Heathenry in the United Kingdom

Religious institutions: Heathenry in the United Kingdom consists of a variety of modern pagan movements attempting to revive pre-Christian Germanic religiosities, such as that practised in the British Isles by Anglo-Saxon and Nordic peoples prior to Christianisation.

[2] Although Heathenry is a highly internally diverse religion, the most evident forms of ritual practice among the British Heathen community are the blot and the sumble.

[3] Blot is a ritual involving giving offerings to ancestors or beings such as land wights, elves or gods (the Æsir and Vanir).

[12] In 2015, in response to the hate received by the Ásatrúarfélagið, the members of the network, including AUK, released a shared statement that they are "committed to Asatru as a non-exclusive religious approach", and that "heathenry is open for everyone who chooses so".

[22] Within Heathenry, the term Odinist or Wodenist is typically used by neo-völkisch groups, who are characterised by their pseudoscientific beliefs that legitimate observance of the religion is predicated on belonging to a specific biological race and that the ability to hold a relationship with the gods in encoded in their DNA.

[24] The Odinic Rite is a neo-völkisch organisation that was founded in 1980 by the former member of the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists John Yeowell, known as "Stubba".

While neither group describes itself as racist, the label has been used by scholars based on their racially exclusionary approach, glorification of "white" history and criticism of what they perceive as foreign influences.

[38][39] Members often espouse beliefs such as that certain historical figures, including Adolf Hitler, were incarnations of Germanic gods, claiming the work of the Miguel Serrano validates this idea.

[37][40] It has been further noted that some components of the group's belief system such as references to the "Prophecies of Gildas" and a "Seventh Sword of Wayland" originated in the television series "Robin of Sherwood" and have no basis in folklore.

[41] To this end the Pagan-Heathen symposium was established in order to foster support and dialogue between the rapidly diverging paths of heathenry and other forms of Modern Paganism.

[42] The internet also provided a factor in unifying the British Heathen movement, as websites such as UKHeathenry and Midgard's Web became increasingly popular in the early 21st century.