Customer Reviews

Lady of the Northern Light: A Feminist Guide to the Runes

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1 star:		(4)

 

 

When I bought this book, I was excited at the prospect that someone had written a thorough book on the runes from a feministic approach. After reading the first twenty pages, I was disappointed to discover that this was not the book.

Gitlin-Emmer immediately sets the stage for disappointment by making appeals to the concepts of the cult of the "Great Goddess of Old Europe" and the "peaceful matriarchy" as historical fact. Indeed these two concepts are topics of heavy debate among different historians, particularly where Northern Europe is concerned. The fact that this author does not even acknowledge the existance of debate shows her willingness to completely ignore evidence and academic thought contrary to her own opinions. This is further exemplified in her constant appeal to enigmatic claims as to what "most scholars" believe.

Her interpretations of the runes begin by giving various single-word meanings for individual runes that come from traditional runelore (yes she doesn't seem to make reference to any of the rune poems on which this lore has been based). She then piles on various pieces of goddess-oriented mythology. While these pieces may "sound good," the fragments of myths she chose to associate with each rune are apparently based on nothing more than her own conjecture and not research demonstrating a sound reason for her associations.

Finally, some of her mythology is highly questionable. She confidently describes Goddesses in grand detail that scholars like Pennick and Davidson have trouble making even a rough picture based on the fragmented literary references we have. As if that was not bad enough, some of her characteristics of various goddesses (Gollveig comes to mind quickly) are unsupported -- and even contrary to -- the literary depictions we DO have.

If you want a feel-good book on the runes from a speculative feminist perspective, this is the book for you. However, if you wish a more academic study, I would advise you to steer away fromt his work as mere conjecture and poorly (or un-)supported personal opinion piled on top of debatable assumptions. For those who want some sense of feminism in the Northern traditions (and a sense of what thorough scholarship on the topic is like), I would encourage you to check out "Roles of the Northern Goddess" by Hilda Davidson.

This book is beautiful and inspiring. It is written from the perspective of Feminist Witchcraft not from Heathenism which is why I think some of the reviewers did not like it.The author uses the meanings of the Elder Futhark as an outline for sharing the nature of Norse Goddesses. I admit that i have no intention of ever using the Runes for divination and read this book because i am devoted to the Goddess in all her aspects and wanted to learn more about her Norse identity. I can't really comment on how this book works as a guide to the Runes but as a guide to the "lady of the northern light" it is brilliant.Ms. Giltlin-Emmer weaves together a tapestry of the Northern Goddess using many sources including the Eddas, Saxo Grammaticus, Tacitus, compartive mythology, folk-lore, ancient and modern folk practice, and feminist witchraft. The book stems from the premise that there was once a Great Goddess of Europe but even if you don't believe that is true the rest of the book provides a wealth of information.The author admits the runes as we know them come from patriarchal times but supposes they caught on because the ideas behind them were familiar to the Goddess loving people--"Yet, suppose they are older. Not the runes themselves, but the concepts behind them". She then spends the rest of the book linking the ideas behind each rune to Northern Goddess lore.In my oppinion the ideas in this book are as valid as any others on the runes. Modern Pagans, and Heathens have to admit that the information we have on ancients who had and oral tradition of spirituality is very scarce--and that the information we have is highly suspect because it was written down by christians. Modern practice is 1% fact and 99% conjecture and intuition. And this is how it should be if it is to be a living tradition. I do not know if i would reccomend this book to beginners. It assumes the reader has a fair amount of knowledge of myths and the meanings behind pagan concepts. But perhaps a beginner could read the book, then do some more research and read it again.This really is a wonderful book. Susan Gitlin-Emmer should be honored along side women like Barbara Walker and Patricia Monaghan. I hope it becomes a classic of the Goddess path.

This book, although aimmed at a feminine audience, brings forward the mother based concept of a nurturing world.I feel it is an important work for both men and women to come in touch with. Through the intuitive insight of its author, this book is destined to become a classic in its field. The ease of using the book is very apparent, and creates an atmosphere of truth giving. You won't go wrong by purchasing this wonderful volume. If you're looking for a shift of insight in your life and KNOW there is something more expansive, then this book is one to have in your own library.

This is a good example of a common New-Age approach. It presents the author's rather extreme position, and backs it up with vague hints of academic support. It draws in a very general way, from the ideas of Gimbutas, work that has always been considered highly speculative by other academics.

Creating modern myths about the myths of our ancestors seems a bit of a waste of time. This looks less like "inspiration" than gender-political wishful thinking. As much as I have enjoyed books like "The Mists of Avalon", I read them as fiction. This book however, does not have the advantage of a good story line or decent prose. I can only imagine it appealing to the less educated teenage witch.

As information about runes, it is practically devoid of any. It fails to look into any of the abundant original sources, probably because they do not support the views of the author in any way. She would have done much better to write a decent book on feminism and leave the runes out of it.

If you are genuinely interested in runes, at least become familiar with some basic factual material first. There are some decent books available that look at the real history and the esoteric lore.

Rudiments of Runelore

Runes (Reading the Past, Vol 4)

Runic Amulets and Magic Objects

I am female, pagan and asatru. I was amazed that anyone could be so biased as to completely ignore the current evidence (archeological and from the sagas) about runes. The best use for this book is as a fire lighter. Save your money and look for R.I. Page or Edred Thorsson for information on runes.

A total waste of paper. Ms. Gitlin-Emmer totally ignores the lore behind each of the runes in order to promote her own feminist agenda. Example: The Thurisaz Rune is, according to all the available information, the Rune of Thor and has a masculine polarity. Although Ms. Gitlin-Emmer does make a passing reference to Thor, the rest of the information about the rune she gives is about a Goddess (which one seems to change from paragraph to paragraph). One of which has her own Rune (Berka, althouth Ms Gitlin-Emmer does not call her by that name).

Although Ms Gitlin-Emmer does present some interesting information on Goddess worship in ancient Europe, many of her "facts" are suspect; and many of her assumtions she treats as facts. This book (and the newest incarnation "The Woman's Book of Runes" by Susan Gray [aka Susan Gitlin-Emmer]) is not taken seriously by any serious rune worker that I know of. It is too bad that there isn't a 0 star rating for such a poor work on an esoteric subject like the runes.