The Cult of Odin in the North

Watch the previous video here: [The Cult of Odin]

Watch the video about this post here: [The Cult of Odin in the North]

When we talk about Norse mythology the first name that comes to mind is Odin. It’s inevitable.

Since the 13th century Odin was transformed into a figure closely related to the Christian god, because that was the religious reality in Europe at that time, and people are prone to create patterns that are related to the social reality they live in. Also, in an Era very much influenced by Christianity in every field, if you wanted to talk about pagan stuff you had better include Christian values and morals, or having a very Christian speech in the pagan tales so people would better understand the religious sense behind the mythological accounts, so they could compare it with their religious reality.

Since then, Odin was completely transformed into a Christian figure with some old pagan traits. People became familiarized with Odin because the main religion of medieval Europe was Christianity and Odin resembled the Christian god. This went on until nowadays and even now most pagans, who follow the northern European pagan traditions, can’t detach themselves from this Christian comprehension of the god Odin. People are not to be blamed because in a society so deeply rooted in Christianity, unconsciously people end up absorbing Christian values and become Christians, and when jumping into a pagan spirituality, they hold on to something spiritual that it’s still familiar to them.

I want to show you that Odin wasn’t always the Alfather, the wisest of all gods, not even the king of the gods and the cosmos itself did not turn around the pure will of Odin. He was not the central figure.

The cult of Odin was not indigenous in the North. The time when this deity was introduced in Scandinavia is difficult to say. It was obviously before the Viking Age, probably the closest date is somewhere around the late 5th century and the beginning of the 6th, arriving in Britain with the Saxons and reaching what is now Norway and Sweden by way of Denmark.

However, when the cult of Odin arrived in Scandinavia, this god wasn’t the central point of Norse mythology before the Viking Age. Only during the Viking Age Odin became one of the most, if not the most, important deity of Norse mythology, and from that moment on the Norse tradition started to change greatly and focusing and turning around Odin.

If we take a look at the oldest poems referring Odin, like Beowulf for instance, dating between the 8th and the 11th centuries, and also the Volsunga Saga, which is a late 13th century Icelandic prose work but there are representations of the story in stone dating to the 11th century… well, in these stories we see Odin is indeed the major deity and the heroes in such stories are closely connected with Odin. So based on such accounts, Odin only became an important deity during the 8th century. Which makes Odin’s importance in Scandinavian society quite new in Scandinavian history. The god that everyone speaks about, everyone thinks about when talking about Scandinavian mythology, is actually not that old. But obviously we have to be aware that all these sagas and poems before being put to parchment or even carved in stone, belonged to the oral tradition, and therefore are much older. This deity is much older.

So if we turn to archaeology and historical records to support the findings, we may come to the conclusion that perhaps Odin in the North and in the religious context, is much older that the 8th century.

The customs associated with Odin might give us some answers.

Sacrificial hanging was practiced in Sweden about the end of the 5th century, and even though Scandinavia was never romanised, people were aware of each other. There are historical references that the practice of hanging as a distinctly sacrificial act, was attributed to Scandinavians. Human victims were sacrificed in this way to the god of war. The roman historical references do not speak about the name of the deity, it is compared to the Greek god of war Ares, and so it could mean Tyr, the Norse god of war. But there are little evidences about that. Tyr in archaeological terms is an unimportant figure in the Norse mythology. There are no archaeological evidences of sacrifices to Tyr. Human sacrifices at least. Human sacrifices by hanging and offered to the god of war, can only be to Odin.

This shows us that the Cult of Odin was already practiced in the north at the beginning of the 6th century, and that is perhaps the date when he was introduced in the north. But mind that I’m talking about the Cult of Odin and not the deity itself.

What I’m saying here is not that Odin is a young deity, younger than the Christian god even. No. Odin, or Wodanaz, was a Germanic deity, a god of war and death, but he did not exist in a Scandinavian religious concept before the invading Germanic tribes.

