in connection with romantic nationalism

Romantic nationalism

Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...

 in Scandinavia and the related Viking revival

Viking revival

Early modern publications dealing with Old Norse culture appeared in the 16th century, e.g. Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus and the first edition of the13th century Gesta Danorum , in 1514...

 in Victorian era

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 Britain. Germanic mysticism

Germanic mysticism

Germanic mysticism or Germanic occultism may refer to* Ariosophy* more generally, various schools of Esotericism in Germany and Austria* various modern systems of runic magic...

 is an occultist current loosely inspired by "Germanic" topics, notably runes. It has its beginnings in the early 20th century (Guido von List

Guido von List

Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List was an Austrian/German poet, journalist, writer, businessman and dealer of leather goods, mountaineer, hiker, dramatist, playwright, and rower, but was most notable as an occultist and völkisch author who is seen as one of the most important...

's "Armanism", Karl Maria Wiligut

Karl Maria Wiligut

Karl Maria Wiligut was an Austrian Ariosophist- Biography :...

's "Irminism" etc.)

The last traditional pagan sacrifices in Scandinavia, at Trollkyrka

Trollkyrka

Trollkyrka is a secluded butte-like rock in the heart of the National Park of Tiveden, Sweden, which served as a pagan sacrificial ground for centuries after Christianity became the dominant religion in Scandinavia...

, appear to date to about this time.

Organized Germanic pagan or occult groups such as the Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft emerged in Germany in the early 20th century. The connections of this movement to historical Germanic paganism are tenuous at best, with emphasis lying on the esoteric as taught by the likes of Julius Evola

Julius Evola

Barone Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola also known as Julius Evola, was an Italian philosopher and esotericist...

, Guido von List

Guido von List

Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List was an Austrian/German poet, journalist, writer, businessman and dealer of leather goods, mountaineer, hiker, dramatist, playwright, and rower, but was most notable as an occultist and völkisch author who is seen as one of the most important...

 and Karl Maria Wiligut

Karl Maria Wiligut

Karl Maria Wiligut was an Austrian Ariosophist- Biography :...

.

In the first two decades of the twentieth century an overtly heathen movement known as "heroic vitalism" became mainstream in Australian art. It had no connection with isolated Continental thinkers like von List. Most leading Australian painters, sculptors and poets of that generation, such as Norman Lindsay, Rayner Hoff and Kenneth Slessor, pioneered this movement. In the 1930s Odinism became an established faith in Australia, led by such people as Rud Mills, Evelyn Price and Annie Lennon.

Nazi period and World War II

Several early members of the Nazi Party were part of the Thule Society

Thule Society

The Thule Society , originally the Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum , was a German occultist and völkisch group in Munich, named after a mythical northern country from Greek legend...

, a study group for German antiquity. While it is postulated that occult elements played an important role in the formative phase of Nazism, and of the SS

Schutzstaffel

The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...

 in particular, after his rise to power Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 discouraged such pursuits. Point 24 of the National Socialist Program

National Socialist Program

The National Socialist Programme , was first, the political program of the German National Socialist Party in 1918, and later, in the 1920s, of the National Socialist German Workers' Party headed by Adolf...

 stated that the party endorsed "positive Christianity

Positive Christianity

Positive Christianity was a slogan of Nazi propaganda adopted at the NSDAP congress 1920 to express a worldview which is Christian, non-confessional, vigorously opposed to the spirit of "Jewish Materialism", and oriented to the principle of voluntary association of those with a common...

."

The eclectic German Faith Movement

German Faith Movement

The German Faith Movement was closely associated with Jakob Wilhelm Hauer during the Third Reich and sought to move Germany away from Christianity towards a religion based on "immediate experience" of God...

 (Deutsche Glaubensbewegung), founded by the Sanskrit scholar Jakob Wilhelm Hauer

Jakob Wilhelm Hauer

Jakob Wilhelm Hauer was a German Indologist and religious studies writer. He was the founder of the German Faith Movement.-Biography:...

, enjoyed a degree of popularity during the Nazi period. Some Germanic mysticists were victimized by the Nazis: Friedrich Bernhard Marby spent 99 months in KZ Dachau, and Siegfried Adolf Kummer

Siegfried Adolf Kummer

Siegfried Adolf Kummer was a German mystic and Germanic revivalist. He is also most well known for his revivalism and use of the Armanen runes row...

's fate is unknown.

Several books published by the Nazi party including Die Gestaltung der Feste im Jahres- und Lebenslauf in der SS-Familie (The Celebrations in the Life of the SS Family) by Fritz Weitzel

Fritz Weitzel

Fritz Weitzel was a German SS Obergruppenführer.He became a member of Nazi Party in 1925 and of SS in 1926. In 1930 he was promoted to leader of SS in Rheinland and Ruhr. He became Polizeipräsident in Düsseldorf in 1933, and Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer West in 1938...

