A Modern Guide to Heathenry: Lore, Celebrations, and Mysteries of the Northern Traditions
320
A Modern Guide to Heathenry: Lore, Celebrations, and Mysteries of the Northern Traditions
320Paperback
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Overview
Heathenry, is one of the fastest growing polytheistic religious movements in the United States today. This book explores the cosmology, values, ethics, and rituals practiced by modern heathens.
In A Modern Guide to Heathenry readers will have the opportunity to explore the sacred stories of the various heathen gods like Odin, Frigga, Freya, and Thor and will be granted a look into the devotional practices of modern votaries. Blóts, the most common devotional rites, are examined in rich detail with examples given for personal use. Additionally, readers are introduced to the concept of wyrd, or fate, so integral to the heathen worldview.
Unlike many books on heathenry, this one is not denomination-specific, nor does it seek to overwhelm the reader with unfamiliar Anglo-Saxon or Norse terminology. For Pagans who wish to learn more about the Norse deities or those who are new to heathenry or who are simply interested in learning about this unique religion, A Modern Guide to Heathenry is the perfect introduction. Those who wish to deepen their own devotional practice will find this book helpful in their own work as well.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781578636785 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Red Wheel/Weiser |
| Publication date: | 12/01/2019 |
| Pages: | 320 |
| Sales rank: | 627,237 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.90(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
THE EVOLUTION OF MODERN HEATHENRY
There was a time when Northern Europe was completely Heathen. Of course, the term Heathenry wasn't used; that came later, with the imposition of Christianity and the need to give a derogatory name to the old religious beliefs that were not so easily discarded by the people. There was no specific name for the common faith practiced by the Germanic, Scandinavian, and English tribes, and none was needed. It was simply what they believed, what their ancestors before them had believed, and what had kept their communities strong and whole for generations. Fragments of their practices have come down to us in the Eddas, Sagas, histories, medical charms, and even Christian ecclesiastical writings. Theirs was not a single religion as modern theology might define it, but a collection of tribal religions with a common, cohesive, cosmological core. They shared a belief in the same Gods, though many regional variations on the divine names were known. They shared a common system of honoring those Gods, common ethics and values, and widespread veneration of their honored dead. At various times and in various regions, different Gods may have held local prominence, but the core beliefs were similar.
As early as 98 CE, the Roman historian Tacitus recorded the religious practices of the British Isles, noting that "their holy places are woods and groves, and they apply the names of Deities to that hidden presence which is seen only by the eye of reverence." He examined at length the various governments of the Germanic tribes, their social customs, and the high regard in which they held their women. His is the only surviving record of the Goddess Nerthus, whose worship was once widespread throughout the North. Another important source of information was the eyewitness accounts of Arab travelers Ibn Fadlan and al-Tartushi. Given that the Germanic and Scandinavian traditions were primarily oral, we are forced to rely on these accounts of travelers, traders, and diplomats and on the writings of Christian historians and poets for most of what we know about their religious customs and beliefs, and most of that comes from the Viking Age, 800–1300 CE, a time of extensive interaction through trade, migration, and violent raiding. Viking trade routes spanned the continent of Europe, extending to what is now modern-day Russia and even as far as the Ottoman Empire. At least one hundred years after the fall of the last Heathen temple in 1100, the Icelandic statesman and poet Snorri Sturluson committed to print the tales and sagas of the Gods and heroes. In other areas of Europe, most notably Lithuania, indigenous polytheism wasn't suppressed until the fifteenth century. Today, more and more people are returning to these polytheisms, working to restore and cultivate their traditions in the modern age.
Given the Vikings' extensive trade routes, the inevitable intermarriage with other cultures, the prevalence of Saami references in the context of Nordic magico-religious practices, the occasional reference in lore to folk who worshipped both Thor and Christ, and the ease with which early Christian healers combined Heathen and Christian symbology in their healing charms, it's doubtful that there was any rigid Heathen orthodoxy. Recent scholarship confirms that Viking Age Europe was a world of cultural interconnection between Anglo-Saxon, Balto-Finnic, Celtic, Saami, and Norse cultures. As with many polytheistic cultures, the initial attitude toward foreign Gods was quite likely not hostile. Any religion they came into contact with prior to the advent of Christianity would have been grounded in the specific cultures of its adherents, providing a logical continuity of cosmological understanding, and would have borne no imperative to dissolve and destroy other beliefs.
