Neopaganism in German-speaking Europe
Encyclopedia
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 (2006) distinguishes four main currents:
R. Gründer in Junker (2007) analyzing the role of Neopagan groups in Germany concludes that German Neopaganism has been used as a projection-screen for the attribution of anti-Christian, anti-Semitism
, and right extremist ideologies mainly by churches and the media.
pioneered by Guido von List
and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels in the 1890 to 1930 period.
A Guido von List Society was founded 1908. Other early groups influenced by List were the Deutschgläubige Gemeinschaft (1911), the Germanenorden
(1912) and the Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft (1907).
The contemporary term Deutschgläubig for these movements may be translated as either "German Faith", "Teutonic
Faith" or in the more archaic usage of Deutsch as "folk belief". Several of these groups came together in 1933 forming an Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Deutschen Glaubensbewegung. There was however no unified take on the contents of a Deutschgläubig religiosity, and approaches varied from a "national Christianity" based on the Arianism
of the Goths, German mysticism
, Humanism and free thought, as well as racialist ideas of a native Nordic or Aryan
religion. The radical free-thinking tendency combined with the Nordicist one to the effect of pronounced hostility towards Christianity and the Church. Krause et al. (1977:557) distinguish four basic types subsumed under Deutschgläubig:
originated as an offshoot of the Germanenorden in 1917, and notoriously became associated with the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei in 1919 and thus involved in the formative phase of the Nazi Party. By the rise of the Third Reich in 1933, the Thule society had been dissolved, and esoteric organisations (including völkisch occultists) were suppressed by the Nazi regime, many closed down by anti-Masonic legislation in 1935. Nevertheless, some elements of Germanic mysticism found reflection in the symbolism employed by the Nazis, mostly due to Heinrich Himmler
's interest in the occult. As early as 1940, the occult scholar and folklorist Lewis Spence
identified a neopagan
undercurrent in Nazism, for which he largely blamed Alfred Rosenberg
, and which he equated with "satanism
". This notion of a Nazi occultism has been relativized as superficial. Heinz Höhne
, an authority on the SS, observes that "Himmler's neo-pagan customs remained primarily a paper exercise". In Hamburg
which was considered a stronghold, only 0.49% of the inhabitants identified as belonging to the neopagan faith movement (in 1937).
With the fall of the Third Reich, the Deutschgläubig movement was finished, appearing suspect at least during the period of denazification
(Krause 1977:558). But völkisch religiosity began to re-surface as early as 1951 with the Artgemeinschaft
and the Deutsche Unitarier.
The Heidnische Gemeinschaft (HG; "Heathen Community") was founded in 1985 by Géza von Neményi as an outgrowth of the Heidenspaßkreis community led by Matthias Wenger. Geza von Neményi left the society in 1991 and went to re-activate the Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft.
The 1980s were dominated by the New Age
movement, giving rise to a significant neopagan movement detached in origin from the völkisch or Deutschgläubig history of German neopaganism. Wicca
and the Goddess movement
begins to take hold in German feminist subculture in this period,
e.g. with Heide Göttner-Abendroth
whose "International Academy for Modern Matriarchal Studies and Matriarchal Spirituality" (HAGIA) was founded in 1986.
The German Wicca
movement is dominated by the US feminist currents of Dianic Wicca
and the Reclaiming
community advocating radical environmentalism
(REMID).
in particular becomes apparent in the later 1990s, based on inspiration from the English speaking world rather than historical Deutschgläubig groups, with the foundation of the Rabenclan (1994) and of a German chapter of Odinic Rite
in 1995, followed by Nornirs Ætt in 1997 and the Eldaring
as a chapter of the US The Troth
in 2000.
Fahrenkrog's Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft had been deleted from the official registers in 1964, most members being dead. In 1991 it was reactivated by Géza von Neményi (b. 1958), who had received the organization's archives from Dessel as the result of a hostile split of the Heidnische Gemeinschaft, which von Neményi had founded in 1985.
Von Neményi had been a member of the board of the Green Party in Berlin until 1985, when he was expelled together with his brother for alleged connections to the Neo-Nazi milieu, an accusation which both men denied. Subsequently, the GGG successfully sued the Artgemeinschaft
, which also claimed to be the legal successor of Fahrenkrog's organization.
