An Overview of Germanic Heathenry

(the symbols "Þ" and "þ" generally stand for the "th" in "thin"; "Ð" and "ð" stand for the "th" in "that.")

   As the name may imply, Germanic Heathenry has its roots in the spiritual and cultural beliefs and customs of the peoples who dwelled in the countries which, today, are England, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland as well as parts of France.  These people were called the Germanii by the Romans while their names for themselves, collectively,  came to us in the Modern German Deutsch.  

   As far as Western history is concerned, the Germanic peoples did not merit much mention until the battle of Teutoberger Forest where German forces, lead by Arminius (Herman the Cherusci), totally destroyed Roman legions 17, 18, and 19 under the leadership of Varus.  From then on these peoples were in the histories, armies, and nightmares of their Mediterranean neighbors.  Almost a century later, Cornelius Tacitus writes one of fullest early accounts of the German tribes, giving details, as best he knew, into the life and beliefs of these people.

   On the religious side of his description, Tacitus mentions the people worshipping gods and goddesses he equated with Mercurius, Jupiter, Mars, Hercules, Castor and Pollux in addition to Isis.  He also mentions apparent indigenous entities such as the Alcis and Nerthus, a goddess who was worshipped by a number of northern tribes which include the ancestors to the English.  We know from the interpretation of the Roman days of the week, what some of these deities were to the Germans.  Mars was equated with Tiw/Týr; Mercurius with Woden/Óðinn; Jupiter with Þunor/Þórr; Venus with Frige/Frigg.

   With the rise of Christianity, belief in these Gods slowly faded off as the new faith entered heathen lands, mostly for political and economic reasons, though it is fair to say also that people were genuinely moved by the promises of the new religion.  At first the conversions were peaceful and certain degrees of co-religiosity between the two ways existed.  Under this initial spread were folk like the Franks, Burgundians, Goths, and Alemanni, all converting, at least officially, in the 4th to 5th centuries.

   In 597 C.E., St. Augustine, at the behest of Pope Gregory, started a mission aimed at the conversion of the British Germans, the English.  He started in the kingdom of Kent, where the Queen, Bertha, was already a practicing Christian- being Frankish- with her own clergy and church.  Four years later, 601 C.E., missionaries from Ireland came to the court of King Edwin of Northumbria, who, after consulting with his thanes and hearing a moving speech of a now former high priest of the old ways, then decide himself to be a Christian.  The religion soon spread throughout the heptarchy which constituted England at the time.  There was opposition in the forms of Penda of Mercia and Rædwald of East Anglia, but eventually, their own kinsmen came to the Cross after their deaths.  More minor oppositions amongst the folk followed with the East Saxons among the last to bend to current of Christianity sweeping the island.  At the Synod of Whitby in the 664 C.E., the country was declared officially Christian.

   The flood waters of the new faith soon spread back across the channel, aimed at the Frisians and Saxons.  By this time, however, the flood had the force of national army backing it up.  The conversion by peaceful persuasion was beginning to yield to the force and rivalries of warring nations with the Christian ones now using the arguement of saving souls as a means to vanquish their enemies.  In 772 Charlemagne cut down a cult pillar, called the Irminsul, as part of an attempt to crush his neighboring Saxons wills and people.  In years following more such events happened.  Soon civil wars were being fought over religion and culture.  In the 800's the flood stopped...for a while.

   At roughly this time, raiding bands of Scandinavians, known then and now as "Vikings", started wreaking havoc on the kingdoms of England, Ireland, and France.  With their swords, they also brought the old ways back into lands and people who also once worshipped the old gods, bringing fear and thoughts of Judgment Day to the Christian flocks around Europe.  Soon these "Vikings" had come to colonize most of northern and eastern England, eastern Ireland- including founding Dublin, and the northern coast of France.  With politics and trade going hand-in-hand with religion at the time, soon these people assimilated into the very cultures they once raided.  The Northmen in France became the Normans.  Having their roots in Scandinavia, these people also took the new religion back to their kinfolk in Norway, Denmark and Sweden.

