Customer Reviews (5)

interesting, but undeveloped
The first half of the book presented some stunning conjectures, but they were not developed in any depth.Would like to see more on shamanism in early Celtic literature.Second half, showing origin of most modern druidism in 19th century, has been done better by collis and dutton.Ms Jones bibliography is woefully incomplete-she leaves out many books that she refers to.I would like to see a better bibliography.

Fun but a Tiny Bit Annoying
DRUID, SHAMAN, PRIEST: METAPHORS OF CELTIC PAGANISM by Leslie Ellen Jones is based on papers given at University of California Celtic Studies at Berkeley and Los Angeles. Through literary material goes through how the various ages looked at the Druid. Of course, Druids are bound up with the Celts so she gives a go at defining them. The book then looks at the Druids through the Classical authors, the Medieval period, the Renaissance through the Enlightenment, Victorian, and modern times.
I confess that after reading John Collis' THE CELTS, this book was not very scintillating, as Collis covers similar ideas and more thoroughly. Jones appears to stretch her ideas on the framework of the psychology of Jacques Lacan and on the Indo-European class division made by Georges Dumézil. Since these ideas are modern inventions, it is doubtful that Druids or Celtic speaking people thought in those ways, and these constructs are just as much a fabrication as the ideas about Druids that have passed through the ages.
I did like the analysis though. It was fun. I was especially appreciative of the last chapter that dealt with Druids in the modern age. She has some harsh commentary on some of the warm fuzziness found in a lot of modern new age books on shamanism. The job of the shaman is not for the faint of heart; it is a lonely job, and also has dangers. I loved her comment, "People who have to be reminded to be polite have no business running around in alternate realities." Yes, ma'am!
Some of the complaints are have are trivial. Jones speaks of Diviciacus, a Druid/Chief as if there was only one, but there is a question whether Diviciacus was one individual or two different persons. After stating that the majority of river divinities were female in the Celtic pantheon, but then assuring us that some may have been male, the author then turns around to conclude that St. David was probably derived from a pagan river goddess. Hello, Dylan was a water god and so was Manawydan ap Llyr, ocean related of course. However maybe St. David was derived from a river god. Why not?
The last thing is the unconscionable number of typos in the book, although Amazon did assure me that this was the best they could find. Perhaps this will be address by the new paperback additon.
The last part of the book deals with both the modern Druid and the Druid in film. However, the conclusion was too abrupt.
There is a preface entitled "Druidic Knowledge: Reconstructing Lost Traditions". The Druid section had two chapters: "Who Were the Celts and What Were They Up To?" and "Saints and Druids. The Shaman part had two chapters: "Shamans, Hunters, and Warrior-Kings" and "Owein ap Urien, the Perfect Shamanic Knight". The Priests segment had two chapters: "The Celtophile's Bookshelf I: Antiquaries and Archaeologists" and "The Celtophile's Bookshelf II: Poets and Patriots". The last section is entitled Druid * Shaman * Priest is the chapter entitled "Druids in the Post Modern Period." There is also a list of references and an index.
I am taking away a point for typos and additional one for some of the ideas that just annoyed me for a total of three stars. There is much to amuse in this book, but it is also a tiny bit annoying.

Now available inexpensive paperback edition !
Published December 2002 from Open Road Publishing. I don't see it at amazon.com but the sister site amazon.uk has it now in 2003. Scholarly, truthful, and fun to read. The Druids, as best we can now know what they were like, were probably feared at least as much as they were loved by their faithful followers. *****

Light Shining in Darkness
This witty yet scholarly study of Celtic religion sheds a bright, much-needed light into the confusing murk that surrounds the whole field of "Neo-Paganism." Anyone interested in the subject of Druids or the Celts would profit by reading this book. I only wish there were a paperback edition of it, since the British publisher's pricetag is denying "Druid Shaman Priest" its large and rightful readership. Ms. Jones is a terrific writer on this or any other subject (see her charming study of wedding lore, "Happy Is the Bride the Sun Shines On."

