Heathenry/Norse Polytheism Discussion thread.

[Farnhamia]

*** Warned for trolling. ***

You gonna warn everyone else who agreed with me for trolling too?

Sure, give me a minute ...

Paganic polytheist here as well. Non norse. And yeah I've stay away from the drama and infighting between obscure groups really.

Folkish pagans are literally cancer and anyone who says you need to be of a specific ethnicity to follow a certain religion needs to be punched in the mouth tbh

This ^^

Folkish pagans are literally cancer and anyone who says you need to be of a specific ethnicity to follow a certain religion needs to be punched in the mouth tbh

t. polytheist, albeit not of the Norse worshipping kind

As a German-American who worships the Greek pantheon, 100% agreed.

Nakena, First American Empire: *** Warned for trolling. ***

[Hanafuridake]

Out of curiosity, what pantheon do you worship?

Greek primarily, but by and large I accept the divinity of a great many more.

Do you have to say no homo whenever you prostrate to Zeus?

[Telconi]

Golly gee, two pages in and we have three incidents of red text warning people to not condemn racism.

[Bienenhalde]

Golly gee, two pages in and we have three incidents of red text warning people to not condemn racism.

Warning people not to engage in violent vigilantism against racists. You know, like what Antifa does.

[North German Realm]

Golly gee, two pages in and we have three incidents of red text warning people to not condemn racism.

Warning people not to engage in violent vigilantism against racists. You know, like what Antifa does.

It... It was literally calling a specific veneer of a broad ideology that is generally only followed by fascist cancer. Not violent. Not vigilantyism. Wtf?

[Bienenhalde]

Warning people not to engage in violent vigilantism against racists. You know, like what Antifa does.

It... It was literally calling a specific veneer of a broad ideology that is generally only followed by fascist cancer. Not violent. Not vigilantyism. Wtf?

He said they should be punched in the mouth.

[North German Realm]

It... It was literally calling a specific veneer of a broad ideology that is generally only followed by fascist cancer. Not violent. Not vigilantyism. Wtf?

He said they should be punched in the mouth.

I want to say I condemn it but... I don't.

[Risottia]

Warning people not to engage in violent vigilantism against racists. You know, like what Antifa does.

It... It was literally calling a specific veneer of a broad ideology that is generally only followed by fascist cancer. Not violent. Not vigilantyism. Wtf?

Wrong. Look at the exact wording. PEOPLE were called "cancer", not an ideology. There's a difference.

[Kowani]

Well, that’s the death of this thread.

[North German Realm]

Well, that’s the death of this thread.

Eh. It's not like we expected this thread to go on for that long. I'm hoping someone will start a debate and get more people posting, but I'm not holding my breath tbh.

[Nakena]

Well its a sad matter of fact that many paganic and associated esoteric movements are rife with racist elements, who attempt to use it towards their own ideological ends and add it to their fluff.

As for the warnings. I've posted in mod forum regarding that.

[Lillorainen]

Yeah, the thread might travel to Helheim before it even properly arrived in Midgard, but let's not give it up too easily.

Well its a sad matter of fact that many paganic and associated esoteric movements are rife with racist elements, who attempt to use it towards their own ideological ends and add it to their fluff.

Pretty much this - and it doesn't only concern Norse paganism; esoteric movements based on Celtic or other elements often suffer from this reputation. It often leads to the same reaction as confessing to football clubs with a history of right-wing hooliganism (Dynamo Dresden being a prominent example) - almost impossible without explicitly adding, that one doesn't support said right-wingers/neo-nazis. As I stated, I'm not really a follower, but I find these things quite interesting.
An experience one often makes in Germany and making me wonder, if it's similar in your home countries, is also that one asks people what they believe in, and they reply, "I believe in nothing. I'm a heathen." Thus, they refer to themselves as heathens, although 'atheist' or 'agnostic' would be the more correct terms. It's somewhat bothering, for they use a term without actually knowing its meaning.
Is that a German particularity, or can you guys tell anything similar?