, as well as the SS Tante Friede illustrate how the National Socialists thought traditional Germanic Heathenry was primitive superstition which needed reworking to better serve the state. Celebrating the traditional festivals like Jul

Yule

Yule or Yuletide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic people as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January...

 and Sommersonnenwende

Solstice

A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the Sun's apparent position in the sky, as viewed from Earth, reaches its northernmost or southernmost extremes...

 were encouraged and recast into veneration of the Nazi state and Führer.

The appropriation of "Germanic antiquity" by the Nazis was at first regarded with skepticism and sarcasm by British Scandophiles. W. H. Auden

W. H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...

 in his Letters from Iceland (1936) makes fun of the idea of Iceland as an "Aryan vestige".
but with the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Nordic romanticism in Britain became too much associated with the enemy's ideology to remain palatable, to the point that J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

, an ardent Septentrionalist, in 1941 found himself moved to state that he had a "burning private grudge ... against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler" for "ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light."

Meanwhile, in Australia, several leading Odinists (including Rud Mills and Les Cahill) were sent to concentration camps for advocating that Australian troops should be withdrawn from Europe to Australia to defend that country against Japanese aggression. Their formal religious organisation, the Anglekyn Church of Australia, was dissolved and went underground. In time, older members of the Australian Odinist movement tutored a later generation, which formed the Odinic Rite of Australia in 1994.

Second revival, 1960s to present

Another revival, this time based on folklore and historical research rather than on mysticist speculation, took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In Iceland, Ásatrúarfélagið, led by farmer Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson

Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson

Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson , a native of Iceland, was instrumental in helping to gain recognition by the Icelandic government for the pre-Christian Norse religion...

, was recognized as a religious organization by the Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

ic government in 1973. In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, around the same period, Else Christensen

Else Christensen

Else Christensen , 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....

 began publishing "The Odinist" newsletter and Stephen McNallen

Stephen McNallen

Stephen A. McNallen is an influential Germanic Neopagan leader and writer. Born in Breckenridge, Texas, McNallen has been heavily involved in Ásatrú since the 1970s.-Life:...

 began publishing a newsletter titled The Runestone. McNallen formed an organization called the Asatru Free Assembly, which was later renamed the Ásatrú Folk Assembly

Asatru Folk Assembly

The Asatru Folk Assembly, or AFA, an organization of Germanic neopaganism, is the US-based Ásatrú organization founded by Stephen McNallen in 1994. Gardell classifies the AFA as folkish....

(AFA). The AFA fractured in 1987-88, resulting in the creation of the Ásatrú Alliance

Ásatrú Alliance

The Asatru Alliance is a US Ásatrú group, succeeding Stephen McNallen's Asatru Free Assembly in 1987, founded by Michael J. Murray of Arizona, who is a former vice-president of Else Christensen's Odinist Fellowship. The AFA seceded into two groups, the other one being The Troth...

, headed by Valgard Murray, publisher of the "Vor Tru" newsletter. Around the same time, the Ring of Troth (now simply The Troth

The Troth

The Ring of Troth, now called simply The Troth, is an American-based international Germanic neopagan organization. The Troth was founded on December 20 , 1987 by former Asatru Free Assembly members Edred Thorsson and James Chisholm. However, neither is any longer involved with the organization...

) was founded by other former members of the AFA.

In 1972 the spiritual descendants of Mills' Odinist movement in Australia obtained from the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth of Australia a written undertaking that open profession of Odinism in Australia would not be persecuted. The Odinic Rite of Australia subsequently obtained tax deductible status from the Australian Tax Office. The ATO accepts this as the definition of Odinism: "the continuation of ... the organic spiritual beliefs and religion of the indigenous peoples of northern Europe as embodied in the Edda and as they have found expression in the wisdom and in the historical experience of these peoples".

In 1976 Garman Lord formed the Witan Theod, the first Theodish group. Shortly thereafter, Ealdoraed Lord founded the Moody Hill Theod in Watertown, New York. The Angelseaxisce Ealdriht formed in 1996 and was founded by Swain Wodening and Winifred Hodge. Theodism now encompasses groups practicing tribal beliefs from Scandinavia and the Continent, in addition to following in the model set forth by the early Anglo Saxon peoples.

The Odinic Rite

Odinic Rite

The Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...

 was established in England in 1972, and in the 1990s expanded to include chapters or kindred bodies in Germany (1995), Australia (1995) and North America (1997) and later (2006) to the Netherlands.
In 1992, The Odin Brotherhood by Mark Mirabello contained claims of a surviving Odinist "secret society", allegedly founded in 1421 to pagan tradition from Christian persecution, comparable to the Witch-cult hypothesis

Witch-cult hypothesis

The Witch-cult is the term for a hypothetical pre-Christian, pagan religion of Europe that survived into at least the early modern period. As late as the 19th and early 20th centuries, some scholars had postulated that European witchcraft was part of a Satanic plot to overthrow Christianity; most...

 forwarded by Gerald Gardner

Gerald Gardner

Gerald Brousseau Gardner , who sometimes used the craft name Scire, was an influential English Wiccan, as well as an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, weaponry expert and occultist. He was instrumental in bringing the Neopagan religion of Wicca to public attention in Britain and...

