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Yuletide Shopping Guide 2023 – Part Seven
I created the Yuletide Shopping Guide in part because Yule is one of my favorite times of year. On this last entry, I wanted to shamelessly spotlight my own books for your consideration, especially since one of my publishers, Red Wheel Weiser, is running a 30% Off Sale.
Affiliate Advertising Disclosure
Red Wheel Weiser Books
If you haven’t picked up my books “A Modern Guide to Heathenry: Lore, Celebrations, and Mysteries of the Northern Traditions,” “Living Runes: Theory and Practice” and/or Northern Tradition for the Solitary Practitioner now is the perfect time! Click on the link and use code RWW30 at checkout (offer good for a limited time). You can currently enjoy 30% OFF direct from the publisher’s website: redwheelweiser.com. Please note that this deal only applies for orders being shipped for delivery to the United States.
As a reminder, my book A Modern Guide to Heathenry (2019) takes what I created in Exploring the Northern Tradition: A Guide to the Gods, Lore, Rites, and Celebrations from the Norse, German, and Anglo-Saxon Traditions (2005) as a foundation and significantly expands upon it with more than 70,000 words of new material especially on devotional work, honoring the ancestors, and theological exegesis. It’s basically twice the word heft of its predecessor! Living Runes: Theory & Practice, however is a re-publication under a new title of my earlier work Runes: Theory and Practice book.
Other Assorted Books
Amazon will have the most comprehensive selection of my written works, including a number of devotionals and novenas.
Among my books, which ones do you most love? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Yuletide Shopping Guide 2023 – Part Five
I created the Yuletide Shopping Guide in part because Yule is one of my favorite times of year. The guide features items polytheists would enjoy seeing in their homes or under their tree this yuletide. All with the hope of spreading some holiday cheer, but also to hopefully lift up some of the artisans in our midst too. I believe if we are to have religious iconography and grow our religious communities, this will not happen unless we support the artisans within our community.
Today I’ll be spotlighting books.
Affiliate Advertising Disclosure
I am an avid reader and quite the bibliophile. If I really wanted to do this section justice, I could be writing for over a year on suggested books. So I decided to approach this list primarily from the point of view of books for children, because nourishing the next generation is so important.
Mythology Books
Many of these texts are geared towards children and young adults, so content tends to be adapted for that audience.
- Chris Pinard’s Celtic Mythology for Kids: Tales of Selkies, Giants, and the Sea
- Mathias Nordvig’s Norse Mythology for Kids: Tales of Gods, Creatures, and Quests
- Morgan Moroney’s Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt: Egyptian Mythology for Kids
- Yung in Chae’s Goddess Power: A Kid’s Book of Greek and Roman Mythology
- Donna Jo Napoli’s Treasury of Greek Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes & Monsters
- Donna Jo Napoli’s Treasury of Egyptian Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Monsters & Mortals
- Donna Jo Napoli’s Treasury of Norse Mythology: Stories of Intrigue, Trickery, Love and Revenge
- D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths
- D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths
- Johan Egerkrans’ Norse Gods
- Morgan Daimler’s A New Dictionary of Fairies: A 21st Century Exploration of Celtic and Related Western European Fairies (this can be a handy reference for older kids, and adults)
- Caroline Hickey’s Classic Stories – Greek Myths
- Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Greek Myths: A Wonderful Book for Girls and Boys
- Geraldine McCaughrean’s Ancient Myths Collection 16 Books Box Set
Coloring Books
Coloring books.
- John Green’s Greek Gods and Goddesses Coloring Book
- Jeff Menges’ Norse Gods and Goddesses Coloring Book
- Selina Fenech’s Goddess and Mythology Coloring Book
- Jade Summer’s Greek Mythology Coloring Book
Pagan Kids
Books for children by Jennifer Hartman at PaganKids.org. The website has free kids activities (coloring pages, word search, word puzzles, etc. you can download as free supplementals.)
