A Practical Heathen's Guide to Asatru


Book Description

Asatru Then and Now From its pre-Christian beginnings to its contemporary practitioners, Heathenry has long fascinated people from every corner of the world. Written from the unique perspective of a Heathen gythja, or Godwoman, A Practical Heathen's Guide to Asatru shows how to bring the beliefs and traditions of this ancient faith into your life today. In this complete guide to Asatru, you will discover: The mythology, folklore, and historical sagas of Northern European Heathens How to conduct rituals for birth, naming, entry into adulthood, weddings, divorces, funerals, and holy days Practical techniques for meditation, trance-work, prayer, and working with runes and charms Heathen perspectives on the nature of time, creation, worship, ethics, oaths, and hospitality An in-depth glossary, index, pronunciation guide, and bibliography for further study




Wyrd] Bird


Book Description

"wyrd] bird grapples with the impossibility and necessity of affirming mystical experience in a world fraught with ecological and individual loss. It is at once a book-length lyric essay on the 12th-century German mystic, Hildegard of Bingen, a dream journal, fragmentary notebook, collection of poems, and scrapbook of photographic ephemera. Stancek follows Hildegard as a guide through an underworld of climate catastrophe and political violence populated by figures from Milton's Eve to the biblical Satan to Keats's hand. The book deconstructs a Western tradition of good and evil by rereading, cross-questioning, and upsetting some of that tradition's central poetic texts. Refusing and confusing dualistic logic, wyrd] bird searches out an expression of visionary experience that remains rooted in the body, a mode of questioning that echoes out into further questioning, and a cry of elegiac loss that grips, stubbornly, onto love"--




Knight's Wyrd


Book Description

Ahead of its time on its original publication, Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald's Mythopoeic Fantasy Award-winning dark medieval fantasy Knight's Wyrd is perfect for contemporary tastes. Tor Essentials presents new editions of science fiction and fantasy titles of proven merit and lasting value, each volume introduced by an appropriate literary figure. With an introduction written for this edition by Sherwood Smith. On the eve of his knighting, Will Odosson learns his wyrd, or destiny: He shall meet death before a year has passed. Will rushes north to release his betrothed from their engagement, but on the way he is beset by all manner of horrors--a man-eating troll, carnivorous mermaids, a magic-working dragon . . . and something far worse: an evil unlike anything Will ever imagined. Knight’s Wyrd is an award-winning gem that’s perfect for revival as a Tor Essential and will appeal to fans of books like Hild and Spear, and films like The Green Knight–-a medieval fantasy with the authentic lived-in strangeness of the real Middle Ages. It was originally published by a pair of YA imprints, but it works equally well as an adult read. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.




City Lights Review


Book Description




Stormrider


Book Description

Spellbinding action and breathless adventure–these are the realms of David Gemmell. His mythic characters represent the ultimates in good and evil, and everything in between. Brilliant warriors, they are heartbreakingly human in their ability to love, sacrifice, and summon extraordinary courage when all seems lost. With Stormrider, Gemmell continues his spectacular Rigante saga as the imperiled highland clan faces its deadliest threat . . . and calls for it's greatest hero. STORMRIDER A Novel of the Rigante Centuries ago, Connavar’s triumphant battles against the invading army of Stone gained the Rigante their freedom, yet magic that once flourished has been all but snuffed out. The Varlish king and his barons have stolen Rigante lands and robbed the people of their culture and liberty. From the Rigante's former seat of power the black-hearted Moidart rules; only in the north are the clansmen free. There, in the Druagh mountains, the magic still reigns, strengthened by bold, brilliant victories of the outlaw leader known as Ravenheart. One glorious spark, one moment of Rigante rebellion, has ignited a revolution and forged a legend. The conquered clans set about to rediscover their greatness–yet theirs is not the only call to arms. In the south, civil war has drenched the land in blood, and the armies of destruction have begun creeping north. There the brooding Ravenheart waits, knowing the forces of the hated Moidart will come, led by the brutal ruler’s only son, Stormrider. Ravenheart and Stormrider: enemies of uncommon courage, are unaware that the fate of the world lies in their hands. Faced with this inexorable advance, deadly foes will be forced to unite, and a secret lost in the uncharted past will return to haunt these two warriors as they face the vengeance of an ancient evil. Immense armies of darkness advance on the highlanders, and it seems as if nothing will stop them. They crush their enemies with ease, until only a few thousand men stand before them, with no help in sight. But these are not ordinary men they face. They are clansmen, and more than that, they are Rigante.




