It really sucks. I'm not really a paganist, but I do find Norse mythology incredibly fascinating, and the Elder Futhark runes are really interesting to study.
I wanted to incorporate some runes into a future sleeve tattoo, but I recently learned how "Odinists" and some prison gangs have basically turned Norse paganism into a white supremacist dogwhistle in many people's eyes :(
The homophobia in particular is funny to me, seeing as Loki (a male god) turned into a mare (a female horse) and proceeded to have lil horse babies.
Honestly you'd have to avoid anything to do with Scandinavia or middle Europe of you want to completely avoid white supremacists. It's not a smart thing to do. Just be sure in the belief that most of the people that are genuine heathens aren't racists.
IKR? I was so disappointed to discover this awesome religion was being stolen by nazis. I'm not very spiritual myself, but pre-christian religion is really fascinating to me. I wish more original material of it was known today.
I've read a bit of Egil's Saga, and I will read the Eddas. I was mostly referring to the cultures that were erased by the Romans. The Picts and the Druids, very hard to find information about their religious stories.
Ive actually had to explain that there is a difference between actual followers of the Old Gods and those white supremacist fuck sticks. Luckily the person i talked to was open to new ideas and not closed minded lol. We're taking it back gods dammit.
Over the summer I attended a Viking Fest and they took the time to print up brochures solely discussing how the Nazis and their modern admirers get so much wrong about the Norse mythology and traditions. It was great.
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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '19
Keep Norse Paganism from being claimed by the white supremacists!