Sometime this month I plan to start work on the third edition of Hammer of the Gods: Anglo-Saxon Paganism in Modern Times. I need to go through and correct factual errors especially with the sections on the wights and holy tides, and add material to the section on the gods and goddesses. In addition, I plan to do a total rewrite. The bulk of the book was not rewritten with the second edition. New material was added, and some material was removed, but there was no rewrite of the work as a whole. I have in the almost ten years since the book was first published matured as a writer. My grammar is much better, and I feel I explain things better than I did then. I also plan to add new material to the book here and there as many new academic findings have been made. If you have read the previous editions, you can help me. I want you to tell me what areas of the second edition you think needs help. If you find factual errors list them here in the comments. I am already aware of the many grammatical errors. My writing style has changed and evolved since then. What I do need some fact checking. I am already aware of many of the mistakes I made, but doubtless I cannot find all of them. Do not hold your punches. If you hated both the previous editions tell me why you hated the so I can make improvements. I want to make Hammer of the Gods: Anglo-Saxon Paganism in Modern Times on a par with my latest book Path to the Gods: Anglo-Saxon Paganism for Beginners if not better. I thank you for any help you may give me.
My copy is copyright 2003, I don’t know which edition that is.
For the rune rituals you probably should tell the person to invoke Odin for the ritual.
One very bad error is on page 15 is you state that Niflheimr is in the south, when it is in the north. That is the bad glaring error that would throw newbies way off.
Also I don’t like that you use past tense when rescribing present aspects of the Nine Worlds in chapter II. This makes it sound like these worlds are no more, which sort of negates the idea of the religion.
On page 16 you state Jottinheimr is north. It is supposed to be east.
Current day theories about Svartalfeimr is that _both_ the dwarfs and the dark-elves live there. The dwarves are the ones who make lots of wonderful magick items. Since the dwarves make such items and conduct trade with other races they are not hostile. The dark-elves are sort of a very gothic like elf race and not too friendly towards those not of their race, and like to be left alone. It is considered that both groups live in seperate areas.
Also the Germanic (and thus Anglo-Saxon as well) concept of bad wasn’t so black and white as some of the language in the book would seem to show. It is more the idea of someone either being in frith with their family/tribe/group, vs going too far and being too wild in their actions and being outlawed and considered dangerous basically. Loki is a good example of this. He isn’t evil really, just sort of one who was all about testing the limits of social order and bringing in new ideas. He was for a long time a mix of both positive and negative in regards to his value to the Aesir, till he eventually went too far and also by this taunted his wyrd to go down a darker path that throw him out of being in frith with the Aesir. Norse concepts of right and wrong and righting wrong are more about balance and restoring balance, than about morel judgment or condemnation, which is a Christian cultural influence and way of thinking. Sadly many Heathens are still far too tainted by Christian thinking and this creates a environment of discord and a general lack of frith in the Heathen scene in general. Generally speaking proper Heathen way of thinking is very open minded and accepting that others outside ones family/tribe/group will have different ways of thinking. The greatest value for historical heathens when it came to actions was to take actions that upheld the frith within their family/tribe/group. Even frith between groups was important as addressed by the codified system of weirguild, and addressing actions with similar counter actions when actions throw out of balance frith. A good example of how what is considered proper differs between each family/tribe/group is that for the Vanir it is considered proper and normal for sisters and brothers to have sex with each other, and even the Aesir do not judge the Vanir for doing so within their own group as they see that as what is proper Vanir behavior, but the Aesir would not allow that kind of behavior by members of the Aesir as that is not proper Aesir behavior. This concept of differences of what is considered proper behavior I feel also applies with regards to those who follow different gods or goddesses as their patron. Like what is proper behavior for an Odin follower, I feel is not the same as what is proper behavior for a Tyr follower, or a Freyja follower. I feel that this concept of proper behavior for each depending on whom they connect with spiritually applies not only in regards to types of actions not allowed or considered taboo, but also in regards to types of behaviors that should be done. For example Odin followers should be into runes and should study magick, and a male follower of Odin having sex with women outside of his marriage (so long as his wife is ok with him doing so) is also acceptable as that is part of honoring the ways of Odin. One who follows a god or goddess that has a more strict code of conduct has to be more strict about their actions and behaviors as this reflects the values of the god/goddess they follow. Acting in ways that respects the value of the god/goddess you follow is the act of staying in frith with your patron and respecting the concepts they stand for. Of course I feel that when you are part of a group you should honor the rules the group has for actions when dealing with the group, it’s members, or doing any activities which represent the group; this is staying in frith with the group. Staying in frith with your group as well as with your patron god/goddess is very important I feel.
You have the first edition, but this helps a great deal. Since then a lot more thought has been put into the concepts of innangarðs and útangarðs. There is indeed a bit of overlap between the two so that you have that which is inside the group, that which is between the group and the outside, and that outside the group. So you have to put it in colors, white, shades of grey, and black. This will all be worked into the new edition.
I actually turned what i wrote to you, in much expanded form, into a journal post on my own blog. I was meaning to post about all this and tie it into the thews too, which I ended up doing. Maybe you could have a read?
http://volmarrsheathenism.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/the-norse-viking-concept-of-right-vs-wrong/
It would be great if you included rituals that solitaries or small groups can use for each of the seasonal rites. There is for sure a lack of descent seasonal rituals written in Heathen books. Even if you liked you could use a Anglo-Saxonized version of some of my rituals modified with use of the weofod instead of the Hammer Hallowing (though if you like you could mention for those with serious lack of space issues that the Hammer Hallowing can allow one to do a ritual, even in a space the size of a small closet). I’ve not yet written ones for all the seasons but I do have ideas for them anyways. Of course I don’t know in what exact ways the Anglo-Saxon seasonal rites differ from the Pan-Germanic Heathen ones that I follow.
I doubt I will include rituals. My primary reason for not including them is that this is an intermediate level book. It was written with the assumption folks would be coming from another form of Heathenry, and be accustomed to performing their own rites. I did include rituals in Path to the Gods: Anglo-Saxon Paganism for Beginners. As it is an introductory text I felt it needed them.
Agreed about solitary rituals. We’re not all blessed with a kindred/hearth.
There are rites in one of my other books, Path to the Gods: Anglo-Saxon Paganism for Beginners. I often hear folks say they need rites for solitary practitioners, but the truth is that most rites are written to be performed by a single person even if they are meant to be done with a group. I know the rites in Path… can be done either with a group or alone with no real changes needing to be made.
Yes, mostly too people who are learning Heathenism from books _are_ solitaries, since more so many who are part of a group are learning orally from others in the group and less from books. Thus books should have rituals that are useful for solitaries or small groups of a couple to a few people.