Germanic paganism refers to the religious beliefs of the Germanic peoples preceding Christianization. The best documented version of the Germanic pagan religions is 10th and 11th century Norse paganism, though other information can be found from Anglo-Saxon paganism and West German paganism. Scattered references are also found in the earliest writings of other Germanic peoples and Roman descriptions. The information can be supplemented with archaeological finds and remnants of pre-Christian beliefs in later folklore.The Germanic religion was a polytheistic one with some underlying similarities to other Indo-European traditions. The principal gods of Viking Age Norse paganism were Odin (Old Norse: inn, Old High German language: Wodan, OE: Wden) and Thor (North Germanic: rr, Old High German language: Donar, Old English language: unor). At an earlier stage, the principal god may have been Tiwaz (Old Norse language: Tr, Old High German language: Ziu, Old English language: Tiw).Most sources documenting Germanic paganism have presumably been lost. From Iceland there is substantial literature, namely the Nordic Sagas and the Eddas, relating to the pagan period, but most of this was written long after Iceland's conversion to Christianity. Some information is found in the Nibelungenlied. The literary source closest to the pagan period may be Beowulf, which some scholars believe was composed as early as the eighth century , and therefore within the lifetime of pagans from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Suffolk, which remained officially pagan until 680. However, Beowulf is unlikely to have been composed in Suffolk, its creator was clearly Christian, and it reveals little or nothing about pagan beliefs or rituals. Limited information also exists in Tacitus' ethnographic work Germania.Further material has been deduced from customs found in surviving rural folk traditions that have either been mildly superficially Christianized or lightly modified, including surviving laws and legislature (Althing, Anglo-Saxon law, the Grgs), calendar dates, customary folktales and traditional symbolism found in folk art.A great deal of information has been unearthed by recent archaeology, including the Angl-Saxon pagan Sutton Hoo royal funerary site in East Anglia and the royal pagan temple at Gefren/Yeavering in Northumberland. The traditional ballads of the Northumbrian/Scottish borders, and their European counterparts, have also preserved many aspects of Germanic pagan belief. As York Powell wrote, "The very scheme on which the ballads and lays are alike built, the hapless innocent death of a hero or heroine, is as heathen as the plot of any Athenian tragedy can be."The majority of the literary evidence for Germanic paganism was likely intentionally destroyed when Christianity slowly gained dominant political power in Anglo-Saxon England, then Germania and later Scandinavia throughout the Middle Ages. Although perhaps singularly most responsible for the destruction of pagan sites, including purported massacres such as the Massacre of Verden and the subsequent dismantling of ancient tribal ruling systems, the Frankish emperor Charlemagne of The Holy Roman Empire is said to have acquired a substantial collection of Germanic pre-Christian writings, which was deliberately destroyed after his death.Pre-Migration PeriodCaesarThe earliest forms of the Germanic religion can only be speculated on based on archaeological evidence and comparative religion. The first written description is in Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico. He contrasts the elaborate religious custom of the Gauls with the simpler Germanic traditions.

The Germans differ much from these usages, for they have neither Druids to preside over sacred offices, nor do they pay great regard to sacrifices. They rank in the number of the gods those alone whom they behold, and by whose instrumentality they are obviously benefited, namely, the sun, fire, and the moon; they have not heard of the other deities even by report. The Gallic War (6.21)[2]

angel casy: Caesar's description contrasts with other information on the early Germanic tribes and is not given much weight by modern scholars. It is worth mentioning his note that Mercury is the principal god of the Gauls:

They worship as their divinity, Mercury in particular, and have many images of him, and regard him as the inventor of all arts, they consider him the guide of their journeys and marches, and believe him to have great influence over the acquisition of gain and mercantile transactions. The Gallic War (6.17)[2]

The worship of deities identified by the Romans with Mercury seems to have been prominent among the northerly tribes.angel casy: Tacitus

A much more detailed description of Germanic religion is Tacitus' Germania, dating to the 1st century.

Tacitus describes both animal and human sacrifice. He identifies the chief Germanic god with the Roman Mercury, who on certain days receives human sacrifices, while gods identified by Tacitus with Hercules and Mars receive animal sacrifice. The largest Germanic tribe, Suebians, also make sacrifices, allegedly of captured Roman soldiers, to a goddess who is identified by Tacitus with Isis.angel casy: Another goddess, Nerthus, is revered by Reudignians, Aviones, Angles, Varinians, Eudoses, Suardones and Nuithones. Nerthus is believed to directly interpose in human affairs. Her sanctuary is on an island, specifically in a wood called Castum. A chariot covered with a curtain is dedicated to the goddess, and only the high priest may touch it. The priest is capable of seeing the goddess enter the chariot. Drawn by cows, the chariot travels through the countryside, and wherever the goddess visits, a great feast is held. During the travel of the goddess, the Germanic tribes cease all hostilities, and do not lay their hands upon arms. When the priest declares that the goddess is tired of conversation with mortals, the chariot returns and is washed, together with the curtains, in a secret lake.angel casy: According to Tacitus, the Germanic tribes think of temples as unsuitable habitations for gods, and they do not represent them as idols in human shape. Instead of temples, they consecrate woods or groves to individual gods.

Divination and augury was very popular:angel casy: To the use of lots and auguries, they are addicted beyond all other nations. Their method of divining by lots is exceedingly simple. From a tree which bears fruit they cut a twig, and divide it into two small pieces. These they distinguish by so many several marks, and throw them at random and without order upon a white garment. Then the Priest of the community, if for the public the lots are consulted, or the father of a family about a private concern, after he has solemnly invoked the Gods, with eyes lifted up to heaven, takes up every piece thrice, and having done thus forms a judgment according to the marks before made. If the chances have proved forbidding, they are no more consulted upon the same affair during the same day: even when they are inviting, yet, for confirmation, the faitangel casy: the faith of auguries too is tried. Yea, here also is the known practice of divining events from the voices and flight of birds. But to this nation it is peculiar, to learn presages and admonitions divine from horses also. These are nourished by the State in the same sacred woods and groves, all milk-white and employed in no earthly labour. These yoked in the holy chariot, are accompanied by the Priest and the King, or the Chief of the Community, who both carefully observed his actions and neighing. Nor in any sort of augury is more faith and assurance reposed, not by the populace only, but even by the nobles, even by the Priests. These account themselves the ministers of the Gods, and the horses privy to his will. They have likewise another method of divination, whence to learn the issue angel casy: the issue of great and mighty wars. From the nation with whom they are at war they contrive, it avails not how, to gain a captive: him they engage in combat with one selected from amongst themselves, each armed after the manner of his country, and according as the victory falls to this or to the other, gather a presage of the whole.angel casy: The reputation of Tacitus' Germania is somewhat marred as a historical source by the writer's rhetorical tendencies. The main purpose of his writing seems to be to hold up examples of virtue and vice for his fellow Romans rather than give a truthful ethnographic or historical account. While Tacitus' interpretations are sometimes dubious, the names and basic facts he reports are credible; Tacitus touches on several elements of Germanic culture known from later sources. Human and animal sacrifice is attested by archaeological evidence and medieval sources. Rituals tied to natural features are found both in medieval sources and in Nordic folklore. A ritual chariot or wagon as described by Tacitus was excavated in the Oseberg find. Sources from medieval times until the 19th century point to diangel casy: 19th century point to divination by making predictions or finding the will of the gods from randomized phenomena as an obsession of Germanic cultures. Or as Tacitus puts it "To the use of lots and auguries, they are addicted beyond all other nations."

While there is rich archaeological and linguistic evidence of earlier Germanic religious ideas, these sources are all mute, and cannot be interpreted with much confidence. Seen in light of what we know about the medieval survival of the Germanic religions as practiced by the Nordic nations, some educated guesses may be made. However, the presence of marked regional differences make generalization of any such reconstructed belief or practice a risky venture.angel casy: We do know, however, that in Tacitus' day the Germans discerned a divinity of prophecy in women, and virgin prophetesses, such as Veleda, were honored as true and living goddesses.

[edit] Migration PeriodFurther information: Anglo-Saxon paganism and Continental Germanic mythologyA Migration Period Germanic gold bracteate featuring a depiction of a bird, horse, and stylized head wearing a Suebian knot sometimes theorized to represent Germanic god Wden and what would later become Sleipnir and Hugin or Munin in Germanic mythology, later attested in the form of Norse mythology. The runic inscription includes the religious term alu.

