Entries tagged with history

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[Main Blog Post] [Book] Thoughts on Comparative Mythology

I at last got around to reading and writing up my thoughts on Jaan Puhvel's Comparative Mythology, a book that I'm ashamed to admit I didn't know about a few months ago. If you're interested in the myths of folks who speak/spoke Indo-European languages, and most of all if you're interested in what we might be able to work out about the ancestral myths told by those who spoke the Proto-Indo-European mother tongue, you'll find lots to like here.

Current Mood: satisfied

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[Main Blog Post] [Book] Thoughts on The Ancient City

I've been hearing a lot about The Ancient City by Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges, and I finally got around to reading it. Very short version is that it's a good and interesting book, but unless it intersects with some particular interests of yours, you might be fine with a summary. Here's my attempt at such a summary, with some thoughts on what I got out of it (and wanted to, but didn't).

As always, any and all thoughts are most welcome.

Current Mood: excited

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[Main Blog Post] Eirik Westcoat and the American Futharch

Eirik Westcoat is the modern poet from whom I have learned to craft verse in Germanish meters, and he has constructed a new set of Runestaves fitted to the sounds of modern English. Along the way to explaining why he did that, though, he just happened to drop a remarkable insight into one of the mysteries of Runic scholarship.

Current Mood: tired

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

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!

Current Mood: awake

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[Main Blog Post] On the Usefulness of Social Technology as a Metaphor

After getting into an interesting discussion in the comments on one of

causticus 's recent posts, I wanted to expand a bit on my thoughts on "social technology" as a metaphor, and whether and how it might be useful in a non-pejorative sense.

Current Mood: thoughtful

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[Main Blog Post] Texas

I love Texas, but is it the right place for my family in the long run? I think out loud here.

Current Mood: satisfied

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history,
religion

[Main Blog Post] What Might We Learn from Revival Druidry?

Following on from last week's discussion of what Revival Druidry is like, I wanted to take a look at what has helped it last so long as a fringe set of beliefs. I'd especially like to hear if there's anything I've missed that you think has been important to Revival Druidry's longevity.

Current Mood: content

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[Main Blog Post] A Quick Grounding in Revival Druidry

I have some thoughts I'd like to share on Revival Druidry, but before I get there, I thought I ought to lay out what the heck it is and what it means to me. Most folks reading this are likely to already have a pretty good idea what Druidry is, but hopefully my personal experience with it and what it means to me will be interesting.

Current Mood: tired

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[Main Blog Post] How the Cost of Freight Has Shaped the World

Short post this week where I barely scratch the surface of what I suspect will be a big, deep topic - how cheap transportation has been the less obvious, but maybe just as important, side of the industrial revolution next to mass production.

Current Mood: tired

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[Main Blog Post] Understanding Spengler's Decline of the West, Bit 6 - Odds and Ends

Well, I am late in posting this, as things got a bit hectic this weekend and I failed to ready myself for that by getting this done sooner. This brings me to 2 late posts for the year, I think, out of the five I'll allow myself and still say I've met my boast. At any rate, here's what I think will be the last in my series of posts on Spengler, which pulls together a grab bag of sayings, thoughts, and links to other things I've read. You can read it here.

Current Mood: satisfied

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[Main Blog Post] Understanding Spengler's Decline of the West Bit 5: Rationalism and Religiousness

I think this will be the second-to-last post on The Decline of the West, at least for now. The next one will be a "grab bag" of quotes and thoughts that didn't quite rise to the level of "I should do a full post about this."

As always, I appreciate your thoughts and if there's anything I'm missing or that you'd like to see more of.

Current Mood: productive

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[Main Blog Post] Understanding Spengler's Decline of the West Bit 4: Time & Destiny against Space &

We've gotten past the really big thoughts from Decline of the West, but there's still some interesting stuff to go through. This time, we talk about Time, Destiny, Space, and Motion.

Current Mood: tired

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[Main Blog Post] Understanding Spengler's Decline of the West Bit 3: The Soul Image

I've gotten to one of the juicier bits of Decline of the West - the "Soul Image" that defines different Great Cultures. Here's the post.

Current Mood: okay

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[Main Blog Post] Understanding Spengler's Decline of the West Bit 2: Culture as Organism

Here we are with part two in my series of posts on understanding what to take from Oswald Spengler's The Decline of the West. This post is on maybe the key thought from the books - that Cultures/Civilizations are best thought of as organisms with their own lifecycle.

Current Mood: pensive

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[Main Blog Post] Understanding Spengler's Decline of the West Bit 1: Morphology

I've started a (hopeful) series on some of the big ideas in Oswald Spengler's Decline of the West, which is first and foremost a way for me to settle what I've learned from the book, but will hopefully also be helpful to some other folks.

You can find the post here.