r/heathenry

It's easy to shake someones lack of faith in something, but shaking someones faith in any religion is a very difficult task. If a Christian REALLY wants to convert someone, an agnostic explicitly does not have a faith to shake. In the meantime, Heathens build their entire worldview and religion by studying things themselves.

After being raised in a Christian environment and abandoning religion as a whole while i was still young, one thing that I hated about religion was the many questions left unanswered. The question of why suffering isn't prevented being a major one.

The issue of injustice in the world is why I couldn't be a follower of Yahweh. The justification I was given by my parents is "He made an agreement with Satan to let him rule the world to prove that people would still follow the one true god." and yet this same god interfered to kill thousands of Assyrian soldiers that were about to attack Ancient Israel. Why didn't he do this during the Holocaust? Members of his "Chosen Religion" were being killed alongside millions of other innocents, and I'm supposed to believe he did nothing?

And now, onto my questions about heathenry.

I began researching polytheism, paganism, and heathenry as a writer looking for a way to make my world more unique, but now its become something new and original to bounce my agnostic viewpoints off of and even make me question my worldview.

I understand the gods are not omnipresent or omnipotent, but they have power, no? Thor may not be able to decimate entire armies with a wave of his hand, but can he not strike a missile out of the sky before it hits a school and kills a bunch of kids? Then there are things like Epstein's island and the whole ring connected to him. That lasted many years, and would be no grand display of power to stop. Hell, a single spec ops team would have that island locked down in under an hour.

I've seen a few answers but I am left unsatisfied. Some say the gods just do not care enough to interfere. If this is true, why should I worship them? I didn't like the idea of worshipping Yahweh because, from my point of view, he was an uncaring asshole and a hypocrite. Gods that actively just do not care to interfere and save people sound no better. Another is that if evil cannot exist, there would be no good. This is fair, but then why does the evil in the world persist over the good so much?

So I had been hearing of the alternative social media platform FolkRealms, and despite being cautious because it is created by Danheim, and the name I decided to sign up for an account.

Umm yeah my fears have been confirmed, it is full of european-essentialist folkist people, references to odinism, etc... And because there is no algorithm, that stuff just pops to the top of your feed.

Stuff like:

"Our ancestral culture and customs are revived, and morality and order are being restored.
Reciprocity with our mighty Gods is once again beginning to take hold. The warriors of old dance with their descendants beside the fires, and our Männerbund remembers their power! The children of Europe once again have a home!

No more alien influence!
No more will we bend or accept morality that is inferior to our people. We will hold our standards high and we WILL conquer modernity as one people, united in purpose! . .. Together, we will reclaim our people's birthright, ripping our fates from the jaws of the wolf, and planting our Nation's flags of victory everywhere the sun touches!!

and

"Just a quick reminder to all the European Pagans, our heritage is under attack by woke morons in hollyweird, especially those of Hellenistic stock/culture.
Black Helen of Troy.
Ellen Page as Achilles.
Some nobody black rapper as a "bard" telling some of the story.
Zendaya as Athena.
This... disgusting destruction of Western Society and Heritage must be called out, boycotted, and mocked as the filth it is.
REMEMBER YOUR HERITAGE, WESTERN EUROPEANS!"

So I guess beware....

I have been trying to learn more about Heathenry over the last couple of months and honestly I keep second guessing myself. I read different sources, look through discussions here, and try to approach everything respectfully, but sometimes it feels like there is so much information that I end up overwhelmed instead of grounded.

One thing I have noticed is that a lot of people seem to build their practice slowly over time instead of having everything figured out immediately. That has helped me calm down a bit. I recently came across a few discussions on FolkRealm where people talked openly about making mistakes early on and it weirdly made me feel less alone about the whole thing.

Right now I am mostly trying to focus on learning and building consistency instead of worrying about whether every small thing is perfect.

Did any of you go through that same stage when you first started?

Im totally serious, i checked a few subreddits, like this one, /pagan, /viking etc.
They are all pretty much dead. Did everyone move to FolkRealms or Discord?
FolkRealms is probably the most active pagan community online today.

Or did people just loose interest?
Legit, curious about this...

So, I've been practicing for a few months now. I have a shrine and on Sundays I prepare and present my offerings and thank the goddess for all she does and express my gratitude.

My offerings are flowers, cooked pork, chocolate of some kind, a drink, and a plate of cat treats for Bygul and Tregul.