During the Migration Period, Germanic religion was subject to syncretic influence from Christianity and Mediterranean culture.[4]

Jordanes' Getica is angel casy: Jordanes' Getica is a 6th century account of the Goths, written a century and a half after Christianity largely replaced the older religions among the Goths. According to the Getica, the chief god of the Goths was Mars, who they believed was born among them:

Now Mars has always been worshipped by the Goths with cruel rites, and captives were slain as his victims. They thought that he who is the lord of war ought to be appeased by the shedding of human blood. To him they devoted the first share of the spoil, and in his honor arms stripped from the foe were suspended from trees. And they had more than all other races a deep spirit of religion, since the worship of this god seemed to be really bestowed upon their ancestor. Getica

angel casy: Saint Columbanus in the 6th century encountered a beer sacrifice to Woden in Bregenz. In the 8th century, the Germanic Saxons venerated an Irminsul (see also Donar's Oak). Charlemagne is reported to have destroyed the Saxon Irminsul in 772.

In the Old High German Merseburg Incantations, the only pre-Christian testimony in the German language, appears a Sinhtgunt who is the sister of the sun maiden Sunna (Sl). She is not known by name in Nordic mythology, and if she refers to the moon, she is then different from the Scandinavian (Mani), who is male. Further, Nanna is mentioned.

The Goths were converted to Arianism in the 4th century, contemporaneous to the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire itself (see Constantinian shift).

Unfortunately, due to their early conversion toangel casy: Unfortunately, due to their early conversion to Christianity, little is known about the particulars of the religion of the East Germanic peoples, separated from the remaining Germanic tribes during the Migration period. Such knowledge would be suited to distinguish Proto-Germanic elements from later developments present in both North and West Germanic.

The Franks, Alamanni, Anglo-Saxons, Saxons, and Frisians were Christianized between the 6th and the 8th century. By the end of the Migration period, only the Scandinavians remained pagan.angel casy: Viking AgeMain article: Norse paganismMjolnir, the hammer of Thor, became a badge of indigenous beliefs worn by Norse pagans during the final stages of Norse paganism, a form of Germanic paganism.

Early medieval North Germanic Scandinavian (Viking Age) paganism is much better documented than its predecessors, notably via the records of Norse mythology in the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda, as well as the sagas, written in Iceland during 1150 - 1400.

Sacrifices were known as blt, seasonal celebrations where gifts were offered to appropriate gods, and attempts were made to predict the coming season. Similar events were sometimes arranged in times of crisis, for much the same reasons.[5][6]angel casy: Middle Ages

In 1000 AD, Iceland became nominally Christian, although continuation of pagan worship in private was tolerated. Most of Scandinavia was Christianized during the 11th century. Adam von Bremen gives the last report of vigorous Norse paganism.[6] Sometimes, the subjects of a lord who converted to Christianity refused to follow his lead (this happened to the Swedish kings Olof of Sweden, Anund Grdske and Ingold I) and would sometimes force the lord to rescind his conversion (e.g. Haakon the Good).[8] angel casy: The attempt of the deposed Christian monarch Olaf II of Norway to retake the throne resulted in a bloody civil war in Norway, which ended in the battle of Stiklestad (1030). In Sweden, in the early 1080s, Inge I was deposed by popular vote for not wanting to sacrifice to the gods, and replaced by his brother-in-law Blot-Sweyn (literally "Sweyn the Sacrificer").[9] After three years of exile, Inge returned in secret to Old Uppsala and during the night the Christians surrounded the royal hall with Blot-Sweyn inside and set it on fire.[10][11] However, Inge did not immediately regain his throne and the pagan Eirik Arsale briefly came into power[9] before being usurped by Inge.angel casy: During the High Middle Ages, Scandinavian paganism became marginalized and blended into rural folklore. In folklore and legend, elements of Germanic mythology survived, and appears in the guise of fairy tales such as those collected by the Brothers Grimm and other folk tales and customs (see Walpurgis Night, Holda, Berchta, Weyland, Krampus, Lorelei, Nix), as well as in medieval courtly literature (Nibelungs).angel casy: Modern InfluenceDay OriginMonday Moon's dayTuesday Tiw's dayWednesday Wden 's dayThursday unor's dayFriday Freyr's daySunday Sun's day

The Germanic gods have affected elements of every day western life in most countries that speak Germanic languages. An example is some of the names of the days of the week. The days were named after Roman gods in Latin (named after Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn). The names for Tuesday through Friday were replaced with Germanic versions of the Roman gods. In English and Dutch, Saturn was not replaced. Saturday is named after Sabbath in German, and is called "washing day" in Scandinavia.angel casy: Also, many place names such as Woodway House, Wansdyke, Wednesbury, Thundersley and Frigedene are named after the old deities of the English people.angel casy: See also

West Germanic

* Veleda * West Germanic deities * Anglo-Saxon polytheism * Dutch mythology

North Germanic

* Norse paganism * Norse mythology * Norse gods

South Germanic

* Paganism in the Alpine region

Modern

* Germanic Neopaganism * Germanic mysticism

Anglo-Saxon paganismFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Anglo-Saxon polytheism)Jump to: navigation, search

Only a little Old English poetry has survived, and all of it has had Christian redactors. The epic poem Beowulf is an important source of Anglo-Saxon pagan poetry and history, but it is clearly addressed to a Christian audience, containing numerous references to the Christian God, and using Christian phrasing and se, the equivalent to the Norse Aesir. Most of these deities were associated with a specific aspect of nature, for instance, Thunor was the god of the sky and thunder.angel casy: eing of their Germanic ancestry, the Anglo-Saxon deities were largely the same gods as were worshipped by the Norse and other Germanic peoples. The names vary slightly due to the differences in language among the euro-Germanic tribes. For example, Thunor of the Anglo-Saxons was the same deity as Thor of the Norse and Donar of the Germans. Likewise, Woden of the Anglo-Saxons is the same as inn among the Norse and Wodan of the Germans.angel casy: The Anglo-Saxons formed statues of their deities out of wood. However, because of this, none have survived into the contemporary period[1], though examples that were created by Germanic tribes in continental Europe and that have been preserved in bogs are likely to have been similar.Major Deities

The most important deities of the Anglo-Saxons were worshipped amongst the many tribes, as well as their ancestral tribes in continental Europe.

Chief amongst them was Woden, the leader of the Wild Hunt and the one who carries off the dead. Woden is the Anglo-Saxon version of the Norse god Odin. He was held to be the ancestor of Hengist and Horsa, two legendary figures from early English history and six of the seven Anglo-Saxon royal houses whose genealogies that we have access to, trace their lineage back to Woden[2]. The word "Wednesday" in modern English means "Woden's day".angel casy: Thunor, (Anglo-Saxon: unor)fot was the god of thunder, who ruled the storms and sky. He also protected mankind from the giants. He was the god of the common people within the heathen community[citation needed]. The word "Thursday" in modern English means "Thunor's Day".

Frge is the goddess of love, and is the wife of Woden[citation needed]. The word "Friday" in modern English means "Frige's Day".angel casy: Tiw is the god of warfare and battle, and gives you Tuesday. There is some speculation that he is a sky-god figure and formerly the chief god, displaced over the years by Woden[citation needed]. He was the equivalent to the Norse Tyr and Old german Zu.

Other gods venerated in Anglo-Saxon England were Ing, a god who is often equated with the Norse Yngvi, and Gat, a deity associated with the Norse Gautr and German Gausus.angel casy is typing a message.angel casy: Kathleen Herbert in her book 'Lost Gods of England' explains that the Anglo-Saxons also worshipped a god called Ing who is equated with the Norse god Frey. This is due to Frey being worshipped as Ingvi-Frey in Sweden, along with the same symbolism found in Beowulf (among other sources) regarding the boar as Frey's symbol and his role in fertility.[3] She also connects Ing to Nerthus, and quotes the following from Tacitus:

They worship the Mother of the gods. As an emblem of the rite, they bear the shapes of wild boars [...].[4]Herbert discusses the goddess Nerthus recorded by Tacitus. She suggests that it's likely the Anglo-Saxons, like their continental ancestors, worshipped Nerthus as the Earth Mother making reference to charms and harvest festivals held hundreds of years later.

'On September 14th, 1598, a party of German visitors was going to Eton. One of them reported the following; we were returning to our lodging house; by chance we fell in with the country folk celebrating their harvest home. The last sheaf had been crowned with flowers and they had attached it to a magnificently robed image, which perhaps they meant to represent Ceres. [...] They carried her hither and thither with much noise; men and women together on the wagon, men servants and maid servants shouting through the streets [...] Abangel casy: About 1,500 years after Tacitus described the Nerthus rite, already long established among the continental English, the insular English had a goddess of the fruitful earth still riding in a wagon, making a random progress amidst public rejoicing.'[5]

The god Seaxnat was not worshipped by all the Anglo-Saxons, but only by the East Saxon tribe who settled in southern England and formed the kingdom of Essex.angel casy: Eostre, according to Bede, was a goddess whose feast was celebrated in Spring. Bede asserts that the current Christian festival of Easter took its name from the goddess's feast in Eostur-monath Aprilis (modern April). Another deity mentioned by Bede but for whom we have no other information was the goddess Hretha, whose name meant "glory".

