Through a Glass Darkly

A couple of weeks ago I was trying to “get into the pagan mood;” I’ve been concentrating on other stuff for so long that I felt I needed to reconnect to my spiritual side. When I feel like that, there are two places I tend to go: Avalon and Saxony, courtesy of Marion Zimmer Bradley and Stephan Grundy.

First up was the Bradley book, The Mists of Avalon. Imagine my surprise to find that it’s now a trilogy! Ms. Bradley has written two other Avalon books: The Forest House, which shows the priestesses before Avalon was established, and Priestess Of Avalon (finished by Diana Paxson after her death) which follows a former priestess living abroad in the Roman world. Then there’s The Mists of Avalon, a re-imagining of the King Arthur tale from the point of view of the Avalon side of things. There’s not a lot of overtly Celtic mythology in these — no godd/ess names, for example — but I love the idea of pagan priestesses with their own “monastic” order, and reading about them makes me want to get in touch with the earth and the moon and the tides of life all over again.

So I finished those, and then went directly into the world of the Norse gods, courtesy of Rhinegold by Stephan Grundy. Grundy, who wrote two non-fiction books on “Teutonic” spirituality, used the Sigmund/Sigfried sagas as a backbone to a rich story of gods and people in a changing world. It’s a thick one — thicker than The Mists of Avalon, even — but it covers several generations of a family. I’m about 2/3rds of the way through it (Sigifrith just got enchanted by the wicked strap-mother), and since it’s been a while since I read the thing, I don’t quite remember where it’s going, but it’s already got me re-memorizing the Elder Futhark order and planning what to do for Ostara. Reawakening my spirit was the goal, and it’s worked! After Rhinegold, it’ll be on to Attila’s Treasure, Grundy’s “sequel” that follows one of the characters from Rhinegold into Attila the Hun’s warband, and shares other interesting perspectives on the Northern pathways. Then I’ll head over to non-fiction to remind myself of what I should know.

So: that’s what I do to get myself back into the pagan swing of things. How about you? Any good fiction that helps you get back to the world you want to live in? Any non-fiction that reminds you of where you should be? Please let all of us know in the Comments. We could get a great list going!

Technorati Tags: Books