gorm-sionnach wrote:

Inquiry is always welcome, it shows you have a willingess to learn and expand your knoweldge.

All and John T Mainer are members of Asatru, a Norse/Scandanavian/Germanic (have you guys come to a concensus on that one yet ;)) recontructionist religion, meaning they practice as close as possible to the Scandanavian Pagan (pre-Christian) practices as gleaned from by oral tradition, literature, folk traditions and practioces, history texts and UPG. All the Gods (and Gddesses) you listed are from their mythology. I'll leave them to give you the specifics.

Many of the Pagans here are Wiccans, who usually speak in general terms about their Gods/ Goddesses, sometimes they have names, sometimes not but rare is the occasion where they will be identified to anyone outside the individual.

I'm a Gaelic Polytheist, one of the paths of Celtic Reconstructionism, much like Asatru, except focused on the pre-Christian Celtic peoples, as opposed to the Germanic ones. GP's focus primarily on the Irish myths and practices, but often Scottish too as they have the same linguistic roots (old Irish).

Ah, posted at the same time, but with you less lazy than me!  :D

Godgirl wrote:

Just out of curiousity (I am not looking to convert or anything) but who are all of these (I guess there Gods?)
Odin, Thor, Tyr, and Freya?

They are what are referred to as "the Norse Gods".  Personally, I just call them the gods, just as Christians call their god "God".  I typically call that god the "god of Abraham".  They all have many characteristics other than what is thought of as their defining characteristics, but I would take a book for me to really get into that.  You have no desire to convert, and I have no desire to convert you.  That's for the gods to do, if they want.  I see SG gave you a link, so that should give you some basic info. 

I don't know if there is consensus or not, Gorm, I don't let myself get to concerned about it. 

all

gorm-sionnach wrote:

If you don't think its worth the time, it probably isn't ;)

Since the term Asatru covers the bases, could the specific geographic/linguistic/historic divisions be understood aas a point of focus, or is there just a (general?) concensus without the need to compartmentalize?

I can only speak for myself.  I don't see a need to compartmentalize.  In fact, I don't see much of a reason to worry about what other people are following as long as they don't get in my way, much less look for differences and categorize them.  If it helps someone to learn more, and examine their path by thinking that they need to look into this or that specific aspect of it, more power to them.   I recognize no authority over my beliefs except for that of the gods. 

all

gorm-sionnach wrote:

I was refering to a compartmentalization more on linguistic/historic groups, rather than on practices. Did the Norse mythologies and practices remain the same across the assorted kingdoms and regions or were there discernbale differences?

I suppose I'm just looking at it from a CR perspective, where the were different mythologies, practices and such, so often practicioners focus on specific regions (in my case a Gaelic Polytheist, focusing on Ireland) Whereas there are Welsh, Scottish, Gaulic and even Manx centered focuses as each region had seperate but related practices.

They were similar, but they had differences too.  Different cultures, etc.  They might have different practices, but for the most part, the practices were focused on the same deities. 

So I guess to answer your question, same basic mythologies, different practices. 

all