 (1954). Neopagan groups calling themselves Odin Brotherhood based on Mirabello's account have since been listed in The Encyclopedia of American Religions

The Encyclopedia of American Religions

The Encyclopedia of American Religions is a reference book by J. Gordon Melton first published in 1978, by Consortium Books, A McGrath publishing company. It is currently in its eighth edition and has become a standard reference work in the study of religion in the United States....

.

In Germany, the Heidnische Gemeinschaft (HG) founded by Géza von Neményi in 1985. In 1991 the Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft (GGG), led by von Neményi, split off from the HG. In 1997 the Nornirs Ætt was founded as part of the Rabenclan and in 2000 the Eldaring

Eldaring

The Eldaring is a Civil Service Organisation, founded in August 2000, which offers information about Asatru to the German-speaking countries. “Eldr” is old Norwegian and means fire, so Eldaring can be translated as “Ring of fire”, meaning a ring of fireplaces, hearths, etc.Asatru is a recreation...

 was founded. The Eldaring is affiliated with the US based Troth

The Troth

The Ring of Troth, now called simply The Troth, is an American-based international Germanic neopagan organization. The Troth was founded on December 20 , 1987 by former Asatru Free Assembly members Edred Thorsson and James Chisholm. However, neither is any longer involved with the organization...

.

In Scandinavia

Neopaganism in Scandinavia

Neopaganism in Scandinavia is dominated by revivals of Norse paganism .-Norway:The Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost formed in 1996 and Foreningen Forn Sed the fellowship has about 50 Faithful formed in 1999...

, the Swedish Asatru Society

Neopaganism in Scandinavia

Neopaganism in Scandinavia is dominated by revivals of Norse paganism .-Norway:The Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost formed in 1996 and Foreningen Forn Sed the fellowship has about 50 Faithful formed in 1999...

formed in 1994, and in Norway the Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost formed in 1996 and Foreningen Forn Sed formed in 1999. They have been recognized by the Norwegian government as a religious society, allowing them to perform "legally binding civil ceremonies" (i. e. marriages). In Denmark Forn Siðr also formed in 1999 (and recognized by the state in 2003) and in Sweden Nätverket Gimle formed in 2001, as an informal community for individual heathens. Nätverket Forn Sed formed in 2004, and has a network consisting of local groups (blotlag) from all over the Sweden.

In the UK, state recognition of Neopaganism occurred as a coincidence of the legal case Royal Mail group PLC versus Donald Holden in 2006. Holden, a member of the Odinist Fellowship, sued his former employer for unfair dismissal.

In 2010, in the US, the State of Missouri officially recognized Jotun's Bane Kindred as a church. Jotun's Bane Kindred is a Folkish kindred based in Kansas City and is most notably know for hosting Lightning Across The Plains, an annual Heathen gathering at Camp Gaea in McClouth, KS. LATP is arguably the largest Heathen gathering in the world. http://heathengods.com/temple/modules/frontpage/

Demographics

Today, Germanic Neopaganism is practiced throughout the world. Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, Britain, North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 all have numerous Germanic Neopagan organizations. Groups and practitioners also exist in other parts of Europe and in Latin America.

The exact number of adherents worldwide is unknown, partly because of the lack of a clear definition separating Asatru (or Odinism) from other similar religions. There are perhaps a few thousand practitioners in North America (10,000 to 20,000 according to McNallen), about 1290 in Iceland, a thousand or so in Melbourne, Australia, and 350 organized Asatru in Germany, with other groups scattered world wide. These figures, however, do not include the many thousands of Germanic heathens in Russia (see below).

North America

As of 2001, the City University of New York estimated that some 140,000 people in the USA self-identify as "Pagan" (excluding Wiccan (134,000), New Age (68,000), Druid (33,000), Spiritualist (116,000) and aboriginal religions (4,000)). The total number of Neopagans worldwide has been estimated at roughly one million and according to these findings, a third each are located in the UK, the USA, and over the rest of the world.

In Canada according to the 2001 Census 21,080 people identified as Pagan an 381% increase from 5,530 in 1991. How many of these are Heathen can only be speculated and it is possible that the number may be higher, but out of fear of prejudice they do not disclose. However, Heathenry in Canada has grown greatly in Canada since 2001 with the creation of many independent kindreds and some provincial organizations.

