Recommended Heathen Reading List

[KingOvGermania]

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Runes-S.../dp/0892812079

This is always one of my favorite go-to books on Heathenry. It is translated by Flowers/Thorsson, yes, but it's written by Guido Von List, a 19th-century occultist and Heathen. This book perfectly underlines the religious elements of the Aryan/Teutonic soul and spirit, and emphasizes the Runes importance in such a soul. Highly recommended towards anyone interested in Heathenry from a Folkish perspective, or even otherwise

[Germania Magna]

There is a couple of books by American white nationalists that are available for download and that give details of heathen calendars and rituals. I couldnt say how historical are the details of the rituals.

Temple of Wotan by Ron McVan

http://www.nazi.org.uk/temple-of-wotan.htm

Creed of Iron by David Lane

http://www.nazi.org.uk/political%20p...reedOfIron.pdf

[Gugnir]

NEVER credit either of those worthless books to the great David Lane. Both were written by Ron McVan, and both are useless piles of trash. To my knowledge, this is all David ever wrote on Heathenry: http://allfatherwotan.org/odinicmysteries.html

Those books are nothing more than the most basic, rudimentary knowledge of Heathenry interspersed with McVan's rambling philosophical musings and "rahrahrah save White people rahrah." I have no use for either of them.

-Gugnir

[GroeneWolf]

Are there any books out there that tell about the religious practices of our ancestors without modern garbage?

For the good stuff at least some German reading skills are required. Even if what could be considered a standard work on that area was written by someone from the Netherlands :

Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte - Jan de Vries

A second recommendation :

Kultur und Religion der Germanen - Wilhelm Grönbech

[Aedan]

@Bearkinder

It may be a not too bad work, but the Ring of Troth itself is rather universalist and thus gets a negative from me. They seem to want to let 'anyone' who feels a tug, wear the hammer.

[Bearkinder]

I haven't read all of both volumes, but so far I haven't gotten that vibe, it's been mostly articles written from certain people on the given subject, and has been fairly objective so far, although they haven't really pushed the folkishness, either.

[Anleifr]

This is a real problem for a lot of folks out there who are trying to find books on what heathenry is all about. Nearly all of the modern authors I have read seem to either be off on their own (extremist!) agenda, or regurgitating wiccatru rubbish.

Myself, I have found that Wilhelm Gronbech's Culture of the Teutons to be the best for what the "...soul of the Germanic people.." represents. I find myself often re-reading sections of it when I have questions. Stephen Pollington's The Mead Hall is another of my favorites. I should say right now that I prefer an academic to a rabble-rouser.

I think Edred Thorsson and the rest of the celebrity-tru crowd are more interested in adulation than solid scholarship. One of the many reasons I have maintained my preference for learning by doing, with real physical people, as opposed to other approaches. There are less than twenty of us in our little mixed pagan and heathen community, but there is mutual respect and solid tribal dividing lines that make for an alliance renewed every time we come together to blot, veizla, sumble, ritual, or celebrate. So far, for the last five or six years everyone seems to work together, and strive for a balanced reciprocity that makes me wonder how it might work if we had twice the numbers.

The book-writing and publishing community, for the most part (in the commercial world), seem to want to be parasites rather than leaders. Strong words, but that is what is in my heart.

There really is stuff out there, but to avoid the B-S one really has to be discerning. Some of Paxson's historical fiction is good material, as is the work of Poul Anderson. Tacitus is always a good place to start. But the truth is that this faith-based folkway doesn't really lend itself to being written down. It is a belief system that is sustained by doing, and one learns what to do by simply talking to the gods about it. I do, nearly every day. If you listen, they will answer.

In Frith,
Anleifr

[OneEyedWyrm]

I think this thread needs some serious updating. I'll mention a few of my favs that haven't been mentioned in my collection.


A Piece of Horse Liver: Myth, Ritual, and Folklore in Old Icelandic Sources
By Jon Hnefill Adalsteinsson


Asatru: A Native European Spirituality
By Stephan McNellen


The Norse Myths: A Guide to the Gods and Heroes
By Carolyne Larrington


The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes
Translated by Jackson Crawford


The Elder Gods: The Otherworld of Early England
By Stephan Pollington


Icelandic Magic: Aims, Tools, and Techniques of the Icelandic Sorcerers
By Christopher Alan Smith

[WorldBreaker]

The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion


The Viking Spirit is an introduction to Norse mythology like no other. As you’d expect from Daniel McCoy, the creator of the enduringly popular website Norse Mythology for Smart People (Norse-Mythology.org), it’s written to scholarly standards, but in a simple, clear, and entertaining style that’s easy to understand and a pleasure to read. It includes gripping retellings of no less than 34 epic Norse myths – more than any other book in the field – while also providing an equally comprehensive overview of the fascinating Viking religion of which Norse mythology was a part. You’ll learn about the Vikings’ gods and goddesses, their concept of fate, their views on the afterlife, their moral code, how they thought the universe was structured, how they practiced their religion, the role that magic played in their lives, and much more. With its inclusion of the latest groundbreaking research in the field, The Viking Spirit is the ultimate introduction to the timeless splendor of Norse mythology and religion for the 21st Century.
Click here to go to its page on Amazon, where you can buy it as a good, old-fashioned physical book, or as a Kindle ebook.