[Cydalia]

Catholic gang here


bro imagine actually being pagan in 2019


stop posting cringe bro

[Hammer Britannia]

Well, that’s the death of this thread.

I mean, unless the CDT nerds or the IDT geeks were to charge in here swords raised proclaiming "Other religion bad" and start a debate and/or flamewar, I already had my doubts this thread would last longer than 5 pages.

[Nakena]

Yeah, the thread might travel to Helheim before it even properly arrived in Midgard, but let's not give it up too easily.

Well its a sad matter of fact that many paganic and associated esoteric movements are rife with racist elements, who attempt to use it towards their own ideological ends and add it to their fluff.

Pretty much this - and it doesn't only concern Norse paganism; esoteric movements based on Celtic or other elements often suffer from this reputation. It often leads to the same reaction as confessing to football clubs with a history of right-wing hooliganism (Dynamo Dresden being a prominent example) - almost impossible without explicitly adding, that one doesn't support said right-wingers/neo-nazis. As I stated, I'm not really a follower, but I find these things quite interesting.
An experience one often makes in Germany and making me wonder, if it's similar in your home countries, is also that one asks people what they believe in, and they reply, "I believe in nothing. I'm a heathen." Thus, they refer to themselves as heathens, although 'atheist' or 'agnostic' would be the more correct terms. It's somewhat bothering, for they use a term without actually knowing its meaning.
Is that a German particularity, or can you guys tell anything similar?

There might be people who claim the Heathen or Pagan to be hip or different, rather than this being necessarily indicative for their actual religious beliefs. Like for some it might be trendy to claim to believe in Odin or Thor and so on. And then you got those heathen LARPers who dance around in silly alternative eco-fashion and meet somewhere up, but more often than not those are just bored middle-class scions on self-finding tour or people who buy overtly into the New Age claptrap.

Hence I am very reserved about those people and try to stay way. In the end their bourgeois (not in economical but cultural sense, you know germans call this "kleinbuergerlich" if i am not mistaken) mores, narrow-mindness and culture come through anyways. I've observed that quite a few times.

[Lillorainen]

There might be people who claim the Heathen or Pagan to be hip or different, rather than this being necessarily indicative for their actual religious beliefs. Like for some it might be trendy to claim to believe in Odin or Thor and so on. And then you got those heathen LARPers who dance around in silly alternative eco-fashion and meet somewhere up, but more often than not those are just bored middle-class scions on self-finding tour or people who buy overtly into the New Age claptrap.

Hence I am very reserved about those people and try to stay way. In the end their bourgeois (not in economical but cultural sense, you know germans call this "kleinbuergerlich" if i am not mistaken) mores, narrow-mindness and culture come through anyways. I've observed that quite a few times.

There are these people, indeed, although according to my perception, in my place, Norse heathenry enjoys a fairly small popularity amongst the people whose attitude we indeed call "kleinbürgerlich", at least compared to Wicca (which does have some Nordic elements, but much rather combines elements of cults of all provenience one can imagine), or the other New Age stuff coming from Asia (or claims to be) - these are more popular amongst those people. And yes, I'm usually very unlikely to be around when they meet up.
What I was referring to in my last post, was that some people, who clearly don't believe in any sort of deity at all, and also don't claim to, use 'heathen' as a synonym for 'atheist'/'agnostic' to refer to their belief (or rather, the lack thereof), and some even realize, that they were just using the wrong term. I was just wondering, if this phenomenon might be as widespread abroad as it's in here.

[North German Realm]

Well, that’s the death of this thread.

I mean, unless the CDT nerds or the IDT geeks were to charge in here swords raised proclaiming "Other religion bad" and start a debate and/or flamewar, I already had my doubts this thread would last longer than 5 pages.

Which is ironic, because this thread is like the only thread that neither Muslims nor Christians haven't jacked to make about their own religion yet.

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

The thread title just makes me think of the Beatles' Being for the benefit of Mr Kite!

