Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Magic
 The paperback cover of the revised edition | |
| Author | Bill Griffiths |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Anglo-Saxon history Religious studies Pagan studies |
| Publisher | Anglo-Saxon Books |
Publication date | 1996, 2003 (revised edition) |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardback and paperback) |
| Pages | 257 |
| ISBN | 978-1-898281-33-7 |
Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Magic is a study of Anglo-Saxon paganism and the role of magic in Anglo-Saxon England that was written by the English poet and independent scholar Bill Griffiths. It was first published in 1996 by Anglo-Saxon Books, and later republished in a revised edition in 2003.
Divided into two parts, the first section of the book is devoted to a discussion of Anglo-Saxon paganism and magical beliefs, in doing so drawing evidence from Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Classical sources. It looks at a wide range of different areas, including the Anglo-Saxons conception of gods, the beliefs regarding death and the ancestors, and the ideas about elves and dwarves.
Background
[edit]The use of historical written sources to learn more about the pre-Christian religion of the Anglo-Saxons was something that had been going on for many decades prior to the publication of Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Magic. In 1948, Godfrid Storms published Anglo-Saxon Magic, a study of the subject which also contained a complete collection of Anglo-Saxon charms.[1]
Synopsis
[edit]Part One
[edit]In the first chapter, entitled "The Up World", Griffiths discusses the Anglo-Saxons' pre-Christian beliefs about their gods, looking at the veneration of idols and the manner in which the deities were understood by the Anglo-Saxons, in doing so contrasting them with those of the Classical world.[2] Moving on into the second chapter, "The Dead World", Griffiths deals with the role of the ancestors in Anglo-Saxon heathenism before proceeding on to discuss beliefs in an afterlife and the reasons for performing sacrifice,[3] Chapter three, "The Around World", looks into the beliefs regarding those species who were neither god nor humans, such as the elves and dwarves, as well as the Anglo-Saxon magical beliefs regarding medicine and agriculture.[4]
The fourth chapter, which is entitled "The Empty World", deals with those Anglo-Saxon texts which portray the supernatural world as "a bleak reality"”, looking at conceptions of predestination and fate,[5] whilst the fifth, entitled "The Rational World", dealt with the role of Anglo-Saxon Christianity and the wider effect that this had on English society, in particular discussing the significance of Bede,[6]
Part Two
[edit]The second part of the book contains a series of Anglo-Saxon texts pertaining to Anglo-Saxon magical practices.
Reception and review
[edit]Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Magic has not been the subject of any scholarly book reviews.
The academic archaeologist Neil Price made reference to Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Magic in his study of Norse magical beliefs, The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (2002). Praising Griffiths' approach in describing the "fluid ambiguities" of Anglo-Saxon cosmological beliefs, he considered such an approach to be an improvement on British archaeologist David M. Wilson's book Anglo-Saxon Paganism (1992), which he believed had failed to even discuss Anglo-Saxon conceptions of cosmology. Price thought that it was pertinent to "bear [Griffiths'] flexible view of the cosmos in mind" when studying Norse cosmological beliefs.[7]
Apart from these mentions in Neil Price's out-of-print PhD thesis, Griffith's book has not made any impact within scholarship in the fields of northern paganism or Anglo-Saxon studies.
Writing on the Twisted Tree Bookshelf website, Contemporary Pagan D. James reviewed the book, praising it as a "comprehensive" study of the subject of Anglo-Saxon paganism and magic. Opining that it was a "ground breaking" study, James compared it to Brian Bates' The Way of Wyrd and recommended it to all practicing Pagans.[8]
References
[edit]Footnotes
[edit]- ^ Storms 1948.
- ^ Griffiths 2003. pp. 11–22.
- ^ Griffiths 2003. pp. 23–45.
- ^ Griffiths 2003. pp. 47–71.
- ^ Griffiths 2003. pp. 73–79.
- ^ Griffiths 2003. pp. 81–93.
- ^ Price 2002. pp. 110–111.
- ^ James 2008.
Bibliography
[edit]- Griffiths, Bill (2003). Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Magic (Revised edition). Hockwold-cum-Wilton, Norfolk: Anglo-Saxon Books. ISBN 978-1-898281-33-7.
- James, D. (2008). "Review of Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Magic". Twisted Tree Bookshelf. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
- Price, Neil (2002). The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Uppsala: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University. ISBN 91-506-1626-9.
- Storms, Godfrid (1948). Anglo-Saxon Magic. The Hague: Martinus.