Obviously throughout history people came and went from place t place and there is a possibility that Odin was known in Scandinavia during the Nordic Bronze Age, between 1500 – 500 BCE. Which was an age when the Nordics imported lots of gold and bronze from central Europe, and the Scandinavians adopted many central European and Mediterranean religious symbol, and also objects, technology and artistic styles.

The Bronze Age was also an age of war and all over Europe the cultures and traditions were around war. So the concept of Odin as a god of war ONLY, might have been introduced in Scandinavia since the Bronze Age, but the Scandinavians, especially the Swedes, maintained Freyr as their most important and highly worshiped deity.

So in conclusion, Odin was a god of war in Germanic societies, especially in central Europe, during the Bronze Age. The cult of Odin in Scandinavia, seems to only have been introduced during the 6th century of our era, but this doesn’t mean that his cult was something new at this time, but started to be introduced in the major religious events during the end of the 5th century and the beginning of the 6th. Odin only became a major deity during the Viking Age, and during the 13th century and with the influence of Christianity, Odin became the Alfather, associated with creation. So there seems to have been an increasing in the importance this deity had in the old Scandinavian societies.

The Cult of Odin

You can watch the video about this subject in here: [The Cult of Odin]


I will divide this short essay into three parts. First I’ll talk about Odin historically, his introduction in the old societies and the meaning of his name. Then, some of Odin’s aspects as a god of war, nobility and shamanism, focusing on certain characteristics. And finally, on the third part, I will talk about the Cult of Odin. I think the last part is the one you will like the most. So much blood and sacrifices.

Odin is one of the most complex deities of the Norse pantheon, perhaps because his cult was spread throughout so many different social and religious realities that this deity ended up being introduced in every pre-Christian religious cult of Scandinavia, and absorbed the functions of other gods.
But first things first:

Odin is the ruler of the tribe of gods called the Aesir. He is a god that often goes into journeys, wandering throughout the nine cosmic worlds seeking for knowledge, in a relentless selfinterested pursuit for wisdom. And because he is a god so committed to obtain wisdom, he doesn't care how he obtains it, so he is often depicted as a god with no regards for values, justice, law, fairness, respect and even the safety and well-being of others. If he has to ruin lives or even kill for wisdom, he will do it. 

He is a god associated with war and death. A god associated with nobility, poetry, wisdom, spellcraft, sorcery, magic in general and much like Loki, Odin is also a master of disguise and trickery and shapeshifting. 

He's a god associated with so much stuff and often things that contradict themselves and have no connection, that we often wonder how is it possible for one single deity to embody all of the qualities and fields of expertise, I've just mentioned, all at once? Well, he was a god worshipped for many centuries all over Scandinavia and Continental Europe, mostly central Europe. So it's normal that this deity took the "job" of other local deities when he was introduced into local cults. And to better understand this, let's take a look at what his name means.

Wodan is the elder form of the name of this deity, associated with several shamanic functions. He is associated with the dead and those who are slain (especially in battle). He appears as a wild rider at the head of an otherworldly pursuit, the leader of the Wild Hunt, and also a god associated with storms and strong winds. 

The name Wodan comes from Old High German wuot, insane.
From wods, angry, obsessed. 

Old English wod, raving. Wod also means sound, voice, poetry, and odr – poetry. 

And in modern German, Wut, meaning anger, rage, fury, wrath. 

So the concept of his older name is associated with madness, obsession, and ecstatic frenzy. But the name Wodan has other variations, such as Wode, Wotan, Woide, Wods, Wuotes and so on, apparently all linked to either shamanic trance or the brain condition necessary to enter in a trance state, through madness, insanity.
Now, the Germanic Wodan is not like the Norse Odin, the chief of the gods. The continental god leads the wild hunt, a horrific, ghostly cavalcade of spirits, elves, some deities and the dead. 

