Gangleri – bookreviews

Germany has a habbit of making “Lexikons” which they have for about everything. I have a few of those in my library, because these Lexikons are often very cheap or cheaply reprinted when the copyright has expired. I don’t suppose I ever ran into the Lexikon der Germanischen Mythology, because I cannot imagine that I would have left it in the shop; especially not because it is written by noone else than Rudolf Simek. The original Lexikon is already from 1984 and apparently it has been available in English since 1993, another thing I never knew. I saw a copy of the English translation at the home of a fellow investigator of Northern Mythology and needed to get a copy of my own. The original Lexikon has been translated by Angela Hall together with Simek and it is said to have been expanded and revised as well. As the title suggests, this is nothing more or less than a dictionary. A staggering amount of terms, including short articles about poems, sagas and concepts and a great number of names which are often also explained etymologically. Many of those names come from what Simek calls “the Þulur” which term he himself explains as “collections of mnemonic verses, lists of synonyms or names which served to pass on knowledge to the following generations orally [...]“. I don’t know if these Þulur are available or if it is agreed upon which they are. The book is extremely informative and truely a reference work, since the sources are usually mentioned, references are made, there is a gigantic bibliography and there are many terms that I never even heard of. What does irritate me a little are the missing internal references of which I already ran into a few. “Hotherus -> Hötherus” wouldn’t that be exactly the same place alphabeticaly? I cannot find the place where Simek hid Hötherus. Another one is that there are several references to a text about the “Three Functions Theory”, which is another one that I cannot find. I am very glad that Simek’s approach is quite ‘Dumézilian’, but how comes that nobody noticed that the key-article is missing? Of course there is no index, so I just have to keep paging through the book to find out if these terms are put in some ilogical place. For the rest, this book is truely a must-buy for anyone seriously interested in Northern Mythology.
-4-
I have got one quote from this book here.

Frans Eduard Farwerck (1889 – 1978) was a top-notch Freemason and extremely well informed about Northern European folklore and mythology. He was of the opinion that Freemasonry as we know it today has its roots in the Northern European mystery traditions and gives a lot of proof based on sagas, literature, but especially ornaments, building symbolism, etc. He wrote the massive work Noordeuropese Mysteriën en hun sporen tot heden (reviewed when I was much less informed myself) which was published for the last time the year Farwerck died. Northern European mysteries and their traces to the present has reached the status of ‘cult book’ since it digs much much deeper in the symbolism and habbits of folklore and the like and his explanations of myths and sagas (and sheds light on many elements of Freemasonry, however Freemasons deny his claims) so the book becomes pretty expensive to buy these days. Other books by Farwerck do the same. I have Levend Verleden (Living Past which for some reason I didn’t review), which is a book such as Tussen Hamer en Staf of Koenraad Logghe and my Old Symbolism In A Modern City article in the articles section. Recently I ran into The Symbol of Death and Resurrection and the Riddle of the Anglo-Saxon Rune Casket, also for quite a price for such a small book. As the cover of the book shows, this “symbol of death and resurrection” is the elhaz/man/eolc rune and Farwerck gives a magnificent exposé of its forms, its history, meanings and place in texts and images. The second part of the book is about the right side of what is nowadays apparently called the Franks Casket. Farwerck sees in the images and text an example of a death-and-resurrection initiation ritual.
This is a small, but interesting book. Too bad that, like Jan de Vries, Farwerck spoilt his name and fame during WWII which caused him to be so controversial that not only his books are no longer reprinted (or translated, because all are only available in Dutch), but even mentioning such a title (which has nothing political in it whatsoever) is almost a crime. Too bad, since after all these years Farwerck still is the source and inspiration for anyone seriously interested in the esoteric side of the ancient religion of the North. Since many people do see the value of the books, the price of them (as mentioned) raises daily. If you are interested, I suggest you check sites such as Antiqbooks.com or Abebooks.co.uk frequently.