Kári - author, folklorist, and holder of a master’s degree in pre-Christian Norse religions - is a member of the Ásatrú Association.
“How would I define Ásatrú? Is it a religion or a philosophy? In my opinion, it’s not a religion in the way we understand it within the monotheistic framework. We often say that the Æsir* are höft og bönd (constraints and bindings). They bind us to the landscape, to the environment, and are very often personifications of the forces of nature and of human forces.
So, if we look at the idea of ‘religion’, I think it would be rather naïve to say that this word refers to only one thing. In monotheism, on the one hand, and in polytheism, on the other, we find very different understandings of religion, of life, and of the relationship to nature. Attitudes toward the deities are also very different.
So, from one point of view, it’s a philosophy, and from another, it belongs to what one might call pantheism or... to the attitude and relationship one holds toward life.”
*In Norse mythology, the Æsir are the main group of gods associated with Óðinn (Odin), dwelling in the city of Ásgard. They coexist with two other groups of deities: the Vanir and the Dísir.