Jörmundur Ingi Hansen

Jörmundur Ingi Hansen (born 14 August 1940) is an Icelandic neopagan leader, designer, businessman and clothing retailer.

Trained as a sculptor and known as a prominent member of Reykjavík's hippie scene, he co-founded the Icelandic neopagan organization Ásatrúarfélagið in 1972, co-creating its rituals, liturgy and clothing.

From 1994 to 2002, he led the organization, holding the title allsherjargoði; during his time in office, Ásatrúarfélagið experienced significant membership growth, acquired a building in Reykjavík and constructed a pagan burial ground designed by Jörmundur.

[3] After graduating from the trade school Iðnskólinn [is] in Reykjavík in 1957, he went to Copenhagen to study civil engineering and architecture at the Technical University of Denmark, but returned to Iceland after two years.

[1] As a young man, he was known for his bohemian personality, interested in esotericism and Eastern religions, and one of the most prominent people in Reykjavík's hippie movement.

[4] In the 1971 Icelandic parliamentary election he was a candidate for Framboðsflokkurinn [is],[1] a jocular political party mainly made up of students and musicians, described in Mánudagsblaðið [is] as "the troubled youth of today".

[3][a] He tried to create a broader pagan organization in the 1950s, but was unable to find interested people before the 1968 student movement had had a cultural impact in Iceland.

According to the religious studies scholar Michael Strmiska, this makes Ásatrúarfélagið different from many Norse-derived neopagan organizations in other countries, such as the United States, where more focus has been on the martial and masculine image of the Vikings.

[14] Jörmundur represented a faction that wanted to maintain old traditions, whereas Haukur wished to change Ásatrúarfélagið's practices in ways he thought would make them more appealing to contemporary people.

[18] At the turn of the millennium, Jörmundur pursued international collaboration between neopagan groups through the World Pagan Congress, an initiative created by the Lithuanian Jonas Trinkūnas.

[23] He was removed from office in 2002 and replaced by the deputy allsherjargoði Jónína Kristín Berg,[24] before Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, a composer, musician and long-time member of Ásatrúarfélagið, was elected to the position in 2003.

[3] Jörmundur appears on the 2005 album Red for Fire: An Icelandic Odyssey by the Norwegian heavy metal band Solefald, where he recites from the Eddic poem Lokasenna.

He thinks the best way to practice the religion is by "being consistent with oneself, living in harmony with nature, treating it with respect and obeying public order".

[3] Rather than trying to reconstruct historical liturgy, the rituals of Ásatrúarfélagið have been created through reworkings and experimentation based on older traditions in an attempt to continually renew them.

[15] Some early members of Ásatrúarfélagið were involved in the mediumistic association Félag Nýalssinna; Jörmundur participated in a few of their sessions, but was not convinced by the results.

Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson in 1991
Jörmundur designed the pagan burial ground in Reykjavík.