Anyone into Ásatrú?

[Arthyron]

The Odinic Rite is not. If any neo-pagan religion most closely represents what I "follow" it is Odinism, but still not truly.

The Odinic Rite is less literal than Asatru, but definitely moreso than the path you claim to champion.

That is a myth. Human sacrifice did occur, but it was exceedingly rare. It was by no means "common through most pagan systems," at least the European pagan systems. The Nordic, Germanic, and Celtic religions have very little evidence towards human sacrifice, especially Nordic & Germanic. There is some evidence of it occurring on very rare occasions, but not common in the least. The book "The Barbarians Speak," which I've recently read makes this quite clear. It is about the archaeological perspective on the ancient peoples of Europe, and shows there is very little archaeological evidence in support of human sacrifice occurring often in the least. Not a common or universal practice.

It isn't a qualm to me, by any means, just that I know otherwise. I know it did occur rarely, but again was not a common practice of the ancient European pagans in the least.

There was a particular rite in Odinic worship that involved hanging men with ropes, if I'm not mistaken. There's also a fine line between terminal tortures and human sacrifice (such as the Blood Eagle), as there were often ritualistic or religious based reasons/themes/intentions to such actions aside from the intent to inflict harm and cruelty.

Strangulation was actually not uncommon in Celtic practices in certain instances, as well as intentional drownings at the sites of sacred waters (as evidenced by the "peat bog mummies").

And when I said it was fairly common in pagan cultures, I was referring to pagan cultures abroad, not just Indo-European cultures. It was especially popular and prevalent, for instance, in Pan-American (Aztec, Mayan, Incan, etc) cultures. For instance, in celebration of a festival of the Aztec god Xipe Totec (the name of the festival translates as "festival of flayed men," victims were readily sacrificed, and warriors would wear their skins as costumes.

It was less common in Germanic and Nordic cultures, but it was still known to occur.

 

[Jrgen]

It was less common in Germanic and Nordic cultures, but it was still known to occur.

When people talk about human sacrifice in Norse paganism, they generally refer to Adam of Bremen, who in the 11th century wrote that every ninth year, a very big Julblot was held at the temple of Uppsala where even humans were sacrified. However, it is worth noting that he got this information from the Danish king, who one shouldn't espect to depict Swedish practices in a particularly glorifying manner. He was rather likely to exaggerate in order to portrait the Swedes as barbarians. There might be some additional sources though, but this is the one you generally see being used.

 

[Arthyron]

When people talk about human sacrifice in Norse paganism, they generally refer to Adam of Bremen, who in the 11th century wrote that every ninth year, a very big Julblot was held at the temple of Uppsala where even humans were sacrified. However, it is worth noting that he got this information from the Danish king, who one shouldn't espect to depict Swedish practices in a particularly glorifying manner. He was rather likely to exaggerate in order to portrait the Swedes as barbarians. There might be some additional sources though, but this is the one you generally see being used.

Yeah, we covered Adam of Bremen in my Nordic Mythology course last semester, there were a few other references though.

That's the trouble of reconstructionist movements, so much crap to sift through.