Tiewism

Tiewism as outlined here is a framework for a modern religion. It is inspired by the ancient Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Persian pre-Christian religions and their modern revivals with some influence also from Christianity.

Tiewism is an ethnic religion intended for the modern 'Saxon' peoples - those people who identify and are identified by others as descending from the Anglo-Saxon speaking peoples of England at the time of the Norman conquest.

Oslords

Oslords are 'governors of the spirit'. They are beings that cause a particular kind of spiritual activity. Tiewists recognise twelve in particular:

Tiew & Frigga - The Heavenly Parents

Tiew is a god of good social order, of justice, of good relations between people, a god of civilization.

Tiew can be identified with the Cosmic Father - the male god who brings into existence the ordered world that humans inhabit.

Tiew is not regarded as the only god, and in particular we also recognize Frigga as the Cosmic Mother who provides the nurturing conditions that brings living beings into life and provides the conditions for them to survive, grow and flourish.

Tiew and Frigga work together to provide the basic conditions for life to flourish with the support of other more specialized gods.

Other Oslords:

The Threelords: Athel the Noble, Balder the Servant and Loki the Lustful.

The Fivelords : Hemdal the Listener, Thunor the Proud, Freya the Lover, Wayland the Craftsman and Woden the Mad.

The Twoghosts: Holyghost and Evilghost.

Deep Lords

We also recognize powers who are 'deeper' or more fundamental than the above-mentioned Oslords.

In particular we recognize a threesome:

1. Happer is the producer of HAP or 'Happening'. Everything that happens is a product of Happer. Past happening is also called Wyrd or Weird, so Happer may also be called the Wyrd-Mother.

2. Wodder - or Woden the Father - is a producer of WOD . Wod can be described as motion or momentum, or a 'wave' that changes the existing course of things.

3. Wizder - is the Wise One - he is the 'Good Son of Wodder' sharing his ability to create Wod, which he does with Wisdom, so as to produce something greater , something more organized, than existed before.

NB1 Tiew and the other Oslords are all personalities or partial aspects of the operation of Wizder.
NB2 While Wizder can be explained as a son of 'Woden the Father', he is a distinct deity from 'Woden the Son' who is one of the regular Oslords.

Counterparts of Tiew in other traditions

Tiew is considered a particular appearance of the Universal Cosmic Father - the appearance of the Cosmic Father to the Saxons. He is the protective god of the Saxon society, upholding the laws or ways of doing things that are necessary for the common flourishing of that society. However he is not solely concerned with the uniquely Saxon world and is a guide for Saxons in their dealing with others outside their community.

Tiewists recognise the leading gods of other cultural communities who perform a similar function to Tiew but nevertheless have their distinctive characters just as those communities have a distinctive culture.

Most importantly we recognise Mithras, the leading god of the Persians, as a first cousin to Tiew.

In addition we recognize that Yahweh, the leading god of the Israelites, is also a counterpart to Tiew in some respects.

Tiewist Values

Tiewists strive to bring about Blooming - the flourishing of life. We are particularly concerned with those close to us - our family and immediate community - and more widely with the whole of the Saxon Nation to which we belong. While these are a priority we believe we should also aim to deal fairly with all others with whom we have relations and to help them as appropriate.

The foremost path of a Tiewist is to strive to become an Athelman - a person with a noble character. An Athelman is someone with strength and capability who is minded to put these to good use for the benefit of the wider society rather than solely for private gain.

Three important aspects of an Athelman are:

1. Rightmind - the ability to think straight so one can see clearly the situation one is in and make the best choice of action.

2. Goodsoul - good character, emotional health and strength, courage, compassion . Goodsoul is about being able to direct the right personal energies with the right strength to meet any need in the best way.

3. Stronghand- the ability to take appropriate action in any situation as a consequence of having developed skills and strengths.

These values apply to us as individuals, but also to us in alliance with each other. For instance Stronghand may come from many people working together in co-operation with each other.

Heroes

Heroes include:

The High Saints are Zartus the Wise, Jesus the Good and George the Brave.

The Seven Great Wizards are Zartus (Zoroaster), Gotama, Plato, Aristotle, Hegel, Nietzsche and Jung.

We regard Alfred the Great as both a saint and a heroic king. We regard him as foremost of the kings of the Saxons.

Many other figures might be regarded as lesser heroes such as Robin Hood.

Saxon Tradition

Apart from the particular ideas of the modern Tiewist religion, Tiewists have an attachment to the broader cultural tradition and historical memory of the Anglo-Saxon people. We don't argue that everything has been wonderful in our history, as obviously this is not the case. But rather we recognise our ancestors have developed much wisdom in the service of the negotiation of life, and that it benefits us to remember the wisdom of the ages, and not discard it too lightly. Nevertheless we also recognize that not every modern problem has a ready answer in the annals of the past. So we also need the ability to creatively find new solutions where this is required.

Runes

Runes are concepts that we pay special attention to. Tiewism has its own list of runes.

Saxon or English?

Many would argue that the Anglo-Saxon people and the English people are one and the same. Nevertheless Tiewists recognise that in modern times the question of identity is a complex one. We have many people living in England who might have a good claim to be regarded as English in some contexts, but have a complex identity that precludes them from being considered typically Anglo-Saxon. As Tiewists we don't want our very name to be seen as forcing an answer to a question that should rightly be a subject for debate. Thus we prefer to identify as 'Saxon' and leave open the question as to whether the modern English identity implies Anglo-Saxon roots or not.

Tiewists also understand that many people living outside England can claim a Saxon identity by virtue of physical and cultural descent from the people of Old England.

Church of Tiew

Tiewists wish to create a religious movement to develop the wisdom and strengths of our adherents, and to take our ideas to new people. Inevitably this may have something of the character of churches of other religions. So we would be happy to see the founding of a Church of Tiew

Saxon Tribes

Tiewists aim to create Saxon Tribes - i.e. to bring Tiewists together not just for religious practice but also for working together in other spheres of life. Times are predicted to get tougher and we will benefit from being able to help each other with the necessities and problems of life.

Eurania

Eurania (Europe-Iran) is a geographical area comprising of Europe, Anatolia and Iran.

The Euranian peoples are the native peoples of Eurania. The term Euranian is not the same as Indo-European however. The Euranian people can be considered to have been born with the confluence of three people groups - Ancient Hunter Gatherers, Neolithic Farmers and Steppe Nomads (the original Indo-Europeans).

Eurania is a cultural area , influenced by all its peoples, but intellectually having a particular debt to the philosophers of ancient Persia and Greece. Characteristic to the developed Euranian civilization is a sense that life is a struggle between Good and Evil powers , a doctrine attributed to Zoroaster, and a feature not so characteristic of the other great civilizations of China and India.

Saxon Tiewists recognise themselves as part of the Euranian civilization area and where possible seek to assist and collaborate with other Euranian groups. We regard Persia as the 'ceremonial head' of the Euranian area (a bit like Greece is the 'ceremonial head' of the Olympic Games). However in practice all people-groups are in competition to develop their cultures and be a positive force to Eurania and the whole planet.


Updated April 2025