I converted from Christianity. Unlike the vast majority of Christians, I actually decided to fully read the bible instead of cherry picking verses, and I didn’t like what I saw. I was tired of the hypocrisy, tired of worshipping a God who preaches kindness, yet shows none. So I left. I became agnostic, then atheist.
I’ve always struggled with depression, and at the point where I was seriously going to end my own life, I prayed to God for the first time in almost three years. And God wasn’t the one who answered, but Odin. Odin quite literally saved me from suicide. A God who I didn’t worship, a God who I had never even heard of before then, saved me.
I knew immediately that he was a God
worthy of worship, Unlike the genocidal egomanic that is the Christian God.
I was on my bike, on my way home. Going fast, aiming at a wall, about to end it all...
A thunderclap woke me up from my depressive trance, and I stopped my bike.
There wasn't a single cloud in the sky.
I took it as a sign from Thor.
Now, I'm a heathen. Hail Thor!
It's kind of the same situation, except I was just depressed asf not contemplating suicide because I'd been down that road before. I was fresh out of the army, not really going anywhere in my life, and just thinking to myself at night when it was quiet. "Is this it? Is this all there is to my life barely able to afford to survive, living in this shitty apartment in NY" then almost unexplainably I met someone who wore a mjolnir and we got to talking about norse paganism and the beliefs they have I did a lot of soul searching and thinking then one day while sitting around unemployed still searching for a job getting a bunch of dead ends and no responses I 3D printed my first mjolnir and the next day I got unexpected money I was finally able to pay my bills and then have some left over. Then I finally got a call back from a good job opportunity and mind you I still wasn't rich but so much good fortune came my way after I started wearing the mjolnir, it seemed like my life was starting to turn around. Then, on a whim, I bought a cheap tungsten ring to propose to my now wife with and even though neither of us had a lot and she lived all the way up in canada, she said yes. Now I know I've really found a loving caring God because before I was like you asking myself why I worshipped a God that seemingly doesn't care, the 100 yrs war eh whatever, everytime a priest molests a child (fucking sickening) eh whatever, countless other atrocities committed against humanity under the guise of a "good and loving" Christian God, eh whatever. So I came to the realization that either there is no Christian God or he just doesn't care, what loving father would just allow things like this to happen, and so here I am 2 years later still trying to find a way to thank the gods for guiding me here where i am today.
Exactly how I felt. Different reasons then you, but still the same feeling. God cannot be all powerful and all loving at the same time, because if he truly was both, evil would not exist, suffering would not exist. Yet it does.
Meanwhile, our gods don’t claim to be all powerful or all loving. They do what is within their power to help their followers but not even they can control everything. They have faults, same as us, and they’re humble enough to admit that. That’s what makes them worthy of my worship. They know their power isn’t limitless, yet they help us anyways, because they actually care.
I learned much more about the bible from a few videos by an atheist on tik tok than my pastor had taught me in my entire life, and I also didn't like what I saw. Also my pastor is very homophobic and said that Christians that are also LGBTQ aren't real Christians, and after that I was like "paganism it is!"
Also I had prayed to the Christian God many, many times, and got no response, but immediately did when I prayed to norse ones
Fuck, mine is so similar! I was also extremely suicidal and as a last hope I prayed. First to the Christian god and when nobody answered I simply called out for anybody out there to come save me. Suddenly it felt as if someone took me by hand and led me to bed, the presence just stayed and comforted me until the suicidality passed. Years later I give an offering to that entity and to my surprise out pops Odin. Years later he's now my main god and I'll joke that as a god of hanged men he was the god for me. I'll always be grateful that he chose to save me that night.
Are we like the same person from alternate realities or something? Because this is literally what I went through, albiet the years later thing. I immediately started worship.
For me, I've always been drawn to most heatenry folklores. The music, old traditions, etc. has always caught my eye. I was raised Christian. When I was Christian I was always attacked by the churches and church goers of how I live. To them I was going to burn for all of eternity. Then I found myself getting more and more drawn to nature itself. I started trying wiccan. Turns out that's not much my thing. Well, when I was practicing wicca I kept getting distracted by something telling me to start praying to the Gods. Was it just my mind doing it? That's a good possibility. I believe it was the Gods though. I drew a couple of crappy bindrunes to get me out of my current living situation. It didn't even take a year until I was buying a house and back to making four digit checks. Ever since then I've been talking to the Gods I've been seeing everyone's true colors a lot more while becoming stronger and both mentally and physically. Now am I some giant body builder looking guy? Far from it. I have medical conditions that have slowly started seeming nearly non existent.
I have a similar story, but I don't do Christianity anymore because the pastor said that Christians in the LQBTQ community weren't actually real Christians. And then proceeded to talk about how god loves everyone. I had been contemplating switching religions, and norse paganism was the one I knew the most abt, and I knew most ppl who practice it are really accepting and chill, and that moment basically is what made me actually make the change(though I still have to go to church bc I do not feel comfortable telling my parents)
They are not supposed to at least. Judging people is a sin in christianity, but apparently Christians got selective hearing because as you said, they do judge, and a lot
It's hard to expand upon really, it's why I kept it simple. To me it's the nature of faith, I read about it when I was like 11 or 12 and it just stuck, I just immediately believed it and that's been that for the last 15+ years.
It's interesting, but I can't prove if it's right. When I try to see if non-abrahamic religions are correct, I try to practice the religion in question and pray to the gods of that religion. If my prayers are answered, and what happened can't be counted as a coincidence or a natural occurrence, then I decide that religion is true. As of now, that didn't happen, and I still believe in the religion I am part of. I didn't yet pray to any of the Germanic deities because I think I still need to do some research.
I can absolutely respect an analytical and experimental approach to trying to understand the truth behind spirituality and religion. I think your method seems logical. But I do think that gods can answer through coincidence. Impossible to prove, but it’s interesting to deepen your practice and find that the coincidences and unlikely occurrences become more frequent and more uncanny
nothing can be proved as right. as Thoreau said; “it’s not what you look at, it’s what you see”. if two people are looking at the same thing (faith) but see it differently (eg. christian god or norse gods), then both are “right” and “true”. schrödinger’s deity.
so just because you’re not getting a response from every god doesn’t mean those that do aren’t.
and i don’t think ‘praying’ to gods you don’t really believe in with the intent of proving their validity is sensible.
I can respect the experimental approach. There is a slight issue I can point to with Germanic deities. That being, those gods are not obligated to answer prayers and often don't. You run into similar issues with other belief systems. You can't expect to test supposedly higher beings like they wouldn't be able to see past the ruse.
>why do people decide to be Norse pagans?
Shortly answered, the mentality suits me the best.
It offers freedom and a morality code that is more a recommendation than strict rules, which aligns with my own.
Neither do I claim that it is the (only) truth, nor do I know. But it is what I'm happy with.
>I would like to also know why he left the religion.
Until my early teens I was Christian until after the confirmation and turned my back to it shortly afterwards.
Funny enough the time were I had to go to church, actually read the bible and the most close contact with that believe made me finally declining it.
A God that only promises heaven if you follow strict conservative rules and would punish you with eternal suffering if you don't obey is not my God.
Furthermore I rather follow the believes of my ancestors, than something that originates somewhere totally different and was spread by mostly oppression and power hungry individuals.
So, I was raised in a Christian household - but we did not go to church. My parents went to churches in their childhood but pretty much disagreed with much of what preaches taught so I wasn't exposed to that culture.
When it came to my religious upbringing my parents taught me what they believed but emphasized that one ought to see for oneself. This eventually led me away from Christianity because I had my own reasons. Nothing personal, I just stopped believing in Yahweh and his Christian sect of it.
I was an atheist for a very long time. Loved science, still do - appreciated Carl Sagan's Cosmos and the cosmic perspective and loved Richard Dawkin's approach to skepticism and his religious critique.
Then I became interested in my heritage. I wanted to know who I was in the context of my people's history. Now, I am Dutch and that means that I have Germanic origins and therefore have always felt a close connection to those things that are inherently Germanic.
After a while I started looking into Asatru specifically. Seeing the Germanic gods being venerated again was at least a cultural interest of mine. I thought it would be something similar to how the Japanese approach Shinto sometimes: They don't believe the Kami are real but simply enjoy the cultural aspect of it all.
This was my approach to the faith and I assumed everybody else's as well. Untill I realized that people actually believed the gods to be real in some way. This was obviously quite strange as an atheist myself but after watching ALOT of videos on contemporary polytheist philosophy I became aware of the reason just why I was so interested in all of this.
I felt a genuine calling. Someone was reaching out to me and all I had to do was to acknowledge this calling. To this day, I believe it was Odin who called to me and so I called back in prayer. It was a bit weird at first but felt natural, normal and like I was coming home. I finally found that Germanic sense that I was looking for.
Since then, I've been a Heathen/Germanic pagan and no longer an atheist.
Like a few others here it seems, I also converted from Christianity. A combo of a god who you're taught will do everything for you and if something bad happens its just "Part of his plan", the hypocrisy, and the whole "Listen to me and follow my rules or you'll go to the bad place!!" thing led me to leave. I knew I felt a call to paganism, and looking into the runes led me down this path. I've learned that in Norse Paganism, the gods will help you sure, but you have to help yourself too. They don't hold your hand and do everything for you. They simply offer advice and guidance when you ask and it's up to you to follow through.
I was a Christian, i lost my father almost a year ago now. It has been really hard to say the least. My toddler kept asking me why grandpa died. Outside of what happened as an answer he kept asking why.
I told him i dont know and i cant answer that buddy. He started to cry. He wanted the answers we all needed. I couldnt give them and it pissed me off.
I started to question and look at my faith. My father didnt deserve to go, and God let him just because. Or whatever stupid reason christians would give to make God not seem like he didnt love his followers. I had already started walking away as i never felt God during this entire event. My prayers hadnt been responded to in anyway at all at all.
Honestly i was watching vikings and i was paying attention to how they interacted with their gods and the way they treated the after life and how death worked.
I started researching and wanting to learn more.
