Rediscovering Germanic Paganism And Its Resurrection.

Red_Skull · November 13, 2015, 5:13am

Heathenry, also termed Heathenism or Germanic Neopaganism, is a modern Pagan new religious movement whose practitioners seek to revive the pre-Christian religions adhered to by the Germanic peoples of Iron Age and Early Medieval Europe, using surviving historical, archaeological, and folkloric evidence as a basis.[a] Germanic Neopagan approaches to this material vary considerably, ranging from strictly historical polytheistic reconstructionism to more syncretistic interpretations. Heathen communities are currently present in various parts of Europe, the Americas, and Australasia.

Although lacking a unified theology, Heathenry is typically polytheistic, centering around a pantheon of deities from pre-Christian Germanic Europe. It adopts the cosmological views that were described in various historical sources, including an animistic view of the cosmos in which the natural world is imbued with spirits. The faith’s gods and goddesses are honored in sacrificial rites known as Blóts, which are often accompanied by Symbel, the act of ceremonially toasting the gods with an alcoholic beverage. The Heathen community assembles in small groups, usually known as kindreds or hearths, who often perform their rites in specially constructed buildings or outdoors. Some practitioners also engage in rituals designed to induce altered states of consciousness and visions, most notably Seiðr and Galdr, with the intent of gaining wisdom and advice from the deities. Heathen ethical systems place great emphasis on honor, personal integrity, and loyalty.

The religion’s origins lie in the 19th and early 20th century romanticist movements that glorified the pre-Christian beliefs of Germanic societies. Organised groups venerating the Germanic gods developed in Germany, Austria, and Australia, which typically exhibited a racialist interpretation of the religion, resulting in the movement largely dissolving following the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Second World War. In the 1970s, new Heathen organisations emerged in Europe and North America, developing themselves into formalised groups in order to promote their faith. In recent decades, the Heathen movement has been the subject of academic study by scholars active in the field of Pagan studies.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_paganism

Red_Skull · November 13, 2015, 5:40am

Wodan

In Germanic mythology, Odin (from Old Norse Óðinn) is a widely revered god. In Norse mythology, whence most surviving information about the god stems, Odin is associated with healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, battle, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, and is the husband of the goddess Frigg. In wider Germanic mythology and paganism, Odin was known in Old English as Wōden, in Old Saxon as Wōden, and in Old High German as Wuotan or Wodan, all stemming from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic theonym *wōđanaz.

Odin is a prominently mentioned god throughout the recorded history of the Germanic peoples, from the Roman occupation of regions of Germania, through the tribal expansions of the Migration Period and the Viking Age. Odin continued into the modern period to be acknowledged in rural folklore in all Germanic regions. References to Odin appear in place names throughout regions historically inhabited by the ancient Germanic peoples, and the day of the week Wednesday bears his name in many Germanic languages, including English.

In Anglo-Saxon England Odin held a particular place as a euhemerized ancestral figure among royalty, and he is frequently referred to as a founding figure among various other Germanic peoples, including the Langobards and in most of Scandinavia. While forms of his name appear frequently throughout the Germanic record, narratives regarding Odin are primarily found in Old Norse works recorded in Iceland, primarily around the 13th century, texts which make up the bulk of modern understanding of Norse mythology.

In Old Norse texts, Odin is depicted as one-eyed and long-bearded, frequently wielding a spear, Gungnir, and wearing a black, blue grey and green cloak and a broad hat. He is often accompanied by his animal companions— the wolves Geri and Freki and the ravens Huginn and Muninn, who bring him information from all over Midgard—and Odin rides the flying, eight-legged steed Sleipnir across the sky and into the underworld. Odin is attested as having many sons, most famously the god Baldr with Frigg, and is known by hundreds of names. In these texts, Odin frequently seeks knowledge in some manner and in disguise (most famously by obtaining the Mead of Poetry), at times makes wagers with his wife Frigg over the outcome of exploits, and takes part in both the creation of the world by way of the slaying of the primordial being Ymir and the gift of life to the first two humans, Ask and Embla. Odin has a particular association with Yule, and mankind’s knowledge of both the runes and poetry is also attributed to Odin.

In Old Norse texts, Odin is given primacy over female beings associated with the battlefield—the valkyries—and himself oversees the afterlife location Valhalla, where he receives as einherjar, or chosen warriors, half of those who die in battle, while the other half are chosen by the goddess Freyja for her afterlife location, Fólkvangr. Odin consults the disembodied, herb-embalmed head of the wise being Mímir for advice, and during the foretold events of Ragnarök, will lead the einherjar into battle before being consumed by the monstrous wolf Fenrir. In later folklore, Odin appears as a leader of the Wild Hunt, a ghostly procession of the dead through the winter sky. In the surviving South Germanic and Anglo-Saxon pagan texts, Wóden/Wodan is also particularly associated with magic.

