page_title: Heathenry (new religious movement)
hierarchical_section_title: Heathenry (new religious movement)
caption_attribution_description: English: Amulet of Thor's hammer (Mjolnir) worn by a Swedish practioner of Forn Sed and member of Forn Sed Sweden (former Swedish Asatru Assembly).The hammer is a commercial copy of an archaeological find from Skåne, Sweden. The original hammer is of silver with filigree ornamentation and was found in an unknown place in Skåne and did belong to a collecton owned by the baron Claes Kurck, but was donated to the Historical Museum in Stockholm in the year 1895. Unreliable sources says that the hammer was found in Kabbarp near Staffanstorp in Skåne, Sweden. Svenska: Amulett i form av Tors hammare (Mjölner) buren av en svensk utövare av Forn sed och medlem i Samfundet Forn Sed Sverige (f.d. Sveriges Asatrosamfund).Hammaren är en kommersiell kopia av ett arkeologiskt fynd från Skåne. Original-hammaren är i silver med rik filigranornering från okänd fyndplats i Skåne. Original-hammaren är 5,1 cm lång och 4,5 cm bred. Original-hammaren härrör ur friherre Claes Kurcks fornsakssamling vilken kom till Statens Historiska Museer i Stockholm år 1895. Osäkra källor anger Kabbarp, V om Staffanstorp, som fyndplats. SHM 9822:810.
context_page_description: Heathenry, also termed Heathenism, contemporary Germanic Paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement. Developed in Europe during the early 20th century, its practitioners model it on the pre-Christian belief systems adhered to by the Germanic peoples of the Iron Age and Early Middle Ages. In an attempt to reconstruct these past belief systems, Heathenry uses surviving historical, archaeological, and folkloric evidence as a basis, although approaches to this material vary considerably.
  Heathenry does not have a unified theology but is typically polytheistic, centering on a pantheon of deities from pre-Christian Germanic Europe. It adopts cosmological views from these past societies, including an animistic view of the cosmos in which the natural world is imbued with spirits. The religion's deities and spirits are honored in sacrificial rites known as blóts in which food and libations are offered to them. These are often accompanied by symbel, the act of ceremonially toasting the gods with an alcoholic beverage.
context_section_description: Heathenry, also termed Heathenism, contemporary Germanic Paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religious studies classify it as a new religious movement. Developed in Europe during the early 20th century, its practitioners model it on the pre-Christian belief systems adhered to by the Germanic peoples of the Iron Age and Early Middle Ages. In an attempt to reconstruct these past belief systems, Heathenry uses surviving historical, archaeological, and folkloric evidence as a basis, although approaches to this material vary considerably.
  Heathenry does not have a unified theology but is typically polytheistic, centering on a pantheon of deities from pre-Christian Germanic Europe. It adopts cosmological views from these past societies, including an animistic view of the cosmos in which the natural world is imbued with spirits. The religion's deities and spirits are honored in sacrificial rites known as blóts in which food and libations are offered to them. These are often accompanied by symbel, the act of ceremonially toasting the gods with an alcoholic beverage. Some practitioners also engage in rituals designed to induce an altered state of consciousness and visions, most notably seiðr and galdr, with the intent of gaining wisdom and advice from the deities. Many solitary practitioners follow the religion by themselves. Other Heathens assemble in small groups, usually known as kindreds or hearths, to perform their rites outdoors or in specially constructed buildings. Heathen ethical systems emphasize honor, personal integrity, and loyalty, while beliefs about an afterlife vary and are rarely emphasized.
  Heathenry's origins lie in the 19th- and early 20th-century Romanticism, which glorified the pre-Christian societies of Germanic Europe. Völkisch groups actively venerating the deities of these societies appeared in Germany and Austria during the 1900s and 1910s, although they largely dissolved following Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II. In the 1970s, new Heathen groups established in Europe and North America, developing into formalized organizations. A central division within the Heathen movement emerged surrounding the issue of race. Older groups adopted a racialist attitude—often termed "folkish" within the community—by viewing Heathenry as an ethnic or racial religion with inherent links to a Germanic race. They believe it should be reserved for white people, particularly of Northern European descent, and often combine the religion with white supremacist and far right-wing perspectives. A larger proportion of Heathens instead adopt a "universalist" perspective, holding that the religion is open to all, irrespective of origin.
  While the term Heathenry is used widely to describe the religion as a whole, many groups prefer different designations, influenced by their regional focus and ideological preferences. Heathens focusing on Scandinavian sources sometimes use Ásatrú, Vanatrú, or Forn Sed; practitioners focusing on Anglo-Saxon traditions use Fyrnsidu or Theodism; those emphasising German traditions use Irminism; and those Heathens who espouse folkish and far-right perspectives tend to favor the terms Odinism, Wotanism, Wodenism, or Odalism. Scholarly estimates put the number of Heathens at no more than 20,000 worldwide, with communities of practitioners active in Europe, the Americas, and Australasia.
caption: A modern replica of a Viking Age pendant representing Mjölnir, the hammer of the god Thor; such pendants are often worn by Heathens.
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