Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions

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The Mysterious Spirit of my Hearth Inheritance.......2007-07-18

This book is mainly concerned with the format and content of pre-Christian Scandinavian religion, using Celtic and Germanic equivalents as a means of reference, support and comparison. I first became aware of Scandinavian culture during my schooldays in North-East British Northumberland, and the lessons were mainly concerned with depicting the savagery of the Viking raiders, the terrible `dragon-headed' long-ships, and their rape, pillage and plunder of civilized Anglo-Saxon Christian settlements. This image of barbaric ice-warriors filled my imagination until the mid-eighties when excavations and archeological discoveries at Coppergate in York revealed many interesting and highly cultured facets of Viking life in the early medieval period. Much of these discoveries and subsequent research was installed as a permanent museum now called `Jorvik Viking Centre.' A decade later I was fortunate enough to visit Bergen in Norway and experience Scandinavian culture and history first hand, the Bryggens Museum is a showcase of finds from the earliest settlements and includes ceramics, rune inscriptions, artifacts and the remnants of a principally shipping and commercial society up to the Middle Ages. `Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe' provided me with a carefully researched and detailed account of the spirituality of the Scandinavian peoples, and which brought to maturity all my previous thoughts and experiences, to an understanding which gives considerable credit to those communities for their important cultural legacy in Western Europe.

Davidson has used the medieval literature, myths and legends of Iceland and Ireland as the primary reference source for this book, in combination with archeological research papers and sources, and iconography of pre-Christian Western European culture. Her main inspiration appears to come from many scholars of Celtic history including Nora Chadwick, Kenneth Jackson and Anne O'Sullivan, although the principle thesis of the this research is prompted by Georges Dumezil (1898-1986) the religious historian who specialized in the analysis of Indo European civilization, who asks; "Is it possible to fit these Norse and Irish legends into a general pattern of Indo-European religious beliefs, extending back far into prehistory?" This question it seems, is the answer that Davison was seeking to explore within her work, and she does so with imagination, clear perception and a satisfying conclusion. With a broad yet defining sweep she manages to assess and investigate seven principle areas of interest; sacred places and sanctuaries, feasting and sacrifices, warriors, codes and rites and battle, land spirits, deities and ancestors, prophetic knowledge, divination and the priestly caste, cosmology and the other worlds, and finally the ruling gods, goddesses and divine pantheons.

Davidson begins with the earliest sources of a broad Indo-European culture, the archeological sources of Halstatt and La Tene circa 800 BCE to 200 CE, and follows through her study to approximately 1000 CE when the Scandinavian Vikings began to convert to Christianity. She employs free use and comparison of geographical sites, archeology, linguistics, cultural, social, artistic and spiritual characteristics, and the dynamics of the anarchical tribal-feudalism of early European society to successfully accomplish the study.

I grew up within a traditional working class British community. There, the cultural inheritance was composed of remnants of ancient and medieval thought whose pattern and dynamic has evolved little beyond the concept of `indentured servitude.' Tribalism still exists albeit in the form of soccer, and beyond the boundaries of the town there still exists a fear, a dreaded chaos, of foreigners and disorganization. Even when I was a lad in the seventies there was a strong sense of home, a hearth and odd yet valid seasonal customs whose origins may be traced back a thousand years. From a curious perspective, even a psychological one, this volume (and others like it) helped me to understand my background, language, beliefs and culture from a traditional point, and subsequently how those traits still influence my perception and actions today. It is not a book that changed my life, but illuminated facets of it and helped me in understanding myself more.

A broad overview with some problems and gaps, but overall scholarly, useful, and intelligent. Recommended.......2006-08-17

A useful introduction to the structure, key concepts, and beliefs of ancient Scandinavian and Celtic religions. Davidson covers a number of topics, including holy places, feasting and sacrifice, battle rites, land spirits and ancestors, divination, the Otherworld, and what she calls "the ruling powers." Her text is an overview and an introduction: not very deep, but a good place to begin one's study. Because she discusses both Germanic and Celtic religions, there is too much ground to cover to do so in depth. Sometimes the religions feel confused or one of the other is ignored in order to move on to the text subject. Nonetheless, the text is scholarly, well-footnoted and clearly based in research; for the most part her analysis manages to identify key themes and symbols in an analytic, readable fashion. I believe that her attempt to categorize the gods at the very end of the book fails, but with that one exception the book is on the whole a useful, intelligent introduction to these ancient religions, and the writing style is approachable while still scholarly.

The student of either Scandinavian or Celtic religion may find this text unusual: rather than focusing on one of these religions, it discusses both concurrently. Germanic and Celtic religions appear to have a shared origin and a number of similarities, and so the analysis of both together should be interesting and provide a wider background for students of either religion. However, the broader subject matter makes for more cursory analysis and less detail: some subjects are only mentioned briefly; some subjects are discussed only in terms of one of the two religions. Furthermore, Davidson spends a lot of time talking about the similarities between the religions and often fails to discuss the differences beyond the rare mention that they exist. In comparative religious studies, sometimes it's the differences that matter more than the similarities. As such, the comparison between the two religions can at times be frustrating and degrade both.

