Reviews
A Pagan Testament: The Literary Heritage of the World's Oldest New Religion by Brendan Myers
ciannait76's review
5.0
In our pagan communities today there is a great resistance to a common testament that might unite us together. There is a great fear that once a testament is put together we will turn into what we are trying to move away from and that is the model of monotheist religions where there is a set and rigid dogma to follow. And yet in order for the pagan community to show or have a basis of solidarity a common testament is necessary because personal experiences alone are not enough. This is a truth that we must think seriously about.
In this book Brendan Myers is trying to describe the consistencies in the pagan movement through the use of the international pagan community’s folklore. He is trying to show that it contains several expressions of spiritual identity that pagans have in common with each other. He conducted a survey in the pagan community in which 2000 people took part, the results of which are presented in this volume which is probably going to be ever changing.
Myers starts out with a brief history of the Goddess from her rise and taking us through to when the God takes her place. He offers us three theories as to why this happened. Along the way he provides us with a unique vision of how the MALE archeologist saw the statue of the Venus of Willendorf and how a FEMALE friend of his saw her. It was an amazing contrast between two valid views.
In the next few chapters Myers takes goddesses from different cultures and discusses them as well as provide literature composed from each culture describing these goddesses and their functions. He gives us examples from the Anishnabe culture, the Summarians, the Greeks, the Celts, and the Norse.
In the seventh through eleventh chapters, Myers talks about the lore of the witch, the poetry and romanticism associated with the pagan movement, the Book of Shadows, the wisdom teachings associated with the pagans and he divides them into historical, traditional, and contemporary and circle songs.
What I loved most about chapters seven to eleven was the amount of information and songs included. Myers tells you in chapter eight that from now on these are songs and information gathered from his survey of the pagan community, and that it is more like a community effort with him as the person dedicated to gathering them in one place. He took the songs or chants and tried to find the oldest mention of them as well as the original source. I loved the explanations or notes that he provides at the end of each chapter.
In the final chapter, Myers explains what he means by a concept, like world-view, and then covers it in detail. He describes the Word of Being as the relationship many of us feel to the world around us and to other people. He also talks about the "Song", explaining how essential music, song, and art are to the pagan world-view and how it is there that we find most clearly what it is that defines us as a community. His he discussions of "Will" and the "Rede" are amazing and well researched. And his exploration of love, comparing it to Tantra and Sufi ideas and concepts, are also very interesting. In the end, he brings the discussion back to virtue and expresses what he believes is possible from the growing pagan movement.
A thoroughly enjoyable book.
In this book Brendan Myers is trying to describe the consistencies in the pagan movement through the use of the international pagan community’s folklore. He is trying to show that it contains several expressions of spiritual identity that pagans have in common with each other. He conducted a survey in the pagan community in which 2000 people took part, the results of which are presented in this volume which is probably going to be ever changing.
Myers starts out with a brief history of the Goddess from her rise and taking us through to when the God takes her place. He offers us three theories as to why this happened. Along the way he provides us with a unique vision of how the MALE archeologist saw the statue of the Venus of Willendorf and how a FEMALE friend of his saw her. It was an amazing contrast between two valid views.
In the next few chapters Myers takes goddesses from different cultures and discusses them as well as provide literature composed from each culture describing these goddesses and their functions. He gives us examples from the Anishnabe culture, the Summarians, the Greeks, the Celts, and the Norse.
In the seventh through eleventh chapters, Myers talks about the lore of the witch, the poetry and romanticism associated with the pagan movement, the Book of Shadows, the wisdom teachings associated with the pagans and he divides them into historical, traditional, and contemporary and circle songs.
What I loved most about chapters seven to eleven was the amount of information and songs included. Myers tells you in chapter eight that from now on these are songs and information gathered from his survey of the pagan community, and that it is more like a community effort with him as the person dedicated to gathering them in one place. He took the songs or chants and tried to find the oldest mention of them as well as the original source. I loved the explanations or notes that he provides at the end of each chapter.
In the final chapter, Myers explains what he means by a concept, like world-view, and then covers it in detail. He describes the Word of Being as the relationship many of us feel to the world around us and to other people. He also talks about the "Song", explaining how essential music, song, and art are to the pagan world-view and how it is there that we find most clearly what it is that defines us as a community. His he discussions of "Will" and the "Rede" are amazing and well researched. And his exploration of love, comparing it to Tantra and Sufi ideas and concepts, are also very interesting. In the end, he brings the discussion back to virtue and expresses what he believes is possible from the growing pagan movement.
A thoroughly enjoyable book.
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