Odin has been a frequent subject of study in Germanic studies and numerous theories surround the god. Some of these focus on Odin’s particular relation to other figures, such as that Freyja’s husband Óðr appears to be something of an etymological doublet of the god, whereas the goddess Frigg, Odin’s wife, is in many ways similar to Freyja, and that Odin has a particular relation to the figure of Loki. Other theories focus on Odin’s place in the historical record, a frequent question being whether Odin derives from Proto-Indo-European religion, or whether he developed later in Germanic society. In the modern period, Odin has inspired numerous works of poetry, music, and other forms of media. Together with other gods venerated by the ancient Germanic peoples, he is venerated in most forms of Germanic Neopaganism; some focus particularly on him.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin

Amorphos · November 13, 2015, 8:16pm

i’m mostly germanic, but i think the celts had a far more expansive bardic culture. germans are a load of cheeseheads lol

a warrior-centric culture is not as adaptable as a more varied one. germans had their time when destiny was decided by armoured alcoholic psychopaths, then better armour tech but that one to bed.

humunculus · November 13, 2015, 10:56pm

Just what the world needs! More chest-thumping bronze-age macho shitheads running around in nuclear-age hardware.

Red_Skull · November 14, 2015, 2:11pm

I respect all pagan beliefs as natural cultural and national expressions of the human psyche communing with nature or the universe around us. I feel no need to distinguish or to say one type is more superior to the other.

A warrior centric culture for me makes sense in that existence is one of conflict and competition.

Survival is one of constant struggle, conflict, and of fight that we indeed could describe existence as a war to survive for all those involved.

Red_Skull · November 14, 2015, 2:13pm

And what would you suggest as an alternative to this? I am curious.

Red_Skull · November 14, 2015, 2:21pm

Walküre

In Norse mythology, a valkyrie (from Old Norse valkyrja “chooser of the slain”) is one of a host of female figures who choose those who may die in battle and those who may live. Selecting among half of those who die in battle (the other half go to the goddess Freyja’s afterlife field Fólkvangr), the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin. There, the deceased warriors become einherjar (Old Norse “single [or once] fighters”[1]). When the einherjar are not preparing for the events of Ragnarök, the valkyries bear them mead. Valkyries also appear as lovers of heroes and other mortals, where they are sometimes described as the daughters of royalty, sometimes accompanied by ravens and sometimes connected to swans or horses.

Valkyries are attested in the Poetic Edda, a book of poems compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; the Prose Edda and Heimskringla (by Snorri Sturluson), and Njáls saga, a Saga of Icelanders, all written in the 13th century. They appear throughout the poetry of skalds, in a 14th-century charm, and in various runic inscriptions.

The Old English cognate terms wælcyrge and wælcyrie appear in several Old English manuscripts, and scholars have explored whether the terms appear in Old English by way of Norse influence, or reflect a tradition also native among the Anglo-Saxon pagans. Scholarly theories have been proposed about the relation between the valkyries, the norns, and the dísir, all of which are supernatural figures associated with fate. Archaeological excavations throughout Scandinavia have uncovered amulets theorized as depicting valkyries. In modern culture, valkyries have been the subject of works of art, musical works, video games and poetry.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valkyrie

Amorphos · November 14, 2015, 2:32pm

Red Skull

That’s true, but its also true that the ancestors differed. It is equally true that if we matched them against todays society, the bardic side of things has come through, whereas the warlike things are whats holding the world back and are not revered and for good reasons.

A human being without tools would not defeat a lion.
Humanity survives only because of technology, if that ended e.g. Through resource depletion, then you would need to be a survivor. But let me say one thing; that would be the ultimate failure of humanity!
Being ‘fit’ means advancing beyond our limits and winning. So instead of war and ‘survival’ in the face of defeat, we need to end all war and do a massive build up of renewable tech/energy ~ and sanitation to india etc. That surely is what winning really is?!!

_

Red_Skull · November 14, 2015, 2:55pm

Amorphos:

Red Skull

I respect all pagan beliefs as natural cultural and national expressions of the human psyche communing with nature or the universe around us. I feel no need to distinguish or to say one type is more superior to the other.

