Wicca / Asatru question?

I am a Practicing Wiccan and I wear a Thors hammer pendant with a pentacle inscribed in it. I have been told that this is inappropriate as I am not a practitioner of Asatru. I just think Thor is cool as hell and I admire some aspects of Asatru even though I'm a Wiccan. I don't really care much what Pol think but I dint want to give.a.wrong impression. So should I wear it or not?

Do what feels right to you. If the pendant helps you to be closer to the Divine, then by all means wear it.

As a Wiccan, you are entirely free to honor Thor if you wish.

I would not wear the Thor's hammer if you don't honor the deity;
but if you do honor him, then go ahead and wear it.

Don't let people in other religions impose their rules on you.
They seem not to understand that Wicca has its own rules.

One is that Wiccan theology allows for us to honor a diverse
assortment of deities, either as aspects of our Great Goddess
and our Great Horned God, or else as independent deities
in their own right.

Blessed Be!

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ADD / to the person posting directly below me:

Wicca is NOT "the same as paganism."

Wicca is one unique pagan religion among many,
with its own theology, philosophy, history, etc.
Asatru is another unique pagan religion.
Like other recently "reconstructed" pagan religions,
Asatru is just as much a part of the Neopagan
movement as Wicca is. Because there is no way
to reconstruct exactly what the ancient pagan religions
were doing. Not even in the case of Greece and Rome,
for which there is the most evidence left behind.
Even less so for Celtic and Norse religion.

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ADD / to April:

NO, it is not true that there are "no rules in Wicca"
and that you can do whatever you want, and it will
still be Wicca. Wicca is a theistic religion, and as
such the core of the religion is in the theology.

Wicca worships, above all, two supreme deities:
the Great Goddess of the Moon and stars, and
the Great Horned God of the wilderness and
the realm of Shadows beyond death. Each of
our two supreme deities has many aspects;
some of those aspects can be related to various
pagan deities around the world; such as Pan,
Herne, Bacchus, etc. But NOT ALL deities from
all over the world are aspects of the Wiccan God
and Goddess. Wiccan theology revolves around
the idea of gender polarity; so some aspects are
considered to be of the Goddess, while others are
considered to be of the God.

For example: In Wicca, one of the strongest and
most ancient associations is that of the Goddess
with the Moon, and the God with the Sun. But if
someone follows Asatru, then that religion reverses
that gender polarity; they honor a male moon god
and a female sun goddess. So that part of Asatru
does NOT fit with Wicca, not at all.

Please learn more about traditional Wiccan theology,
so that you don't go around misrepresenting Wicca,
or feeding unfortunate misconceptions such as
"there are no rules in Wicca."

I suggest that the books of either Doreen Valiente
or Gerald Gardner would be a good place to start,
since the two of them together were the most important
formative influences in shaping contemporary Wicca.

Valiente's books are an easier read, and better to
start off with, I would say. (And Gardner's claims
of history need to be taken with a grain of salt.)
Other good books on traditional Wicca are
available through Capal-Bann publishers.

In particular, there is a very lovely and succinct
outline of traditional Wiccan belief in Valiente's
verse, titled "The Witches' Creed." It contains
the core of our theology and ritual practice.
Very bare bones, but enough to show that we
do indeed have a basic doctrinal belief system
in Wicca. It's not just "whatever you feel like."

If someone wants to practice witchcraft and
"do whatever they feel like" then they can well
go and do that as a neopagan witch. But that
is not the same thing as Wicca.

---

To clarify the theology a bit more:

Wicca is primarily duotheistic, with the
God and Goddess as divine lovers at
the heart of our religion. But many Wiccans
are also polytheistic. It's not an either/or thing.

One way to look at it is to say that we worship
our two supreme deities; while we honor many
other deities as well. So it's true that a Wiccan
is free to honor other gods such as Thor or Anubis
or Apollo or Ganesha. But that does not mean
that every pagan ritual you do is a Wiccan ritual.

If the main deities honored are the Wiccan God
and Goddess, then that's probably a Wiccan rite.
But if your ritual is centered around some other
deity, then it's not a Wiccan ritual. That's fine,
you can honor other Gods if you wish. Our
Gods in Wicca are not "jealous gods."
But if you find yourself putting some other deity
or deities at the top of your own personal pantheon,
instead of the Wiccan God and Goddess, then you
need to take a step back and ask yourself whether
you're really Wiccan, or a generic neopagan.

