Reclaiming the Old Gods: Understanding Modern Heathenry, Extremism, and the Fight for the Soul of a Religion
- Tish Owen
- Jul 31
- 7 min read
When religion is discussed as a force shaping modern far-right politics, the conversation almost always centers on Christian nationalism. Yet another religious current has quietly become woven into some extremist schools: folkish Heathenry, a racially exclusive fringe interpretation of modern Norse Paganism that provides symbols, narratives, and rituals for white nationalist movements.
Its influence is often overlooked because its members appear to be acting as individuals. Journalists, policymakers, and even law enforcement officers often recognize extremist symbols only after violence occurs. Many people are unfamiliar with the religious traditions these symbols stem from. As a result, genuine Heathen religious practice is frequently misunderstood or overlooked, while these groups appear under the guise of legitimate religious expression.
The story of Heathenry, however, is far more complex than the headlines suggest.
Modern Heathenry is a legitimate religion practiced peacefully. The overwhelming majority of its practitioners reject racism, condemn white supremacy, and have spent years fighting to reclaim their traditions from those who have distorted them.
The Ancient Roots of Germanic Paganism
Long before Christianity spread across Northern Europe, Germanic peoples practiced a wide variety of indigenous religions collectively referred to today as Germanic Paganism.
These were not a single unified faith but a collection of regional traditions found across what are now Scandinavia, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, England, and parts of continental Europe. While customs varied, many shared common gods, sacred stories, seasonal festivals, and cultural values centered around honor, hospitality, reciprocity, kinship, and the natural world.
Among the best-known traditions is Norse Paganism, practiced primarily throughout Scandinavia during the Viking Age (approximately 793–1066 CE). Worship centered on a diverse pantheon that included Odin, Thor, Freyja, Frigg, Tyr, Heimdall, Njord, Baldr, Loki, and many others.
Religious life revolved around seasonal festivals, communal feasts, offerings known as blóts, ancestor veneration, and maintaining reciprocal relationships with both the gods and the land itself.
Unlike many modern religions, these traditions possessed no central authority, sacred hierarchy, or universally accepted scripture. Much of what scholars know comes from archaeology, runic inscriptions, place names, and medieval Icelandic texts like the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda which preserved myths centuries after Scandinavia had largely converted to Christianity.
Modern practitioners therefore reconstruct their religion through historical research, archaeology, comparative mythology, and surviving folklore.
The Modern Revival
The revival of these ancient traditions began in earnest during the twentieth century.
Interest first emerged through archaeological discoveries and renewed scholarship surrounding Viking history.
During the 1960s and 1970s, organized Heathen groups began forming throughout Europe and North America.
One of the most significant milestones came in 1973 when Iceland officially recognized Ásatrúarfélagið, making Ásatrú one of the nation's legally recognized religions.
Since then, Heathen organizations have appeared across Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Today, practitioners describe themselves by several names, including Heathen, Ásatrúar, Forn Sed, or simply Norse Pagan.
While individual traditions differ, most emphasize:
Worship of the Norse and Germanic gods
Seasonal celebrations following the agricultural calendar
Respect for ancestors
Stewardship of nature
Community responsibility
Hospitality
Personal honor
Reciprocity with the Gods and Goddesses
Many also stress that their religion is focused more on practice than rigid belief.
Heathenry Within Modern Paganism
Heathenry exists within the broader umbrella of modern Paganism, a diverse collection of contemporary religions inspired by pre-Christian spiritual traditions.
Wicca and Witchcraft remain the most publicly recognizable Pagan traditions, but modern Paganism also includes Druidry, Hellenism (Greek reconstructionism), Kemeticism (Egyptian reconstructionism), Celtic traditions, and many others.
Although Pagan religions differ significantly in theology, many share common themes:
Reverence for nature
Celebration of seasonal cycles
Polytheistic or animistic worldviews
Respect for ancient traditions
Community ritual
Personal spiritual experience
Unlike organized religions with centralized leadership, Paganism has no pope, governing body, or universal doctrine.
Many organizations provide education, retreats, clergy training, burial services, festivals, and interfaith outreach, but they do not govern the beliefs of individual practitioners.
Inclusive and Folkish Heathenry
Within Heathenry itself lies one of its greatest internal divisions.
Inclusive Heathens believe that anyone who sincerely feels called by the Norse gods may practice the religion regardless of ethnicity, nationality, race, or ancestry.
Folkish Heathens, by contrast, argue that Heathenry belongs exclusively to people of Northern European descent.
Their interpretation often redefines ancient concepts of kinship into modern racial categories, asserting that only ethnically "pure" Northern Europeans can truly belong within the faith.
This distinction is not merely theological.
It shapes how practitioners understand community, identity, and ultimately politics.
Inclusive Heathens have become some of the strongest critics of folkish organizations. They organize petitions, educational campaigns, public demonstrations, conferences, and statements condemning white supremacy and racial exclusion.
Many organizations explicitly reject discrimination, while many local Heathen communities require members to affirm inclusive principles before joining.
Acceptance and Legal Recognition
Despite remaining a relatively small religion, Heathenry has gained increasing recognition throughout much of the Western world.
In the United States, Pagan religions are protected under the First Amendment.
The Department of Defense recently removed Heathen religious practices from the list. Before that they were allowing military personnel to request religious accommodations comparable to those provided to members of other faiths.
Correctional institutions similarly recognize Heathenry as a legitimate religion, permitting approved religious texts, clergy visits, and worship services.
Across Europe, numerous Heathen organizations enjoy official legal recognition.
Iceland's Ásatrúarfélagið performs legally recognized marriages and has built one of the world's first newly constructed Heathen temples in nearly a thousand years.