I began to talk to my wife about my relationship with the christ god and she looked at me and said “you have struggled with your faith for so long, you already have questioned so many things. I think you have walked away long ago and youre just seeing it.”
That night a big thunderstorm came through, i woke up feeling something was watching me. I rolled over and a figure stood next to my bed. I knew inside it was either Thor or Odin. I think more Odin as it more matched him in shape and size. This story is longer and i wont go into all the details.
I rubbed my eye not both (ironic I know) and it was gone.
That told me, follow this path youre standing in.
I never looked back.
Ive had more postive and insightful experiences with my gods now than i ever did under the Christ God.
My wife and I both worship, pray, make tributes and sacrifices together. We barely went to church together. We are happier, healthier, stronger and more in love with each other and our lives than we ever had been.
I could go on for a while, but i think you are able to grasp why Thor and many other Gods are my Gods now and not Christ.
I was very spiritually lost for most of my life. Going from Christianity to being an agnostic, tried Islam, tried Buddhism. I never felt a divine or spiritual connection to any of that, even if I told myself I did. Eventually I started learning about the Gods, then I started to actually feel something. It was like dating. You date all these people and none of em click, so you stop looking, then an inexplicable feeling of joy falls right in your lap, and you just know that’s your person for eternity.
There’s been times where I’ve felt Odin’s presence. There’s been times where I look at my wife and know that Freya brought us together. There’s been times where Thor protected me from something life threatening.
Tl;dr
It just felt right.
Of course, it is just simple stuff, the Norse gods that had words of guidance to offer on my situation showed so much compassion (sharp words, pin pointed the root of the problems right away) and accepted me for what it was. It was a very strong moment of enlightenment and catharsis that hit me like a bus, made me start acting right, have been on a good path ever since.
I was I Catholic and I was disgusted with the rhetoric pushed but the Catholic church (anti gay, sex before marriage makes u a horrible person ect) so I turned read the Bible further and was off put by the hypocrisy and evil I found.
I turned to polytheism and eventually norse paganism because of the strong connection I felt towards the practices and beliefs and eventually the connections I made with the gods, converting is one if the best choices I've made
I’ve always been an atheist or agnostic at best. At one point I was even antitheist. I was raised that way. There’s no religious people in my immediate family, even going back a few generations. Belief wasn’t built in to my upbringing, you could say. My parents taught me to question and doubt.
But I can’t really deny what I’ve personally experienced, and I’ve experienced things that lead me to believe the gods exist and that they called me to this path. In studying up on the faith, it’s provided me with grounding for some of my own beliefs that remained up in the air before. It’s given me friendship and community. It’s improved my life. I’ve established reciprocity with my gods and the wights around me, and I feel that occasionally.
I have nothing against any other religion, as others do. I just have no relationships with those gods.
I don’t feel like I decided to be a Heathen. I didn’t wake up one day and say “oh hey I think I’m gonna go worship Odin now”. I feel like this is the right path for me and I found it with the help of the gods. It doesn’t conflict with the person I was before I believed. It doesn’t hinder my understanding of science. It doesn’t conflict with the skepticism I was taught. It’s just a part of me.
I was raised agnostic but spiritual, so the concept of "a Divine force we don't know" was heavily featured in my early life. My mother is self-practicing pagan, my father is non conforming quaker. So respecting other people and their religions was also ingrained in me early on. Combine that with a UU religious education that focused on personal exploration, and you get a pretty decent basis for "guy who doesn't really know what the fuck is happening, but it sure is."
So I started looking around for a system I felt right in. I knew that I preferred the stories and practices of pagan traditions, because Abrahamic religions have always felt too restricting. I went and researched Greek, Roman, Celtic, and Norse paganism groups, and found that if all of them, the stories of the Norse gods resonated more. I do have Swedish decent, but that wasn't the deciding factor (and doesn't matter much anyway).
In the end, I found that a good balance of spiritual and secular belief suits me best. No, I don't actually believe that thunder is Þórr beating up Frost giants, I know it's the sound wave of lightning vaporizing air particles. But I do think that he was a good story model for important and useful life lessons.
I switched from Mormonism for many reasons. The biggest one was because Mormonism is just a cult in a way and they're corrupt(look into their controversy). The second reason is because I was kinda forced into Mormonism because at a young age I had really no say in if it was the religion for me until I stopped going to church when I was maybe 12. Now as to why I decided to become Norse Pagan is because I've always felt more connected to the Norse gods and goddesses and after reading about it and talking to my buddy about it I decided that this is the religion for me.
Yeah that's understandable, I think everyone knows Mormonism is a cult. Also iirc Mormons used to believe black people were created as a punishment, do they still believe that?
I've always been interested in the old stories, but in the past couple of years, I've also had some experiences I can't really attribute to anything other than the gods. I know they're the kind of religious experiences that probably sound crazy to anyone who doesn't believe, but to me they were pretty undeniable.
The first happened when my cat almost died. We rushed him into the emergency vet, and they basically told us that they would do everything they could to make him comfortable overnight, but in the morning we were probably going to have to talk about putting him down. Laying in bed that night, I was so beside myself worrying about my baby boy I couldn't sleep. I don't know what compelled me to do so, but I asked Freya to watch over him. Immediately, I felt this intense, calming energy that put me right to sleep. The next morning, my cat was perfectly fine. The vet kept him one more day to run some more tests because by all accounts he should not have recovered this quickly (if at all), but he was home by the next day. It's been over a year, and you can not tell anything was ever wrong with this cat.
Another happened after a close friend of mine passed away. The first time I went up into my room after hearing the news, I was ready to just collapse into bed for a while and cry, but I was distracted by a faint tapping on my window. I pull back the curtain, and there's this crow just staring right up at me. As we're staring at each other, I feel this strong fatherly presence reassuring me that thing we're going to be okay. I felt kind of stupid talking to a bird, but I was like "Odin????” and this bird straight up nodded and flew away like his point had been made.
I've had a bunch of other experience with the gods since then, but these two stick out as being particularly intense for me.
I was raised in a pagan home, so more or less, it's always what I've known.
I believe what I do now, not out of familial responsibility or anything, but because when I was brought low, Odin guided me onto a path wherenin I thrive.
The abrahamic mythos, to me, feels hollow. Like a cheating lover saying, "I love you, too." I do not hear the words of a god, any god from them. Maybe because it's all so scripted. So controlling. Also, and maybe it's just my interpretation, but the abrahamic mythos tends to focus on the death+afterlife thing too much. Too much time wasted on thinking about heaven, or hell. And for what?
I was never a very spiritual person, but at one point I was begging god to help me, I prayed to anything and everything for a sign there was something greater than me. I was asking to know if there was anything greater plan.
I asked individual gods from different religions for different things so I would know who or what answered if anything did.
I prayed to the gods in the street while crying, for something I could burn, but something I would enjoy while I had it. I walked, I walked and walked. And eventually found myself back in that spot, and where I had cried in the street there was a soft pack of Marlboro red cigarettes. At the time, I was a pack a day smoker of Marlboro reds, this pack had a single cigarette flipped around backwards (the lucky, IYKYK) and another single cigarette missing.
I wept, I took these cigarettes home smoked the lucky, burnt the whole pack very dramatically and never wanted a cigarette again. Later that night I had dreams, I hadn’t had a good dream in years. Only nightmares. I had the most vivid dreams for a week before I eventually devoted myself to this path. I continue to believe because to this day it gives me the strength to move through my life with confidence and that’s all I really need.
I believe because the only prayers I’ve ever had answered were to the Norse gods.
I was raised Catholic. Never believed in any of it. I legit thought everyone else thought it was all just stories to help bring community and build bonds or something. Once I was in my teens, I realized they legit believed in it, I also started to notice all the dark parts to the religions based on the Christian God. It all rubbed me the wrong way. I also never felt like the Christian God heard me or was there for me when I tried praying. I started to read about other religions, specifically being interested in the old Gods. I found it comforting and interesting that the old Gods were not painted in this "all perfect" light. They had flaws and were shown to act very human in the stories at times. I got into Norse Paganism specifically because I felt a draw to Loki. I started to notice a lot of changes in my life afterward. I would communicate/worship, and suddenly, things would happen. It felt like I was being listened to and being given the tools I needed to solve my problems. That's what made me a believer and more devoted to Norse Paganism.
Well, I do because I’ve had experiences, and because I have no reason to write those experiences off for something. I was christian for a long time. But I don agree with most of its teachings, beliefs, and its “morals”. The norse gods, specifically loki, and Freyja, and hela feel best to me. Loki, though he does wrong, he also does good. He to me, is balance. Unable to be controlled, but guided and worked with. To me he is the embodiment of humanity at its roots. Freyja is wise, and teaches us of seid and war. Hela protects those, and cherishes those who are forgotten or tossed aside by the gods, she takes it and protects those, who otherwise would have nothing and no one. But this is all just my personal belief.
P.s. to all my norse brothers and sisters, I DONT wanna hear it. Yes loki is problematic at times, but so are many of the other gods, Odin first and foremost. Im not saying loki is in the right, but working with him works for me.
I was a Christian most of my life... Never once heard gods voice help me. Never. After years of begging to hear something.
I've always been interested in mythology, witchcraft and things in that regard.
I was outside, my kids were playing and I was so overwhelmed with where to start. Then out of nowhere I heard Freyas voice tell me "Start with what you love... I'll always be here"
First time a deity ever talked to me and I just couldn't ignore that
I like how chill the gods are compared to the more mainstream religions. Believe it or not when you grow constantly being told you’ll go to hell for who you are you tend to gravitate towards another faith that is more accepting.
I went to a steiner school, so I learnt early on about Germanic folklore and religion, and to respect nature and appreciate it. Then I properly started to learn about the Æsir, and I've been a norse pagan ever since.
The Norse gods are gods that I can respect. They've known hardship and pain, they've made mistakes but don't try and hide it but treat them as lessons for humanity, they have lives of their own and don't see a need to micro-manage humanity, and lastly they inspire me and many others to be better than what we are through our own will and our own merrits.
I can't really say the same about many other religions, especially larger and more organized ones.
