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[main blog post] List of Books on Germanish Belief with Thoughts
I have put together a list of those books I have read and want to read about Germanish belief/worship/religion. I haven't added all of my thoughts yet, but I wanted to meet my goal of posting this week, and this post is meant to be added to as I go anyhow.
Suggestions on books I might add are most welcome!
Suggestions on books I might add are most welcome!
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I wouldn't classify myself as a prude for having a problem with that; and, well, Kaldera also made a claim about it not being always about sex, but I might say the difference from the guys at National Geographic is that they aren't having sex while doing it (technically, some of the stuff about cultures on National Geographic omits sexual content Westerners would dislike, but well ...).
Yeah, I guess I don't have a specific theory of how they're making the world worse with these actions, just a negative gut reaction, and I don't feel like I'm knowledgeable or experienced enough to rely on that gut reaction in this field. It's further complicated by the fact that I've found some of their books rather helpful. Still, it does set off my "by their fruits ye shall know them" alarm to tread carefully.
I don't have any problem with the idea of his demanding respect, but I think he sounds like a pretty non-authoritarian (not to be mistaken for "nice") boss in the myths. (Of course, the culture that worshipped him had slavery, but that's a problem nearly any religion arguably "has" by our standards.)
C5.2) Just to make absolutely sure: you know that there's explicit mention of reincarnation in ancient Europe, right? ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_Er .)
Thank you, I did, but embarrassingly enough, I only learned about this about a year ago when I finally got around to reading The Republic in its entirety. I was *shocked* to discover that the most famous work of Western philosophy has a super weird, super detailed discussion of reincarnation for the finale. I was then amused that when I went looking for discussion of it, *every* academic article was like "what weird symbolic point was Plato trying to make here?" and absolutely no one took seriously that maybe he (and/or Socrates) was trying to present what he believed to be accurate information about how the world works that might help you live a better life.
Makes sense, but I might want to ask about half the population!
Indeed! Maybe dead women are too busy being called up by necromancers to prophesize about the future to get a dedicated place to hang out.
Was wondering about whether you had a better-informed opinion, actually. I read and heard a few interviews with him, but read none of his books. He helped spread Sigurd Agrell's Uthark Theory, which I think has merit, and I think so do some of his LHP interpretations (e.g., if I may just throw another Therion song at you, see The Blood of Pingu - sorry, I mean Kingu; what I mean is, again, "telluric current"); but to me he sounded like "pompous windbag too fixated on a supposed antinomianism and paying too much attention to the lower nature*", i.e. a Thelemite stereotype?
Ah, sorry not to have been able to help you out there. More and more it's becoming clear to me that just about every occultist is a mixed bag in some way. The very best you can hope for seems to be "you had your head on straight and did everything right, but you followed a spiritual path that doesn't suit me so well" (like, e.g. Dion Fortune and seemingly JMG).
*: note that his people having started from modern Scandinavians, frankly it's possible they need even *more* lower nature than what their LHP training may give them, but I'm definitely not Scandinavian, so even if that's true, I can't assume it relevant for me.
Heh, yeah, I hadn't exactly considered the cultural element here, but that does make good sense. In my own work, I've gotten the impression that I do indeed need to get more in touch with the Telluric current, but have been consistently getting the lesson "it's not just about sex! calm down and pay attention to what else is going on here."
I'll recommend Secret of the Runes and the 3 subsequent albums; the ones before are less symphonic and the ones after less metal IIRC. (Lyrics-wise, at least some of the albums before are no less well-written occult-wise, though they may be about parts of occultist you'd be (I am) less interested in; I think some of the later ones go away from occultism.)
Thanks much for this.
Bought Fire in the H...wite Stone - thanks! You know, Therion's a fairly well-known metal band that you did hear a bit about before, while, notwithstanding Dan Capp being well-connected enough to have called a bunch of other musicians, I think he's still pretty obscure; so, let me try to repay that - have you heard about Farya Faraji already (I just remembered I hadn't actually bought any of his albums.)? His work isn't mainly about religion, but there are themes from a bunch of religions, some of his YouTube videos debunk wrong impressions about musical history, and you might want to check the songs in Echoes of Byzantium Vol. I (as per the Bandcamp track list), and Thrymskvidha and The Varangians, including his commmentary.
You're welcome, and thanks for this! I had not heard of Faraji, I'm checking out his stuff now. Poking around, I was like "wait, is that the Misirlou I think it is?" and sure enough! I had no idea it originated as a folksong, I only knew the Dick Dale version and its many homages.