- Jennifer Hartman’s Old Mother Frost: A Children’s Yuletide Book (4-12 years)
- Jennifer Hartman’s Who Is That in the Sky? (board book, 1-5 years)
- Jennifer Hartman’s Midsommar Sól (4-12 years)
What books would you recommend? Share your thoughts in the comments.
QOTD – a hard but necessary truth, and a glorious one
“The Gods and spirits are always looking for ways to speak to us. They are master choreographers and curators, but improvisors also. They use what is needed in the moment to produce the needed result, and sometimes in the unlikeliest of places. Anyone you meet could be a God in disguise; any moment could reveal Their wisdom. Be ready.” (by Lo, at footwork, which you can read here).
Brilliant post from Dver
Dver has a brilliant post about the nature of devotional relationships here. I have found the same rubric holds with the elemental powers too. Fire, for instance, will always act according to its nature, regardless of the relationship you have cultivated. Anyway, go, read, learn, ponder. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
Our Gods Are So Good To Us
They are so incredibly good to us in ways large and small! Sometimes it really does take my breath away, and it is so incredibly humbling to know how keenly we are held in Their sight. This was really driven home to me yesterday in the most prosaic of ways. Let me set the stage for my tale.
My husband injured his back not too long ago and I’m disabled (in part due to spinal damage accrued when I was dancing professionally. Ballet is brutal). Our housemate recently tore her rotator cuff gardening. (Nature is brutal too). We had close to eighteen inches of snow dumped on us very late Wednesday night, so when I woke on Thursday, there was a beautiful, glittering blanket of white all across our yard. Usually Sannion would shovel, but while he heals up, that’s not possible (not without the risk of reinjury). I’m not supposed to shovel (doctor’s orders, due to my own back issues) but I figured, well, someone has to do it, and I’m a tough bitch, so I thought I’d give it a shot. That was quickly a no go as I realized if I continued, I was going to seriously hurt myself. I know my body and I know when it’s sensible to push ahead and when I need to back the fuck off and sit down and at my age, I’m smart enough to listen.
So, I spent about an hour calling around town and posting on local groups to find someone who could shovel our drive, but that was a completely fruitless endeavor. In the meantime, we’d had groceries delivered quite early, or at least we were supposed to have had them delivered. The delivery woman hadn’t bothered to let us know she was at our door, though I provided my number, and rather than wear boots like a sensible person and bring the groceries to our door as we’d paid her to do, she shoved them under my car. Yes, you read that correctly. She put three bags of groceries in the snow *under* my car and left. (She told her supervisor that she put them on top of my white van. Mind you, I don’t have a white van). We thought that they’d not been delivered (even going out and looking around, we weren’t able to see them – she put them under the car on the street side of the car) so the part of my morning that wasn’t spent trying to find someone to shovel was spent on the computer with the delivery company getting a refund and filing a complaint about the delivery person. (If you take a delivery job the day after a blizzard and don’t have the sense to wear boots, I have zero sympathy for you). They were good about making restitution – more on that in a bit.
I had awakened in a good deal of pain (I’d pulled a muscle badly the day before) and none of this helped. It was shaping up to be a really awful day. We gave up, did a few informal prayers (I have started doing a brief morning ritual, but that didn’t happen yesterday), ending with an unspecified plea for help. Things immediately turned around. It was really kind of stunning.
Our lovely mailman, who is just an angel, came two hours earlier than usual, found the groceries and carried them up to the house for us. He didn’t have to do that, and the kindness almost made me cry. (I contacted the delivery service to cancel my refund since I had my groceries). We had pretty much given up getting our drive shoveled (and ok, it’s not like we are going anywhere, but I’d still like to be able to take my garbage down to the street and get to my mailbox, plus, if there’s any type of emergency, we need that mobility) when the doorbell rang. It was a young man whom I’d never seen before. He told us, a little dazedly, and he repeated this several times, that a voice told him to come to our house, and he asked if we’d like him to shovel. He did a marvelous job and we told him quite frankly that he was literally the answer to our prayers.
The rest of the day was quiet and uneventful. The bad energy and unpleasantness of the morning was completely gone.