Unfortunately, this is precisely what occurred with Christianity. The arrival of Christianity in Northern Europe was inevitably followed by prohibitions against the practice of the indigenous faiths. Some of the more zealous converted Christian kings, such as Norway's Olaf Tryggvason, enforced those prohibitions with bloodthirsty zeal, torturing followers of the old Gods with a viciousness matched only by the later Spanish Inquisition. Christianity appeared in England with the arrival of Augustine of Canterbury, sent at Pope Gregory's behest in 597. In less than 200 years, England was thoroughly Christianized, though Heathen practices and customs apparently continued to coexist alongside the newfound faith. People did not readily give up their traditional beliefs and practices, and there is evidence easily into the eleventh century for a surviving Heathenry when King Canute, for instance, had to enact laws against these traditional practices. Even into the nineteenth century, there are folk charms and practices that reference the Northern Gods.
The rest of Northern Europe fell to Christian conquest slowly but surely. Iceland converted in 1000, when their lawspeaker, Thorgeirr Thorkelsson, was asked to mediate the growing dispute between Christian and Heathen factions. He withdrew "under the cloak" for a day and a night and, when he emerged, settled in favor of the Christians. The last Heathen Temple, in Uppsala, Sweden, was forcibly closed in 1100 after the defeat of King Sweyn "the Sacrificer." King Sweyn had taken the throne after his brother-in-law King Inge I was ousted for trying to impose Christianity upon the people. Inge later raised an army, killed Sweyn, and took back his throne, and Christianity became the state religion. This slow process of conversion was not without bloodshed on both sides as this example illustrates.
The conversion of Europe was finalized by historians and scholars who reinforced the idea of Christianity as a positive evolution of belief, regardless of the cultural and religious devastation of indigenous practices it left in its wake. Little attention has been given to pre-Christian Heathenry as a serious faith, and modern scholars remain equally dismissive of the rebirth of Heathenry, expressing biased, condescending, or antiquated views.
Though some folk traditions remained alive in Scandinavian, English, and Germanic countries, the Nordic Gods were not openly worshipped again on any large scale until the 1970s. Some modern Heathens refer to the Heathens of pre-Christian Europe as "Arch-Heathens." Because they lived in a time when their faith and culture were able to develop not only without interference but also without conflict with the dominant cultural and social mores, it is thought that they had a clearer connection to the Gods — something that only this generation's children's children, raised Heathen, will have a chance to reclaim.
The rebirth of Heathenry began in late nineteenth-century Germany. German Romanticism saw a burgeoning interest in the tales and fables of the old Gods. The occult revival of the West, represented by Dion Fortune, Helena Blavatsky, and Aleister Crowley, had its German counterparts in Guido von List, Rudolf Steiner, and the Thule Society. Just as the occult revival in England led eventually to the birth of modern Wicca, so too might Heathenry have gone had World War II not intervened. Modern Heathens are often asked if their religion has anything to do with Nazism or racism. The answer is an unequivocal no. It is true that Nazi Germany appropriated certain sacred Heathen symbols, such as the sun wheel (a symbol of the regenerative power of the sun found in nearly every Indo-European culture and even in Japan) and various runes. However, they were not Heathen, nor did Hitler and his Nazis ascribe to any Heathen practices or beliefs. In fact, Hitler several times expressed very negative views about followers of the old Gods, and in 1941, the head of his security police, Reinhardt Heydrich, banned a large number of spiritual and occult practices. Among the victims of this act were followers of Rudolf Steiner, Guido von List, and traditional Odinists (worshippers of the God Odin). Many were arrested. Their property was confiscated, and some were even sent to concentration camps such as Flossenberg and Dachau. There will always be ignorant folk who attempt to misuse sacred symbols. Unfortunately there is a small percentage of racists who have attempted to latch on to Heathen principles in order to further their hate-filled agenda. However, the majority of modern Heathens find them deplorable and will have nothing to do with them.
