Goddess of the North [Paperback]

Lynda C. Welch (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157863170X
• ISBN-13: 978-1578631704
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,907,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Definitely not an Asatru viewpoint, September 28, 2005

By 

Valgerd "Valgerd" (Midgard) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goddess of the North (Paperback)

Lynda C. Welch writes her book from a Wiccan perspective. She attempts to bring her reader around to her idea that all of the Asynjur (Aesir and Vanir Goddesses) are really just different perspectives of one Goddess. The Wiccans believe that in the final analysis there is only one God and one Goddess. While there is nothing wrong with having such a belief system it is shameful to try to underhandedly misrepresent your belief system on those seeking knowledge of the Goddesses of their path.

As an Asatrur this book is highly offensive for the above reason. The Asynjur found in the Eddas are named and their deeds are written for all who wish to honor them.

As a Gydhja (Asatru priestess) I would recommend that any who seek to learn of the deeds of the Goddesses not waste their money on this book.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Primordial Norse Goddess?, December 12, 2005

By 

Sharon Gorbacz "Sharon" (Raritan, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Goddess of the North (Paperback)

Lynda C. Welch states the introduction that the purpose of this book is to present factual, intuitive, and spiritual evidence for the existence of a primordial Norse goddess."

And indeed, Ms. Welch does make references to what would be considered respectable sources of information, including Jakob Grimm's Teutonic Mythology, Snorri Sturlusson's Prose Edda, and Hilda Ellis-Davidson's Northern Goddess, to support her ridiculous conclusion that all of the Norse goddesses can be lumped into the Maiden, Mother, Crone mold of the Wiccan Goddess. Of course she calls it the "primordial Norse goddess" and that these aspects are "Grandmother, Mother, Daughter", Fjorgyn, Frigg, and Freya respectively.

This work is particularly contrary to the work that many of us who follow the Norse pantheon have been doing in trying to sieve out the functions and lore of the individual goddesses of the Norse pantheon from what little literary evidence has survived from the pre-Christian period in Northen Europe.

Her opinion of monotheistic religions from the very start is hostile, and she perpetuates the claim that Asatru is a racist religion.

The bibliography is definitely the highlight of this book - it lists some very good primary and secondary sources for the study of Norse mythology (avoid the Llwellyn titles, of course). But overall, this book is not worth the paper it's printed on.

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Laughable, March 5, 2002

By 

Emerald Sky - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goddess of the North (Paperback)

I began reading this book with much hope and exitement. As I read through the first chapters I told myself to "give it a chance". The further into the book I got, the more it became clear that this book is laughable, at best. Many of the correlations and progression of so-called logical conclusions are ridiculous. The author claims to have researched her subject, but once you begin reading you see that any research she may have done was thrown out the window in favor of her feministic opinion.

I kept waiting for the grand discovery of the Primordial Northern Goddess that she claims to have found. I was disappointed. She merely listed a bunch of Norse Goddesses, and attempted to lump them and their attributes all together into one triple-faced (maiden, mother, crone) being.

The way she tried to convince the reader that many of the ancient gods were (in her opinion) actually female, again was laughable!

The author makes a mockery of respected authors such as Thorrson and Sturluson by referencing their works in correlation with her faulty line of thinking.

If you want a book about the Northern Tradition, this is *not* it.