Druid shaman priest
This book is the best you should get it it tells you what you should knowabout shamanism. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: G.P. Putnam in 1892 in 339 pages; Subjects: Christianity and other religions; Paganism; Religion / Christianity / History; Religion / Christianity / General; Religion / Christian Church / History; ... Read more

Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: B.H. Blackwell [etc ., etc.] in 1892 in 46 pages; Subjects: Rome; History / Ancient / General; History / Ancient / Rome; Literary Criticism / Ancient ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (29)

It's okay
I'm not saying this book is bad or that it's a great book to have.Honestly I got it for 5 dollars at a book sale so what I received was well worth the money.I wouldn't pay 20 dollars for it simply because the book is an encyclopedia, I feel it's a great book to have in your self if you need to look something up really quick but if you're looking for a book that you can learn about a subject this book isn't it.I think it's a nice start especially if you're just starting out with Wicca but it may or may not be beneficial to someone who's been doing this for years.Like I said, buy it cheaper.That's probably the best bet.

full of good stuff.
all kinds of stuff is to be found in here. great for history lessons, or basic need-to-know.

witch book encyolopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, Neo Paganism
I just got started on it and from what I have read so far this book really explains a lot.

A Witch's Pot Boiler,Bubbling Over with Errors-
I really wanted to enjoy this encyclopedia of modern wicca and neo-paganism.Yet,it's full of questionable sources and no page numbers.For example,Aleister Crowley is listed as being the son of a wealthy brewer,named Edward.Also listed is Emily,as his meek mother.Most sources list Crowley's parents as the abstemious reverend John Crowley and the goodwife Sarah Bishop,no mentioning of a family beer business whatsoever.It's hard to believe that a fiery theologian,would also be a beer-master ,to boot.Buckland has so many interesting tidbits of wiccan information,that it really makes it interesting reading though.However,i would recommend that you stay wise to the fact,that Buckland fills in questionable ideas,where the truth maybe lacking.Whether he does this to embellish or poor proof-reading,is beyond my understanding and control.There are some unique sketches and pictures throughout the book.The stories on Monique Wilson and Leo Martello are interesting,yet i hope it's fact not fiction.The witch-finder General ,Cotton Mathers is mentioned,as well as his father,Increase Mathers.Yet,no mentioning of Samuel Mathers,ironically a latter-day high priest of the Golden Dawn.It's hard to give this book,a passing thumb's up of approval.A much better wiccan encyclopedia around is the ,'The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Witchcraft & Practical Magic',by Susan Greenwood and Raje Airey. Yet, that too has some errors and myth-making.Such as ,stating that Anton LeVay was a former SFPD crime-scene photographer and also played the 'Devil' in the 'Rosemary's Baby' film.Both claims have been refuted and discredited upon inspection.If you can obtain a cheap copy of ,The Witch Book,it's an entertaining resource on the various wiccan-pagan people and the many amusing gothic films associated with christianised witchraft.Yet,when you asperge your altar stone,for some late night antidotes, please take Ray Buckland's enchanting tales with a few dashes of salt.

An A-Z encyclopedia of witchcraft, wicca and neo-paganism
This is quite a comprehensive encyclopedia on witchcraft, wicca and neo-paganism which is presented in an A-Z format. There is an index at the end for those seeking certain entries or topics of interest. Also most useful is the list of resources for further research. I'm not a practitioner but have always had an interest in the occult and supernatural, and found the entries well-defined. This is not really a primer for those hoping to gain insights into how to go about practising witchcraft but more of an informative text on the different aspects found in witchcraft, wicca and neo-paganism. It provides historical background, covers the major players in the occult world and provides lots of insight into this world. I found it an interesting and enlightening read and would recommend it to all those who are interested in the subject, as well as for research purposes. ... Read more