A goddess known as Helith was, according to local legends, worshipped in Dorset by the Anglo-Saxons, and whose worship St Augustine tried to supress[6].angel casy is typing a message.angel casy: Cofgodas

The Anglo-Saxons also believed in household deities, known as Cofgodas. These would guard a specific household, and would be given offerings so that they would continue. After Christianisation, it is believed that the belief in Cofgodas survived through the form of the fairy being known as the Hob. Similar beliefs are found in other pagan belief systems, such as the Lares of Roman paganism and the Agathodaemon of Ancient Greek religion.MythologyA 1908 depiction of Beowulf fighting the dragon, by J. R. Skelton.

Very little Anglo-Saxon mythology survives to us today. From what we know of it, it revolved around the exploits of the gods, and also of great heroes and legendary figures.

Many different supernatural creatures featured in not only myths, but also in the beliefs of everyday life. These included elves,[7] dwarves,[8] dragons,[9] and giants, all of which could bring harm to men.angel casy is typing a message.angel casy: Amongst the great mythological figures of the Anglo-Saxons was Hengest and Horsa, who are named in historical sources as leaders of the earliest Anglo-Saxon incursions in the south. It is possible that they were deified[citation needed]. The name Hengest means "stallion" and Horsa means "horse"; the horse in the Anglo-Saxon mythos is a potent and significant symbol.Another figure who appears in Anglo-Saxon mythology was the Geatish hero Beowulf. Whilst not an Anglo-Saxon himself (although the Geats are thought by some to have been one of the tribes who settled in what would become England, and the East Anglian line of kings is believed to have been founded by a Geat), he has an epic tale, also known as Beowulf, based upon him. Beowulf told of the eponymous hero's adventures in Scandinavia as he slew the monster Grendel, who had terrorised the kingdom of Hrothgar, before going on to kill Grendel's mother. He later became a king of Geatland, and lost his life in battle with a dragon who had been terrorising the land. This story may have come from the Wuffing dynasty of East Anglia, who originated in the areas mentioned.

angel casy: Weyland, Wayland, or Welund, was another mythological figure who was a mythic smith. Originally, he was an elfish being, a shape changer like his wife, a swan maiden and Valkyrie. His picture adorns the Franks Casket, an Anglo-Saxon royal hoard box and was meant there to refer to wealth and partnership. [6]angel casy: Cosmology

No firm evidence has been found about the pagan Anglo-Saxon cosmology. There is no evidence to suggest that they believed in the same cosmological world view as the Norse, which featured nine realms situated on a great world tree known as Yggdrasil.

In the Nine Herbs Charm, there is a mention of "seven worlds", which may be an indication that the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons believed in seven realms[10].angel casy: The Christian Anglo-Saxons referred to the realm humans live on as Middangeard, which corresponded to the Norse Midgard (meaning "Middle Earth"), and also to a realm called Neorxnawang, corresponding to the Christian idea of Heaven. Whilst these are Christian terms, some scholars have theorised that they may have corresponded to earlier pagan realms[11].

The Anglo-Saxon concept corresponding to fate was wyrd,[1] however some scholars, such as Dorothy Whitelock, have criticised that this was a strong belief amongst the pagan Anglo-Saxons, and was instead a belief held only after Christianisation[12].angel casy: Afterlife

The Anglo-Saxons presumably believed in an afterlife because of the great care that they put into burying their dead, and because the other Germanic tribes believed in an afterlife. Anglo-Saxon pagans were either cremated or buried with grave goods[13]. Such grave goods include weapons for men, and household tools for women, though some graves have been found interred with food, possibly to provide nourishment on the path to the afterlife[14].angel casy: Festivals

Everything that we know about the Anglo-Saxon religious festivals come from Bede's work De temporum ratione (meaning The Reckoning of Time)[1], which described the calendar of the year.

The Anglo-Saxons followed a calendar comprising of twelve lunar months, with the occasional year having thirteen months so that the lunar and solar alignment could be corrected[15].angel casy: Bede claimed that the greatest pagan festival was Modraniht ("Mother Night"), which was situated at the Winter solstice and was the start of the Anglo-Saxon year[1].

In the month of February, known as Solmona, Bede claims that the pagans offered cakes to their deities. Another festival was situated around the same time, dedicated to the goddess Eostre, which was a spring festival[1]. The later Christian festival of Easter that was followed at this time apparently took its name from this goddess.angel casy: he month of September was known as Halegmonath, meaning "Holy Month", which may indicate that it had special religious significance[1].

The month of November was known as Blod-Monath, meaning "Blood Month", and was commemorated with animal sacrifice, both in offering to the gods, and also to gather a source of food to be stored over the winter[1].angel casy: Practices

[edit] Places of Worship

Like many other Indo European cultures the pagan Anglo-Saxons initially worshipped the gods in sacred groves, on hills and other wild places.[16]. The classical writer Tacitus, when describing the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons, the Germanic peoples of continental Europe, said that:

They judge that gods cannot be contained within walls... they consecrate groves and woodland glades and call by the names of gods that mystery which only perceive by the same sense of reverence. angel casy: The Anglo-Saxons also built temples, as they are described in a letter by Pope Gregory the Great to Abbot Melitus. Two such temple sites have been excavated.

[edit] Worship

Anglo-Saxon pagan worship was similar to the Norse practise of Blt.

November in Old English was known as bltmna, as this passage points out:

Se mna is nemned on Lden Novembris, and on re geede bltmna, foron re yldran, h hene wron, on am mne h bleton , t is, t h bethton and benmdon hyra defolgyldum a net a e h woldon syllan. "This month is called Novembris in Latin, and in our language the month of sacrifice, because our forefathers, when they were heathens, always sacrificed in this month, that is, that they took and devoted to their idols the catangel casy: "This month is called Novembris in Latin, and in our language the month of sacrifice, because our forefathers, when they were heathens, always sacrificed in this month, that is, that they took and devoted to their idols the cattle which they wished to offer." ([7] trans. Joseph Bosworth)

The English word "bless" ultimately derives from Proto-Germanic *blothisojan (meaning "to smear with blood"), which denotes the sacrificial aspect of the term.angel casy: * Symbel

A ritual drinking feast in which mystical revelation was achieved through drinking alcohol, usually mead. This mystical revelation is typically associated with divination, and the quest for good fortune by alignment with the forces of destiny, the wyrd. The participants at symbel other than the drinkers themselves were the symbelgifa, the giver of the symbel or host, the scop or poet (the entertainment), the alekeeper (the server of the ale), and the yle who was charged with keeping order (to a greater or lesser extent). angel casy: Magic

Anglo-Saxon pagans believed in magic and witchcraft, and practitioners of such things were known as wicce. The early Christians prohibited such practices.

"We enjoin, that every priest zealously promote Christianity, and totally extinguish every heathenism; and forbid well worshipings, and necromancies, and divinations, and enchantments, and man worshipings, and the vain practices which are carried on with various spells, and with "frithsplots", and with elders, and also with various other trees, and with stones, and with many various delusions, with which men do much of what they should not. And we enjoin, that every Christian man zealously accustom his children to Christianity, and teach them the Paternoster and the Creed. And we enjoin, that on feast days heathen songsangel casy: And we enjoin, that every Christian man zealously accustom his children to Christianity, and teach them the Paternoster and the Creed. And we enjoin, that on feast days heathen songs and devil's games be abstained from.'" (ecclesiastical canons of King Edgar, AD 959)[17]

A magic item that survived destruction by the clerics is the Franks Casket, an Anglo-Saxon royal hoard box with runic inscriptions (whalebone, early 7th century). It bears scenes of Roman and Germanic background as well as a picture of the Magi adoring Christ. These carvings along with runic inscriptions were meant to influence the fate, O.E. wyrd, of its owner, a warrior king. The image of the Holy three Kings may have been the reason the box was saved.angel casy: It is possible to conclude from the foregoing that magical practice was rife, and that water, tree and stone worship in various forms were also practiced by the Anglo-Saxons. Interesting also is the mention of frithspottum, relating as it does to the core concept of frith, ostensibly meaning "peace" but having much deeper significance and a far broader spread of implications.angel casy: HistoryMain article: Germanic paganism

[edit] Origins

The Anglo-Saxons, (according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) comprised of Germanic tribes such as the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, and they arrived in Britain from the areas that are now southern Denmark, the Netherlands and northern Germany in the 5th century[18].

The native Britons who were already living in Britain, who largely comprised of Celtic and Roman peoples, were either forced out or subjugated by the invading Anglo-Saxons. These Romano-Celtic Britons had followed Christianity ever since it had replaced both Celtic paganism and Roman paganism in the 3rd century.angel casy: The Anglo-Saxons brought their religious beliefs and practises with them to Britain, and the areas in which they settled became known as "Angle-land", which would eventually become "England" and the people "Englisce" or "English". The areas that remained unsettled by the Anglo-Saxons are what is now modern day Cornwall, Wales, and Scotland (except for Lothian).