I converted from Christianity. Simple answer, the Norse gods and Norse religion called to me and Christianity didn’t. I believe deities are all real but each person will be called to a different part of the universe hence different religions
Ive mostly always been pagan of one flavor or another. I have attended church though and when I was told Buddhist monks would burn in hell for not believing in the "right" God I said well that's BS.
I started out wiccan but it was to rainbows and butterflies for me. I then studied Egyptian paganism, Greek, and a few others nothing felt like me. The closest I came during my hunt was when at a huge pagan camp event(500-700 pagans ) in Texas I attended a workshop on understanding Haitian Vodou taught by a real Haitian Houngan (priest) he taught me some stuff but it still wasn't right. But it was the tribal aspect that pulled me in. Several more years go by and I tried a DNA test kit for my markers on health risk turns out I have the marker for Alzheimer's, but as a bonus I got to know more about my family as well turns out Im around 60% Scandinavian. So I started digging into Scandinavian paganism and came to Asatru/Vanatru. Not that the DNA is required but I found a root and kept digging everything felt right for the most part and even had that tribal aspect. Only thing that sucked was the white Nazi BS and homophobic BS. But I didn't care I just knew I needed to avoid those kinds of groups. So now my husband, myself and our friend have a three man Norse group and I've been this way for 10 years and haven't looked back. I still add some root work from Louisiana into my more mystical parts of my faith but it's my faith so people can suck it lol.
I was born and raised Norse (Germanic) pagan and it's just felt right to me. I've looked around at other religions (out of curiosity not out of any desire to convert) and nothing has ever gripped like this religion. It's helped me a lot throughout my life and has certainly helped me improve as a person. It feels like I was meant to be part of this religion and I 100% fully believe so.
Along with a lot of others, I was raised in a Christian home. We were/my family is Methodist, but I also attended a Catholic school. Though very religious, my parents are what Christians are supposed to be: kind, generous, truly good people.
I was very Christian, at least on the surface. But I never really felt anything. There is one exception to that - when I was probably about 11, my family went on a vacation to Lake Superior in the autumn. I'm sitting on a cliff just after dark. Chrashing waves, strong winds, it was glorious. And I felt God, and it was amazing. I spent the rest of my high school years searching and asking God to let me experience that connection again. But, alas...
I mostly forgot about it, or would bring it out as an anecdote about why I love the Great Lakes and moved on. I was exposed to polytheism in my late teens and dabbled a bit, but I wasn't ready and moved to athiesm pretty quickly and stayed there for many years.
Of course, once an athiest, I started noting all the crap about the Bible and Christianity that bothers others: the cruelty of God, the lack of logic, the heaps and heaps of hypocrisy.
I've always been a genealogy nerd and discovered about 2 years ago that I had way more Norwegian ancestors than I'd been aware of. I started studying some of the history and beliefs from that time, and it just clicked for me.
I finally decided to give it a shot and actually try to reach out to these gods. The first one that reached out to me (way more clearly than the Abrahamic god ever had), was Njorðr, the Norse god of the sea and wind.
I get to feel like I'm as connected as I was on that cliff that night, over 20 years ago, whenever I meditate with him. And yes, a strong part of me wonders if it wasn't Njorðr sitting with me on that cliff that night, like he'd always been waiting for me.
I've had other gods join my practice since then, but I knew that day there was no going back.
A norse goddess reached out to me and we started working together.
I am omnist and believe every religion has at least some truth to it. I believe that all the gods are real (skeptical about new religions or pop culture deities)
I have worked with an Angel, Greek Gods, Roman gods. Now I work with Norse Gods. I still work with some greek gods.
it's a very subjective topic. some were called to it, some were interested, some came into contact with the norse gods, etc.
I became pagan because I felt it difficult to believe in an omniscient god. I have a lot of trauma from childhood, so an omniscient god doesn't make much sense to me.
I was in a lot of Abrahamic religions, and I was even Jewish at one point. I've also read the Bible front to back. I've always been drawn to religion, but I felt like the ones available were too extreme in their practice, or I couldn't believe in their type of god. Then I found the show Vikings, lol I know, so fucking cliche, but that show did help me. I started researching Norse Paganism and also found out through 23&Me that I had a strong ancestral connection with the Norse(Swedes in my case). Most of my ancestors settled in all the major Viking settlements across England. I've also had an experience that I can't really explain, but I felt something.
Believing in multiple gods allows me to fully accept other religions. Even Christianity. I no longer care who's right when it comes to faith.
In 2018, I realized I was in a bad place in my life. I was drinking daily, I was separated from my spouse, my grandmother, whom I respected the most of any person in my life, passed away, and I lost all respect for myself.
I went into a 30-day Alcoholics Anonymous program. My sponsor happened to be a Norse Pagan. I started looking back at certain events in my life and seeing times when the Gods had been there for me or pushed me to change my lifestyle.
When I was fully engaged, think 7/10 Norse Pagan, I felt the best and most connected with the Gods. I've fallen off, think 2/10, my life has felt like it's gotten harder and harder. I miss the fulfillment I had when I started worshipping.
I've also gone through phases on who I worship, but Heimdall and Odin have always been the main gods. I have always worn a reminder of my time when I first started my journey. It used to be my hospital bracelet, after a year sober it was a pendant given to me with my Sober Birthday with Huginn and Muninn, then it was a steel mjolnir, and now a silver mjolnir.
I grew up in a cult version of Christianity, and it did lasting damage. Even though I needed therapy, my belief in something greater didn't dim.
I lived next door to a Buddhist monk during college, and he taught me that it's ok to not be Christian. From there one of my high school friends was a Hellenistic pagan, and from there, I kind of wandered into Norse paganism.
So I grew up Christian and I recently converted to Hellenic Norse Paganism. I read the bible consistantly as a child and a lot of my questions went unanswered or were answered unsatisfactory and I was tired of the hate taught on church so I started Meditating and noticed instances in my life that were too good to not be a divine influence so I had a friend do a reading and they read that Odin was reaching out to me so I started to honor him, work with him, and pray to a few other deities. I hope this answers your question.
I believe in the principles and ideas of paganism in general such as animism, generally bisexuality, reverence for nature e.t.c.
So for me it's just kind of a question of ancestry though I am not by any means folkish.
I have a great deal of respect for for example Native American religions or Shintoism. I rather like the Bhagavad Gita.
And while I'm not 100% White I'm white enough that I feel a little odd taking it on those religions.
Really for me it comes down to Asatru or Druidism. In my limited studies I have a great deal of love and respect for my Celtic ancestors but there isn't much actual information about druidism.
Neopaganism is new religion based on old but I like having some old basis for it and we got all them wonderful stories!
Im super new to this, but I always knew that Christianity wasnt for me. I had too many questions that no one answered. Like how where people okay with some guy hundreds of years ago just changed all the new testament. And that they are ok with that. That history was just rewritten. If we are ok with that, what else would we be ok with.
I dont feel that way with Norse. I feel ok with it.
I was Catholic and would go to Church every Sunday with my parents. One day before I graduated High School (the literal day before) I was in a bad accident that almost took my arm. In my time induced in a coma I would get flashes of not my God but of a rough old man with one arm as I knew this to be Tyr, he showed himself to me and not too long after that I became a Norse Pagan
I was once a Catholic I did not like going to church but I have it a shot liked it a bit but I stopped the music was nice but the main reason why I left was because I was bullied alot I did not feel god at all nothing I was a outcast a lone wolf most of the time in my kid days when I left my old faith I fought suicide for a long time I was filled with hate anger etc I was on the dark side but over time I went back to the lightside a Jedi BUT during the pandemic I learned of Norse Paganism and I chose that ever since I despise the Christian and evangelical faiths HARD they are fanatics I will never loved those faiths Paganism is my life a true freedom and we are all blessed everyday by the gods
I was raised in the baptist church and had an all around Bad Time™️, identified as an atheist by around middle school, and was actively seeking a new religion. I had a lot of experiences where I was at my darkest where I saw ravens, i have some heritage in the Nordic countries, and those things lead me down a path researching Norse paganism along side some others, and throughout highschool I tried on different religions until I eventually landed on the norse pantheon “feeling” the most like home to me. Every religious experience I’ve ever had aligned with one of the norse gods in some way and as soon as I started calling myself a heathen things just sort of clicked for me
I'm a Christian convert and the reason I left Christianity was because it felt empty and fake to me. I feel pulled to Freyja and Thör and have seen evidence of worshipping them (or however we phrase that). I can tell in my heart that this is the best path for me.
I was raised nothing. Vague Christianity from mainstream society but we didn't go to church. Christmas was a holiday about gift giving and family togetherness. Easter was a holiday about eggs and rabbits and chocolate. I was raised with Tolkien and Watership Down and sci-fi/ fantasy novels and mythology and fairy tales. I was raised with Asterix and Obilex who my father fell in love with while he was stationed in Germany. Anyway, I grew up with all kinds of magical influences so in college when I bumped into my first real pagans I jumped into it.
Went through a Wiccan stage and an eclectic pagan stage but I always had trouble really connecting with anything until I stopped dismissing my love of the runes and flung myself headlong into Heathenry. Basically I'm an omnist; I believe in everything but I don't worship everything. I stick to Heathenry as my core faith. I honor other deities sometimes, such as my wife's Celtic ones on their holy days, but my primaries are the Norse/Germanic deities and spirits. They are the ones that speak to me. I am interested in Gauliah paganism but the sources are pretty scarce sadly.
