Customer Reviews

Hammer of the Gods: Anglo-Saxon Paganism in Modern Times

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Hammer of the Gods, Swain Wodening explores and explaines the practices of modern Heathenry. Anglo-Saxon heathenry is the main focus, however this book is also a valuable resource to Asatruar, and Theodish Heathens. The Thews and Virtues of Heathenry are well explained, and refrences given from the lore and historical sources in many relevant pasages. The focus on the Thewes and Virtues is important in the practice of Heathenry, as well as proper behavior within group settings in honoring of our Gods.

The Gods and Goddesses are well explained, refrences are quoted to give background to how each God and Goddess was viewed historically, and how one would apply approaches in modern day life. Good explinations of the celebrations and ceremonies which accompany the Holy Tides of the year, and Blots to individual Deities are well presented. A newcomer to the ways of Heathenry would do well to purchace this book as a guide in thier practice, as would someone who has been Heathen for many years find information of good use and insight. Blot, Husel, Symbel, Oaths, Boasts, setting of Sacred Space, use of ritual tools, and the Runes are also thoroughly explained.

Hammer of the Gods also includes information about modern Heathen Movements and Societies, which is helpful for newcomers in finding information which will speed them on thier journey of learning and study of the Gods and Goddesses. The complete bibliography in the back is also a good source for starting your own library of sources for learning.

In all, Swain Wodening has brought us an important work avalible to all on the practice of Heathenry. Much more than just a basic book, or only specailised in one or two areas like most now avalible, Hammer of the Gods is one of the most thorough works on the market today about the practices, beliefs, and application of the ancient ways.

Most people that are familiar with Swain Wodening know him from his work with the Troth or the Ealdriht and his countless articles in Asatru and Germanic Heathen magazines and on the web. This is his first full length book, but you would not know it. While the book is specificly on Anglo-Saxon Heathenry, it is general enough to be used by anyone interested in truly authentic Germanic Heathen practice.

Each section is written in easy to read language with the familiar Old Norse terms, known to most Germanic Heathens, along side the Anglo-Saxon terms he uses for most of the book. Add to this frequent examples taken from the Eddas, rune poems, Icelandic sagas, and other works, and you have the book easiest for the modern novice in Germanic Heathenry to understand to come out in years.

He covers in depth, the concept of Wyrd, a topic rarely touched on in books about Germanic Heathenry as well as the virtues, gods, runes, and rites. His chapters on the rites of Heathenry are in depth, and each rite is carefully outlined.

Well researched, nearly all of this book comes from Germanic Heathen lore. "Hammer of the Gods" is not only for Anglo-Saxon Heathens, but anyone wishing to practice Asatru or any other form of Germanic Heathenry.

PS In the latest printing, of which my replacement copy is, all the typos have been edited out!!!

One of the few truly excellent books written on the subject in many years! It covers more than the basics of germanic and anglo-saxon religion. With many books out of print on germanic religion. I would urge buying this one and keeping it!

Swain has produced a good work. I wish he had access to a good editor. Maybe for the next printing? Still, worth the read.

It is pretty apparent that American Reiver has not read this book, or if so, did not pay much attention to the details of it. It is true, Mr. Wodening draws on Paul Bauchatz's work, but then Professor Bauchatz is a recognized academic whose research has not been greatly questioned. Indeed, it is now the accepted work on Wyrd by not just the modern Heathen community, but much of the academic community as well. There are its detractors, but there is with nearly every academic study.

As for drawing on Garman Lord, one only need to look at how Mr. Wodening views sacral kingship as opposed to how Mr. Lord does, and they will quickly realize that the views held by these two men on this topic are quite different. Mr. Lord tried to take the comitatus structure and run amok with it by addiing in divine right. Mr. Wodening's idea seems more family based with the sacral king being a much weaker figure, and secondary to the folk themselves. But then Mr. Wodening hardly even touches on the topic of sacral kingship, indeed his focus seems to be on worship of the Gods and the rites that accompany being Heathen. And his information on the Gods and the rites seems drawn directly from the lore, and if not that from existing scholarly opinion.

Another point, American Reiver seems to miss though is Mr. Wodening in his book does draw on surviving folklore. Much of the information on the holy tides seems to have been drawn from surviving practices. Anyone that has done any folklore studies can spot where Mr. Wodening got his ideas on the holy tides (not to mention in other parts of his book). Such things as Mummer's Plays come directly from surviving custom.

