Rebooting Heathenry
I know I've touched upon this subject here and there, but I haven't yet formally discussed it as a separate subject in its own right. In short, others and I are 'rebooting Heathenry'.
As we all know, modern paganism got its start some decades ago. Gardner promoted newly-legal Wicca in the 50's. Many colorful Wiccan traditions started in the 70's. Asatru got going in the 70's. Anglo-Saxon Theodism got it's start in the 70's. Like other things that started around the 60's or 70's, they were a great start. They put elements of the pagan past into modern practice, and formalized many details that made it easier for new people to join, learn and practice. However, initial ideas only rarely give the whole picture, and once something has been dogma for many years, it becomes difficult to reevaluate it and make adjustments or corrections. We've now got to the point where various forms of Heathenry and Wicca have become persistent stereotypes. And many people with graduate degrees in History and Germanic Studies have been reinforcing stereotypes as well. It's to the point where original research is frowned upon, and an all-too-common phrase is "You're doing it wrong." But if research (i.e. discoveries in archeology, folklore, translated texts, etc.) uncovers something new, either as a new perspective or even a new principle or idea, there's an overwhelming amount of hostility from those within the path. And unfortunately, many who don't mind also tend to be those who don't care much for research or consistency anyway.
I remember many years ago when I was looking at various pagan paths, and seeing somewhat contradictory stories. If, for example, one looks at the pagan past of Britain, I heard one story from Wiccans, a different one from Heathens, another one from Druids, and another one from Shamans, and there was still stuff not yet addressed by any of them. I felt like saying "Will the real British please stand up!" Now, since I've had Anglo-Saxon leanings since I was a little kid, and I independently identified as an Anglo-Saxon Pagan before finding out about any Heathen groups, it was only natural to join the Ealdriht when I found out about it. Soon afterward, I found some Asatru groups, and it made sense to learn more about them, seeing that they were similar to what I was already studying.
And then there are The Politics(TM). While various Wiccan groups had some obvious agendas, the same thing applied to several Asatru groups. Dogmas solidified and flame wars erupted. Rumors flew and political agendas were implemented. And surprisingly, many questions were still unanswered. So I took to looking things up, both lingering questions and verifications of many common assumptions. Heathenry purports to be the modern version of ancient belief and practice in northern Europe. I looked back farther than most others did, and I was stunned at what I found, as it challenged many common beliefs. What's also stunning is how many academically degreed Heathens have completely missed what was in front of us all this time. I had the facts available, I just had to apply some logic and common sense to put them all together. I had enough information to 'reboot' Heathenry, to reevaluate the modern beliefs and practice to see if it made sense with historical fact.
Everyone is familiar with the basics of Iron-Age Heathenry--Vikings, conversion-era Christian syncretism, etc. Many have looked at earlier records, such as Tacitus. Some have looked at Iron-Age archeology. But very few have looked farther back than that. What makes this amusing is that there are many Heathens and Wiccans who talk about their religion being 30,000 to 40,000 years old, but won't look any farther back than 2,000 to 3,000 years. What about all the millennia prior to that? What about Stonehenge, Funnelbeaker culture, the Amesbury Archer, and Otzi the Iceman? What about culture and communication before the arrival of Indo-European languages? What about the stories that Grimm found all over Europe in different languages? What about ancient rock carvings, including early native European writing? What about old burial customs, and artifacts from early ports and trading cities? Late Heathenry evolved from earlier forms of Heathenry, and I wanted to find its roots.
My first real shock was looking the timeline of northern Europe, from the Ice Age (circa 50,000 years ago, before modern humans) up to the present day. Some aspects of modern European culture have extremely old origins. Mead, fertility figure carvings (e.g. Venus figurines), interactions with 'giants' (Neanderthals, mammoths, sabre-tooth cats, aurochs, etc.), worship of the Earth, Sea, Sun, Moon, thunderstorms, fertility, and others, all had their start back then. In the Neolithic era, we have domestication of animals, use of milk, known permanent villages with primitive houses, rock carvings of gods (such as a Frey-figure), first recorded depictions of a wagon, construction of Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments, early forms of writing (some of which look like early runes), copper smelting and smithing, and a shift to agriculture rather than dependence on a hunter-gatherer way of life. There was migration, even though the languages spoken were pre-Indo-European. The roots of Vanic culture appear here. The Bronze Age gave us more civilization, and continued throgh the Iron Age. This gave us Indo-European languages, and the appearance of Aesic culture.