Product Description
Using a contra-cultural model of social interaction, this text examines the interaction between Pagan and early Christian constructions of social order focusing on the Imperial cult as it developed, together with shared metaphysical assumptions, pari passu with Church Order. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Imperial Cult
Recent studies have re-assessed Emperor worship as a genuinely religious response to the metaphysics of social order. Brent argues that Augustus' revolution represented a genuinely religious reformation of Republican religion that had failed in its metaphysical objectives. Against this backcloth, Luke, John the Seer, Clement, Ignatius and the Apologists refashioned Christian theology as an alternative answer to that metaphysical failure. Callistus and Pseudo-Hippolytus gave different responses to Severan images of imperial power. The early, Monarchian theology of the Trinity was thus to become a reflection of imperial culture and its justification that was later to be articulated both in Neo-Platonism, and in Cyprian's view of episcopal Order.

Contra-cultural theory is employed as a sociological model to examine the interaction between developing Pagan and Chrsitian social order. ... Read more

Product Description
Melton ( Religious leaders of America, Directory of religious organizations ) assembled the first edition for release in 1982 under the title Sects and cults in America bibliographical guides, v.1 . The second edition has nearly doubled (to 2,540 entries) with the publishing of the 1980s. Two prefa ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Magic, Witchcraft, and Paganism in America
This book is 'the one' for whom want to know everything about Witchcraft and other stuffs...very good! ... Read more

Product Description
Essential reading for reconstructing early Christianity, the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea (ca. 260-340 C.E.) have held a central place for historians of early Christianity. While apologists like Irenaeus and Origen have stood squarely in the spotlight, Eusebius has remained in the shadows. This work contends that the value of Eusebius's own apologetic and theological writings has been neglected. It invites us to see Eusebius as a "contender of the faith" in his own right. To accomplish this goal, it takes us on a tour of two of Eusebius's key documents: Eusebius's "Praeparatio Evangelica" and "Demonstratio Evangelica". ... Read more

Product Description
In a work of splendid scholarship that reflects both a firm mastery of difficult sources and a keen intuition, one of Britain's foremost medievalists tells the story of the Christianization of Europe. It is a very large story, for conversion encompassed much more than religious belief. With it came enormous cultural change: Latin literacy and books, Roman notions of law and property, and the concept of town life, as well as new tastes in food, drink, and dress. Whether from faith or by force, from self-interest or by revelation, conversion had an immense impact that is with us even today. It is Richard Fletcher's achievement in this superb work that he makes that impact both felt and understood. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

an excellent resource for the specialist
Richard Fletcher has written a brilliant and comprehensive history of the expansion of Christianity in Europe following the collapse of the Roman Empire.Having a professional interest in the phenomena, this is the first resource I would recommend for those interested in the growth of the Church between 400 - 1100 and the gradual inter-marriage between religious and secular authority in the early and high middle ages.

The first half of the book was of most interest to me, as Fletcher discusses the relationship between the decaying Roman empire and the spread of Christianity.Much to my suprise, Christianity was initally "only for Romans", without much effort placed in bothering to convert the growing number of Germanic "barbarians" settling in western Europe.Over the course of the next two centuries, Fletcher does a marvelous job of explaining how a Mediterranean religion was gradually embraced by non-Latin peoples.(In a nutshell, the new arrivals borrowed extensively from Rome, including religion, before a real prosletizing movement began.)

The syncretism between pagan and Christian practices and beliefs was not addressed in as much detail as I had hoped, but Fletcher can be forgiven this as he does a remarkable job of connecting the historical dots between conversion of rulers and the gradual embrace of Christiantiy by the common folk.In spite of the dearth of source material and the obvious slant of Christian writers of the time, he lucidly shows conversion was not immeadiate, whole nor easy -his deductions, inferences and explainations as to how it happened, what the challenges faced by missionaries were, and what the short and long term consequenes were are vividly shown.That Europe as a whole was not Christianized by even as late as 1000 and even in "Christian" areas like the Rhine valley there were pockets of paganism may come as a surprise to many.Why this was and the close inter-relationship between church and state during this time is also clearly explained.