Wodan is a god of rage and ecstasy, a god who made warriors enter in a state of madness while in battle, turning his chosen warriors into wolves or bears, and us such he became the favourite and most important god among many war-like tribes. These tribes invaded Scandinavia. As conquerors, they installed their order and their god became the chief deity, king of the gods, and the father of all. And just like this, Odin was introduced into Scandinavia and a new god was born there. Odin. 

Now, before Odin, Fricco, or Freyr, was one of the most popular and highly worshipped deities in Scandinavia, especially in Sweden. He was the chief god of the old Swedes before invading tribes introduced the cult of Wodan. In the process, Woden lost the W and became Odin, while Freyr lost much of his importance and became a minor farmers’ god while the nobility worshipped and sacrificed to Odin. 

In Scandinavia we see Odin with many names, many titles, such as Hertýr, god of the army, Valgautr, god of the battle-slain, Hrafnagud, ravengod, Grimnir, masked one, Báleygr, flame eye, and so on. A variety of names meaning completely different things and others which we still don’t know the meaning. It’s a long, long list. Which shows us that many independent local gods were integrated in the cult of Odin.

Odin remained with many of his old continental characteristics, along with new characteristics from Scandinavia and through time he still remained so important in the Scandinavian societies that even during medieval times he continued to be associated with other things. According to the social reality of each period in history, he became associated with more stuff. For instance, in continental Europe he was associated with the dead and spirits, but to the Germanic tribes there was no concept of a warrior-heaven.
A place in the after-life solely for warriors is a concept that few European cultures had, only some Celt-Iberian tribes and the Erulians had this concept. Valhalla was something new introduced in this cult. To the Germanic tribes there was no need to have a heroic death in the battlefield. 

Another example, in Iceland during medieval times Odin became associated with magic, spell work, sorcery, even Seidr. We must not forget that in the old Scandinavian pagan societies, seidr was seen as the province of women and it was not honourable not even manly for a men to practice Seidr, men who practice seidr were considered effeminate and it was an insult, they were called Ergi, unmanly, effeminate. But all of a sudden Odin becomes associated with such practices, a male god, he gains prominent effeminate qualities that would have brought unspeakable shame to any ancient Norse warrior. Well, in medieval Iceland this was no longer a social problem, and since Christianity didn’t let people practice magic, people needed a patron god of magic, and thus Odin being the most famous deity of the old gods, he also became associated with sorcery, witchcraft.


So, recapitulating, the mainland Woden was an important deity, but not a patriarchal chief of the gods such as the Scandinavian Odin. He changed from a storm god, Wode, to a god of ecstasy and rage, Wodan, to a god of rulers and warriors, Odin. And kept on changing, and I dare say that he will change again to assume a form that fits in our time and our present realities.


After this introduction, let's take a look at some of Odin's fields of expertise, and I'll try to be brief on that.

As a god of war, he encourages the process of war, he inspires people to do war. He needs people to do war because that's how he obtains warriors for his personal army. Dying gloriously in battle is the only way to go to Odin in the literal sources. However, he isn't a god that concerns himself with every warrior. Only those who he deems to be worthy, he will help and bestow his blessings to them, mainly legendary heroes, people that stand out and become really good at killing and in the arts of war. But he also maintains a close connection with shamanic-warriors, such as berserkers. Warriors who combine fighting techniques with spiritual practices, achieving a state of ecstasy, but focused solely on the cult of Odin, which also includes working with animal totems, mainly bears and wolves, which are the animals associated with Odin, and as I've told you, the remnants of the continental characteristic of this deity. As a god of war, he isn't like Týr, concerned with the war itself, the reasons behind a conflict, or even the rules, honour and the deeds involved. In terms of war, Odin is concerned with the chaotic battle-frenzy, the very force, essence, state of mind, achieved through the madness of battle, through violent acts, uncontrollable rage and fury bringing out the beast in us.