The Anglo-Saxon tribes were not united, with seven main kingdoms, known collectively as the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, forming; Northumbria (North of the Humber), Mercia, East Anglia (East Angles), Essex (East Saxons), Wessex (West Saxons), Sussex (South Saxons), and Kent. Certain deities and religious practises were specific to certain localities, for instance, Seaxneat was only worshipped in Essex, as he was seen as the progenitor angel casy: as he was seen as the progenitor of the East Saxons, whereas the West Saxons and South Saxons claimed different genealogies.angel casy: ChristianisationMain articles: Anglo-Saxon Christianity and Christianization of the Germanic peoplesAnglo-Saxon England, divided into many smaller kingdoms such as Mercia and Wessex, around the time of Christianisation.

The transition of the Anglo-Saxons from paganism to Christianity took place gradually, over the course of the 7th century, influenced on one side by Celtic Christianity and the Irish mission, on the other by Roman Catholicism introduced to England by Augustine of Canterbury in 597. The Anglo-Saxon nobility were nearly all converted within a century, (conversion brought about greater trade opportunities with neighbouring countries both to the west in Ireland and Wales, and to the east, in France), but paganism among the rural population, as in other Germanic lands, diangel casy: didn't so much die out as gradually blend into folklore.

When the Christian missionaries arrived in Britain, they did not attempt to simply obliterate any trace of the old religion, but they Christianised its festivals and converted its temples into churches. Pope Gregory the Great instructed Abbot Mellitus that:angel casy: I have come to the conclusion that the temples of the idols in England should not on any account be destroyed. Augustine must smash the idols, but the temples themselves should be sprinkled with holy water, and altars set up in them in which relics are to be enclosed. For we ought to take advantage of well-built temples by purifying them from devil-worship and dedicating them to the service of the true God.[19]

Many Anglo-Saxon pagan practises were transformed into Christian practises, for instance, the Christian festival of Easter was adapted from a previous Anglo-Saxon pagan spring festival devoted to the goddess Eostre, and the word "Easter" itself was an adaptation of "Eostre".angel casy: The last pagan king of Anglo-Saxon England was Arwald, who was killed in battle in 686 by the Christian king, Cdwalla of Wessex.

Germanic paganism again returned to England in the form of Norse paganism, which was brought to the country by Norse Vikings from Scandinavia in the 9th to 11th century, but which again succumbed to Christianisation.angel casy: Influence

[edit] Place names

Many place names across England are named after the old gods of the English people, for instance, Frigedene and Freefolk are named after Frige, Thundersley after Thunor, and Woodway House, Woodnesborough and Wansdyke named after Woden[20].angel casy is typing a message.angel casy: Days of the WeekFurther information: Week-day names

The seven day planetary week originated in Hellenistic Egypt by the 2nd century BC, and was taken over in the interpretatio romana of the Greek gods in the Roman Empire period, named for Sol, Luna, Mars, Mercurius, Jupiter, Venus and Saturnus. The English language days of the week are, with the exception of Saturday (which was named after Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture and harvest), loan-translations of the Latin names, by the interpretatio romana of Germanic deities.angel casy: While Sunday and Monday may be considered straighforward translation of Dies Solis "day of the Sun" and Dies Lunae "day of the Moon", the names of Tuesday (Tiw's day, translating "Mars' day"), Wednesday (Woden's day, translating "day of Mercury"), Thursday (Thunor's day, translating "day of Jupiter") and Friday (Freya's day, translating "day of Venus") make clear that the loan-translation was based on theonyms rather than celestial bodies.

Neopaganism

In the 20th century, with the rise of the Neopagan movement, a reconstructed form of Anglo-Saxon paganism arose in the 1970s as a subset of Germanic neopaganism, in the form of Theodism.

A tradition of Wicca, known as Seax-Wica, founded by Raymond Buckland in 1973, uses the symbolism and iconography of Anglo-Saxon paganism, but in a traditional Wiccan framework.angel casy: Germanic NeopaganismFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search"satr" redirects here. For other uses, see satr (disambiguation).The hammer Mjlnir is one of the primary symbols of Germanic Neopaganism. Effigies of Mjolnir are commonly worn amongst Germanic Neopagans.Heathenism portal

Germanic Neopaganism (also known as Heathenism or Heathenry, satr, Odinism, Forn Sir, Vor Sir, and Theodism) is the modern revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s.angel casy: Attitude and focus of adherents may vary considerably, from strictly historical polytheistic reconstructionism to syncretist (eclectic), pragmatic psychologist, occult or mysticist approaches. Germanic Neopagan organizations cover a wide spectrum of belief and ideals.Contents[hide]angel casy: Terminology

Different terms exist for the various types of Germanic Neopaganism. Some terms are specific in reference whereas other are blanket terms for a variety of groups.

In a 1997 article in Pagan Dawn[1], the authors list as more or less synonymous the terms Northern Tradition, Norse Tradition, satr, Odinism, Germanic Paganism, Teutonic Religion, The Elder Troth (as the name of a specific organization and at the same time an attempt to replace tr with an English equivalent) and Heathenry. Forn Sir and its equivalents has become a popular self-designation in Scandinavian Neopaganism. The terms Odalism and Wotanism designate currents of white supremacism outside of mainstream Germanic Neopaganism.angel casy: satr

satr (pronounced [ausatru], in Old Norse [asatru]) is an Old Norse compound derived from sa, the plural genitive of ss, which refers to the sir, (one of the two families of gods in Norse mythology, the other being the Vanir), and tr, literally "troth" or "faith". Thus, satr is the "sir's faith." The term is the Old Norse/Icelandic translation of Asetro, a neologism coined in the context of 19th century romantic nationalism, used by Edvard Grieg in his 1870 opera Olaf Trygvason. satrar, sometimes used as a plural in English, is properly the genitive of satr.angel casy: Modern Scandinavian forms of the term, Norwegian satru, Swedish Asatro, Danish Asetro, were introduced in Neopaganism in Scandinavia in the 1990s.

In Germany, the terms Asatru and Odinism were loaned from the Anglosphere in the 1990s, with a chapter of Odinic Rite formed in 1995 and the Eldaring as a partner organization of The Troth formed in 2000. Eldaring takes Asatru as a synonym of Germanic neopaganism in general, following usage by The Troth. Other organizations avoid Asatru in favour of Germanisches Heidentum ("Germanic Heathenry"). Eldaring is the only pagan organization at national level in Germany self-describing in terms of Asatru,[2] but the internet domain asatru.de has been squatted by German Neo-Nazi Jrgen Rieger's neo-vlkisch Artgemeinschaft since 1999.angel casy: The term Vanatru is coined after satr, implying a focus on the Vanir (a second tribe of gods in Germanic paganism) rather than the sir.

[edit] Forn Sir

Old Norse Forn Sir, Anglo-Saxon Fyrnsidu and its modern Scandinavian analogues Forn Sed, all meaning "Old Custom", is used as a term for pre-Christian Germanic culture in general, and for Germanic Neopaganism in particular, mostly by groups in Scandinavia. Old Norse forn "old" is cognate to Sanskrit purana, English far. Old Norse sir "custom" (not to be confused with sr "late"), Anglo-Saxon sidu, seodu "custom", cognate to Greek ethos, in the sense of "traditional law, way of life, proper behaviour". In meaning, the term corresponds exactly to Sanskrit santana dharma, the native term for Hinduism. In contradistinction to satangel casy: In contradistinction to satr, inn forni sir is actually attested in Old Norse, contrasting with inn ni sir "the new custom", and similarly Heiinn sir, contrasting with Kristinn sir, and fornum si "in old (heathen) times".[3] In Germany the term "Firne Sitte" is synonymous with Asatru and is used interchangeably.

Forn Sir is also the name of the largest Danish pagan society, which since 2003 is recognized by the Danish government (meaning they have the right to conduct weddings, etc.)angel casy: Heathenry

Heathen (Old English hen, Old Norse heiinn) was coined as a translation of Latin paganus, in the Christian sense of "non-Abrahamic faith".

In the Sagas, the terms heini and kristni (Heathenry and Christianity) are used as polar terms to describe the older and newer faiths. Historically, the term was influenced by the Gothic term *haii, appearing as haino in Ulfilas' bible for translating gun Hellnis, "Greek (i.e. gentile) woman" of Mark 7:26, probably with an original meaning "dwelling on the heath", but it was also suggested that it was chosen because of its similarity to Greek ethne "gentile" or even that it is not related to "heath" at all, but rather a loan from Armenian hethanos, itself loaned from Greek ethnos.angel casy: The Miercinga Rice Theod and several other groups, narrow the sense of the word to Germanic Neopaganism in particular, and prefer it over Neopagan as a self-designation.[4][5]

Heathenry is used for strictly polytheistic reconstructionist approaches, as opposed to syncretic, occult or mysticist approaches.[6][7] While some practitioners use the term Heathenry as an equivalent to Paganism, others use it much more specifically. It is used by those who are re-creating the old religion and world view from the literary and archaeological sources. They describe themselves as "Heathen" in part to distinguish themselves from other pagans whose rituals come from more modern sources.