The book is really written with the specialist in mind: serious students of history or theology, or those with a burning desire to know intimate details about this issue in particular.It is exhaustively researched and cited and provides an excellent bibliography for even further reading.For the lay reader (or non-professional) interested in just *how* Christianity was adopted, the first 200 pages would be adequate, and even then with judicial skimming.WIth this caveat, I found it to be detailed, deep, and endlessly fascinating.

Too Specialized for a Generalist
This is a scholarly work from a fantastically informed writer. But it's very narrowly focused, very detailed, and very poorly signposted. I was looking for a general history of the spread of Christianity throughout Europe. But this book is narrowly focused on specific evangelistic missions and ecclesiastical details.

The detail would be way too much for a generalist in any case, but it would have been tolerable if the author were better at signposting his narrative---starting each section or paragraph with an old-fashioned "topic sentence" to tell you what he's going to talk about or what the point of the upcoming plethora of details is. He also doesn't provide enough introductory material on the various ethnic groups or geographic areas before his discussion of them, at least for a lay reader. You're pretty much plopped in media res and have to piece together what you can.

There was enough good information in the book to keep me slogging through it. But the broad picture of European conversion that I was looking for was not there, and the bits of the picture I got were awfully hard fought for. It would be nice to see the author work with a good editor for a condensed (in detail) and revised (in narrative) edition of this book.

Dry bones come mostly to life.
If you want to know how Europe became Christian (to the extent that it did), I can hardly recommend this book too highly.Fletcher is a judicious historian, a delightful conversationalist, and knows his stuff.I bought this book for background for my research on how Christians in settled civilizations related a new faith to ancient cultures.It was a lucky buy.Fletcher tells the story, and when possible, tells it well.I remember knocking on the door of the art historian two floors up to share some of the illustrations and points that went with them.

Some parts of the book remain a bit dry, though, when the story became repetitive or good sources seemed unavailable.(As Fletcher wryly puts it, "the historian of the dark ages must be thankful for the smallest mercies.")But covering a thousand years of obscurity is not alway merciful to the reader.It's hard to remember all the names, for one thing, and Fletcher sometimes forgets to remind us who is who.

I'm interested in is "fulfillment theology" -- the idea many Christians have had that the Gospel does not simply abolish, but fulfills, the deepest truths in pre-Christian cultures.The Christians Fletcher talks about seem to have been pretty flexible on culture and faith -- less rigid than many colonial missionaries would become -- but did not think about the issue so deeply as an Augustine, an Origin, a Ricci, or a Chesterton.Sometimes faith and culture come together in a daffy ad-hoc mixture: Anglo-Saxon kings once traced their lineages to the god Woden: after conversion, they traced it through Woden back to Adam!

Conversion seemed to run strongly along aristocratic family lines -- the theme comes up again and again.And while believers often had a very worldly notion of God's blessing, it was interesting to see how the upper classes sacrificed for their faith, as well as gain from it materially or politically.Fletcher shows that conversion was seldom entirely forced, but often was socially motivated.(Princess brides seemed to accomplish almost as much as missionaries.)All in all, a useful resource, and an excellent read.

filling some of the gaps in history
A lot of this book confirms stuff I already suspected; that Christianity had inherited the Greek-Roman civilization and this was an important tool in converting Germanic and Slavic chiefdoms (in which case the chiefdoms became statehoods); how missionaries targeted the kings who, after conversion, enforced the religion on their people; and that the `pagan threat' of the Vikings wasn't really all that `pagan'.

But I learned more after reading this book; the importance of monasticism in the conversion of the aristocracies under the kings; how converted kings waited a generation or two before destroying the indigenous religions; the importance of pilgrimage to the Christianized Irish and how that took them all over western Europe in their missionary efforts (before that, I was guilty of viewing the Irish church as isolated); how some pagan societies in eastern Europe emerged as statehoods (and thus not as attracted to Greek-Roman civilization as much as earlier converts were) and therefore had to be subdued by merciless crusading forces. Some of these crusades in eastern Europe reminded me of how the Americas was lost to the American Indians during Christendom's expansion across the Atlantic; rather than converting the natives, they were simply driven out of the land which was then colonized by western European Christians.