As a god associated with sovereignty and nobility, he is the divine archetype of a ruler. As I've told you before, since he was the main god of the invading Germanic tribes, he became the god associated with power. This is an interesting aspect, because when Christianity came along, the first to be converted were the rulers, chieftains, kings and emperors, the high power of the society, while the people from rural areas, the countryside, practically forgotten by such high powers, continued to be pagans. This is exactly what happened in ancient Scandinavia. The high powers adopted Odin as the main god, chief of all the gods, the “Alfather”, while in rural areas people maintained their older gods, such as Freyr which became associated with agriculture because of that. So even in the ancient pagan societies, pagans adopted another sort of paganism while in the countryside people remained more pagan than the pagans.

The Norse society, much like many ancient societies, was socially and politically divided into three groups. Rulers, warriors and farmers. So the gods were also divided into these three groups. And Odin being the god of nobility, obviously he was set on the top of this hierarchical society. So he became the king of the gods. Odin in Scandinavia became linked to the nobility, and as such he became the legendary founder of numerous royal lines, and the Scandinavians tried to pass this into their mythologies, introducing Odin as the creator of the first humans, along with his two brothers, or these three characters being three different aspects of the same deity. 

As a god associated with wisdom and shamanism, it's quite interesting:
The wisdom aspect is one of the things that differentiates him from being the all-powerful-god. You see, many people nowadays see Odin almost as the only god that matters. Many people in Asatru practice Odinism, focusing only on this god almost to the point of turning Polytheism into a monotheistic religion. But what happens in a monotheistic religion is that the only existing god is the all-knowing and all-powerful, while Odin show us that he himself has limitations. That's the beauty of Polytheism, the gods much like us, in their own individuality have limits, and that's why Odin is always seeking for knowledge, to overcome his limitations on every field, obsessed with obtaining wisdom because he is restless when a problem comes along and he has no power. He sets out in a relentless and ruthless quest for more wisdom, more knowledge, more power, and whoever stands in his way, he immediately takes them out of the game. And well, most of the knowledge he gains is usually of a magical sort. 

And of course, as you know, he sacrificed an eye for wisdom and at a certain point he sacrificed himself, hanging on a tree and stabbing himself with his own spear. To achieve the knowledge of the runes. An old reminder of ancient shamanic practices and techniques of inducing an altered state of consciousness through a violent ordeal, through a near-death experience.

In terms of shamanism, along with the goddess Freyja, he’s one of the two greatest practitioners of shamanism amongst the gods. He learns this art from Freyja herself, which reminds us of the social stigma of only women were allowed to practice seidr, a form of shamanism, in the ancient Scandinavian societies. And in many accounts we have hints of Odin's shamanic journeys, especially when he uses his eight-legged horse Sleipnir. An eight-legged horse is a typical symbol of northern Eurasian shamanism.
Also, when we deal with shamanism, almost every time we will come across shamans who are accompanied with familiar spirits, not just animals and land spirits, but other beings. Odin is always closely associated with wolves and ravens, animals who are his companions all the time, and also other spiritual entities associated with him, such as Valkyries. And as I've said before, I've already talked about shamanic-warriors, which was the type of shamanism socially acceptable for men in Germanic societies.

As a god of Poetry, in the Ynglinga Saga for instance, Odin is celebrated as the inventor of poetry (skaldskapr), and also experienced in Galdr or Galdar, spells, incantations, and of course, and also, the master of runes. 

Odin is a master of poems and he grants this gift to others he deems to be worthy. And the story of how he became a master of speech, and mind that this is closely associated with Galdr, the power to persuade through words of incantation, well, the story his quite interesting because he obtained the mead of poetry, and in old Norse the name of this mead was Odroerir, closely associated with the word Odr, which not only is one of Odin's names but also the very word connected to ecstasy, fury, inspiration. This Mead of Poetry might be an old reference to an Intoxicating drink which helped to alter the state of consciousness, to achieve ecstasy, inspiration and obtain knowledge.

