Customer Reviews

Way of Wyrd

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one of my favorite books on heathenry. Brian Bates really manages to penetrate with imagination and scholarship what the life of an Anglo-Saxon sorceror was really like, and his vision of Wyrd is palpable and powerful. This book is really a wonderful fictional companion to Siegfried Goodfellow's Wyrd Megin Thew : The Wild, Wooly Strength of Heathen Ways, which also covers similar material in a non-fiction setting, but Brian Bates was the one who set the standard! You will find yourself identifying with these characters and taken back into a world where magic was still alive, and where elves and fairies were not cute little creatures, but powerful, awesome, inspiring, and sometimes intimidating creatures that wizards knew how to bargain with!! Highly recommended.

I read this book back in the 90's after a band called Sabbat wrote an album (Dreamweaver) based on the novel. My copy was getting rather tatty so it's nice to see it back in print once again. My new copy is on the way :)

The Way of Wyrd is an excellent story exploring the differences and similarities between Christianity and Paganism.

Wat Brand is sent to explore Pagan England to learn their ways ready for when Christianity invades.

However, his guide, Wulf, shows him far more than he could ever have imagined and Wat becomes submerged in the way of Wyrd. For the best way to learn of the Pagan spirits is to meet them face to face.

I am so glad to see this book back in print. I first read it years ago and have loaned to to many folks along the way. It explores the differences AND similarities that Paganism and Christianity share. And with a little creative imagination you can draw the same parelells with other religions. The transformation of the lead character from an uptight closed minded theocrat to a person that can actually see the divine in all things is an inspiration. Well done!

The amazing thing about this book, missed by the previous reviewer, is that the seemingly fantasic circumstances of the novel are based on an extremely well-researched understanding of life in England during the Anglo-Saxon period. It is a marvelous opportunity for those of us with Anglo-Saxon roots to re-connect with our own indigenous knowledge and wisdom.

Aside from this rather wonderful aspect, Way of the Wyrd is an engrossing read, full of magic and adventure. Highly reccommended.

This book is an inspiring tale about shamanism in Anglo-Saxon times. The reader will immediately see the influences of Castaneda, Tolkien, and the Jungian/Joseph Campbell shool of psychology.

Bates does tie in some interesting historical facts, and does a good job of explaining Wyrd and other Pagan concepts. The only issues are that it does not live up to the story telling ability of either Castaneda or Tolkien, and comes across a little too clean & idealistic. The tale seems to be a fairly bare frame on which to hang the author's admiration for his own view of pre-Christian culture.

In doing so, the book reflects an idealised and romantic view of Pagan culture, akin to the fantasy traditions of Wicca. As a fellow Pagan, I can empathise with the urge to imagine these ancestors as wise custodians of the land. However, the evidence indicates that they were actually not all that different to us in exploiting natural resources (there were just less of them to make an impact), and they almost certainly practiced some rites that we would baulk at today. For every wise one, there would have been many more who were just ignorant and superstitious.

As comforting as it may be to our own conscience to believe in the 19th Century ideal of the noble savage, or the New-Age fantasy of the all knowing shaman, it does our ancestors a disservice to always imagine that their efforts came to nought, and their descendants ended up inferior to them.

The book is well worth the read as great inspiration, but take it with a grain of salt, as a simple tale based on very limited historical information seen through a very thick lense of idealism.

As copied from my review posted on Amazon for the original printing of this book. I do not know if the newer edition listed here is identical to the original:

This is a story that is supposedly based on ancient manuscripts. If you're interested in this book from a historical perspective, forget it. It's not for you. For those that are looking for something that combines history, sci-fi and adventure with socio-politico-religious overtones, it will be right up your alley. That is, IF you have an open mind, can separate fact from fiction and understand that one can still respect various points of view even if they don't agree with them.

Brian Bates tells the tale of a young Anglican scribe that is sent into the Norse countries to act as a spy for the Anglican church. His mission is to learn and record as much as he can about those living in the area. With this information and a better understanding of local traditions and their ritual beliefs, the Anglican church hopes to send in missionaries to convert the locals to a more righteous path i.e. that of the Anglican church. The only problem is that the young scribe that is sent ends up with a traveling Shaman as a guide of the region. Needless to say, the clash in beliefs and cultures makes for an interesting journey as the pair travel into different villages and encounter different situations. Most of these are situations that the sheltered monk would have never even dreamed real, let alone possible.