For the last three weeks I've been hit with an illness or serious issue every Monday. While it might be coincidence, I'm getting very worried I've offended her and I do not know what to do. Usually I reuse the offerings, though never on the dishes for her, but yesterday I did not fearing that might have been the issue. I threw them away (except the cat treats) after a couple of hours.

Does anyone have advice? This could all be coincidence but it feels like I'm messing up.

Are there any heathens from Massachusetts looking to meet people who practice?

Hello everyone, for online spaces I go by Ray, and I’m new to Heathenry and living/practicing this way of life.

I live in Ohio, and I would absolutely love to meet more people that are practicing. Community means a lot to me, and coming from a different community (eg, Christianity) I don’t have one since I’m no longer a part of it (took some time but I’m finally out of it!).

I’ve been looking online and haven’t really found any events or communities, but maybe I’m searching up the wrong keywords.

Any advice or suggestions on communities willing to take a new practitioner in would be welcome. Thanks guys!

Hi everyone,
I’m super new to this form of belief, I remember since the longest about how interest the whole Nordic system interested me.
Can anyone suggest how I should start practicing this? I’m super unaware and looking for judgement free answers.

Looking for Norse Pagans to Join Our Small but Growing Discord Community

Hey all! I run a small Norse pagan Discord community (27 members) and we’re looking to welcome a few more people who want genuine discussion, ritual practice, and a supportive pagans to gather in.

We’re friendly, inclusive, and focused on authentic Norse pagan practice — not pop‑culture versions.

If you’re looking for a smaller, more intimate community, feel free to comment or DM for an invite.

I donated plasma for the first time last night. And while I sat there, I was listening to Jackson Crawford’s translation of the Poetic Edda. And I had the thought that if I had made an invocation to Eir beforehand, this could be a modern adaptation of a blood sacrifice. But instead of being tossed out afterward, it’s actually used in medicine or given to people who need it. What are your thoughts? Is this a good offering?

Pretty simple question

Do you still wear the christian cross for jewelry, even tho you are a heathen?

Im asking because i have a lot of jewelry with things like the cross on it, and i feem like its kinda a shame that it is not being used

Ps. Im asking as a norse heathen

A family member bought a plot of land and now they are getting sick. I suspect the land has a spirit. What runes can I use to bind or unbind the land. Im thinking placing one in each of the four corners.

Hello! I'd like to start of with mentioning that English is not my first language and I might make mistakes throughout my text.

I've been pagan for one year and a half praying and worshiping the norse gods.

Recently, I'm feeling that I'm falling off the faith due to multiple problems that I found within my self.

An important part of practice for me is to have some 'rules', maybe not as black and white as Christians but still have some sort of 'path' to follow. (And not to have to stroll through a forest)

I still venerate the Gods and believe in them wholeheartedly. I just don't know how to adjust my practice or / and what to read to improve it.

If you have any suggestions from your own practice feel free to leave it below.

I'm sorry if this topic has been stated by other persons, I just could not find some good answers to it.

edit: Despite being Romanian I've never had a big pull towards Christianity so I suppose I have not been influenced to want this kind of practice from there

Hello, Im a norse reconstructionist heathen

I've been wanting a tattoo for the longest time, and id really like it to be connected to my faith. But i have no idea what to get.

I also know that i don't want traditional viking tattoos as 1. They are filled with misconceptions, 2. Often related to neo Nazis, 3. I generally dont like how they look.

I do know i like how Monochrome tattoos look, also tribal / miyan / Polynesian / amarican and japanese traditional.

So my question is whether anyone got any ideas, or what tattoos you have of their faith

ps. know they are not really considered to be a thing the old norse people had, but id like one anyways

hi — i’m relatively new to deity worship, and i make offerings to freyja on my main altar regularly, but i’m planning to create separate altar shelves for odin and thor respectively. the primary offering i make has been mead, but i’m looking for suggestions for sober offerings and maybe words of wisdom/encouragement from other people in recovery as i can’t even keep it in the home right now. hopefully i’ll get there one day but that day is not today, lol.

i already know about oak and nettles for thor, and oak is special to me, so i’m going to start there (and with flowers for freyja now that it’s spring bc that feels right to me), but what about odin? would little trinkets and offerings of food suffice as if i were trying to befriend a crow or raven? any help would be appreciated :)