Here Comes the Saga of Ragnar

The Sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok by Ben Waggoner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ragnar Lidbrook, made famous by the TV show “Vikings”, however the real Norse Sagas are nothing at all like that. First off Ragnar is a prince the eldest son of a king. The sagas contain two different versions of Ragnar’s life. In the first version, the Prince Ragnar goes to a neighboring kingdom to save a maiden, named Thora from a snake that has surrounded her house. Thora is a kings daughter and this snake eats its tale . Kind of like the Midgard serpent. After Ragnar rescues and marries her he has two sons. One is named Agnar and I forget the other one. After a few years she passes on and Ragnar meets another princess. In the first version she is the daughter of s slain king. Harelig hides her in a harp and travels the land protecting her. Later he is betrayed by an older couple that kills him for his money. The princess lives the life of a servant girl until Ragnar comes and rescues her. They marry and have children. The first is Ivar the boneless, the Vitserk, Bjorn Ironsides and finally Sigurth the snake. Ragnars first two sons from the first wife are killed in battle. The other brothers take revenge. Upsalla in Sweden becomes theirs. Ragnar will meet his end in England in a pit of snakes after his magic shirt is removed. Ivar the boneless exacts a cunning revenge and in the first version he founds London. The brothers raid all over Europe. Many are killed in battle but Bjorn and Ivar live on as kings.

The second version goes more into the background of Ragnar’s family . Ausug Ragnars second wife is known in the second version as of elven descent and has some magical abilities. She is also descended from Sigurd and Brunhild. In the second version Ivar founds York instead of London.
Enjoy the read and learn Ragnar’s real story

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The Image of the Witch

The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present by Ronald Hutton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In our minds eye she flies across the nighttime sky on her broomstick . The embodiment of evil casting spells over a a cauldron of dark poisonous herbs. To those who have studied the witch you will have images of women dancing naked in the forest, serving the devil and his minions. What contributed to our negative vision of the witch? Do witches even exist? And if they do are they really that bad?

Ronald Hutton, scholar par excellence on the subject, has analyzed the image of the witch throughout history . Starting from our most earliest civilizations in a broad cross cultural context all the way to the early modern times. The author looks at a broad section of world wide society and combines the disciplines of anthropology and history .

All across the continents and different cultures the witch figure seems to cut the same image. Dancing naked in the night , meeting with other women to perform dark nefarious magic. Or perhaps they eat children or suck blood after they have flown through the night time sky. It seems that witches charge many characteristics across the board.

Witches no matter where they are in the world seem to have a lot in common. They use uncanny means to perform acts of evil against others. Within their community they are viewed as a threat to only those within. Societies believe that the witch must be resisted. Witches are usually part of a hereditary tradition or perhaps they are born with it.

Ancient societies were not stranger to magic. The Egyptian were rather cool with magic and it was ok to bind deities to your will or other entities. Mesopoatamia and the ancient Hebrews did have a fear of witches. In Persia practicing magic outside the official religion was akin to Worshipping the dark one. Greeks had a negative view of magic outside the official religion as well while the Hittities forbade magic outside the kings temple. The worst fear came from the Romans who despised witches and magic workers. They even had their own witch hunts.

Many negative attitudes towards the figure of the witch come from the Roman era. In fact the Romans had two points in their history. The negative attitude of the witch was carried forward into the Christian world. Was there is fact a conspiracy of witches and did they have a religion. Records state witches had familiars, flew at night, had nighttime procession with the devil.

Pre-Christian shamanism is examined as a source for the visionary experiences of the witch. Shamans had experience traveling to the spirit world and having spirit allies . They would cure people and help the community and sometimes they would fight spiritual entities. While elements seem to have shamanistic elements that have survived into the Christian Era it is rather difficult to prove. Even some Christian saints and other magic worker had the ability to leave their bodies in spirit form to do battle. Shamans never changed form. There are many similarities as there are differences.

Analysis sometimes leads to a pre-historic fertility cult or a cult of the dead that helped nurture the world. Thee author sites other authors who examined the visionary experience and so called religious practice of the witch. Most of these practices were conjured up by the Christian inquisitors. The night flight and the wild hunt are examined in detail.

Around the 13 century persecution began against magic worker in general . At first it was the ceremonial magicians and service magicians that were targeted later it went to the witch. Ceremonial Magic is believed to been started in Egypt and from there it went through the Greco Roman world all the way to the Christian world. It mostly consisted of binding demons using the name of god to the magicians will. THe persecution lasted well into the 15th century.

