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233-679: Stephen Anthony McNallen (born October 15, 1948) is an American proponent of Heathenry , a modern Pagan new religious movement . He founded the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), which he led from 1994 until 2016, having previously been the founder of the Viking Brotherhood and the Asatrú Free Assembly. Born in Breckenridge , Texas , McNallen developed an interest in pre-Christian Scandinavia while in college. In 1969–70 he founded
466-495: A cosmology based on that found in Norse mythology— Norse cosmology . As part of this framework, humanity's world—known as Midgard —is regarded as just one of Nine Worlds , all of which are associated with a cosmological world tree called Yggdrasil . Different types of being are believed to inhabit these different realms; for instance, humans live on Midgard, while dwarfs live on another realm, elves on another, jötnar on another, and
699-456: A gendered division of labor—in which men are viewed as providers and women seen as being responsible for home and children—is also widespread among Heathens in the U.S. Due to its focus on traditional attitudes to sex and gender—values perceived as socially conservative in Western nations—it has been argued that American Heathenry's ethical system is far closer to traditional Christian morals than
932-428: A pantheon of deities from pre-Christian Germanic Europe . It adopts cosmological views from these past societies, including an animistic view of the cosmos in which the natural world is imbued with spirits. The religion's deities and spirits are honored in sacrificial rites known as blóts in which food and libations are offered to them. These are often accompanied by symbel , the act of ceremonially toasting
1165-586: A seiðr -worker sitting on a high seat while songs and chants are performed to invoke gods and wights. Drumming is then performed to induce an altered state of consciousness in the practitioner, who goes on a meditative journey in which they visualise travelling through the world tree to the realm of Hel . The assembled audience then provide questions for the seiðr -worker, with the latter offering replies based on information obtained in their trance-state. Some seiðr -practitioners make use of entheogenic substances as part of this practice; others explicitly oppose
1398-587: A "Neo- völkisch hate group" In October 2023, Stephen McNallen gave a speech about "Wotan's dual aspects of fury and wisdom, as noted by Dr. Carl Jung" and his recent book "The Spear" at the American Renaissance conference hosted by AmRen who makes the claim to be "America's foremost white advocacy publication." Calico described McNallen as having "a highly eclectic personality, fascinated by political, cultural, technological, and occult issues." He characterized him as "a genuinely charismatic man who commands
1631-416: A "new religion" or "modern invention" and thus prefer to depict theirs as a "traditional faith". Many practitioners avoid using the scholarly, etic term "reconstructionism" to describe their practices, preferring to characterize it as an " indigenous religion " with parallels to the traditional belief systems of the world's indigenous peoples . In identifying with indigeneity, some Heathens—particularly in
1864-463: A "small but growing" number of Heathen practitioners in the U.S. had begun performing animal sacrifice as a part of blót . Such Heathens conceive of the slaughtered animal as a gift to the gods, and sometimes also as a "traveller" who is taking a message to the deities. Groups who perform such sacrifices typically follow the procedure outlined in the Heimskringla : the throat of the sacrificial animal
2097-613: A "universalist" perspective, holding that the religion is open to all, irrespective of ethnic or racial background. While the term Heathenry is used widely to describe the religion as a whole, many groups prefer different designations, influenced by their regional focus and ideological preferences. Heathens focusing on Scandinavian sources sometimes use Ásatrú , Vanatrú , or Forn Sed ; practitioners focusing on Anglo-Saxon traditions use Fyrnsidu or Theodism ; those emphasising German traditions use Irminism ; and those Heathens who espouse folkish and far-right perspectives tend to favor
2330-703: A Caucasian presence in the prehistoric Americas. He believed that Caucasians had entered the Americas via the Bering Strait at around the same time as the ancestors of the Native Americans did, but that the Caucasians were subsequently wiped out; he warned that "that can happen to us too" and thus steps should be taken to preserve the existence of North America's European population. In 2000, the AFA withdrew from its involvement in
2563-720: A Facebook post responding to the sexual assault of white women by Arab men in Germany : "Germany — that is the German people, not sellout traitors like Merkel — deserve our full support... Where are the Freikorps when we need them?" The positive reference to the Freikorps , right-wing paramilitaries who carried out street violence and political assassinations between the World Wars, brought much criticism. Several months after McNallen's resignation from
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#17328761479742796-399: A Heathen setting food aside, sometimes without words, for gods or wights. Some Heathens perform such rituals daily, although for others it is a more occasional performance. Aside from honoring deities, communal blóts also serve as a form of group bonding. In Iron Age and Early Medieval northern Europe, the term blót was at times applied to a form of animal sacrifice performed to thank
3029-507: A Pagan on its website. "For years I had been a member of a group called the European American Issues Forum. The president of the organization resigned for health reasons, and I ended up filling his shoes. The EAIF was a great idea—a genuine, non-racist civil rights group for Americans of European descent—but in practice it was unworkable. The basic premise was simple: the social and political system could be made to respond to
3262-664: A broader, pan-European identity, stating that "European cultures are all unique — unique that is, as variants on the basic European pattern." He has sought to provide a theoretical basis for this Folkish Heathen belief, calling it "metagenetics". This is the belief that religious and cultural practices become encoded in DNA and are passed down the generations in this manner. He also ties this idea in with concepts drawn from Jungian psychology, arguing that archetypes are distinct to specific racial groups and are passed down genetically. While initially presenting this idea using scientific language during
3495-791: A cadet in the Reserve Officers Training Corps , and on completion received a degree in political science . After completing his college education he joined the United States Army , remaining with them for four years, volunteering for service in the Vietnam War before being stationed in West Germany . Although frustrated at what he described as the "authoritarian stupidity" of the army, it impacted his views on warrior ethics and warrior ideals. He retained his interest in Heathenry while
3728-537: A committee of AFA members, the Southern Heathen Leadership Conference, which issued a document declaring that new membership would be frozen, that AFA responsibilities would be divided more widely, and that McNallen and Hutter should take a vacation from their organizational chores. However, in 1987 McNallen shut down The Runestone and dissolved the AFA altogether, relocating to Northern California . However, according to Strmiska and Sigurvinsson,
3961-536: A dormant state—until a time that the gods deem propitious for the rebirth of the Norse/Germanic tradition." — Scholar of religious studies Jeffrey Kaplan. On his return to the United States in 1976 he transformed his Viking Brotherhood into the Asatrú Free Assembly (AFA). The sociologist of religion Jennifer Snook described it as "the first national Heathen organization in the United States", while according to
4194-499: A future stateless American confederacy based on ecologically sustainable, decentralized tribal groups. He has also expressed support for all ethnic separatist movements across the world, including those of the Tibetan , Igbo , Karen , and Afrikaner people. This has attracted criticism from the racial extremist wing of the Heathen community, who have claimed that it detracts from the focus on
4427-675: A global union of folkish Heathen groups, alongside Murray of the AA and Heimgest of the British Odinic Rite ; they were later joined by representatives of the French and German branches of the Odinic Rite, before the union terminated several years later. The alliance convened an international meeting, or Althing, every three years. In 1997, McNallen married Sheila Edlund at the seventeenth Althing, held in Utah ;
4660-472: A group of self-described "Homo-Heathens" marched in the 2008 Stockholm Pride carrying a statue of the god Freyr . In Anglophone countries, Heathen groups are typically called kindreds or hearths , or alternately sometimes as fellowships , tribes , or garths . These are small groups, often family units, and usually consist of between five and fifteen members. They are often bound together by oaths of loyalty, with strict screening procedures regulating
4893-460: A juvenile corrections officer, where he had been employed for the previous five years. In 2015 he published Asatru: A Native European Spirituality ; it was reviewed by the religious studies scholar Jefferson Calico for The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies , in which he noted that the book was "an important moment" for the Heathen movement, being "comprehensive and expansive, touching thoughtfully on numerous important aspects of
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#17328761479745126-590: A major regional political player for another 150 years. The land that now comprises most of the Scottish Lowlands had previously been the northernmost part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria , which fell apart with its Viking conquest; these lands were never regained by the Anglo-Saxons, or England. The upheaval and pressure of Viking raiding, occupation, conquest and settlement resulted in alliances among
5359-562: A member of the army, and circa 1974 adopted the belief that there was an intrinsic connection between the Norse gods and humans of Northern European descent. After his discharge from the Army in 1976, McNallen hitchhiked across the Sahara Desert before returning to Europe and then to the United States. There, he settled in Berkeley, California . "What makes metagenetics so difficult for many to accept
5592-445: A million or so readers to our beliefs in a newspaper article that was published coast-to-coast ... Nevertheless, we received exactly two inquiries as a result ... We must be content, for now, to grow slowly. We must seek quality rather than quantity." — Stephen McNallen. While the autonomous nature of different AFA-affiliated individuals and groups meant that McNallen and his wife Maddy Hutter had little power, they bore
5825-547: A month by another Viking descendant, William , Duke of Normandy . Scotland took its present form when it regained territory from the Norse between the 13th and the 15th centuries; the Western Isles and the Isle of Man remained under Scandinavian authority until 1266. Orkney and Shetland belonged to the king of Norway as late as 1469. Consequently, a "long Viking Age" may stretch into
6058-424: A more epic, anachronistic, and pure age of ancestors and heroes". The anthropologist Murphy Pizza suggests that Heathenry can be understood as an " invented tradition ". As the religious studies scholar Fredrik Gregorius states, despite the fact that "no real continuity" exists between Heathenry and the pre-Christian belief systems of Germanic Europe, Heathen practitioners often dislike being considered adherents of
6291-540: A novel, The Viking , by Edison Marshall , which generated his interest in the societies of pre-Christian Scandinavia. According to him, upon reading this book he "got hooked on the spirit of the North", being attracted to the Vikings by what he perceived as "their warlike nature, their will to power, and their assertion of self". In 1968 or 1969 he dedicated himself to the worship of the deities found in Norse mythology , and remained
6524-414: A presence" and who was also "a man of both vision and perseverance". He also noted that when McNallen was writing about himself (using the third person), he betrayed "the sort of narcissistic self-involvement that might characterize the psychology of a charismatic religious leader, the founder of a religious movement." "[McNallen's] vision all along has been that Asatru is the natural and native religion for
6757-407: A priest. In a few groups—particularly those of the early 20th century which operated as secret societies —the priesthood is modelled on an initiatory system of ascending degrees akin to Freemasonry . Heathen rites often take place in non-public spaces, particularly in a practitioner's home. In other cases, Heathen places of worship have been established on plots of land specifically purchased for
