(RNS) — At a press convention Friday (Sept. 12) saying that regulation enforcement had a suspect in custody for the capturing loss of life of Charlie Kirk, FBI Director Kash Patel closed his assertion by saying, “Lastly, to my good friend Charlie Kirk, relaxation now, brother. We now have the watch, and I’ll see you in Valhalla.”
At a time when stunning sound bites arrive at a livid tempo, Patel’s point out of Valhalla left many individuals scratching their heads. However members of 1 small pagan sect, trendy Heathens, had been extra aggravated than puzzled.
“Heathens seen instantly,” stated Jennifer Snook, professor of sociology at Grinnell School and creator of the e book “American Heathens.” Valhalla, she defined, is “a part of their sacred lore.”
There are not any agency statistics on how many individuals apply Heathenry, a up to date non secular motion adjoining to trendy paganism. As Snook defined, Heathens give attention to the “cultural folkways, histories and mythology of Nordic and Germanic international locations,” by which Valhalla is populated by warriors who died valiantly in battle.
Many Heathens “took problem,” Snook stated, with the “concept of Valhalla getting used so casually by a man who Heathens understand as unworthy of the consideration. Patel, who was raised in a Hindu household, has not served within the army and Kirk didn’t die in battle, even when the appropriate perceives his loss of life to have been dedicated as a part of an ideological one.”
Benjamin Kowalksy-Grahek, president of the U.S.-based Heathen group The Troth, known as Patel’s assertion terrifying as a result of it instructed {that a} cultural warfare had already turned scorching. “If Patel believes Charlie goes to Valhalla, then he believes Charlie died in battle,” reasonably than being a sufferer of yet one more mindless gun crime, Kowalksy-Grahek stated.
“The framing of this as a part of a warfare and Charlie Kirk as a warrior is probably the most disturbing a part of all of this,” he stated.
Ryan Smith, a historian and a practising Heathen who hosts the “Wayward Wanderer” podcast, described his personal response to Patel’s remark as “bemusement, wearied resignation and a little bit of disgust.”
Smith known as the remark yet one more “excellent instance” of how Norse imagery has been purposely co-opted and “distilled all the way down to a hypermasculine pastiche devoid” of its true cultural and spiritual which means.
The Rev. Irene Glasse, a practising inclusive Heathen and former U.S. Marine, agreed, labeling Patel’s use of Valhalla “stereotypical co-opting of Norse mythology to serve poisonous masculinity.”
Glasse identified that Valhalla, which is dominated by the outstanding Norse god Odin, shouldn’t be the one attainable vacation spot for many who die in battle. Folkvangr, dominated by the goddess Freyja, is one other. However, instructed Glasse, you by no means hear “See you in Folkvangr.”
“Descriptions of Valhalla,” Glasse defined, “embody numerous the Viking tropes that attraction to the poisonous masculinity a part of white supremacism — preventing all day, feasting all night time, Valkyries carrying mead … the works,” she stated. “This model of Valhalla is like an everlasting biker bar.”
A bigger downside, in keeping with Heathens and consultants who examine the apply, is that Valhalla has turn out to be certainly one of a number of Norse symbols which might be commonly used as “racist, white nationalist canine whistles.”
Smith, who has been finding out white supremacist teams for greater than a decade, defined, “Proper wing and far-right actions have a really persistently exploitative relationship with historical past, the place chunks are taken out of context to justify their insurance policies and objectives.”
In 2021, the stage at a Conservative Political Motion Convention’s gathering in Orlando, Florida, was constructed within the form of a rune within the historic Nordic alphabet, generally known as the Odal Rune, or the Othala or Othilan Rune, that symbolizes “heritage, possessions, property and inheritance,” in keeping with Smith’s 2019 e book, “The Means of Fireplace and Ice.“
Nevertheless, Snook identified, CPAC’s rune was not the usual Norse model, however had “little legs,” much like the model utilized by neo-Nazis.
How does this unrelenting use of Norse imagery and mythology have an effect on practising Heathens?
The Rev. Irene Glasse. (Courtesy photograph)
Most Heathens, stated Glasse, “find yourself growing a type of callus to having our beliefs appropriated,” however she urged Heathens to take precautions to tell apart themselves from far-right extremist teams. “Incidents like this one,” she stated, “imply that we have now to maintain aggressively demonstrating that we’re inclusive when it comes to how we current ourselves and what we are saying.”
Glasse is one Heathen who makes use of the time period “Inclusive” as a distinguishing marker.
Kowalksy-Grahek, who prefers the time period “Universalist,” stated, “We’ve labored very arduous to beat” an growing fascination with far-right warrior ethos. “We aren’t reacting to (the information) as a lot as we’re simply doing the work that we all know must be accomplished to maintain (the) imaginative and prescient alive,” he stated.
That imaginative and prescient, nevertheless, is never witnessed outdoors the pagan and Heathen world, and Glasse believes that is among the greatest challenges. “Our tradition solely tends to return up when somebody from the alt-right is scrabbling for a mythology that helps their hate,” she stated.
Or when it turns into a function of mainstream leisure. The success of the Netflix sequence “Vikings,” which introduced Nordic historical past, tradition and mythology to the mainstream, garnered a by-product known as “Vikings: Valhalla.”
A 2015 comedy titled “See You in Valhalla” and a 2019 fantasy movie known as “Valhalla: The Legend of Thor” additionally made use of the time period, as does the online game Murderer’s Creed Valhalla.
The Til Valhalla Venture is a veterans group that works to assist retired troopers and honors those that have died on the battlefield.
Mainstream makes use of of Norse symbols, even these not echoing any right-wing ideology, Smith believes, usually fall flat. “Nordic spirituality is way deeper and richer than the shallow, stale stereotypes that permeate many corners of popular culture and society right now, as are many pagan non secular practices,” he stated.
He hopes that such mentions will deliver folks to the unique supply materials on which Heathens base their non secular apply. “I feel anybody who’s considering Heathen spirituality,” he stated, “ought to discover the much more plentiful examples of hospitality, reward for generosity, scorn for oppressors, the great thing about their artwork and poetry, and the lust for all times.”