[Andsed]

Catholic gang here


bro imagine actually being pagan in 2019


stop posting cringe bro

Imagine dismissing someone´s beliefs as cringe because it does not happen to line up with your own. Grow up.

[Nakena]

There are these people, indeed, although according to my perception, in my place, Norse heathenry enjoys a fairly small popularity amongst the people whose attitude we indeed call "kleinbürgerlich", at least compared to Wicca (which does have some Nordic elements, but much rather combines elements of cults of all provenience one can imagine), or the other New Age stuff coming from Asia (or claims to be) - these are more popular amongst those people. And yes, I'm usually very unlikely to be around when they meet up.
What I was referring to in my last post, was that some people, who clearly don't believe in any sort of deity at all, and also don't claim to, use 'heathen' as a synonym for 'atheist'/'agnostic' to refer to their belief (or rather, the lack thereof), and some even realize, that they were just using the wrong term. I was just wondering, if this phenomenon might be as widespread abroad as it's in here.

I haven't heared about it but people claim all kinds of weird things those days. Even the very word Pagan or paganism itself can refer to pretty much any non-christian, non-abrahamite generic faith, usually but not necessarily polytheistic.

I mean, unless the CDT nerds or the IDT geeks were to charge in here swords raised proclaiming "Other religion bad" and start a debate and/or flamewar, I already had my doubts this thread would last longer than 5 pages.

Which is ironic, because this thread is like the only thread that neither Muslims nor Christians haven't jacked to make about their own religion yet.

They fear the Dark Gods.

[Lillorainen]

I haven't heared about it but people claim all kinds of weird things those days. Even the very word Pagan or paganism itself can refer to pretty much any non-christian, non-abrahamite generic faith, usually but not necessarily polytheistic.

Indeed, people tend to claim a lot of stuff - after all, we're living in the Age of New Age, where everything remotely non-abrahamite passes as paganism. Everyone should feel free to believe whatever they wish, for all I care, but the more abstruse it gets, the lower the likelihood of me getting keen on hanging out with them. The lads and, to a degree, also lassies amongst those I do hang out with are pretty normal people, with the only difference, that they don't adhere to an Abrahamic faith - be it a relic of rebellion against their parents from the days of their youth, be it genuine conviction, be it following a trend, or be it even just a Lillorainen-level general interest starting to get out of control; it's entirely up to them from my point of view.
(I'll most certainly meet some of them next weekend, and this will surely become a topic - I might leave some more answers to these questions in here, should this thread survive until then.)

They fear the Dark Gods.

Possible. No one wants Thor's heavy Mjölnir to be dropped on one's head. Might hurt a bit.

[The Emerald Legion]

Catholic gang here


bro imagine actually being pagan in 2019


stop posting cringe bro

Pfff. Imagine being Catholic in 2019. The Protestant Reformation happened 498 years ago bro.

There might be people who claim the Heathen or Pagan to be hip or different, rather than this being necessarily indicative for their actual religious beliefs. Like for some it might be trendy to claim to believe in Odin or Thor and so on. And then you got those heathen LARPers who dance around in silly alternative eco-fashion and meet somewhere up, but more often than not those are just bored middle-class scions on self-finding tour or people who buy overtly into the New Age claptrap.

Hence I am very reserved about those people and try to stay way. In the end their bourgeois (not in economical but cultural sense, you know germans call this "kleinbuergerlich" if i am not mistaken) mores, narrow-mindness and culture come through anyways. I've observed that quite a few times.

There are these people, indeed, although according to my perception, in my place, Norse heathenry enjoys a fairly small popularity amongst the people whose attitude we indeed call "kleinbürgerlich", at least compared to Wicca (which does have some Nordic elements, but much rather combines elements of cults of all provenience one can imagine), or the other New Age stuff coming from Asia (or claims to be) - these are more popular amongst those people. And yes, I'm usually very unlikely to be around when they meet up.
What I was referring to in my last post, was that some people, who clearly don't believe in any sort of deity at all, and also don't claim to, use 'heathen' as a synonym for 'atheist'/'agnostic' to refer to their belief (or rather, the lack thereof), and some even realize, that they were just using the wrong term. I was just wondering, if this phenomenon might be as widespread abroad as it's in here.