In terms of being a god associated with the dead, he is a divine figure who guides those who have just died and go to the underworld. And this aspect might be older than his aspect of being a god of war. As I've told you, Valhalla was a later concept, and unknown in continental Europe, which was later introduced, meant to motivate warriors into suicidal fighting rages. 

Odin continued to be associated with the dead even during medieval and modern periods in Scandinavian history, quite possibly an old characteristic of this god because he was already associated with death and the dead before his cult was introduced in Scandinavia. And we also have notes of him communicating with the dead, raising the dead, so he seems to have been a powerful necromancer.



Now let’s talk about the cult of Odin or the perception we have of it in archaeological findings and the study of the written sources.

The cult of Odin in the north involved sacrifices, mostly in times of war, and the victims were always humans, either volunteers or prisoners. This doesn’t mean that animals weren’t also sacrificed, they were, but humans were always sacrificed to Odin while animals were sacrificed occasionally or were mostly used as sacrifices to other deities. However, I must add, the number of examples we have of human sacrifices to Odin, are small. I mean, there are a lot of examples but they seem small compared to the span of time during which Odin was considered the major deity. But anyway, in all the examples we have of sacrifices to Odin they are always human sacrifices. Let me give you at least 4 examples:

King Vikar, in order to win against a neighbouring enemy, a priest of Odin was sent out into the forest to seek the answer from Odin. Through divination and in a vision, Odin tells the priest that he requires a man out of their company in exchange for his blessing to ensure victory. Odin choses King Vikar himself and instructs how he is to be sent to him. Hanged and stabbed. King Vikar was Hanged and stabbed and thus he was given to Odin. This sacrificed ensured King Vikar’s army victory, although he wasn’t around to celebrate it.

Aun, King of Sweden, sacrificed one of his 10 sons every few years. He lived long indeed because out of those 10 he sacrificed 9.

During the reign of Ólafr Trételgi, there was a famine and people attributed that to the lack of sacrifice made by Olafr. They burnt him in his house and offered the sacrifice to Odin so they could have plenty. Sure enough, the famine was over.


King Haraldr was also a king plagued with a famine during his reign. Through divination it was found that the gamine could be stopped by the sacrifice of the noblest youth in the land. The son of a noble was required, Angantýr son of Heidrekr. Now this one is interesting, because Angantýr is very similar to Hangatýr, which is one of Odin’s names, meaning God of the Hanged. Anyway, Heidrekr refused to give away that son, so he gave his other son Halfdan and to compensate the fact of not giving the one Odin required, he also gave all the host in Halfdan’s commend, as a sacrifice. The temples were covered with the blood of the ones who were sacrificed.

As you can see by these four example, it always involved the sacrificed of humans and from the nobility, since Odin was worshipped by the nobility, being a god associated with this social class. Also, Odin didn’t want a nobody to be sacrificed to him, he chose those from nobility which he required, and indeed in archaeological findings and in the comprehension we have of the ancient Scandinavian beliefs, we see that only warriors who died in battle and nobles, were allowed to go into Valhalla.

In addition to sacrifices of this sort, there were 3 great annual sacrifices in ancient Scandinavia. 

At the approach of winter, a sacrifice for plenty. At midwinter, for increase of the crops. And at the beginning of summer, a sacrifice for victory, sigrblot. Quite possibly these 3 sacrifices were made to the three major gods of Scandinavia at that time. The sacrifice from plenty was to the god Freyr, the sacrifice for increase of the crops to Thor, and the sacrifice for victory to Odin, because of the constant references to him as the god of victory and sacrifices and vows were made to Odin for victory in times of war.
There were also sacrifices in great scale every nine years at Uppsala, at which sacrifices of men and various animals were offered. These sacrifices took place about the spring equinox, coinciding with the annual sacrifice for victory. Both men and animals were hanged in the grove close to the temple. Of the animals hanged, most were not edible ones, such as dogs, horses and hawks. Nine male animals hanged with humans. Of course, speaking of edible animals, in Scandinavia horse meat was also consumed, but it’s quite different. Edible animals were sacrificed to Freyr, while Odin required nobler animals, animals that were used by nobility and were to be taken with the sacrificed people into Valhalla, to serve them there, hence, dogs for hunting, horses to ride, and hawks for hunting but also as animals linked to activities performed by the nobility.

