Good book, stop before reach final 2 chapters

great book, lots are really good practices, tips, information on rune meanings, and informations about organizing gatherings, moots etc.
What let's it down is that it wastes at least 2 chapters talking about neo nazis, fascism and how everyone should stand upto it.
while I agree with the sentiment, while irs important they dont deserve 2 chapters worth of attention.
Still a worthwhile read lot of great points would recommend it to others.

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2 people found this helpful

A very good book!

It is very well written book and it contains lots of good information! Highly recommend it!

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Great

this book really opend my eyes on paganism. would 100% recommend checking it out for anyone who's slightly interested it

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Odd combination of introductory and in-depth

This book starts out very well, with an introduction to Norse myths, the Norse gods, the rune, and the basic types of Scandinavian religious practice. I was hoping that the later parts of the book would provide more information on how to deepen one's practice. Instead, the book veers into a very in-depth presentation on how to organise and run pagan groups and religious services. I found this section informative but incredibly dull, largely because no part of it applies to me. I don't believe it would apply to most people who benefited from the first section of the book - if you're still learning the difference between Thor and Tyr, you might not need a detailed breakdown of how to go about organising a pagan service. In fact, the earlier part of the book goes on in detail on how religious practices should be approached with extreme care, and ideally under the supervision of knowledgeable people. I don't believe the writer would actually endorse someone whose only knowledge is derived from this book going off to start their own wee chapter. The overall result is that the readers who benefit from the earlier parts of the book won't be able to use the latter, and those who could benefit from the latter would probably fall by the wayside before getting there, as the introductory information will be too superficial for them.

I would have probably only dropped a star for this. The reason i dropped a second is that the section on how to run study groups and meetings is likely to result in the unwitting exclusion of people with neurodivergences or anxiety disorders. It is predicated on the idea that people's participation should look a certain way, and that students who "do not participate" because they do not speak should be encouraged to do so. This is likely to result in introverted or anxious participants either struggling horribly to mimic the behaviour of students not affected by their issues, or leaving altogether. I understand that the information provided in this book might reflect "best practices" endorsed by educational institutions, but then many educational institutions follow practices that do not support students with mental health issues or neurodivergences. Ultimately, carefully drafting an inclusion policy for your group won't do any good if your group management practices cause vulnerable individuals to run for the hills.

Other than that, I've enjoyed the book. The narration is very slow and ponderous, but tolerable. It won't, however, be a book I will be revisiting again.

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10 people found this helpful

brilliant

It is great to see a wonderful take on inclusive Norse practise. well read and easy to understand. thank you

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Really great source of information

There is a lot information included about the Norse culture and traditions, like background, deities, runes and their meaning etc.
What’s not needed in it is the extended information about antinatzis movement within Norse paganism at the end of this book.

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politically narrative driven.

books that shout out from the get go the political motivation of the author should not be available in the public domain, good for goose etc etc.

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