Warriors, Weather, and Wolves oh My!

Herein I discuss how contemporary Heathens and modern Vikings perceive and communicate about ‘nature’ as both a setting in which they are situated and an internal quality that they perceive themselves and others to possess. I refer to these as outer and inner nature, respectively. To contextualize these terms, I begin by discussing how warrior identity and perceptions of nature are an intricate part of Heathen and modern Viking identity construction and communication. Elaborating on this, I show how ideas about nature as binarily divided into inner and outer nature influences tendencies towards environmental determinism among heathens and modern Vikings, and how the same binary categories are present in the widespread tendency for Heathens and modern Vikings to identify with wolves or even pretend that they are wolves. This phenomenon I refer to as wolf play.