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Native Faith Movements in Europe: Intersections, Collisions, and 

Transformations of Religious Sensibilities 

Review by Stephen D. Glazier 

 

Contemporary Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Europe: Colonialist and Nationalist Impulses 

by Kathryn Rountree, ed. 

Berghahn, 2015 

 

In recent decades Pagan and Native Faith movements have proliferated across Europe, but there has 

been little research addressing the social and political impact of these movements. Contributors to this 

volume explore the complex interplay of nationalistic impulses in contemporary Paganism, illustrating 

how nationalistic impulses play out, intersect, collide, and transform European religious sensibilities as 

evidenced by the establishment of the European Congress of Ethnic Religions (ECER) in 1998. 

Contributors to this volume also make it clear that European Paganism differs from Paganism in North 

America largely because European Pagans are strongly rooted in their local communities and focus 

more on issues of ethnic identity.  

 

Pagan and Native Faith movements are notable for valorizing nature and for embracing polytheistic 

cosmologies, and for their diverse beliefs, practices, goals, and agendas. Some pagan groups attempt to 

recreate ancient religious forms, while other groups import elements from newer, foreign traditions like 

Wicca, Druidry, Goddess Spirituality, and Core Shamanism.  

 

This volume consists of 13 chapters covering an array of European nations and local contexts (e. g. 

Sami Neo- shamanism in Norway, Danish Asatro, Swedish Heathenism, The Brotherhood of Wolves in 

the Czech Republic, Sakha Shamanism, Estonian Maausulised, Hungarian Paganism, Witchcraft in 

Berlin, Irish Paganism, Flemish Wicca, Goddess Spirituality in the Iberian Peninsula, Italian Paganism, 



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and Maltese Paganism). Most contributors are Anthropologists, but other disciplines -- notably History, 

Religious Studies, Folklore, and Psychology-- are represented. All European Pagan and Native Faith 

movements are not represented. As editor Kathryn Rountree points out, chapters in this volume “should 

not be regarded as ‘country studies’ but rather as studies of particular groups in particular countries” (p. 

9). 

 

Rountree’s introduction, “Context is Everything: Plurality and Paradox in Contemporary European 

Paganisms,” assesses Paganisms and Native Faith movements as products of “glocalization” – an 

interplay of global and local concerns. She suggests that Native Faith and Pagan movements in Europe 

are steeped in what she classifies as “colonialist and nationalist impulses.” These movements, she 

asserts, are very much products of local histories and European politics. Some movements -- like Wicca 

-- have readily adopted Anglo-American Pagan traditions, while other movements have adopted a 

“reconstructionist approach” and have sought to revitalize selected pre-Christian religious traditions 

tied to particular regions. Some Native Faith movements advocate a return to an “authentic” pre-

Christian religion, while others do not. 

 

Contemporary Pagan and Native Faith movements have been shaped by historical relationships within 

particular regions as in, for example, Estonia and/or the degree to which secularism has taken hold as 

in, for example, Sweden. Contributors point out that while Native Faith movements seem nationalistic 

in tone, most groups are accepting and inclusive of outsiders.  

 

The first six chapters – dealing with Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and the Czech Republic – constitute 

the centerpiece of the book. Chapter 1, “Sami Neo-shamanism in Norway: Colonial Grounds, Ethnic 

Revival and Pagan Pathways.” by Siv Ellen Kraft documents a revival of Sami shamanism in Norway. 

Sami shamanism, she asserts, has multiple influences; for example, the founder of Sami neo-

shamanism made trips to California in order to study under anthropologist Michael J Harner. Kraft 

cogently argues for a distinctive Sami shamanism in which Sami indigenous identity becomes 

increasingly important. She convincingly demonstrates how environmental protest and the changing 

status of indigenous peoples have shaped Sami cultural and religious traditions. Chapter 2, “It's Not 

Easy Being Apolitical: Reconstruction and Eclecticism in Danish Asatro,” by Matthew H. Amster 

highlights the Danish cultural aversion to mixing religion and politics. Chapter 3, “Modern Heathenism 

in Sweden: A Case Study in the Creation of a Traditional Religion,” by Fredrik Gregorius explores a 



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curious paradox. Swedish Pagans present their religion as a “re-discovery” of authentic Nordic culture, 

while at the same time incorporating decidedly non-Nordic religions like Wicca (p. 12). Swedish 

Pagans draw inspiration from migrant religions like Hinduism and Haitian Voodoo and seek to position 

themselves among other Swedish “minority religions.” Chapter 4 “The Brotherhood of Wolves, Czech 

Republic: From Asatru to Primitivism.” by Kamila Velkoborska emphasizes diversity in the Czech 

Pagan scene. Velkoborska documents numerous disagreements, splits, and power struggles within the 

movement that revolves around Czech Wolfdogs (bred by members) and members who purport to live 

as modern hunter-gatherers. 