The downside to this book (tortuous writing about all these monks founding monasteries at boonies-shire and sticks-bury have already been addressed by other viewers) is that it doesn't tell us much about how Christianity affected the slave trade or its evolution into serfdom. I was under the impression that slavery dwindled in Europe after its Christianization but there are passages in this book that suggests that it continued for quite some time well into the middle ages, but he doesn't have much to say on the subject. He does mention Frankish monasteries that banned the murder and torture of slaves but that's about it.

I would also have liked to see more of how the monks who founded missionary monasteries affected the lower class populations but the author addresses this as much as the surviving evidence allows him to, so it's not his fault, but that evidence doesn't tell us much. We do learn though, that some people were bitter because the missionaries destroyed their former rites without giving them new ones (suggesting that religious devotion for the lower classes after their baptism was not a big deal to the religious leaders). There is also some slight evidence that the people did not like the strict abstinence preached and practiced by the religious leaders and were quick to notice any hypocrisy in the observance of these dogmas by these priests, monks, and missionaries.

Perhaps it might not be appropriate for this book, but I would like to have read more about heretical groups like the Albigensians in the chapter that discusses rival monotheisms (one of the rival monotheisms, Islam, was considered a heresy anyway). Perhaps there would be room for this if fewer pages were spent detailing the accounts of various monks founding monasteries.

Don't let these criticisms fool you into thinking that this book is not worth the read. It is very worth it. It doesn't completely close the gap between the modern age and antiquity but it does close a large portion of it. After reading this book, the middle ages will help mankind's timeline appear to flow much more smoothly and won't look so blocky.

Entertaining page-turner
This is easily one of the most entertaining, and readable, works on this topic I've encountered.Fletcher's style is witty, chatty, and accessible.I couldn't put this book down, and devoured it in 4 days.Every chapter was as good as the last, and I plan on re-reading it soon.His frequent references to prominent historical people and events help you really connect the material with other information about the area, giving you a more complete picture of the people and their times. ... Read more

Product Description
E.G. Stanley has an international reputation as a leading Anglo-Saxonist, and his perceptive and original contributions to the field continue to be sought after by Anglo-Saxon scholars. The two topics included in this book are just such studies. `The Search for Anglo-Saxon Paganism' traces an attitude among writers on Anglo-Saxon literature which exalts whatever is primitive and supposedly pagan or crypto-pagan in the surviving Old English texts of the early Christian middle ages, as demonstrated in the work of such luminaries as Jacob Grimm and J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as a swarm of minor figures. Students of Old English literature will find some of their cherished views on individual texts challenged in the process of tracing them to their foundations; but the book has wider implications as a case-history of how scholarly predilection becomes prejudice and orthodoxy. Although written some years ago, the arguments, with some updates and corrections, remain fresh and invigorating. The second part of the book deals with the search for trial by jury among the Anglo-Saxons. Its beginnings have been sought by some in Germanic legal institutions, by others in institutions brought in by King Alfred to whom much that is great and good in the governance of England was ascribed. The author argues that the idealism that characterized advocates of political and legal reform guided them to a few facts about the origin of jury and to many simplifications and errors in which the Anglo-Saxons appeared as shining forerunners. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a window into ancient philo- and anti-Semitism
According to this book, Greco-Roman pagans had a wide variety of views about Moses and about the creation of Judaism.Gager divides these views into several general categories:

1.Commentators who viewed Moses as a wise lawgiver.For example, in 300 BC Hecateus described Moses as a man "highly distinguished in both practical wisdom and courage." This is not to say, however, that his version of history is consistent with Jewish tradition.For example, he writes that the Jews were expelled from Egypt by nativists who blamed all foreigners (including Jews) for a plague, and that Moses then not only created Jewish law, but also divided the Jews into twelve tribes himself.Even some pro-Jewish commentators misunderstood Judaism in all sorts of amusing ways; for example, Pompeius (writing in the early years of the Roman Empire) describes the Sabbath as a day of fasting commemorating the Jews' hunger in the desert.