Several cases of hanging occur in the cycle of stories involving criminals. It was customary to sacrifice prisoners to Odin on the battlefield. The sacrifices at Uppsala were sacred, so most likely the sacrificed ones were of noble birth and no criminals, neither prisoners nor slaves were sacrificed there. But in a battlefield, or any other place when victory was needed, criminals were sacrificed to Odin.

You might be asking if hanged people were really just sacrifices for Odin. Maybe it was for other deities? 

There are no other evidences of hanging people and offering them to other gods. Hanged people were to Odin and Odin alone. For instance, there were human sacrifices to Thor, but these appear to have been put to death by being felled with a club. Yes . . . beat them to death with a club. 

Odin is constantly being associated with the gallows, as we can see by some of his names. Galga Framr, burden of the gallows, galga gramr, galga valda, Hanga Drottinn, Hangatýr, Hanga gud, Lord or god or the gallows of the hanged.

It is possible that the slain victims to offer as a sacrifice to Odin were not criminals and or slaves. Because when sacrificing to Odin, people would automatically go to Valhalla and to go there they needed goods and animals of valour. Thats why nobility was chosen. But of course, once in a while criminals would be sacrificed but on another context, and slaves were often sacrificed with their masters. Sacrificing slaves separately was most certainly as offers to Thor, because it is to Thor’s Hall that slaves will go, to be servants in his hall. 

Also, there are references of criminals being sacrificed alongside wolves, and not dogs. Dogs had a purpose, they were useful and were used in the afterlife by the nobility. So hanging wolves was with criminals was a way to socially show that those hanged there were not nobles, and the people hanged couldn’t use those animals in the afterlife, and also wolves instead of dogs were sacrificed with criminals in order to disgrace the victims on their arrival into the other side, maybe so Odin might now that those cannot enter Valhalla.

The sacrifices of Odin often involved hanging but there was also stabbing, although both at the same time was not common, or, stabbing and hanging at the same time was the ritual in important sacrifices to Odin. But few are the accounts of both at the same time. Although stabbing as a sacrifice to Odin was a reality, especially with a javelin, and we have many references in the myths, such as Odin’s weapon which a lot of people refer to as a spear, but it was a javelin. Odin throws his javelin over the army who is going to perish, Odin stabs himself with his javelin, and there are references of dying people and others with perfectly good health, being marked with a javelin, as a mark to be sent to the gods. So hanging might have come later. 

Marking the victims with a javelin might have been a form of dedicating the victim to Odin before the sacrifice, which was hanging. Both at the same time might have been the ordinary ceremony of sacrifice.

In terms of funeral rites, and I promise I’ll be brief because this video is already too long and I’m afraid I’m losing your interest. Well, for instance in the Ynglinga Saga we have references of funeral rites dedicated to Odin, or how they should be conducted in order to send the dead to Odin. 

Burning the dead in a pyre along with their earthly positions, to take them into Valhalla, and also what the deceased during life buried in the earth, mostly treasures, which could also be included as earthly goods to be taken into the other side. The items thrown into the pyre included weapons, jewellery, animals and occasionally servants. The animals also included those owned by the deceased. There are accounts of horses being taken into the burial mound and sacrificed there and placed in the burial mound. 

Well, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m speaking about burial mounds because after the deceased was cremated, the ashes were either thrown into the sea or buried down in the earth, and a mound was to be raised as a memorial to noblemen, and people who achieved any distinction during life, a Bautasten should be raised, a reference to a Scandinavian menhir which probably gave birth to the rune-stones in memory of people who during life achieved something great.

