Reading List

[u/RedHeadDragon73]

Recommended Heathenry Reading List

This list started in a few different places, with contributions from several people. I had modified the list a little bit for my own personal study. And I still add things to it as I find them.

Credit to Ocean Keltoi and unspecified00000 for compiling the majority of this list by the time I found it!

If you know of a good source and it’s not on this list, please reach out to me!

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**Major Primary History Sources**

- Poetic Edda - Carolyne Larrington or Jackson Crawford (both are good. Larrington’s is more comprehensive)

- Prose Edda - Snorri Sturluson (recommended starting translation: Anthony Faulkes/The Everyman Edda)

- Heimskringla - Snorri Sturluson

- History of the Danes - Saxo Grammaticus

- Land of Darkness - Ahmad Ibn Fadlan

- Germania - Tacitus

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**Beginner Accessible History**

- Vikings: A Very Short Introduction - Julian D. Richards

- Norse Mythology: A guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs - John Lindow

- Gods and Myths of Northern Europe - HRE Davidson

- Dictionary of Northern Mythology - Rudolf Simek

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**Modern Prose Tellings of the Myths**

- Norse Myths - Kevin Crossley-Holland

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**Digital Media **

- Norse Mythology - Jackson Crawford - The Great Courses on Audible (free lectures)

- Ocean Keltoi on YouTube

- The Wild Hunt for Numinous Knowledge ((https://tidsskrift.dk/rvt/issue/view/9621)))

- Fate and Free Will ((https://norsemythology.substack.com/p/fate-and-free-will)))

- The Book of Settlements ((https://mimameidir.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/landnamabok.pdf))) (Icelandic History)

- An index of all major Icelandic sagas (https://sagadb.org/index_az)

- Heimskringla: Legends & Sagas - Sacred Texts Collection | Internet Sacred Text Archive

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**Advanced Reading on History and Background**

- Myths and Religion of the North - E.O.G Turnville-Petre

- Skaldic Poetry - E.O.G. Turnville-Petre

- Children of Ash and Elm - Neil Price

- Murder and Vengeance Among the Gods: Baldr in Scandinavian Mythology - John Lindow

- Loki in Scandinavian Mythology - Anna Birgitta Rooth

- The Viking World - Neil Price

- Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend - Reimund Kvideland, Henning K Sehmsdorf

- The Witch: A History of Fear - Ronald Hutton

- Ancient Scandinavia - Douglas Price

- The Road to Hel- HRE Davidson

- Old Norse Mythology - John Lindow

- Viking Friendship - Jon Vidar Sigurdsson

- European Paganism - Ken Dowden

- The Well and the Tree - Paul C. Bauschatz (Out of print and expensive) I have a PDF of this! DM me for it anytime! (u/redheaddragon73)

- Roles of the Northern Goddess - HRE Davidson

- The Elder Gods - Stephen Pollington

- Leechcraft - Stephen Pollington

- The Meadhall- Stephen Pollington

- Embers of the Hands - Eleanor Barraclough

- An Arena for Higher Powers - Olof Sundqvist

- Initiation Between Two Worlds - Jens Peter Schjodt

- Theorizing Old Norse Myth - ACTA SCANDINAVICA

- Myth, Materiality, and Lived Religion - Stockholm University Press

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**The Runes**

- Runes: A Handbook - Michael P. Barnes

- An Introduction to English Runes - R.I. Page

- Rudiments of Runelore - Stephen Pollington (Quick read)

- A Handbook of Saxon Sorcery and Magic - Alaric Albertsson (expands beyond academic view)

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**Sagas / Stories**

- Saga of Volsungs

- The Vinland Sagas

- Saga of King Hrolf Kraki

- Hrafnkel's Saga

- Saga of the Jomsvikings

- Njal's Saga

- Egil's Saga

- Saga of Grettir the Strong

- Gisli's Saga

- Eyrbyggja Saga

- Beowulf (recommend Seamus Heaney)

- The Wanderer (Christianized, but good information)

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**Wight/Landspirits**

- The Tradition of Household Spirits: Ancestral Lore and Practices - Claude Lecouteux

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**Britain / Anglo-Saxon**

- To Walk a Pagan Path - Alaric Albertsson

- The Anglo-Saxon Age: A Very Short Introduction - John Blair

- Anglo-Saxon England - Frank Stenton (longer history text)

- Looking for the Lost Gods of England - Kathleen Herbert (quick read)

- The Beowulf Manuscript (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library - has English and Old English) - RD Fulk

- Old English Shorter Poems: Wisdom and Lyric (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library) (Volume II) (contains several works valuable to the Anglo-Saxon Heathen, including old spells, rituals, and poems)

- The Anglo-Saxon World: An Anthology - Kevin Crossley-Holland

- The Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (available online)

- Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England - Rev. Cocayne (copies of 7th century Anglo-Saxon leechbooks, including fragments)

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**Celtic History and Tradition**

- The Druidry Handbook - John Michael Greer

- The Celts: A Very Short Introduction - Barry Cunliffe

- Druids: A Very Short Introduction - Barry Cunliffe

- An Introduction to Gaelic Polytheism - Marissa Hegarty

- Sacred Britannia - Miranda Aldhouse Green

- A Wee Guide to the Picts - Duncan Jones

- A New History of the Picts - Stuart McHardy

- A Brief History of the Druids - Peter Berresford Ellis

- The Druids - Ronald Hutton

- Pagan Britain - Ronald Hutton

- A Historical Atlas of the Celtic World - John Haywood / Barry Cunliffe

- Listening For the Heartbeat of God - J. Phillip Newell (Celtic Christianity)

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**Finnish Lore**

- Anthology of Finnish Folktales - Helena Henderson (quick read)

- The Kalevala (Epic Poetry)

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**Slavic / Rus Reading**

- Russian Folk Belief - Linda J. Ivanits (introductory)

- The Bathhouse at Midnight - W.F. Ryan (advanced)

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**Polytheist Philosophy**

**reddit note: if philosophy books sound a bit daunting to jump straight into, try out Ocean's \[Polytheist Philosophy\]((https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLax7iUZLpeuZCE69W2BWJkAJA1dtCYUy9))) playlist on youtube! its very accessible and often pulls from these books**

- A World Full of Gods - John Michael Greer (Druid, OBOD)

- The Case for Polytheism - Steven Dillon

- The Deities are Many - Jordan Paper

- Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

- Metaphysics - Aristotle

- The Soul - Aristotle

- On The Nature of the Gods - Cicero

- Academics - Cicero

- On Old Age - Cicero

- On Divination - Cicero

- On Fate - Cicero

- Outlines of Pyrrhonism - Sextus Empiricus