|
|
|
Ancient Heathens followed the "Way of Troth" to the ancient Germanic goddesses and gods. who were multidimensional beings. For example, Thor, the thunder God was also a guardian of culture. Although it may bear some superficial similarities to other faiths, Heathenry Heathen Ásatrú was not an offshoot of any other religion. Although other Germanic tribes shared the same mythos and traditional stories which were memorized by their skalds (bards and poets), people think of the goddesses and gods as Norse mainly because most of the recorded folk beliefs and stories that survived the vagaries of the passage of time were written by Scandinavians. Another belief that they all shared was that nature is alive and sacred with deities of sun, moon, earth, as well as, Nature Spirits like the Landvaettir, Dwarves, and Elves. Some of the names of the Heathenry Heathen Ásatrú goddesses and gods remain still in the days of the week. Thursday, for instance, was Thunar's or Thor's day, while, Wednesday was Woden's or Odin's day. Followers referred to themselves as Heathen rather than Pagan to signify that they were a member of a tribe that worshiped many Heathen goddesses and gods, followed the Way of the Troth, and honored the Nine Noble Virtues.
Based on the indigenous
ancestral Heathen faith of the Northern European, Germanic, folk group of
Heathens who once shared a common culture, religion, and language, the
traditional roots of Heathenry stretch back at least 42,0000 years into the
distant past. By 500 CE, the Heathens had
spread over the areas that would become Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Denmark,
Holland, Germany, France, Iceland, and England.
Heathenry was the Heathen religion of the Ásatrú and the Vanatrú, the Way of the Troth of the Aesir and Troth of the Vanir. Heathenry Ásatrú Heathens honored two groups of dieties: the Aesir, goddesses and gods of the tribe or clan associated with crafts, order, and kinship; and the Vanir, goddesses and gods of fertility and the forces of nature, who were not part of the clan but associated with it. Those who followed Heathenry Heathen Ásatrú also sought to emulate the Nine Noble Virtues of Courage, Discrimination, Fidelity, Honor, Hospitality, Industriousness, Perseverance, Self-reliance, and Truth. The Heathenry Heathen Ásatrú Sacred Pathway has also been referred to as Heathen Norse Heathenry, Germanic Heathenry, and Ásatrú, an Icelandic term derived from two aspects of the Heathen "Faith in the goddesses and gods", "Ása", a Genitive of Æsir that refers to the goddesses and gods, and "trú" meaning faith. There were 8,000 year old archeological findings that validated the existence of the ancient faith of Heathenry. Bronze Age rock art in Scandinavia has ancestral carvings depicting the Heathen dieties, as well as, the human events and rituals of the Heathens.
These organic nature
carvings were Shamanic in nature and seemed to be forerunners of the Runes,
Animal Totems, and Norse myths. Graves from the Heathen Period contained large
amounts of highly wrought, symbolic, Germanic jewelry in the form of
metaphorical animal shapes..
Continue on
|
|
|
Explore 
Visit other 
Heathenry
Heathen Ásatrú Troth 