Amulets, Stones & Herbs


Book Description

A comprehensive guide to the history and religious significance of amulets, stones, runes and herbs found throughout Germanic and Teutonic cultures. Amulets is Gundarsson’s finest work on the subject, providing an immense depth of knowledge on each and every amulet uncovered, giving you all the historical information needed to create your very own piece of history.




The Spirit of England


Book Description

Stephen Medcalf (1937-2006) was an essayist, in the best traditional sense of that calling: a writer not of books but of substantial and justly celebrated essays, widely read in the Times Literary Supplement and elsewhere. Medcalf's abiding question to the world was the Psalmist's: 'What is man that thou art mindful of him?' His was a Blakean sense of Englishness, far from the chocolate-box painting or the television adaptation, and for him the strongest writers were those keenly aware of their roots in the classical, Anglo-Saxon or Celtic past. By gathering together Medcalf's most important work, this volume shows the coherence of his thinking, and of the elusive, complicated literary heritage he celebrated, one which acknowledges the Greco-Roman strain, the Christian strain, the down-to-earth humour and the sly irony. Thirteen substantial essays cover Virgil, the Bible, the English translation of Alfred, Piers Plowman, the 'half-alien culture' of the high Middle Ages, Chaucer's contemporary Thomas Usk, Shakespeare's images of resurrection, Horace and Kipling juxtaposed, G. K. Chesterton, T. S. Eliot's use of Ovid, P. G. Wodehouse, William Golding, John Betjeman, Geoffrey Hill and other writers. The book concludes with perhaps Medcalf's most personal article of all: his account of finding a baby in a phone box on a cold winter's night, which first appeared in the Guardian Christmas Supplement in 2002.




The Way Of Wyrd


Book Description

This compelling spiritual classic about an Anglo-Saxon sorcerer and mystic “deserves a spot on our bookshelves along with Carlos Castaneda” (Time Out) Charged with the difficult task of converting the ‘heathens’ of Anglo-Saxon England to Christianity, Christian scribe Wat Brand begins to doubt his mission when he learns more about the pagan ways of his neighbors. Guided by a shaman named Wulf, Brand is introduced to a world unlike anything he has ever known—one of runes, fate, life force, and the Wyrd. But his greatest lesson awaits him in the spirit world, where he will journey and come face to face with the nature of his own soul. The Way of Wyrd is a bestselling cult classic based on years of research by psychologist and university professor Brian Bates. An authentic and deeply compelling insight into the spiritual world of the Anglo-Saxons, it has inspired thousands of people to learn more about the ancient northern spiritual tradition.




On Wings of Chaos


Book Description

Legends are born, and legends die… Siblings Angelica and Jovian are far from home on a dangerous mission to rescue their sister, Amber. But their quest to save Amber has turned bleak when visions of a gathering darkness in the west and a congregation of angels marks the beginning of the final war for heaven. On Wings of Chaos is the fifth book in an epic sword and sorcery adventure brimming with dark magic, majestic elves, and wistful fae.




Hild


Book Description

Award-winning author Nicola Griffith's brilliant, lush, sweeping historical novel about the rise of the most powerful woman of the Middle Ages: Hild. In seventh-century Britain, small kingdoms are merging, frequently and violently. A new religion is coming ashore; the old gods are struggling, their priests worrying. Hild is the king's youngest niece, and she has a glimmering mind and a natural, noble authority. She will become a fascinating woman and one of the pivotal figures of the Middle Ages: Saint Hilda of Whitby. But now she has only the powerful curiosity of a bright child, a will of adamant, and a way of seeing the world—of studying nature, of matching cause with effect, of observing her surroundings closely and predicting what will happen next—that can seem uncanny, even supernatural, to those around her. Her uncle, Edwin of Northumbria, plots to become overking of the Angles, ruthlessly using every tool at his disposal: blood, bribery, belief. Hild establishes a place for herself at his side as the king's seer. And she is indispensable—unless she should ever lead the king astray. The stakes are life and death: for Hild, for her family, for her loved ones, and for the increasing numbers who seek the protection of the strange girl who can read the world and see the future. Hild is a young woman at the heart of the violence, subtlety, and mysticism of the early Middle Ages—all of it brilliantly and accurately evoked by Nicola Griffith's luminous prose. Working from what little historical record is extant, Griffith has brought a beautiful, brutal world to vivid, absorbing life.