Also, don't go substituting other, unrelated or
inappropriate gods for our Lord and Lady when
you do Wiccan rituals. Ganesha or the Buddha
are NOT aspects of the Horned God; nor is Apollo.
If you decide that you want to worship Jesus and
the Virgin Mary as your God and Goddess, then
don't put them on a Wiccan altar, because they
cannot be the Wiccan God and Goddess.

(For many reasons, including the essential one
that they are not heterosexual lovers. But even
Jesus and Mary Magdalene don't fit into Wicca;
because Jesus is NOT the Horned God. Right?)
People who want to be "Wiccan" while not letting
go of their Jesuses are neither Wiccan nor Christian.
They're inventing their own new religion, which is
not Wicca.

.

First, Noe paganism is a blending of various ideas and ideologies throughout the ages. Wicca is the same. Those who practice Asatru may not like the idea of this blending.

Second, for the purist of Asatru. The Pentegram is an ascent symbol that predates history which can be seen in use in Sumer and Proto in do-european religions. Many of the European Sky Gods to include Zues, Thor and Juptiter are all based on Dyeus, the most ancient of the proto gods, so their is a connection to the pentagram and all European pre christian dieties.

Additionally, if the person that studies Asatru disagrees, ask him if he believes in Ragnarak. Ragnorak is the end battle between the gods that will result in their death and only 2 people survive. This was a Christian creation to explain Adam and Eve and was created perhaps only 1200 years ago.

I simply meant that Neo paganism and Wicca are the same in that they typically involve a blending of ideas. Nothing more. Sorry for the confusion.

EDIT to DEE
Wicca is not only duotheistic, with gender polarity. There are other theological viewpoints to be found within the Craft, including monotheism, the concept that there is just one deity, which is seen by some, such as Dianic Wiccans, as being the Goddess, whilst by others, like the Church and School of Wicca, as instead being genderless. There are other Wiccans who are atheists or agnostics, not believing in any actual deity, but instead viewing the gods as psychological archtypes of the human mind which can be evoked and interacted with.

You are painting a very narrow picture of Wicca based on your own belief. Wicca is NOT just what you believe, though I respect you belief.

The greatest part about being Wicca is there are no rules. Worship who you want.

Wicca says it's appropriate but some Asatru...ans(?) might not think so. Because of all the confusion, it's really up to you. If you feel close to Thor and want to wear the hammer, I think you should be allowed to. But that's just one opinion.
Blessed be!

If you don't ever want anyone to get the wrong impression of your jewelry, don't wear jewelry. If you don't want anyone to ever get the wrong impression of you... um... you're SOL.
There is a certain aspect of Heathenry that tends to be very protective (and I'll even say "elitist") about their practices and trappings. If you don't want to offend an elitist heathen, don't wear a hammer. If you don't care what people think, then do whatever you like.
Here's a thought... why not ask Thor Himself what He thinks about your jewelry?
-Scarlet

If you hon our Thor through Wiccan ritual, you are more than allowed to call yourself a Wiccan as well as wear a symbol of your god. If you just like Thor but don't hon our him as the focus of your practice, there's still really nothing wrong with wearing the pendant.

The people telling you that it's inappropriate are probably purists or elitists who don't want anyone else wearing their symbol unless they identify as one of them. I wouldn't take it to heart.

Wear whatever you want. Some people wear a Thor's hammer for no other reason than their ancestors were Germanic and they like to honor their heritage.

I agree with Scarlet in that if you're overly concerned with how other people judge you, you shouldn't wear ANY jewelry. There will always be a complainer out there about something.

I hate people who rear religious symbols just for fashion, but so long as the hammer pendant means something to you (i.e. you work with Thor), then wearing it seems perfectly appropriate to me.

answer: No. You are mixing incompatible pagan religions.

do a go ogle search for The Hammer and the Pentagram - it gives reasons why Wicca and Asatru are two different religions.

If you feel a connection to Thor, by all means wear it. As long as the particular piece of jewelry has meaning to you, you should wear it. I occasionally wear an Eye of Horus although my beliefs are not Kemetic in the least, but as I honor some of the Egyptian gods (including Horus of course), I feel I have a right to wear it. Honor the gods that call to you in the ways you feel most appropriate and ignore those who insist otherwise.
Venus Bless