2.Commentators who viewed Moses as a not-so-wise lawgiver.For example, the anti-Christian commentator Celsus (2nd c.) tries to discredit Moses in order to discredit Christianity, which in his view repeated the philosophical errors of the Bible.Other writers, writing in the context of Jews' conflicts with the Roman Empire and with local pagans, attack Moses for creating an allegedly intolerant religion and claim that Jews were expelled from Egypt because of leprosy or similar disease (a common claim).

3.A third group treats Moses as a powerful magician.For example, numerous magical charms mention Moses. One "magical papyrus" dating from the 3rd century requires a would-be magician to ask the gods for a love from a woman like the longing "which the god .. felt for Moses." ... Read more

Product Description
Neopaganism is rapidly growing in membership throughout the Western world, and in Australia.Using a multidisciplinary approach, Hume describes the emergence of a controversial worldview which has its roots in some ancient ideas but whose ideology is firmly rooted in the twentieth century.The book poses some interesting questions: Is Paganism a religion?What do its practitioners believe and do?What are its historical roots?Is it dangerous?Is it legal? How do people learn about it?Why is it adopted as a belief system?As an anthropological analysis of a social phenomenon, this is an intriguing and accessible study. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Essential reading for the Southern Wytch
This book is a MUST HAVE for any Wiccan or Wytch in Australia - it is Australia's equivalent to Margot Alder's "Drawing Down the Moon" - and even New Zealand Wiccans and Wytches may find it of interest.

While written in 1997, the Neo-Pagan seen has changed a bit since this book was written - or has it really?While the networking systems may have improved and certainly there is more (much much more) information available, a large percentage of what is covered in this book is still relevant today.

Not Your Average Witch book
This book was a great read, very informative. Not a spellbook, but instead a good look at who, what, why and when.Which is always helpful.

Expand beyond the Nth Hemisphere!
I read this book when I first started on the Pagan path.Being an Australian, it was a welcomed readto all the American/Northern Hemishpere books.It approached a wide range of subjects and gave me an insight intoPaganism and Wicca in Australia.

I recommend this book to not justSouthern Hemisphere (or Australian) Pagans but Pagans in the NorthernHemisphere as well.Lynne Hume (wrong spelling Amazon!) did well.

Inever give any book 5 stars as IMHO no book is 'perfect' there are alwaysfaults.. so I gave this book 4 stars.Basically, the good I got out ofthis book outweighed the bad. ... Read more

Product Description
An introduction to the coming revolution in art, technology, media, chemistry, science, and music discusses amino chemistry, manotechnology, high-tech paganism, teledildonics, and more.$75,000 ad/promo. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Window on an era
First off, I hope the seller's name appears linked to this review because they totally misrepresented the condition. It was disgustingly spattered with gawd-knows-what which had to be removed with rubbing alcohol before I could touch it without getting queasy. The corners were dog-eared, actually folded inside for several pages and it had obviously been dropped.

Fortunately this didn't affect the content which was a trippy visit to Bezerkeley during the era when the internet was just beginning, smart drugs, raves, Burroughs, Leary, hacking as a noble endeavor and "that whole scene." It's also amusing to compare the predictions in various articles with the reality today.

The year was 1992 and there was a future of techno-shamen, raves, and cyberpunk computing
Instead we got Windows 95, AOL users on the Internet, LinkedIn, and the RIAA/MPAA lawsuits. Oh yeah, and this book is still around. It probably looked dated to the folks in the offset printing factory, but it's a fun, colorful, vibrantly funky dated. It's a great read of the late, somewhat lamented, Mondo 2000 crowd.

90's nostalgia
This book was a very fun find for me, especially as I live in a more rural area and missed a lot of the "Cyberculture" including most of Mondo 2000's run...Oh, well...