Other cultural item connected to the witch image is the faery lore of Europe and how faery kingdoms developed and how faeries were morphed into demon. Finally the witches relationship to animals is examined. Eventually after the 15th century these witch trials Came to an end. THe Church put in measure to limit the cruelty.

I am not convinced there was a witch religion. There were workers of magic in various forms. In any case this is an excellent book. Totally scholarly with well documented cases to support his points.

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Nazis: Deluded Idiots and Worse

Occult Secrets Of The Third Reich by Timothy Green Beckley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Nazis under Hitler committed some of the worst atrocities known in human history . Many have wondered what caused such a phenomenon to occur. Was Hitler evil, possessed by a demon or was he a misguided idiot who some how rose to power? Hitler did not consider himself to be evil rather he thought he was doing humanity a service. Some would say he was demon possessed.

Long have the rumors of Nazi involvement with the occult been circulated. To be sure there were Nazis who were into the occult, Heinrich Himmler being the most notable . Hitler himself thought the occult was nothing but hooey and had a rather scornful attitude towards the subject.

When one speaks of Nazi occultism one often thinks of ritual summoning the devil or other Pagan gods. But in reality the mythology of the Nazi occult involvement takes in many factors. Going back to the World War I era we find that two societies were around and they were the Vril society and the Thule society. Vril is the energy or chi that Germans possess. Thule was a mythical northern paradise that German people are supposedly descended from. Mythology is the gist of it and the Nazis bought into some pretty wild ideas.

Many Nazis were obsessed with the Aryana origins of the German people. Some myths stated that in really ancient times the Aryans descended from Thule which is a land in the Arctic region. Once they left that land rumors state that some people went to live underground while other legends say they went to live in India and the Himalayas before getting on to Europe. The Nazis were obsessed with Tibetan mysticism. Several expedition were sent over there to commune with the hidden masters so the Third Reich could take power. In fact when Berlin was taken over by the Russians they found several cells of dead Tibetan monks. Apparently they were involved in a ritual to help the Nazis take power. Many appeared to have committed suicide. Tibetan legend speaks of underground cities of Agatha and Shamballah. One a spiritual place and the other a sinful place. The Nazis were obsessed with finding these places.

They took a strong belief in the Hollow Earth theory which states that there is an advanced civilization living at the center of the Earth. Some Nazis were deluded enough to believe that we ourself are living in the Earth and that there is no outer space. There was a group of psychic woemen or valkyries who had or claimed to have had psychic connection with aliens from Venus and these were Aryan aliens

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Tale of Circes Retold

Circe by Madeline Miller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As a young nymph wandering the halls of her father Helios, young Circe had always been one to never follow the herd. It is something that comes with a price. Her first feelings of difference are made apparent when she show compassion to Prometheus , that guy punished by Zeus for giving mankind fire. Offering comfort could have brought her in a lot of trouble. The Gods were always shallow and cruel.

As Circe grows older she begins to study herbs and witchcraft. Her experimentations cause her to turn a mortal fisherman Glaucos into a fish faced deity. She thought he would love her but she was wrong. Glaucos fell in love with Scylla. Circe ends us doing some witchcraft on Scylla and that turns her into a multiheaded sea monster that kills sailors as they go by. As punishment for her misdeeds she is sent on an isle to live out her days in exile.

Upon arriving at the island she begins to gather up her herbs and fix up an abandoned cottage. Soon she makes friend with the animals and the animals become the subjects of her island kingdom. Hermès, messenger of the gods begins to make his rounds to the island delivering prophecies , news and over all sharing companionship . After a bit other rebellious nymphs are sent there as a sort of reform school.

Circes gets her first break from the island when her sister Pasiphae invites her to Crete in order to midwife her child. Circes has to pass by Scylla to. Get there which she does. Pasiphae gives birth to the Minotaur, which injures Circes hand. The Minotaur eats human flesh so to keep the monster under control Circe casts a spell so that it is hungry only during certain times. Daedalus constructs a maze to keep thee creature contained.

When Circes returns to her island exile after the birthing of The Minotaur she dedicates herself to feeding sailors who are not so savory if you catch my drift. HEr adventures drive her into the arms/of Odysseus and cause her to have intersections with Jason of the argonaughts. She has a child with Odysseus and as a mother she must face what all mothers face, letting go. Save that Athena wants to kill her son. What will Circes do?

