Gods of the North

The author first defines which "North" he is talking about and calls everyone in this vast area from Scandanavia to Europe and the British Isles as "Gothonic people".This prevents confusion when reading the book because there are literally so many tribes and subtribes that the author could never sort out whose "Gods" were whose.After this "one size fits all"explanation he systematically describes a plethora of northern "gods" and their mytholygies and tales.Some I must admit make no sense to me today and seem loosely connected,but whether this is because of an interpretation factor or a cultural one,I couldn't speculate. From the northern "myths"I saw close parallels between the tales of heroes and "gods" in the Bible and in the works of Greek and Roman literature.The author, using the best of scholarship,tries to educate the reader of the possible similarities without overstepping,in my opinion.I concluded that some of these tales of northern Gods probably predate or parallel closely the Bible and the origin of Indo-European mythology.Dominate religions tend to digest smaller less defined religions so it seemed to me from a read of this book,that Christianity easily absorbed the northern "Gods'.Even though I realize that when those viking kings in their "ale halls",shouted hurrahs for Christ and bowed at his crucified image,I also believe, ever so slyly ,they remembered and revered "Odin" and his pantheon.Odin was also hanged to a tree and was blinded and went about at times disguised as a beggar to check on the human condition.I hadn't realized this before reading this book,but if you look at the names for the days of the week you'll realize how deep in our psyche these Northern gods go.All of the northern Gods however were subject to a higher authority so these Gothonic peoples were in fact "monotheistic" with a load of Gods to tell about and invent new stories on. The book gave me the impression that these Gothonic peoples had a rich cultural life and that there must have poets,authors and storytellers to rival any since that time. So the next time you see a picture ofthat smiling,bearded,caucasion,haloed guy on your wall is it Jesus or Baldur?The crucified guy on the cross, could it be Odin embedded deep in our western European Scandanavian psyche.After reading this book it's a question that might cause a momentary reflection.

On a recommendation from a friend, Heimgest, DCG-OR, (who rarely recommends any book), we found this book to be one of the absolute best on the subject of our Gods & Goddesses. A must read, it ranks well with both Rydberg's and Grimm's Teutonic Mythology.