That’s true, but its also true that the ancestors differed. It is equally true that if we matched them against todays society, the bardic side of things has come through, whereas the warlike things are whats holding the world back and are not revered and for good reasons.

A warrior centric culture for me makes sense in that existence is one of conflict and competition.
Survival is one of constant struggle, conflict, and of fight that we indeed could describe existence as a war to survive for all those involved.

A human being without tools would not defeat a lion.
Humanity survives only because of technology, if that ended e.g. Through resource depletion, then you would need to be a survivor. But let me say one thing; that would be the ultimate failure of humanity!
Being ‘fit’ means advancing beyond our limits and winning. So instead of war and ‘survival’ in the face of defeat, we need to end all war and do a massive build up of renewable tech/energy ~ and sanitation to india etc. That surely is what winning really is?!!

_

Of course ancestors differed. In many ways there is a semblance of ancestral worship in contemporary paganism as well.

Germanic paganism is in no shortage of bards or what is referred to as Bragis.

You mistook my statement of war to only mean violent war but like anything else there are many different kinds of wars and battlefields where some are fought on the individual level that we wage against ourselves in the world. Our own personal wars.

War at large I agree with you has become quite dangerous and precarious these days but given the environment of the modern world a more unavoidable thing. Today’s modern warfare has the possibility of threatening all life on the planet til Ragnarokr comes. Whether it is avoidable, inevitable, or fate time will tell. Of course this peace you seem to desire and promote is not without war for even in times of peace a silent more non visual war still lingers on.

I am not against technology however I don’t believe deep within its artificial confines to foolishly believe it is the only thing to save or promote humanity either. Is there a permanent state of winning? I do not think so.

Nothing is permanent. Everything is transitory.

humunculus · November 14, 2015, 3:00pm

Civilization was a worthwhile experiment. Too bad it didn’t last.

Red_Skull · November 14, 2015, 3:02pm

A defeatist? How easy that must be for you.

Amorphos · November 14, 2015, 3:30pm

Red Skull

True, but its no where near as expansive as it is in druidic culture. Germanic tribes didn’t even have so much of a religious class, certainly not one which virtually ruled them.

I don’t have difficulty distinguishing between WAR and ‘war’. Usually someone who believes in a warlike culture/religion, believes in WAR.

One can fight that ‘war’ whilst building a permanent [strong] society, and without all the visual harm.

Artificial = tools/utility = human. We can progress to having better tools, or regress to having worse ones. But consider that we have already used up much of the earths resources, and those with easiest access. I don’t think we will get another shot at it, and we’ll end up scratching at the dirt like animals or christians or something.

I think carbons are the solution to longevity and permanence.

_

Red_Skull · November 14, 2015, 3:52pm

Amorphos:

Red Skull

Germanic paganism is in no shortage of bards or what is referred to as Bragis.

True, but its no where near as expansive as it is in druidic culture. Germanic tribes didn’t even have so much of a religious class, certainly not one which virtually ruled them.

You mistook my statement of war to only mean violent war but like anything else there are many different kinds of wars and battlefields where some are fought on the individual level that we wage against ourselves in the world. Our own personal wars.

I don’t have difficulty distinguishing between WAR and ‘war’. Usually someone who believes in a warlike culture/religion, believes in WAR.

Of course this peace you seem to desire and promote is not without war for even in times of peace a silent more non visual war still lingers on.

One can fight that ‘war’ whilst building a permanent [strong] society, and without all the visual harm.

I am not against technology however I don’t believe deep within its artificial confines to foolishly believe it is the only thing to save or promote humanity either. Is there a permanent state of winning? I do not think so.

Nothing is permanent. Everything is transitory.

Artificial = tools/utility = human. We can progress to having better tools, or regress to having worse ones. But consider that we have already used up much of the earths resources, and those with easiest access. I don’t think we will get another shot at it, and we’ll end up scratching at the dirt like animals or christians or something.

I think carbons are the solution to longevity and permanence.

_

I believe in justifiable war not war in its own right.

True, there are many differences between druidism and Germanic paganism to be sure.

I am not against trying to create a sustainable technological future but whether humanity will succeed in that endeavor has yet to remain to be seen.

Red_Skull · November 18, 2015, 2:44am

Red_Skull · November 18, 2015, 3:31am

Red_Skull · November 18, 2015, 3:34am

Red_Skull · November 18, 2015, 3:36am

Red_Skull · November 18, 2015, 3:38am

Red_Skull · November 18, 2015, 3:39am

Red_Skull · November 18, 2015, 3:41am