6990-480: A prophecy of a coming apocalypse in which the white race will overthrow who these Heathens perceive as their oppressors and establish a future society based on Heathen religion. The political scientist Jeffrey Kaplan believed that it was the "strongly millenarian and chiliastic overtones" of Ragnarök which helped convert white American racialists to the right wing of the Heathen movement. Some practitioners do not emphasize belief in an afterlife, instead stressing
7223-590: A racist, arguing that "racism" entails expressing a belief in racial superiority, a viewpoint he does not hold. He insists that his support for racial separatism does not necessitate a "dislike, much less hatred" for other racial groups. However, in May 2015, the magazine Vice published an article in which it accused McNallen of being a racist who manipulated ancient Norse beliefs "for his own hateful devices". The "American Heathen collective" Circle Ansuz issued articles in which they described McNallen as "an active participant in
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7456-564: A result of the religion's emphasis on honoring the land and its wights, many Heathens take an interest in ecological issues, with many considering their faith to be a nature religion . Heathen groups have participated in tree planting, raising money to purchase woodland, and campaigning against the construction of a railway between London and the Channel Tunnel in Southeastern England. Many Germanic Neopagans are also concerned with
7689-527: A result, Viking raiders found it easy to sack and then retreat from these areas which were thus frequently raided. The second case is the internal "push" factor, which coincides with a period just before the Viking Age in which Scandinavia was undergoing a mass centralisation of power in the modern-day countries of Denmark, Sweden, and especially Norway. This centralisation of power forced hundreds of chieftains from their lands, which were slowly being appropriated by
7922-415: A rifle shot to the head to kill the animal swiftly, a decision made after they witnessed a blót in which the animal's throat was cut incorrectly and it slowly died in agony; they felt that such practices would have displeased the gods and accordingly brought harm upon those carrying out the sacrifice. Another common ritual in Heathenry is sumbel , also spelled symbel , a ritual drinking ceremony in which
8155-569: A serious attack was made on Lindisfarne's mother-house of Iona , which was followed in 795 by raids upon the northern coast of Ireland. From bases there, the Norsemen attacked Iona again in 802, causing great slaughter amongst the Céli Dé Brethren, and burning the abbey to the ground. The Vikings primarily targeted Ireland until 830, as England and the Carolingian Empire were able to fight
8388-433: A solitary devotee of theirs for about two years. He later noted that on initially becoming a Heathen, he went through "a stridently anti-Christian phase", and that while he later mellowed in his opinion of Christianity and Christians, he still believed the religion to be "a faulty faith, a foreign imposition on European soil" which had eroded "our traditional culture" and "done us great damage". "The racial or ethnic end of it
8621-460: A specific deity, and for rites of need. These rites also serve as identity practices which mark the adherents out as Heathens. Strmiska noted that in Iceland, Heathen rituals had been deliberately constructed in an attempt to recreate or pay tribute to the ritual practices of pre-Christian Icelanders, although there was also space in which these rituals could reflect innovation, changing in order to suit
8854-956: A temple in a converted 16th-century chapel in Newark , Nottinghamshire . Heathens have also adopted archaeological sites as places of worship. For instance, British practitioners have assembled for rituals at the Nine Ladies stone circle in Derbyshire , the Rollright Stones in Warwickshire , and the White Horse Stone in Kent . Swedish Heathens have done the same at Gamla Uppsala , and Icelandic practitioners have met at Þingvellir . Heathen groups assemble for rituals in order to mark rites of passage , seasonal observances, oath takings, rites devoted to
9087-705: A version of the economic model that points to new economic incentives stemming from a "bulge" in the population of young Scandinavian men, impelling them to engage in maritime activity due to limited economic alternatives. This era coincided with the Medieval Warm Period (800–1300) and stopped with the start of the Little Ice Age (about 1250–1850). The start of the Viking Age, with the sack of Lindisfarne, also coincided with Charlemagne 's Saxon Wars , or Christian wars with pagans in Saxony . Bruno Dumézil theorises that
9320-401: Is Mjölnir , or Thor's hammer, which is worn as a pendant, featured in Heathen art, and used as a gesture in ritual. It is sometimes used to express a particular affinity with the god Thor, however is also often used as a symbol of Heathenism as a whole, in particular representing the resilience and vitality of the religion. Another commonly used Heathen symbol is the valknut , used to represent
9553-421: Is animistic , with practitioners believing in nonhuman spirit persons commonly known as " wights " ( vættir ) that inhabit the world, each of whom is believed to have its own personality. Some of these are known as "land spirits" ( landvættir ) and inhabit different aspects of the landscape, living alongside humans, whom they can both help and hinder. Others are deemed to be household deities and live within
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9786-490: Is a controversial figure in the Heathen and wider Pagan community. His espousal of right-wing ethnonationalist ideas and his insistence that Heathenry should be reserved for those of Northern European ancestry has resulted in accusations of racism from both Pagans and the mainstream media. Conversely, many on the extreme right of the Heathen movement have accused him of being a race traitor for his opposition to neo-Nazism and refusal to endorse white supremacism . McNallen
10019-418: Is also typically drunk, with offerings being given to deities, while fires, torches, or candles are often lit. There are also regional meetings of Heathens known as Things . At these, religious rites are performed, while workshops, stalls, feasts, and competitive games are also present. In the U.S., there are two national gatherings, Althing and Trothmoot. "Far from being a monolithic entity, [Heathenry] in
10252-407: Is another Heathen practice involving chanting or singing. As part of a galdr ceremony, runes or rune poems are also sometimes chanted, in order to create a communal mood and allow participants to enter into altered states of consciousness and request communication with deities. Some contemporary galdr chants and songs are influenced by Anglo-Saxon folk magical charms, such as Æcerbot and
10485-599: Is because of this, rather than the Norman conquest, that 1066 is often taken as the end of the Viking Age. Nineteen days later, a large army containing and led by senior Normans, themselves mostly male-line descendants of Norsemen, invaded England and defeated the weakened English army at the Battle of Hastings . The army invited others from across Norman gentry and ecclesiastical society to join them. There were several unsuccessful attempts by Scandinavian kings to regain control of England,
10718-473: Is believed that an individual can navigate through the wyrd, and thus, the Heathen worldview oscillates between concepts of free will and fatalism . Heathens also believe in a personal form of wyrd known as örlög . This is connected to an emphasis on luck , with Heathens in North America often believing that luck can be earned, passed down through the generations, or lost. Various Heathen groups adopt
10951-567: Is consciously inspired by the linguistically, culturally, and (in some definitions) ethnically 'Germanic' societies of Iron Age and early medieval Europe as they existed prior to Christianization", and as a "movement to revive and/or reinterpret for the present day the practices and worldviews of the pre-Christian cultures of northern Europe (or, more particularly, the Germanic speaking cultures)". Practitioners seek to revive these past belief systems by using surviving historical source materials. Among
11184-446: Is debatable. Contemporary seiðr developed during the 1990s out of the wider Neo-Shamanic movement , with some practitioners studying the use of trance-states in other faiths, such as Umbanda , first. A prominent form is high-seat or oracular seiðr , which is based on the account of Guðriðr in Eiríks saga . While such practices differ between groups, oracular seiðr typically involves
11417-511: Is its base assumption: the tradition (i.e., culture) is a matter of genetic inheritance, and it is for this reason that the compulsion to reawaken the Northern Way has come upon some but not others. Put another way, the reason that the gods choose to act through individuals of a particular national and racial stock is that the religious heritage that the gods personify never died, but rather has been handed down from generation to generation—albeit in
11650-552: Is not easy to pin down a single date that applies to all the Viking world. The Viking Age was not a "monolithic chronological period" across three or four hundred years, but was characterised by various distinct phases of Viking activity. It is unlikely that the Viking Age could be so neatly assigned a terminal event. The end of the Viking era in Norway is marked by the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030, in which Óláfr Haraldsson (later known as Olav
11883-524: Is ongoing as to why the Scandinavians began to expand from the eighth through 11th centuries. Various factors have been highlighted: demographic, economic, ideological, political, technological, and environmental models. Barrett considers that prior scholarship having examined causes of the Viking Age in terms of demographic determinism, the resulting explanations have generated a "wide variety of possible models". While admitting that Scandinavia did share in
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#173287614797412116-431: Is referred to as the "Lore" and studying it is an important part of their religion. Some textual sources nevertheless remain problematic as a means of "reconstructing" pre-Christian belief systems, because they were written by Christians and only discuss pre-Christian religion in a fragmentary and biased manner. The anthropologist Jenny Blain characterises Heathenry as "a religion constructed from partial material", while
12349-430: Is slashed with a sharp knife, and the blood is collected in a bowl before being sprinkled onto both participants of the rite and statues of the gods. Animals used for this purpose have included poultry as well as larger mammals like sheep and pigs, with the meat then being consumed by those attending the rite. Some practitioners have made alterations to this procedure: Strmiska noted two American Heathens who decided to use
12582-432: Is the road to marginalization and extinction." According to Snook, McNallen's concerns reflect "white American resentment of a perceived loss of status and privilege in modern, multicultural society in particularly divisive political times." She added that a repeated element of his argument, the presentation of white people as victims, was common throughout white supremacist discourse. McNallen does not consider himself to be
12815-462: Is thus a strong individualist ethos focused around personal responsibility, and a common motto within the Heathen community is that "We are our deeds". Most Heathens reject the concept of sin and believe that guilt is a destructive rather than useful concept. Some Heathen communities have formalized such values into an ethical code, the Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), which is based largely on
13048-784: The Hávamál from the Poetic Edda . This was first developed by the founders of the UK-based Odinic Rite in the 1970s, although it has spread internationally, with 77% of respondents to a 2015 survey of Heathens reporting its use in some form. There are different forms of the NNV, with the number nine having symbolic associations in Norse mythology. Opinion is divided on the NNV; some practitioners deem them too dogmatic , while others eschew them for not having authentic roots in historical Germanic culture, negatively viewing them as an attempt to imitate
13281-568: The Nine Herbs Charm . These poems were originally written in a Christian context, although practitioners believe that they reflect themes present in pre-Christian, shamanistic religion, and thus re-appropriate and "Heathanise" them for contemporary usage. Some Heathens practice forms of divination using runes; as part of this, items with runic markings on them might be pulled out of a bag or bundle, and read accordingly. In some cases, different runes are associated with different deities, one of