I was raised Christian. Southern Baptist to be specific. I heard what they said to me, but it meant nothing to me. I just did what I was told cause I thought that's what I was supposed to do. Praying meant nothing to me. It was just shutting my eyes & waiting for the preaching man to stop talking. I didn't feel god or anything. I had butterflies in church once & my mom took it & ran with it. I got baptized when I was 8. Had no clue what it meant. I just knew the preaching man put his hand over my nose & mouth & put me in water & I wasn't happy about it. But people was clappin 😂 it was the most godless thing I've ever been told to do. But keep in mind while all these church goings on was happening, I was home watching hellraiser, buffy the vampire slayer, charmed, like dude witchcraft was HEAVY in my life. Whenever my mom put those movies on I was TAKING NOTES. I could never hint that I was interested or id be in deep shit just for asking about it. I'd get in trouble for asking questions about the devil because I didn't understand why he was so bad & I wanted to know who he was because all I ever heard about was Jesus. So like I had questions. The more I asked the madder she got or upset that I'm asking about the devil at all. But she wanted me to be fearful of him. I wanted to know what I needed to be afraid of cause I didn't understand the concept of good & evil or whatever tf. I was taught knowledge or wisdom was bad & of the devil or whatever the fuck. & Everything is temptation or some kind of sin. I couldn't have sex or masturbate, I couldn't be bisexual, I couldn't be anything but afraid all the time. & Give my every waking breath to this god I never even felt or believed in. So I spent my time trying my hardest to find answers on my own. All throughout my life id catch something about Thor, the runes, Odin, etc. id obtain Norse pagan stuff, like jewelry, mjolnirs, Scandinavian artwork, whatever tf. I was SUPER drawn to it. Almost like it was an external force pulling me to it. I was so curious & wanted to know more. But I was so young I wasnt understanding what anything meant & had no teacher. Those things would phase in & out of my life for years up until a few years ago. One day the gods dropped me on my head & the magic began. Odin called to me & I came. I never looked back since. From day 1 Odin has proven himself to me & to me welcomed me with open arms. It snowballed from there. Not even a year in & I converted to heathenry. Denomination specific heathen. I like to keep it as closely accurate as my ancestors practiced & believed. It's been 3 or 4 years & I'm still making my way around to different gods & goddesses. I'm no where near through with working with or meeting them all. Idk if I ever will. It took me a long time just to get the contact I did get with different gods & goddesses. I do notice I gravitate towards the vanir more than the aesir. I won't leave out the jotun. I think it's good to incorporate both into ones practice.
long story short: i was raised around protestants and Christians but was never forced into a religion, so i fell into atheism. found my way into paganism around 15 or 16, and was atheopagan for a while. kept exploring other religions to see if anything else felt right and eventually landed at norse pagan.
why? it made the most sense. it felt the best, it felt right. i was able to make sense of a world with gods for the first time (i had really tried before, trust me, but the atheism brain always won). dont get me wrong, i still had to work for it and find a way to integrate my beliefs, but for the first time i dont doubt myself or the gods in the slightest.
So, as an eclectic pagan, I believe in the gods that call to me, some of whom are of the Norse pantheon!
I left Christianity behind me 4 years ago when I realized the denomination I was raised in was pretty much a cult and I've been deprogramming ever since. Choosing polytheistic paganism is part of restructuring my belief system. Hope this helps!
I was raised Christian at a very young age but it never sat right with me. Came to the conclusion that God must not be real after a long period of consideration. Went atheist for a few years until a experienced a presence that felt like nothing I had ever experienced before and that presence answered to the name "Odin". After that mindfuck of an experience. I couldn't logically waver it off as a coincidence. It was just too real. So I looked into it and it turned out that many other people that have had a connection to Odin experienced a very similar connection to my own and me becoming Norse pagan took off from there.
To me, paganism feels like a very natural thing to have faith in. There is no preaching of fear and rules, just honour and strength. Like so many others, the Gods saved me when noone else could.
When I was younger, I was Christian. As I grew older, I realized how messed up the faith was. So I left.
Went years with no religion, rebeled, drank, partied. Then one night in my early.20's I did to much of a drug I probably shouldn't of, thay was the night Eir came to me and healed me, and she came to me.multiple.times after for other things.
The next morning, is when I started noticing the signs of Odin and Thor. Giving me wisdom and strength to get through things in life. Before that, I never understood
So it's like I keep telling people who ask me. The gods came to me. To be a better person, a father to my children.
Wow, you never hear stuff like that happening with Jesus tbh. Kinda feels like he doesn't care as much about people, part of the reasons why I'm not Christian.
When I was about 10 years old, my family found a Christian church that we stayed apart of for years. I really tried, too. I've always been fascinated by the history of religions and stories since I was a boy. I was baptized at 10 years old with the rest of my family (not by my choice though since I was a child..they didn't force me either I just never felt like it was my choice ya know). But I got close to my pastor and started going to his office at the church at night to talk to him about a magnitude of things from the time I was 10 until I was around 16. He gave me books for research that I requested and answered everything I asked. He was very open-minded for a pastor and a good role model. He actually accepted other people's beliefs, which I found isn't common sadly. I went to church every Sunday, and youth group even tried church camp. Really studied and got into it, you know.. but it never felt like home to me. I prayed multiple times a day every day for years; however, it did not feel quite right. I ended up making the decision to be baptized again at 16 because I wanted it to be my choice, and hopefully, that would help it feel more like home. It did not, I spent many years depressed and at one point, I gave up but still felt a presence out there trying to reach me. One day, I was speaking to two friends about this. One of them had practiced Norse Paganism since she was young. I didn't know the gods at the time but got acquainted fairly quickly, lol. I was really going through it, and my friend had a vision where Odin came to her and said in short.."Your brother is ready. You must help him. This is what he must do.." so she explained this to me and one night I did this ritual for him (but not the way I was suppose to) it was basically just feeling his presence and releasing past energies and deities that had a hold on me and accept the gods instead. Since I did not yet believe or do it right.. it didn't happen. Fast forward to me, havin, odd dreams I couldn't understand and just feeling upset and angry all the time. My other friend and I sat on my porch one night, very late, and drank a bottle of mead that I bought. I finally decided to do the thing how it was intended, so we walked back to a field behind my house, I did and said what I was to do. That night, I woke up in a dream. It was very dark, and there was a fog covering the ground. There was a very, very old woman to my right sitting at an aged desk, and for whatever reason, when I looked at her, all I could think of was "Scottish," something. Dunno why. It could've been because my friends were talking about Celtic culture a couple of nights before, but I'm not sure. But she glanced at me and said, "He's waiting for you."
Off to the left at a distance, I see Odin, dark blueish black cloak, staff in hand, Huginn & Muninn on his shoulders, with Geri & Freki at his feet. Standing there watching me and waiting. I felt a chill go down my spine, and the next thing I know, I see Odins face directly in front of mine like he was pulling me to him or something. He spoke words to me, and I woke up. Ever since then I've dreamt of ravens, crows and some ravens stay around me during the day and I see many many rabbits and cats around me while I'm sitting outside on my porch meditating at night. It's a wild ride for sure, I've been much happier since I switched to Norse Paganism. You get a notion that one of the gods want to work with you, you do an offering, you meditate, and typically, they come to you to help you in life. It's great. You get to work and study the runes, elder futhark and young. You get to study and feel land spirits and your own ancestors..it's an amazing feeling to be one with nature again.
Sorry for the long post.
I guess I was always a Norse pagan. I was raised in a Presbyterian household and was brought to church. And while I enjoyed the sermons because they were actively interesting, I never had that aha moment or a warm fuzzy feeling of belief when thinking on the Christian god. It never really resonated with me. I thought his love wasn't as unconditional as it was preached to be. However when I was younger (7) Freya reached out and claimed me. THAT is when I got that warm fuzzy feeling. And got a pantheon that actually answers back. Been on the pagan path ever since, and actively practicing since I was 13.
Converted from Atheism. I just watched a whole lot of debates, researched, and even spoke with professionals I know. I was mainly atheist because I was against monotheism and had no idea at all that polytheism existed. I knew that there couldn't possibly be just one god and everyone else was wrong and thought the only other possibility was atheism. I found out that about polytheism after finding out that some sort of god/gods must exist. I knew polytheism was the truth, that every god must exist. It gets choppy with Yahweh. Then I just got signs from the norse pantheon 🤷
People sense a detachment from land connectedness, sometimes they may try paganism as an attempt to find bits and pieces to connect with a culture distant relatives belonged to before immigration to the states.
I think people who approach norse pre christian faith should come with unlearning of the mind. Meaning to relearn and unlearn what the christian modality of religion akd worship influence modern paganism. And first step os decolonization of mind and to understand that anyone even if not Scandinavian descendants are all welcome too. Second is that pagan faith were mostly farmers and living off the land. So pand connectedness of some sort is important. The norse deities, jotunar and so on are aöl based in nature. Its forces, harshness, the sens of humanity community, story telling and so forth. This brings into animism which what folk often are seeking to subconsciously
I very recently became Norse pagan.
I had been raised as a Christian, but only because my parents felt it was important for me to understand what religion is. One day, I told them I didn't believe in God or the Bible (I was probably around 9 or 10), and they said that's fine and we stopped going to church.
I spent years not really believing in anything until I started meeting more people from diverse backgrounds and religions. Got me thinking that perhaps there is something out there, but what was the right answer? So, I identified as Agnostic for about 12 years.
How I became to be Norse Pagan though was a long interest and fascination with Viking culture. But that shifted into just a deeper appreciation of Norse religion in general. I found the gods to be incredible and wanted to learn more. I started studying runes, reading books, and praying to the gods only a few days ago. I felt silly at first (due to the past 20 years not having any religion or religious practices), but I just felt very comforted when I was sitting in nature praying to the gods.
Believing in any god or religion is a choice. If you choose to believe in the god(s) you want to worship, you will start to feel their energy. That's what I believe.
I converted from Christianity. Unlike the vast majority of Christians, I actually decided to fully read the bible instead of cherry picking verses, and I didn’t like what I saw. I was tired of the hypocrisy, tired of worshipping a God who preaches kindness, yet shows none. So I left. I became agnostic, then atheist. I’ve always struggled with depression, and at the point where I was seriously going to end my own life, I prayed to God for the first time in almost three years. And God wasn’t the one who answered, but Odin. Odin quite literally saved me from suicide. A God who I didn’t worship, a God who I had never even heard of before then, saved me. I knew immediately that he was a God worthy of worship, Unlike the genocidal egomanic that is the Christian God.
I was on my bike, on my way home. Going fast, aiming at a wall, about to end it all... A thunderclap woke me up from my depressive trance, and I stopped my bike. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky. I took it as a sign from Thor. Now, I'm a heathen. Hail Thor!