However, in 1995 the GGG denied being a continuation of Fahrenkrog's organization. In 1997, the GGG again claimed to have been founded in 1907. Since the foundation/reactivation of GGG, von Neményi has claimed the title of Allsherjargode
(an Icelandic title translating approximately to "high priest") and position of a spiritual leader, a claim rejected and mocked by most other Neopagan groups in Germany.
Within Germanic Neopaganism in Germany in particular, debate on Neopaganism and Neo-Nazism is very prominent and controversial.
The large majority of German Neopagans vehemently renounce all right extremist associations, especially since a 1996 case of a Sauerland
Neo-Nazi who had confessed to four murders which he claimed were inspired by the command of Odin
.
The controversy is kept alive because there remain a number of Neo-Nazi or far-right neopagan groups,
with Jürgen Rieger
's Artgemeinschaft (Rieger died 2009) notoriously domain squatting asatru.de since 1999.
The Rabenclan and Nornirs Ætt groups have been particularly prominent in this respect in the 1990s, with their anti-racist "Ariosophy
project" actively denouncing right extremists within the German Neopagan movement. Other groups, like the Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft do not take a clear position with regard to neo-völkisch or New Right
schools of thoughts. The Eldaring
avoids taking any political stance and rejects the "folkish" vs. "universalist" division as inapplicable.
The Verein für germanisches Heidentum (VfGH), formerly "Odinic Rite Deutschland" has been associated with the folkish Odinic Rite
in Britain from 1995, but later severed organisational ties and was renamed to its present name in 2006. The "folkish" concept of Metagenetics advocated in US Asatru by Stephen McNallen
was introduced into German discourse by Volker "Stilkam" Wagner of Odinic Rite Deutschland, a position harshly attacked by the Rabenclan as völkisch or New Right
ideology. Some fringe groups like the Artgemeinschaft
and the Deutsche Heidnische Front
are essentially Neo-Nazi groups clad in pagan terminology.
, by virtue of Austria being the location of the Proto-Celtic Hallstatt culture
. The Keltendorf in Diex
, Kärnten combines archaeological reconstruction with "European geomancy
". The Europäisch Keltische Gemeinschaft has been active since 1998.
The Pagan Federation
has chapters in Austria and Germany. There is no organized Neopagan group in Switzerland, the Eldaring
catering also to Swiss and Austrian members. A loose network centered around interest in Alpine paganism has been active in Switzerland under the name Alte Sitte (the German translation of Forn Sed) since 2006.
Alpine
Celtic
Syncretic / Wicca / other
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 German-speaking Europe
German-speaking Europe
The German language is spoken in a number of countries and territories in West, Central and Eastern Europe...
has since its emergence in the 1970s diversified into a wide array of traditions, particularly during the 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...
boom of the 1980s.
Schmid (2006) distinguishes four main currents:
- Celtic Neopaganism / NeodruidismCeltic NeopaganismCeltic Neopaganism refers to Neopagan movements based on Celtic polytheism.-Types of Celtic Neopaganism:*Neo-druidism, grew out of the Celtic revival in 18th century Romanticism....
- Germanic Neopaganism / ÁsatrúGermanic NeopaganismGermanic neopaganism is the contemporary revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s...
- WiccaWiccaWicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
- NeoshamanismNeoshamanismNeoshamanism is a term signaling a "new" form or a revival of an old form of "shamanism", a system that comprises a range of beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spiritual world....
R. Gründer in Junker (2007) analyzing the role of Neopagan groups in Germany concludes that German Neopaganism has been used as a projection-screen for the attribution of anti-Christian, anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
, and right extremist ideologies mainly by churches and the media.
Early forms
Neopaganism in Germany and Austria has been strongly influenced by the occultist Germanic mysticismGermanic 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...
pioneered 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...
and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels in the 1890 to 1930 period.
A Guido von List Society was founded 1908. Other early groups influenced by List were the Deutschgläubige Gemeinschaft (1911), the Germanenorden
Germanenorden
The Germanenorden was a völkisch secret society in early 20th century Germany...
(1912) and the Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft (1907).
The contemporary term Deutschgläubig for these movements may be translated as either "German Faith", "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...
