False Machismo and the Lack of Balance in Modern Heathenism

I have read many books over the years on Odinism and on Germanic heathenism in general, both by contemporary heathens and works by scholars who seek to genuinely identify the beliefs and practices of our Germanic and Indo-European forefathers. Many of the books published by contemporary heathens and articles by them on the Internet, especially from North America display a certain false machismo which is more fitting for a gang of Hell's Angels than genuine followers of  our ancestral deities. One sees this especially in works by Wotansvolk with images of Vikings with bulging muscles and Gods with fiercesome (adjective's spelling is intended) demeanours. I do currently have a number of their works on my shelves, purchased many years ago which I have since outgrown and intend to dispose of in the near future to make space for more interesting works.

The point that I am trying to make is that for far too long as English heathens we have allowed our religious beliefs and practices to be determined (like almost everything) by Americans. For those of you who used to follow my previous blogs you will realise by now that I hold 'Americanism' and indeed the United States as a country (established by genocidal puritans) in deep contempt. Practically everything that the average American holds dear I stand against with one exception-the general concept of 'free speech' (I can't think of anything else). The USA is the physical embodiment of militarism, aggression, capitalism and bare-faced hypocrisy. There are of course individual Americans who I hold in high regard. What I am referring to is the country itself, its system of government and its 'god', capitalism. England's gain in getting rid of these religious fanatics was the Red Indians' loss!

This American militaristic, aggressive and capitalist attitude can be found in the writings of some American heathens, even high profile ones. They seem unable to help themselves. They are unable to restrain themselves at any notion of criticism of their society and mores and label their opponents as being 'socialist'. It would seem that a country which seeks to protect its most vulnerable citizens; the sick, the old, the young, the homeless and unemployed is 'socialist'. I find elements of this attitude here in England as well. I note a certain veiled criticism of the 'welfare state' (see paragraph 23 of Odinism, What is it?) in an online archived article of the Odinic Rite. This of course may be quite an old article and their views may have changed but the paragraph troubles me. See Odinism, What is it? As in Christianity, particularly Protestantism, work became a 'virtue' in itself, something which appears to be echoed in Odinism.


The ancient Greeks however had a clearer concept of the 'value' of 'work' and ascribed greater value to leisure time. Perhaps with the increasingly mechanised nature of the work place we will see an increase in leisure time and who knows perhaps the introduction of an unconditional 'universal basic income' for every adult. See Basic Income It is interesting to note that the welfare state is regarded by Americans as an example of the much hated 'socialism' and not surprisingly it has the worst welfare state in the entire developed world. Let me be quite clear about this; an industrial or post-industrial society REQUIRES a welfare state unless you subscribe to the concept that a man is nothing more than a thrall to the 1% of the 1% and should slave his entire life until he drops down dead at 70 from exhaustion?

We are seeing the beginnings of this in the United Kingdom with the government's attacks upon the welfare state and the steadily increasing pension age and its sinister mantra of 'generational fairness' which pits the young against the old. This has always been the tactics of the Tories-they divide and rule.  Before England's Industrial Revolution when it was still largely rural one or two of my ancestors in North Meols, Lancashire acted as 'Overseers of the Poor'. See Overseer of the Poor Rural communities looked after their most vulnerable members as if they were a family. This is the essence of National Socialism except that many who claim to be National Socialists tend to glorify capitalism and are at heart 'right-wingers' not genuine left wing revolutionaries as the NSDAP was in its very early days until it sold out to big business and murdered its brownshirts and at this point embarked upon a disastrous militaristic campaign. Even Miguel Serrano recognises this fact in one of his writings.

The rejection of the welfare state by many Odinists, American or otherwise is an outworking of this false machismo and should remain where it belongs-in the USA. We see also a rejection of the concept of prayer by many Odinists who see it as a form of 'begging' and 'pleading', demeaning of their masculinity! Again we see this attitude in the aforementioned article by the Odinic Rite (paragraph 26), the author of which seems to be oblivious to the many examples in the Icelandic sagas of Norsemen praying to the Gods, such as the Landnamabok and the Saga of Erik the Red. These muscly Norsemen did not consider it demeaning to offer prayers to the Mighty Thor. I also noted a similar line of thought in the article All About Odinism by the Odinist Fellowship who state that Odinists "do not bow or kneel" before the Gods. Again this entirely flies in the face of the historical evidence. It is faulty thinking, not based on the evidence which is available to us. It is NOT demeaning to kneel or bow before the Gods. Our ancestors did so willingly to their lords and those lords did so to their superior lords so how much more worthy of respect are our deities? The whole concept of prayer is dealt with in some detail by Tom Rowsell in his excellent video: Indo-European Prayer and Ritual This is not intended to be an attack upon the Odinic Rite or the Odinist Fellowsip as I highly esteem both organisations. It is the faulty thinking that is at the heart of Odinism that places stubborn human pride-masculine pride at that ahead of true devotion and service to the Gods. I would also like to point out that there is also nothing wrong with the concept of SERVICE or being a SERVANT! To be a servant of our Gods is surely the highest calling.

I see many examples on the Internet of Odinists stating that even when they do engage in prayer they never bend the knee or bow. This may be so but it is NOT traditional! Again these proud Odinists need to actually read the sagas which they esteem so highly. They should start with the sagas which feature the Goddess Thorgerdr Holgabrudr and Her follower Jarl Haakon Sigurdsson, a ruler of Norway from about 975 to 995. The relevant sagas are Jomsvikinga Saga and the Faereyinga Saga.

The only way that we can counter these faulty understandings of certain aspects of Germanic heathenism is through encouraging heathens to spend time in thoroughly studying the source material so that modern day heathenism is grounded on the best available evidence of our traditions, not Hollywood films (made by Americans). As Europeans we need to be more selective in our reading matter especially where American authors are concerned.  By encouraging the involvement of more females we may hopefully gain a more balanced view of our religion for balance is something which is generally lacking in most forms of reconstructed heathenism and paganism.