 

Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 address political discourses surrounding Paganism and Native Faiths. 

Chapter 5, “Soviet-era Discourse and Siberian Shamanic Revivalism: How Area Spirits Speak through 

Academia” by Eleanor Peers shows how a revival of shamanism in Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, northeast 

Siberia, relates to a wider post-Soviet nationalist revival. Chapter 6, “In Search of Genuine Religion: 

The Contemporary Estonian Maausulised Movement and Nationalist Discourse” by Ergo-Hart Vastrik 

traces continuity between Estonian Native Faith movements and the followers of Maausk (Maausk = 

“the faith of the earth”) -- a religion that was banned by the Soviets in 1940. Chapter 7, “Emerging 

Identity Markets of Contemporary Pagan Ideologies in Hungary” by Tamas Szilagyi provides an 

account of Pagan “meta-culture” in Hungary. Szilagyi deftly charts the fate of Hungarian Christian 

churches that collapsed because they were unable to rebuild their sociopolitical base. Chapter 8, “Hot, 

Strange, Folkish, Cosmopolitan: Native Faith and Neo-pagan Witchcraft in Berlin's Changing Urban 

Context” by Victoria Hegner examines the relationship between Native Faith and nationalism in 

Germany. What happens when an American Pagan visits Berlin? Chapter 9, “Paganism in Ireland: 

Syncretic Processes, Identity and a Sense of Place” by Jenny Butler explores other ways of conceiving 

the relationship between paganism and nationalism. She convincingly argues that Irish nationalism and 

Paganism are drawn from land, monuments, myths, and Irish folk culture. Chapter 10, “On the Sticks 

and Stones of the Greencraft Temple in Flanders: Balancing Global and Local Heritage in Wicca.” By 

Leon van Gulik looks at tensions between eclecticism and traditionalism among Flemish followers of 

Greencraft Wicca. Two aspects of the Greencraft tradition 1) the Celtic tree calendar, and 2) Stone 

circles combine elements that are allegedly Celtic, but are no longer considered to be “authentic.”  

 

Chapters 11-13 address issues of authenticity. Chapter 11, “Iberian Paganism: Goddess Spirituality in 

Spain and Portugal and the Quest for Authenticity” by Anna Fedele reports on the 2010 transplantation 



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of the goddess conference in Spain. She emphasizes the close affinities of Iberian Paganism and local 

Catholics. Chapter 12, “Bellisama and Aradia: Paganism Re-emerges in Italy” by Francesca 

Ciancimino Howell points out that the Italian Pagan community has indigenized and re-appropriated 

multiple religious traditions. Howell skillfully delineates diverse local and global strands. Finally, 

chapter 13, “Authenticity and Invention in the Quest for a Modern Maltese Paganism” by Kathryn 

Rountree looks at Maltese Paganism and the colonizing aspects of modern Paganism. Rountree points 

out that while the United States plays a major role in spreading the gospel of the goddess in Europe, 

American ideas have been met with a variety of local responses ranging from enthusiasm to 

disapproval.  

 

Contributors to this volume do an excellent job of presenting descriptive and ethnographic materials to 

highlight the complex inter-workings of traditionalism and eclecticism. Above all, contributors 

highlight the importance of local sociocultural, historical, political, religious and environmental 

contexts in determining the diverse shapes that Paganisms and Native Faith movements have taken in 

the current sociopolitical space of Europe. Moreover, these studies illustrate how particular local 

contexts can inspire vastly “different responses” (p. 19). Contributors provide considerable 

ethnographic detail, but I come away from this volume wanting to know more about the rituals and 

belief systems of these religions and wanting to know what it would be like to be a participant in these 

movements. What is it about these religions that has made them so compelling to so many in such 

diverse social and political settings?  

 

Stephen D. Glazier is a Research Anthropologist at the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University. 

In 2017, he retired from the University of Nebraska as Professor of Anthropology and Graduate Faculty 

Fellow. Glazier is author of Marchin’ the Pilgrims Home: A Study of the Spiritual Baptists of Trinidad, 

editor of Anthropology of Religion: a Handbook; editor of Perspectives on Pentecostalism: Case 

Studies from the Caribbean and Latin America; general editor of The Encyclopedia of African and 

African American Religions, and co-editor (with Andrew S. Buckser) of The Anthropology of Religious 

Conversion.   

 

 

© 2017 Stephen D. Glazier 


