Heathen

Heathens refer to those people who worship the gods and their ancestors and not the God of the mainstream religions (these are gods of North European).  

As well as this meaning, the word “Heathen” can suggest many things in the occult as follows:

• One who does not recognize the God of the Bible.
• A pagan.
• An irreligious, uncivilized person.
• A derogatory term used to define people that are immoral and that practice pagan ways.

This is a reconstructive religion where the followers attempt to honor the gods, Vaettir, and ancestors in the same way their ancestors did. The heathens looked to the Lore, modern historical writings, contemporary historical sources, archaeology, and folklore. The main aim why they do so is to continue in the way of life that their ancestors followed before Christianity was introduced northward into northern Europe by Rome.

The History of The Word  Heathenry

The word heathenry originated from people who live in the countryside who lived on the heath. These people are the ones who honored the gods for centuries after those living in the cities converted to Christianity.

That is why the word heathen has negative meaning in Christianity.

The preachers of God in the cities would condemn those living out in the heath, those that still honored the gods of their ancestors. Asatru is another word which normally used instead of the heathen; it means “loyalty to the gods”. Though in most cases it is used to refer to the Icelandic/Nordic form of heathenry, some people just used it to generally refer to the heathen.

Heathenry encompasses all types of heathens: the Franklin, the Icelandic, the Anglo-Saxon. At times people mistake the heathens to mean the same as the Wiccans which is not true at all. Heathenry is a religion for pagans in the way they view the world. It is a lifestyle referred to as Folkway due to the fact that, it focuses on the native way of life of the people of Northern Europe.

How The Heathens Gods Are Worshipped

The original heathenry was pre-Christian Northern Europe who lived more than a thousand years ago in the lands around the North Sea. These people included the Germans, the Anglo-Saxon England, Iceland, Scandinavia, and Frisia. There were no written rules or codification of how one was to worship with several scattered temples and little authority to dictate methods and rules. That is why, heathenry varied from one clan to another, from region to region, tribe to tribe, and century to century.

In modern heathenry, they use some common worship themes and techniques from the past that are reconstructed. It is important to note that, the ancestors never bowed to their gods, they just honored, respected, prayed and sacrificed to them.

They saw their gods as their kin, part of their Folk – part of the community. The gods were treated as mentors or clan elders. They were like honored ancestors as they saw them as if they walked among them and were a part of their day to day living. They were seen as powerful and distinct beings, who had their own likes and dislikes, a reality of their own and unique personalities.

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