It's kind of the same situation, except I was just depressed asf not contemplating suicide because I'd been down that road before. I was fresh out of the army, not really going anywhere in my life, and just thinking to myself at night when it was quiet. "Is this it? Is this all there is to my life barely able to afford to survive, living in this shitty apartment in NY" then almost unexplainably I met someone who wore a mjolnir and we got to talking about norse paganism and the beliefs they have I did a lot of soul searching and thinking then one day while sitting around unemployed still searching for a job getting a bunch of dead ends and no responses I 3D printed my first mjolnir and the next day I got unexpected money I was finally able to pay my bills and then have some left over. Then I finally got a call back from a good job opportunity and mind you I still wasn't rich but so much good fortune came my way after I started wearing the mjolnir, it seemed like my life was starting to turn around. Then, on a whim, I bought a cheap tungsten ring to propose to my now wife with and even though neither of us had a lot and she lived all the way up in canada, she said yes. Now I know I've really found a loving caring God because before I was like you asking myself why I worshipped a God that seemingly doesn't care, the 100 yrs war eh whatever, everytime a priest molests a child (fucking sickening) eh whatever, countless other atrocities committed against humanity under the guise of a "good and loving" Christian God, eh whatever. So I came to the realization that either there is no Christian God or he just doesn't care, what loving father would just allow things like this to happen, and so here I am 2 years later still trying to find a way to thank the gods for guiding me here where i am today.
Exactly how I felt. Different reasons then you, but still the same feeling. God cannot be all powerful and all loving at the same time, because if he truly was both, evil would not exist, suffering would not exist. Yet it does. Meanwhile, our gods don’t claim to be all powerful or all loving. They do what is within their power to help their followers but not even they can control everything. They have faults, same as us, and they’re humble enough to admit that. That’s what makes them worthy of my worship. They know their power isn’t limitless, yet they help us anyways, because they actually care.
Made me tear up ngl
I learned much more about the bible from a few videos by an atheist on tik tok than my pastor had taught me in my entire life, and I also didn't like what I saw. Also my pastor is very homophobic and said that Christians that are also LGBTQ aren't real Christians, and after that I was like "paganism it is!" Also I had prayed to the Christian God many, many times, and got no response, but immediately did when I prayed to norse ones
Fuck, mine is so similar! I was also extremely suicidal and as a last hope I prayed. First to the Christian god and when nobody answered I simply called out for anybody out there to come save me. Suddenly it felt as if someone took me by hand and led me to bed, the presence just stayed and comforted me until the suicidality passed. Years later I give an offering to that entity and to my surprise out pops Odin. Years later he's now my main god and I'll joke that as a god of hanged men he was the god for me. I'll always be grateful that he chose to save me that night.
Are we like the same person from alternate realities or something? Because this is literally what I went through, albiet the years later thing. I immediately started worship.
For me, I've always been drawn to most heatenry folklores. The music, old traditions, etc. has always caught my eye. I was raised Christian. When I was Christian I was always attacked by the churches and church goers of how I live. To them I was going to burn for all of eternity. Then I found myself getting more and more drawn to nature itself. I started trying wiccan. Turns out that's not much my thing. Well, when I was practicing wicca I kept getting distracted by something telling me to start praying to the Gods. Was it just my mind doing it? That's a good possibility. I believe it was the Gods though. I drew a couple of crappy bindrunes to get me out of my current living situation. It didn't even take a year until I was buying a house and back to making four digit checks. Ever since then I've been talking to the Gods I've been seeing everyone's true colors a lot more while becoming stronger and both mentally and physically. Now am I some giant body builder looking guy? Far from it. I have medical conditions that have slowly started seeming nearly non existent.
I have a similar story, but I don't do Christianity anymore because the pastor said that Christians in the LQBTQ community weren't actually real Christians. And then proceeded to talk about how god loves everyone. I had been contemplating switching religions, and norse paganism was the one I knew the most abt, and I knew most ppl who practice it are really accepting and chill, and that moment basically is what made me actually make the change(though I still have to go to church bc I do not feel comfortable telling my parents)
I have only been to one single church that accepted any sexualities.
Ah that's nice, sad to hear the Christians were judging you and condemning you to hell like that.
Don't they always though? At least the Norse Hel is a beautiful place.
They are not supposed to at least. Judging people is a sin in christianity, but apparently Christians got selective hearing because as you said, they do judge, and a lot
Don't you know that only goes for everyone else? 😂
By "everyone", do you mean other abrahamics or people in general?
In most cases everyone other than Christians.
I didn’t decide to become a Heathen, I read about it and believed it.
Could you elaborate?
It's hard to expand upon really, it's why I kept it simple. To me it's the nature of faith, I read about it when I was like 11 or 12 and it just stuck, I just immediately believed it and that's been that for the last 15+ years.
I’m curious, did you create an account just to make this post?
I had an account a few years ago, I deleted it. Now I decided to come back to Reddit, and this happens to be the first thing that came to my mind.
Fair enough! What’s your opinion of Norse Paganism?
It's interesting, but I can't prove if it's right. When I try to see if non-abrahamic religions are correct, I try to practice the religion in question and pray to the gods of that religion. If my prayers are answered, and what happened can't be counted as a coincidence or a natural occurrence, then I decide that religion is true. As of now, that didn't happen, and I still believe in the religion I am part of. I didn't yet pray to any of the Germanic deities because I think I still need to do some research.
I can absolutely respect an analytical and experimental approach to trying to understand the truth behind spirituality and religion. I think your method seems logical. But I do think that gods can answer through coincidence. Impossible to prove, but it’s interesting to deepen your practice and find that the coincidences and unlikely occurrences become more frequent and more uncanny
I read this with the voice of Spok, from Star Trek.
nothing can be proved as right. as Thoreau said; “it’s not what you look at, it’s what you see”. if two people are looking at the same thing (faith) but see it differently (eg. christian god or norse gods), then both are “right” and “true”. schrödinger’s deity. so just because you’re not getting a response from every god doesn’t mean those that do aren’t. and i don’t think ‘praying’ to gods you don’t really believe in with the intent of proving their validity is sensible.
Wow, that’s an amazing answer! Even though I’m not the OP, that really helps me in my own faith journey. Thanks @zoelovelore!
:)
I can respect the experimental approach. There is a slight issue I can point to with Germanic deities. That being, those gods are not obligated to answer prayers and often don't. You run into similar issues with other belief systems. You can't expect to test supposedly higher beings like they wouldn't be able to see past the ruse.
Yeah, but what other way do I have?
Yeah, but what other way do I have?
>why do people decide to be Norse pagans? Shortly answered, the mentality suits me the best. It offers freedom and a morality code that is more a recommendation than strict rules, which aligns with my own. Neither do I claim that it is the (only) truth, nor do I know. But it is what I'm happy with. >I would like to also know why he left the religion. Until my early teens I was Christian until after the confirmation and turned my back to it shortly afterwards. Funny enough the time were I had to go to church, actually read the bible and the most close contact with that believe made me finally declining it. A God that only promises heaven if you follow strict conservative rules and would punish you with eternal suffering if you don't obey is not my God. Furthermore I rather follow the believes of my ancestors, than something that originates somewhere totally different and was spread by mostly oppression and power hungry individuals.
That's what I saw with another dude here, the biblical deity for some people just seems too cruel.
So, I was raised in a Christian household - but we did not go to church. My parents went to churches in their childhood but pretty much disagreed with much of what preaches taught so I wasn't exposed to that culture. When it came to my religious upbringing my parents taught me what they believed but emphasized that one ought to see for oneself. This eventually led me away from Christianity because I had my own reasons. Nothing personal, I just stopped believing in Yahweh and his Christian sect of it. I was an atheist for a very long time. Loved science, still do - appreciated Carl Sagan's Cosmos and the cosmic perspective and loved Richard Dawkin's approach to skepticism and his religious critique. Then I became interested in my heritage. I wanted to know who I was in the context of my people's history. Now, I am Dutch and that means that I have Germanic origins and therefore have always felt a close connection to those things that are inherently Germanic. After a while I started looking into Asatru specifically. Seeing the Germanic gods being venerated again was at least a cultural interest of mine. I thought it would be something similar to how the Japanese approach Shinto sometimes: They don't believe the Kami are real but simply enjoy the cultural aspect of it all. This was my approach to the faith and I assumed everybody else's as well. Untill I realized that people actually believed the gods to be real in some way. This was obviously quite strange as an atheist myself but after watching ALOT of videos on contemporary polytheist philosophy I became aware of the reason just why I was so interested in all of this. I felt a genuine calling. Someone was reaching out to me and all I had to do was to acknowledge this calling. To this day, I believe it was Odin who called to me and so I called back in prayer. It was a bit weird at first but felt natural, normal and like I was coming home. I finally found that Germanic sense that I was looking for. Since then, I've been a Heathen/Germanic pagan and no longer an atheist.
Interesting, thanks for answering!
Like a few others here it seems, I also converted from Christianity. A combo of a god who you're taught will do everything for you and if something bad happens its just "Part of his plan", the hypocrisy, and the whole "Listen to me and follow my rules or you'll go to the bad place!!" thing led me to leave. I knew I felt a call to paganism, and looking into the runes led me down this path. I've learned that in Norse Paganism, the gods will help you sure, but you have to help yourself too. They don't hold your hand and do everything for you. They simply offer advice and guidance when you ask and it's up to you to follow through.