All of this reminds me of something that happened to me seven or eight years ago. I had promised to make steak and offer to it Hermes. The day I owed the meal, we had another blizzard. I’m an uncertain driver in such weather (it was really bad), so I went to Hermes’ shrine and prayed and told him, “I’m sorry but I don’t think I can safely drive to get your steak.” (There were no grocery delivery services in our area then). “I’ll go out as soon as the weather clears up.” I made a liquid offering and went about my business and less than ten minutes later – no joke—a dude rings my bell. He’s a traveling salesman selling…steak. I’d never seen him before and haven’t seen him since. He wanted to get one more sale before calling it a day and heading home before the weather got worse. I bought a ton of steak and Hermes had His offering.
The moral of this story, my friends, is that the Gods do listen to our prayers, large and small, and sometimes the answer is no, but sometimes it’s a yes so loud and unsubtle that we can’t help but be knocked on our butts. Hail to Them all.
Yuletide Shopping Guide – Books
Today is the last and final installment of my Yuletide Shopping Guide. I created the Yuletide Shopping Guide in part because Yule is one of my favorite times of year. The guide features items polytheists might enjoy seeing in their homes or under their tree this yuletide. All with the hope of spreading some holiday cheer in a difficult year by finding items that can help feed our devotions within our polytheistic traditions, but also to hopefully along the way lift up some of the artisans in our midst too.
So far I’ve included resources for crafters, makers, and DIYers: cookie cutters, crafting molds, fabric (Mesoamerican, Egyptian, Greek, Northern Europe), machine embroidery designs, cross-stitch and embroidery patterns, as well as knitting and crochet patterns. I’ve also highlighted some items on a Krampus theme. I’ve spotlighted items you can use to deck the halls & trim the tree.
Check out the Greco-Roman themed products relevant to devotees of Cultus Deorum and Hellenismos, the Egyptian themed products ( Part 1 & Part 2 ) relevant to devotees of Kemetism, Northern European themed products ( Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 & Part 5) relevant to Northern Tradition polytheists (Heathens, Asatruar, etc.), as well as some Miscellaneous ( Part 1 & Part 2 ) spotlights featuring artists and artisans who offered a range of product across pantheons, or whose work focused on a tradition that I didn’t have enough items to spotlight on its own. Peruse with care and you will find items related to deities from the Norse, Slavic, Celtic, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Hindu, Polynesian, Mesoamerican, Minoan, Assyrian, Sumerian, Welsh, Asian, Native American/Inuit, and more!
Today I’ll be spotlighting books.
Affiliate Advertising Disclosure
I am an avid reader and quite the bibliophile. If I really wanted to do this section justice, I could be writing for over a year on suggested books. So I decided to approach this list primarily from the point of view of more recently published works I have either personally read and therefore recommend, or for texts that are on my to read list. I’ve also sprinkled in a few classics, and some books I felt kids could enjoy too so we can pass our traditions to the next generations.
Academic Reading
Unfortunately, I will warn you that some of the academic books are part of small academic print runs and can be prohibitively priced as a result.
- Triin Laidoner’s Ancestor Worship and the Elite in Late Iron Age Scandinavia: A Grave Matter
- Declan Taggart’s How Thor Lost His Thunder: The Changing Faces of an Old Norse God
- Anders Andren, John Lindow, Jens Peter Schjodt’s The Pre-Christian Religions of the North: History and Structures
- Maria Dahvana’s translation of Beowulf
- Barbette Stanley Spaeth’s The Roman Goddess Ceres
- Rudolf Simek’s Dictionary of Northern Mythology
Books for Polytheists
The Illustrated Havamal and Illustrated Voluspa takes the old Bellows translation of those eponymous texts but is released with illustrations by artist Sam Flegal. The Man Who Spoke Snakish is a fictional work with strong themes that should resonate with polytheists. The remaining texts were all written by polytheists for polytheists.