Heathenry is now the most widespread term for Germanic Paganism in the UK and is promoted by UK groups such as Hangel casy: UK groups such as Heathens For Progress.angel casy: Odinism

The term Odinism was coined by Orestes Brownson in his 1848 Letter to Protestants.[8] The term was re-introduced in the late 1930s by Alexander Rud Mills in Australia with his First Anglecyn Church of Odin and his book The Call of Our ancient Nordic Religion. In the 1960s and early 1970s, Else Christensen's Odinist Study Group and later the Odinist Fellowship brought the term into usage in North America. In the UK,Odinic Rite has specifically identified themselves as "Odinists" since the 1970s, and is the longest running group to do so.angel casy: The term "Odinism" tends to be associated with racist or racialist Nordic ideology, as opposed to "Asatru" which may or may not refer to racialist or "folkish" ideals. As defined by Goodrick-Clarke (2002), Nordic racial paganism is synonymous with the Odinist movement (including some who identify as Wotanist). He describes it as a "spiritual rediscovery of the Aryan ancestral gods...intended to embed the white races in a sacred worldview that supports their tribal feeling", and expressed in "imaginative forms of ritual magic and ceremonial forms of fraternal fellowship".[9]angel casy: Theodism

Theodism, or odisc Gelafa seeks to reconstruct the beliefs and practices of the Anglo-Saxon tribes which settled in England. odisc is the adjective of od "people, tribe", cognate to deutsch. As it evolved, the Theodish community moved past solely Anglo-Saxon forms and other Germanic tribal groups were also being reconstituted; Theodism, in this larger sense, now encompass groups practicing tribal beliefs from Scandinavia and the Continent, following in the model set forth by the Anglo Saxon theods founded in the 1970s. The term Theodism now encompasses Norman, Frisian, Angle, Saxon, Jutish, Gothic, Alemannic, Swedish and Danish tribal cultures. This relaxing of the original term "Theodism" functionally identifies Germanic Neopagans who practice or advocate Neo-Tribalism.angel casy: Beliefs

[edit] Theism

Heathens are polytheists, believing in a number of gods and goddesses.

Germanic Neopaganism (as opposed to Neopaganism in general) is often defined as reconstructionist. Not all adherents subscribe to the reconstructionist philosophy, but follow more new age and individualistic self-empowering concepts, rather than attempting to restore or reconstruct the ancient beliefs of the original Germanic pagans.angel casy: Animism

Germanic Neopaganism has a strong leaning towards animism. This is most apparent in the worship of Alfr (or Elves), land-spirits, the various beings of folklore ( Kobold, Hulduflk ), and the belief that inanimate objects can have a fate of their own.

It is believed that Elves or land-spirits can inhabit natural objects such as trees or stones. These spirits can, and do, take sides in the affairs of the inhabitance of their land. [10] This is in imitation of historical Norse paganism, which had strong animistic tendencies, as reflected in Sagas such as that of a wizard who goes to Iceland in whale-shape to see if it can be invaded, who is attacked by land-spirits while going on shore, and is forced to flee. [11]angel casy: It is believed by some Heathens, that inanimate objects can have a soul of their own, or a fate and therefore should be given a name. The most common cases being the naming of weapons like Gram (mythology). The objects are not charged before use, but have the fate or power in them.

[edit] Ethics

Ethics in Germanic Neopaganism are guided by an elaborate concept of 'soul' and 'self,[citation needed] personal rlg or Wyrd and even luck. The belief in Wyrd - a concept of fatalism or determinism, similar to some Graeco-Roman concepts of destiny is a commonly held belief amongst most Germanic Neopagans.[23][24] People's personal destinies are shaped in part by what is past, in part by what they and others are now doing, by the vows they take and contracts they enter into.angel casy: The Germanic Neopagan community is primarily bound together by common symbological and social concepts. Personal character and virtue is emphasized: truthfulness, self-reliance, and hospitality are important moral distinctions, underpinning an especially cherished notion of honour.[25]

Germanic Neopaganism notably lacks any discussion of redemption, salvation, or perfection, as well as their conceptual precursors.

The Asatru Folk Assembly and the Odinic Rite encourages recognition of an ethical code, the Nine Noble Virtues, which are culled from various sources, including the Hvaml from the Poetic Edda.angel casy: Germanic Neopaganism reveres the natural environment in principle;[citation needed] Germanic Neopaganism opposes neither technology nor its material rewards. More mystical currents of Heathenry may be critical of industrialization or modern society, but even such criticism will focus on decadence, lack of virtue or balance, rather than being a radical criticism of technology itself.[12]

Theodish groups operate under specific "thau". Thau is defined as the customs and beliefs of a specific tribe,[citation needed] and each theodish tribe has their own thau which may or may not be mirrored in other theodish (and indeed some non-theodish) circles.[citation needed]angel casy: Rites and practices

The primary deities of Germanic Neopaganism are those of Anglo-Saxon religion and of Norse Mythology (see list of Norse gods). Germanic Neopaganism also has a component of ancestor worship or veneration. In the simplest form, the gods are viewed as distant ancestors or progenitors who are honoured and revered, while in the adherent's personal practices, direct ancestors (referred to sometimes as Dis) are often praised and honoured during the rituals of sumbel and blt. Animism or land veneration is most evident in the rituals dedicated to the elves and wights.angel casy: BltMain article: Blt

Blt is the historical Norse term for sacrifice or ritual slaughter. In Germanic Neopaganism, blts are often celebrated outdoors in nature, the celebrants sometimes clad in home-made Medieval Scandinavian attire. A blt may be highly formalized, but the underlying intent resembles inviting and having an honored guest or family member in for dinner. Food and drink may be offered. Most of this will be consumed by the participants, and some of the drink will be poured out onto the soil as a libation. Home-brewed mead as the "Germanic" drink par excellence is popular.[26][27]angel casy: Offerings during a blt usually involve mead or other alcohol, sometimes food, sometimes song or poetry, specially written for the occasion or for a particular deity, is delivered as an offering. The blt ritual may be based on historical example, scripted for the occasion or may be spontaneous. Certain Germanic Neopagan groups, most notably the Theodish, strictly adhere to historical formulaic ritual, while other groups may use modernized variants. Usual dress for a blt is whatever suits the seasons - many blts are outdoors, sometimes at sacred sites. Some Germanic Neopagans, most notably the Theodish, wear clothing modeled on those of the Anglo-Saxon or Norse 'Viking' during ritual, while others eschew this practice.

[edit] SumbelMain article: Symbelangel casy: Symbel (OE) and sumbel (ON) are terms for "feast, banquet, (social) gathering", occasionally used to refer to a special type of solemn drinking ritual attested in more or less comparable forms among various Germanic warrior elites. In such instances, symbel involved a formulaic ritual which was more solemn and serious than mere drinking or celebration. The primary elements of symbel are drinking ale or mead from a horn, speech making (which often included formulaic boasting and oaths), and gift giving.

According to the reconstruction by Bauschatz (1983), eating and feasting were specifically excluded from symbel, and no alcohol was set aside for the gods or other deities in the form of a sacrifice.[13]angel casy: The host of the symbel was called the symbelgifa. One of the officiants of symbel was the thyle (ON ulr), who challenged and questioned those who made boasts (gielp) or oaths (bot, bregofull), if necessary with taunts or mockery (flyting). Oaths said over the symbel-horn were seen as binding and affecting the luck and wyrd of all in attendance. The alcoholic drink was served by women or alekeepers (ealu bora "ale bearer"), the first round usually poured by the lady of the house.

The bragarfull "promise-cup" or bragafull"best cup" or "chieftain's cup" was in Norse culture a particular drinking from a cup or drinking horn on ceremonial occasions, often involving the swearing of oaths when the cup or horn was drunk by a chieftain or passed around and drunk by those assembled.angel casy: In American satr as developed by McNallen and Stine, the sumbel is a drinking-ritual in which a drinking horn full of mead or ale is passed around and a series of toasts are made, first to the Aesir, then to other supernatural beings, then to heroes or ancestors, and then to others. Participants make also make boasts of their own deeds, or oaths or promises of future actions. Words spoken during the sumbel are considered and consecrated, becoming part of the destiny of those assembled. The name sumbel (or symbel) is mainly derived from Anglo-Saxon sources. For this reason, the ritual is not know by this name among Icelandic Nordic pagans, who nevertheless practice a similar ritual as part of their blot.[14]

In Theodism or Anglo-Saxon neopaganism in particular, the symbel has a particuangel casy: In Theodism or Anglo-Saxon neopaganism in particular, the symbel has a particularly high importance, considered "perhaps the highest rite"[15] or "amongst the most holy rites"[16] celebrated.