13514-657: The Black Sea and then on to Constantinople . The eastern connections of these " Varangians " brought Byzantine silk , a cowrie shell from the Red Sea, and even coins from Samarkand , to Viking York . In 884, an army of Danish Vikings was defeated at the Battle of Norditi (also called the Battle of Hilgenried Bay) on the Germanic North Sea coast by a Frisian army under Archbishop Rimbert of Bremen-Hamburg, which precipitated
13747-812: The Faroe Islands , Ireland, Iceland, peripheral Scotland ( Caithness , the Hebrides and the Northern Isles ), Greenland, and Canada. Their North Germanic language , Old Norse , became the precursor to present-day Scandinavian languages. By 801, a strong central authority appears to have been established in Jutland , and the Danes were beginning to look beyond their own territory for land, trade, and plunder. In Norway, mountainous terrain and fjords formed strong natural boundaries. Communities remained independent of each other, unlike
13980-619: The Goths . Another name for the religion is the Icelandic Ásatrú , which translates as " Æsir belief", or "loyalty to the Æsir"—the Æsir being a sub-set of deities in Norse mythology . This is more commonly rendered as Asatru in North America, with practitioners being known as Asatruar . This term is favored by practitioners who focus on the Nordic deities of Scandinavia, however is problematic as many self-identified Asatruar worship entities other than
14213-662: The Icelandic Sagas . In England, the Viking attack of 8 June 793 that destroyed the abbey on Lindisfarne , a centre of learning on an island off the northeast coast of England in Northumberland , is regarded as the beginning of the Viking Age. Judith Jesch has argued that the start of the Viking Age can be pushed back to 700–750, as it was unlikely that the Lindisfarne attack was the first attack, and given archeological evidence that suggests contacts between Scandinavia and
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#173287614797414446-518: The Jötnar , refer to their tradition as Rokkatru . Although restricted especially to Scandinavia, since the mid-2000s a term that has grown in popularity is Forn Siðr or Forn Sed ("the old way"); this is also a term reappropriated from Christian usage, having previously been used in a derogatory sense to describe pre-Christian religion in the Old Norse Heimskringla . Other terms used within
14679-621: The Seine with near impunity. Near the end of Charlemagne's reign (and throughout the reigns of his sons and grandsons), a string of Norse raids began, culminating in a gradual Scandinavian conquest and settlement of the region now known as Normandy in 911. Frankish King Charles the Simple granted the Duchy of Normandy to Viking warleader Rollo (a chieftain of disputed Norwegian or Danish origins) in order to stave off attacks by other Vikings. Charles gave Rollo
14912-607: The Ten Commandments . Their use is particularly unpopular in Nordic countries, and has been observed declining in the United States. Within the Heathen community of the United States, gender roles are based upon perceived ideals and norms found in Early Medieval northwestern Europe, in particular as they are presented in Old Norse sources. Among male American Heathens there is a trend toward hypermasculinized behaviour, while
15145-404: The pre-Christian religions adhered to by the Germanic peoples of the Iron Age and Early Middle Ages . In an attempt to reconstruct these past belief systems, Heathenry uses surviving historical, archaeological, and folkloric evidence as a basis, although approaches to this material vary considerably. Heathenry does not have a unified theology but is typically polytheistic , centering on
15378-401: The religious studies scholars Michael F. Strmiska and Baldur A. Sigurvinsson, the AFA "established many of the important organizational and ritual structures that remain operative" in American Heathenry into the 21st century. Initially meeting in the backroom of an insurance agency owned by group member Dick Johnson, the group later established a store-front office in Breckenridge, while through
15611-451: The unification of Norway . The aggressive expansion of the Carolingian Empire and forced conversion of the neighbouring Saxons to Christianity may also have been a factor. Sailing innovations had allowed the Vikings to sail farther and longer to begin with. Information about the Viking Age is drawn largely from primary sources written by those the Vikings encountered, as well as archaeology, supplemented with secondary sources such as
15844-550: The "Nazi-Odinist identification", he has "expressed sympathy with what he sees as the "legitimate frustrations of white men who are concerned for their kind". "The spiritual descendants of the Aztecs are looking northward, coveting land which, they have convinced themselves, should be theirs–and, perhaps quite unconsciously, they are moving to conquer it by mass immigration, by language, by cultural influence. A dangerous few want to conquer it by force of arms. But then, they haven't reckoned with Odin and Thor, and Frey and Freya, or
16077-492: The "a-racist", "racial-religious", and "ethnicist" factions respectively. Exponents of the universalist, anti-racist approach believe that the deities of Germanic Europe can call anyone to their worship, regardless of ethnic background. This group rejects the folkish emphasis on race, believing that even if unintended, it can lead to the adoption of racist attitudes toward those of non-northern European ancestry. Universalist practitioners such as Stephan Grundy have emphasized
16310-556: The "torchbearer" for Folkish Heathenry in the United States. He added that McNallen's was the "one name associated with the birth, growth, and controversy of American Asatru" more than any other. Some U.S. Heathens regard him as the "father" of American Heathenry, although his place in the movement is disputed by many practitioners who reject his Folkish approach to the religion. Calico thought that "McNallen deserves to be noted as one of many American religious dissenters who, because of strong personal conviction and vision, stood their ground in
16543-434: The 15th century. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles , Viking raiders struck England in 793 and raided Lindisfarne, the monastery that held Saint Cuthbert 's relics, killing the monks and capturing the valuables. The raid marked the beginning of the "Viking Age of Invasion". Great but sporadic violence continued on England's northern and eastern shores, with raids continuing on a small scale across coastal England. While
16776-571: The 17th century. Pioneering scholarly works on the Viking Age reached only a small readership there, while linguists traced the Viking Age origins of rural idioms and proverbs. New dictionaries and grammars of the Old Icelandic language appeared, enabling more Victorian scholars to read the primary texts of the Icelandic Sagas. In Scandinavia, the 17th-century Danish scholars Thomas Bartholin and Ole Worm and Swedish scholar Olaus Rudbeck were
17009-415: The 1970s, such negative attitudes towards polytheism have changed. Today Heathenry is usually characterised as being polytheistic, exhibiting a theological structure which includes a pantheon of gods and goddesses, with adherents offering their allegiance and worship to some or all of them. Most practitioners are polytheistic realists, referring to themselves as "hard" or "true polytheists" and believing in
17242-405: The 1980s, Calico noted that McNallen's later discussions on the subject appeared more like "race mysticism". His motivation in devising "metagenetics" was, in part, to make his religion more appealing to a broader range of Americans and to distance his movement from neo-Nazi and other explicitly white supremacist movements who wanted to incorporate it into their ideas of race war . He has expressed
17475-569: The 19th- and early 20th-century Romanticism which glorified the pre-Christian societies of Germanic Europe. Völkisch groups actively venerating the deities of these societies appeared in Germany and Austria during the 1900s and 1910s, although they largely dissolved following Nazi Germany 's defeat in World War II . In the 1970s, new Heathen groups established in Europe and North America, developing into formalized organizations. A central division within
17708-592: The AFA before denounced it. The AFA, in turn, called its critics " social justice warriors ". In March 2017, McNallen spoke out on the issue in a YouTube video; here, he claimed allegiance to the white race and to white nationalist politics, also expressing allegiance to the 14 Words , a prominent slogan in white supremacist circles. In 2018, the Southern Poverty Law Center added the Asatru Folk Assembly to its list of hate groups , describing it as
17941-706: The AFA filed a suit in the U.S. District Court of Portland to prevent Kennewick Man being given to the Native communities under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ( NAGPRA ); the court ruled that the human remains were not "Native American" within the meaning of NAGPRA. McNallen expressed the view that Native American communities wanted to prevent forensic testing of the Kennewick Man's body because they feared that it would prove that he had been Caucasian, thus establishing that there had been
18174-638: The AFA had "planted seeds that would take strong root". As a replacement for the Assembly, Murray established the Asatru Alliance , which organised the eighth American Althing for Arizona in June 1988. In 1986–87, McNallen worked as a peace officer in Stephens County Texas sheriff's office jail and Sheila kept books for an oil company. In 1986, he and Sheila moved to the semi-deserted mining town of Forest in
18407-461: The AFA in 1994, this time calling it the Ásatrú Folk Assembly. This group based its headquarters in Grass Valley , and was structurally very similar to the old AFA, reviving McNallen's The Runestone publication, albeit in a yearbook format. The AFA served much the same constituency as the established AA, with religious studies scholar Jeffrey Kaplan believing that its purpose in the Heathen community
18640-408: The AFA leadership, the group posted a message online stating that: "The AFA would like to make it clear that we believe gender is not a social construct, it is a beautiful gift from the holy powers and from our ancestors. The AFA celebrates our feminine ladies, our masculine gentlemen, and, above all, our beautiful white children". The post brought accusations of racism; Heathens who had not commented on
18873-562: The AFA's website. McNallen and the AFA also appear to have cordial relations with the racial extremist Ron McVan , co-founder of Wotansvolk , publishing some of McVan's writings in Runestone . When in the 1990s, Christensen was arrested for drug smuggling, McNallen teamed up with Murray to form a defense fund for her. In September 1997 he was a signatory to the foundation of the International Asatru/Odinist Alliance (IAOA),
19106-561: The AFA, McNallen continued publishing Runestone and produced booklets on Asatru. He also began conducting religious ceremonies, or blóts , and lectured at Pagan events across the U.S. He established groups known as guilds within the AFA to focus on particular endeavours, such as the Mead Brewing Guild and the Warrior Guild. The latter published a quarterly, Wolf Age , in which McNallen displayed his fascination for warrior ethics. In
19339-654: The American neo-fascist radical traditionalist movement" and "an unapologetic advocate for white nationalism". Conversely, many in the extreme racialist wing of Heathenry have accused McNallen of being a race traitor because he has not unequivocally endorsed white supremacist and neo-Nazi perspectives; they have commented negatively on his "refusal to work for the survival of the Aryan race" and accused him of promoting "cowardly PC politics". The religious studies scholar Jeffrey Kaplan stated that McNallen's politics "fit comfortably into
19572-468: The British Odinic Rite . He brought greater attention to his group after they became involved in the debate surrounding the Kennewick Man , arguing that it constituted evidence for a European presence in prehistoric America. In the 21st century he became more politically active, becoming involved in both environmentalist campaigns and white nationalist groups linked to the alt-right movement. McNallen
19805-459: The British Odinshof, who utilise it in reference to their particular dedication to Odin. The historian of religion Mattias Gardell noted that there is "no unanimously accepted theology" within the Heathen movement. Several early Heathens like Guido von List found the polytheistic nature of pre-Christian religion embarrassing, and argued that in reality it had been monotheistic . Since
20038-460: The British isles earlier in the century. The earliest raids were most likely small in scale, but expanded in scale during the 9th century. In the Lindisfarne attack, monks were killed in the abbey, thrown into the sea to drown, or carried away as slaves along with the church treasures, giving rise to the traditional (but unattested) prayer— A furore Normannorum libera nos, Domine , "Free us from