Heathenism and Wicca - Differences

Before i start this post, i would like to clarify this, i'm not a Wiccan nor can i call my self an Asatrú, because the meaning of Asatrú as the name indicates ( Asa = Aesir the Sky gods of the Norse Pantheon and Trú = Norse word for Faith / Religion ) it is the neo-pagan religion involving the faith to the Norse/Germanic Sky gods, and i am a practitioner of Norse shamanism and of the Northern-Tradition paganism which involves all the gods, spirits and wights.

When people start to look for or study other kinds of religions or spiritual paths as an alternative to the monotheism religions we are used to, in search for a pagan European belief, often they find Wicca as the first pagan tradition. Wicca so far is the best known form of European polytheism in its bases, so it isn't hard to find it and actually working in that field, most kids are on to it, because it is easy to perform and it has an all romanized version of the real European paganism, especially when it comes to the Celtic paganism. It seems good to make a comparison of both neo-pagan religions, but first of all, we need to know that both have a variety of spiritual strands, so for now instead of talking about Asatrú, lets give it the name of Heathenism, for the Norse/Germanic beliefs are separated in Asatrú, Vanatrú ( having the faith placed with the Vanir gods ), Odinism/Wotanism, the cult of Odin the supreme sky god of the Aesir, Irminism, Forn Sidhr, Theodism, Germanic Reconstructionism and so on. This also happens with Wicca, but more divided and yet every pagan religion known is placed "inside" of Wicca, making it a cocktail of both pagan religions all over the world and also abrahamic religions which are exactly the opposite of being pagan and actually goes agaisnt that.

The major difference between being a Wiccan or a Heathen, is that in the Wiccan rites, they invoke deities from several other cultures as i have stated before, while the heathens stick to the gods and goddesses from the Norse/Germanic beliefs. Wicca also sees all goddesses and other female deities as aspects of the great goddess divided into the archetypes of Maiden, Mother and Crone in a very Celtic way, and all male deities as the Horned god ( most of the times the male principles don't exist or are completely forgotten ) this makes wicca religion almost monotheistic-like, the worship of the great goddess in the three fases of life and of nature. While heathenry is more polytheistic-like, worshiping a range of gods and goddesses from the same culture and beliefs, equal in statues and each of them can stay alone without the need for a male or female complement.
Now this tiny paragraph shows us why Wicca is the most popular neo-pagan religion, it is the tiny step that people make while leaving the other abrahamic based religions such as Christianity, the worshiping of one deity, into a religion of the same sort but with pagan themes and rituals, making it look like something very familiar not to seem so shocking, and different, and very often Wiccans see Jesus Christ as the Male god and Virgin Mary as the archetype of the great goddess. The previous paragraph also shows us why in Wiccan, 90% of its followers are female, because the great goddess most of the time is the only deity with great importance and all the faith goes around her, leaving the male completely apart, it isn't strange to see that most wiccans are lonely women who can't have a love relationship and eventually are conform with the fact that they do not need a man. 
I like to think that religions have strong beliefs when they are practiced by strong people, we shape those with our strong personalities, but with the lack of personality one religion can be very hollow, and women shouldn't be the kind of women who need men, but rather the kind of women that men need, this is why we see a lot of Wiccans who have no idea what paganism is and actually give it a bad name and the reason for laughter because strong personalities always end up following the best virtues and people without personality end up confused, sad, frustrated and dig deep their own mud holes.

In Wicca the spirits of nature and everything that surrounds us are organized and divided into the four elements, which are earth, fire, water and air. Heathen cosmology is focused in the elements of fire and ice as opposing principles, chaos and order, the constant struggle for peace and maintain everything in harmony such as nature is, with the clear idea that one can't live without the other, and we also can't live in a magical eternal paradise where everything is good, we can't be always happy, we have to experience sadness and other negative feelings so we may give the proper value to things, because if all was good, we would become lazy, ignoble, ignorant, and there is always the need of constant evolution of our personalities, of our own being, to become better. Go ask a wiccan about the meaning of the four elements, 86% or more will not be able to give you an exact answer, and this is due to the fact that people do not study deep their beliefs, they do not question it, they just stay with what is givin to them and they accept it how it is, they are like sheep, blindly following what was told to them, in a constant need to be guided because of the lack of personality, they can't do things for themselves, they are not self reliant enough, they lack of a strong will and spirit.

