Odinism
<p ><b>Odinism</b> is a type of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_neopaganism" title="Germanic neopaganism" >Germanic neopaganism</a>, specifically focussed on honoring <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin" title="Odin" >Odin</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor" title="Thor" >Thor</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frey" title="Frey" class="mw-redirect" >Frey</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyja" title="Freyja" >Freyja</a>, and other Germanic deities in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_paganism" title="Norse paganism" class="mw-redirect" >pre-Christian religion of Scandinavia</a>.
Some adherents will use "Odinism" as synonymous with Ásatrú,<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odinism#cite_note-1" >[1]</a></sup> others will reject an equivalence between the two terms,<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odinism#cite_note-2" >[2]</a></sup> whilst others use it synonymously, interchangeably, and also debunk those that have a conviction the two are completely separate.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odinism#cite_note-3" >[3]</a></sup> Some who use the term Odinism see no difference between the two terms, but as Odinism is historically established, other modern terms have met with limited success.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odinism#cite_note-4" >[4]</a></sup> In addition, some see it as synonymous with Wotanism and Wodenism also, whilst others object to this.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odinism#cite_note-5" >[5]</a></sup> Historically, early revivals of Germanic paganism, particularly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Rud_Mills" title="Alexander Rud Mills" >Alexander Rud Mills</a> ' <i>First Anglecyn Church of Odin</i> in Australia, focused on Odin, and in North America in the early 1970s, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Else_Christensen" title="Else Christensen" >Else Christensen</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_McNallen" title="Stephen McNallen" >Stephen McNallen</a> named their revivalist movements <i>Odinism</i> and <i>Ásatrú</i> respectively.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odinism#cite_note-6" >[6]</a></sup>
Many Odinists are "hard polytheists", and they believe that the gods and goddesses are real beings with distinct personalities.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odinism#cite_note-7" >[7]</a></sup> whilst others see them as different aspects of nature or as Jungian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archetypes" title="Archetypes" class="mw-redirect" >archetypes</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odinism#cite_note-8" >[8]</a></sup>
According to social scientists, Odinism is "a form of neopaganism that is trying to reconstruct ancient European pre-Christian religions</p>