UK

The Odinic Rite (OR) was founded in 1973 under the influence of Else Christensen

Else Christensen

Else Christensen , 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....

's Odinist Study Group. On 24th February 1988 the Rite became the first polytheistic religious organisation to be granted "Registered Charity" status in the UK. This led to some controversy that the Rite had presented Odinism as a monotheistic religion in order to gain acceptance by the Charity Commission. In 1990 a split occurred in the Rite after some members complained that it was becoming too right wing. Two organisations were formed from the schism, initially each claiming the same name and therefore known by their postal addresses. "BM Runic" is now known as the Odinic Rite

Odinic Rite

The Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...

 with the motto "Faith, Folk and Family". "BM Edda", now known as the Odinist Fellowship

Odinist Fellowship

The Odinist Fellowship was the name of an early Odinist organization, founded by Else Christensen and her husband Alex Christensen in Canada in 1969...

, is the part of the organisation which retains charitable status.

An annual gathering of Heathens in the UK called Heathenfest has been held at Peterborough since 2005, it is organised by Woden's Hearth. Past speakers have included Pete Jennings, Jenny Blain, Thorskegga Thorn and Stephen Pollington.

Scandinavia

Ásatrúarfélagið was recognized as an official religion by the Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

ic government in 1973, for its first 20 years it was led by farmer and poet Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson

Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson

Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson , a native of Iceland, was instrumental in helping to gain recognition by the Icelandic government for the pre-Christian Norse religion...

. As of 2008, it had 1,270 members, corresponding to 0.4% of the Icelandic population.

In Sweden, the Swedish AsatruSociety (Sveriges asatrosamfund) formed in 1994.
In Denmark Forn Siðr formed in 1999, and was officially recognized in 2003
The Norwegian Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost formed in 1996; as of 2011, the fellowship has some 300 members. Foreningen Forn Sed formed in 1999 and has been recognized by the Norwegian government as a religious organization.

Continental Europe

Interest in Germanic neopaganism in particular becomes apparent in Germany in the later 1990s, based on inspiration from the English speaking world rather than historical Deutschgläubig groups, foundation of the Rabenclan (1994), a German chapter of Odinic Rite

Odinic Rite

The Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...

 in 1995, followed by Nornirs Ætt in 1997 and the Eldaring

Eldaring

The Eldaring is a Civil Service Organisation, founded in August 2000, which offers information about Asatru to the German-speaking countries. “Eldr” is old Norwegian and means fire, so Eldaring can be translated as “Ring of fire”, meaning a ring of fireplaces, hearths, etc.Asatru is a recreation...

 as a chapter of the US The Troth

The Troth

The Ring of Troth, now called simply The Troth, is an American-based international Germanic neopagan organization. The Troth was founded on December 20 , 1987 by former Asatru Free Assembly members Edred Thorsson and James Chisholm. However, neither is any longer involved with the organization...

 in 2000.

Werkgroep Traditie is a Flemish (Belgian) group founded by Koenraad Logghe

Koenraad Logghe

Koenraad Logghe used to be a Flemish proponent of the European New Right and former "high priest" of folkish Asatru , founder of the Werkgroep Traditie neopagan organization . which he left in the summer of 2008...

 in the 1990s
In the Netherlands, there is Nederlands Heidendom, formed in 2000.

In Northern Italy

Northern Italy

Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...

, there is also a chapter of Odinic Rite

Odinic Rite

The Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...

, Comunità Odinista.
There is some Germanic neopaganism found in Spain, including Forn Sidr Ibérica and Comunidad Odinista de España-Asatru

Comunidad Odinista de España-Asatru

The Odinist Community of Spain — Ásatrú , also known as European Odinist Circle is a Germanic Heathen organisation in Spain founded in 1981 for followers of the denominations of Heathenry known as Odinism, after the chief god of Germanic paganism, Odin, Ásatrú and Vanatrú...

 (COE). In 2007, COE became the fourth Asatru group to gain governmental recognition as a religious organization, and the first outside of Scandinavia.

In Russia the many neo-pagan groups venerate the "Golden Age of the pre-Christian Rus" (the Rus being early Scandinavian settlers in Russia), and "In general, Neo-pagan newspapers ... appear irregularly in editions ranging from 10–50,000 copies, or more rarely, as many as 500,000 copies".

Structure and subgroupings

Solitary practice, or practice in small circles of friends or family is common. These are often called kindred

Kindred

In the Heathen movements, a kindred is a local worship group and organisational unit. Other terms used are hearth, theod , blotgroup, sippe, and other less popular ones such as garth, stead, and others....

s or hearth

Hearth

In common historic and modern usage, a hearth is a brick- or stone-lined fireplace or oven often used for cooking and/or heating. For centuries, the hearth was considered an integral part of a home, often its central or most important feature...

s, although often they are not formal.http://asatru.org/thekinrd.html Germanic Neopagan organizations have been active since the 1970s, but most of these larger groups are loose federations and do not require committed membership comparable to a church

Church Body

A local church is a Christian religious organization that meets in a particular location. Many are formally organized, with constitutions and by-laws, maintain offices, are served by pastors or lay leaders, and, in nations where this is permissible, often seek seek non-profit corporate status...