I really liked reading from it, and even now it would be worth a look.

If you read mondo 2000, there are no surprises here, but...
If you have read Mondo 2000 before, then nothing in this book will be much of a surprise.In fact in 1998 this book is clearly retro.Still, to the new reader you will find much of the information interesting.The format is basically an A-Z of popular memes and cultural phenomena with a pseudo hypertext interface.
High gloss and flashy.Suitable for a coffee table, but you might want to keep it on your reference shelf.

Very '1990' look at the future
A very 1990 look at the future, but well done withgood graphics. Covers music, fashion, Industry,etc. ... Read more

Product Description
This unique reference offers a complete assessment ofmodern paganism and magic as practiced by witches, druids, feminists,and others who believe that conventional religion has little relevancein the late 20th century. Presented alphabetically, fullycross-referenced, and strikingly illustrated, Witches covers all thekey figures and practices of paganism in the Western world today,dispelling the myths that have long cloaked the subject. The manyfactual entries are supplemented by candid interviews with fourprominent pagans, whose observations lend a powerful insight into theworkings of their collective faith. Michael Jordan is the author ofGods of the Earth, Encyclopedia of Gods, and Myths ofthe World. ... Read more

Product Description
This accessible case-study of Northern European shamanistic practice, or seidr, explores the way in which the ancient Norse belief systems evoked in the Icelandic Sagas and Eddas have been rediscovered and reinvented by groups in Europe and North America. Drawing on ethnography, religious studies, anthropology and sociology, the book examines the phenomenon of altered consciousness and the interactions of seid-workers or shamanic practitioners with their spirit worlds in historical and political contexts.

Written by a follower of seidr, this study not only investigates, but also addresses those new communities involved in a postmodern quest for spiritual meaning. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

a milestone
Jenny Blain is AFAIK the only author who analyzes what is really there AND describes various attempts to reconstruct Seidr today. Off course she disappoints lots of people who like to create a new magical fantasy world or want to live in a New Age world created for them by an author. The less we really know the better for the New Ager.....But she is an Ethnologist, totally commited to truth and a practioner of Seidr herself.
Jenny Blains description of Seidr is a realistic piece of hard research work and I can feel the oblique and powerful craft of our ancestors in her work. It's definetely not a game, it never was and Jenny warns her audience about the consequences throughout the book. That's another aspect New Agers "dislike" because it is not only blond Elbs, funny dwarfs and honest gods you will find in that other world. So better be prepared and protected. There may be bitter consequences if someone is doing just one little mistake during a Seidr trance "The whole luck of a person can change 100% for the rest of her life with one offended spirit in a session." Ooops! But she doesn't hand out "Do it yourself" ritual kits to her readers anyway. Her real Seidr is far too dangerous for that. She is practizing in a well protected group and she reports incidents I don't want to be part of.
Very well done! The only points that turn me off are that postmodern academic phony discussions about i.e "Transgenderism in shamanic blababla...." ;-)))
But you can't have it all....

Oracular Seidhr
I think that the title of her book is misleading, there was very little in the way of 'magic'. Though maybe my definition of magic may be different than some. She barely talks about ecstasy as I understand it as well. Oracular Seidhr as she writes it, to me is basically jumped up 'led meditation'someone leads you there, then you go on your own way. But this may not be her fault, I just wish she'd written more about utiseta which seems to me to be the closest thing to 'shamanism', not seidhr itself, or to be specific, oracular seidhr. It also could be WHEN she wrote the book... every day, there is more information out there and opinions change over night.
Not knowing much about Heathenism, I really liked her book. A good balance of involvement and distance. I think the 'involvement' of both the writer and the heathen population in ergi is humorous, which I think is due to the fact that a LOT of heathens are of the hard mead drinking "let's go bang our swords' type, to whom ergi may be a serious consideration. As some know, a lot of people actually chosen by the spirits to do 'shamanism' have issues with dualism and sexuality and 'being normal'. To some, being normal is more important than anything else in life and to them, ergi would be a big problem. I say let them be afraid of ergi and the rest of us do what we wish, they can discuss it into the ground and they can avoid seidhr. Who cares? Give them a bigger sword and they will feel better.

