Asatru/Germanic/Heathen/Norse suggested reading

[WayFarer]

If you haven't read it already, may I suggest "Our Fathers' Godsaga" by Victor Rydberg. It takes the stories of the Gods from various historical sources and presents it in a chronological/story form. In theory the book has been marketed towards younger readers, however that (I think) is just marketing and the book itself pretty good. I especially like in the chapters towards the end it walks you through what is experienced after death, what certain things mean and why they're done, judgment and reward/punishment. Not to mention the start of the next cycle of creation. Not bad and certainly of interest to anyone who wants to get started understanding the Norse/Germanic theological world view.

 

[Herr Heinrich]

Thank you for the suggestion. I will have to keep it in mind for when I am done reading my massive pile of books I have to read.

 

[Derry's Wall's]

Cool!I was in Jonkoping a couple of month's ago,the *Freebooter of the Baltic* sounds pretty swashbuckling too.


Nice One.

 

[LittleSidhe]

Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[Klaufi_Wodensson]

I'd say the Poetic Edda, along with Teutonic Myth and Legend. Plus some of the Icelandic sagas such as the Volsungs Saga

 

[Gjallarhorn]

I enjoy Raven Kaldera's four books on the Norse world: Jotunbok, The Pathwalker's Guide to the Nine Worlds, Wyrdwalkers, and Wightridden.

 

[Mata]

Anyone interested in Germanic Heathenry (Asatru, Theodism, etc) should start with the Prose Edda (Anthony Faulkes trans. being the standard) and then read the Poetic Edda, the Henry Adam Bellows is the only one I've read, and I loved it. For me it strikes the balance between literalism and poetry (it can be read online here The Poetic Edda Index ).

The Culture of the Teutons by Vilhelm Grönbech is also supposed to be a very good source. Although I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
As for secondary sources the only one I can recommend is H.R Davidson's Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. But there's many other scholarly resources that are supposed to be good reading.

As a general rule, it's best to read primary sources, and then read scholarly books about those primaries (and then read the Eddas and Sagas again! ). Most books that are aimed towards 'modern Heathenry' and such, tend to be very ill-reputed among more historically focused Heathens. And the authors Galina Krasskova and Raven Caldera tend to be cited as books newcomers should stay away from, until they have a good foundation in the worldview and history behind everything. Because, well, Krasskova believes some very unorthodox things, like Jotun & Loki worship, which are very touchy subjects in the Heathen community.

So yeah lol.

 

[peanutbutter63]

I tried reading the 2 eddas, but it made more sense to read Kevin Crossley Holland's THE NORSE MYTHS. Being of Asian blood, and in solitary practise and not concerned with the folkish emphasis on blood lines, I didn't become too concerned with too many writings or books. People talked about the works of Turville-Petre, Hilda Ellis Davidson, and many more others...but I was content with the book I mentioned, and the sagas I managed to get through Penguin Publications. One of the reasons I got from people about their need and mental absorption from all the right books(Huh? Right books?) was to invalidate their rituals, beliefs(eg. importance of blood-lines), and so on...but which didn't look like such huge amount of knowledge gave them any better or more peace of mind judging from the way they spoke or behaved face-to-face, or online

This is just me, but I think simplicity is the key with any belief system one adopts

 

[vaguelyhumanoid]

I chose to read the Poetic Edda first because I heard about the strong Christian influences and moral dualism of the Prose Edda. I'm glad I did - I *love* the alliterative poetry of early medieval northern Europe. Because of its density, I'm reading it gradually - still have some to go - but supplementing it with a lot of secondary sources and community discussion.

Honestly I'd say that norse-mythology.org is the best place to start when studying the Norse spiritual worldview. It's what got me interested in Heathenry.

as for Krasskova and Kaldera, I have very mixed feelings - I agree with a lot of their social views, and I do respect Loki, but a lot of their ideas on theology and religious practice turn me off. Krasskova in particular has some startlingly fundamentalist ideas about what it means to be a polytheist.