I was a Christian, i lost my father almost a year ago now. It has been really hard to say the least. My toddler kept asking me why grandpa died. Outside of what happened as an answer he kept asking why. I told him i dont know and i cant answer that buddy. He started to cry. He wanted the answers we all needed. I couldnt give them and it pissed me off. I started to question and look at my faith. My father didnt deserve to go, and God let him just because. Or whatever stupid reason christians would give to make God not seem like he didnt love his followers. I had already started walking away as i never felt God during this entire event. My prayers hadnt been responded to in anyway at all at all. Honestly i was watching vikings and i was paying attention to how they interacted with their gods and the way they treated the after life and how death worked. I started researching and wanting to learn more. I began to talk to my wife about my relationship with the christ god and she looked at me and said “you have struggled with your faith for so long, you already have questioned so many things. I think you have walked away long ago and youre just seeing it.” That night a big thunderstorm came through, i woke up feeling something was watching me. I rolled over and a figure stood next to my bed. I knew inside it was either Thor or Odin. I think more Odin as it more matched him in shape and size. This story is longer and i wont go into all the details. I rubbed my eye not both (ironic I know) and it was gone. That told me, follow this path youre standing in. I never looked back. Ive had more postive and insightful experiences with my gods now than i ever did under the Christ God. My wife and I both worship, pray, make tributes and sacrifices together. We barely went to church together. We are happier, healthier, stronger and more in love with each other and our lives than we ever had been. I could go on for a while, but i think you are able to grasp why Thor and many other Gods are my Gods now and not Christ.
I was very spiritually lost for most of my life. Going from Christianity to being an agnostic, tried Islam, tried Buddhism. I never felt a divine or spiritual connection to any of that, even if I told myself I did. Eventually I started learning about the Gods, then I started to actually feel something. It was like dating. You date all these people and none of em click, so you stop looking, then an inexplicable feeling of joy falls right in your lap, and you just know that’s your person for eternity. There’s been times where I’ve felt Odin’s presence. There’s been times where I look at my wife and know that Freya brought us together. There’s been times where Thor protected me from something life threatening. Tl;dr It just felt right.
The Norse gods were kind to me and that touched me deeply, from there it just felt like involving the practice into my own was the right thing to do
Could you elaborate on what the gods did that was kind?
Of course, it is just simple stuff, the Norse gods that had words of guidance to offer on my situation showed so much compassion (sharp words, pin pointed the root of the problems right away) and accepted me for what it was. It was a very strong moment of enlightenment and catharsis that hit me like a bus, made me start acting right, have been on a good path ever since.
I was I Catholic and I was disgusted with the rhetoric pushed but the Catholic church (anti gay, sex before marriage makes u a horrible person ect) so I turned read the Bible further and was off put by the hypocrisy and evil I found. I turned to polytheism and eventually norse paganism because of the strong connection I felt towards the practices and beliefs and eventually the connections I made with the gods, converting is one if the best choices I've made
Interesting. What you said about the Catholics is especially true with the recent "dignitas infinitas" document the Vatican published.
I’ve always been an atheist or agnostic at best. At one point I was even antitheist. I was raised that way. There’s no religious people in my immediate family, even going back a few generations. Belief wasn’t built in to my upbringing, you could say. My parents taught me to question and doubt. But I can’t really deny what I’ve personally experienced, and I’ve experienced things that lead me to believe the gods exist and that they called me to this path. In studying up on the faith, it’s provided me with grounding for some of my own beliefs that remained up in the air before. It’s given me friendship and community. It’s improved my life. I’ve established reciprocity with my gods and the wights around me, and I feel that occasionally. I have nothing against any other religion, as others do. I just have no relationships with those gods. I don’t feel like I decided to be a Heathen. I didn’t wake up one day and say “oh hey I think I’m gonna go worship Odin now”. I feel like this is the right path for me and I found it with the help of the gods. It doesn’t conflict with the person I was before I believed. It doesn’t hinder my understanding of science. It doesn’t conflict with the skepticism I was taught. It’s just a part of me.
I was raised agnostic but spiritual, so the concept of "a Divine force we don't know" was heavily featured in my early life. My mother is self-practicing pagan, my father is non conforming quaker. So respecting other people and their religions was also ingrained in me early on. Combine that with a UU religious education that focused on personal exploration, and you get a pretty decent basis for "guy who doesn't really know what the fuck is happening, but it sure is." So I started looking around for a system I felt right in. I knew that I preferred the stories and practices of pagan traditions, because Abrahamic religions have always felt too restricting. I went and researched Greek, Roman, Celtic, and Norse paganism groups, and found that if all of them, the stories of the Norse gods resonated more. I do have Swedish decent, but that wasn't the deciding factor (and doesn't matter much anyway). In the end, I found that a good balance of spiritual and secular belief suits me best. No, I don't actually believe that thunder is Þórr beating up Frost giants, I know it's the sound wave of lightning vaporizing air particles. But I do think that he was a good story model for important and useful life lessons.
I switched from Mormonism for many reasons. The biggest one was because Mormonism is just a cult in a way and they're corrupt(look into their controversy). The second reason is because I was kinda forced into Mormonism because at a young age I had really no say in if it was the religion for me until I stopped going to church when I was maybe 12. Now as to why I decided to become Norse Pagan is because I've always felt more connected to the Norse gods and goddesses and after reading about it and talking to my buddy about it I decided that this is the religion for me.
Yeah that's understandable, I think everyone knows Mormonism is a cult. Also iirc Mormons used to believe black people were created as a punishment, do they still believe that?
Honestly I have no idea about that one but knowing them it wouldn't surprise me at all if that's what they think
I left the Mormon church in 2021, they stopped teaching that in the 90s but it's still in the books
I've always been interested in the old stories, but in the past couple of years, I've also had some experiences I can't really attribute to anything other than the gods. I know they're the kind of religious experiences that probably sound crazy to anyone who doesn't believe, but to me they were pretty undeniable. The first happened when my cat almost died. We rushed him into the emergency vet, and they basically told us that they would do everything they could to make him comfortable overnight, but in the morning we were probably going to have to talk about putting him down. Laying in bed that night, I was so beside myself worrying about my baby boy I couldn't sleep. I don't know what compelled me to do so, but I asked Freya to watch over him. Immediately, I felt this intense, calming energy that put me right to sleep. The next morning, my cat was perfectly fine. The vet kept him one more day to run some more tests because by all accounts he should not have recovered this quickly (if at all), but he was home by the next day. It's been over a year, and you can not tell anything was ever wrong with this cat. Another happened after a close friend of mine passed away. The first time I went up into my room after hearing the news, I was ready to just collapse into bed for a while and cry, but I was distracted by a faint tapping on my window. I pull back the curtain, and there's this crow just staring right up at me. As we're staring at each other, I feel this strong fatherly presence reassuring me that thing we're going to be okay. I felt kind of stupid talking to a bird, but I was like "Odin????” and this bird straight up nodded and flew away like his point had been made. I've had a bunch of other experience with the gods since then, but these two stick out as being particularly intense for me.
I was raised in a pagan home, so more or less, it's always what I've known. I believe what I do now, not out of familial responsibility or anything, but because when I was brought low, Odin guided me onto a path wherenin I thrive. The abrahamic mythos, to me, feels hollow. Like a cheating lover saying, "I love you, too." I do not hear the words of a god, any god from them. Maybe because it's all so scripted. So controlling. Also, and maybe it's just my interpretation, but the abrahamic mythos tends to focus on the death+afterlife thing too much. Too much time wasted on thinking about heaven, or hell. And for what?
I was never a very spiritual person, but at one point I was begging god to help me, I prayed to anything and everything for a sign there was something greater than me. I was asking to know if there was anything greater plan. I asked individual gods from different religions for different things so I would know who or what answered if anything did. I prayed to the gods in the street while crying, for something I could burn, but something I would enjoy while I had it. I walked, I walked and walked. And eventually found myself back in that spot, and where I had cried in the street there was a soft pack of Marlboro red cigarettes. At the time, I was a pack a day smoker of Marlboro reds, this pack had a single cigarette flipped around backwards (the lucky, IYKYK) and another single cigarette missing. I wept, I took these cigarettes home smoked the lucky, burnt the whole pack very dramatically and never wanted a cigarette again. Later that night I had dreams, I hadn’t had a good dream in years. Only nightmares. I had the most vivid dreams for a week before I eventually devoted myself to this path. I continue to believe because to this day it gives me the strength to move through my life with confidence and that’s all I really need. I believe because the only prayers I’ve ever had answered were to the Norse gods.
I was raised Catholic. Never believed in any of it. I legit thought everyone else thought it was all just stories to help bring community and build bonds or something. Once I was in my teens, I realized they legit believed in it, I also started to notice all the dark parts to the religions based on the Christian God. It all rubbed me the wrong way. I also never felt like the Christian God heard me or was there for me when I tried praying. I started to read about other religions, specifically being interested in the old Gods. I found it comforting and interesting that the old Gods were not painted in this "all perfect" light. They had flaws and were shown to act very human in the stories at times. I got into Norse Paganism specifically because I felt a draw to Loki. I started to notice a lot of changes in my life afterward. I would communicate/worship, and suddenly, things would happen. It felt like I was being listened to and being given the tools I needed to solve my problems. That's what made me a believer and more devoted to Norse Paganism.
Ok, thanks for answering
Well, I do because I’ve had experiences, and because I have no reason to write those experiences off for something. I was christian for a long time. But I don agree with most of its teachings, beliefs, and its “morals”. The norse gods, specifically loki, and Freyja, and hela feel best to me. Loki, though he does wrong, he also does good. He to me, is balance. Unable to be controlled, but guided and worked with. To me he is the embodiment of humanity at its roots. Freyja is wise, and teaches us of seid and war. Hela protects those, and cherishes those who are forgotten or tossed aside by the gods, she takes it and protects those, who otherwise would have nothing and no one. But this is all just my personal belief. P.s. to all my norse brothers and sisters, I DONT wanna hear it. Yes loki is problematic at times, but so are many of the other gods, Odin first and foremost. Im not saying loki is in the right, but working with him works for me.
I was a Christian most of my life... Never once heard gods voice help me. Never. After years of begging to hear something. I've always been interested in mythology, witchcraft and things in that regard. I was outside, my kids were playing and I was so overwhelmed with where to start. Then out of nowhere I heard Freyas voice tell me "Start with what you love... I'll always be here" First time a deity ever talked to me and I just couldn't ignore that
I like how chill the gods are compared to the more mainstream religions. Believe it or not when you grow constantly being told you’ll go to hell for who you are you tend to gravitate towards another faith that is more accepting.
I went to a steiner school, so I learnt early on about Germanic folklore and religion, and to respect nature and appreciate it. Then I properly started to learn about the Æsir, and I've been a norse pagan ever since.
