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oisin175's review
fast-paced
1.0
While it's nice that this book contains all the rune poems and groups them together, that's about the only thing I found useful. The author's own translations generally range from ok to gibberish and much of the rest of the book is very new agey. I appreciate the emphasis on decolonization and understanding the impacts of colonialism, racism, etc on our path. That said, the author both seems to take the idea of a European matristic goddess religion from Gimbutas without acknowledging that a single religion over that large an area is unlikely, and also seems to conflate her own ancestral tradition with that pre-IE time period. There is also a lot of emphasis on the runes as something that exist within nature and that follow deep tradition, which may be true, but they are also created letters that resemble the same forms of other written languages. So, they are part of the cultural transmission of meeting places, but this is ignored so the author can talk about them as something found pre-formed from nature and belonging solely to the feminine forces. The linking of the runes to solely feminine sources is a big leap that kind of gets glossed over based on her reading of the Voluspa. There is also a significant disregard for anything beyond feminine ancestry. The mother line is venerated, the father line ignored, the only ancestors addressed are the feminine. I could understand this as a counterbalance to male heavy traditions in our society, but that's not how it's presented. I'm also really tired of hearing "witch wound."
If you want the rune poems that are places to find them that come without all the new age fluff. If you're looking for ritual, divination, or magic practice related to the runes, then this won't help you. If you want a New Age experience with an Old Norse aesthetic then this is the book for you.
If you want the rune poems that are places to find them that come without all the new age fluff. If you're looking for ritual, divination, or magic practice related to the runes, then this won't help you. If you want a New Age experience with an Old Norse aesthetic then this is the book for you.
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