Not just a warrior cult? No, but...

The nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking by cowards.
~ William Francis ButlerWhen I first started upon my heathen path, I would respond aggressively to anyone who wrote off norse paganism as merely a warrior cult. Understandable, as there is so much more to the eddas, sagas and lays than that. It was these things in which I was more interested back then.

Now, however, having spent some time as a practicing heathen and having interacted with other heathens (mostly online, I will concede), I find my view changing in one very important respect.

The importance of the role of warrior, of battling one's enemies, of physical confrontation cannot and should not be ignored. The mythology is rife with references to battle and combat-related metaphors. The necessity of fighting to defend one's family or property was very real and pervasive back then.

This shaped our heathen forefathers, both physically and mentally. In a way that I feel many contemporary heathens don't appreciate. To call oneself a 'warrior' because you 'fight high insurance prices' in your daily work (or similar weak metaphor) betrays a complete lack of awareness of the huge effect that regular combat (or even intense training) can have upon a person's personality and values.

There is an argument for ignoring the warrior motif within heathen sources. After all, contemporary society doesn't require all of us to literally fight for our livelihoods. Some of us may become police or soldiers who will act on the front lines in a manner very similar to our viking ancestors, but most of us will spend our lives doing something much more pedestrian, likely in complete safety. Thankfully, very few of us will ever be required to fight at all, never mind literally fight for our lives.

However, the warrior mindset gained through training for and taking part in combat clearly informs a great portion of the beliefs and values expressed in the heathen sources, such as the eddas, sagas and heroic lays.

So, as part of my heathen path, I am taking time to investigate and, where possible, experience, what it is like to actually be a warrior. Even if that is simply some 'alive' training for my internal martial arts - my class, for example, also has a full contact sparring class on Tuesdays. Tentative exploration of this will inform my faith as well as any time spend poring over various texts.

Einherjar: Lone Fighters

I was reading somewhere else online (another heathen blog, perhaps) that the old norse name for the warriors in Valhalla, 'einherjar' literally means something along the lines of 'those who fight alone'.

The writer in question explained that viking warriors were trained in all aspects of combat and could be thought of as 'a one-man army'. Thus, they were well prepared for and perfectly able to fight alone, even outside of the shield wall, if necessary.

All of this I agreed with and admire, but it was at this point that the writer went on to use this to explain the importance, for them, of time alone.

I don't really feel that the importance of alone time (whoever enjoyable that might be) was the lesson to take from this. Rather, I think the more valuable attribute (especially in this modern age and in an overcrowded nation such as the UK) was the importance of self reliance.

Being able to operate, provide for oneself and even thrive - alone - is a very admirable trait. Especially in contemporary society, in which we are expect, and required, to rely on others for everything. Our food, our security, our entertainment, fixing our tools and even making decisions for the direction of our lives and the upbringing of our families - all are provided by third parties. This can leave us over-reliant and unable to fend for ourselves, if we are not careful.

So, perhaps, in a time where striving to be ferocious, ruthless warriors is frowned upon, being something of a Renaissance Man is the next best thing for the modern heathen?

Self reliance

Inspired by Vikings and/or the heathen worldview, I am trying to make positive changes in my life. Essentially trying to improve myself and my situation in ways that Vikings or heathens would approve of (as perceived in my version of Norse neopaganism).

First of these changes is to become more self reliant. One way I am doing this is to turn over a section of the garden of our new house to vegetables. I say new house, but we have been moved in since the start of February.

Additionally, I intend to begin repairing and reusing items, rather than throwing them away. That said, we won't let our place fill with clutter, but similarly we will try to be reducing the influence of our disposable culture, too.

Any other ways we could improve our self reliance? Especially interested in hearing if it can save us money, too.... ;)

Legendary Viking strength

“Hafthor Julius Bjornsson made history today in the World’s Strongest Viking competition,” Ilkka Kinnnen reported to IronMind, “breaking a record that has been part of history for 1000 years.”
Excerpt taken from IronMind.com


I like this.


I like the fact that a deed today is compared with/competing against a deed from 1,000 years ago - the time of the Vikings. It brings Viking legend smack up to date.


It is all too easy to get stuck with the mindset that heathenry is something that occurred a thousand years ago and all we can do today is try to piece together how best to emulate that golden age. Really, to my mind, we should be acting as though the Viking age never really went away. We should be comparing our deeds to those of the legendary heroes and striving to earn ourselves a reputation worthy of our ancestors.


That's why I like my heathenry distinctly modern. No tunics or tabards for me, thanks.