Land Based Religion Essay

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Primarily a land based religion that places a large amount of emphasis on the sanctity of different locations and their involvement with the gods, elves, and with the Vikings themselves, Heathenism places a great deal of emphasis upon the power of sacred spaces. These sacred spaces can be created by humans as well as be found naturally throughout the lands that the Vikings inhabited. Some natural examples of sacred spaces include those associated with elves and other magical creatures in Iceland as well as the breathtaking location known as Helgafell which is mentioned in the Erybyggja Saga and is said that, “on a clear day it is as if one stood upon a stage sat in the famous seat of the god Odin overlooking the whole rich world of land and …show more content…

This religion has been shaped around the Viking myths in an attempt to not only revive the religion and bring it into the modern world, but to allow practitioners to connect with their heritage. Similar to many world religions, heathenism is spread into a few denominations such as Tribalism, Universalism, Folk Heathenry, and Theodish Heathenry (Krasskova, 22-24). Each of these groups fashions their beliefs around they sources that are available as well as what they believe their ancestors would have done. As a result, modern Heathenism should be -considered an imperfect recreation of what the ancient practitioners believed in. However, this does not stop the religion from losing its legitimacy as these individuals are still using the Gods and rights that are still available to them today in order to ensure that they remain as close as possible to the original religion. Their entire goal is to, “reconstruct the practices of their ancestors, drawing from their lore for inspiration. Maintaining this sacred link to the past is a very important part of Heathen belief today. In many respects, it is the lifeblood of the faith” (Krasskova,

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