Similar organizations exist in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Increased visibility has also brought increased challenges.
When Ancient Symbols Become Political
Few religious traditions have experienced the level of symbolic appropriation seen within modern Heathenry.
Over the past century white nationalist organizations have increasingly adopted Norse symbols including various runes, the Valknut, the Black Sun, Mjölnir, and Viking imagery.
Many of these symbols possess centuries of legitimate religious significance.
Their appropriation has complicated public understanding and unfairly stigmatized peaceful practitioners.
During the nineteenth century, European nationalist movements romanticized Viking history and Germanic mythology as symbols of ethnic identity.
The Nazi regime later appropriated numerous runes, mythological references, and Germanic imagery for propaganda, forever changing how many of these symbols were perceived.
Modern extremist organizations continue this pattern, borrowing selectively from mythology while ignoring the broader historical and religious traditions from which those symbols emerged.
Folkish Heathenry and the Far Right
Christian nationalism is not the only religion influencing far-right political movements.
Folkish Heathenry has become deeply intertwined with portions of the white nationalist movement by providing not only symbols but also a religious framework built around racial identity.
Unlike most Heathens, folkish groups interpret medieval texts such as the Poetic Edda through a racial lens, emphasizing distinctions between insiders and outsiders and extending those concepts to modern ethnic categories.
Within this worldview, only white Northern Europeans belong to "the folk."
The ideology transforms religion into a theological justification for racial exclusivity.
Public Violence and Extremist Imagery
Folkish symbols have repeatedly appeared during major extremist events.
They were prominently displayed during the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.
Norse imagery appeared in manifestos and symbolism connected to the Tree of Life synagogue attack in Pittsburgh and the Buffalo supermarket shooting.
During the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Jacob Chansley displayed numerous Norse symbols tattooed across his body despite describing his spirituality primarily in New Age terms rather than Heathen practice.
The imagery has spread beyond practitioners of the religion itself.
Many extremists now adopt Heathen symbolism regardless of their personal religious beliefs because the symbols communicate strength, ancestral identity, and racial mythology.
Churches, Communities, and Local Influence
Across states including California, Minnesota, and North Carolina, folkish organizations have purchased abandoned churches and rural buildings to establish hofs, or Heathen temples.
Unlike mainstream Pagan organizations, these congregations openly restrict membership according to race.
Because these facilities function as private religious institutions, constitutional protections generally make legal challenges difficult.
Many also participate in charitable work including food pantries and community outreach.
Critics argue that such activities help normalize organizations whose theological foundation remains racially exclusive.
Some folkish groups have also become active within prison ministry, offering religious services specifically for white inmates.
Researchers have warned that these ministries may provide opportunities for extremist recruitment under the protection afforded legitimate religious exercise.
Radicalization Behind Bars
Prisons have become one of the most closely watched environments for extremist recruitment.
Research in both the United States and the United Kingdom has documented cases where racialized interpretations of Heathenry serve as gateways into organized white supremacist networks.
For vulnerable inmates searching for belonging or protection, religion can become intertwined with extremist ideology.
Most Pagan prison ministries strongly reject these interpretations, but correctional systems continue working to distinguish sincere religious practice from organized recruitment.
Pop Culture and the Viking Revival
Popular culture has fueled enormous interest in Norse mythology.
Television series such as Vikings, films, books, and games including Assassin's Creed Valhalla have introduced millions to Viking history.
For many people, this has inspired genuine exploration of Norse spirituality.
For extremist organizations, however, the same imagery provides an accessible gateway.
Images of warriors, conquest, and ancestral glory are often stripped of historical complexity and reimagined as symbols of racial nationalism.
The challenge for modern Heathens is ensuring that public fascination with Viking culture leads to historical understanding rather than ideological manipulation.
Fighting Back
Perhaps the least reported aspect of this story is the organized resistance coming from within the Heathen community itself.
Inclusive Heathens across North America, Europe, and Scandinavia have spent decades publicly rejecting racism.
In the US: The biggest organization is Heathens against Hate. They publish educational resources, issue public statements, organize interfaith events, and actively challenge organizations promoting racial exclusion.
Many emphasize that Norse mythology teaches hospitality, courage, generosity, stewardship of the earth, and responsibility to one's community.
For these practitioners, reclaiming sacred symbols from extremists is both a religious obligation and a matter of preserving the integrity of their faith.
Why Understanding Matters
Confusing all Heathens with extremists harms thousands of peaceful practitioners.
Ignoring folkish Heathenry, however, allows religiously motivated extremist ideology to remain hidden in plain sight.
Journalists, educators, law enforcement officers, prison officials, and policymakers all benefit from recognizing the distinction between legitimate religious practice and extremist appropriation.
The symbols themselves are not inherently hateful.
Rather, their meaning depends upon the context in which they are used.
A Faith at a Crossroads
Modern Heathenry stands at a crossroads.
For most practitioners, it remains a living religion centered on spirituality, ancestors, mythology, nature, and community. For a small but highly visible minority, it has been transformed into a theology of racial exclusion.
The broader Heathen community continues working to ensure that its traditions are defined not by those who weaponize them, but by those who seek wisdom, hospitality, and reverence for the gods and goddesses.
The struggle to reclaim Heathenry from extremism is ultimately about more than one religion.
It is about preserving cultural history, protecting religious freedom, and recognizing the difference between an ancient faith and those who would misuse it for modern political ends.
As public interest in Norse spirituality continues to grow, so too does the responsibility to understand its history, recognize its diversity, and ensure that one of Europe's oldest religious traditions is not reduced to the ideology of those who represent only its smallest fringe.
Our Sources:
Comments