Faith" or in the more archaic usage of Deutsch as "folk belief". Several of these groups came together in 1933 forming an Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Deutschen Glaubensbewegung. There was however no unified take on the contents of a Deutschgläubig religiosity, and approaches varied from a "national Christianity" based on the Arianism
Arianism
Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
of the Goths, German mysticism
German mysticism
German mysticism, sometimes called Dominican mysticism or Rhineland mysticism, was a late medieval Christian mystical movement, that was especially prominent within the Dominican order and in Germany. Although its origins can be traced back to Hildegard of Bingen, it is mostly represented by...
, Humanism and free thought, as well as racialist ideas of a native Nordic or 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...
religion. The radical free-thinking tendency combined with the Nordicist one to the effect of pronounced hostility towards Christianity and the Church. Krause et al. (1977:557) distinguish four basic types subsumed under Deutschgläubig:
- the Deutscher Glaube of Jakob Wilhelm HauerJakob Wilhelm HauerJakob Wilhelm Hauer was a German Indologist and religious studies writer. He was the founder of the German Faith Movement.-Biography:...
, inspired by influences of Hinduism and mysticism combined with elements of Neplatonism, Humanism, Renaissance and the German classics - "Nordic" religion embraced as the native religion of the Nordic race, rejecting Christianity on grounds of being a foreign ("Semitic") intrusion. This branch is the closest to later "folkishFolkishFolkish may refer to:*Folk culture, in the sense "of the common people; traditional, sophisticated, yet unconventional"*Völkisch movement of German ethnic nationalism*Neo-völkisch, an ethnocentric current in Germanic neopaganism-See also:...
" Germanic neopaganismGermanic neopaganismGermanic neopaganism is the contemporary revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s...
, postulating that a people's native religion is based on a "racial soul" (Rassenseele), comparable to current ideas of Metagenetics in "folkish" neopaganism. Ludwig FahrenkrogLudwig FahrenkrogLudwig Fahrenkrog was a German writer, playwright and artist. He was born in Rendsburg, Prussia, in 1867. He started his career as an artist in his youth, and attended the Berlin Royal Art Academy before being appointed a professor in 1913. He taught at the School of Arts and Crafts in Bremen from...
and his Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft represent a specifically Germanic approach within the "Nordic" group. - The political approach as represented by Alfred RosenbergAlfred Rosenberg' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
which rejects religiosity in favour of pure völkisch political ideology. - Mathilde LudendorffMathilde LudendorffMathilde Friederike Karoline Ludendorff was a German teacher and doctor. She was the second wife of Erich Ludendorff - he was her third husband - as well as a leading figure in the Völkisch movement, where she was known for her esoteric and conspiratorial ideas...
's "ethnocentric soteriology" as taken up by the TannenbergbundTannenbergbundThe Tannenbergbund was a far right German political society founded by the German Army general Erich Ludendorff in 1925.-Founding:Ludendorff had been a leading member of the National Socialist German Workers Party in the early 1920s and ran for the party in the 1925 Presidential election during...
(1925)
Third Reich and aftermath
The Thule SocietyThule 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...
originated as an offshoot of the Germanenorden in 1917, and notoriously became associated with the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei in 1919 and thus involved in the formative phase of the Nazi Party. By the rise of the Third Reich in 1933, the Thule society had been dissolved, and esoteric organisations (including völkisch occultists) were suppressed by the Nazi regime, many closed down by anti-Masonic legislation in 1935. Nevertheless, some elements of Germanic mysticism found reflection in the symbolism employed by the Nazis, mostly due to Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
's interest in the occult. As early as 1940, the occult scholar and folklorist Lewis Spence
Lewis Spence
James Lewis Thomas Chalmbers Spence was a Scottish journalist, whose efforts as a compiler of Scottish folklore have proved more durable than his efforts as a poet and occult scholar....
identified a neopagan
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...
undercurrent in Nazism, for which he largely blamed Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Rosenberg
' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
, and which he equated with "satanism
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
". This notion of a Nazi occultism has been relativized as superficial. Heinz Höhne
Heinz Höhne
Heinz Höhne was a German journalist and historian who specialized in Nazi and intelligence history....
, an authority on the SS, observes that "Himmler's neo-pagan customs remained primarily a paper exercise". In Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
which was considered a stronghold, only 0.49% of the inhabitants identified as belonging to the neopagan faith movement (in 1937).
With the fall of the Third Reich, the Deutschgläubig movement was finished, appearing suspect at least during the period of denazification
Denazification
Denazification was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of any remnants of the National Socialist ideology. It was carried out specifically by removing those involved from positions of influence and by disbanding or rendering...
