Heathenry
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Germanic Heathenism is a phrase which encompasses a body of traditional beliefs and practices associated with the Germanic peoples, from before their conversion to Christianity and in contemporary times, after having moved away from the latter creed. Since the 1960s, there has been a revival of groups, especially in Northern Europe and North America; the various different factions of these often call themselves proponents of Ásatrú, Forn Sed, Fyrnsidu, Irminism, Odalism, Odinism, Theodism, Vanatrú, Wodenism, and Wotanism or similar.
Further terms used in some academic contexts are contemporary Germanic Paganism and Germanic Neopaganism, although the latter is an "artificial term" developed by scholars with little use within the Heathen community.
Contents
Movements
David Lane and Wotanism
Wotanism is the name of an expression of the German religion, formulated by David Lane of The Order in the United States. Within this, Wotan (also known as Odin) is the central All-Father figure, more important than the other Gods. Most Wotanists emphasize dualism and view the Gods as Jungian archetype. Wotanism is overly political, associated with the militant end of white nationalism, as well as promoting a Social Darwinian "Might is Right" philosophy. Wotanist groups include the Gambanreidi Statement, WotansVolk and the Temple of Wotan. The latter two were founded under the direct influence of David Lane, his wife Katja Lane (Katuscha Maddox) and Ron McVan. Lane chose the name "Wotan" over "Odin" because it can be used as an acronym for "Will of the Aryan Nation." They often ridicule some of the softer, effete Odinists, who express a post-Protestant liberal universalism, in place of it being the ethno-tradition of the Germanic peoples.
- "So, I first chose the name Wotanism over Odinism. First because W.O.T.A.N. makes a perfect acronym for Will Of The Aryan Nation. Secondly because he was called Wotan on the European continent and only called Odin in Scandinavia. Therefore Wotan appeals to the genetic memory of more of our ancestors. And finally because a split had to be made with the game players, deceivers and universalists who had usurped the name Odin."
Charlemagne's Christian ideas
A NSDAP publication writes that Charlemagne's Christian ideas caused decay and destruction within the German people:
- "[...] The Germanic concepts of virtue, honor, and loyalty were crushed, and gold triumphed, and with it fell the old Germanic world and its Gods. [...] However, just as nothing is eternal, and even the greatest things on this earth always carry within them the seeds of decline, so it was with this great Holy German Empire. While in the time of Charlemagne, Christianity and the Church were those powerful ideas under which the German tribes united and which thus have their value in our history, these ideas later became the seeds of decay. The Germanic concepts of virtue, honor, and loyalty were crushed, and gold triumphed, and with it fell the old Germanic world and its Gods. Herein lies the undeniable historical value of Christianity: to have reunited the Germanic peoples under the Christian ideal, to have given them a new ideal for another millennium. In order to serve dogma and the intolerant, even cruel, doctrine, those forces arose whose goal was the annihilation of this German unity, and thus these forces became the enemy of German unity."
See also
- Armanism and Ariosophy
- Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft
- Heathen Front
- Odinia International
- Woden's Folk
- Germanic Mythology
- Julleuchter
Personalities
- Guido von List
- Ludwig Fahrenkrog
- Alexander Rud Mills
- Else Christensen
- Stephen Edred Flowers
- Varg Vikernes
