[Main Blog Post] [Book] In Search of Odhinn

[jprussell]

Time for a review of another book by Shani Oates, this time In Search of Odhinn. Once again, I admired the breadth of evidence she brought to the table and her consideration of fine details, but was frustrated with her thoughts not being better organized or easy to follow. Let me know what you think!

Comments

[k_a_nitz]

I'm seeing a pattern here of writers of books on heathen topics not being able to organise their thoughts well.

On another note, I can see a future book on how Christ and Christus and Jesus and Jesu etc weren't the same god, based on how the worship of them varied so much.

[jprussell]

Hah, you may have a point there! To be fair, though, there may be a selection bias at work: most of the books I've written on to date have been a bit more "out there" and a bit less "here are the basics drawn from the Eddas, which tend to be fairly well-organized, if only because Snorri was fairly well organized in the Prose Edda (some, including Oates here, would argue too organized).

And that's an interesting thought experiment! Without even touching on the idea of the potential for multiple Jesii, it's a useful lens to realize how much variation can be included in practice among folks who all would say they're following the same religion and worshiping the same God.

Cheers,
Jeff

[k_a_nitz]

Ha! "multiple Jesii" - the Church of the SubGenius, of course!

[causticus]

I can't comment on the book, since I haven't read any of it. But I did look into Oates's background back when you first brought her up a few weeks ago. I barely knew anything about non-Gardnerian Witchcraft traditions, and in looking into her background, it was real interesting to learn something new.

My best guess is that when she writes books about various traditions, literary works, and teachings that differs form her own she interprets them though the lens of her own teachings. So if for example those Tubal Cain teachings say that gods and goddesses are primarily human constructs (i.e. egregores), then the notion of every small group, tribe, or sect having their own unique gods and goddesses would make sense in light of that assertion. Vikings c. 900 AD would have a very different culture and environment than migration-age Goths, thus each respective group would be projecting very different images and energies out into the astral/otherworld.

But, going by your review, it sounds like she doesn't do a very good job at explaining this point in a very concise manner, if at all.

[jprussell]

I think that's largely correct, but what's interesting/somewhat frustrating is that it seems that working with Odhinn and the Runes is a part of her own tradition, she just seems to think it's somewhat recent, artificial, and constructed, but is totally fine with that. For me, it smacks a bit too much of the whole "it's all archetypes and depth psychology" school that I found so sterile when I gave it a whirl. And yeah, the lack of concision is real, though as I said in the review, the level of detail in the historical evidence reviewed is welcome, even if I mostly disagree with the case she tries to build from it.

Cheers,
Jeff