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I came across some books and websites of people in this tradition yesterday. The name is probably fairly self-explanatory, but it's a branch of paganism taking inspiration from Northern European sources (seems primarily Norse, but not entirely). The reviews of their books on Amazon from people practicing Asatru were pretty non-complimentary, but it's hard to tell if their criticism is simply that it isn't Asatru (which the authors don't claim anyway), or if there is actually something offensive or wrong about it. Does anyone know anything about this tradition? What are your thoughts on it?

In particular, one of the websites had a FAQ section that included a question about it being misappropriation. Do you think that is a valid criticism?

"Exploring the Northern Tradition" by Krasskova isn't terrible. I have read "For the Solitary Practitioner" or whatever also, and while it certainly has some major problems I enjoyed the read and there were a couple of things I took away from it that were useful.

The thing is that Raven Kaldera is a pretty insane person who uses the Northern gods as a vehicle for his interest in BDSM.

Now I have no problem with people exploring whatever they want to in their bedrooms. The issues arise when you say Odin told you to pump people full of saline, and then whine about being persecuted when people point out that you're a dickhead.

There are a lot of problems with what Kaldera does, however, it is a MASSIVE drama that frankly I want nothing to do with. So I don't go out of my way to look into the issues with him and his ilk. If you want to do that yourself you're welcome to. Keep in mind when doing so that generally within Heathenry, there are a lot of loud angry people who are... not sensible? I mean they get really pissed off if you so much as mention Loki, let alone worship him, which I think is unsupported by lore and historical precedence myself. So there are people who are inclined to hate someone who worships Loki anyway. Having said that, Kaldera suggests worshipping Surtr which is weird and bizarre.

Ren: "Northern" does tend to imply Norse, and also Finnish. It sort of carries on from "The Northmen" and "Gods of the North"; calling something the "Northern Tradition" would indeed imply what the authors intend within this context.

o.o

Wow. Ok, thank you. His website I was reading had some interesting information and ideas, but I had not yet come across anything like that. That's...scary, and very good to know up front. I'll still probably read a bit more just because it's generally not a good idea to dismiss something outright on one person's say-so, but I greatly appreciate the heads up.

Thanks for your thoughts on Krasskova and Heathenry in general as well. I thought her books looked interesting and that the criticism seemed like overkill. Probably helpful as long as it's not one of your main sources of information and it supplements more reliable scholarship and other sources.

One of the chief complaints I've come across is that they have a tendency to take over things. They say that they're not identifying as Heathens, but in practice they gloss over the differences and to those unfamiliar, they're a public face of Heathenry. When Heathens air their views on their practices and why they disagree with them, they wave the persecution banner and come out smelling of roses. It makes the Heathens in their area very angry.

Worshipping the Jotnar in itself is not a problem. Thor's mother is a Jotun, Skadhi is a Jotun, Gerðr is a Jotun.