20271-625: The Brotherhood of Wolves, a Czech Heathen group, center their worship on the deity Fenrir . Similarly, many practitioners in the U.S. adopt a particular patron deity for themselves, taking an oath of dedication to them known as fulltrúi , and describe themselves as that entity's devotee using terms such as Thorsman or Odinsman . Heathen deities are not seen as perfect, omnipotent , or omnipresent , and are instead viewed as having their own strengths and weaknesses. Many practitioners believe that these deities will one day die, as did, for instance,
20504-514: The Clyde", the Brythonic name for Dumbarton Rock , which had become the metonym for their kingdom) was besieged by the Viking kings Amlaíb and Ímar . After four months, its water supply failed, and the fortress fell. The Vikings are recorded to have transported a vast prey of British, Pictish, and English captives back to Ireland. These prisoners may have included the ruling family of Alt Clut including
20737-799: The English kingdoms, being in turmoil, could not stand against the Vikings. In 867, Northumbria became the northern kingdom of the coalescing Danelaw , after its conquest by the Ragnarsson brothers, who installed an Englishman, Ecgberht , as a puppet king. By 870, the "Great Summer Army" arrived in England, led by a Viking leader called Bagsecg and his five earls . Aided by the Great Heathen Army (which had already overrun much of England from its base in Jorvik), Bagsecg's forces, and Halfdan's forces (through an alliance),
20970-498: The European American Issues Forum, a group devoted to advancing the rights of white Americans of which he had been a longstanding member. The group, a scholar of religion later noted, "rode the dangerous margins of racist politics." However, finding the job stressful and afflicted with colon cancer , he later resigned from the presidency. In 2009 McNallen was invited to the International Asatru Summer Camp, but this
21203-544: The Great , won the throne of England in 1016 through conquest. When Cnut the Great died in 1035 he was a king of Denmark, England, Norway, and parts of Sweden. Harold Harefoot became king of England after Cnut's death, and Viking rule of England ceased. The Viking presence declined until 1066, when they lost their final battle with the English at Stamford Bridge . The death in the battle of King Harald Hardrada of Norway ended any hope of reviving Cnut's North Sea Empire , and it
21436-475: The Heathen movement emerged surrounding the issue of race. Older groups adopted a racialist attitude—often termed "folkish" within the community—by viewing Heathenry as an ethnic or racial religion with inherent links to a Germanic race . They believe it should be reserved for white people, particularly of northern European descent, and often combine the religion with far right-wing and white supremacist perspectives. A larger proportion of Heathens instead adopt
21669-514: The Holy ), a fervent Christianiser who dealt harshly with those suspected of clinging to pagan cult, was killed. Although Óláfr's army lost the battle, Christianity continued to spread, and after his death he became one of the subjects of the three miracle stories given in the Manx Chronicle . In Sweden, the reign of king Olof Skötkonung ( c. 995–1020 ) is considered to be the transition from
21902-551: The Islamic world grew, so did its trade routes, and the wealth which moved along them was pushed further and further north. In Western Europe, proto-urban centres such as those with names ending in wich , the so-called -wich towns of Anglo-Saxon England , began to boom during the prosperous era known as the "Long Eighth Century". The Scandinavians, like many other Europeans, were drawn to these wealthier "urban" centres, which soon became frequent targets of Viking raids. The connection of
22135-479: The Kennewick Man legal case, stating that it had run out of funds to continue. The publicity surrounding the case nevertheless brought the AFA to far greater attention. During the late 1990s, the AFA began promoting what it termed "tribalism", encouraging Heathens to form networks of extended families to help secure the religion's future. By mid-2001, McNallen and other figures in the leadership felt that they were again overworked and overstretched and so tried to reduce
22368-488: The Norse apocalyptic myth of Ragnarök ; few view it as a literal prophecy of future events. Instead, it is often treated as a symbolic warning of the danger that humanity faces if it acts unwisely in relation to both itself and the natural world. The death of the gods at Ragnarök is often viewed as a reminder of the inevitability of death and the importance of living honorably and with integrity until one dies. Alternately, ethno-nationalist Heathens have interpreted Ragnarök as
22601-528: The Northumbrian scholar Alcuin of York , who wrote: "Never before in Britain has such a terror appeared". Vikings were portrayed as wholly violent and bloodthirsty by their enemies. Robert of Gloucester 's Chronicle, c. 1300, mentions Viking attacks on the people of East Anglia wherein they are described as "wolves among sheep". The first challenges to the many negative depictions of Vikings in Britain emerged in
22834-558: The Norwegian king Harald III ( Haraldr Harðráði ), who was defeated by Saxon King Harold Godwinson in 1066 at the Battle of Stamford Bridge ; in Ireland, the capture of Dublin by Strongbow and his Hiberno-Norman forces in 1171; and 1263 in Scotland by the defeat of King Hákon Hákonarson at the Battle of Largs by troops loyal to Alexander III . Godwinson was subsequently defeated within
23067-502: The Oïl languages along with French, Picard and Walloon), and their Norman culture, into England in 1066. With the Norman Conquest , they became the ruling aristocracy of Anglo–Saxon England . The clinker -built longships used by the Scandinavians were uniquely suited to both deep and shallow waters. They extended the reach of Norse raiders, traders, and settlers along coastlines and along
23300-669: The Pictish aristocracy in battle. The sophisticated kingdom that had been built fell apart, as did the Pictish leadership, which had been stable for more than 100 years since the time of Óengus mac Fergusa (The accession of Cináed mac Ailpín as king of both Picts and Scots can be attributed to the aftermath of this event). In 870, the Britons of the Old North around the Firth of Clyde came under Viking attack as well. The fortress atop Alt Clut ("Rock of
23533-681: The Scandinavians to larger and richer trade networks lured the Vikings into Western Europe, and soon the rest of Europe and parts of the Middle East. In England, hoards of Viking silver, such as the Cuerdale Hoard and the Vale of York Hoard , offer insight into this phenomenon. Barrett rejects this model, arguing that the earliest recorded Viking raids were in Western Norway and northern Britain, which were not highly economically integrated areas. He proposes
23766-760: The Scottish seas and islands were completely relinquished after another 200 years. By the mid-9th century, the Norsemen had settled in Shetland, Orkney (the Nordreys- Norðreyjar ), the Hebrides and Isle of Man, (the Sudreys- Suðreyjar —this survives in the Diocese of Sodor and Man ) and parts of mainland Scotland. The Norse settlers were to some extent integrating with the local Gaelic population (see Norse-Gaels ) in
23999-678: The Thames estuary. In 864, they reverted to Thanet for their winter encampment. The following year, the Great Heathen Army , led by brothers Ivar the Boneless , Halfdan and Ubba , and also by another Viking Guthrum , arrived in East Anglia. They proceeded to cross England into Northumbria and captured York, establishing a Viking community in Jorvik , where some settled as farmers and craftsmen. Most of
24232-539: The Troth, Edred Thorsson , developed forms of seiðr which involved sex magic utilizing sado-masochistic techniques, something which generated controversy in the community. Part of the discomfort that some Heathens feel toward seiðr surrounds the lack of any criteria by which the community can determine whether the seiðr -worker has genuinely received divine communication, and the fear that it will be used by some practitioners merely to bolster their own prestige. Galdr
24465-626: The U.S.-based Troth, while many of its white members have spouses from different racial groups. While sometimes retaining the idea of Heathenry as an indigenous religion, proponents of this view have sometimes argued that Heathenry is indigenous to the land of northern Europe, rather than indigenous to any specific race. Universalist Heathens often express frustration that some journalists depict Heathenry as an intrinsically racist movement, and use their online presence to stress their opposition to far-right politics. Viking Age Chronological history The Viking Age (about 800–1050 CE )
24698-413: The United States is extremely diverse, with many distinct ideological variations and organizations with profoundly different opinions concerning what Asatrú/Odinism is all about. The key divisive issues are centered on race and for whom the Nordic path is intended." — Religious studies scholar Mattias Gardell The question of race represents a major source of division among Heathens, particularly in
24931-549: The United States. Within the Heathen community, one viewpoint holds that race is entirely a matter of biological heredity , while the opposing position is that race is a social construct rooted in cultural heritage. In U.S. Heathen discourse, these viewpoints are described as the folkish and the universalist positions, respectively. These two factions—which Kaplan termed the " racialist " and "nonracialist" camps—often clash. The universalist and folkish division has also spread to other countries, although has had less impact in
25164-463: The United States—attempt to frame themselves as the victims of Medieval Christian colonialism and imperialism . A 2015 survey of the Heathen community found equal numbers of practitioners (36%) regarding their religion as a reconstruction as those who regarded it as a direct continuation of ancient belief systems; only 22% acknowledged it to be modern but historically inspired, although this
25397-460: The Viking Age had again come to be regarded as a barbaric and uncivilised period in the history of the Nordic countries. Scholars outside Scandinavia did not begin to extensively reassess the achievements of the Vikings until the 1890s, recognising their artistry, technological skills, and seamanship. The Vikings who invaded western and eastern Europe were mainly pagans from the same area as present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. They also settled in
25630-564: The Viking Age to the Middle Ages, because he was the first Christian king of the Swedes, and he is associated with a growing influence of the church in what is today southwestern and central Sweden. Norse beliefs persisted until the 12th century; Olof was the last king in Scandinavia to adopt Christianity. The end of the Viking Age is traditionally marked in England by the failed invasion attempted by
25863-502: The Viking Age, and the short-lived North Sea Empire included large swathes of Scandinavia and Britain. In 1021, the Vikings achieved the feat of reaching North America—the date of which was not determined until a millennium later. Several things drove this expansion. The Vikings were drawn by the growth of wealthy towns and monasteries overseas and weak kingdoms. They may also have been pushed to leave their homeland by overpopulation, lack of good farmland, and political strife arising from
26096-477: The Viking Brotherhood, issuing a "Viking Manifesto" in which he stated that the Brotherhood was "dedicated to preserving, promoting and practicing the Norse religion as it was epitomized during the Viking Age , and to further the moral and ethical values of courage, individualism, and independence which characterized the Viking way of life." While the group placed greater emphasis on promoting what McNallen perceived as
26329-531: The Viking Brotherhood, through which he printed a newsletter, The Runestone , to promote a form of Heathenry that he called "Asatru". After spending four years in the United States Army , he transformed the Viking Brotherhood into the Asatrú Free Assembly (AFA), through which he promoted Heathenry within the American Pagan community. He espoused the belief, which he named "metagenetics", that religions are connected to genetic inheritance, thus arguing that Heathenry
26562-554: The Viking attacks may have been in response to the spread of Christianity among pagan peoples. Because of the penetration of Christianity in Scandinavia , serious conflict divided Norway for almost a century. The first of two main components to the political model is the external "pull" factor, which suggests that the weak political bodies of Britain and Western Europe made for an attractive target for Viking raiders. The reasons for these weaknesses vary, but generally can be simplified into decentralised polities, or religious sites. As
26795-665: The Viking frontier and take York. A new wave of Vikings appeared in England in 947, when Eric Bloodaxe captured York. In 1003, the Danish King Sweyn Forkbeard started a series of raids against England to avenge the St. Brice's Day massacre of England's Danish inhabitants, culminating in a full-scale invasion that led to Sweyn being crowned king of England in 1013. Sweyn was also king of Denmark and parts of Norway at this time. The throne of England passed to Edmund Ironside of Wessex after Sweyn's death in 1014. Sweyn's son, Cnut