[edit] SeirMain article: Seirangel casy: Seir and Spae are forms of "sorcery" or "witchcraft", the latter having aspects of prophecy and shamanism. Seid and spae are not common rituals, and are not engaged in by many adherents of Germanic Neopaganism. Usually seid or spae rituals are modeled after the ritual detailed in the Saga of Eric the Red: a seikona dressed in traditional garb will sit on a high-seat or platform and prophesize in a formulaic manner as women sing or chant galdr around her. In the UK, seidr relies less on formal ritual and more informal practices of healing (Blain, 2002b), protection, and for developing links with land and ancestors. It may be related - in past and present - to alterations of consciousness and negotiations with otherworld beings.

The berserkergangr may be described as a sort of religiousangel casy: religious ecstasy, associated with Odin, and thus a masculine variant of the 'effeminate' ecstasy of Seid.[28]angel casy: History

[edit] Romanticist Germanic mysticismMain articles: Germanic mysticism and Viking revival

The first modern attempt at revival of ancient Germanic religion took place in the 19th century during the late Romantic Period amidst a general resurgence of interest in traditional Germanic culture, in particular in connection with romantic nationalism in Scandinavia and the related Viking revival in Victorian era Britain. Germanic mysticism is an occultist current loosely inspired by "Germanic" topics, notably runes. It has its beginnings in the early 20th century (Guido von List's "Armanism", Karl Maria Wiligut's "Irminism" etc.)angel casy: The last traditional pagan sacrifices in Scandinavia, at Trollkyrka, appear to date to about this time.

Organized Germanic pagan or occult groups such as the Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft emerged in Germany in the early 20th century. The connections of this movement to historical Germanic paganism are tenuous at best, with emphasis lying on the esoteric as taught by the likes of Julius Evola, Guido von List and Karl Maria Wiligut.

[edit] Nazi period and World War IIangel casy: Several early members of the Nazi Party were part of the Thule Society, a study group for German antiquity. While it is postulated that occult elements played an important role in the formative phase of Nazism, and of the SS in particular, after his rise to power, Adolf Hitler discouraged such pursuits. Point 24 of the National Socialist Party program, stated that the party endorsed "Positive Christianity."[17]

The eclectic German Faith Movement (Deutsche Glaubensbewegung), founded by the Sanskrit scholar Jakob Wilhelm Hauer, enjoyed a degree of popularity during the Nazi period.[18].angel casy: Some Germanic mysticists were victimized by the Nazis: Friedrich Bernhard Marby spent 99 months in KZ Dachau, and Siegfried Adolf Kummer's fate is unknown.[19] The founder of the original pre-Nazi Deutsches Ahnerbe, Herman Wirth was exiled and prohibited from writing or lecturing because his views of traditional Germanic religion were perceived as incompatible with the goals of the state. Another pioneer of the revival, Ludwig Fahrenkrog, founder of the Germanic Glaubens-Gemeinschaft was prohibited from public speaking or holding religious rituals because he refused to end his public lectures and personal correspondences with the obligatory "Heil Hitler". Ernst Wachler who built the Harzer Bergtheater specifically for Germanic plays and operas was sent to KZ Auschwitz where he perished[20]angel casy: Several books published by the Nazi party including Die Gestaltung der Feste im Jahres- und Lebenslauf in der SS-Familie (The Celebrations in the Life of the SS Family) by Fritz Weitzel, as well as the SS Tante Friede illustrate how the National Socialists thought traditional Germanic Heathenry was primitive superstition which needed reworking to better serve the state. Celebrating the traditional festivals like Jul and Sommersonnenwende were encouraged and recast into veneration of the Nazi state and Fhrer.[21]angel casy: The appropriation of "Germanic antiquity" by the Nazis was at first regarded with skepticism and sarcasm by British Scandophiles. W. H. Auden in his Letters from Iceland (1936) makes fun of the idea of Iceland as an "Aryan vestige".[22] but with the outbreak of World War II, Nordic romanticism in Britain became too much associated with the enemy's ideology to remain palatable, to the point that J. R. R. Tolkien, an ardent Septentrionalist, in 1941 found himself moved to state that he had a "burning private grudge ... against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler" for

"Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light."[23]

angel casy: After the War, the strong association with Nazi Germany virtually eclipsed interest in Germanic history for two decades. The racialist Artgemeinschaft Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft (AG GGG), founded in 1951, did little to dispel the popular equation of Germanic faiths and Neo-Nazism.

In Australia, led by the Odinist pioneer Alexander Rud Mills and his eventual wife, Evelyn, were Australian Odinists in the 1930s. The couple held regular ceremonies in the Dandenong Ranges, near Melbourne, until Mills himself was arrested and sent to an Australian concentration camp (Loveday, SA) early in World War II.[citation needed]angel casy: Second revival, 1960s to present

Another revival, this time based on folklore and historical research rather than on mysticist speculation, took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s. satr was recognized as an official religion by the Icelandic government in 1973, largely due to the efforts of Sveinbjrn Beinteinsson. In USA, around the same period, Else Christensen began publishing "The Odinist" newsletter and Stephen McNallen began publishing a newsletter titled The Runestone. McNallen formed an organization called the Asatru Free Assembly, which was later renamed the satr Folk Assembly (AFA) [24]. The AFA fractured in 1987-88, resulting in the creation of the satr Alliance[25], headed by Valgard Murray, publisher of the "Vor Tru" newsletter. Around the same time, the Ring of angel casy: Around the same time, the Ring of Troth (now simply The Troth) was founded by other former members of the AFA.[26].

In 1972 the spiritual descendants of Mills' Odinist movement in Australia obtained from the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth of Australia a written undertaking that open profession of Odinism in Australia would not be persecuted. The Odinic Rite of Australia subsequently obtained tax deductible status from the Australian Tax Office. The ATO accepts this as the definition of Odinism: "the continuation of ... the organic spiritual beliefs and religion of the indigenous peoples of northern Europe as embodied in the Edda and as they have found expression in the wisdom and in the historical experience of these peoples".angel casy: In 1976 Garman Lord formed the Witan Theod, the first Theodish group. Shortly thereafter, Ealdoraed Lord founded the Moody Hill Theod in Watertown, New York. The Angelseaxisce Ealdriht formed in 1996 and was founded by Swain and Winifred Hodge. Theodism now encompasses groups practicing tribal beliefs from Scandinavia and the Continent, in addition to following in the model set forth by the early Anglo Saxon peoples.

The Odinic Rite was established in England in 1972, and in the 1990s expanded to include chapters in Germany (1995)[27], Australia (1995) [28] and North American (1997) [29]. A Dutsch section was added in (2006)[30].angel casy: In Germany, the Heidnische Gemeinschaft (HG) founded by Gza von Nemnyi in 1985. In 1991 the Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft (GGG),led by von Nemnyi, split off from the HG. In 1997 the Nornirs tt was founded as part of the Rabenclan and in 2000 the Eldaring was founded. The Eldaring is affiliated with the US based Troth.

In Scandinavia, the Swedish Asatru Society formed in 1994, and in Norway the satrufellesskapet Bifrost formed in 1996 and Foreningen Forn Sed formed in 1999. They have been recognized by the Norwegian government as a religious society, allowing them to perform "legally binding civil ceremonies" (i. e. marriages). In Denmark Forn Sir also formed in 1999: for individual heathens. Ntverket Forn Sed formed in 2004, and has a network consisting of local groups (blotlag) from all over the Sweden.

In the UK, state recognition of Neopaganism occurred as a coincidence of the legal case Royal Mail group PLC versus Donald Holden in 2006. Holden, a member of the Odinist Fellowship, sued his former employer for unfair dismissal.[32]angel casy: Germanic mysticism was mostly eclipsed by the more reconstructionist Neopagan revival in the 1970s, but there are some contemporary proponents, notably Stephen Flowers advocating "Odianism", an occultist school involving "runosophy". Historical schools of Germanic mysticism became closely linked with Nazi occultism, while contemporary currents have close ties to Alain de Benoist's Nouvelle Droite' and neo-fascist schools of thought such as "Integral Traditionalism" based on the writings of Julius Evola and others.

