Is Heathenry a closed religion?

No. Closed religions are closed because their parent cultures are also closed or highly restricted, which doesn’t apply to Scandinavian cultures.

If Heathenry was a closed religion, then no one born and raised outside Scandinavian cultures would be able to practice it. But this is not the case, and anyone from any background can engage fully with the religion, including venerating Heathen gods, making offerings to Heathen powers, calling themselves Heathen, and building practices around the cosmology, mythology, practices, and worldviews of their chosen type of Heathenry.

While Heathenry in its entirety is open, there are some specific lineages and magical practices that are closed or restricted. Their closure / restriction could be for a number of reasons, but some of the common reasons are as follows:

• The family matriarch must pass the tradition down to a younger member.
• The practice requires proper initiation, as is the case with certain magical practices and mystery traditions.
• The parent culture is trying to keep its traditions out of the hands of the Neo-Völkisch Movement and won’t share them with Americans on principle.

Any closures or restrictions in Heathenry relate to specific regional styles of cultural practices, and never apply to Heathenry as a whole.