Rainbow Serpent Woman (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
perzephone) wrote2011-10-10 01:50 pm
perzephone) wrote2011-10-10 01:50 pm
Entry tags:
Heathenier Than Thou
What the fuck is it with modern Heathens/Norse-centric/Odinist/Asatruar Pagans that they seem to feel they are somehow better than any other Pagan (and most of the time, any other person) on the fucking planet? They all seem to be mighty concerned with the supposed purity of their family lines, family honor, all that jazz, and Gods forbid if you happen to not know who you're related to, or if you've forsaken your familial bonds. They take the term 'white trash' to all new levels of disdain.
I don't really care on a personal level, but the more I've encountered that attitude from that particular group of Pagans, the more annoying it is. I think it's because of the hypocrisy inherent in most of their claims. If you're of European descent, unless you are actually about to inherit some title, there is no fucking way that you are 'pure' anything. Even if you are about to inherit some title, there is a lot of hanky-panky going on in those royal/landed/titled families. Not to mention the practice of fosterage/hostages back in the day, which entangled families across borders.
Using myself as an example... My father's father's family were from the Prussian/German Empire (at least, according to my dad, who was a fantastic story-teller... I could go get a DNA test and see just how much of a mutt I am but it doesn't really concern me), and bastards of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Kaiser Wilhelm was the last of the Hohenzollern family line, and the last of the Teutonic Knights that Christianized the area of the world known as Ducal Prussia. The area of Ducal Prussia was originally inhabited by pagan German tribes, followed by the Teutonic Knights & the Hohenzollerns. I could be part Slavic or Polish, since Prussia was once unified under the Slavs, who became the Polish people. I could also be Lithuanian, since those people became the Prussians... or Swedish, since the Swedes invaded Prussia at some point, too. And who were those original pagan German tribes? Scandinavians, Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Francs, Gauls, Saxons, etc. & so forth. Prussia was fucking huge, and its borders were amorphous. It kissed both Russia and the Roman Empire throughout its lifetime.
My father's mother's family was primarily Welsh. Wales, being part of Britain, has the same variable ancestry as Prussia. Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Anglo-Saxons, Jutes, Normans... My mother's family were French Canadien, meaning there's the whole history of France, the intermarriages with indigenous Canadians... and American immigrants and natives, because my mother's family came to America sometime in the early to mid 1800s. I am not entirely sure if my mother's family was from the St. Lawrence River area or if they were Acadian, but since there is indigenous blood in there (my mother was about 1/8th, so I think I'm like, 1/16th or 1/32nd or some shit - and no matter how much Jody nags on it, I am not on any registry because there are real indigenous people who need the recognition more), it was probably SLR French Canadien.
Given my background, I flirted with Norse-centric Wicca. It didn't work for me. I felt about as much connection to the Aesir and Vanir as I do with YHVH/God/Allah. The only connection I have is with Loki, and that's only because when you work with one trickster, you sort of end up with them all (I've got a connection with Anansi, too - doesn't mean I'm connected to all the native African Gods). None of the Germanic deities truly call to me, and the one half-possession experience I had with Frigga cemented that. She was so alien, so foreign, so unnatural... we were both uncomfortable. I flirted with the British/Celtic pantheon, and only found affinity with Herne. Part of me becoming a former Wicca was that I could no longer call on Cernunnos or Cerridwen with any faith. They were not my Gods, any more than Odin/Woden or Freya were. I found my religious home with deities and practices so far removed from my ancestry it almost feels forced. But it's what happened.
And then for some heathen to come along and disparage my practice as shallow and dishonorable... to disparage anyone who has the same kind of religious journey as I have had... makes me just want to punch them in their hypocritical nose. Which is why I told the guy he was insulting and high-handed and left it at that. Can't punch someone through the internet.
Yet.
I don't really care on a personal level, but the more I've encountered that attitude from that particular group of Pagans, the more annoying it is. I think it's because of the hypocrisy inherent in most of their claims. If you're of European descent, unless you are actually about to inherit some title, there is no fucking way that you are 'pure' anything. Even if you are about to inherit some title, there is a lot of hanky-panky going on in those royal/landed/titled families. Not to mention the practice of fosterage/hostages back in the day, which entangled families across borders.
Using myself as an example... My father's father's family were from the Prussian/German Empire (at least, according to my dad, who was a fantastic story-teller... I could go get a DNA test and see just how much of a mutt I am but it doesn't really concern me), and bastards of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Kaiser Wilhelm was the last of the Hohenzollern family line, and the last of the Teutonic Knights that Christianized the area of the world known as Ducal Prussia. The area of Ducal Prussia was originally inhabited by pagan German tribes, followed by the Teutonic Knights & the Hohenzollerns. I could be part Slavic or Polish, since Prussia was once unified under the Slavs, who became the Polish people. I could also be Lithuanian, since those people became the Prussians... or Swedish, since the Swedes invaded Prussia at some point, too. And who were those original pagan German tribes? Scandinavians, Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Francs, Gauls, Saxons, etc. & so forth. Prussia was fucking huge, and its borders were amorphous. It kissed both Russia and the Roman Empire throughout its lifetime.
My father's mother's family was primarily Welsh. Wales, being part of Britain, has the same variable ancestry as Prussia. Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Anglo-Saxons, Jutes, Normans... My mother's family were French Canadien, meaning there's the whole history of France, the intermarriages with indigenous Canadians... and American immigrants and natives, because my mother's family came to America sometime in the early to mid 1800s. I am not entirely sure if my mother's family was from the St. Lawrence River area or if they were Acadian, but since there is indigenous blood in there (my mother was about 1/8th, so I think I'm like, 1/16th or 1/32nd or some shit - and no matter how much Jody nags on it, I am not on any registry because there are real indigenous people who need the recognition more), it was probably SLR French Canadien.
Given my background, I flirted with Norse-centric Wicca. It didn't work for me. I felt about as much connection to the Aesir and Vanir as I do with YHVH/God/Allah. The only connection I have is with Loki, and that's only because when you work with one trickster, you sort of end up with them all (I've got a connection with Anansi, too - doesn't mean I'm connected to all the native African Gods). None of the Germanic deities truly call to me, and the one half-possession experience I had with Frigga cemented that. She was so alien, so foreign, so unnatural... we were both uncomfortable. I flirted with the British/Celtic pantheon, and only found affinity with Herne. Part of me becoming a former Wicca was that I could no longer call on Cernunnos or Cerridwen with any faith. They were not my Gods, any more than Odin/Woden or Freya were. I found my religious home with deities and practices so far removed from my ancestry it almost feels forced. But it's what happened.
And then for some heathen to come along and disparage my practice as shallow and dishonorable... to disparage anyone who has the same kind of religious journey as I have had... makes me just want to punch them in their hypocritical nose. Which is why I told the guy he was insulting and high-handed and left it at that. Can't punch someone through the internet.
Yet.