In Wicca as a spiritual belief of community, covens are made, groups of people start to gather with the purpose of develp their members spiritually and magically in several initiations, everyone will become a priestess or a priest eventually and it will turn out to be a very lonely spiritual path because people will perform all the rituals are their homes, in a more intimate environment, in contrast most heathens form a kinship, and the rituals/blót and celebrations are formed within a family or household, each of the people have their own place in the group according to their choosing and skills, some may work in a shamanic way, other with other kinds of Germanic magic, some will specialize in brewing, woodcarving, other crafts for the community and other skills that are needed into the group or family, but the main purpose is to provide spiritual community. There are also rites of passa within the kindred, but these tend to mark life changes rather than magical achievments. In terms of rituals, wicca practice is often decended from medieval ceremonial magic, for heathens and practitioners of Norse/Germanic beliefs, rituals and modeled on folk practice, less formal, but also in a very much Seidhr form, in the old ways, in the shamanic performances of the Norse people as far back as memory and history allows us.

It isn't hard to see the rituals in Wicca being so closely similar to medieval times or with a great connection to the Arthurian legends which was believed  that Arthur was a great king in medieval times because his legends gave inspiration to a lot of medieval writers, in a time where politics were very hard and harder was to have the society in order and peace, so the stories of Arthur gave the perfect political order to be followed, stories that date back to the roman times which we can read the stories and legands of Wales and Irland, of a great king and his warriors, all their deeds throughout the land, all of these stories were romanticized in France in later centuries in a tipical medieval way, full of splendor, magnificence, glamour, the perfect political order and harmony on the land, heaven on earth, where common men would become nobles and nobles would become knights, and a king od such power and purity that god himself would light his path. At the time the romanticized version was written, it was also the time when christianity was already the main religion of Europe, and so to the Arthur stories and legends it was added the search for the holy grail, as in ancient legends the search was for magic and the realms of the other world, the spiritual world and items of power. The mixture of celtic paganism with the romantic times of medieval Europe and the Arthurian legends, gave the perfect flavour and combination to the Wiccan religion and people tend to fantasize a lot, they are blind and they can't see the truth of it because the wondrous tale is more appealing to the heart and soul. I have read the real Arthutian legends from Irland and Wales in the real time where they occurred, the story is fantastic and it is actually a more accurate part of history, less romanticized, and more precise, people should also read it, i might talk about it one of these days. This leads me to what i have said before, people don't question their beliefs, they do not study, they don't try to comprehend it, in heathenism people tend to be much more formal and precise than wicca in the relationship with the lore, because we have a lot of lore to work with and Wicca is essentially a modern tradition with the lack of lore even being a great mixture of cultures, they do not search for it. Those who practice Norse/Germanic pagan traditions are encouraged to read the primary sources as well as scholarly works discussing them and debating their meanings rather than accepting the interpretations made by others with less contact with the themes, it is a religion/spiritual path always in constant evolution as we human beings also are, adapting to the new needs of the society and of the individual. Many of those who practice the Norse/Germanic paganism, study Old Norse or Anglo-Saxon so they may examine the sources in their original languages.

Another difference between wiccans and heathens is the way taht ethical principles are articulated. In Wicca has a single advice, not harming anyone and doing what we will and also the law of whatever someone might do it will come back to the person tripled, heathens mostly hold to the Nine Noble Virtues ( for that you might want to read my post about them --> [Link] ). While Wicca has a simple statement of what not to do, much like christianity and the 10 commandments, the Norse/Germanic pagan tradition offers a more elaborate statement of what we should do, there is also the great importance of our ancestors and family values such as the friendship and its important bonds.

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