What is a Heathen? (pt 1)

[gullindagan]

As a preface, I'd like to state that these posts are a way for me to understand my own thinking better. To take my readings, meditations and experiences and order them, so that I might see more clearly what is really going on. In past posts and in future posts, I deal directly with the content that I'm absorbing, wrestling with authors to separate the gold from the dross. Words seem to me to be a very brute way of understanding something, they are both blunt and slippery. In a way, we are all barbarians to our inner selves, muttering "bar bar bar" to each other and pointing at rocks, pointing at the sun, and misunderstanding most things any more abstract. Definitions are slippery, and meanings are constantly shifting, and I am constantly learning. So this essay is a trial, an attempt, an assail at meaning. And I am quite positive that my understanding will change as I grow and learn further. But, the actual action of me putting these thoughts to screen is a part of that growing and learning.

So what is a "heathen"? Or, what does it mean to me? It seems like everybody who calls themselves "heathen", or, is called "heathen" has a slightly different take on it. There are Norse Pagans, Heathens, Odinists, Asatru, Vanatru, even Rokkatru, those who follow the "Northern Tradition," hard polytheists, soft polytheists, pantheists, etc etc. For me, "heathen" also means different things. One definition, that probably has the best tension between general and specific, is: "somebody who follows the old gods of Northern Europe." So does this mean that they should be followed exclusively? Not necessarily. Certainly, many folks will just honor one pantheon, or set of pantheons (Aesir and Vanir for instance.) But I see polytheism as an inherent part of Heathenry, and if one makes offerings to both Norse gods and Hindu gods, to me, that one is Heathen. And also maybe Hindu! There are records of historical heathens worshiping both the old gods and Jesus, for instance King Raedwald of East Anglia who kept an alter to Jesus in his pagan temple.

As a word, "heathen" means "dweller of the heath" or, the wilderness, the country. "Pagan" means something similar. but the people of Northern Europe didn't even have a name for their "religion" before the Christians started calling them heathens and pagans. Christianity was largely a urban phenomenon, and country people clung to their old ways for many centuries after they were nominally "christian." Apparently, they would even pray to gods though the image of a saint. For instance, Thor was prayed and petitioned to under the name of St. Olaf! It's rather interesting that now Christianity is mostly followed in the hinterlands, but I guess that's how things go.

I, personally, as somebody who lives in the country and comes from country folk (though I was educated in a small city) like that aspect of the term. I identify with the woods, the mountains, the streams and lakes. To me, this is in many ways just as important as honoring the deities. The spirits of the land, the ancestors, the elves, these are all important spirits to come into right relationship with.

Maria Kvilhaug has an essay about this topic too, and she brings up the point that the Norse word for heathen is related to the word for "shining" and "enlightenment". The name of the volva from the Voluspa, Heidr, comes from that same root word. The shining heath, the bright clearing in the woods. the brilliant sky, the light of spiritual illumination. I think this is a valid way of using meaning, and I like the way this meaning stretches the possibilities of the term.

So, as somebody who honors the old gods, revels in the wild, works to enter right relationship with the spirits of the land, and seeks after spiritual illumination, "heathen" is a fine word to label me, even if I don't really like to be labelled anything.

Comments

[jprussell]

Thanks for continuing your posts!

I have a somewhat similar take. Until I started reading some of the more recent books on Germanic religion and magic, I didn't know that things had become quite so schismatic and carefully defined. I like the term "heathen" because I have a perhaps overblown fondness for finding Old English, or at least Germanic, derived words for concepts (we can talk about Poul Anderson's "Uncleftish Beholding" and William Barnes sometime for some more extreme examples).

That being said, I have also come to embrace a more freewheeling idea of what Polytheism means, also largely under the influence of John Michael Greer. Now that I see things this way, I can't help but wonder why it was so tough for me to get here, as there's amble historical evidence from the Greek and Roman worlds for not only syncretism, but also flat out accepting Gods and Goddesses of other cultures as real, powerful, and potentially worthwhile objects of worship. I suspect that my own foray into Germanic polytheistic "puritanism" came from some deeply embedded American Protestant Christian ideas that there should be one right answer, it should be traceable to one fairly identifiable source, and anything else is BS.

Enough about me sharing my thoughts, a question: have you found much in the way of fellowship or community from other "heathens"? I'm curious because I see the appeal, but my own path has been largely solitary thus far, and to be frank, I'm not particularly excited about trying to build community with the kinds of folks that stereotypically come to mind for the Neopagan scene (which I know is not wholly the same as "heathens"). Given your interest in occultism and JMG and fairly open-minded approach to heathenry, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the value (or lack thereof) of seeking out coreligionists.

[otter_girl]

Just want to express my appreciation for this blog. Very much enjoy what you write, and the comments that follow each post.

In-person groups generate an odd attract/repel vibe for me. (No doubt some intensive journaling may help me understand that!). I value the space you have created here. Friendly, yet not expecting conformity.

So much of what you’ve written resonates with me. Clearly you and the commenters are further along than I am, and I totally benefit from that.

Thanks,
Valerie (OtterGirl)

[slithytoves123]

In addition to what you've said here, it seems to me that another thing that distinguishes Heathenry from many other religions — even other polytheistic ones — is that it's unusually pro-existence; pro-samsara if you will.

The gods of Asgard and Vanaheim don't sit over and above the inhabitants of Nine Worlds judging when it's time to wrap things up, nor do they offer a way out. They go down fighting for the worlds and their inhabitants to the bitter end.

There's a speculation that there was a schism in Indo-Europeans religion between the worshippers of the Asuras/Aesir, and the worshippers of the Devas, with each side accusing the other of being aligned with evil. I've wondered before if the schism wasn't over this very issue. In both mythologies, the world eventually succumbs to corruption by evil spiritual forces. The Devas' response is to try to get as many souls as possible off the cycle of evolution and back to the Central Sun (to use Fortune's terminology), while the Aesir's response is to protect the integrity of the process as long as possible, and shepherd leftover souls to the next round.