Intensely Scholarly
Blain does an excellent job of examining the shamanic aspects of Seid.She does seem to come off as mildly apologetic that an academic would be involved in such inquiries.This is most apparent in the intensity with which she qualifies and defines the various concepts addressed in _Nine_Worlds_.

As the subtitle indicates, _Nine_Worlds_ focuses on the shamanic aspect of the Old Germanic Religion.It does so from a distinctly Asatru perspective.I've said many times that the 'Trar can be a bit too serious at times, and Blain is no exception.But in this case, the earnestness can be endearing.One comes away from _Nine_Worlds_ with a great deal of respect, and a bit of compassion, for Blain's intense attitude.

_Nine_Worlds_ is a survey of Seid shamanic practice, and in no way a how-to manual.That being said, it is a must-read for anyone interested in European Shamanism.

Outstanding scholarly work
Ms. Blain does an excellent job of studying seidr not only from a practical stance but a historical and philosophical one as well.She mixes scholarship and historical theory with stories of personal experience and accounts of modern-day practice.It does only cover one way of practicing seidr though, that being the Hrafnar style oracular seidr of Diana Paxson's group.As limited as the scope is however it is still an excellent work.

A good introductory exploration
This was an interesting read...The author explores her own participation in a subculture as well as explaining the historal aspects of the subculture. She does a fairly good job explaining some of the historical roots, and to some degree the present activities of the subculture. She could've touched on the contemporary subculture more though.

A lot of her analysis seemed focused on how she reconciled the differences between herself as a heathen and as an academic. This was particularly interesting, but what stood out to me was that she could never entirely just submit to an experience but was constantly analyzing it...so that for her it seemed the identity of an academic was predominant over that of a heathen. It does lead one to ask whether she really critically engaged the experience in and of itself or used the academic way of thinking as a distancing tool. Nonetheless she does question her own attitudes and this is evident in her work. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
With most of the Christian world honoring Sunday as their day of worship, the question of its origin becomes important.

Over the past hundred years much has been written about the use of the week among ancient pagan peoples. However, little has been done to compile such historical material into an easily accessible book for the general public.

Robert Leo Odom for years has conducted special research on the Sabbath-Sunday question. In "Sunday in Roman Paganism," he leads readers through the pages of history showing the rise of the planetary week and its "day of the Sun" in the heathenism of the Roman world during the early centuries of the Christian era.

This book is not a capsulated history of Sunday as a church festival, but rather the history of the planetary week as it was known and used in the pagan world, and to show whether or not its "day of the Sun" was then regarded by pagans as being sacred to their Sun-god. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Skip it
I had fairly high hopes for this book.After all the title and the blurb sound very promising.I thought that perhaps we might be treated to a structural analysis of Old Norse and Old English sources with some comparative elements thrown in.Unfortunately, that is not possible because, as far as I can tell, Mr Winterborne doesn't read any of the old languages (he does seem to read French and Modern High German).

One area where this book makes a modest contribution to the theory is in the idea of fate and time being somewhat separate.However, this would be more impressive if properly grounded in primary sources.

What follows then is a free ranging discussion about the author's attempts to deal with some sort of homogeneous view of "destiny" an hence put Norse fatalism into a larger perspective.While such of a work might have potential if the author was able to discuss Norse concepts of fate on their own as they relate to textual sources, the approach fails miserably when applied in the way he does-- via brief discussions of secondary scholarship and sources in translation (some of which the translator has made structural changes to the translation vs the original).

To be sure this was never intended to be a work of comparative mythology or philology but rather philosophy.However, in trying to explore the history of ideas without making a serious attempt to explore the structures of any of the works in their original documents, the work falls flat on its face.

I am sure some of the author's other more purely philosophical works may be of more value, but this book really is not. ... Read more