It gets even wilder when looking at the mythologies across northern Europe. There are Vanic gods with similar stories (and even names!) that span from Ireland all the way to Russia. Considering the Urumchi mummies (Europeans in early western China--I saw them at a museum), it may have spanned even farther. So it appears that the stories of the gods have been around a long time across a wide area, just like the similar fairy tale stories. Now, this doesn't mean anyone needs to drop the study and practice of a particular form of Heathenry. But it does add context and (by comparing mythologies) helps 'fill in the blanks' in recovering lost lore. The Vanic gods have their counterparts in several mythologies. There are roots of Aesic culture in ancient Indo-European Asian tribes, which would help explain the spread of some elements of religion as well as language. Since the European people have been around far longer than the Indo-European languages, I see the eastern and western cultures as part of an extended family. Furthermore, I find it odd that many Heathens will take stories and other lore from various tribes across thousands of miles and from different centuries and consider them related lore simply because the tribes spoke various varieties of Germanic languages, yet completely discount the lore of neighboring tribes, even if it matches, simply because those other tribes spoke non-Germanic languages. And since a lot developed before Indo-European languages came along, the later linguistic distinction seems quite arbitrary.
In practical terms, this means that some cultures and mythologies (particularly Celtic) have a lot to offer in rounding out our understanding of the gods and the cultures that followed them. I believe that knowing the ancient roots of my path (Anglo-Saxon) provides a fuller understanding of culture and lore, and guides modern practice. It also means that some assumptions and beliefs that are popular in modern Asatru are not backed by history, and I believe that it's not helpful to hang on to certain views and practices that are actually refuted by the historical record. This may sound heretical, but it is only to the extent that such challenged beliefs are based on faulty assumptions (e.g. personally standing with the gods to do physical battle with giants at Ragnarok). I think it's time to 'reboot' Heathenry, at least in my own practice and in those who are studying the same things that I am. Yes, this means that many of the Heathens who claim that others are 'doing it wrong' are in fact the ones who are themselves 'doing it wrong' in terms of historical accuracy.
I'm not trying to dictate what everyone does in their own practice, as I came to this path, and this research, for my own spiritual fulfillment. But in time, these discoveries will be shown to like-minded and curious people who want to know more.
As we all know, modern paganism got its start some decades ago. Gardner promoted newly-legal Wicca in the 50's. Many colorful Wiccan traditions started in the 70's. Asatru got going in the 70's. Anglo-Saxon Theodism got it's start in the 70's. Like other things that started around the 60's or 70's, they were a great start. They put elements of the pagan past into modern practice, and formalized many details that made it easier for new people to join, learn and practice. However, initial ideas only rarely give the whole picture, and once something has been dogma for many years, it becomes difficult to reevaluate it and make adjustments or corrections. We've now got to the point where various forms of Heathenry and Wicca have become persistent stereotypes. And many people with graduate degrees in History and Germanic Studies have been reinforcing stereotypes as well. It's to the point where original research is frowned upon, and an all-too-common phrase is "You're doing it wrong." But if research (i.e. discoveries in archeology, folklore, translated texts, etc.) uncovers something new, either as a new perspective or even a new principle or idea, there's an overwhelming amount of hostility from those within the path. And unfortunately, many who don't mind also tend to be those who don't care much for research or consistency anyway.
I remember many years ago when I was looking at various pagan paths, and seeing somewhat contradictory stories. If, for example, one looks at the pagan past of Britain, I heard one story from Wiccans, a different one from Heathens, another one from Druids, and another one from Shamans, and there was still stuff not yet addressed by any of them. I felt like saying "Will the real British please stand up!" Now, since I've had Anglo-Saxon leanings since I was a little kid, and I independently identified as an Anglo-Saxon Pagan before finding out about any Heathen groups, it was only natural to join the Ealdriht when I found out about it. Soon afterward, I found some Asatru groups, and it made sense to learn more about them, seeing that they were similar to what I was already studying.
And then there are The Politics(TM). While various Wiccan groups had some obvious agendas, the same thing applied to several Asatru groups. Dogmas solidified and flame wars erupted. Rumors flew and political agendas were implemented. And surprisingly, many questions were still unanswered. So I took to looking things up, both lingering questions and verifications of many common assumptions. Heathenry purports to be the modern version of ancient belief and practice in northern Europe. I looked back farther than most others did, and I was stunned at what I found, as it challenged many common beliefs. What's also stunning is how many academically degreed Heathens have completely missed what was in front of us all this time. I had the facts available, I just had to apply some logic and common sense to put them all together. I had enough information to 'reboot' Heathenry, to reevaluate the modern beliefs and practice to see if it made sense with historical fact.