[edit] Distribution of adherents

[edit] Demographicsdiana dragos: pfoai de capu meuangel casy: iti trebe demograpphics?diana dragos: nuangel casy: ok angel casy: te sperii de cat ii de citit?diana dragos: stau si ma hlizesc cu gura deschisa la ecranangel casy: Symbolism

While generally any symbol deriving from Germanic paganism may be used, particularly popular symbols of Germanic Neopaganism are depictions of the Valknut, Mjolnir, the Irminsul, Yggdrasil amongst others. Depictions of Germanic gods are also common. The Runic alphabet is popular, in particular the Odal, Tyr and Algiz runes.[45]

The US Anti-Defamation League listed numerous symbols associated with Germanic Neopaganism as "hate symbols", but following an internet-based campaign by Germanic Neopagan groups inserted a disclaimer to the effect that the symbols listed "are often used by nonracists today, especially practitioners of modern pagan religions."[46] Additionally, the swastika may be used by some groups such as the Odinic Rite, who seek to "rehabilitate"[47] it, based odiana dragos: ms tare mult angel casy: it, based on some archaeological evidence for the symbol's use in Germanic antiquity. The Armanen runes, created by Guido von List indicate an influence deriving from the work of Von Listian Germanic mysticism rather than reconstructive forms of Germanic Neopaganismangel casy: si ultimaangel casy: presupun ca iti trebe partea de mitologie, nu si scoietatile contemporaneangel casy: de dupa 1900angel casy: sau?diana dragos: nu ..nu imi mai trebe nimicdiana dragos: nimicangel casy: de ce ma?angel casy: hai ca's chestii itneresantediana dragos: angel casy: io dau paste..si apoi vezi tu ce selcteziangel casy: stiu ca ii mult da te descurcidiana dragos: mai poti, mai?angel casy: esti fetita desteaptadiana dragos: ca si de aia miangel casy: da, ii un efort, simt ca scriu teza de dcotoratangel casy: AriosophyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Germanic mysticism)Jump to: navigation, searchWerner von Blow's World-Rune-Clock, illustrating the correspondences between List's Armanen runes, the signs of the zodiac and the gods of the months

Armanism and Ariosophy are the names of ideological systems of an esoteric nature, pioneered by Guido von List and Jrg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. List also used the name Wotanism, whereas Lanz also used the names Theozoology and Ario-Christianity.[1] The two authors inspired numerous others and a variety of organizations in Germany and Austria of that time.angel casy: This article follows the historian Goodrick-Clarke in summarizing these developments under the term Ariosophy, although this broader use of the word is retrospective and was not generally current among the esotericists themselves.[1] They were part of a general occult revival in Austria and Germany of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, loosely inspired by historical Germanic paganism and traditional concepts of occultism, and related to German romanticism. The connection of this Germanic mysticism with historical Germanic culture, though tenuous, is evident in the mystics' fascination with runes, in the form of List's Armanen runes.angel casy: ArmanismGuido von List in 1910 from the book Guido v. List: Der Wiederentdecker Uralter Arischer Weisheit by Johannes Balzli, published in 1917

Guido von List elaborated a racial religion premised on the concept of renouncing the imposed foreign creed of Christianity and returning to the pagan religions of the ancient Indo-Europeans (List preferred the equivalent term Ario-Germanen, or 'Aryo-Germans').[4] In this, he became strongly influenced by the Theosophical thought of Madame Blavatsky, which he blended however with his own highly original beliefs, founded upon Germanic paganism.angel casy: Before he turned to occultism, Guido List had written articles for German nationalist newspapers in Austria, as well as four historical novels and three plays, some of which were "set in tribal Germany" before the advent of Christianity (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 36-41). He also had written an anti-semitic essay in 1895. List adopted the aristocratic von between 1903 and 1907.angel casy: List called his doctrine Armanism after the Armanen, supposedly a body of priest-kings in the ancient Ario-Germanic nation. He claimed that this German name had been Latinized into the tribal name Herminones mentioned in Tacitus and that it actually meant the heirs of the sun-king: an estate of intellectuals who were organised into a priesthood called the Armanenschaft (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 56).angel casy: His conception of the original religion of the Germanic tribes was a form of sun worship, with its priest-kings (similar to the Icelandic goi) as legendary rulers of ancient Germany. Religious instruction was imparted on two levels. The esoteric doctrine (Armanism) was concerned with the secret mysteries of the gnosis, reserved for the initiated elite, while the exoteric doctrine (Wotanism) took the form of popular myths intended for the lower social classes (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 57).angel casy: List believed that the transition from Wotanism to Christianity had proceeded smoothly under the direction of the skalds, so that native customs, festivals and names were preserved under a Christian veneer and only needed to be 'decoded' back into their heathen forms (Flowers 1988: 16-17). This peaceful merging of the two religions had been disrupted by the forcible conversions under "bloody Charlemagne the Slaughterer of the Saxons" (tr. Flowers 1988: 77). List claimed that the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria-Hungary constituted a continuing occupation of the Germanic tribes by the Roman empire, albeit now in a religious form, and a continuing persecution of the ancient religion of the Germanic peoples and Celts.angel casy: He also believed in the magical powers of the old runes. From 1891 onwards he claimed that heraldry was based on a system of encoded runes, so that heraldic devices conveyed a secret heritage in cryptic form. In April 1903, he submitted an article concerning the alleged Aryan proto-language to the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna. Its highlight was a mystical and occult interpretation of the runic alphabet, which became the cornerstone of his ideology. Although the article was rejected by the academy, it would later be expanded by List and grew into his final masterpiece, a comprehensive treatment of his linguistic and historical theories published in 1914 as Die Ursprache der Ario-Germanen und ihre Mysteriensprache (The Proto-Language of the Aryo-Germans and their Mystery Language).angel casy: List's doctrine has been described as gnostic, pantheist and deist (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 40, 50, 84 and passim). At its core is the mystical union of God, man and nature. Wotanism teaches that God dwells within the individual human spirit as an inner source of magical power, but is also immanent within nature through the primal laws which govern the cycles of growth, decay and renewal. (List explicitly rejects a dualism of spirit versus matter or of God over against nature.) Humanity is therefore one with the universe, which entails an obligation to live in accordance with nature. But the individual human ego does not seek to merge with the cosmos. "Man is a separate agent, necessary to the completion or perfection of 'God's work'" (Flowers 1988: 24). Being immortal, the ego passes througangel casy: the ego passes through successive reincarnations until it overcomes all obstacles to its purpose. List foresaw the eventual consequences of this in a future utopia on earth, which he identified with the promised Valhalla, a world of victorious heroes:

"Thus in the course of uncounted generations all men will become Einherjar, and that state willed and preordained by the godhead of general liberty, equality, and fraternity will be reached. This is that state which sociologists long for and which socialists want to bring about by false means, for they are not able to comprehend the esoteric concept that lies hidden in the triad: liberty, equality, fraternity, a concept which must first ripen and mature in order that someday it can be picked like a fruit from the World Tree.": List was familiar with the cyclical notion of time, of time, which he encountered in Norse mythology and in the theosophical adaptation of the Hindu time cycles. He had already made use of cosmic rhythms in his early journalism on natural landscapes (that was republished in Deutsch-Mythologische Landschaftsbilder, Berlin 1891). In his later works[5] List combined the cyclical concept of time with the "dualistic and linear time scheme" of western apocalyptic which counterposes a pessimism about the present world with an ultimate optimism regarding the future one (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 79, 80). In Das Geheimnis der Runen (The Secret of the Runes, tr. Flowers 1988: 107ff), List addresses the seeming contradiction by explaining the final redemption of the linear time frame as an exoteric parable which angel casy: parable which stands for the esoteric truth of renewal in many future cycles and incarnations. However, in the original Norse myths and Hinduism, the cycle of destruction and creation is repeated indefinitely, thus offering no possibility of ultimate salvation (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 79; 239, note 14 to Chapter 9).angel casy: Guido von List Society and High Armanen Order

Already in 1893 Guido List[6] together with Fanny Wschiansky, had founded the Literarische Donaugesellschaft, a literary society (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 39).

In 1908 the Guido von List Society (Guido-von-List-Gesellschaft) was founded primarily by the Wannieck family (Friedrich Wannieck and his son Friedrich Oskar Wannieck being prominent and enthusiastic Armanists) as an occult vlkisch organisation, with the purpose of financing and publishing List's research (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 42). The List Society was supported by many leading figures in Austrian and German politics, publishing, and occultism.[7] Although one might suspect a vlkisch organisation to be anti-semitic, the society included at least two Jews among its members: Moritz Aangel casy: Moritz Altschler, a rabbinical scholar (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 99), and Ernst Wachler, who was of Jewish ancestry and later perished in a concentration camp.[8] The List Society published List's works under the series Guido-List-Bcherei (GLB).[9] Two other later works of List were published by Adolf Burdeke[citation needed] in Zrich.[10]

List had established exoteric and esoteric circles in his organisation. The High Armanen Order (Hoher Armanen Orden) was the inner circle of the Guido von List Society. Founded in midsummer 1911, it was set up as a magical order or lodge to support List's deeper and more practical work. The HAO conducted pilgrimages to what its members considered "holy Armanic sites", Stephansdom in Vienna, Carnuntum etc. angel casy: They also had occasional meetings between 1911 and 1918, but the exact nature of these remains unknown. In his introduction to List's The Secret of the Runes, Stephen E. Flowers (1988: 11) notes: "The HAO never really crystallized in List's lifetime although it seems possible that he developed a theoretical body of unpublished documents and rituals relevant to the HAO which have only been put into full practice in more recent years".