The end result is an interesting look at how organized religion and pagan beliefs & rituals compare as seen through the eyes of the Anglican monk. There's enough input from the part of the Shaman to understand where he's coming from too, which gives the book a certain balance between "traditional church-going values" and those of a "world-loving pagan".

If you've ever wondered how two people can look at the same situation and walk away with different observations, that's what this book is all about. It teaches us to not only look at each situation in a different light from multiple points of view, but to try and see how / why the situation is as it is and what the signs were that led up to it happening. While doing all of this, the story line and writing are also good enough to make you want to keep reading. That makes this book worth seeking out and reading for yourself.

In the end, the book doesn't tell us that "religion is wrong" or that "pagans worship the devil", but leaves it up to the monk in the story and you as the reader to decide for yourself which beliefs, attitudes and ways of life are usable and / or detrimental to living a balanced life. I'm not saying that this book will change your outlook on life, but i think that it is far more powerful than being just a "story loosely based on historical facts". I would recommend it to those that seek guidance, yet are intelligent enough to think for themselves. Sean
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PS... How many other pieces of written text do you know of that have inspired a rock band to write a whole album's worth of material dedicated just to that book? The disc entitled "Dreamweaver" as recorded by a band called Sabbat is a song by song version of this book set to the pounding, pulsating beat of heavy metal. The lyrics of this disc were so good and enrapturing, that i sought out this book to see just what could have influenced this band so highly. Now i know what they were excited about : )

Like the previous reviewer from NY, I too read this book after listening to Sabbat's "Dreamweaver" LP. It is a dark, yet enchanting book that portrays life as it was, or could well be. Based upon lost wisdom, this book may well awaken primeval instincts, provide the reader with a connection to man's latent power....just read it and see what you feel.... a very powerful piece of literature!

Bates uses Carlos Castaneda's technique consisting of a dialogue between an all-knowing teacher and an ignorant disciple (a young Christian monk)to convey beliefs from the wild region between the Welsh and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (~7-8th century AD). He calls these practices 'wyrd': "that which turns out, that which comes to pass". Another commonly used synonym would be 'Indra's net' denoting an interconnectedness of all action and phenomena.

For Bates, the wyrd includes supernatural experiences related to dreaming and altered states involving guidance from animals, spirits and plants. These experiences have been (according the the Introduction) snatched from old Saxon texts. Unfortunately, this programmatic element brings a certain rigidity and lack of spontaneity into the text which never develops beyond an awkward tale.

TWW lacks the humor one enjoys in Castaneda's books. The severity of the Saxon shaman Wulf cannot match the bright sparkle of don Juan's eyes, neither can the stolidity of the narrative match the mystery and unexpectedness that one finds in Castaneda.

Nonetheless, the book represents a credible attempt to broach a topic that has been neglected by scholars and fiction writers alike. The lay reader gets info on spiritual beliefs of West Saxons, Picts, Mercians, Angles and Gaels.

Like my subject line says, I conceive this book as having been written as a response to Castaneda. The similarities are remarkable. The differences, however, are striking. Primarily, Bates has done his homework and his research is impeccable. A valuable bibliography is provided at the end of the text. Also, the protagonist is much stronger and more direct with his observations, thereby allowing the subject to be explored and completed in one volume rather than 9 (were there really that many Castaneda books?) Although its "Saxonness" is minimal, this is a strength of the book. It doesn't fall into a narrow perspective, but rather incorporates the most important aspects of shamanism as a whole. Recommended as a refreshingly alternative way to jar the average person out of their own "reality" and into that of the sorcerer.

I love this book namely because it opened my eyes to the world of Anglo Saxon spirituality. Previously I had been interested in Taoism and other eastern philosophies or religions. This book opened my eyes to the ancient spiritual beliefs of the Britains; not so different it would seem to the Eastern sages. I read this book nearly two years ago after being given it by a wyrd friend. I didn't read it at first and just left it on the bookshelf. However I am glad I did eventually get around to reading it as I still often think about this book or more accurately the world of Anglo Saxon pagan spiritual beliefs that it guided me towards. Perhaps if you are already an expert in this field the book is not for you but I can honesty say that I loved this little treasure!