Viking Brotherhood

The Viking Brotherhood was a small religious group founded by Stephen McNallen during the modern revival of Ásatrú and Odinism. McNallen’s efforts joined the worship of Norse and Germanic gods to a wider, apparently parallel renewal of interest in pre-Christian Northern European religion; the group later evolved into the Ásatrú Free Assembly.

Origins and Purpose

In the late 1960s, McNallen felt strongly drawn to investigate the religion of the heathen Norsemen. The discovery inspired him to compose rituals of worship for the Norse and Germanic gods and to seek others who shared that spiritual path. He founded the Viking Brotherhood as a small group devoted to that work. The account credits McNallen with helping spark the modern revival of Ásatrú, or Odinism, in the English-speaking world.

A Wider Revival

The Viking Brotherhood was part of a broader pattern rather than an isolated development. At roughly the same time, groups dedicated to worshipping the gods of Northern Europe appeared in England, Iceland, and on the East Coast of the United States, alongside McNallen’s efforts in Texas. The groups formed without knowledge of one another, a coincidence the account describes as difficult to explain; it offers the Jungian idea of Wotan redivivus as one possible interpretation, not as an established cause.

Development and Significance

The Viking Brotherhood eventually evolved into the Ásatrú Free Assembly, marking a transition from McNallen’s initial small group to a later organization. Its significance in the account lies both in that institutional development and in its place within a geographically dispersed revival: the group gave organized form to McNallen’s religious commitment, while its emergence alongside unconnected groups suggests that renewed interest in Norse and Germanic traditions extended beyond a single founder or locality.