27028-547: The Viking ideals — "courage, honor, and freedom" — rather than on explicitly religious goals, in 1972 they gained tax-exempt status as a religious organization from the Internal Revenue Service . In the winter of 1971–72 he began publishing a newsletter, The Runestone , using a typewriter and mimeograph machine; he gained his first eleven subscribers through an advert that he placed in Fate magazine. He initially used
27261-455: The Vikings off. However, after 830 CE , the Vikings had considerable success against England, the Carolingian Empire, and other parts of Western Europe. After 830, the Vikings exploited disunity within the Carolingian Empire, as well as pitting the English kingdoms against each other. The Kingdom of the Franks under Charlemagne was particularly devastated by these raiders, who could sail up
27494-590: The admittance of new members. Prospective members may undergo a probationary period before they are fully accepted and welcomed into the group, while other groups remain closed to all new members. Heathen groups are largely independent and autonomous, although they typically network with other Heathen groups, particularly in their region. There are other followers of the religion who are not affiliated with such groups, operating as solitary practitioners, with these individuals often remaining in contact with other practitioners through social media . A 2015 survey found that
27727-502: The air, and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons flying across the firmament. These tremendous tokens were soon followed by a great famine: and not long after, on the sixth day before the ides of January in the same year, the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island (Lindisfarne) , by rapine and slaughter. In 794, according to the Annals of Ulster ,
27960-507: The ancient religion of the Norse to be inscribed on the subconscious of those descended from ancient North Europeans. He regards Heathenry as belonging to all people descended from ancient northern Europeans and wants to make it as accessible as possible to this demographic, arguing that it is the religion best suited to fill the spiritual yearning of many white Americans. While typically linking Heathenry to peoples descended from ancient Northern Europeans, in some contexts, McNallen has referred to
28193-417: The average American of North European ancestry: it expresses the authentic ethnic or folk identity of white Americans... McNallen's basic argument in "Metagenetics" is simple: a people's group religious and cultural experience over thousands of years becomes encoded into their DNA. Not only physical characteristics but information usually considered cultural, such as religion, is stored in the organic database of
28426-722: The battles of Glenmama (999 CE ) and Clontarf (1014 CE ). After the battle of Clontarf, the Dublin Vikings could no longer "single-handedly threaten the power of the most powerful kings of Ireland". Brian's rise to power and conflict with the Vikings is chronicled in Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib ("The War of the Irish with the Foreigners"). While few records are known, the Vikings are thought to have led their first raids in Scotland on
28659-563: The beginning of this age was the result of some combination of the aforementioned hypotheses. The Viking colonisation of islands in the North Atlantic has in part been attributed to a period of favourable climate (the Medieval Climactic Optimum), as the weather was relatively stable and predictable, with calm seas. Sea ice was rare, harvests were typically strong, and fishing conditions were good. The earliest date given for
28892-452: The belief, taken from Norse mythology, that there are two sets of deities, the Æsir and the Vanir. Certain practitioners blend the different regions and times together, for instance using a mix of Old English and Old Norse names for the deities, while others keep them separate and only venerate deities from a particular region. Some groups focus their veneration on a particular deity; for instance,
29125-462: The brunt of the responsibility of running the Assembly and organizing its Althings. They were also impacted by a downturn in the Texan economy, with McNallen losing his job as a jail guard. Bankrupt and frustrated, McNallen and the other senior figures in the AFA found that they were unable to organise the group's seventh Althing for 1987. Seeking to ensure that it would continue regardless, McNallen assembled
29358-509: The cause of the Viking invasions; the will to explore likely played a major role. At the time, England, Wales, and Ireland were vulnerable to attack, being divided into many different warring kingdoms in a state of internal disarray, while the Franks were well defended. Overpopulation, especially near the Scandes , was a possible reason, although some disagree with this theory. Technological advances like
29591-408: The ceremony was officiated by Murray. In 1999, the AFA purchased land in the higher Sierra of Northern California, there establishing a space where Heathen kindreds could meet together to practice their religion. In keeping with his ethnonationalist beliefs, McNallen endorsed a 1993 Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality , expressing the opinion that white people should resurrect
29824-400: The coast and overwintering in Ireland. The first were at Dublin and Linn Duachaill . Their attacks became bigger and reached further inland, striking larger monastic settlements such as Armagh , Clonmacnoise , Glendalough , Kells , and Kildare , and also plundering the ancient tombs of Brú na Bóinne . Viking chief Thorgest is said to have raided the whole midlands of Ireland until he
30057-422: The combined Viking forces raided much of England until 871, when they planned an invasion of Wessex. On 8 January 871, Bagsecg was killed at the Battle of Ashdown along with his earls. As a result, many of the Vikings returned to northern England, where Jorvic had become the centre of the Viking kingdom, but Alfred of Wessex managed to keep them out of his country. Alfred and his successors continued to drive back
30290-487: The coming of Vikings to England is 789 during the reign of King Beorhtric of Wessex . According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle three Norwegian boats from Hordaland (Old Norse: Hǫrðalandi ) landed at the Isle of Portland off the coast of Dorset. They apparently were mistaken for merchants by a royal official, Beaduhard, a king's reeve who attempted to force them to come to the king's manor, whereupon they killed
30523-423: The community it is often deemed taboo to provide offerings to them, however some practitioners still do so. Many Heathens also believe in and respect ancestral spirits, with ancestral veneration representing an important part of their religious practice. For Heathens, relationships with the ancestors are seen as grounding their own sense of identity and giving them strength from the past. Heathens commonly adopt
30756-499: The community to describe their religion are the Northern Tradition , Norse Paganism , and Saxon Paganism , while in the first third of the 20th century, commonly used terms were German , Nordic , or Germanic Faith . Within the United States, groups emphasising a German-orientation have used Irminism , while those focusing on an Anglo-Saxon approach have used Fyrnsidu or Theodism . Many racialist-oriented Heathens prefer
30989-492: The community. Some right-wing Heathen groups view homosexuality as being incompatible with a family-oriented ethos and thus censure same-sex sexual activity. Other groups legitimize openness toward LGBT practitioners by reference to the gender-bending actions of Thor and Odin in Norse mythology. There are, for instance, homosexual and transgender members of The Troth , a prominent U.S. Heathen organisation. Many Heathen groups in northern Europe perform same-sex marriages , and
31222-414: The complete and permanent withdrawal of the Vikings from East Frisia . In the 10th and 11th centuries, Saxons and Slavs began to use trained mobile cavalry successfully against Viking foot soldiers, making it hard for Viking invaders to fight inland. In Scandinavia, the Viking Age is considered by some scholars to have ended with the establishment of royal authority and the establishment of Christianity as
31455-443: The concomitant demographic shift resulting in a decreased political influence for the country's white population. He claims that a lack of clear ethnic identity has left European-Americans in a socially disadvantaged position, claiming that: "The results are clear for all to see, more of us are dying than are being born, our children look to other peoples and cultures for their models, our heritage and history are steadily displaced. This
31688-417: The deities and gain their favor. Such sacrifices have generally proved impractical for most modern practitioners or altogether rejected, due in part to the fact that skills in animal slaughter are not widely taught, while the slaughter of animals is regulated by government in Western countries. The Icelandic group Ásatrúarfélagið for instance explicitly rejects animal sacrifice. In 2007 Strmiska noted that
31921-433: The deities are typically represented as godpoles - wooden shafts with anthropomorphic faces carved into them, as were used prior to Christianisation , although in other instances resin statues of the divinities are sometimes used. Many practitioners combine their polytheistic world-view with a pantheistic conception of the natural world as being sacred and imbued with a divine energy force permeating all life. Heathenry
32154-484: The divinities on two further realms. Most practitioners believe that this is a poetic or symbolic description of the cosmos, with the different levels representing higher realms beyond the material plane of existence. The world tree is also interpreted by some in the community as an icon for ecological and social engagement. Some Heathens, such as the psychologist Brian Bates , have adopted an approach to this cosmology rooted in analytical psychology , thereby interpreting
32387-419: The division. As a result of such changes, by the late 1970s there was a clear division between McNallen's AFA, which emphasized religious over racial political aims, and Christensen's Odinist Fellowship , which placed far greater emphasis on the latter. "One of the hardest-learned lessons from the old AFA ... was this: the time has not come for widespread public acceptance of Ásatrú. At one point we exposed
32620-530: The dominant religion. Scholars have proposed different end dates for the Viking Age, but many argue it ended in the 11th century. The year 1000 is sometimes used, as that was the year in which Iceland converted to Christianity, marking the conversion of all of Scandinavia to Christianity. The death of Harthacnut, the Danish King of England, in 1042 has also been used as an end date. History does not often allow such clear-cut separation between arbitrary "ages", and it
32853-412: The drinking horn contained apple juice , and the toasting accompanied the children taping pictures of apples to a poster of a tree that symbolized the apple tree of Iðunn from Norse mythology. One religious practice sometimes found in Heathenry is seiðr , which has been described as "a particular shamanic trance ritual complex", although the appropriateness of using " shamanism " to describe seiðr
33086-412: The early 1980s McNallen used The Runestone to promote his theory of "metagenetics"; the idea that spirituality or religion was encoded in genetic material and thus passed down to one's descendants. In formulating this concept he was influenced by his reading of Jungian psychology with its concept of archetypes existing within a collective unconscious. Accordingly, he described "Ásatrú as an expression of
33319-518: The eight festivals found in the Wheel of the Year , a tradition that they share with Wiccans and several other contemporary Pagan groups. Others celebrate only six of these festivals, as represented by a six-spoked Wheel of the Year. The use of such festivals is criticized by other practitioners, who highlight that this system is of mid-20th century origin and does not link with the original religious celebrations of
33552-500: The ethical systems espoused in many other Western Pagan religions such as Wicca . A 2015 survey of the Heathen community nevertheless found that a greater percentage of Heathens were opposed to traditional gender rules than in favor of them, with this being particularly the case in northern Europe. The sociologist Jennifer Snook noted that as with all religions, Heathenry is "intimately connected" to politics, with practitioners' political and religious beliefs influencing one another. As
33785-448: The face of hardship and opposition." A bibliography of McNallen's works have been provided on the AFA's website: Heathenry (new religious movement) Heathenry , also termed Heathenism , contemporary Germanic Paganism , or Germanic Neopaganism , is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement . Developed in Europe during the early 20th century, its practitioners model it on
