Gangleri – bookreviews

While Werkgroep Traditie is pondering what direction the magazine will follow for its 14th year of publication ‘the other Flemish Asatru organisation’ Werkgroep Hagal launches its own magazine. This is not entirely unexpected, since there have been two publications earlier (see book reviews section). “Wende” (litt. “turning point”, but mostly referring to the solstitiae) became an A5 photocopied magazine of 34 pages with 7 articles, poems and songs and a foreword.
Werkgroep Hagal is a relatively (in comparison to Traditie) young organisation that on one side fills the gap that Traditie leaves in far West of Flanders (Belgium may not be big, but if you have to travel from West Flanders to the Traditie lectures, it is still quite a drive), but on the other side plays more into the needs of the ‘younger’ pagans. While Traditie is a ‘traditional’ organisation (they started as a group of families living in the old fashion), Hagal is more like a ‘neopagan’ group with a unmistakable lower average age than Traditie. There is more Sturm und Drang in Hagal and they are proud of it and it of course shows in the magazine. Slogans such as “I am proud to be a pagan”, “a life without honour is no longer a life” or “honourable, servient, resistant” (this sounds better in Dutch!) can be found throughout the publication. Also the group leans a bit more towards ‘politics’ (and I only said leans).
In any case, a new Asatru magazine in Dutch with an article about the “sibbe” (Dutch) / “Sippe” (German), dwarves, sword dances, the famous grave of Kivik, Sweden, Germanic virtues and flaws (a text of Jan de Vries) and “housemarks” (rune-like family signs), for a large part written by main man Wolf Pyck, who is also a gifted stone cutter. Get in contact with Werkgroup Hagal if you are interested.

Besides that there are interesting things to read there, Ensio Kataja’s “blog” is a good way of keeping up to date with things happening in and around the Rune Gild (Ensio is the main man behind the Finish department). Like on 20 April 2007 the new Rûna Magazine was anounced (the magazine of Ian Read, I am unfortunately still waiting for it), on 26 March you could read about the first issue of the Symbel journal of the Woodharrow Institute. Woodharrow is an initiative of Stephen Flowers of the Rune Gild and with Symbel the Woodharrow Institute aims for the young scholars not specialised in ‘Germanic matters’. However the magazine says that the journal is for members only, non-members can also order the publication. It is not cheap, $ 15,- (USA) or $ 20,- (elsewhere) for a 84 paged A5 photocopied publication, but for the money you get four long articles and some bookreviews. The magazine opens (after some introductionary words) with Stephen Wehmeyer who used recent theories on the old information on Germanic magic. Next up is a translation of the famous Magnus Olsen article On Magical Runes. A very promising text came from the hands of Glenn Magee who wrote about the ‘Germanism’ of Theologia Germania. Michael Moyhnihan shows the (young and) interested student where (s)he can follow Germanic studies. I just got the magazine, so I haven’t read much of it, but when I have, I might review it in the book reviews section. Since it is quite a wait (I placed my order in april) and because the first issue supposedly is from “fall 2006″ already, I decided to ‘announce’ it nonetheless, so that the interested reader can take action. For more information click on the cover to go to the website of Woodharrow and fill in the form.

For a very long time I have wanted to have a look at the famous “Galdrabók”. I knew that Stephen Flowers of the Rune Gild and the Woodharrow institute had a translation, but it ran out of print and is impossible to get. Now there is a “second and revised edition”, not released by Weiser, but by Flower’s own Rûna Raven Press. However the first edition has a colour cover and 135 pages, this new edition is more like a photocopied (but well-bound) 100 page A5 booklet. I don’t know what happened in between.

Of the 100 pages there is only 16 pages Galdrabók. Flowers starts with a very interesting introduction into Northern European magic. The writer devides Icelandic magic in three periods: the pagan age, the Christian age and the age of the Reformation. It in in the latter that magic was forcefully suppressed, but most manuscripts written down. The introduction compares systems, points to currents (Christian, Eastern, etc.), gives the history and an idea of the practise of it. After this follow the 16 pages of the Galdrabók and then another few pages with magic from other sources.

I expected a bit of a ‘runic version’ of the famous Medieval grimoires, but this is only partly true. A few symbols my remind of for example the Lesser Key of Solomon, but many do not. Also there aren’t that many drawings involved, more like spells and curses, not quite unlike the short spells from the Papyri Graecae Magicae (see elsewhere on this site). Most spells, etc. are very simple, totally unlike the long and detailed instructions in Medieval sorcerers books. I guess that Flowers is right when he says that these are writings for ‘pros’ and not for ‘beginners’. Also there are not that many runic figures involved or ‘pagan deities’, many texts come straight from the Bible or Judaic or Gnostic spell-books. Interesting nonetheless, especially with the great introduction of Flowers.

Rûna Raven Books are not cheap, especially not when you live outside the USA. I ran into Europa ltd. who sent me this booklet for $ 32,- and a long wait. New supplies are available, so if you are interested, visit this site for more information and orders.
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The summer solstice edition of the magazine of the Flemish “Werkgroep Traditie vzw.” is available. Again printed on heavier paper and with a nice colour front and backcover. The magazine as always opens with a nice article by Herman Vanhove, this time called Mijn boezemvijand; an article about Loki and breastcancer. Then follows Benny Vangelder with a text about Being happy (however the Dutch term “gelukkig” is a bit stronger than just happy). Chairman Stefaan van den Eynde has a lengthy interview with the ‘Amerindian’ Franci Taylor about traditional living in a anti-traditional world. Founder Koenraad Logghe continues his series about Myth and rite. Jurgen Vandebotermet closes this issue with women/femininity (in a very broad context) in mythology and folklore.
Of course the magazine is in Dutch/Flemish. If you are interested in the magazine or the Asatru movement Traditie, visit their website by clicking on the cover of the magazine.
If all goes as planned this is the last issue in the current concept. There are plans to change the magazine a bit in order to appeal to a wider (and non-Traditie) audience. The results I will of course give you somewhere around autumn equinox.