. Consequently, there is no central authority, and associations remain in a state of fluidity as factions form and break up.http://asatru.org/thekinrd.html http://www.heathenthing.org/whatisheathenry.html

There are several possibilities to analyse Germanic Neopaganism into individual currents or subgroupings.

One common approach is the classification by notions of ethnicity ("folk"). This may range from ethnic nationalist (völkisch) attitudes with far right

Far right

Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...

 tendencies on one hand (the Nouvelle Droite

Nouvelle Droite

Nouvelle Droite is a school of political thought founded largely on the works of Alain de Benoist and GRECE .-Etymology and history:...

of Alain de Benoist

Alain de Benoist

Alain de Benoist is a French academic, philosopher, a founder of the Nouvelle Droite and head of the French think tank GRECE. Benoist is a critic of liberalism, free markets and egalitarianism.-Biography:...

 notably has ties to such currents of Neopaganism) to moderate "tribalist" notions of ethnicity as based in tradition and culture, and to "universalist

Universalism

Universalism in its primary meaning refers to religious, theological, and philosophical concepts with universal application or applicability...

" approaches which de-emphasize differences between ethnic traditions (e.g. Seax Wicca).

Another classification is by approach to historicity and historical accuracy. On one hand, there are reconstructionists

Polytheistic reconstructionism

Polytheistic reconstructionism is an approach to Neopaganism first emerging in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and gathering momentum in the 1990s to 2000s...

 who aim to understand the pre-Christian Germanic religion based on academic research and implement these reconstructed . Contrasting with this is the "tradition

Tradition

A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...

alist" or "folklorist", in Scandinavia known as Folketro or Funtrad (short for Fundamentalistisk Traditionalisme) approach which emphasizes living local tradition as central.

Traditionalists will not reconstruct, but base their rituals on intimate knowledge of regional folklore. Proponents of traditionalism include the Norwegian Foreningen Forn Sed and the Swedish Samfälligheten för Nordisk Sed

Samfälligheten för Nordisk Sed

Samfälligheten för Nordisk Sed is a religious organisation of Nordisk Sed in Sweden. It is one of the proponents of the Folktro approach to Heathenry. The regional units where known as gäll until 2007 when the organisation was re-structured. Samfälligheten was formed in the early 1990s, originally...

. Both religions reject the ideas of Romanticist or New Age currents as reflected in Asatru

Ásatrú

is a form of Germanic neopaganism which developed in the United States from the 1970s....

.

At the other end of this scale are syncretist or eclectic approaches which merge innovation or "personal gnosis

Unverified personal gnosis

Unverified personal gnosis is the phenomenological concept that an individual's spiritual insights may be valid for them without being generalizable to the experience of others...

" into historical or folkloristic tradition.

Note that this scale is largely independent of the approaches to "ethnicity" outlined above. Both ethnocentric and universalist Neopagans may de-emphasize historical tradition in favour of "personal gnosis", albeit for different reasons. "Folkish" currents may rely on postulated racial memory ("metagenetics") as rendering historical tradition superfluous, while universalists may welcome ahistorical input as ultimately of the same universal validity as historical tradition.

Political ideologies

Despite a common Norse or Germanic cosmology and belief system, adherents of Germanic Neopaganism hold a wide spectrum of political beliefs from left to right and green.

Mattias Gardell

Mattias Gardell

Hans Bertil Mattias Gardell is a Swedish scholar of comparative religion. He is the current holder of the Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion at Uppsala University, Sweden....

, reader

Reader (academic rank)

The title of Reader in the United Kingdom and some universities in the Commonwealth nations like Australia and New Zealand denotes an appointment for a senior academic with a distinguished international reputation in research or scholarship...

 for religious history at the University of Stockholm, categorizes Germanic Neopaganism into "militant racist", "ethnic" and "nonracist" particularly in North America. In the militant racist position, Asatru is an expression of the "Aryan

Aryan race

The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in Western culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-European languages and their descendants up to the present day constitute a distinctive race or...

 racial soul". The ethnic position is that of "tribalism", ethnocentric but opposed to the militant racist position. According to Gardell, the militant racist faction has grown significantly in North America during the early 2000s, estimating that, as of 2005, it accounts for 40-50% of North American Odinists or Asatruar with the other two factions at close to 30% each. Beyond such speculation, however, no ample statistics exist on the matter.