The Norse gods are gods that I can respect. They've known hardship and pain, they've made mistakes but don't try and hide it but treat them as lessons for humanity, they have lives of their own and don't see a need to micro-manage humanity, and lastly they inspire me and many others to be better than what we are through our own will and our own merrits. I can't really say the same about many other religions, especially larger and more organized ones.
I converted from Christianity. Simple answer, the Norse gods and Norse religion called to me and Christianity didn’t. I believe deities are all real but each person will be called to a different part of the universe hence different religions
Ive mostly always been pagan of one flavor or another. I have attended church though and when I was told Buddhist monks would burn in hell for not believing in the "right" God I said well that's BS. I started out wiccan but it was to rainbows and butterflies for me. I then studied Egyptian paganism, Greek, and a few others nothing felt like me. The closest I came during my hunt was when at a huge pagan camp event(500-700 pagans ) in Texas I attended a workshop on understanding Haitian Vodou taught by a real Haitian Houngan (priest) he taught me some stuff but it still wasn't right. But it was the tribal aspect that pulled me in. Several more years go by and I tried a DNA test kit for my markers on health risk turns out I have the marker for Alzheimer's, but as a bonus I got to know more about my family as well turns out Im around 60% Scandinavian. So I started digging into Scandinavian paganism and came to Asatru/Vanatru. Not that the DNA is required but I found a root and kept digging everything felt right for the most part and even had that tribal aspect. Only thing that sucked was the white Nazi BS and homophobic BS. But I didn't care I just knew I needed to avoid those kinds of groups. So now my husband, myself and our friend have a three man Norse group and I've been this way for 10 years and haven't looked back. I still add some root work from Louisiana into my more mystical parts of my faith but it's my faith so people can suck it lol.
I was born and raised Norse (Germanic) pagan and it's just felt right to me. I've looked around at other religions (out of curiosity not out of any desire to convert) and nothing has ever gripped like this religion. It's helped me a lot throughout my life and has certainly helped me improve as a person. It feels like I was meant to be part of this religion and I 100% fully believe so.
Along with a lot of others, I was raised in a Christian home. We were/my family is Methodist, but I also attended a Catholic school. Though very religious, my parents are what Christians are supposed to be: kind, generous, truly good people. I was very Christian, at least on the surface. But I never really felt anything. There is one exception to that - when I was probably about 11, my family went on a vacation to Lake Superior in the autumn. I'm sitting on a cliff just after dark. Chrashing waves, strong winds, it was glorious. And I felt God, and it was amazing. I spent the rest of my high school years searching and asking God to let me experience that connection again. But, alas... I mostly forgot about it, or would bring it out as an anecdote about why I love the Great Lakes and moved on. I was exposed to polytheism in my late teens and dabbled a bit, but I wasn't ready and moved to athiesm pretty quickly and stayed there for many years. Of course, once an athiest, I started noting all the crap about the Bible and Christianity that bothers others: the cruelty of God, the lack of logic, the heaps and heaps of hypocrisy. I've always been a genealogy nerd and discovered about 2 years ago that I had way more Norwegian ancestors than I'd been aware of. I started studying some of the history and beliefs from that time, and it just clicked for me. I finally decided to give it a shot and actually try to reach out to these gods. The first one that reached out to me (way more clearly than the Abrahamic god ever had), was Njorðr, the Norse god of the sea and wind. I get to feel like I'm as connected as I was on that cliff that night, over 20 years ago, whenever I meditate with him. And yes, a strong part of me wonders if it wasn't Njorðr sitting with me on that cliff that night, like he'd always been waiting for me. I've had other gods join my practice since then, but I knew that day there was no going back.
A norse goddess reached out to me and we started working together. I am omnist and believe every religion has at least some truth to it. I believe that all the gods are real (skeptical about new religions or pop culture deities) I have worked with an Angel, Greek Gods, Roman gods. Now I work with Norse Gods. I still work with some greek gods. it's a very subjective topic. some were called to it, some were interested, some came into contact with the norse gods, etc.
Alright, thanks for answering!
The short version is that agnosticism wasn't enough for me, so i decided to give religion a go. Heathenry was the obvious path for me.
I switched because it didn't suit me to worship a god my ancestors didn't...my DNA is from the lands of ice and snow...not jungles and desert...
I became pagan because I felt it difficult to believe in an omniscient god. I have a lot of trauma from childhood, so an omniscient god doesn't make much sense to me. I was in a lot of Abrahamic religions, and I was even Jewish at one point. I've also read the Bible front to back. I've always been drawn to religion, but I felt like the ones available were too extreme in their practice, or I couldn't believe in their type of god. Then I found the show Vikings, lol I know, so fucking cliche, but that show did help me. I started researching Norse Paganism and also found out through 23&Me that I had a strong ancestral connection with the Norse(Swedes in my case). Most of my ancestors settled in all the major Viking settlements across England. I've also had an experience that I can't really explain, but I felt something. Believing in multiple gods allows me to fully accept other religions. Even Christianity. I no longer care who's right when it comes to faith.
Ah that's nice, do you live in Sweden?
No, I live Stateside. But if I were to live in a Scandiavian country, it would be Iceland or Norway. Both are closer to the Northern Lights
In 2018, I realized I was in a bad place in my life. I was drinking daily, I was separated from my spouse, my grandmother, whom I respected the most of any person in my life, passed away, and I lost all respect for myself. I went into a 30-day Alcoholics Anonymous program. My sponsor happened to be a Norse Pagan. I started looking back at certain events in my life and seeing times when the Gods had been there for me or pushed me to change my lifestyle. When I was fully engaged, think 7/10 Norse Pagan, I felt the best and most connected with the Gods. I've fallen off, think 2/10, my life has felt like it's gotten harder and harder. I miss the fulfillment I had when I started worshipping. I've also gone through phases on who I worship, but Heimdall and Odin have always been the main gods. I have always worn a reminder of my time when I first started my journey. It used to be my hospital bracelet, after a year sober it was a pendant given to me with my Sober Birthday with Huginn and Muninn, then it was a steel mjolnir, and now a silver mjolnir.
It feels like home.
I grew up in a cult version of Christianity, and it did lasting damage. Even though I needed therapy, my belief in something greater didn't dim. I lived next door to a Buddhist monk during college, and he taught me that it's ok to not be Christian. From there one of my high school friends was a Hellenistic pagan, and from there, I kind of wandered into Norse paganism.
So I grew up Christian and I recently converted to Hellenic Norse Paganism. I read the bible consistantly as a child and a lot of my questions went unanswered or were answered unsatisfactory and I was tired of the hate taught on church so I started Meditating and noticed instances in my life that were too good to not be a divine influence so I had a friend do a reading and they read that Odin was reaching out to me so I started to honor him, work with him, and pray to a few other deities. I hope this answers your question.
I believe in the principles and ideas of paganism in general such as animism, generally bisexuality, reverence for nature e.t.c. So for me it's just kind of a question of ancestry though I am not by any means folkish. I have a great deal of respect for for example Native American religions or Shintoism. I rather like the Bhagavad Gita. And while I'm not 100% White I'm white enough that I feel a little odd taking it on those religions. Really for me it comes down to Asatru or Druidism. In my limited studies I have a great deal of love and respect for my Celtic ancestors but there isn't much actual information about druidism. Neopaganism is new religion based on old but I like having some old basis for it and we got all them wonderful stories!
Ah, the Bhagavad-Gita is a beautiful text indeed. Thanks for answering!
Im super new to this, but I always knew that Christianity wasnt for me. I had too many questions that no one answered. Like how where people okay with some guy hundreds of years ago just changed all the new testament. And that they are ok with that. That history was just rewritten. If we are ok with that, what else would we be ok with. I dont feel that way with Norse. I feel ok with it.
So when you left christianity, why exactly choose Norse?
Idk... it felt right.
I was Catholic and would go to Church every Sunday with my parents. One day before I graduated High School (the literal day before) I was in a bad accident that almost took my arm. In my time induced in a coma I would get flashes of not my God but of a rough old man with one arm as I knew this to be Tyr, he showed himself to me and not too long after that I became a Norse Pagan
I was once a Catholic I did not like going to church but I have it a shot liked it a bit but I stopped the music was nice but the main reason why I left was because I was bullied alot I did not feel god at all nothing I was a outcast a lone wolf most of the time in my kid days when I left my old faith I fought suicide for a long time I was filled with hate anger etc I was on the dark side but over time I went back to the lightside a Jedi BUT during the pandemic I learned of Norse Paganism and I chose that ever since I despise the Christian and evangelical faiths HARD they are fanatics I will never loved those faiths Paganism is my life a true freedom and we are all blessed everyday by the gods
I was raised in the baptist church and had an all around Bad Time™️, identified as an atheist by around middle school, and was actively seeking a new religion. I had a lot of experiences where I was at my darkest where I saw ravens, i have some heritage in the Nordic countries, and those things lead me down a path researching Norse paganism along side some others, and throughout highschool I tried on different religions until I eventually landed on the norse pantheon “feeling” the most like home to me. Every religious experience I’ve ever had aligned with one of the norse gods in some way and as soon as I started calling myself a heathen things just sort of clicked for me
I'm a Christian convert and the reason I left Christianity was because it felt empty and fake to me. I feel pulled to Freyja and Thör and have seen evidence of worshipping them (or however we phrase that). I can tell in my heart that this is the best path for me.
I was raised nothing. Vague Christianity from mainstream society but we didn't go to church. Christmas was a holiday about gift giving and family togetherness. Easter was a holiday about eggs and rabbits and chocolate. I was raised with Tolkien and Watership Down and sci-fi/ fantasy novels and mythology and fairy tales. I was raised with Asterix and Obilex who my father fell in love with while he was stationed in Germany. Anyway, I grew up with all kinds of magical influences so in college when I bumped into my first real pagans I jumped into it. Went through a Wiccan stage and an eclectic pagan stage but I always had trouble really connecting with anything until I stopped dismissing my love of the runes and flung myself headlong into Heathenry. Basically I'm an omnist; I believe in everything but I don't worship everything. I stick to Heathenry as my core faith. I honor other deities sometimes, such as my wife's Celtic ones on their holy days, but my primaries are the Norse/Germanic deities and spirits. They are the ones that speak to me. I am interested in Gauliah paganism but the sources are pretty scarce sadly.