- The Illustrated Havamal (art by Sam Flegal)
- The Illustrated Voluspa (art by Sam Flegal)
- Andrus Kivirahk’s The Man Who Spoke Snakish (trans. Christopher Moseley)
- Dagulf Loptson’s Pagan Portals – Loki: Trickster and Transformer
- Susannah Ravenswing’s The Duergarbok: The Dwarves of the Northern Tradition
- Dan Coultas’ The Gods’ Own County: A Heathen Prayer Book
Mythology Books
Many of these texts are geared towards children and young adults, so content tends to be adapted for that audience.
- Chris Pinard’s Celtic Mythology for Kids: Tales of Selkies, Giants, and the Sea
- Mathias Nordvig’s Norse Mythology for Kids: Tales of Gods, Creatures, and Quests
- Morgan Moroney’s Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt: Egyptian Mythology for Kids
- Yung in Chae’s Goddess Power: A Kid’s Book of Greek and Roman Mythology
- Donna Jo Napoli’s Treasury of Greek Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes & Monsters
- Donna Jo Napoli’s Treasury of Egyptian Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Monsters & Mortals
- Donna Jo Napoli’s Treasury of Norse Mythology: Stories of Intrigue, Trickery, Love and Revenge
- D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths
- D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths
- Johan Egerkrans’ Norse Gods
- Morgan Daimler’s A New Dictionary of Fairies: A 21st Century Exploration of Celtic and Related Western European Fairies
- Caroline Hickey’s Classic Stories – Greek Myths
- Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Greek Myths: A Wonderful Book for Girls and Boys
- Geraldine McCaughrean’s Ancient Myths Collection 16 Books Box Set
Coloring Books
Coloring books for both kids and adults.
- John Green’s Greek Gods and Goddesses Coloring Book
- Jeff Menges’ Norse Gods and Goddesses Coloring Book
- Selina Fenech’s Goddess and Mythology Coloring Book
- Jade Summer’s Greek Mythology Coloring Book
- Jim Barrow’s Greek Mythology Coloring Book for Adults
- Johan Egerkrans’ Sketches from Norse Gods Coloring Book
My Books
In case you missed it since last December I have released 9 books. A Modern Guide to Heathenry is a significantly revised and expanded book built on the foundation of Exploring the Northern Tradition with over 70,000 words of additional, new content. Sigyn: Our Lady of the Staying Power is a re-release after a change in publishers. The other books are all new releases.
- A Modern Guide to Heathenry
- Walking the Rainbow Bridge: A Collection of Heathen Poetry
- Heart on Fire: A Novena for Loki
- Sigyn: Our Lady of the Staying Power
- Of Bow, Lyre, and Prophetic Fire: Nine Days of Prayer to the God Apollo
- The Ecstasy and the Fury: 9 Nights with Odin – A Novena
- In Love’s Winged Harbor: A Novena for Anteros
- Seven for Sekhmet: A Pocket Book of Prayer
- Seeking Valhalla: A Pocket Book of Heathen Prayers
Walking the Worlds
After several years and 12 volumes, Walking the Worlds, a peer-reviewed journal of polytheism and spiritwork has concluded its run. In commemoration, here are the links to each release of the journal in case you missed any.
- Volume 1
- Volume 2
- Volume 3
- Volume 4
- Volume 5
- Volume 6
- Volume 7
- Volume 8
- Volume 9
- Volume 10
- Volume 11
- Volume 12
What books are on your to read list? What books would you recommend? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Yuletide Shopping Guide – Egyptian Products – Part 2
I created the Yuletide Shopping Guide in part because Yule is one of my favorite times of year. The guide features items polytheists would enjoy seeing in their homes or under their tree this yuletide. All with the hope of spreading some holiday cheer in a difficult year by finding items that can help feed our devotions within our polytheistic traditions, but also to hopefully along the way lift up some of the artisans in our midst too. So far I’ve included resources for crafters, makers, and DIYers: cookie cutters, crafting molds, fabric (Mesoamerican, Egyptian, Greek, Northern Europe), machine embroidery designs, cross-stitch and embroidery patterns, as well as knitting and crochet patterns. I’ve also highlighted some items on a Krampus theme. I’ve spotlighted items you can use to deck the halls and trim the tree.
