Asatru, Pagan, or Heathen?

Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson

So, I watched a few YouTube videos on the topic of what to call the religion of the Germanic or Norse ancient peoples as it exists today for the modern practitioner. There was a lot of debate on the proper and politically correct terminology for the faith that I believe in. So, I am going to start with Asatru.

 

Asatru is Icelandic and a fairly modern term meaning "faith in the Æsir." The Æsir are one branch of Norse deities consisting of Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr, and so on. The term Asatru came into modern use in the 1970s in Iceland by the efforts of Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson and other Icelanders who had rejected Christianity and formed the Icelandic religious organization Ásatrúarfélagið ("Fellowship of Æsir faith"). The term Asatru was soon adopted in the United States and other countries. Stephen McNallen is possible the first American to make the term Asatru popular when he formed the Asatru Free Assembly in 1976 or there abouts. That brings up another issue we will get to later on. The first time I heard the word Asatru was in 1983 in relation to the Asatru Free Assembly, but I did not start referring to my self or my religion as Asatru until the 1990s. It is my belief today that Asatru is the heathen/pagan equivalent to saying Christianity. Asatru is the blanket belief in the Germanic gods and practices of the Germanic tribes. It covers all sects of the practice such as Norse Heathenism, Anglo-Saxon Heathenry, Germanic Neopaganism, or any other belief system or practice of the ancient Germanic tribal people. It is a general term like say you are a Christian.

The controversy comes from our old friend McNallen (you old people can deny it but you once thought he was ok). In McNallen’s early days he denounced the Nazis and white supremacist, while making the case for ancestry within Asatru. He comes off as a real nice guy, but once you look a little close you can see the truth, he is a hate filled Nazi bastard. That is why some have chosen to denounce the word Asatru. Ok, I get that. However, it is NOT his word! It is Icelandic and it comes from Iceland! Screw McNallen and his group of Nazi bastards. We cannot keep giving up because of him. Take it back and own it. So, Asatru is the blanket term for belief in the ancient Germanic tribal practices and/or beliefs. That’s the end of that rant.

Is Asatru (as I have defined it above) a belief system or a practice? A belief system is defined as, a set of principles or tenets which together form the basis of a religion, philosophy, or moral code. A practice is defined as, the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method, as opposed to theories relating to it. In the modern sense Asatru is a belief system verse a practice. Let me explain, Christianity is a set of beliefs practiced by various sects or cults. Therefore, Christianity is a theological belief system and not a practice, whereas Catholicism is a practice based upon the teachings or beliefs of Christianity. In turn, Asatru is the belief system in which all other Germanic tribal practices are based. I understand that some of you will take issue with this concept. This theory is based upon modern conceptual ideas and not the reconstruction of the Germanic tribes. Asatru is the revival of an ancient theological religion in the modern era; thus it is a modern belief system based upon historical knowledge of ancient Germanic peoples. As a historian, I can tell you that the vast majority of Asatru sects are based on modern perception and not historical record. The fact of the mater is that we no very little about the actual day-to-day practices of the Germanic tribes and society has changed vastly since those ancient times. There is just no way we could accurately recreate the true ways of The Ancestors. In short, Asatru is the umbrella theological belief system of all Germanic Neopaganists sects.

That brings us to Pagan, Heathen, or whatever… The word pagan basic means a person holding religious beliefs other than those of the main world religions, or those who are not of the Abrahamic religions. Originally pagan meant a rustic villager or those who lived outside the city. Rustics tended to still believe in the old Gods, while city dwellers converted quickly. Heathen, roughly means the same, a person not prescribing to the Abrahamic beliefs. However, heathen was historically applied to the people of the Germanic tribes more than any other pagan culture. The problem with both terms is that in our modern society there are many misconceptions about both words. When people hear the word pagan, they think of horned gods and the modernist Wicca, not Odin or Thor. Whereas Heathen brings to mind the cloven hoof of Satan in many folks. Thus, when we state we are either of these we end of explaining just exactly what we mean.

What we choose to call ourselves a Asatruar (those who follow the belief system of Asatru), is really a matter of personal preference. I am sure for most of us it rarely comes up in general conversation. For me it only comes up when someone sees my Mjolnir necklace. When I do get asked about my jewelry, I normally just state I am Asatru. At which I get asked, What? Depending upon my mood, I might just say, It’s the religion of the Vikings. Now, it’s a vague answer that is not accurate, but it gets me out of a longer explanation and a possibility of an argument, and more than once, fisticuffs. I am a Saxon-Norse Pagan/Heathen. I use pagan and heathen interchangeably and I am not apologetic about it. In no Asatru circles I just say Asatru and Asatruar. It is the easiest way to deal with a situation that is essentially no-one’s business.