Book Review

The Way of the Oracle: Recovering the Practices of the Past to Find Answers for Today

and

Odin: Ecstasy, Runes & Norse Magic

by Diana L. Paxson

Publisher: Weiser Books

 

 

Around the time that Barack Obama was elected to be the forty-fourth president of the United States, I noticed a strange phenomenon in the Wiccan-Pagan world – a growing acceptance of the free expression of racism, white supremacy, white nationalism, and the call for ethnic purity. Because of this – and a few other issues – my Facebook friend list went from over 3000 members to under 200 in the last ten years. Some people might decry this as a problem of “social media” but I see this as a strength of social media. This is how we know who our real friends and allies truly are. My mother used to say to me, “You don’t have to be friends with everyone” and as usual, she was right. Many of those so-called “friends” just wanted to troll me and argue with me about politics and many other issues, many of them so superficial I am now amazed that anyone would ever bother to say “boo” about any of that stuff. However, there are a lot of disturbed people in the world and most of them are on Facebook or Twitter. I am very careful about my personal friendships nowadays.

However, “unfriending” people and dismissing conversations that are toxic does not remove them from the environment. As we have seen since the illegal election of Donald Trump in 2016, racists, neo-Nazis, neo-Confederates, among other nasty individuals have become empowered and they are taking over in many ways. But we don’t have to let them. There are ways to fight the virus of fascism that is overtaking our country. Number one is being aware of what is going on.

I personally think the best way to fight these fascists is to hit them in their wallet. Evil, like everything else, needs dollars to get its message to the masses. One way to interrupt this process is to not promote their books. Many of these people write under nom de plumes so you have to research every author’s background. The books themselves may not be racist tracks but you don’t want to be putting money into that author’s bank account. Recently I read two very well-written and informative books about runes but I had never heard of the author. A little research told me who he really was. I was disappointed to say the least – but relieved that I didn’t write a glowing review.

When I first discovered that there were active racists and even neo-nazis within groups of people that I called Pagan, I was devastated – I was still liberal enough to think that Wiccans and Pagans were spiritual hippies. But we are not in the twentieth century anymore. And it is my own narrow-mindedness to think that we are all more or less cast from the same Wiccan/Pagan mold. If there is anything I have learned in the last ten years, it is that we are not. Honestly, it is one of the reasons I have become so fiercely Dianic and solitary.

I have learned that some of the most racist of the Pagan groups are those who call themselves Heathen. Technically, Heathens do not regard themselves as Pagan but the rest of the world will lump us all together, much like they put Buddhists under the Pagan umbrella as well. I used to have some Heathen friends – we no longer speak. As someone with a German ethnic background, I was always interested in the Heathen religion but it really never spoke to me on more than an intellectual level (nor did Rune-work). However, I am always interested to learn more about any religion and to study how this religion intersects with that religion and how they might have rituals and myths in common and so on.

One of the authors currently writing about Heathen, Nordic, and Germanic religions as well as Runic lore without being a white supremacist or a racist is Diana Paxson. In fact, according to an article written by Sigal Samuel, published in The Atlantic, titled, “What To Do When Racists Try To Hijack Your Religion”, Diana Paxson is the founder of the Alliance for Inclusive Heathenry, and she says, “‘Before the last election, we in the U.S. could claim some liberal moral superiority. This is no longer the case,’ she told me. ‘Ever since January I’ve been attending whatever rallies and marches I could and displaying heathen symbols. … We have to be out there with placards and slogans and banners. Every time they [racists] come out with their message, we need to get out there with ours.’” (Samuel, 1).

Diana Paxson is the author of dozens of books, both fiction and non-fiction. I was first introduced to her through the “Avalon” series, which I thoroughly loved. (I know there’s controversy surrounding the late Marion Zimmer Bradley but I still love this series of books). Her books about Runes are top-notch. She writes with flare and authority. Everything is well-researched and she always cites her sources.

I have two books by Diana Paxson (alas! Only two!) One is The Way Of The Oracle: recovering the Practices of the Past to Find Answers for Today and the other is Odin: Ecstasy, Runes & Norse Magic.
Like all books by Paxson, they are wonderful to read and filled with useful information. Both books are published by Weiser Books, an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser LLC.

In The Way Of The Oracle, Paxson looks at how a person might go about becoming a seer or a speaker – how you learn to contact an oracle. She uses poetry, history, and personal experience to show exactly how this is done. She includes exercises, guided meditation, rituals and even music, for those of us who can read musical notation! As she explains this process, she shows the links between cultures and how we are all so much more alike than unalike and how there is no true “pure” culture – which of course the racists and the white supremacists don’t want you to ever realize. For this reason alone, I find this book to be a most important resource within the Pagan community and even beyond.

One of the chapters that I found most enlightening was Chapter VII, “The Problem of Prophecy”. As someone who has never read professionally – I divine only for myself and for a few close friends – I know that sometimes you just can’t see what you want to see in the layout of Tarot cards or the Runes you chose from the bag or the I-Ching you threw. Or you don’t want to see. Paxton writes, “One of the problems with prophecy…is the unfortunately truth that sometimes it’s what you know that hurts you.” (Oracle, 115). Often we come to divination not to find out the future but to try to see some alternate future. Paxson also admits that Oracles can be wrong. She writes, “We too should consider well what kind of truth oracles can give us, and how we should use it.” (Oracle, 116).

Odin: Ecstasy, Runes & Norse Magic is in many ways very similar to The Way Of The Oracle in that Paxson uses history, poetry and music to teach us about Odin, “god of words and wisdom, runes and magic, giver of battle fury and death but also transformer of consciousness, trickster who teaches truth, and wise old man” (Odin, xv) and his history in ancient and modern culture. Currently, Odin is “among the most popular god in the contemporary Heathen revival” (Odin, xvi) so this book is an important resource for those who want to learn more about him; however, Paxson stresses that “this book does not aim to be the definite scholarly analysis of Odin” (Odin, xxv) and she suggests scholars you might want to check out for that kind of in-depth study.

I have to admit, I personally have no real interest in Odin or Heathenry beyond that of a scholar. I have no spiritual pull to that path. Unlike Paxson, I have had no call to work with Odin. Not yet, anyway! But this is a beautiful book and I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in Rune work, Heathenry or the Germanic gods and goddesses. Also, as Paxson points out, there are links between the various pantheons. She writes, “My own explorations have led me to speculate on links between Odin and the deities Apollo and Lugos…Apollo also has a dark side…He and Odin are not the same god, but I suspect that they sometimes hang out in the same bar.” (Odin, 11) I think a lot of the gods hang out in the same bar!

In these dark days, we have to remember that we are all connected. There is no pure race; in fact the idea of race itself is a cultural construct that is relatively modern and only exists to divide and conquer people. By remembering that even the deities are all connected, we can remember that we are all one people. We have to fight the wave of white supremacism and racism that is taking over our country and threatening so many lives. Diana Paxson is part of that fight.

 

You can read an interview with Diana Paxson here and find more information about her at https://diana-paxson.com/

 

The Way Of The Oracle: Recovering the Practices of the Past to Find Answers For Today on Amazon

 

Odin: Ecstasy, Runes & Norse Magic on Amazon

 

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About the Author:

Polly MacDavid lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic.

Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan but she gets along with a few of the masculine deities.  She loves to cook and she is a Bills fan.  

She blogs at silverapplequeen.wordpress.com. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.