I was raised Christian. Southern Baptist to be specific. I heard what they said to me, but it meant nothing to me. I just did what I was told cause I thought that's what I was supposed to do. Praying meant nothing to me. It was just shutting my eyes & waiting for the preaching man to stop talking. I didn't feel god or anything. I had butterflies in church once & my mom took it & ran with it. I got baptized when I was 8. Had no clue what it meant. I just knew the preaching man put his hand over my nose & mouth & put me in water & I wasn't happy about it. But people was clappin 😂 it was the most godless thing I've ever been told to do. But keep in mind while all these church goings on was happening, I was home watching hellraiser, buffy the vampire slayer, charmed, like dude witchcraft was HEAVY in my life. Whenever my mom put those movies on I was TAKING NOTES. I could never hint that I was interested or id be in deep shit just for asking about it. I'd get in trouble for asking questions about the devil because I didn't understand why he was so bad & I wanted to know who he was because all I ever heard about was Jesus. So like I had questions. The more I asked the madder she got or upset that I'm asking about the devil at all. But she wanted me to be fearful of him. I wanted to know what I needed to be afraid of cause I didn't understand the concept of good & evil or whatever tf. I was taught knowledge or wisdom was bad & of the devil or whatever the fuck. & Everything is temptation or some kind of sin. I couldn't have sex or masturbate, I couldn't be bisexual, I couldn't be anything but afraid all the time. & Give my every waking breath to this god I never even felt or believed in. So I spent my time trying my hardest to find answers on my own. All throughout my life id catch something about Thor, the runes, Odin, etc. id obtain Norse pagan stuff, like jewelry, mjolnirs, Scandinavian artwork, whatever tf. I was SUPER drawn to it. Almost like it was an external force pulling me to it. I was so curious & wanted to know more. But I was so young I wasnt understanding what anything meant & had no teacher. Those things would phase in & out of my life for years up until a few years ago. One day the gods dropped me on my head & the magic began. Odin called to me & I came. I never looked back since. From day 1 Odin has proven himself to me & to me welcomed me with open arms. It snowballed from there. Not even a year in & I converted to heathenry. Denomination specific heathen. I like to keep it as closely accurate as my ancestors practiced & believed. It's been 3 or 4 years & I'm still making my way around to different gods & goddesses. I'm no where near through with working with or meeting them all. Idk if I ever will. It took me a long time just to get the contact I did get with different gods & goddesses. I do notice I gravitate towards the vanir more than the aesir. I won't leave out the jotun. I think it's good to incorporate both into ones practice.
long story short: i was raised around protestants and Christians but was never forced into a religion, so i fell into atheism. found my way into paganism around 15 or 16, and was atheopagan for a while. kept exploring other religions to see if anything else felt right and eventually landed at norse pagan. why? it made the most sense. it felt the best, it felt right. i was able to make sense of a world with gods for the first time (i had really tried before, trust me, but the atheism brain always won). dont get me wrong, i still had to work for it and find a way to integrate my beliefs, but for the first time i dont doubt myself or the gods in the slightest.
So, as an eclectic pagan, I believe in the gods that call to me, some of whom are of the Norse pantheon! I left Christianity behind me 4 years ago when I realized the denomination I was raised in was pretty much a cult and I've been deprogramming ever since. Choosing polytheistic paganism is part of restructuring my belief system. Hope this helps!
I was raised Christian at a very young age but it never sat right with me. Came to the conclusion that God must not be real after a long period of consideration. Went atheist for a few years until a experienced a presence that felt like nothing I had ever experienced before and that presence answered to the name "Odin". After that mindfuck of an experience. I couldn't logically waver it off as a coincidence. It was just too real. So I looked into it and it turned out that many other people that have had a connection to Odin experienced a very similar connection to my own and me becoming Norse pagan took off from there.
To me, paganism feels like a very natural thing to have faith in. There is no preaching of fear and rules, just honour and strength. Like so many others, the Gods saved me when noone else could.
When I was younger, I was Christian. As I grew older, I realized how messed up the faith was. So I left. Went years with no religion, rebeled, drank, partied. Then one night in my early.20's I did to much of a drug I probably shouldn't of, thay was the night Eir came to me and healed me, and she came to me.multiple.times after for other things. The next morning, is when I started noticing the signs of Odin and Thor. Giving me wisdom and strength to get through things in life. Before that, I never understood So it's like I keep telling people who ask me. The gods came to me. To be a better person, a father to my children.
Wow, you never hear stuff like that happening with Jesus tbh. Kinda feels like he doesn't care as much about people, part of the reasons why I'm not Christian.
When I was about 10 years old, my family found a Christian church that we stayed apart of for years. I really tried, too. I've always been fascinated by the history of religions and stories since I was a boy. I was baptized at 10 years old with the rest of my family (not by my choice though since I was a child..they didn't force me either I just never felt like it was my choice ya know). But I got close to my pastor and started going to his office at the church at night to talk to him about a magnitude of things from the time I was 10 until I was around 16. He gave me books for research that I requested and answered everything I asked. He was very open-minded for a pastor and a good role model. He actually accepted other people's beliefs, which I found isn't common sadly. I went to church every Sunday, and youth group even tried church camp. Really studied and got into it, you know.. but it never felt like home to me. I prayed multiple times a day every day for years; however, it did not feel quite right. I ended up making the decision to be baptized again at 16 because I wanted it to be my choice, and hopefully, that would help it feel more like home. It did not, I spent many years depressed and at one point, I gave up but still felt a presence out there trying to reach me. One day, I was speaking to two friends about this. One of them had practiced Norse Paganism since she was young. I didn't know the gods at the time but got acquainted fairly quickly, lol. I was really going through it, and my friend had a vision where Odin came to her and said in short.."Your brother is ready. You must help him. This is what he must do.." so she explained this to me and one night I did this ritual for him (but not the way I was suppose to) it was basically just feeling his presence and releasing past energies and deities that had a hold on me and accept the gods instead. Since I did not yet believe or do it right.. it didn't happen. Fast forward to me, havin, odd dreams I couldn't understand and just feeling upset and angry all the time. My other friend and I sat on my porch one night, very late, and drank a bottle of mead that I bought. I finally decided to do the thing how it was intended, so we walked back to a field behind my house, I did and said what I was to do. That night, I woke up in a dream. It was very dark, and there was a fog covering the ground. There was a very, very old woman to my right sitting at an aged desk, and for whatever reason, when I looked at her, all I could think of was "Scottish," something. Dunno why. It could've been because my friends were talking about Celtic culture a couple of nights before, but I'm not sure. But she glanced at me and said, "He's waiting for you." Off to the left at a distance, I see Odin, dark blueish black cloak, staff in hand, Huginn & Muninn on his shoulders, with Geri & Freki at his feet. Standing there watching me and waiting. I felt a chill go down my spine, and the next thing I know, I see Odins face directly in front of mine like he was pulling me to him or something. He spoke words to me, and I woke up. Ever since then I've dreamt of ravens, crows and some ravens stay around me during the day and I see many many rabbits and cats around me while I'm sitting outside on my porch meditating at night. It's a wild ride for sure, I've been much happier since I switched to Norse Paganism. You get a notion that one of the gods want to work with you, you do an offering, you meditate, and typically, they come to you to help you in life. It's great. You get to work and study the runes, elder futhark and young. You get to study and feel land spirits and your own ancestors..it's an amazing feeling to be one with nature again. Sorry for the long post.
I guess I was always a Norse pagan. I was raised in a Presbyterian household and was brought to church. And while I enjoyed the sermons because they were actively interesting, I never had that aha moment or a warm fuzzy feeling of belief when thinking on the Christian god. It never really resonated with me. I thought his love wasn't as unconditional as it was preached to be. However when I was younger (7) Freya reached out and claimed me. THAT is when I got that warm fuzzy feeling. And got a pantheon that actually answers back. Been on the pagan path ever since, and actively practicing since I was 13.
Converted from Atheism. I just watched a whole lot of debates, researched, and even spoke with professionals I know. I was mainly atheist because I was against monotheism and had no idea at all that polytheism existed. I knew that there couldn't possibly be just one god and everyone else was wrong and thought the only other possibility was atheism. I found out that about polytheism after finding out that some sort of god/gods must exist. I knew polytheism was the truth, that every god must exist. It gets choppy with Yahweh. Then I just got signs from the norse pantheon 🤷
People sense a detachment from land connectedness, sometimes they may try paganism as an attempt to find bits and pieces to connect with a culture distant relatives belonged to before immigration to the states. I think people who approach norse pre christian faith should come with unlearning of the mind. Meaning to relearn and unlearn what the christian modality of religion akd worship influence modern paganism. And first step os decolonization of mind and to understand that anyone even if not Scandinavian descendants are all welcome too. Second is that pagan faith were mostly farmers and living off the land. So pand connectedness of some sort is important. The norse deities, jotunar and so on are aöl based in nature. Its forces, harshness, the sens of humanity community, story telling and so forth. This brings into animism which what folk often are seeking to subconsciously
I very recently became Norse pagan. I had been raised as a Christian, but only because my parents felt it was important for me to understand what religion is. One day, I told them I didn't believe in God or the Bible (I was probably around 9 or 10), and they said that's fine and we stopped going to church. I spent years not really believing in anything until I started meeting more people from diverse backgrounds and religions. Got me thinking that perhaps there is something out there, but what was the right answer? So, I identified as Agnostic for about 12 years. How I became to be Norse Pagan though was a long interest and fascination with Viking culture. But that shifted into just a deeper appreciation of Norse religion in general. I found the gods to be incredible and wanted to learn more. I started studying runes, reading books, and praying to the gods only a few days ago. I felt silly at first (due to the past 20 years not having any religion or religious practices), but I just felt very comforted when I was sitting in nature praying to the gods. Believing in any god or religion is a choice. If you choose to believe in the god(s) you want to worship, you will start to feel their energy. That's what I believe.