34018-416: The fact that ancient northern Europeans were known to marry and have children with members of other ethnic groups, and that in Norse mythology the Æsir also did the same with Vanir, Jötun, and humans, thus using such points to critique the racialist view. Universalists welcome practitioners of Heathenry who are not of northern European ancestry; for instance, there are Jewish and African American members of
34251-427: The faith". Calico also noted that McNallen "clearly has his legacy in view throughout this book, apparent in the self-referential tone that occasionally surfaces." In 2016 McNallen stood down as head of the AFA, and was replaced by Matt Flavel, Allen Turnage, and Patricia Hall. He initially announced his desire to focus on new projects as a writer and religious leader. That year he angered many Universalist Heathens with
34484-657: The first Europeans to reach North America. The Norse-Gaels , Normans , Rus' people , Faroese , and Icelanders emerged from these Norse colonies. The Vikings founded several kingdoms and earldoms in Europe: the Kingdom of the Isles ( Suðreyjar ), Orkney ( Norðreyjar ), York ( Jórvík ) and the Danelaw ( Danalǫg ), Dublin ( Dyflin ), Normandy , and Kievan Rus' ( Garðaríki ). The Norse homelands were also unified into larger kingdoms during
34717-652: The first to use runic inscriptions and Icelandic Sagas as primary historical sources. During the Enlightenment and Nordic Renaissance, historians such as the Icelandic-Norwegian Thormodus Torfæus , Danish-Norwegian Ludvig Holberg , and Swedish Olof von Dalin developed a more "rational" and "pragmatic" approach to historical scholarship. By the latter half of the 18th century, while the Icelandic sagas were still used as important historical sources,
34950-474: The former term originated among Germanic languages, whereas pagan has its origins in Latin . Further terms used in some academic contexts are contemporary Germanic Paganism and Germanic Neopaganism , although the latter is an "artificial term" developed by scholars with little use within the Heathen community. Alternately, Blain suggested the use of North European Paganism as an overarching scholarly term for
35183-436: The formerly enemy peoples that comprised what would become present-day Scotland. Over the subsequent 300 years, this Viking upheaval and pressure led to the unification of the previously contending Gaelic, Pictish, British, and English kingdoms, first into the Kingdom of Alba , and finally into the greater Kingdom of Scotland . The Viking Age in Scotland came to an end after another 100 years. The last vestiges of Norse power in
35416-403: The fury of the Northmen, Lord." Three Viking ships had beached in Weymouth Bay four years earlier (although due to a scribal error the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle dates this event to 787 rather than 789), but that incursion may have been a trading expedition that went wrong rather than a piratical raid. Lindisfarne was different. The Viking devastation of Northumbria 's Holy Island was reported by
35649-429: The general European population and settlement expansion at the end of the first millennium, he dismisses 'population pressure' as a realistic cause of the Viking Age. Bagge alludes to the evidence of demographic growth at the time, manifested in an increase of new settlements, but he declares that a warlike people do not require population pressure to resort to plundering abroad. He grants that although population increase
35882-437: The genetic code." — Jefferson F. Calico. In an online video, McNallen insisted that "race is real. It is not a social construct", and has pointed to writers like Nicholas Wade in defense of this point. McNallen also believes in an integral link connecting one's genetic or racial heritage to one's religion. He thus considers the ancient religion of the Aztecs to be inscribed on the subconscious of contemporary Mexicans, and
36115-571: The god Baldr in Norse mythology. Heathens view their connection with their deities not as being that of a master and servant but rather as an interdependent relationship akin to that of a family. For them, these deities serve as both examples and role models whose behavior is to be imitated. Many practitioners believe that they can communicate with these deities, as well as negotiate, bargain, and argue with them, and hope that through venerating them, practitioners will gain wisdom, understanding, power, or visionary insights. In Heathen ritual practices,
36348-452: The god Odin or Woden. Practitioners also commonly decorate their material—and sometimes themselves, in the form of tattoos—with runes, the alphabet used by Early Medieval Germanic languages. The most important Heathen rite, blót , involves giving offerings to the gods. Blót typically takes place outdoors, and usually consists of an offering of mead contained within a bowl. The gods are invoked and requests expressed for their aid, as
36581-496: The gods are toasted . Sumbel often takes place following a blót . In the U.S., the sumbel commonly involves a drinking horn being filled with mead and passed among the assembled participants, who either drink from it directly, or pour some into their own drinking vessels to consume. During this process, toasts are made, as are verbal tributes to gods, heroes, and ancestors. Then, oaths and boasts (promises of future actions) might be made, both of which are considered binding on
36814-630: The gods with an alcoholic beverage. Some adherents also engage in rituals designed to induce an altered state of consciousness and visions, most notably seiðr and galdr , with the intent of gaining wisdom and advice from the deities . Many solitary adherents follow the religion by themselves. Other Heathens assemble in small groups, usually known as kindreds or hearths , to perform their rites outdoors or in specially constructed buildings. Heathen ethical systems emphasize honor, personal integrity, and loyalty, while beliefs about an afterlife vary and are rarely emphasized. Heathenry's origins lie in
37047-414: The group's hierarchical structure by abandoning the concept of membership. In the 21st century, the AFA made significant inroads online, establishing a homepage, blog, podcast, online radio, as well as accounts on Facebook and YouTube . Around the same time it began to promote the writings of Nouvelle Droite authors such as Alain de Benoist , selling an English-language translation of the latter's Being
37280-418: The historical sources used are Old Norse texts associated with Iceland such as the Prose Edda and Poetic Edda , Old English texts such as Beowulf , and Middle High German texts such as the Nibelungenlied . Some Heathens also adopt ideas from the archaeological evidence of pre-Christian northern Europe and folklore from later periods in European history. Among many Heathens, this material
37513-455: The holy island of Iona in 794, the year following the raid on the other holy island of Lindisfarne , Northumbria. In 839, a large Norse fleet invaded via the River Tay and River Earn , both of which were highly navigable, and reached into the heart of the Pictish kingdom of Fortriu . They defeated Eogán mac Óengusa , king of the Picts, his brother Bran, and the king of the Scots of Dál Riata , Áed mac Boanta , along with many members of
37746-431: The home, where they can be propitiated with offerings of food. Some Heathens interact with these entities and provide offerings to them more often than they do with the gods and goddesses. Wights are often identified with various creatures from northwestern European folklore such as elves, dwarves, gnomes , and trolls . Some of these entities—such as the Jötunn of Norse mythology—are deemed to be baleful spirits; within
37979-407: The importance of behaviour and reputation in this world. In Icelandic Heathenry, there is no singular dogmatic belief about the afterlife. A common Heathen belief is that a human being has multiple souls, which are separate yet linked together. It is common to find a belief in four or five souls, two of which survive bodily death: one of these, the hugr , travels to the realm of the ancestors, while
38212-401: The initial raiding groups were small, a great amount of planning is believed to have been involved. The Vikings raided during the winter of 840–841, rather than the usual summer, having waited on an island off Ireland. In 850, the Vikings overwintered for the first time in England, on the island of Thanet , Kent . In 854, a raiding party overwintered a second time, at the Isle of Sheppey in
38445-427: The king Arthgal ap Dyfnwal , who was slain the following year under uncertain circumstances. The fall of Alt Clut marked a watershed in the history of the realm. Afterwards, the capital of the restructured kingdom was relocated about 12 miles (20 km) up the River Clyde to the vicinity of Govan and Partick (within present-day Glasgow ), and became known as the Kingdom of Strathclyde , which persisted as
38678-426: The kings and dynasties that began to emerge. As a result, many of these chiefs sought refuge elsewhere, and began harrying the coasts of the British Isles and Western Europe. Anders Winroth argues that purposeful choices by warlords "propelled the Viking Age movement of people from Scandinavia." These models constitute much of what is known about the motivations for and the causes of the Viking Age. In all likelihood,
38911-443: The last of which took place in 1086. In 1152, Eystein II of Norway led a plundering raid down the east coast of Britain. In 795, small bands of Vikings began plundering monastic settlements along the coast of Gaelic Ireland . The Annals of Ulster state that in 821 the Vikings plundered Howth and "carried off a great number of women into captivity". From 840 the Vikings began building fortified encampments, longphorts , on
39144-645: The literal existence of the deities as individual entities. Others express a psychological interpretation of the divinities, viewing them for instance as symbols, Jungian archetypes or racial archetypes, with some who adopt this position deeming themselves to be atheists . Heathenry's deities are adopted from the pre-Christian belief systems found in the various societies of Germanic Europe; they include divinities like Týr , Odin , Thor , Frigg and Freyja from Scandinavian sources, Wōden , Thunor and Ēostre from Anglo-Saxon sources, and figures such as Nehalennia from continental sources. Some practitioners adopt
39377-452: The major river valleys of north-western Europe. Rurik also expanded to the east, and in 859 became ruler either by conquest or invitation by local people of the city of Novgorod (which means "new city") on the Volkhov River . His successors moved further, founding the early East Slavic state of Kievan Rus' with the capital in Kiev . This persisted until 1240, when the Mongols invaded Kievan Rus' . Other Norse people continued south to
39610-467: The majority of Heathens identified as solitary practitioners, with northern Europe constituting an exception to this; here, the majority of Heathens reported involvement in groups. Priests are often termed godhi , while priestesses are gydhja , adopting Old Norse terms meaning "god-man" and "god-woman" respectively, with the plural term being gothar . These individuals are rarely seen as intermediaries between practitioners and deities, instead having
39843-432: The more ethnically homogeneous Iceland. A 2015 survey revealed a greater number of Heathens subscribed to universalist ideas than folkish ones. Contrasting with this binary division, Gardell divides Heathenry in the United States into three groups according to their stances on race: the "anti-racist" group which denounces any association between the religion and racial identity, the "radical racist" faction which sees it as
40076-409: The mountains of California, and there he earned teaching credentials before teaching science and mathematics at a junior high school for six years. During his summer vacations he travelled abroad, during which he met with guerrilla groups active in various parts of the world, writing articles about them for magazines like Soldier of Fortune . He later related that this experience convinced him of
40309-405: The movement; Strmiska noted that this would also encompass those practitioners inspired by the belief systems of northeastern Europe's linguistically Finnic and Slavic societies. He favored Modern Nordic Paganism , but accepted that this term excluded those Heathens who are particularly inspired by the pre-Christian belief systems of non-Nordic Germanic societies, such as the Anglo-Saxons and
40542-399: The natural religion of the Aryan race that should be followed by members of no other racial group, and the "ethnic" faction which seeks a middle-path by acknowledging the religion's roots in northern Europe and its connection with those of northern European heritage. The religious studies scholar Stefanie von Schnurbein adopted Gardell's tripartite division, although referred to the groups as