World War II set the rebirth of Modern Heathenry back at least thirty years. It wasn't until the early 1970s that it truly began to emerge again. Groups in Iceland, the United States, and England and across Europe, independently of each other, began to worship the Norse Gods and reconstruct Heathen rituals and practices. Icelandic poet and farmer Sveinbjorn Beinteinsson and his friends formed the group Asatruarfelagid. In the U.S., Robert Stine and Stephen McNallon formed the Viking Brotherhood, later renamed the Asatru Folk Alliance. The Committee for the Restoration of the Odinic Rite was formed in the UK by John Yeowell and his associates. The decades that followed saw immense growth in the Heathen community as well as schisms and splits. New groups, such as Thaet Angelseaxisce Ealdriht, devoted to the study and practice of Anglo-Saxon forms of Heathenry; Normanni Thiud, focusing on Norman Heathenry; and The Troth, an international networking organization, soon sprang up across the U.S. In 1973, Asatru was named one of the official religions of Iceland, alongside the Lutheran Church. In 2003, the Lutheran Church in Denmark, which possesses ultimate religious authority in that country, granted official status to a Heathen religious group, which can now perform legal Heathen weddings.
Like any other religion, modern Heathenry is diverse, with many different denominations. While all modern Heathens share a common cosmological core, social structure and theological emphasis and approach can vary widely from group to group. Modern Heathenry can best be divided by where the groups draw their primary cultural inspiration. The major denominations draw upon Icelandic, Continental Germanic and Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, or Norman history, culture, language, and religion for their reconstructionist inspiration. Some focus on one particular culture, while others may rely on several or even all of the above.
Three terms that newcomers to the community will invariably hear are (1) Tribalist, (2) Universalist, and (3) Folkish. These aren't really denominations so much as a sociopolitical-religious spectrum into which various denominations of Heathenry and may fall. Within that spectrum, there are strict reconstructionists who restrict their practices to what can clearly and unarguably be referenced from the surviving lore. There are neo-Heathens who are more open to innovation and resources that are not lore-based, focusing on the modern evolution of Heathenry and asking what Heathenry would be like had we not endured 2,000 years of Christianity. There are also those Heathens who fall somewhere between the two, as well as those who believe that Heathenry, like Shinto or the Native American religions, is an indigenous religion and should be approached as such. Some Heathens may even fall into more than one category. Let's examine each, in turn, beginning with the one that falls in the middle of the spectrum.
Tribalism: Some groups are Tribalist — focused on rebuilding cohesive, interdependent communities structured around strict adherence to the Heathen thew of our ancestors. These denominations tend to have hierarchical social structures based on the comitatus model of the Anglo-Saxons and Normans and tend to be somewhat conservative. They are not inclusive generally, expecting a certain degree of commitment and demonstrated worth from new members. Among Tribalist Heathens, the family and community are the binding forces by which the individual Heathens govern their lives. Much focus is given to right action and right relationship, the accepted definition of frith being far more active and assertive than other denominations may expect. As with other denominations of Heathenry, honoring the Gods, blóting, and celebrating the holy tides are all considered extremely important. Religion, community, and culture are inseparable, being seen as necessary components of a well-balanced whole. The Tribal community is generally the primary means of self-definition for Tribalist Heathens.
Universalism: At the more liberal end of the spectrum, Universalist Heathens (a good example would be the majority of the Troth community) are generally far more tolerant of variations of thew and practice, with less concern for social organization or a centralized authority. They reject the hierarchical, theodish social structure and the need for a web of oaths (which we will discuss later). They generally appreciate diversity and are not focused on building insular Heathen communities, as their self-definition does not rest on the tribal unit but rather on the individual. Universalists are far more concerned with getting along with other Heathens and accommodating variations in practice than Tribalists. They are understanding, if not accepting, of Neo-Pagan influence; many Universalists even consider Heathenry to fall under the Neo-Pagan umbrella — a position most Folkish Heathens and Tribalists reject. More importance is ascribed to the commonalities between Heathens and commonalities of cosmological symbolism between cultures and religions than to cultural uniqueness. As with Tribalists, honoring the Gods, studying lore, and keeping the holy tides are all very important to Universalist practice.
