>>5198662The problem with modern paganisms, which Germanic paganism equally suffers from, is that people who practice it are wildly bereft of historical context. Part of the reason people mock neo-pagans is because it's seen as a superfluous religion in this day and age, and this isn't unfounded by any stretch. What you need to keep in mind about European paganism, ESPECIALLY for the most primitive peoples of Europe, is that paganism constantly evolved to fit the era it found itself in.
Someone may pray to a God like Thor for good weather so that their crops aren't drowned by too much rain. This is an ancient issue, however. For centuries, there have been methods to now protect crops from the harsh elements, therefore Thor loses some importance as a figure that holds jurisdiction over storms (and the whole "God of Thunder" thing isn't as clear as popular culture would have you think, his actual relation to thunder and lightning is sparse and mainly seems focused in his name). Eventually, Gods would begin to grow or change and lose their importance (such as we believe happened to Tyr), and perhaps be forgotten altogether. Who knows how many deities this had already happened to by the time of Christianity.
But neo-pagans don't factor in this context, much. They talk about Thor or Odin in ways that have little bearing on modern reality. What's the point of praying to the Freyr of a thousand years ago for good crops or sacrificing a goat when mass, controlled farming production exists? What good is Thor against a nuke? How helpful and original are Odin's riddles and ironies in a world of globalized information about all sorts of cultures and proverbs? These stories are old, scant and tribal, and the few things they offer have already been absorbed and refined by Christianity, or indeed by modern secular thought descended from, but exclusive of Christianity. I'm reminded of a video by Stephen McNallen where he goes over the "nine virtues of paganism/Wotan" or something to that effect, but aside from the fact that these virtues have little historical basis, they're just incredibly primitive forms of concepts Christianity both offers and explores much better. They're much less vague and general, as well as more standardized.
The only reason to be a Germanic pagan in this day and age is for the satisfaction of your own vanity, perhaps because you were diddled by a Catholic priest or are just a white suprem who doesn't like muh desert religion, but is too self-centered to be an Atheist. Nobody alive today actually believes they'll be picked by the Valkyries for Valhalla if they die in battle. It's all simply too primitive and redundant. THIS is why they the LARPer book thrown at them (especially when some of them ARE actually self-admitted atheists, like Marcus Follin).
Incidentally, it is also too racialized. I understand the concept behind "ancestral religions for modern descendants", but as you already stated, it has little basis in historical reality and is a very modern conception. There's really nothing stopping an African from worshipping Thor, it means about as much as a modern "Germanic" person doing it, imo.