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History of the Caucus Mountains

The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus by Charles King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Caucus mountain range straddle the borders of Europe, Turkey, Russia and Iran. It is home to a multitude of different people and just as many governments. The residents of the Caucus Mountain range follow a variety of different religions , Orthodox Christianity, Shia Islam, Suno Islam and even nomadic Buddhists. Before the Russian take over the Caucus people were very tribal with power residing in the hands of local chieftains. Through the history of the Caucus three major empires have vied for control, the Persian Empire, Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Historically no Empire has been able to completely control the Caucus as the local warlord, whom power relied often times shifted alliances based on self interest and putting one empire against the other. The reverse was also true the major empires would pit the various warlords against each other. Classic divide and conquer which is easy to do as the various ethnic groups did not always like each other .

The book traces military history and documents how Russia was able to beat out the two other empires and take control over the Caucus. There were many conflicts with the local population. The most noted would be with the Daghestani people. The Circassian would put up fierce resistance to Russian rule. Often times using guerrila tactics the Russians found themselves taking on heavy casualties. Military leaders like Ermelov would mow down entire villages. Other leaders would deport major sections of the population . The communist take over would complicate things. Ur eventually Russia took over,

To the Russians the Caucus was at times a savage place but going their could be liberating . Often times Rusdia sent their undesirables like the Cossacks out there as colonists. Some times other nationalities would defect from forced conscription in the Russian Army and end up siding with the highlanders. Sometimes being a slave to a high lander was the same as being a serf to a noble or a forced conscripts in the military.

With Gorbachev reforms countries like Armenia,Azerbaijan and a Georgia broke away from the Soviet Union . This did not lead to peace but rather it lead to infighting among various ethnic groups. Chechenya tried to violently break away from Russian rule twice,their tactics involved invoking religion as a motivating factor. They used violent terror tactics to achieve their means .

Great over all history of the region. Of course, I will tell to go read the book if you want more information.

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Herbology 101

The Complete Medicinal Herbal: A Practical Guide to the Healing Properties of Herbs, with More Than 250 Remedies for Common Ailments by Penelope Ody
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There are many books out there on herbalism . This one is another one and maybe like all the others yet with some differences . This one is great for the coffee table, it is big, hardcover and looks nice. Most books on herbology will give you a dictionary listing of the herbs and what they are good for. The second half of most books has the dictionary symptom of ailments and what herbs can be used to treat them. This book has more.

The first part of the book talks about different philosophies around herbs. The author discusses Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, Greek medicine , European medicine going up until today. This tome will teach the student how to prepare teas, oil infusions and tinctures. There is a section on how to grow and harvest your herbs as well.

When describing the herbs you get a full page based on that herb. There is a picture of the herb and all the parts that are used. There is also a subsection on the page dealing applications . The various ailment that plague us are listed in chart form. So you get the ailment, what herb you should use and how the herb should be prepared. It is easy to understand .


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The Yemenites of Jerusalem: Tale

Seeds of the Pomegranate by Dvora Waysman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The first book “ Pomegranate Pendent “ was release over twenty years ago. I read it on my honeymoon in Israel. Seeing the Yemenite gargush drew me to the book magnetically. This book is a great read for Young Adults, especially if their knowledge of Yemenite Judaism is scant. One criticism of this book is that it should have included more Yemenite culture and customs. I love that stuff and there are others like me. The book has no plot line so to speak.

The first book left off with the conclusion of Israel’s war for Independence. The family had to leave behind their old city Jerusalem home and they had to abandon their Yemenite Jewelry shop called “ The Pomegranate Pendent”. The pendant is also given to the brides as a sort of tradition so they will be fruitful and multiply.

The book starts off with the family in 1956 celebrating a ten year yertheit for Mazal the family patriarch. Sitting graveside they tell stories about her . Next comes the six day war and the narrators husband goes off to war. The story gives some insight as to how war effected families. Kobi comes back home depressed for several weeks . It is at a family gathering that Kobi suggests that they get back their old city home and reopen the Pomegranate Pendent. Which they do. It does good business of course.

The 73 war comes about. More interruptions from war. The family lives through these tragedies Along with the rest of the nation. As Yemenite in Israel they must deal with assimilation and losing their Yemenite ways. This happens when Dikla falls for an Ethiopian Jew. The narrators son URI decides to go to America and start a life there. It causes problems. But they get through these problems as they have for thousands of years.

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