Theologically, British Traditional Wicca (think Gardnerians, Alexandrians, etc) and Neo-Wiccans (think Scott Cunningham, anyone from Llewellyn writing about Wicca, etc) share a few points such as:
- reincarnation, usually within species
- rule of three
- duotheism / usually soft polytheism (goddess and god / the belief that all goddesses are one goddess, all gods are one god)
- 8 Sabbats, making up the wheel of the year
- 4 elements
- circle casting
- some tranced based magic (ex, Drawing Down the Moon), but mostly symbol based magic (ex, spells done with with tools and ritual)
- etc
~*~*~*~*~
Heathenry has a very different structure. Going point by point in a list format is a bit tricky because the correlations aren't exact, but to give it the old college try...
- Complex afterlife consisting of Valhalla, Folkvangr, Helheim, Nastarond, and possibly other places like Adlang and Vidblain, which may be where souls go after/during Ragnarok.
- Nothing quite like the Rule of Three. Many Heathens go by the Nine Noble Virtues, but those were made up fairly recently, and variations exist.
- Hard polytheism. Odin, Thor and Loki are most definitely Not all names for the same deity, nor are Frigga, Sif, and Sigyn the same deity. Some, myself included, still believe in another unifying divine force larger than these individuals. (Sometimes gets associated with Odin, though I prefer the association with Freya's missing spouse, Odr, because it opens to some fabulous parallels to mystical traditions in other faiths, and given that Freya is most definitely a goddess associated with mystical work... But that's another topic.) Nature reverence tends to come from a belief in the Landvaettir, or land spirits, such as trolls and elves, etc.
- A variety of calendars. Some that are influenced by Neo-Wicca are similar to the 8 Sabbats, others are extremely different. The equinoxes, in particular, seem to have shown no real *religious* importance to the Norse Pagans historically, and are, if kept, mostly around at all because of Wiccan influence. One can, of course, argue for the objective scientific nature of those days being based on observable phenomenon, but all of that is still kind of up for debate. Even groups that parallel will often make holidays like that less significant than, say, celebrating Leif Erikson coming to North America without actually killing the locals. Because my new state requires me to do some religious group work, whenever I get that going, if I start from scratch, I'm personally looking at a collection of 12 or 13 holidays. (It would make it much more convenient for monthly meetings, at any rate.)
- No four elements, except due to Wiccan influence. Fire and Ice are, however, seen as significant polarities in the creation of the universe.
- Heathens don't usually cast circles, outside of Neo-Wiccan influence, but do a "hammer hallowing" instead. Nice thing about that is it doesn't have boundaries, just gradually fades after a space, so people can come and go as needed.
- magic is primarily trance based (faring free, high seat ritual), and only secondarily symbol based (runes, the occasional use of Icelandic magical staves by some, very few tools used in magic and ritual - which is a bonus for portability and packable altar kits, let me tell you!)
A caveat:
Heathens are also an extremely polarized lot, mostly on the far, far left or far, far right. Personally, I often have issues carving out a "sane middle ground," or moderate space, and finding such in the community.
Additionally, a lot of them like to play "more Heathen than thou" if they actually know Old Norse or Icelandic (which is remarkably close to Old Norse), and pulling obscure terms out of some dusty tome and making them mean so much more than they probably did to that culture is commonplace.
