Icelandic Temple!

[The Hammer]

Iceland has begun construction of a temple dedicated to the old Norse Gods! I'm excited, even if I won't ever get to visit there.

Iceland to build first temple to Norse gods since Viking age | World news | The Guardian

 

[Jainarayan]

Never say never.

 

[Nietzsche]

Yes!

 

[Sees]

Good story and great news, but some strange choices of words in the article and especially the comments.

 

[Kirran]

Out of curiosity, how accurately does this article describe your faith, as far as you're concerned?

Also, I think you guys should totally organise an Asatru RFians pilgrimage to this place

 

[Sees]

Euro Ásatrúar/Heathens tend to emphasize pantheist and panentheist concepts more than American ones...but both mix these with polytheism generally. Me thinks some of the wording is done as a way to snatch up more cultural Ásatrúar folks who are on the fence.

So what they said is true, but there is much, much more. It's very multilayered. The guy quoted is most definitely a polytheist who believes in the Gods but the aspects/views highlighted are carefully chosen.

 

[Jainarayan]

Good story and great news, but some strange choices of words in the article and especially the comments.

Oh, you mean “I don’t believe anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,” said Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, high priest of Ásatrúarfélagið, an association that promotes faith in the Norse gods.

“We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology.”

As compared to this Ásatrúarfélagið - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In a 2003 interview, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson summarized his faith.

I believe in a higher power which appears to us in the multiplicity of nature and of human life. We have manifestations of certain primal forces which we regard as gods and we have a division in the roles of the gods. These are powers that are visible, half-visible and sometimes invisible. One could have a long scholarly discussion on the role of individual gods, but in the end this is a question of a feeling for the different aspects of life.

Seems his perspective has changed, or was taken out of context for the article. I want to believe it was the latter.

 

[Jainarayan]

Euro Ásatrúar/Heathens tend to emphasize pantheist and panentheist concepts more than American ones...but both mix these with polytheism generally. Me thinks some of the wording is done as a way to snatch up more cultural Ásatrúar folks who are on the fence.

So what they said is true, but there is much, much more. It's very multilayered. The guy quoted is most definitely a polytheist who believes in the Gods but the aspects/views highlighted are carefully chosen.

I daresay that the American version is tinged by the Spiritual But Not Religious concept. For Americans, there is no cultural continuity to the past. Remember the line in Thor, when Selvig says to Jane "These are the stories I grew up with as a child!" He wasn't far off. We don't have that connection.

 

[Sees]

I daresay that the American version is tinged by the Spiritual But Not Religious concept. For Americans, there is no cultural continuity to the past. Remember the line in Thor, when Selvig says to Jane "These are the stories I grew up with as a child!" He wasn't far off. We don't have that connection.

Definitely. Spiritual but not religious is often second after atheism for religious designation in Scandinavian countries also for that reason. Christianity has turned a lot of people off theism in general so they focus on different conceptions of it to move past. People who I would call Philosophical Ásatrúar are all over though and each will have a different take over time.

Here people focus less on the nature aspects at times because they replace Jesus and the Father with Norse Gods but go no further.

 

[Jainarayan]

It also occurred to me that the comments were indeed carefully chosen so as not to make Asatruars look like like we have invisible imaginary friends who ride animals that defy the laws of bio-mechanics and physics.

 

[Sees]

Yep, they are definitely careful to make sure people don't see it in the light which Christians shined on it for so long. That the myths are coded is something a lot of U.S. guys don't understand...taking things too literal, thinking it's traditional.

Now I have to plan building an American hof and feast hall

 

[Riverwolf]

Out of curiosity, how accurately does this article describe your faith, as far as you're concerned?

Close....ish.

Asatru developed in Iceland and the US fairly independent of one another, and so are distinct. I suspect the Icelandic form is closer to what the pre-Christian Norse, and likely by extension the rest of the Northern European pre-Christian peoples, would have thought like. I feel like it's closer to my beliefs, as mine have many animistic aspects.

Asatru in the US, from what I've seen, does seem to place stronger emphasis on the Gods and presents the Lore as a singular narrative like the Christian Bible is. It also tends to present Odin in a light that I'm not really sure is consistent with his portrayal in Lore or his name (that is, he's often portrayed as being, well, much like how he's portrayed in Marvel's Thor films: a kind, just, benevolent, and wise King; from what I've seen of Lore, he wasn't like that at all)... but that's just me.

It's not a bad thing, per se; different Tribes would have conceived of the Gods and the Lore in different ways. It happens that the US's pan-culture has been very, VERY strongly influenced and informed by puritan values and literalist Christianity, so it does make sense that the various forms of Paganism that develop here are going to be more influenced by that cultural background (unless there's a deliberate move to avoid such influence) than the ones that develop in Europe.

Also, I think you guys should totally organise an Asatru RFians pilgrimage to this place

Well... we don't really have "pilgrimages" in the same sense that Abrahamic religions, and many Dharmic religions, have.

We'd just go there.

Certainly I'm going there someday.

 

[Toxikmynd]

I'll pay for everyones flight.

 

[Baladas]

This is very exciting! I'll have to visit!

 

[Jainarayan]

I'm about ready to pack up and move to Iceland. Despite its high latitude it's warmer than the east coast of the US, due to the North Atlantic current (part of the Gulf Stream) and its geothermal activity. There are only 330,000 people in Iceland, healthcare is completely free. Like most of Scandinavia it's pretty much cradle to grave. Education is free. And the language is really fun to pronounce, and almost exactly like Old Norse. I mean c'mon, who could not like rattling off Eyjafjallajökull (the volcano that caused the air traffic shut downs) as a party trick.

 

[GoodbyeDave]

This was indeed great news.

The point about myth was probably directed at the USians. Obviously Heathens don't assume the physical existence of Sleipnir any more than I assume that of Cheiron, but with millions of fundies who believe in talking snakes, you can't be too careful!

 

[Toxikmynd]

I'm about ready to pack up and move to Iceland. Despite its high latitude it's warmer than the east coast of the US, due to the North Atlantic current (part of the Gulf Stream) and its geothermal activity. There are only 330,000 people in Iceland, healthcare is completely free. Like most of Scandinavia it's pretty much cradle to grave. Education is free. And the language is really fun to pronounce, and almost exactly like Old Norse. I mean c'mon, who could not like rattling off Eyjafjallajökull (the volcano that caused the air traffic shut downs) as a party trick.

Take me, I've been wanting to join the Nordic Union

 

[The Hammer]

Great replies, thanks everyone! Sorry about disappearing, I am moving in to a new apartment and I don't have internet just yet.

I agree that the choice of words in the article was a little strange, like it was pointed out, probably to show that the religion is not the same thing as the way it was portrayed to be, by early christians. A lot of ancient religions need to work on moving out of that light IMO .

 

[Toxikmynd]

Great replies, thanks everyone! Sorry about disappearing, I am moving in to a new apartment and I don't have internet just yet.

I agree that the choice of words in the article was a little strange, like it was pointed out, probably to show that the religion is not the same thing as the way it was portrayed to be, by early christians. A lot of ancient religions need to work on moving out of that light IMO .

Is this new apartment in Iceland?

 

[nickateenrapper]

When I heard the news I was at work and about shouted in excitement.

I actually started looking up tickets from the U.S for a vacation sometime. I would love to visit and just take in the energy. See the new temple and do what I feel is right to be close with my ancestors and the gods. One day I will... one day!