There are some fundamental differences between how we understand religion and spirituality these days and how these things were understood by the Germanic Tribes during antiquity or by the Norse people during the Viking age. Their system was an animistic one, based on a holistic world view. This means that there was no holy book and no real dogma but a spiritual framework in which an individual, a family, a clan or tribe could then operate. This means that while there were certain properties that were attributed to Thor for example throughout the Germanic culture of the time but that doesn’t mean that the Thor of the Alemanni in modern day southern Germany and Switzerland was the same as the Thor of the Frisii living at the shores of the North Sea.
Having no dogma but only a framework also meant that there was no detailed rulebook that spelled out how a worshipper of Freya or Odin was supposed to behave. If we look at the Myths as presented in the Eddas and Sagas it is actually surprising to see how little the Gods care about human behavior at all. This doesn’t mean that it was impossible to connect to the Germanic Gods and Goddesses but in order to do so, it was necessary to actually get their attention first, as they had their own tasks to fulfill and their own problems to deal with. This connection to a certain deity could be forged through observing certain festivals, giving sacrifice or by performing exceptional deeds that made an individual stand out from the masses. The most well-known version of that is to fight and die bravely on the battlefield, which granted you a seat in Valhalla or Sessrumnir.
What is often forgotten is the fact, that most religious activities were actually not performed in order to appease the Gods. At the heart of Germanic and Norse spirituality lies the worship of ones Ancestors and regular sacrifices to the Wights, the Svartalfar and Ljosalfar that later on become the dwarves and elves of medieval folklore, in order to build solid relationships with these nature spirits. This phenomenon can actually be observed all around the world in animistic systems.
In this section you can find some basic information about some of the Norse Gods and Goddesses as well as some introductory texts about Ancestor worship and the work with the Wights.