Everyone is familiar with the basics of Iron-Age Heathenry--Vikings, conversion-era Christian syncretism, etc. Many have looked at earlier records, such as Tacitus. Some have looked at Iron-Age archeology. But very few have looked farther back than that. What makes this amusing is that there are many Heathens and Wiccans who talk about their religion being 30,000 to 40,000 years old, but won't look any farther back than 2,000 to 3,000 years. What about all the millennia prior to that? What about Stonehenge, Funnelbeaker culture, the Amesbury Archer, and Otzi the Iceman? What about culture and communication before the arrival of Indo-European languages? What about the stories that Grimm found all over Europe in different languages? What about ancient rock carvings, including early native European writing? What about old burial customs, and artifacts from early ports and trading cities? Late Heathenry evolved from earlier forms of Heathenry, and I wanted to find its roots.
My first real shock was looking the timeline of northern Europe, from the Ice Age (circa 50,000 years ago, before modern humans) up to the present day. Some aspects of modern European culture have extremely old origins. Mead, fertility figure carvings (e.g. Venus figurines), interactions with 'giants' (Neanderthals, mammoths, sabre-tooth cats, aurochs, etc.), worship of the Earth, Sea, Sun, Moon, thunderstorms, fertility, and others, all had their start back then. In the Neolithic era, we have domestication of animals, use of milk, known permanent villages with primitive houses, rock carvings of gods (such as a Frey-figure), first recorded depictions of a wagon, construction of Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments, early forms of writing (some of which look like early runes), copper smelting and smithing, and a shift to agriculture rather than dependence on a hunter-gatherer way of life. There was migration, even though the languages spoken were pre-Indo-European. The roots of Vanic culture appear here. The Bronze Age gave us more civilization, and continued throgh the Iron Age. This gave us Indo-European languages, and the appearance of Aesic culture.
It gets even wilder when looking at the mythologies across northern Europe. There are Vanic gods with similar stories (and even names!) that span from Ireland all the way to Russia. Considering the Urumchi mummies (Europeans in early western China--I saw them at a museum), it may have spanned even farther. So it appears that the stories of the gods have been around a long time across a wide area, just like the similar fairy tale stories. Now, this doesn't mean anyone needs to drop the study and practice of a particular form of Heathenry. But it does add context and (by comparing mythologies) helps 'fill in the blanks' in recovering lost lore. The Vanic gods have their counterparts in several mythologies. There are roots of Aesic culture in ancient Indo-European Asian tribes, which would help explain the spread of some elements of religion as well as language. Since the European people have been around far longer than the Indo-European languages, I see the eastern and western cultures as part of an extended family. Furthermore, I find it odd that many Heathens will take stories and other lore from various tribes across thousands of miles and from different centuries and consider them related lore simply because the tribes spoke various varieties of Germanic languages, yet completely discount the lore of neighboring tribes, even if it matches, simply because those other tribes spoke non-Germanic languages. And since a lot developed before Indo-European languages came along, the later linguistic distinction seems quite arbitrary.
In practical terms, this means that some cultures and mythologies (particularly Celtic) have a lot to offer in rounding out our understanding of the gods and the cultures that followed them. I believe that knowing the ancient roots of my path (Anglo-Saxon) provides a fuller understanding of culture and lore, and guides modern practice. It also means that some assumptions and beliefs that are popular in modern Asatru are not backed by history, and I believe that it's not helpful to hang on to certain views and practices that are actually refuted by the historical record. This may sound heretical, but it is only to the extent that such challenged beliefs are based on faulty assumptions (e.g. personally standing with the gods to do physical battle with giants at Ragnarok). I think it's time to 'reboot' Heathenry, at least in my own practice and in those who are studying the same things that I am. Yes, this means that many of the Heathens who claim that others are 'doing it wrong' are in fact the ones who are themselves 'doing it wrong' in terms of historical accuracy.
I'm not trying to dictate what everyone does in their own practice, as I came to this path, and this research, for my own spiritual fulfillment. But in time, these discoveries will be shown to like-minded and curious people who want to know more.