Heathen Pilgrimages

Black metal and neofolk music share themes including a rejection of popular culture, Norse pagan influences, and a romanticisation of nature ( Schnurbein 2017 , 338; Granholm 2011 , 532–3). These once-distinct musical sounds have become increasingly intertwined as musicians have begun drawing from both traditions ( Granholm 2011 , 534). Black metal and neofolk subculture can be a source of belonging and community to women and nonbinary people who experience societal marginalisation ( Clifford-Napoleone 2016 , 59–62). Black metal and neofolk music can also play an important role in helping people heal from traumatic experiences, including gender-based violence ( Shadrack 2019 , 10; 2020, 51). For this chapter, I engaged in an ethnography of women and nonbinary people in black metal and neofolk subculture to explore how black metal and neofolk influenced their spiritual beliefs and practices, as well as the ways in which they understood and expressed their gender. My primary research sites were the Midgardsblot Metal Festival in Norway and the Månegarm Open Air Festival in Sweden. Through participant interviews and observation, I found that black metal and neofolk subculture provides ways for women and nonbinary people to engage with gender and spirituality in more fulfilling ways than the dominant culture. It drew many to incorporate Norse paganism and other forms of nature-based spirituality into their practices. Attending festivals allowed participants to form a community with other women and nonbinary people and feel inspired by other women and gender non-conforming role models, including historical and mythical figures. The ways in which participants engaged with the music often took on a ritualistic nature, and/or many incorporated black metal and neofolk music into pagan rituals. Ultimately, I found that black metal and neofolk festivals such as Midgardsblot Metal Festival and Månegarm Open Air can facilitate transformational spiritual experiences. These festivals can be described as a form of modern pagan pilgrimage, a ‘heathen pilgrimage’, similar to the ‘techno-pagan’ pilgrimages described in Lee Gilmore's ethnography of Burning Man participants ( 2006 , 154), or ‘Goddess pilgrimages’ described in a 2006 ethnography by Kathryn Rountree (2006, 34) . These ‘heathen pilgrimages’ can give women and nonbinary people spiritual strength throughout the rest of their lives.