Greco-Roman themed products relevant to devotees of Cultus Deorum and Hellenismos. There were some artists and artisans who offered a range of product across pantheons, or whose work focuses on a tradition that I didn’t have enough items to spotlight on it’s own. So I highly recommend that you carefully peruse the spotlighted artists and artisans in my miscellaneous Part 1, & Part 2. You will find offerings encompassing a vast array of traditions: Norse, Slavic, Celtic, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Hindu, Polynesian, Mesoamerican, Minoan, Assyrian, Sumerian, Welsh, Asian, Native American/Inuit, and more!
Yesterday, I featured the first installment of products relevant for devotees of Kemetism (Egyptian Polytheism). Today I will be sharing with you the second installment of goods.
DeeEgypt
Based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in Texas, DeeEgypt is a shop that sells everything Egyptian, with a lot of jewelry, deity statuary and more. Items range from cheaply made reproductions, to more unique and premium products. There’s a few items that I feel are extra special: a Bastet sistrum, a hand-painted brass and copper altar with depictions of various deities (including Isis, Osiris, Horus, Set), a Thoth clock, a wooden carved gods boat, and an Anubis tealight oil burner.
WeEgyptians
SummitCollection’s WeEgyptians are hand painted cold cast resin figures of the Kemetic Gods and Goddesses, as well as a few other items related to ancient Egyptian culture. The artistic style of these figures would appeal to most children.
Miscellaneous
Thanks to the antiquities housed within the collections of museums around the world, you can find a range of items from books, scarves, stationary, toys, statuary, jewelry and more in museum gift shops.
Metropolitan Museum Gift Shop
New York’s Metropolitan Museum Gift Shop has an array of goodies on offer: Horus jewelry with earrings and a coordinating necklace. Plus this Horus enamel pin makes a great stocking stuffer too! Looking for something for the kids? How about some huggable Gods to be their protector and friend! You can find both Bastet and Anubis plush toy.
British Museum Gift Shop
The British Museum Gift Shop has the same Anubis, and Bastet plush toys that the New York’s Metropolitan Museum also offers. There’s a hippopotamus (an animal sacred to Tarewet) ornament , and there’s a cat (an animal sacred to Bastet) ornament. You can find a range of statuary, but these pewter statues of Anubis, Horus, Osiris and Bastet are affordable. There’s also a blue Bes statue and Bastet Bookends. Plus even more in their shop.
Next up are products of interest for Northern Tradition polytheism. Until then make sure to peruse the previous entries in the Yuletide Shopping Guide as there is a range of items relevant to Kemetics scattered throughout.
Yuletide Shopping Guide – Egyptian Products – Part 1
I created the Yuletide Shopping Guide in part because Yule is one of my favorite times of year. The guide features items polytheists would enjoy seeing in their homes or under their tree this yuletide. All with the hope of spreading some holiday cheer in a difficult year by finding items that can help feed our devotions within our polytheistic traditions, but also to hopefully along the way lift up some of the artisans in our midst too. So far I’ve included resources for crafters, makers, and DIYers: cookie cutters, crafting molds, fabric (Mesoamerican, Egyptian, Greek, Northern Europe), machine embroidery designs, cross-stitch and embroidery patterns, as well as knitting and crochet patterns. I’ve also highlighted some items on a Krampus theme. I’ve spotlighted items you can use to deck the halls and trim the tree.
Greco-Roman themed products relevant to devotees of Cultus Deorum and Hellenismos. There were some artists and artisans who offered a range of product across pantheons, or whose work focuses on a tradition that I didn’t have enough items to spotlight on it’s own. So I highly recommend that you carefully peruse the spotlighted artists and artisans in my miscellaneous Part 1, & Part 2. You will find offerings encompassing a vast array of traditions: Norse, Slavic, Celtic, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Hindu, Polynesian, Mesoamerican, Minoan, Assyrian, Sumerian, Welsh, Asian, Native American/Inuit, and more!
