Blog Archives
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 – Artists & Artisans – Part 1
Yule is one of my favorite times of year, and to help spread some holiday cheer I decided to create the Yuletide Shopping Guide to help people find goods for their homes, and gifts. Hopefully in the process, helping to steer some business towards some very talented artisans, including some within our religious community. So far I’ve spotlighted resources for crafters, resources to trim the tree & deck the halls for the holiday, highlighted Krampus goods, and now I’m moving onto artists and artisans.
VisaVisJewelryLA
VisaVisJewelryLA specializes in jewelry made with bronze and gold, sometimes with a cloisonné technique too. There’s a range of polytheistic traditions represented across the bling worthy offerings: Assyrian, Sumerian, Norse, Celtic, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Hindu, and more.
Making Magick
Making Magick features a husband and wife artisan team from our religious community based in North Carolina creating goods in ceramics, wood, metal, fabric and more. They are currently specializing in scroll saw wooden puzzles for children. They can make any animal or object into an age appropriate puzzle. They can also make other items in wood too, from decorative bowls and decor for the home, or memorial items for use outdoors. As we all know, 2020 has been a challenging year, and that’s included unemployment for one of the members of this artisan team. If you have an idea, they’d love to talk to you.
RareEarthWoodworks
RareEarthWoodworks features a variety of artisan crafts in wood, featuring divination tools such as ogham staves or runes, and an expansive array of portable travel altars or altar icons across a range of polytheistic traditions: Welsh, Norse, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and more. There’s also other items too!
SacredPathArt
The United Kingdom based artist Amanda Lindupp offers up her range of art prints and cards through her store SacredPathArt. Her illustrations of Gods and Goddesses encompass Kemetic, Norse, Celtic, Greek and Roman deities.
CorazonMexica
CorazonMexica features chicano created works depicting Mexican spirituality and pride, with a focus on Mesoamerican deities from the Aztecs, as well as Aztec inspired tarot, queer art, and regalia.
Yuletide Shopping Guide – Cross-stitch and Embroidery Patterns
Makers, crafters and DIYers I have been spotlighting in my Yuletide Shopping Guide resources to help you create items related to polytheistic religious traditions. So far that has included cookie cutters, craft molds, and fabric related to Mesoamerica, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Ancient Northern Europe. I’ve shared machine embroidery design files, and today I’ve got needlepoint in the form of cross-stitch and embroidery patterns.
Norse
- Tree of Life
- Yggdrasil and the Nine Worlds
- Yggdrasil with deer, squirrel and birds
- Futhark with Yggdrasil
- Runes (Elder Futhark)
- Helm of Awe with Futhark
- Helm of Awe
- Odin’s Ravens (Hugin & Munin)
- Odin’s Ravens (Hugin & Munin)
- Mjolnir
- Mjolnir Sampler (runes, troll cross, and other symbols)
Egyptian
Miscellaneous
- Goddess Fortuna (Roman)
- Brigid Blessing (Celtic)
- Huitzilopochtli (Aztec, the listing is misidentified as Tlaloc)
Please let me know if there are any errors, with all the copy/pasting it is easy to make a mistake. If there’s something you think I should spotlight in the yuletide shopping guide, please contact me and let me know. So concludes our fabric resources, but there will be more resources to come! Stay tuned.
Yuletide Shopping Guide – Fabric – Norse and more
The Yuletide Shopping Guide was created to spotlight items that support our religious devotions and practices, help artists who are struggling in this pandemic year, and to help some of the artisans in our religious communities too. I’ve started early to share resources for cookie cutters, craft molds, and fabric related to Mesoamerica, Ancient Egypt, and Ancient Greece. In hopes this early start will allow the makers time to get ahold of materials if they intend to make something for this holiday season.
To our Northern Tradition polytheists, get ready to vike yourselves some fabric for your projects this yuletide. There’s a plethora of mjolnir (Thor’s Hammers), lots of runes too, Odin makes some appearances, a rune card pattern great for kids, and so much more. I have bought so much fabric.
Arts_and_Herbs
Arts_and_Herbs Has a small fabric collection with varying sizes of a Valkyrie pattern based on archaeological finds, in addition to a mjolnir pattern, a sun wheel pattern, and a runes pattern.
VikingFairy
Viking fairy offers two patterns both use a combination of runes and symbols connected to the Norse Gods, one looks like it could be a good option for the kids.
Odinist
Odinist has patterns based on archaeological finds, as well as a really adorable rune card pattern which would be cute for kids.
Bearhide
In addition to a rune pattern in various sizes and colors, Bearhide also offers a fabric collection encompassing runestones, mjolnir patterns, and a mixed pattern of runes & symbols.
Wren_Leyland
This is less religious, and more just cute. This Viking ship voyager pattern seems perfect for projects for the little heathens in our midst. Presented in a fabric collection with a variety of coordinating fabrics.
Even more fabric possibilities
- Yggdrasil and Our Gods – This pattern is so complex it’s hard to see it fully online. We see the world tree Yggdrasil and its connection to the worlds. In Asgard we see Odin riding his horse Sleipnir, Thor raising his hammer high, Freya with a cat drawn carriage accompanied by her boar Hlidsvini. While Loki is airborne with the giant Thiassi who has just stolen Idunna’s apples. We have bifrost with valkyries, Fenrir, frost giants, and more. You’ll need 48 inches to get the full repeat pattern, 42 inches gives you all the mythic elements but you’ll lose part of the rainbow sky. There is a smaller version of the print too.
- Odin, Freya, Freyr, Thor, Heimdall (color variations)
- Odin as a teapot, at a teaparty for his ravens
- Rune pattern in various colors
- Viking longboat pattern in various sizes and colors
- Odin and his ravens pattern (various colors)
- Runes pattern (in various sizes and colors)
- Midwinter pattern with the Sun, trees and deer
- Slavic Geometric Patterns
Please let me know if there are any errors, with all the copy/pasting it is easy to make a mistake. If there’s something you think I should spotlight in the yuletide shopping guide, please contact me and let me know. So concludes our fabric resources, but there will be more resources to come! Stay tuned.
Pre-Order is Live for my new book, A Modern Guide to Heathenry
An accessible yet in-depth guide to this increasingly popular pre-Christian religious tradition of Northern Europe
Heathenry, is one of the fastest growing polytheistic religious movements in the United States today. This book explores the cosmology, values, ethics, and rituals practiced by modern heathens.
In A Modern Guide to Heathenry readers will have the opportunity to explore the sacred stories of the various heathen gods like Odin, Frigga, Freya, and Thor and will be granted a look into the devotional practices of modern votaries. Blóts, the most common devotional rites, are examined in rich detail with examples given for personal use. Additionally, readers are introduced to the concept of wyrd, or fate, so integral to the heathen worldview.
Unlike many books on heathenry, this one is not denomination-specific, nor does it seek to overwhelm the reader with unfamiliar Anglo-Saxon or Norse terminology. For Pagans who wish to learn more about the Norse deities or those who are new to heathenry or who are simply interested in learning about this unique religion, A Modern Guide to Heathenry is the perfect introduction. Those who wish to deepen their own devotional practice will find this book helpful in their own work as well.
PRE-ORDER LINKS
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2wMnVtt
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/2IziCU0
Indie Bound: http://bit.ly/2Rcy4ZV
Sample Living Runes: Theory & Practice of Norse Divination
*As a reminder, this is a re-release under a new name of my earlier work Runes: Theory and Practice.
PRE-ORDER LINKS
Find it June 1, 2019 wherever books are sold.
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Gangleri's Grove 