That's definitely something that happens. Though it's usually used more in a pejorative sense by Christians towards those who aren't. IE 'Stop acting like a Heathen and go to church.'

That being said, it seems like in many ways Heathenry/Norse Polytheism in the US appears to be sort of a 'Right Wing' branch of Neopaganism in general. While still further left than fundamentalist christians, they do tend to be more right wing than your average neopagan.

I mean, unless the CDT nerds or the IDT geeks were to charge in here swords raised proclaiming "Other religion bad" and start a debate and/or flamewar, I already had my doubts this thread would last longer than 5 pages.

Which is ironic, because this thread is like the only thread that neither Muslims nor Christians haven't jacked to make about their own religion yet.

I mean, to be fair, the moral outlook of Norse Paganism and Abrahamic faiths make it a bit of a blue-orange conundrum to try and proselytize. The entire value structure is different. Plus, even the one time they DID win, they ended up with Norse Paganism infecting them and just... kinda moving in and going 'So where are we going to put the tree covered in decorations at Yule? Oh, and we've renamed your days of the week.'

[Lillorainen]

That's definitely something that happens. Though it's usually used more in a pejorative sense by Christians towards those who aren't. IE 'Stop acting like a Heathen and go to church.'

That being said, it seems like in many ways Heathenry/Norse Polytheism in the US appears to be sort of a 'Right Wing' branch of Neopaganism in general. While still further left than fundamentalist christians, they do tend to be more right wing than your average neopagan.

Ah, I see, so people in Germany rather seem to refer to themselves as heathens, whereas people in the U.S. tend to use it for others, right? It does match with my observations so far, and this particular reference might be a reason why, despite both terms being mutually interchangeable in general, 'heathen' tends to sound more pejorative than 'pagan' (at least in my ears - then again, English is not my native language).

And yes, the second point might be a thing as well with some in here - but with an emphasis on 'some'. On the one hand, there is your average "I'm not a Nazi, but ..."-style right-winger who celebrates "muh our heritage" (again, these are not the people I hang out with, and they probably wouldn't like my way-too-little-Germanic ethnic makeup) - but on the other hand, there are also more centrist and liberal people going back to the roots with their faith. It's hard to tell, for X isn't always Y - sometimes, X can also be Z, or O, or an instrument.

I mean, to be fair, the moral outlook of Norse Paganism and Abrahamic faiths make it a bit of a blue-orange conundrum to try and proselytize. The entire value structure is different. Plus, even the one time they DID win, they ended up with Norse Paganism infecting them and just... kinda moving in and going 'So where are we going to put the tree covered in decorations at Yule? Oh, and we've renamed your days of the week.'

Fun fact - Julfest tree decoration is still very common in Sweden. They adopted/kept a lot of pagan traditions.

[North German Realm]

I mean, to be fair, the moral outlook of Norse Paganism and Abrahamic faiths make it a bit of a blue-orange conundrum to try and proselytize. The entire value structure is different. Plus, even the one time they DID win, they ended up with Norse Paganism infecting them and just... kinda moving in and going 'So where are we going to put the tree covered in decorations at Yule? Oh, and we've renamed your days of the week.'

Fun fact - Julfest tree decoration is still very common in Sweden. They adopted/kept a lot of pagan traditions.

(Responding to both) Not very surprising to be honest. I'd compare the Norse history of "fixing the invasive culture" to that of Iranians regarding Arab, and later Turk and Mongol invading cultures in its efficiency. Neither could manage to keep the old culture going completely, but both did force the invading culture to change itself for their victims.

Also, I just noticed this isn't "Polytheist" thread and specifically "Norse Polytheist" thread and I am shook

[Nakena]

Also, I just noticed this isn't "Polytheist" thread and specifically "Norse Polytheist" thread and I am shook

This is now a Polytheism thread by virtue of our continued posting.