   In the late 800's, the tide of the Cross was starting to heighten the passions of war among the Scandinavian peoples.  First it was just a matter of several petty kings seeking to unify their lands under one power, in envy of their continental and Christian counterparts.  Here though as opposed to many other places and times among the Germanic peoples, lesser nobles of strong conviction for the old ways started to rebel against their kings, especially those bringing promises of Christianity.  Having the backing of Rome, France, and England though, the newly converted kings brought much power, wealth and pain to their lands.  The sword had replaced reason in the conversions.

   The lands left which still had people of the old ways, had to consider a change to avoid the violence in the new changes.  Iceland was one of these.  In 1000 C.E., the small island nation was facing economic pressure from without their land and possible civil war within their land over the beliefs of the people.  The heathens had declared the Christians outlaws and the Christians did the same.  The Lawspeaker at the time, Þórgeirr, using the divinatory practice of "going under the cloak", considered the situation and decide that the country would officially convert to Christianity with private observation of the old ways allowed in private.  After this, only Sweden was the only Germanic heathen country left and the great Uppsala temple, the center of worship for the folk there, came down in 1100, essentially ending the Heathen period.

   Since that time, many attempts of bringing back the old ways have taken place.  This has been partly possible by the literature written after the conversions (such as the Prose and Poetic Eddas and the various sagas) which told, in various forms, the mythology, legends, and ways of these people prior to the conversion.  Some of these countries had also a keen sense of nationalism which sometimes more important than their beliefs and always maintain a sympathy for the old ways, albeit at times very romanticized.

   This brings us to the modern age.  Throughout parts of the late 19th and most of the 20th centuries, groups, based on romanticized ideals of the heathen as the noble savage, started to develop, especially in Europe.  Most had some type of spiritualism to them which emphasized secrecy and magic more so than actually belief and worship in the old ways, but they set the foundation for an interest in learning more about the old ways.  English witchcraft had been made open in the 1940's by Gerald Gardner and set of the growth of "Wicca" there and here in the United States.  The catalyst which proved the most energizing of the resurgence in old beliefs would come with the radical changes of the 1960's and 1970's in society.

   In the age, which some new-agers call the Age of Aquarius, radical social shift from the cookie-cutter mentality of the American post-war '50's to the counterculture of '60's and '70's during Viet Nam war opened up an inner call among some people to question the current mainstream beliefs and seek out new forms of belief.  So alien religions, witchcraft covens, and gurus galore cropped up every where.  From some of the witchcraft circles and ceremonial magic groups, Germanic heathenry started to take root.

   In the mid '70's, in particular, the proto-forms and forms we know now came into being.  During this time, the Ásatrúarfelagið of Iceland formed and was made the second of two officially recognized religions in Iceland under the auspices of Sveinbjorn Beinteinsson, the newly appointed Allsherjargóði or high chieftain.  In England the Odinic Rite was formed to revive Heathenry in England.  Also at this time the Anglo-Saxon group, known today as Theodism, began as a "Wiccan heresy" in upstate New York under the control and ideas of Thomas Germain, known better as Garman Lord, king of the Winlandrice.  Down in Texas, the Asatru Free Assembly (AFA) was started by Stephen MacNallen after taking out an ad in Soldier of Fortune, emphasizing the warrior path of the "viking" mentality.

   As with all things new, differences in direction cause a number of new groups to form, mostly out of the AFA.  From the AFA, Valgard Murray formed the Asatru Alliance (AA) and Edred Thorson, founder of the Rune Gild as well, founded the Ring of Troth (know today as just The Troth and with no association to Edred at all).  Various versions of these groups exist today as well as splinter groups from any of the above.  Some are more conservative and intolerant about various issues, such as racial identity in terms of religion and homosexuality, whereas same are inclusive to the point of harboring other paths as long as the basic emphasis is on Germanic lore.