[Main Blog Post] My Spiritual Path

[jprussell]

So, I'm with some of my kinfolk for the holiday weekend, and I didn't wrap up the editing I was hoping to do before getting here. As such, I want to post something on time, but I may make some edits in the next few days. At any rate, this is a walkthrough of the beliefs I've had over the years, and how they got me to where I am now. This might be super self-indulgent, but I'd like to hear what you think.

As I said, I might make some edits, but in the meantime, let me have it.

Comments

sources for learning about Germanic deities

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Jeff,
Although I have been reading JMG since the early ADR days, I have been diving into the spiritual side of his writings for about a year and I just found this post of yours. Thank for sharing your journey, some of which overlaps my own as I try to create a spiritual resting place for myself.

Do you have a recommendation of where to start learning about Germanic ditties? I am curious about that.

Thank you.

Re: sources for learning about Germanic deities

[jprussell]

Howdy!

Thanks for commenting. You have a few options, which each have their own strengths and weaknesses. I've erred on the side of providing options below, but if you want the tl;dr answer, I'd say read Galina Krasskova's A Modern Guide to Heatherny and then pick up the Prose Edda and find a translation you like of the Poetic Edda. For all of the below, I'm assuming a primary focus on the Norse myths and Gods, as that's what we have the most information on, and any other subsets of the Germanish folks and their Gods will be pulling a lot from them.

The most traditional would be to start with Snorri's Prose Edda, which was, after all, written to introduce aspiring poets to the Norse Gods and their myths. It's short and very readable and is the basis for much that you'll find in more recent books. Much of what is found there comes from the Poetic Edda, which also has some myths not discussed in the Prose Edda (and vice versa), but it's a bit less clear for a new reader. These two works are the heart of the "Lore" you might hear Heathens talk about. The downside here is that neither will give you any tips on how to worship or integrate the Gods into your daily life, if that's something you're looking for. As for which translations to read, Jesse Byock's for the Prose Edda seems to be everyone's favorite, but there's more variation in opinion for the Prose Edda: Larrington's seems to be pretty readable, at the cost of poetic feeling, Crawford's is admirably straightforward but misses some nuance, especially from a spiritual point of view, and if you're okay with things being a bit old-fashioned, Bellows and Bray try to maintain some poetic feeling. Hollander's translation is great for giving the "feel" of Germanic poetry, being mostly rendered in alliterative verse of the kind I try to write my prayers in, but it's a bit tough to read if you're not used to that sort of thing and might not be the best first translation (though the introductory material and notes are pretty good if you can slog through the unfamiliar words and awkward phrasing).

If you are looking for more of a one-stop-shop on "how to Heathen," there are a lot of options, so many that some Heathens grumble that that's all we have, and there's no clear consensus on which is the single best. My personal favorite is A Guide to Modern Heathenry by Galina Krasskova - it gives clear, newbie-friendly summaries of most of the Gods and Goddesses, the Heathen worldview and cosmology, and some tips on how to worship. One of the books she co-authored with Raven Kaldera, Northern Practice for the Solitary Practitioner is, as you might guess, very practice-focused, and has lots of good tips on ways to pray and worship. A Book of Troth by Edred Thorsson was one of the first of these books and has been popular for a long time. These two, and any others like them, will be colored by their authors' idiosyncratic takes, and tend to be more focused on group/community ritual, which can be awkward if you're on your own.

For a more academic point of view, I like H.R. Ellis-Davidson's Gods and Myths of Northern Europe and John Lindow's Norse Mythology are good and pretty brief. E.O.G. Turville-Petre's Myth and Religion of the North is widely regarded as the best of this batch (I've only skimmed it, so can't comment personally), but unfortunately, it's priced for college classes (very expensive without a subsidy from your school, in other words), so might be best if you can find it at a library. Not great for reading straight through, but an extremely helpful reference is Rudolf Simek's Dictionary of Northern Mythology.

For some "how to pray/worship" resources, I rather like Kaye Boesme's The Soul's Inner Statues, which is not Germanic-focused, but is very hands-on and and step-by-step for cultivating an individual polytheistic practice. If you do video, Tom Rowsell at the Survive the Jive on Youtube also has this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzjx4yneCZs&list=PLcroOUap-NylUTTuzRzF2ywRXk-ftcp36

Lastly, if you're still hungry for more, I put together a (rather long) list of possibly relevant books with short comments on what I think of them: https://jpowellrussell.com/#list_of_books_on_germanish_belief_with_thoughts

Whatever you end up doing, please feel free to reach out with any questions, and I'll be happy to help however I can.

Cheers, and my blessings if you'll have them,
Jeff

Re: sources for learning about Germanic deities

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you, Jeff. I appreciate the resources and your writings.

Re: sources for learning about Germanic deities

[jprussell]

My pleasure!