June 7, 2025:
Indo-European Book Review:
In Search of the Indo-Europeans by J.P. Mallory
When I selected this book, I did so because it sounded interesting. I thought it was going to be more about the people and cultures. Instead, it’s about the language, which I like etymology—I took a class in high school and at college. It’s an interesting subject, learning about the history of words and thus the speakers of those words. I was excited about the book.
However, reading the book was a challenge for me. I have dyslexia and really love reading and researching and all that, and this book was difficult. Ironically it was just too wordy—just get to the point. It was almost like the author was being paid by the letter, or had a word count he had to reach, too. Too many long pretentious words when one word would have worked. Boom, to the point. I’m definitely not a fan of the author’s writing style. I know I’m not the best writer—wordy af—but I’m not a professional writer!
I ended up skimming the book. I like the idea of language origins and things like migrations and being able to piece people and their origins together through the evolution of language. That sounds fantastic. I’ve certainly read similar books—you see it a lot when people talk about deities like Oðin as a traveler with the different spellings throughout Europe. But I struggled with this book.
According to my notes, on August 23, 2023, I stopped on page 110. (I’m surprised that I got that far.) From here I skimmed. I did mark page 129, when I realized that a meme floating around the interwebs was apparently true: “Some, for example, could point to the possible linguistic similarity between Kerberos, the guardian dog of the Greek Hades, and the epithet sabala ‘spotted, varicoloured’ (*kerbero?), the standard epithet of one of the dogs of Yama, the Indic god of the dead. […] postulating such a correspondence […] Proto-Indo-European canine guard of the realm of the dead who answered to the name of ‘Spot!’”
I found it funny that Cerberus’s name could actually mean Spot and it wasn’t just some intentional misinformation that you often see in the pagan-verse. And that’s the only page that I have marked. I may give the book another chance, because I was excited about it, but after re-reading the excerpt above, I dunno. The wordiness.
But if you love linguistic history and don’t mind wordy sentences, this is the book for you.
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Ethnic Study Book Review:
Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H.R.Ellis Davidson
For the Ethnic Study Book Review, I picked Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H.R.Ellis Davidson. I've been studying Norse Paganism since 2020, so I'm interested in any good books that I can find on the subject. Although after attempting to read In Search of the Indo-Europeans by J.P. Mallory, I was a little overwhelmed and nervous, I'm glad that Davidson's book was easy enough for me to comprehend and enjoy.
This book is about the northern gods and myths from Scandinavian and Germanic countries. It explores the stories and opinions translated and written by Snorri Sturluson, Saxo, Tacitus, and a few others. The story of Beowulf is also used quite a bit, throughout the book, to compare, contrast, and give evidence. The stories aren't just retold and explained, but done so with archaeological evidence, surviving literature, and comparison to other cultures. The author also explores what's heathen influenced and what's Christian influenced, with supporting evidence. At the end of the book, the author talks about why Christianity eventually won over heathenry.
This book helped me appreciate the stories even more, and not just as a Pagan. I was able to look at the stories from a non-devotee perspective. I've learned different versions and takes on these entities, such as Saxo's version of Baldur's death, where he and Hoder were fighting for Nanna's hand. Hoder wounded the warrior Baldur, who was visited by the Roman Proserpina, who foretold his death. The story ends with Odin wanting to avenge Baldur and using his son to kill Hoder (pages 184-187).
Would I recommend this book to others? I already have on my blog, Facebook, and Goodreads. It's an older book and there's new evidence, theories, and perspectives, but I think it's a worthwhile read. This book has given me a new understanding and appreciation, especially for some of the stories that I dislike. Maybe it can help someone else out who may struggle with understanding, too?
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Modern Paganism Book Review:
Being a Pagan: Druids, Wiccans, and Witches Today by Ellen Evert Hopman and Lawrence Bond
If you’ve ever read Margot Adler’s Drawing Down the Moon (1979), this book is like an updated version. It’s a book of interviews with people from different pagan, magikal, and spiritual paths from the late 1980s to the early-to-mid 1990s. The first person in the book is about the founder of ADF, Isaac Bonewits. I know that he’s problematic, but it was interesting to learn about.
To be honest, I struggled through Adler’s book. It was boring and outdated but correct for the times. I know a lot of pagans love that book. After reading this one, I’ve recommended it to people, because it is an updated version. Now I’ve only heard of a handful of people in the book, and not all are my favorite. The book is also Wicca heavy, but then so were the 90’s. Wicca was the gateway drug, right? I was a Wiccan in the 90’s, too!
Hopman interviewed different people within the pagan community. Some views are controversial, some outdated, and some aged well. Some people I agreed with, and others…not so much. We get to read about some different traditions, churches, organizations, and programs. Hopman asks each person the same questions, for the most part, like "are" or "how did you know you were a pagan?" She asks about their church/organization/tradition, problems of the community, problems pagans have faced, problems they've faced being pagans, and what they hope for the future.
There are some strong controversial views in this book–from arrogance about how some trads are doing it wrong and using insults–only WE know the truth and WE'RE BETTER mindsets. There’s hate against polyam pagans calling them "piganism", hate against men and the LGBTQ+ community, and the pedophilia of the Frosts (unfortunately I don’t have page numbers, only notes). I wasn't expecting to see that, even in an older paganism book, but it's important and healthy to see since many people tend to put paganism on a morality pedestal, saying that it's all love and light and tolerant and accepting. Well, some of the people in this book definitely broke that naïve toxic dangerous stereotype.
It's cool to read about some people, churches and organizations that are still around that I follow on social media, like Circle Sanctuary, CUUPS, UU, and Covenant of the Goddess.
I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, because I didn't really care for Adler's book, but it was cool to see an updated version. I kind of wish that there was a book like this every decade! It would be cool to see one for a lot of today's pagan community–including the controversial stuff. I think it's important for new and old pagans to see the controversial stuff, since there's a toxic predatory stereotype about pagans being love, light, accepting, non-violent, safe, and tolerant. Pagans are people and people are different. We don't all agree. We shouldn't be putting ourselves on pedestals.
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Resource
Ellis Davidson, H.R. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Hardmondsworth, Middlesex, England, Penguin Books Ltd. 1964.
Hopman, Ellen Evert. Bond, Lawrence. Being a Pagan: Druids, Wiccans, and Witches Today. Destiny Books. 1996, 2002.
Mallory, J.P. In Search of the Indo-Europeans. Thames and Hudson Ltd, London. 1989.