What Mr. Wodening did not base on modern folklore has been drawn from the elder sources themselves. Mr. Wodening makes extensive use of quoting passages of the lore. Unless one believes Mr. Wodening wrote some of the sagas or Eddas, one certainly cannot accuse him of making things up. There are few books out there with as many quotes. Indeed, it would seem American Reiver in his review is the only one here guilty of poor scholarship. One should at least read a book before reviewing it.

The total lack of proofreading was really distracting as I read this book. Sometimes the author's meaning is obscured by typos. Hopefully his other works are written with more care. Still, the subject matter is important and not widely covered elsewhere.

"Hammer of the Gods" is an outstanding book reflecting the true spirit of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. Though similar to their Norse cousins, here we are given an in-depth look at the tradition through the eyes of the ancient `Anglo-Saxons'.

Herein one finds a description of the Gods of the pantheon of the people: such as Woden, Thor, Frigga, and Heimdall.

We read of the Holy Tides - Yule, Eostre, Litha (Midsummer), Harvest, and Winterfylleth, etc.

We read of the Rites of Life, with ceremonies for birth, name giving, blot, symbel, oath, wedding, and funeral.

Learn of the Runes, runic meditation and divination, and how to make a runic talisman.

The author, Swain Wodening, has done excellence research, combined with 20+ years practical experience in Anglo-Saxon Heathenry, to produce a book that is a "must read" for anyone with an interest in these things.

"Hammer of the Gods" deals in detail, on a beginner's level, with Anglo-Saxon heathen beliefs and practices, and there has not been before or since a book that is as comprehensive on that particular aspect of heathenry. The book itself is very polished and professional, and the only disagreement I might make with its contents is that the author chooses to go with an interpretation that the Anglo-Saxons believed in 9 worlds rather than 7, despite plain literary evidence to the contrary, without really spelling out a cogent case for why he makes this assumption. (Although in fairness he does *acknowledge* the problem, so it's certainly not a deal-killer for me.) Definitely worth getting if you're interested in A-S heathenry.

Well I love this book seening that I am a Anglo Saxon Heathen. When I first saw this book my brother bought it from Swain Himshelf Swain is a good guy and a good resouce. This book is awsome and good for some one just learning about the Anglo ways. But I got the book from HPB-Ohio it ship fast so that was good the way the guy describe was right but one thing and that was the top of the spine was un-glue no worrys. So if you looking for cheap look at him.

Being of German descent, I often find it difficult to locate Heathen texts in English that deal with this sort of information. Typically where Heathenism is concerned, I run into Norwegian material. However, like the Greek & Roman Gods, there may be simliarities but there's also a world of difference between them. So too with the Norwegian and Anglo-Saxon Heathenry.

When I went searching for source material on the Anglo-Saxon Futhark, Swain's _Hammer of the Gods_ was the only Heathen-written book I could find (by someone who actually practices it.) There seems to be a lack of solid source material on the market for those interested in the A-S or Germanic practices. Pointing someone to Norwegian source material has its merits but there's still a hole left unfilled.

This book is GOOD. I was specifically interested in the section on the A-S Futhark and found this to be very workable as well as informative. Having worked with the 24 Futhark from the Norwegian systems as well as the Younger 16 from the Icelandic colonies, I wanted to really delve into the 33 Futhark that the A-S made famous. What I found helpful was his work with the 9 Runes after the initial 24 as they only appear in the A-S Futhark.

Another thing I enjoyed was his chapter on Mound Sitting also known as Spaecraft. It's nice to see how the author separated Spaecraft from Seidr Magic which seems to be a problem among scholars who are wont to lump them together and it's that sort of muddled thinking which confuses Novices to new subjects. It's good to see there are authors out there who are interested in differentiating even closely related subjects so that each subject can be studied correctly.

One could consider this a textbook of A-S Heathenry, by the way the author has gone about explaining a vast and difficult subject. He discusses many aspects of general Heathenry such as the Gods, the Nine Worlds, Wyrd, Blots, Symbel, Rites and of course the A-S Runes.

The only negative thing about the text I can say is that some of the rituals seem to be a bit too structured for my personal taste. For instance, the whole Ritual Sauna seemed a bit too involved albeit it IS designed for seeking visions. To me that's unnecessary since I get Spirits visit me in dreams, but for those who are interested in doing a sauna without stepping into Native American traditions, the sauna ritual presented should fit the bill quite nicely.

The book has a nice bibliography as well as a detailed index - both of which are priceless when doing research on a subject like this with scant sources to turn to. I give this book five out of five stars for completeness & coherence to the subject matter.