Germanic Neopagan groups are generally organized into democratic

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

 and republic

Republic

A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...

an forms of church government, as inspired by the parliamentary Thing

Thing (assembly)

A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...

s of the Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 era and subsequent parliamentary system

Parliamentary system

A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch get their democratic legitimacy from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined....

s of Britain and the Scandinavian countries.http://www.normannii.org/thiubok/modern_heathenry.htmhttp://www.thetroth.org/organization/bylaws.html They promote individual rights and freedom of speech reminiscent of the free jarls of Norse saga

Norse saga

The sagas are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, the battles that took place during the voyages, about migration to Iceland and of feuds between Icelandic families...

.http://www.runestone.org/flash/faq/index.htmlhttp://www.heathenthing.org/whatisheathenry.html

In the USA, early Germanic Neopagan groups such as Else Christensen

Else Christensen

Else Christensen , 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....

's Odinist Fellowship

Odinist Fellowship

The Odinist Fellowship was the name of an early Odinist organization, founded by Else Christensen and her husband Alex Christensen in Canada in 1969...

 held National Socialist

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

 philosophies, but later dropped these associations.

Currently, the three largest Germanic Neopagan groups in the USA specifically denounce racism and National Socialism.
There is an antagonistic relationship between many neo-Nazis and the membership of most Ásatrú organizations in the USA, who view "national socialism as an unwanted totalitarian philosophy incompatible with freedom-loving Norse paganism".

Germanic Neopaganism and Racism

Odalism (a philosophy of Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism is a term commonly used for theories of society that emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, seeking to apply the principles of Darwinian evolution to sociology and politics...

) and Wotanism

Wotanism

Wotanism is the name of an American Heathen religion or socio-political current based on Germanic paganism and the doctrines of David Lane. Wotan is the German name for the Germanic god known in Norse as Odin...

 (a racist / neo-Nazi position held by e.g. David Lane) are two terms primarily focused,on politics rather than religion. On his homepage, Varg Vikernes

Varg Vikernes

Varg Vikernes is a Norwegian black metal musician, writer, philosopher, religious and political activist, arsonist and convicted murderer.Vikernes was born near Bergen, Norway. In 1991, he founded the one-man music project Burzum, which quickly became popular within the early Norwegian black metal...

, one proponent of Odalism, explains his understanding of 'Paganism' with explicit racist referencing.

Kaplan (1996) documents the growth of Odinism in the United States and its link with the American Neo-Nazi scene. He notes that there is a division between Odinists embracing Nazi ideology and others without racist motivations responding to "childhood memories". The tensions between racist and non-racist Odinists are cast into the "folkish" ("traditional Ásatrú") vs. "universalist" ("New Age Ásatrú") debate. It was these tensions that led to the demise of the Ásatrú Free Assembly in 1986 and the emergence of two separate movements, the Ásatrú Alliance

Ásatrú Alliance

The Asatru Alliance is a US Ásatrú group, succeeding Stephen McNallen's Asatru Free Assembly in 1987, founded by Michael J. Murray of Arizona, who is a former vice-president of Else Christensen's Odinist Fellowship. The AFA seceded into two groups, the other one being The Troth...

 and The Troth

The Troth

The Ring of Troth, now called simply The Troth, is an American-based international Germanic neopagan organization. The Troth was founded on December 20 , 1987 by former Asatru Free Assembly members Edred Thorsson and James Chisholm. However, neither is any longer involved with the organization...

 in the following year.

Two groups, The Troth

The Troth

The Ring of Troth, now called simply The Troth, is an American-based international Germanic neopagan organization. The Troth was founded on December 20 , 1987 by former Asatru Free Assembly members Edred Thorsson and James Chisholm. However, neither is any longer involved with the organization...

 and the Asatru Alliance

Ásatrú Alliance

The Asatru Alliance is a US Ásatrú group, succeeding Stephen McNallen's Asatru Free Assembly in 1987, founded by Michael J. Murray of Arizona, who is a former vice-president of Else Christensen's Odinist Fellowship. The AFA seceded into two groups, the other one being The Troth...

, explicitly denounce racism. The homepage of The Troth states that 'The Troth does not support any misuse of Germanic religion and culture to advance causes of racism, white supremacy, or any other form of discrimination'. The Asatru Alliance webpage states that, 'The Asatru Alliance promotes the native culture of the Northern European peoples. However, we do not practice, preach, or promote hatred, bigotry, or racism.' In addition, prominent figures in Ásatrú today such as Steven McNallen and Freya Aswynn have expressed their distaste for the racist connotations of some of the more radical practitioners of Ásatrú.