Near the end of the book, Davidson attempts to group the gods of both Celtic and Norse religions into major groups and types, such as warrior gods and provider gods. She makes this attempt despite a preface which warns that it may be impossible and may even limit or corrupt our understanding of the gods. In her attempt, she categorizes only male gods: female goddess are ignored for the most part of the book. There is some interesting discussion about valkyries and battle goddess earlier on, but other goddess (Such as Brigid and Danu) are not even mentioned. I don't know why she omits them (perhaps they have no Nordic equivalent?); regardless, both the attempt to group the gods and the omission of the goddess do a great disservice to both religions and are the weakest parts of the book.

Despite these complaints, Myths and Symbols of Pagan Europe is still an interesting and scholarly introduction to both Nordic and Celtic religions. Davidson discusses the relationship between history, culture, and location in the formation of a religion. She looks at the root of Celtic and Nordic myths, including the relationship between the two; she looks at how natural and man-made locations and symbols impacted religious practice and the concept of sacred spaces; she looks the nature of religious practice and its role in the life cycle of the ancient Germans and Celts. She searches for symbols, correlations, and derivatives, and her analysis is clear and easy to follow. The book introduces some useful and easily applicable ways to approach a study of the Celtic and Scandinavian faiths, one that depends more on the underlying structure and purpose of the religion rather than its small, contradictory, poorly-understood or unreliable details. I do recommend this book, although I encourage further reading on the specific religions in order to gain a better grasp of their depths, individuality, and roles and identities of the gods (and goddesses in particular).

Disjointed, but alright.......2006-07-16

I had to keep flipping back to remember what this page was referrencing, as it jumped around a good bit. The information was badly put together, I wish it had a more coherent form - it seems like really interesting information -

great overview.......2005-11-01

This is a marvelously fascinating book detailing both Scandinavian and Celtic religion. It covers an amazing sense of similarity as well as differences between the two cultures. Davidson covers the subject from the evidence in archaelogy, iconography, literature and folklore in a search for basic patterns which are enlightening in regards to the Indo-European hypothesis. A good read, not too terribly dry, it is well worth reading.

Great book!.......2005-10-22

Davidson has done a great job with this book in setting out to show the similarities in the religious/cultural practices and beliefs of the Germanic and Celtic heathens. My personal belief is that the Gods of the Norse and other Germanics are the same Gods as those that the Celts worshipped, even if the names, lore and rites differed in various ways. She draws heaviest from the Irish sources instead of Welsh, Brit and continental Celts for drawing comparisons to Germanic peoples but even those are far from being totally neglected. Personally I don't how anybody could deny, even coming from the academic egghead perspective , that Odin and the Irish/Welsh/Gaelic Lugh/Lleu are anything other than the same God after reading this book.

From an academic/historical perspective this is argueably the best book ever written on Odinsim.

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The Celtic and Scandinavian Religions
J. A. MacCulloch
Manufacturer: Cosimo Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Prose Edda: Norse Mythology (Penguin Classics)

ASIN: 1596054166

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There is some evidence that certain women had priestly functions, perhaps a near relation of the góthi, and occasionally acting for him. Such a woman was called gydja and might even own a temple. The god Frey had a young priestess in his temple, regarded as his consort... -from "Scandinavia: Worship and Its Accessories" Highly readable and densely informative, this general survey of Celtic and Scandinavian mythology and its beliefs and practices, first published in 1948, remains an excellent resource. The author, a well-regarded expert on the subject, explores: . nature worship . deities and lesser supernatural beings . mythical heroes . magic and divination . creation stories . magic and morality . and more. Readers in comparative mythology and fans of Arthurian, Celtic, and epic fantasy fiction will find this book a delight. British scholar JOHN ARNOTT MACCULLOCH (1868-1950) wrote numerous books on ancient mythology, including Religion of the Ancient Celts, The Childhood of Fiction: A Study of Folk Tales and Primitive Thought, Mythology of All Races, Religion: Its Origin & Forms, and Medieval Faith and Fable.

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Celtic and Scandinavian Religions
John A. MacCulloch
Manufacturer: Hutchinson Radius
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OGYVXC

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The study of Arab historiography and the emergence of the Arab nation-state as an object of historical treatment is a matter of considerable current interest. Despite its importance, no academic work has so far dealt with this subject as a major preoccupation of Arab historians and intellectuals.
This book discusses the development of modern Arab historiography and its study of the nation-state in the 19th century, and analyses the work of three contemporary Arab historians from Egypt, the Lebanon and Morocco. An important and highly readable account, it reaffirms the importance of historiography and proposes a revision of the manner in which modern Arab thought has hitherto been classified and interpreted.