Folkish Heathenry: At the more conservative end of the spectrum, we have Folkish Heathenry. Perhaps no other "denomination" causes such controversy as this one. When I first became Heathen in 1996, "Folkish" was interchangeable with "racist," denoting a person one step away from being a white supremacist. We now see a spectrum of belief and practice within the Folkish community. Basically, Folkish Heathens believe that, in order to practice Heathenry, one must either be of English/Germanic/Scandinavian descent or acculturated to such a community. For some, those who are not of European descent may become part of the community by adoption or blood-sib oath. For others, nothing less than English/Germanic/Scandinavian blood ancestry will suffice. Like Tribalists, they have a strong focus on building a Heathen community, and many Folkish Heathens are also Tribalist. Heathenry, however, is seen as an ancestral religion first and foremost; to appreciate it fully — to truly have a direct link to the Norse Gods — one must share in that ancestry. Most Folkish Heathens would not consider themselves racist but would simply not comprehend why someone of non-Germanic descent would choose to honor Germanic Gods and culture. Such a person would be encouraged to seek out and honor his or her own indigenous Gods. The Asatru Alliance is one example of a Folkish organization. This is where it becomes tricky: while some small percentage of Folkish Heathens may be racist, it does not follow that Folkism is automatically synonymous with racism. In most cases, it is not. The defining tenet of Folkish Heathenry is that Heathenry is seen, first and foremost, as an ancestral tradition.
Theodish Heathenry: Theodish Heathens are bound within a tribal structure by what is called a "web of oaths." Bonds are formed between individuals of varying social rank (and Theodish social structure is hierarchical) by means of sacred oaths, and this web of oaths holds the tribe together. So while all Theods are Tribalist, one may be Tribalist without being Theodish. The difference is largely one of social structure and hierarchy.
Northern Tradition Paganism is much more open to magical and ecstatic practices and to nonlore-based ritual and inspiration. While I personally don't see anything in Northern Tradition Paganism that isn't specifically Heathen, those who claim this identity for themselves generally do so because more mainstream denominations are ambivalent about issues like shamanism, spirit work, and direct engagement with the Gods, especially the Jötnar, all of which form important foci of NT Paganism. It should be noted that there are Heathens who engage in all of these things, but having a more Tribalist orientation, hold firmly to the identity of "Heathen" rather than "NT Pagan." It's complicated.
Heathens do not meet in churches. Most gather in private homes or on private land. It is quite common for rites and celebrations to be held outdoors when weather permits. The most common name for a group of practicing Heathens is a Kindred. It may also be referred to as a Mot, if one is of Anglo-Saxon belief. Most of the kindreds and organizations out there fall somewhere along the spectrum of belief and practice mentioned above, and understanding and application of Heathen thews will vary accordingly.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "A Modern Guide to Heathenry"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Galina Krasskova.
Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
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Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
FOREWORD,
PREFACE,
INTRODUCTION,
CHAPTER 1 THE EVOLUTION OF MODERN HEATHENRY,
CHAPTER 2 COSMOLOGY,
CHAPTER 3 THE GODDESSES,
CHAPTER 4 THE GODS,
CHAPTER 5 WYRD,
CHAPTER 6 THE SOUL MATRIX,
CHAPTER 7 HEATHEN ETHICS AND VALUES,
CHAPTER 8 THE BASIC BLÓT,
CHAPTER 9 SYMBEL,
CHAPTER 10 PERSONAL DEVOTIONS,
CHAPTER 11 HOLY TIDES,
CHAPTER NOTES,
GLOSSARY,
BIBLIOGRAPHY,
SUGGESTED READING,
INDEX,
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