40775-405: The need for ethnonationalism and ethnic separatism across the world. McNallen also joined the U.S. National Guard and was called up during the 1992 Los Angeles riots . In the mid-1990s, McNallen returned to an active involvement in the U.S. Pagan scene, aided by his new partner, Sheila Edlund. They established their own Heathen group, the Calasa Kindred, which they affiliated to Murray's AA. He
41008-433: The needs of European-Americans just as it had responded to the demands of other racial groups. It took me a while to realize that no amount of letter writing or protesting was going to win any concessions from our opponents until there was a massive change in consciousness." — Stephen McNallen, 2004. At the turn of the 21st century, McNallen decided to embark on more specifically political activity, becoming President of
41241-479: The neo-Nazis and other racial extremists from the group. In 1978 he demanded that AFA members be prohibited from wearing Nazi uniforms and insignia at their events. Among those who left the AFA as a result were Wyatt Kaldenberg —who was appalled by what he described as McNallen's "soft stance on race" and "middle of the road" politics—and the neo-Nazi Heathen Jost Turner, who was McNallen's brother-in-law. McNallen nevertheless remained close to Turner and his family after
41474-417: The neo-Nazis within the AFA—threatened to kill a fellow member of the Assembly because he was gay. McNallen did not share these Nazi sympathies, disapproving of the Nazi ideal of a centralized totalitarian state, which he believed was anathema to the Heathen ideal of freedom; he also wanted to keep his religion apart from become an adjunct to a specifically political movement. Accordingly, he sought to push out
41707-445: The nine realms, or aspects of life. It is common for Heathens to utilize the Common Germanic Futhark as a runic alphabet, although some practitioners instead adopt the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc or the Younger Futhark . Some non-Heathens also use runes for divinatory purposes, with books on the subject being common in New Age bookstores. Some Heathens practice magic , but this is not regarded as an intrinsic part of Heathenry because it
41940-511: The nine worlds and their inhabitants as maps of the human mind. According to a common Heathen belief based on references in Old Norse sources, three female entities known as the Norns sit at the end of the world tree's root. These figures spin wyrd , which refers to the actions and interrelationships of all beings throughout the cosmos. In the community, these three figures are sometimes termed "Past, Present and Future", "Being, Becoming, and Obligation" or "Initiation, Becoming, Unfolding". It
42173-477: The north, and they never managed to establish permanent settlements in that region. The Vikings were driven from Dublin in 902. They returned in 914, now led by the Uí Ímair (House of Ivar). During the next eight years the Vikings won decisive battles against the Irish, regained control of Dublin, and founded settlements at Waterford , Wexford , Cork , and Limerick , which became Ireland's first large towns. They were important trading hubs, and Viking Dublin
42406-447: The other mighty powers of Asgard and Vanaheim! Nor have they figured, in their calculus of conflict, on the spiritual will of those who follow them." — Stephen McNallen. For McNallen, white Americans are essentially Europeans because of their genetic ancestry. He has penned articles on what he fears is the coming extinction of the white race, arguing that in the United States, white people will be largely replaced by Hispanics , with
42639-509: The other, the fetch , undergoes a process of reincarnation into a new body. In Heathen belief, there are various realms that the hugr can enter, based in part on the worth of the individual's earthly life; these include the hall of Valhalla , ruled over by Odin, or Sessrúmnir , the hall of Freyja. Beliefs regarding reincarnation vary widely among Heathens, although one common belief is that individuals are reborn within their family or clan. In Heathenry, moral and ethical views are based on
42872-478: The pejorative term " Neo-Heathen ". Some Heathens seek out common elements found throughout Germanic Europe during the Iron Age and Early Middle Ages, using those as the basis for their contemporary beliefs and practices. Conversely, others draw inspiration from the beliefs and practices of a specific geographical area and chronological period within Germanic Europe, such as Anglo-Saxon England or Viking Age Iceland . Some adherents are deeply knowledgeable as to
43105-419: The perceived ethics of Iron Age and Early Medieval northwestern Europe, in particular the actions of heroic figures who appear in Old Norse sagas . Evoking a life-affirming ethos, Heathen ethics focus on the ideals of honor, courage, integrity, hospitality, and hard work, and strongly emphasize loyalty to family. It is common for practitioners to be expected to keep their word, particularly sworn oaths. There
43338-401: The pirates looked further and further beyond the borders of the Baltic , and eventually into all of Europe. Historian Anders Winroth has also challenged the "overpopulation" thesis, arguing that scholars are "simply repeating an ancient cliché that has no basis in fact." The economic model states that the Viking Age was the result of growing urbanism and trade throughout mainland Europe. As
43571-433: The pre-Christian Germanic world. Heathen festivals can be held on the same day each year, however are often celebrated by Heathen communities on the nearest available weekend, so that those practitioners who work during the week can attend. During these ceremonies, Heathens often recite poetry to honor the deities, which typically draw upon or imitate the Early Medieval poems written in Old Norse or Old English. Mead or ale
43804-423: The preservation of heritage sites, and some practitioners have expressed concern regarding archaeological excavation of prehistoric and Early Medieval burials, believing that it is disrespectful to the individuals interred, whom Heathens widely see as their ancestors. Ethical debates within the community also arise when some practitioners believe that the religious practices of certain co-religionists conflict with
44037-401: The priest uses a sprig or branch of an evergreen tree to sprinkle mead onto both deity statues and the assembled participants. This procedure might be scripted or largely improvised. Finally, the bowl of mead is poured onto a fire, or onto the earth, as a libation to the gods. A communal meal may be held afterward. In other instances, the blót is simpler and less ritualized, simply involving
44270-408: The purpose; these can represent either a hörg , which is a sanctified place within nature like a grove of trees, or a hof , which is a wooden temple . The Heathen community has made various attempts to construct hofs in different parts of the world. In 2014 the Ásaheimur Temple was opened in Efri Ás, Skagafjörður , Iceland, while in 2014 a British Heathen group called the Odinist Fellowship opened
44503-457: The reeve and his men. The beginning of the Viking Age in the British Isles is often set at 793. It was recorded in the Anglo–Saxon Chronicle that the Northmen raided the important island monastery of Lindisfarne (the generally accepted date is actually 8 June, not January ): A.D. 793. This year came dreadful fore-warnings over the land of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing through
44736-399: The religion have typically favoured the terms Heathenry and Heathenism to describe it, for the reason that these words are inclusive of all varieties of the movement. This term is the most commonly used option by practitioners in the United Kingdom , with growing usage in North America and elsewhere. These terms are based on the word heathen , attested as the Gothic haithn , which
44969-417: The religion's "conservative ideas of proper decorum". For instance, while many Heathens eschew worship of the Norse god Loki , deeming him a baleful wight, his gender-bending nature has made him attractive to many LGBT Heathens. Those who adopt the former perspective have thus criticized Lokeans as effeminate and sexually deviant. Views on homosexuality and LGBT rights remain a source of tension within
45202-408: The religion, while Asatru is used by more moderate Heathen groups, but no such clear division of these terms' usage exists in practice. Gregorius noted that Odinism was "highly problematic" because it implies that the god Odin —who is adopted from Norse mythology—is central to these groups' theology, which is often not the case. Moreover, the term is also used by at least one non-racialist group,
45435-424: The religions of their European ancestors rather than adopting the belief systems of Native Americans. However, he came into conflict with Native American communities over the discovery of Kennewick Man , a prehistoric skeleton unearthed in Washington State; while local Native communities viewed the body as one of their ancestors and sought its repatriation to them, McNallen argued that it was Caucasian. In October 1996
45668-600: The religious studies scholar Michael Strmiska describes its beliefs as being "riddled with uncertainty and historical confusion", thereby characterising it as a postmodern movement. The ways in which Heathens use this historical and archaeological material differ; some seek to reconstruct past beliefs and practices as accurately as possible, while others openly experiment with this material and embrace new innovations. Some, for instance, adapt their practices according to unverified personal gnosis (UPG) that they have gained through spiritual experiences. Others adopt concepts from
45901-448: The right wing of the political spectrum", although added that in the Heathen community McNallen "suddenly becomes very much the man of the centre – and is thus a legitimate target for both sides." The historian of religion Mattias Gardell characterized McNallen as a libertarian . McNallen rejects the descriptor " conservative ", expressing the view that there is little in modern Western society worthy of conserving. McNallen envisions
46134-428: The role of facilitating and leading group ceremonies and being learned in the lore and traditions of the religion. Many kindreds believe that anyone can take on the position of priest, with members sharing organisational duties and taking turns in leading the rites. In other groups, it is considered necessary for the individual to gain formal credentials from an accredited Heathen organisation in order to be recognised as
46367-411: The second marks Midwinter , and the last marks the beginning of summer . Additional festivals are also marked by Heathen practice throughout the year. These often include days which commemorate individuals who fought against the Christianization of northern Europe, or who led armies and settlers into new lands. Some Heathen groups hold festivals dedicated to a specific deity. Some Heathens celebrate
46600-421: The sense of being engaged in piracy. Voyaging by sea from their homelands in Denmark , Norway , and Sweden , the Norse people settled in the British Isles , Ireland , the Faroe Islands , Iceland , Greenland , Normandy , and the Baltic coast and along the Dnieper and Volga trade routes in eastern Europe, where they were also known as Varangians . They also briefly settled in Newfoundland , becoming
46833-524: The situation in lowland Denmark. By 800, some 30 small kingdoms existed in Norway. The sea was the easiest way of communication between the Norwegian kingdoms and the outside world. In the eighth century, Scandinavians began to build ships of war and send them on raiding expeditions which started the Viking Age. The North Sea rovers were traders, colonisers, explorers, and plunderers who were notorious in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and other places in Europe for being brutal. Many theories are posited for
47066-479: The soul of our [Nordic] race", and thought that it was a "real mistake" for anyone not of Northern European ancestry to follow Heathenry. Not everyone in the AFA embraced this theory, with it being rejected for instance by prominent AFA member Robert Stine, although it would later be developed in new directions by the Heathen Edred Thorsson . Academic observers have characterised metagenetics as racist, and as pseudoscience . One commentator noted that AFA membership at
47299-456: The speakers due to the sacred context of the sumbel ceremony. According to Snook, the sumbel has a strong social role, representing "a game of politicking, of socializing, cementing bonds of peace and friendship and forming new relationships" within the Heathen community. During her ethnographic research, Pizza observed an example of a sumbel that took place in Minnesota in 2006 with the purpose of involving Heathen children; rather than mead,
47532-435: The specifics of northern European society in the Iron Age and Early Medieval periods; however for most practitioners their main source of information about the pre-Christian past is fictional literature and popular accounts of Norse mythology. Many express a romanticized view of this past, sometimes perpetuating misconceptions about it; the sociologist of religion Jennifer Snook noted that many practitioners "hearken back to