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Modern Arabic Historiography.......2004-08-25

Choueiri's book is a book that one could quickly miss in the mass of scholarly literature, but I believe relatively short volume is perhaps one of the most useful works that I have ever read on the history of modern Middle East. The thesis of the work is relatively simple: nationalist identity has predominated the discourse of the Arab intelligentsia particularly in writing of history. What, however, makes this work so useful is the lucid fashion in which it traces modern Arabic historical writing from 19th century pioneers such as al-Jabarti and al-Tahtawi to more modern, established scholars such as Shafiq Ghurbal, Kamal Salibi, and Abdallah Laroui. Intersped with this mapping out of the intellectual are profound critiques of each individual thinker and the development of Arab nationalism as a whole. Rarely are Arabic historians given such a systematic analysis, and even less often are they posited in such an enlightening, contextualizing historical narrative making this a work that should be read by every historian of the modern Middle East.

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Giordano Bruno was an itinerant Italian friar who was burned at the stake in 1600 for heresies, that included his rejection of the Ptolemaic cosmology. Like Galileo, who met a similar fate for similar reasons later in the century, Bruno has been accorded martyrdom to the cause of scientific truth and regarded as a visionary whose ideas were out of joint with the superstitions of his time. In fact, as editors Edward Gosselin and Lawrence Lerner point out, Bruno was far more complex, and his thought far more intricate, than simple stereotype would suggest.

Possibly mad, certainly brilliant, vain, obstreperous, and often ignorant, Bruno was a Christian deeply immersed in Hermeticism and mysticism; simultaneously he was Copernican in his non-homocentric view of the universe. His La Cena de le ceneri was one of the first works in which Copernican theory was received outside the sphere of the natural sciences. These dialogues have never been generally accessible, and are translated into English as The Ash Wednesday Supper.

Using Copernican theory as both a foundation of and a metaphor for his own vast philosophical-theological-political-social program, Bruno united his conflicting beliefs and frustrated his critics. Arguing for the physical reality of the infinite universe with no centre, yet whose centre is everywhere, Bruno sought to prove that each man is every other man. Using this radical cosmology and the imagery of Lenten regeneration, the messianic Bruno sought to heal the secular and religious wounds of sixteenth-century Europe by reconciling Catholic and Protestant, France and England.

In this edition Gosselin and Lerner have provided a broad understanding of Bruno and his time, with background and interpretive discussion. They have also preserved the flavour and ferment of the original discourses and maintained Bruno's eclectic if somewhat obscure style.

Customer Reviews:

Good book, good translation, questionable interpretation.......2003-04-29

Giordan Bruno is still today a controversial philosopher. In this book he exposes his philosophical/cosmological ideas and, in doing so, he uses the new Copernican theory as the basis for a new, daring vision of the universe.
Anybody who would like to familiarize him/herself with the work of Bruno, or is interested in the development of Western ideas will find this book extremely challenging. However I would like to say a few words on the interpretation that the translators give of Bruno's ideas. The translators appear to follow completely an interpretation of Bruno based on the theory of the english scolar Frances Yates. According to this theory Bruno was an exponent of the (then popular) Hermetic movement.
It is imperative to underscore that Yates theory is not universally accepted. While it is known that Hermetic influences can be traced in Bruno, to reduce his whole cosmology and his understanding of Copernican theory to a "hieroglyphic" is misleading if not plainly wrong.
Bruno was not a scientist, but he was the first to intuitively realize the revolutionary consequences of Copernican theory (not only for science) and to bring that theory to its logical conclusions: an infinite universe with infinite earth-like worlds. This vision can not be reconciled with the world of the hermetic "Magus". The whole purpose of the hermetic Magus was to ascend the material world to the world of the perfect spheres. In Bruno's universe there is nothing to ascend to. The universe is composed of a thin air where an infinity of worlds and stars are suspended and move following universal (animistic) principles. The other worlds are corruptible as much as the earth and may be inhabited by earth-like people. The very base of the hermetic doctrine is missing. I would therefore encourage the interested reader not to stop the investigation of Bruno's ideas to the hermetic interpretation, but to also read different points of view (for example Yates interpretation of Bruno's use of images has recently been challenged with very solid arguments by the finding of italian scholars). In particular I found the book of Hillary Gatti "Giordano Bruno and the renaissance science" extremely interesting and complete.