When the FBI identified potential threats towards the domestic security of the USA related to the turn of the Millennium

Millennium

A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....

 in 2000 in the Project Megiddo

Project Megiddo

Project Megiddo was a report researched and written by the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation under Director Louis Freeh. Released on October 20, 1999, the report named followers of white supremacy, Christian Identity, the militia movement, Black Hebrew Israelites, and apocalyptic cults...

 report, it stated that: "Without question, this initiative [i.e. Project Megiddo itself] has revealed indicators of potential violent activity on the part of extremists in this country. Militias, adherents of racist belief systems such as Christian Identity

Christian Identity

Christian Identity is a label applied to a wide variety of loosely affiliated believers and churches with a racialized theology. Many promote a Eurocentric interpretation of Christianity.According to Chester L...

 and Odinism, and other radical domestic extremists are clearly focusing on the millennium as a time of action." [Emphasis added]. The report also states that 'the Project Megiddo intelligence initiative has identified very few indications of specific threats to domestic security'. This report, published in 1999, describes 'threats', however since the turn of the millennium no terrorist activities have been attributed to any Odinist group.

Aesthetics and symbolism

Originally grown out of 19th century Romanticism

Romanticism

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

, the Viking revival

Viking revival

Early modern publications dealing with Old Norse culture appeared in the 16th century, e.g. Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus and the first edition of the13th century Gesta Danorum , in 1514...

 had associations with the Gothic novel and Romantic art such as the Pre-Raphaelites or the art nouveau

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...

. Also of note is the influence of Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

's "Ring Cycle." Artistic taste of adherents are often related to the High Fantasy

High fantasy

High fantasy or epic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is set in invented or parallel worlds. High fantasy was brought to fruition through the work of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, whose major fantasy works were published in the 1950s...

 genre based on Germanic mythology. New Age

New Age

The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...

 currents are another influence, although not necessarily related. These elements may blend with traditional Germanic folklore

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

.

While generally any symbol deriving from pre-Christian Germanic culture may be used, particularly popular symbols of Germanic Neopaganism are depictions of the Valknut

Valknut

The Valknut is a symbol consisting of three interlocked triangles, and appears on various Germanic objects. A number of theories have been proposed for its significance....

, Mjolnir, the Irminsul

Irminsul

An Irminsul was a kind of pillar which is attested as playing an important role in the Germanic paganism of the Saxon people. The oldest chronicle describing an Irminsul refers to it as a tree trunk erected in the open air...

, Yggdrasil

Yggdrasil

In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is an immense tree that is central in Norse cosmology. It was said to be the world tree around which the nine worlds existed...

 amongst others. Depictions of Germanic gods are also common. The Runic alphabet

Runic alphabet

The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...

 is popular, in particular the Odal, Tyr and Algiz

Algiz

The Algiz is part of the ancient Nordic and Anglo-Saxon runic alphabet, often equated to the modern day z, however was traditionally pronounced yr. The letter has come to symbolize many neo-pagan religions and is often worn as a pendant...

 runes.

The US Anti-Defamation League

Anti-Defamation League

The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...

 listed numerous symbols associated with Germanic Neopaganism as "hate symbols", but following an internet-based campaign by Germanic Neopagan groups inserted a disclaimer to the effect that the symbols listed "are often used by nonracists today, especially practitioners of modern pagan religions." Additionally, the swastika

Swastika

The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...

 may be used by some groups such as the Odinic Rite

Odinic Rite

The Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...

, who seek to "rehabilitate" it, based on some archaeological evidence for the symbol's use in Germanic antiquity. The Armanen runes

Armanen runes

The Armanen runes, or Armanen 'Futharkh' as Guido von List referred to them, are a row of 18 runes that are closely based in shape on the Younger Futhark...

, created by Guido von List

Guido von List

Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List was an Austrian/German poet, journalist, writer, businessman and dealer of leather goods, mountaineer, hiker, dramatist, playwright, and rower, but was most notable as an occultist and völkisch author who is seen as one of the most important...

 indicate an influence deriving from the work of Von Listian Germanic mysticism

Germanic mysticism

Germanic mysticism or Germanic occultism may refer to* Ariosophy* more generally, various schools of Esotericism in Germany and Austria* various modern systems of runic magic...

 rather than reconstructive forms of Germanic Neopaganism.

List of organizations

• Anglosphere
  • United Kingdom
    Neopaganism in the United Kingdom
    An estimated 40,000 to 250,000 people make up the Neo-pagan movement in the United Kingdom, which includes a variety of paths and traditions such as Neo-Druidism, Germanic Neopaganism, and Wicca, accounting for roughly a quarter of Neo-pagans worldwide...
    
    
    • Odinic Rite
      Odinic Rite
      The Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...
      
      
    • Odinist Fellowship
      Odinist Fellowship
      The Odinist Fellowship was the name of an early Odinist organization, founded by Else Christensen and her husband Alex Christensen in Canada in 1969...
      
