Gangleri – bookreviews

Together with a book of Cor Swanenberg alone called Oost-Brabantse Streekwoorden which only contains sayings (which is amusing nonetheless), I also got this more ‘scholarly’ booklet. It came in a series called Taal in stad en streek (‘language in city and region’), a series about dialects, in his case “Oost-Brabant”. Noord-Brabant (“Northern-Brabant”) is a province in the southern Netherlands (the rest of Brabant lays in Belgium since 1813) and the writers have chosen an area with a more or less similar dialect. Still being a relatively large area (dialects differ from village to village) and with a gravity point around the writers’ origin, there is not a whole lot of information about my own dialect, but there are still references. The writer has made a nice little book with information about the dialects in the area, geographical information, differences and similarities between the different dialects/areas, a proposed way of writing and then he continues like a language-learning book with nouns, articles, conjugations, sentences, etc. all garnished with plenty examples from different variants of Eastern-Brabantian with a small glossary towards the end. The writer has a liking for words and expressions that have fallen in disuse, but he also admits that languages change during the course of years, especially in times where people can easily travel to places with other dialects and languages, schools that teach in one form of Dutch, books, internet, television, etc. Personally I found it nice to see how big differences can be sometimes or how similar to my own dialect and to learn a little about other area. The linguistic information is also interesting, instead of only having to ‘go on feeling’.
The booklet is out of print, the website that came with the series taken down and probably none of you readers will be interested in the subject, but in case you are, second hand this booklet is quite well available and some places seem to have some books in stock, since I bought my copy new.

‘The other Flemish Asatru group’ publishes its third magazine, a year after the first. An A5 magazine of modest thickness with an article about bird-like men in ancient drawing and carvings, an interview with “radical ecologist” (or “radical green right”) Guy de Maertelaere, the juniper tree, Sutton Hoo and the game of Hnefatafl. A nice read for a nice price, but of course in Dutch. Get in contact with Werkgroep Hagal for more information.

A few weeks ago I was looking for some information on the website of the Dutch Grand East of Freemasonry. However I did not find what I was looking for, my eye fell on a new book title “Building and Meaning”. That could be interesting, a masonic book about building symbolism, so I ordered a copy. Contrary to what I expected, but book is not about symbolism of ornaments on buildings, such as my article about that subject, but about modern symbology of the “built surroundings”. What does a building look stately, the fact that nowadays you can often see what a building is for (living, office, school, etc.) or how an architect makes a building (un)fit in it’s surroundings. In the course of the book the writer shows the building process, how things differ in the Netherlands from other countries, trends in architecture and he tells us a bit about some buildings, especially during the guided tour through Den Haag. Here and there he makes the link to the Work in the Lodge, but I have the idea that he has rather progressive ideas on what Freemasonry is. The book is not a bad read and indeed Corbey displays how the use of symbolism changed during the centuries, but “Bouwen en Betekenis” was not quite what I expected; too modern, too little esotericism (or however you want to call it).

La Religion romaine archaïque suivi d’un appendice sur la religion des Estrusques 1966
Here we have a more massive investigation of Dumézil. 700 Pages about the religion of the Romans. I have no particular interest in the Roman religion, but of course the writer makes cross-references to other Indo-European religions and being so obviously Indo-European, the “archaic Roman religion” sheds a new light on some aspects of other Indo-European religions, which is always nice. Having used 700 pages, this book is detailed and scholarly even for a Dumézil title. There are large parts which I read through more quickly than other passages, especially the second book which is almost entirely about the history of the Roman religion. As you will notice when you read the “quotes” “category”, you will find quite a few from this book, so it is an interesting read nonetheless; as with every Dumézil title of course! It seems that this book is still in print by the way, unlike other English translations of this French writer.
Read quotes from this and other books by Dumézil here.
1970 the university of chicago press * isbn 0226169685

The modern intellectual will without hesitation admit that the symbology of mythology has a psychological meaning. Especially since the work of psychoanalysists there can be little doubt that myths are of the same breed as dreams and that dreams are the driving force of the psyche.

I did not really plan on reading this book, but I ran into second hand and also I was a little curious about this often-mentioned writer. Campbell has an approach that is not mine. As you can read in the opening quote, he finds modern psychology to be a good starting point to explain mythology and on many occassions, Campbell goes even so far to compare myths with dreams. Especially in the beginning of the book, this view comes around the corner irritatingly often, but this becomes less furtheron. As a matter of fact, Campbell differentiates his ideas a little. However I do not agree with the approach, I still find the book recommendable. Somewhat thematically Campbell displays a massive amount of myths, fables and folklore, making comparisons and giving interpretations. I noticed some sloppy mistakes in the Norse parts, so I cannot guarantee that the writer is 100% accurate in his retellings, but A Hero With A Thousand Faces is a very nice read.

Mythology is often understood by the modern mind as a primitive, clumsy attempt to explain the world of nature (Frazer); as a product of poetic fantasy from prehistoric times, that in later centuries was understood incorrectly (Müller); as a reservoir of allegorical lessons, meant for the individual to adjust to the group (Durkheim); as a collective dream, symptomatic for the primal urges in the depths of the human psyche (Jung); as the traditional means to convey metaphysical awareness (Coomaraswamy); and as the Divine Revelation to His children (the Church). Mythology is all this at the same time.

(My translation of the Dutch translation back to English…)

The writer even says that mythology has a function in our time and age and describes the downfall of our society to the loss of mythology. That is something that I agree with wholeheartedly!

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Greetings,

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TYR
MYTH—CULTURE—TRADITION
EDITED BY JOSHUA BUCKLEY AND MICHAEL MOYNIHAN

Volume 2, 2003-2004, Second Edition, 2008, ISSN 1538-9413, ISBN:
978-0-9720292-1-4
6″ X 9″ perfectbound, illustrated, 432 pages, Cover price: $22.00 ppd
(USA),
$30.00 airmail (foreign)

IN THE SECOND VOLUME:

Julius Evola on “The Doctrine of Battle and Victory,” Charles
Champetier’s interview with Alain de Benoist, Alain de Benoist on
“Thoughts on God,” Collin Cleary on “Summoning the Gods,” Stephen
McNallen on the “Ásatrú Revival,” Nigel Pennick on “Heathen Holy
Places,” John Matthews on “The Guardians of Albion,” Steve Pollington
on “The Germanic Warband,” Michael Moynihan on “Disparate Myths of
Divine Sacrifice,” Christian Rätsch on “The Sacred Plants of our
Ancestors,” Joscelyn Godwin on Herman Wirth, Peter Bahn on “The
Friedrich Hielscher Legend,” Markus Wolff on Ludwig Fahrenkrog,
Stephen Flowers on “The Northern Renaissance,” Joshua Buckley’s
interview with “technosophical” musicians Allerseelen, and an
extensive book and music review section, featuring sidebar interviews
with Coil and P. D. Brown.

BONUS CD MUSIC SAMPLER FEATURING: Allerseelen, Blood Axis, Coil, Fire
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