47765-603: The tastes and needs of contemporary practitioners. In addition to meeting for ritual practices, many Heathen kindreds also organize study sessions to meet and discuss Medieval texts pertaining to pre-Christian religion; among U.S. Heathens, it is common to refer to theirs as a "religion with homework". During religious ceremonies, many adherents choose to wear clothing that imitates the styles of dress worn in Iron Age and Early Medieval northern Europe , sometimes termed "garb". They also often wear symbols indicating their religious allegiance. The most commonly used sign among Heathens
47998-420: The term "Norse religion" to describe the Heathen religion that he was practicing, before later adopting the term "Odinism" from the work of Danish Heathen Else Christensen . He then changed it once again, this time to "Asatru", which he had discovered in Magnus Magnusson 's book, Hammer of the North , and subsequently popularized within the American Heathen community. During his college years, McNallen had been
48231-433: The terms Odinism or Wotanism to describe their religion. The England-based racialist group Woden's Folk favored Wodenism and Woden Folk-Religion , while another racialist group, the Heathen Front , favored the term Odalism , coined by Varg Vikernes , in reference to the odal rune . There is thus a general view that all those who use Odinism adopt an explicitly political, right-wing and racialist interpretation of
48464-474: The terms Odinism , Wotanism , Wodenism , or Odalism . Scholarly estimates put the number of Heathens at no more than 20,000 worldwide, with communities of practitioners active in Europe, the Americas, and Australasia. Scholars of religious studies classify Heathenry as a new religious movement , and more specifically as a reconstructionist form of modern Paganism . Heathenry has been defined as "a broad contemporary Pagan new religious movement (NRM) that
48697-482: The time was largely a mix of hippies and neo-Nazis . As membership of the AFA grew, there were an increased number of internal conflicts, often along ideological lines. This was exacerbated by the fact that all affiliated groups, known as kindreds , were autonomous, while the AFA promoted an individualistic ethos which allowed for a diversity of opinions. This generated conflicts at the AFA's annual meetings, or Althings , for instance when Michael "Valgard" Murray—one of
48930-427: The title of duke. In return, Rollo swore fealty to Charles, converted to Christianity, and undertook to defend the northern region of France against the incursions of other Viking groups. Several generations later, the Norman descendants of these Viking settlers not only identified themselves as Norman, but also carried the Norman language (either a French dialect or a Romance language which can be classified as one of
49163-485: The use of any mind-altering drugs. Not all Heathens practice seiðr ; given its associations with both the ambiguity of sexuality and gender and the gods Odin and Loki in their unreliable trickster forms, many on the Heathen movement's right wing disapprove of it. While there are heterosexual male practitioners, seiðr is largely associated with women and gay men, and a 2015 survey of Heathens found that women were more likely to have engaged in it than men. One member of
49396-491: The use of iron and a shortage of women due to selective female infanticide also likely had an impact. Tensions caused by Frankish expansion to the south of Scandinavia, and their subsequent attacks upon the Viking peoples, may have also played a role in Viking pillaging. Harald I of Norway ("Harald Fairhair") had united Norway around this time and displaced many peoples. As a result, these people sought for new bases to launch counter-raids against Harald. Debate among scholars
49629-459: The view that his AFA exhibits the "middle ground on racial issues. On the one hand we were proud of our European heritage, and we actively espoused the interests of European-descended peoples. On the other hand we opposed totalitarianism and racial hatred, convinced that decency and honor required us to treat individuals of all racial groups with respect." According to a 1998 Southern Poverty Law Center article, although McNallen has attempted to evade
49862-435: The white or Aryan struggle against other racial groups. According to Katja Lane, co-founder of the extreme racialist Wotansvolk, McNallen is "promoting everything BUT the Aryan cause." However, in writings and YouTube videos, Stephen McNallen has spoken favorably of Wotanism and the Fourteen Words of David Lane , networking with Red Ice TV , a social media outlet of the alt-right . Calico noted that McNallen represented
50095-484: The world as a military journalist, writing articles for Soldier of Fortune magazine. Concerned by what he saw as the growth of liberal , universalist ideas in Heathenry, he returned to active involvement in the Heathen movement in the mid-1990s, establishing the Asatrú Folk Assembly, which was headquartered in Grass Valley, California . In 1997 he was involved in the establishment of the International Asatru/Odinist Alliance alongside Valgard Murray's Ásatrú Alliance and
50328-442: The world's surviving ethnic religions as well as modern polytheistic traditions such as Hinduism and Afro-American religions , believing that doing so helps to construct spiritual world-views akin to those that existed in Europe prior to Christianization . Some practitioners who emphasize an approach that relies exclusively on historical and archaeological sources criticize such attitudes, denigrating those who practice them using
50561-451: The Æsir, such as the Vanir , valkyries , elves , and dwarfs . Although initially a popular term of designation among practitioners and academics, usage of Ásatrú has declined as the religion has aged. Other practitioners term their religion Vanatrú , meaning "those who honor the Vanir", or Dísitrú , meaning "those who honor the goddesses", depending on their particular theological emphasis. A small group of practitioners who venerate
50794-456: Was "a patron of the arts, a benefactor of the church, and an economic innovator" who established Ireland's first mint , in Dublin. In 980 CE , Máel Sechnaill Mór defeated the Dublin Vikings and forced them into submission. Over the following thirty years, Brian Boru subdued the Viking territories and made himself High King of Ireland . The Dublin Vikings, together with Leinster , twice rebelled against him, but they were defeated in
51027-474: Was a factor in this expansion, it was not the incentive for such expeditions. According to Ferguson, the proliferation of the use of iron in Scandinavia at the time increased agricultural yields, allowing for demographic growth that strained the limited capacity of the land. As a result, many Scandinavians found themselves with no property and no status. To remedy this, these landless men took to piracy to obtain material wealth. The population continued to grow, and
51260-425: Was adopted by Gothic Arian missionaries as the equivalent of both the Greek words Hellenis (Hellene, Greek) and ethnikós —"of a (foreign) people". The word was used by Early Medieval Christian writers in Germanic Europe to describe non-Christians; by using it, practitioners seek to reappropriate it from the Christians as a form of self-designation. Many practitioners favor the term Heathen over pagan because
51493-507: Was an attempt to recruit members. After this incident was publicized it resulted in accusations of racism being levelled against McNallen and the AFA from various parts of the Pagan blogosphere. In December 2012, McNallen created the Facebook page Green Asatru to promote environmental ideas within Heathenry. In June 2013 McNallen started the non-profit organization, Forever Elephants, to combat ivory poaching in Africa, using Facebook to promote this cause. In 2014, he retired from his profession as
51726-416: Was born in the rural town of Breckenridge , Texas on October 15, 1948, to a family of practicing Roman Catholics . After high school, he attended Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas . While there, he began to investigate alternative religions , reading about the modern Pagan religion of Wicca and the writings of the occultist Aleister Crowley . In his freshman year of college he read
51959-409: Was featured alongside articles by other white nationalists like Jared Taylor and Kevin B. MacDonald . Spencer noted that the initial articles for this website represented "the first stage" of the alt-right movement. In 2011, the AFA sent a contingent to the annual conference of a Spencer's white nationalist organization, the National Policy Institute , in what some figures close to McNallen revealed
52192-516: Was killed by Máel Sechnaill I in 845. In 853, Viking leader Amlaíb (Olaf) became the first king of Dublin . He ruled along with his brothers Ímar (possibly Ivar the Boneless ) and Auisle . Over the following decades, there was regular warfare between the Vikings and the Irish, and between two groups of Vikings: the Dubgaill and Finngaill (dark and fair foreigners). The Vikings also briefly allied with various Irish kings against their rivals. In 866, Áed Findliath burnt all Viking longphorts in
52425-446: Was not a common feature of pre-Christian rituals in Iron Age and Early Medieval Germanic Europe. Different Heathen groups celebrate different festivals according to their cultural and religious focus. The most widely observed Heathen festivals are Winter Nights , Yule , and Sigrblót , all of which were listed in his Heimskringla and are thus of ancient origin. The first of these marks the start of winter in northern Europe, while
52658-468: Was not immediately apparent to me. I think many people first get involved in racial politics, and then later decide that maybe Odinism or Asatrú attracts them. With me, it was quite the reverse as I was attracted to the religion first, simply for its own value, and it was only later, that I began to realize that there's an inherent connection between one's ethnicity and the religion that they follow." — Stephen McNallen. In 1969–70, McNallen founded
52891-427: Was only suitable for those of Northern European ancestry. A growing membership generated internal conflict within the AFA, resulting in McNallen's decision to expel those with neo-Nazi and racial extremist views from the organisation. Under increasing personal strain, in 1987 he disbanded the Assembly. Moving to Northern California , McNallen began a career as a school teacher; during the summer vacations he travelled
53124-439: Was opposed by many of the groups attending, who argued that he should not be invited because of what they perceived as his racist views; a number of European Heathen groups, such as Norway's Bifrost and the Swedish SAS, threatened to boycott the event as a result of McNallen's invite. In 2010, he contributed an article to the newly founded webzine AlternativeRight.com , founded by the white nationalist Richard B. Spencer , which
53357-411: Was the biggest slave port in western Europe. These Viking territories became part of the patchwork of kingdoms in Ireland. Vikings intermarried with the Irish and adopted elements of Irish culture, becoming the Norse-Gaels . Some Viking kings of Dublin also ruled the kingdom of the Isles and York ; such as Sitric Cáech , Gofraid ua Ímair , Olaf Guthfrithson , and Olaf Cuaran . Sigtrygg Silkbeard
53590-491: Was the dominant interpretation among practitioners in Nordic countries. No central religious authority exists to impose a particular terminological designation on all practitioners. Hence, different Heathen groups have used different words to describe both their religion and themselves, with these terms often conveying meaning about their socio-political beliefs as well as the particular Germanic region of pre-Christian Europe from which they draw inspiration. Academics studying
53823-468: Was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their homeland of Scandinavia but also to any place significantly settled by Scandinavians during the period. The Scandinavians of the Viking Age are often referred to as Vikings as well as Norsemen , although few of them were Vikings in
54056-440: Was therefore largely superfluous. Seeking to promote Heathenry to a wider audience, McNallen also established the Ásatrú Community Church, which held Sunday services twice a month in the community room of the Nevada County Library ; he later acknowledged that it was not particularly successful. During the 1990s, McNallen befriended the prominent Heathen Michael Moynihan , later recommending and selling Moynihan's journal Tyr on
54289-441: Was upset by the growth of The Troth , a universalist Heathen group that welcomed members regardless of ethnic or racial background. He later referred to this as "a corrupt faction" that "denied the innate connection of Germanic religions and Germanic people", expressing anger at the increasing domination of Heathenry by "liberals, affirmative-action Asatrúers, black goðar, and New Agers". In response to this, he decided to re-establish
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