Today I’ll be featuring the first installment of products relevant for devotees of Kemetism (Egyptian Polytheism).
deBaunFineCeramics
DeBaunFineCeramics has a selection of offering bowls, shrines, pendants, incense burners and more.
TutsTreasures
TutsTreasures offers Kemetic Deity altar icons, prayer beads, and candles.
ShadowOfTheSphinx
ShadowOfTheSphinx offers handcrafted altar statues and amulets of ancient Egypt.
AncientWaresShop
AncientWaresShop features embossed metal worked depictions of Anubis, and the Eye of Horus, as well as wood burned coasters with lotuses, ankh, etc.
Saiyre
Saiyre has metal enameled lapel pins depicting Sekhmet, Bastet, and Anubis. Small, stylish and affordable these would be perfect for a stocking stuffer.
There’s more items to come in the Yuletide Shopping Guide, including MORE Egyptian products. Until then make sure to peruse the previous entries in the Yuletide Shopping Guide as there is a range of items relevant to Kemetics.
Yuletide Shopping Guide – Artists and Artisans Part 2
I created the Yuletide Shopping Guide in part because Yule is one of my favorite times of year. The guide features items polytheists would enjoy seeing in their homes or under their tree this yuletide. All with the hope of both spreading some holiday cheer in a difficult year, but also to hopefully lift up some of the artisans in our midst too. So far I’ve included resources for crafters, makers, and DIYers: cookie cutters, crafting molds, fabric (Mesoamerican, Egyptian, Greek, Northern Europe), machine embroidery designs, cross-stitch and embroidery patterns, as well as knitting and crochet patterns. I’ve also highlighted some items on a Krampus theme. I’ve spotlighted items you can use to deck the halls and trim the tree. Now I am spotlighting artists, artisans and the goods they make: Part 1, and Part 2 is today. Stay tuned, because there’s still more to come.
TrueCraftWorks
TrueCraftworks is run by a USA based leather-worker that offers in addition to jewelry and guitar straps, purses, boxes designed to hold cards (or if you wanted to runes), leather wallets/card holders, coasters and more.
Emily Balivet
Emily Balivet is a talented artist whose brightly colored works encompass pagan and polytheistic themes ranging from tarot, to various Goddesses (Egyptian, Greek, Norse, Celtic, Hindu and more). Her shop features the prismatically vivid colors of both original paintings, and reproduction prints of her work.
KatLunoeArt
KatLunoeArt is the online shop for oil painter and illustrator Kat, whose work has graced book covers and other special projects. She currently has a small collection of various deity art available.
Anetteprs
Anetteprs is the etsy storefront for artist Anette Pirso. She focuses her artwork around various polytheistic traditions, including Gods and Goddesses (mainly Goddesses). Some of her artwork has been used in clothing designs offered at Valhyr. She has a large selection of both Norse and Greek Goddesses, and an expanding selection of other goddesses from around the world: African, Mesoamerican, Egyptian, Native American & Inuit, Slavic, Celtic, Asian, Polynesian, and Hindu. In addition to her artistic prints of these Goddesses, she also has a few artistic depictions of impactful women in history. She recently started offering waterproof stickers too (great for use on cars, water bottles, etc.). She has made the commitment that 5% of each purchase is donated to a The Estonian Women’s Shelters Union, which helps women who have been the victims of domestic violence.
OlivosArtStudio
OlivosArtStudio is the online shop for painter Claudia Olivos whose depictions of Goddesses range from all over the globe: Egyptian, Greek, Hindu, Minoan, Norse, Mesoamerican (various traditions), Polynesian, and so much more.
SilvaTamayo
SilvaTamayo is the online storefront for paper artist Mary Carmen Silva Tamayo specializing in Mesoamerican and Mexican art, including depictions of Aztec deities.
QOTD
“If the Gods are the fundamental entities, and the precondition for all else, then perhaps we have to consider Them as good, regardless of what They are like in any particular respect. Perhaps our conception of “goodness” is too narrow and too cosmically insignificant otherwise.”
–Edward Butler, PhD and polytheist.
Gangleri's Grove 