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Author Topic: Interested in Asatru/Heathenry  (Read 1310 times)

NightFury

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Interested in Asatru/Heathenry
« on: February 08, 2017, 04:42:30 pm »
After doubting my Christian faith, I became interested in other religions. I was very interested in Pagan religions, mainly because most focused on this life instead of the afterlife, and the thought of all these gods of old being real was very fascinating to me!

I loved reading about peoples experiences and what they believed in, however nothing really clicked. That is, until recently when I posted in another place that I was interested in Paganism. One of the people who replied said they were primarily a Norse Pagan, what they said seemed interesting to me so I decided to look deeper into it.

I ended up reading about Asatru/Heathenry, and was amazed! So much of what I was reading I actually agreed with! I've always had a fascination with Norse mythology and viking culture, but I never really looked into it until now, I wish I did earlier lol.

I'm curious if anybody else has gone through something similar? It really does almost feel like I'm being "called", it just feels right to me! That being said, can anyone recommend some free books or resources for me to learn more?

Also feel free to share your experiences, I'd love to read them! :)

Megatherium

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Re: Interested in Asatru/Heathenry
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2017, 05:19:52 pm »
Quote from: NightFury;202479
After doubting my Christian faith, I became interested in other religions. I was very interested in Pagan religions, mainly because most focused on this life instead of the afterlife, and the thought of all these gods of old being real was very fascinating to me!

I loved reading about peoples experiences and what they believed in, however nothing really clicked. That is, until recently when I posted in another place that I was interested in Paganism. One of the people who replied said they were primarily a Norse Pagan, what they said seemed interesting to me so I decided to look deeper into it.

I ended up reading about Asatru/Heathenry, and was amazed! So much of what I was reading I actually agreed with! I've always had a fascination with Norse mythology and viking culture, but I never really looked into it until now, I wish I did earlier lol.

I'm curious if anybody else has gone through something similar? It really does almost feel like I'm being "called", it just feels right to me! That being said, can anyone recommend some free books or resources for me to learn more?

Also feel free to share your experiences, I'd love to read them! :)


In terms of resources, there is a fairly decent library of free pdfs available at Huginn's Heathen Hof:

http://www.heathenhof.com/library-of-lore/

In addition, the book "Road to Hel" by H.R. Ellis Davidson is an excellent examination of afterlife beliefs in Germanic cultures, and, luckily, it is available as a pdf in a number of places including here:

http://www.germanicmythology.com/scholarship/road_to_hel.pdf

The following two websites can be a good place to start as they have short, easily digestible articles which introduce some basic concepts. "Real Heathenry" is quite good for outlining some of the ideas related to social interactions in Germanic cultures:

https://www.realheathenry.com/

While the unfortunately titled "Norse Mythology for Smart People" has some really good entries on individual deities and theological/philosophical concepts:

http://norse-mythology.org/

Don't take anything you read as the unvarnished truth; there are issues with both our relative lack of sources for these religions, the variable nature of different Germanic groups by place and time, and how to incorporate such viewpoints in the modern world. You will likely come to your own understanding if you read a wide variety of sources.

As to your point about feeling "called", I think that ancestor veneration, polytheism and the worship of beings associated with specific natural areas/geographical locations is quite common in a wide variety of human cultures over a very long period of time, so I think that an interest in a tradition with those elements may well feel quite natural.

Good luck with your path and welcome to TC!
My views are one that speaks to freedom.
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