      
  • United States
    Neopaganism in the United States
    Neopaganism in the United States is represented by widely different movements and organizations. The largest Neopagan religion is Wicca, followed by Neodruidism. Both of these religions were introduced during the 1950s from Great Britain. Germanic Neopaganism and Kemetism appeared in the US in...
    
    
    • Asatru Folk Assembly
      Asatru Folk Assembly
      The Asatru Folk Assembly, or AFA, an organization of Germanic neopaganism, is the US-based Ásatrú organization founded by Stephen McNallen in 1994. Gardell classifies the AFA as folkish....
      
      
    • Ásatrú Alliance
      Ásatrú Alliance
      The Asatru Alliance is a US Ásatrú group, succeeding Stephen McNallen's Asatru Free Assembly in 1987, founded by Michael J. Murray of Arizona, who is a former vice-president of Else Christensen's Odinist Fellowship. The AFA seceded into two groups, the other one being The Troth...
      
      
    • The Troth
      The Troth
      The Ring of Troth, now called simply The Troth, is an American-based international Germanic neopagan organization. The Troth was founded on December 20 , 1987 by former Asatru Free Assembly members Edred Thorsson and James Chisholm. However, neither is any longer involved with the organization...
      
      
    • The Fellowship of Anglo-Saxon Heathenry
    • Jotun's Bane Kindred
    • Falcon Kindred
  • Australia
    • Odinic Rite of Australia
  • Canada
    Heathenry in Canada
    Heathenry as it is expressed in Canada is used as a universal term to describe a wide range of Germanic Neopaganism. Those who practice the religions or folk-ways of Ásatrú, Forn Sed, Odinism or Theodism are all considered part of a greater Heathen umbrella. In Canada, Heathenry takes a socially...
    
    
    • Kenaz Kindred
    • Rúnatýr Kindred
    • Austrugr Kindred
• Scandinavia
  Neopaganism in Scandinavia
  Neopaganism in Scandinavia is dominated by revivals of Norse paganism .-Norway:The Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost formed in 1996 and Foreningen Forn Sed the fellowship has about 50 Faithful formed in 1999...
  
  
  • Ásatrúarfélagið
  • Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost
• German-speaking Europe
  Neopaganism in German-speaking Europe
  Neopaganism in German-speaking Europe has since its emergence in the 1970s diversified into a wide array of traditions, particularly during the New Age boom of the 1980s.Schmid distinguishes four main currents:...
  
  
  • Eldaring
    Eldaring
    The Eldaring is a Civil Service Organisation, founded in August 2000, which offers information about Asatru to the German-speaking countries. “Eldr” is old Norwegian and means fire, so Eldaring can be translated as “Ring of fire”, meaning a ring of fireplaces, hearths, etc.Asatru is a recreation...
    
    
  • Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft
  • Heidnische Gemeinschaft
• Asatru in Poland
  • Asatru Polska
• Netherlands, Flanders, South Africa
  • Werkgroep Traditie
  • Werkgroep Hagal
  • Broederskap van Gar
• Northern Italy
  • Comunità Odinista
• Latin Europe
  Neopaganism in Latin Europe
  Neopaganism in Latin Europe is less widespread than in Germanic Europe and the wider Anglosphere. Italy, Spain and Portugal are traditionally Roman Catholic and according to the retain an above average belief in God...
  
  
  • Comunidad Odinista de España-Asatru
    Comunidad Odinista de España-Asatru
    The Odinist Community of Spain — Ásatrú , also known as European Odinist Circle is a Germanic Heathen organisation in Spain founded in 1981 for followers of the denominations of Heathenry known as Odinism, after the chief god of Germanic paganism, Odin, Ásatrú and Vanatrú...
    
    
• China
  • Forn Siðr Blótsfélag Sjánghais
• Costa Rica
  • Kindred Irminsul

See also

• Germanic paganism
  Germanic paganism
  Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period...
  
  
• Norse paganism
  Norse paganism
  Norse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...
  
  
• Norse mythology
  Norse mythology
  Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
  
  
• Neopaganism
  Neopaganism
  Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...
  
  
• Polytheistic reconstructionism
  Polytheistic reconstructionism
  Polytheistic reconstructionism is an approach to Neopaganism first emerging in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and gathering momentum in the 1990s to 2000s...
  
  
• Neopaganism in Scandinavia
  Neopaganism in Scandinavia
  Neopaganism in Scandinavia is dominated by revivals of Norse paganism .-Norway:The Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost formed in 1996 and Foreningen Forn Sed the fellowship has about 50 Faithful formed in 1999...
  
  
• Neopaganism in German-speaking Europe
  Neopaganism in German-speaking Europe
  Neopaganism in German-speaking Europe has since its emergence in the 1970s diversified into a wide array of traditions, particularly during the New Age boom of the 1980s.Schmid distinguishes four main currents:...
  
  

External links

• BBC Article on heathenry written by members of the Association of Polytheist Traditions