C7.1) I might be too Progressive (and maybe secondarily too history-minded) to remember that as often as I should, but it does appear to make sense.
I bring it up at least as much to remind myself as anything else!
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"I don't have any problem with the idea of his demanding respect, but I think he sounds like a pretty non-authoritarian (not to be mistaken for "nice") boss in the myths. (Of course, the culture that worshipped him had slavery, but that's a problem nearly any religion arguably "has" by our standards.)" ?
C5.2) "Thank you, I did, but embarrassingly enough, I only learned about this about a year ago when I finally got around to reading The Republic in its entirety. I was *shocked* to discover that the most famous work of Western philosophy has a super weird, super detailed discussion of reincarnation for the finale. I was then amused that when I went looking for discussion of it, *every* academic article was like "what weird symbolic point was Plato trying to make here?" and absolutely no one took seriously that maybe he (and/or Socrates) was trying to present what he believed to be accurate information about how the world works that might help you live a better life." - Unfortunately, I didn't learn about it long ago either; first heard ancient Europeans believed in reincarnation and thought that was New-Ager projection, then heard about it without that specific source, then that extremely clear source. While most of his work doesn't have a lot to do with the subject, a historian that outright said classical Europeans seem to have believed in reincarnation is Philip Matyszak (didn't read his books; heard him on Radio War Nerd, where he was great).
"Indeed! Maybe dead women are too busy being called up by necromancers to prophesize about the future to get a dedicated place to hang out." - Kek!
"Ah, sorry not to have been able to help you out there." - No problem; enough occultists drew my attention for a long time, and I also need to go back to some non-occult reading!
"The very best you can hope for seems to be "you had your head on straight and did everything right, but you followed a spiritual path that doesn't suit me so well" (like, e.g. Dion Fortune and seemingly JMG)." - I'd have understood you saying this about JMG - until you said you were practicing the Dolmen Arch work!
Just listened to Fire in the White Stone with the proper attention. It's beautiful; that said, between my not-so-great familiarity with older English, poetic sensibility of a stone (if that's not a wholly unjustified insult to the noble race of stones), and having wrongly thought the short story would be within the digital album, I won't pretend to have understood all of it!
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Ah, sorry, I likely shouldn't have quoted this, as I didn't have anything to add. I agree, Odin seems pretty anti-authoritarian, even in the myths, and yeah, pretty much every agricultural culture for most of history had slavery of one kind or another.
C5.2) Unfortunately, I didn't learn about it long ago either; first heard ancient Europeans believed in reincarnation and thought that was New-Ager projection, then heard about it without that specific source, then that extremely clear source. While most of his work doesn't have a lot to do with the subject, a historian that outright said classical Europeans seem to have believed in reincarnation is Philip Matyszak (didn't read his books; heard him on Radio War Nerd, where he was great).
Thanks for the recommendation, I might have to check him out. There are some kinda-sorta references to at least a limited kind of reincarnation in the Germanic sources. This is one of those areas where I've read a bunch of modern stuff, but I don't yet have a good handle on the source material. I think Davidson's The Road to Hel is gonna be a good source for this.
"Ah, sorry not to have been able to help you out there." - No problem; enough occultists drew my attention for a long time, and I also need to go back to some non-occult reading!
Yeah, it's tough that there's so much to read and so little time. I find the constraint of "I can only meditate on so much" a helpful (if painful) limit on how much occult material to read in a given amount of time.
I'd have understood you saying this about JMG - until you said you were practicing the Dolmen Arch work!
Hah, fair enough! As I mentioned upthread, I have changed my mind somewhat on Revival Druidry as a practice, and I find that a helpful part of what I'm doing, at least for now. Where I part ways with JMG is more around the specifics of the Welsh Druid Gods, who have, at least so far, had no role in my spiritual life. Also, Heathenry is pretty central to my own spiritual practice, and almost entirely absent from JMG's.
Just listened to Fire in the White Stone with the proper attention. It's beautiful; that said, between my not-so-great familiarity with older English, poetic sensibility of a stone (if that's not a wholly unjustified insult to the noble race of stones), and having wrongly thought the short story would be within the digital album, I won't pretend to have understood all of it!
I also wouldn't go so far as to say I understand it, especially since it apparently is largely based on personal spiritual experience. I haven't read/listened to the Novella yet, but maybe I should. I also rather like the other Album and the EP (Songs from the Fyrgen and Songs from the Mere). I especially find "Sunne" (the theme for "Survive the Jive") useful - I try to sing the chorus from it when I first see the risen sun and have some privacy, and it makes for a good praise song/prayer.