(Krause 1977:558). But völkisch religiosity began to re-surface as early as 1951 with the Artgemeinschaft
Artgemeinschaft
The Artgemeinschaft Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft is a German Neopagan and Neonazi organization, founded in 1951 by Wilhelm Kusserow...
and the Deutsche Unitarier.
1970s to 1980s
Neopaganism saw a revival in the 1970s, partly by US influence, partly by the revival of pre-war occultist societies. The Armanenorden was re-established in 1976.The Heidnische Gemeinschaft (HG; "Heathen Community") was founded in 1985 by Géza von Neményi as an outgrowth of the Heidenspaßkreis community led by Matthias Wenger. Geza von Neményi left the society in 1991 and went to re-activate the Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft.
The 1980s were dominated by the 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...
movement, giving rise to a significant neopagan movement detached in origin from the völkisch or Deutschgläubig history of German neopaganism. Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
and the Goddess movement
Goddess movement
The Goddess movement is an overall trend in religious or spiritual beliefs or practices which emerged out of second-wave feminism, predominantly in North America, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand in the 1970s...
begins to take hold in German feminist subculture in this period,
e.g. with Heide Göttner-Abendroth
Heide Göttner-Abendroth
Heide Göttner-Abendroth is a German feminist advocating a branch of feminist anthropology known as Matriarchy Studies , focusing on the study of matriarchal or matrilineal societies.-Life:Göttner-Abendroth was born during World War II, and at the age of 12 escaped from East Germany to West...
whose "International Academy for Modern Matriarchal Studies and Matriarchal Spirituality" (HAGIA) was founded in 1986.
The German Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
movement is dominated by the US feminist currents of Dianic Wicca
Dianic Wicca
Dianic Witchcraft and Dianic Feminist Witchcraft, is a tradition, or denomination, of the Neopagan religion of Wicca. It was founded by Zsuzsanna Budapest in the United States in the 1970s, and is notable for its focus on the worship of the Goddess, and on feminism...
and the Reclaiming
Reclaiming (neopaganism)
Reclaiming is an international community of women and men working to combine earth-based spirituality and political activism. Its predecessor organization, the Reclaiming Collective, was founded in 1979 by two Neopagan women of Jewish descent, Starhawk and Diane Baker, in order to explore and...
community advocating radical environmentalism
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
(REMID).
Germanic Neopaganism in Germany
A renewed interest in Germanic neopaganism or AsatruÁsatrú
is a form of Germanic neopaganism which developed in the United States from the 1970s....
in particular becomes apparent in the later 1990s, based on inspiration from the English speaking world rather than historical Deutschgläubig groups, with the foundation of the Rabenclan (1994) and of 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.
Fahrenkrog's Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft had been deleted from the official registers in 1964, most members being dead. In 1991 it was reactivated by Géza von Neményi (b. 1958), who had received the organization's archives from Dessel as the result of a hostile split of the Heidnische Gemeinschaft, which von Neményi had founded in 1985.
Von Neményi had been a member of the board of the Green Party in Berlin until 1985, when he was expelled together with his brother for alleged connections to the Neo-Nazi milieu, an accusation which both men denied. Subsequently, the GGG successfully sued the Artgemeinschaft
Artgemeinschaft
The Artgemeinschaft Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft is a German Neopagan and Neonazi organization, founded in 1951 by Wilhelm Kusserow...
, which also claimed to be the legal successor of Fahrenkrog's organization.
However, in 1995 the GGG denied being a continuation of Fahrenkrog's organization. In 1997, the GGG again claimed to have been founded in 1907. Since the foundation/reactivation of GGG, von Neményi has claimed the title of Allsherjargode
Allsherjargoði
Allsherjargoði was an office in the Icelandic Commonwealth, held by the goði who held the goðorð of the descendants of Ingólfr Arnarson, the first settler of Iceland...
(an Icelandic title translating approximately to "high priest") and position of a spiritual leader, a claim rejected and mocked by most other Neopagan groups in Germany.
Within Germanic Neopaganism in Germany in particular, debate on Neopaganism and Neo-Nazism is very prominent and controversial.
The large majority of German Neopagans vehemently renounce all right extremist associations, especially since a 1996 case of a Sauerland
Sauerland
The Sauerland is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited...