Superb translation and penetrating interpretation.......1996-12-22

Giordano Bruno stands at the cusp between the Renaissance and the modern world. His unique attempts to extract philosophical and theological meaning from Copernicus's forward-looking work provide us with striking insights into the Weltanschauung of his troubled times. Gosselin and Lerner have brilliantly translated Bruno's elegant but involuted Renaissance Italian into clear modern English that nevertheless preserves the spirit of the original. Their thoughtful notes bring comprehensibility to previously misunderstood passages, and the linkage they establish between Bruno's travails and Galileo's later troubles is highly convincing. A must-read for the scientist as well as the philosopher

Giordano Bruno: Cause, Principle and Unity: And Essays on Magic (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy)

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The ... Science
A Good Look at Giordano Bruno's Philosophy

Giordano Bruno: Cause, Principle and Unity: And Essays on Magic (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy)
Giordano Bruno
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521596580

Book Description

Giordano Bruno's notorious public death in 1600, at the hands of the Inquisition in Rome, marked the transition from Renaissance philosophy to the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. This volume presents new translations of Cause, Principle and Unity, in which he challenges Aristotelian accounts of causality and spells out the implications of Copernicanism for a new theory of an infinite universe, as well as two essays on magic, in which he interprets earlier theories about magical events in the light of the unusual powers of natural phenomena.

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Giordano Bruno's notorious public death in 1600, at the hands of the Inquisition in Rome, marked the transition from Renaissance philosophy to the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. In his philosophical works he addressed such delicate issues as the role of Christ as mediator and the distinction, in human beings, between soul and matter. This volume presents new translations of Cause, Principle and Unity, in which he challenges Aristotelian accounts of causality and spells out the implications of Copernicanism for a new theory of an infinite universe, and of two essays on magic, On Magic and A General Account of Bonding, in which he interprets earlier theories about magical events in the light of the unusual powers of natural phenomena.

Customer Reviews:

The ... Science.......2003-03-12

Giordano Bruno is not only a writer of marvelous wit and virtuosity, and the only one since Plato to breathe life into the philosophical dialogue, but also a thinker of great consequence, imagination and purity. While he is generally seen to stand at the threshold between the medieval and the modern, cabilistic magic and scientific rationality, it is wrong to regard him merely as an anticipation of Leibniz and Spinoza. In certain respects, indeed, he goes farther in freeing thought from the residues of Scholasticism, and if his understanding of the coincidence of absolute potentiality and absolute actuality as the ground of Being points the way to Schelling, the freer winds of his thinking, with its wondrous openness towards the possibilities of the body as the possibilities of life, make him a kindred spirit of Nietzsche.

A Good Look at Giordano Bruno's Philosophy.......2001-05-10

This book consists of 2 parts. The first part "Cause, Principle and Unity" is about his theory of an infinite universe. While you may either agree or disagree with him on certain points, I think (maybe you, too) will find the idea of a "world-soul" intriguing. This part consists of 5 dialogues.

The other part comprise two essays, one on magic and the other is his treatise on bonding in general. This part presents some ideas which I think would be interesting not just to magicians but anybody who wants to know and wonder, from a philosophical point of view, what magic is and bonding in general.

Book Description

The Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno was a notable supporter of the new science that arose during his lifetime; his role in its development has been debated ever since the early seventeenth century. Hilary Gatti here reevaluates Bruno's contribution to the scientific revolution, in the process challenging the view that now dominates Bruno criticism among English-language scholars. This argument, associated with the work of Frances Yates, holds that early modern science was impregnated with and shaped by Hermetic and occult traditions, and has led scholars to view Bruno primarily as a magus.

Gatti reinstates Bruno as a scientific thinker and occasional investigator of considerable significance and power whose work participates in the excitement aroused by the new science and its methods at the end of the sixteenth century. Her original research emphasizes the importance of Bruno's links to the magnetic philosophers, from Ficino to Gilbert; Bruno's reading and extension of Copernicus's work on the motions of the earth; the importance of Bruno's mathematics; and his work on the art of memory seen as a picture logic, which she examines in the light of the crises of visualization in present-day science. She concludes by emphasizing Bruno's ethics of scientific discovery.

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Excellent.......2007-07-14

Hillary Gatti gets to heart of Giordano Bruno and his work and philosophy. It is a wonderful honour to the family and his decendants.

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The photo changes each day of the week, and each weekend. Over 300 different photographs by top photographers. Calendars list popular holidays including major Christian, Jewish and Islamic religious observances.

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Browntrout Publishers
Manufacturer: Browntrout Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
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Manufacturer: Pet Prints, INC.
ProductGroup: Book
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Manufacturer: Voyageur Press (MN)
ProductGroup: Book
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This popular calendar features spectacular photography of North American gray wolves and some gray subspecies. It also includes fascinating facts about wolves and the history of their interaction with humans. Royalties go to the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minnesota; a free membership is included.

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WOLVES 2005 WALL CALENDAR

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Binding: Calendar
ASIN: 1553774035

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A 2005 WALL CALENDAR

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Avalanche Publishing
Manufacturer: Avalanche Publishing
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