Mental health and Heathenry

Mental health is very much at the forefront of the news at the moment. This is due, in the main, to the unprecendented departure of Simone Biles from the Tokyo 2020/2021 Olympic games. Citing concern for her own mental health, Simone took the brave decision to remove herself from the tournament, due to her concerns that continuing would negatively impact her own mental health.

This highlights exactly how poorly society and the media deal with mental health issues in the normal course of events. In putting her own mental health first in this manner, Simone has garnered more media attention than those athletes who competed at world class level and won medals. So rarely do we hear of the psychological struggles of sports personalities and celebrities, that the very idea of someone putting their own mental health first, above fame, success and potential accolades, is normally unheard of in the mainstream media.

Similarly, within heathenry, there is a similar lack of information regarding mental health. Looked at in a particular way, heathenry doesn't measure up very well in how it deals with mental health. Role models are strong vikings, brosatru and heroes from the eddas and sagas. None of whom, to my knowledge, overtly discuss their struggles with self image, or their concerns whether they are doing the right thing. Female role models fare no better. The expectation being they will be strong sheild-maidens, with fiery personalities and unshakeable confidence.

Thankfully, the reality of the average heathen is very different. Those people who have been brave enough to admit confidence issues, misgivings or inner turmoil usually meet genuine support and advice - in the groups to which I belong. Were I enrolled in any of the more folkish or brosatru groups, then my personal experience with this might be very different.

There can be a lot of pressure to socialise as a heathen. After all, I've said myself that heathenry is all about community, yes? Well, yes, but that doesn't mean a heathen has to force themselves into real world social situations with which they aren't yet comfortable. Being a solitary heathen is perfectly valid. I was one myself for the longest time - and still err toward staying at home most of the time. Historically, Berserkers were usually left to their own devices as they had a tendency to react violently in inappropriate situations. An extreme example, perhaps, but arguably a historic example of heathens being left alone when they needed space.

Personally, I'd like to see/hear examples of heathen heroes struggling with their mental health. Or, at least, presenting something other than unshakeable confidence all the time. The Vikings tv series had some moody moments of staring into the distance. But this never seemed to evolve into dealing with mental health as an issue. More simply to make the characters seem edgy, brooding or interesting.

Please comment, if you come across any heathen interest stories with characters that deal with mental health. Preferably in a positive way, but negative examples could also be good for discussion.

When vikings are no longer chic...

There is little doubt that heathenry has had an surge of interest due to the popularity of programs like "Vikings" and "Last Kingdom", not to mention assorted other viking-inspired products.

Perhaps some of these newcomer Vikings fans will like what they find and continue their study of heathenry and teutonic mythology in general. But what will happen to our nascent heathen culture when the great media marketing machine moves on to another topic? Right now, there are a dearth of stores and companies offering a range of heathen-friendly products and services, mostly thanks to their being bolstered by the current media-driven interest.

When models dressed as burly, rambunctious viking men and women no longer adorn our screens, large and small, what will happen to our path?

My belief is that, naturally, its growth will slow, perhaps even cease for a while, but I hope that the subculture will move away from the superficial "vikings are cool, I want to look like Ragnar" that has become more pronounced since the media explosion and into more obviously spiritual and/or historic development.

I have to confess that websites offering (tight) tshirts for (musclebound) Ragnar Lothbrok wannabees with cheesy Valhalla slogans really do rather annoy me. Never a particularly big fan of the overemphasis of Ragnarok at the best of times, I had to hold back my bile when I witnessed a group of Brosatru with Grimfrost t-shirts and drinking horns shouting loudly during the Wardruna concert I attended.

I get it, I really do. But some of us will still be raising a toast to our ancestors when you pretenders have moved on to the next thing your television tells you to like. At least have the decency to show some respect and take the time to find out what your current obsession-du-jour is really about.

Heathenry: All form and no content?

The following article was inspired by an experience our hearth had a few weeks ago. We had arranged to meet with people we'd met online at a fairly local moot. While we hadn't met any other members of this group before, we were looking forward to the meet up, as at least one of the attendees, the organiser, had shown themselves to be what we considered a good heathen and the kind of person we'd like to hang out with (not an accolade we bestow lightly).

The gods had other ideas, though. The day of the moot turned out to be one of the first sunny days of the year, spring having sprung a week or two earlier. Due to the nice weather, every man and his dog turned up to the meeting place. This would not, necessarily, be a problem - were it not for the very limited parking available. We drove around for quite some time, but to no avail. More and more people descended upon the area, bringing their unnecessarily large automobiles with them.

So, we left a message stating that, sadly, we wouldn't be able to attend and headed home. When we got back, it turned out the moot organiser had suffered the same problem and had also been unable to attend. Shame, but we all resolved to meet again next time.

All, that was, except one guy. Let's call him 'Bill'. Apparently, Bill had turned up and had been waiting for us all to arrive. Bill felt he had been unfairly put out by our failure to arrive. Despite the heavy traffic (and limited parking) being more than evident and despite our messages of explanation and apology, Bill decided to get massively butthurt over this.

It would seem being left alone on a beautifully sunny day had really aggravated him. Being made to attend a really nice pub with a very nice menu and good range of ales was probably the last straw.

To some extent, I can understand being a little annoyed. What I can't understand is leaving a really immature message on the group's online noticeboard and complaining that the organiser had let him down. I also recall some ad hominem attacks, if I am not mistaken. Seriously, this guy was whining like crazy over one lousy cancelled moot.

Thing is, looking at his profile on social media, he seemed to have given himself a really butch viking-style name (think 'Ragnar Thunderpants, or similar) and seemed to buy into the whole heathen/viking macho ideal. Perhaps not quite full on Brosatru, but getting there.

How can this guy think of himself as a modern, tough, stoic viking and then get really upset about a long drive to a nice pub near a beautiful park that didn't quite go to plan? Does Bill consider that hardship? He should try crossing the Atlantic in a longship...

This really has me worried now that a much greater proportion of the heathen community than I had previously thought are precisely this kind of immature, 'dummies out of the pram' style whinger.

To me, one of the most important things that attracted me to heathenry in the first place was the fact that it actively discouraged this kind of attention-seeking, diva-like behaviour. I'm not saying I want a mindless, Rambo-esque Brosatru hearth or moot, but just no-one that needs suckling before we can get to the proper business of drinking and setting the world to rights.

Too much to ask?