[edit] Listians under the Third Reichangel casy: List died on 17 May 1919, a few months before Adolf Hitler joined a minor Bavarian political party and formed it into the NSDAP. After the Nazis had come to power, several advocates of Armanism fell victim to the suppression of esotericism in Nazi Germany.

The main reason for the persecution of occultists was the Nazi policy of systematically closing down esoteric organisations (although Germanic paganism was still practised by some Nazis on an individual basis), but the instigator in certain cases was Himmler's personal occultist, Karl Maria Wiligut. Wiligut identified the monotheistic religion of Irminism as the true ancestral belief, claiming that Guido von List's Wotanism and runic row constituted a schismatic false religion.angel casy: Among the Listians[11] who were subjected to censure were the rune occultists Friedrich Bernhard Marby and Siegfried Adolf Kummer, both of whom were denounced by Wiligut in 1934 in a letter to Himmler.[12] Flowers (1988: 35) writes: "The establishment of [an] 'official NS runology' under Himmler, Wiligut, and others led directly to the need to suppress the rune-magical 'free agents' such as Marby". Despite having openly supported the Nazis,[13] Marby was arrested by the Gestapo in 1936 as an anti-Nazi occultist and was interned in Welzheim, Flossenbrg and Dachau concentration camps (Flowers 1988: 117 n.47; Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 161; Rudgley 2006: 119). angel casy: Kummer disappears from history after Wiligut's denunciation in 1934 and his fate is unknown. He may have died in a concentration camp (Lange 1988). At "least one report has him fleeing Nazi Germany in exile to South America",[14] but Rudgley (2006: 125) calls this "[u]nsubstantiated rumours...it is more likely that he perished in one of the camps that Marby was to survive or died during the Allied bombing of Dresden."

Gnter Kirchhoff, a List Society member whom Wiligut had recommended to Himmler on the strength of his researches into prehistory, is reported to have written that Wiligut by intrigue had ensured that Ernst Lauterer (a.k.a. "Tarnhari") another List Society member, who claimed a secret clan tradition which rivalled Wiligut's own was committed to a concentration camp as angel casy: camp as an "English agent".[15]

[edit] Theozoology

In 1903-1904 a Viennese ex-Cistercian monk, Bible scholar and inventor named Jrg Lanz-Liebenfels (subsequently, Jrg Lanz von Liebenfels) published a lengthy article under the Latin title 'Anthropozoon Biblicum' (The Biblical Man-Animal) in a journal for Biblical studies edited by Moritz Altschler, a Jewish admirer of Guido von List. The author undertook a comparative survey of ancient Near Eastern cultures, in which he detected evidence from iconography and literature which seemed to point to the continued survival, into early historical times, of hominid ape-men similar to the dwarfish Neanderthal men known from fossil remains in Europe, or the Pithecanthropus (now called Homo erectus) from Java (Lanz-Liebenfels 1903: 337-39). angel casy: Furthermore, Lanz systematically analysed the Old Testament in the light of his hypothesis, identifying and interpreting coded references to the ape-men which substantiated an illicit practice of interbreeding between humans and "lower" species in antiquity.

In 1905 he expanded these researches into a fundamental statement of doctrine titled Theozoologie oder die Kunde von den Sodoms-fflingen und dem Gtter-Elektron (Theozoology or the Science of the Sodomite-Apelings and the Divine Electron). He claimed that Aryan peoples originated from interstellar deities (termed Theozoa) who bred by electricity, while lower races were a result of interbreeding between humans and ape-men (or Anthropozoa). The effects of racial crossing caused the atrophy of paranormal powers inherited from the angel casy: nherited from the gods, but these could be restored by the selective breeding of pure Aryan lineages. The book relied on somewhat lurid sexual imagery, decrying the abuse of white women by ethnically inferior but sexually active men. Thus, Lanz advocated mass castration of racially apelike or otherwise inferior males (Lanz von Liebenfels, republished 2002).

In the same year, Lanz commenced publication of the journal Ostara (named after the pagan Germanic goddess of spring) to promote his vision of racial purity. angel casy: On December 25, 1907 he founded the Order of the New Templars (Ordo Novi Templi, or ONT), a mystical association with its headquarters at Burg Werfenstein, a castle in Upper Austria overlooking the river Danube. Its declared aim was to harmonise science, art and religion on a basis of racial consciousness. Rituals were designed to beautify life in accordance with Aryan aesthetics, and to express the Order's theological system which Lanz called Ario-Christianity. The Order was the first to use the swastika in an "Aryan" meaning, displaying on its flag the device of a red swastika facing right, on a yellow-orange field and surrounded by four blue fleurs-de-lys above, below, to the right and to the left.angel casy: The ONT declined from the mid-1930s and was suppressed by the Gestapo in 1942. By this time it had established seven utopian communities in Austria, Germany and Hungary. Though suspending its activities in the Greater German Reich, the ONT survived in Hungary until around the end of World War II (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 119, 122). It went underground in Vienna after 1945, but was contacted in 1958 by a former Waffen-SS lieutenant, Rudolf Mund, who became Prior of the Order in 1979 (Goodrick-Clarke 2003: 135). Mund also wrote biographies of Lanz and Wiligut.angel casy: Ariosophy

The term Ariosophy (occult wisdom concerning the Aryans) was coined by Lanz von Liebenfels in 1915, and replaced Theozoology and Ario-Christianity as the label for his doctrine in the 1920s.[1]

This terminology was taken up by a group of occultists, formed in Berlin around 1920 and referred to by one of its main figures, Ernst Issberner-Haldane, as the 'Swastika-Circle'. Lanz's publisher, Herbert Reichstein, made contact with the group in 1925 and formed it into an institute with himself as director. angel casy: This association was named the Ariosophical Society in 1926, renamed the Neue Kalandsgesellschaft (from Kaland, Guido von List's term for a secret lodge or conventicle) in 1928, and renamed again as the Ariosophische Kulturzentrale in 1931, the year in which it opened an Ariosophical School at Pressbaum that offered courses and lectures in runic lore, biorhythms, yoga and Qabalah.angel casy: he institute maintained a friendly collaboration with Lanz, its guiding intellect and inspiration, but also acknowledged an indebtedness to List, declaring itself as the successor to the Armanen priest-kings and their hierophantic tradition. Reichstein's circle therefore establishes the historical precedent for a broad conception that was followed by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke in 1985 when he redefined Ariosophy as a general term to describe Aryan-centric occult theories and hermetic practices, including both Lanz's Ario-Christianity and the earlier Armanism of List, as well as later derivatives of either or both systems. If the term is employed in this extended sense, then Guido von List, and not Lanz von Liebenfels, was the founder of Ariosophyangel casy: The justification for the broad definition is that List and Lanz were mutually influencing. The two men joined one another's societies; List figures in Lanz's pedigree of initiated predecessors; and Lanz is cited several times by List in The Religion of the Aryo-Germanic Folk: Esoteric and Exoteric (1910).

[edit] Germanenordenangel casy: The List-inspired Germanenorden (Germanic or Teutonic Order, not to be confused with the medieval German order of the Teutonic Knights) was a vlkisch secret society in early 20th century Germany. It was founded in Berlin in 1912 by several prominent German occultists including Theodor Fritsch, a political activist with a long history of anti-semitism; Philipp Stauff, who held office in the List Society and High Armanen Order; and Hermann Pohl, who became the Germanenorden's first leader.angel casy: The order, whose symbol was a swastika, had a hierarchical fraternal structure similar to Freemasonry. Local groups of the sect met to celebrate the summer solstice, an important neopagan festivity in vlkisch circles (and later in Nazi Germany), and more regularly to read the Eddas as well as some of the German mystics [1].angel casy: In addition to occult and magical philosophies, it taught to its initiates nationalist ideologies of Nordic racial superiority and anti-semitism, then rising throughout the Western world. As was becoming increasingly typical of vlkisch organisations,[citation needed] it required its candidates to prove that they had no non-Aryan bloodlines and required from each a promise to maintain purity of his stock in marriage.angel casy: In 1916 during World War I, the Germanenorden split into two parts. Eberhard von Brockhusen became the Grand Master of the "loyalist" Germanenorden. Pohl, previously the order's Chancellor, founded a schismatic offshoot: the Germanenorden Walvater of the Holy Grail (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 131-32; Thomas 2005). He was joined in the same year by Rudolf von Sebottendorff (formerly Rudolf Glauer), a wealthy adventurer with wide-ranging occult and mystical interests. A Freemason and a practitioner of sufism and astrology, Sebottendorff was also an admirer of Guido von List and Lanz von Liebenfels.angel casy: Convinced that the Islamic and Germanic mystical systems shared a common Aryan root, he was attracted by Pohl's runic lore and became the Master of the Walvater's Bavarian province late in 1917. Charged with reviving the province's fortunes, Sebottendorff increased membership from about a hundred in 1917 to 1500 by the autumn of the following year (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 142-43).