Neo-Nazi who had confessed to four murders which he claimed were inspired by the command of 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"....
.
The controversy is kept alive because there remain a number of Neo-Nazi or far-right neopagan groups,
with Jürgen Rieger
Jürgen Rieger
Jürgen Rieger was a Hamburg lawyer, and deputy chairman of the National Democratic Party of Germany , known for his Holocaust denial....
's Artgemeinschaft (Rieger died 2009) notoriously domain squatting asatru.de since 1999.
The Rabenclan and Nornirs Ætt groups have been particularly prominent in this respect in the 1990s, with their anti-racist "Ariosophy
Ariosophy
Armanism and Ariosophy are the names of ideological systems of an esoteric nature, pioneered by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', meaning wisdom concerning the Aryans, was first coined by Lanz von Liebenfels in 1915 and...
project" actively denouncing right extremists within the German Neopagan movement. Other groups, like the Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft do not take a clear position with regard to neo-völkisch or New Right
Nouvelle Droite
Nouvelle Droite is a school of political thought founded largely on the works of Alain de Benoist and GRECE .-Etymology and history:...
schools of thoughts. 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...
avoids taking any political stance and rejects the "folkish" vs. "universalist" division as inapplicable.
The Verein für germanisches Heidentum (VfGH), formerly "Odinic Rite Deutschland" has been associated with the folkish 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 Britain from 1995, but later severed organisational ties and was renamed to its present name in 2006. The "folkish" concept of Metagenetics advocated in US Asatru by 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:...
was introduced into German discourse by Volker "Stilkam" Wagner of Odinic Rite Deutschland, a position harshly attacked by the Rabenclan as völkisch or New Right
Nouvelle Droite
Nouvelle Droite is a school of political thought founded largely on the works of Alain de Benoist and GRECE .-Etymology and history:...
ideology. Some fringe groups like the Artgemeinschaft
Artgemeinschaft
The Artgemeinschaft Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft is a German Neopagan and Neonazi organization, founded in 1951 by Wilhelm Kusserow...
and the Deutsche Heidnische Front
Deutsche Heidnische Front
Deutsche Heidnische Front is a far right Neo-pagan group which was created in 1998 as the German section of the Heathen Front...
are essentially Neo-Nazi groups clad in pagan terminology.
Austria and Switzerland
Celtic Neopaganism and Neo-Druidism is particularly popular in AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, by virtue of Austria being the location of the Proto-Celtic Hallstatt culture
Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture from the 8th to 6th centuries BC , developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC and followed in much of Central Europe by the La Tène culture.By the 6th century BC, the Hallstatt culture extended for some...
. The Keltendorf in Diex
Diex
Diex is a town in the district of Völkermarkt in Carinthia in Austria. It is known for its Gothic fortified church on a hilltop....
, Kärnten combines archaeological reconstruction with "European geomancy
Geomancy
Geomancy is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand...
". The Europäisch Keltische Gemeinschaft has been active since 1998.
The Pagan Federation
Pagan Federation
The Pagan Federation is a UK-based voluntary organisation, formed in 1971, which campaigns for the religious rights of Neo-pagans and educates both civic bodies and the general public about Paganism. It is active throughout Europe and organises a large number of Pagan events. The organisation...
has chapters in Austria and Germany. There is no organized Neopagan group in Switzerland, 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...
catering also to Swiss and Austrian members. A loose network centered around interest in Alpine paganism has been active in Switzerland under the name Alte Sitte (the German translation of Forn Sed) since 2006.
External links
Germanic (Asatru / Forn Siðr)- Eldaring.de
- Nornirsaett.de
- Asatru Ring Frankfurt & Midgard
- GGG.de.vu
- VFGH.de
- Wurdarborn.oyla17.de
- Asatruart.de
- Semnonenbund.de
- Asawiki.de
- Asentr.eu (Volker "Stilkam" Wagner)
- Firne-Sitte.net
Alpine
Celtic
Syncretic / Wicca / other
- Wicca.de
- Wurzelwerk.at
- Paganforum.de
- Rabenclan.de
- Clochsliaph.de
- At.paganfederation.org
- De.paganfederation.org
- Zentralrat-der-heiden.de
- Boudicca.de ("Gardenstone")
- Members.liwest.at "Krautsalat" (parody)