The first stirrings of Western rationalism were founded on the poetry of these creation myths, thanks largely to the reiteration of archaic principles in the works of Plato and Aristotle. Like the Big Bang so dear to modern astrophysics, the north European cosmological myths have echoes that can still be detected today.

This is an excellent guide to the landscape of Avebury. The instructions for movement are clear and precise and the dialogue format stops if from becoming a dry description of the route. It can be recommended to anyone with an interest in the area… ' a b Baswell, Christopher (2009), Brown, Peter (ed.), "English Literature and the Classical Past", A Companion To Medieval English Literature and Culture, c.1350–c.1500, John Wiley & Sons, pp.242–243, ISBN 978-1405195522 In almost every traditional culture throughout the world, including Europe until comparatively recent times, there have been ways of 'honouring' at least some of the dead, those who were regarded as key founders and ancestors. Learning from the Ancestors shows how such traditional ways of thinking – and doing – are of benefit in the modern Western world. This is a major study of mythic themes in Northern European paganism and it is highly recommended.' The Cauldron Fascinating seems too simple a word to describe this book; yet it is, and partly because it has a style that makes the content easy to read - no small achievement with densely interwoven material like this. Northern Earth

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Jeremy Harte combines folklore scholarship with a lively style to show what the presence of fairies meant to people's lives. Like their human counterparts, the secret people could kill as well as heal. They knew marriage, seduction, rape and divorce; they adored some children and rejected others. If we are frightened of the fairies, it may be because their world offers an uncomfortable mirror of our own.

In 2010, artist Mark Sheeky donated the 2008 painting "Two Roman Legionaries Discovering The God-King Albion Turned Into Stone" to the Grosvenor Museum collection. [35] See also [ edit ] Then I remember a golden period which was after we got Withdean in the early 2000s, all our support was away supporters because we didn’t have a ground big enough to hold the fans. Brendan McMahon is a practising psychotherapist in Derbyshire who has written many articles and papers on therapy and Celtic myth. He is also a poet and university teacher. As a system, it is nearly all-encompassing: it gives form and meaning to the social structure, both the human and the divine; to the features and phenomena that constitute the physical world and its surroundings; to the sacrifices and observances involved in nearly all the major religious themes; to the beliefs underlying the early stirrings of science and medicine; and to the theory and practice of magic.Seeing the world as ever-emergent provides a clearer understanding of divination and enchantment as they were practised in northern Europe before Christianity. It also stimulates new ways of thinking about modern day life, including how our self-identities are also in a continual state of renewal and creation. Ivor Perry's first loves were History and then English – the subject he read at Jesus College, Cambridge. Two more degrees and several careers later he has returned to those first passions. He now researches and gives lectures about the First World War and its literature. He has lived in Wymeswold for seventeen years. Ymir's Flesh gathers together the distorted fragments of this mythology and provides an original and inspiring insight into the complex inter-weaving of mythological themes. In Enchantment is All About Us Beatrice Walditch reveals that much of the what we often think of a real in the modern world is an enchantment woven by profit-driven businesses and nefarious politicians. Drawing upon a wide range of traditional worldviews, she sets out ways of mentally 'banishing' such pervasive enchantments and empowering the reader to create their own enchantments. Many of the suggestions develop and weave together ideas discussed in her previous books. In isolation the pre-Christian north European creation myths appear fragmented and confused, but a thematic cohesion is apparent when they are taken as a whole and compared to their counterparts in Vedic India, ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Ireland, ancient and medieval Iran, and so on. From this arises a wider significance that would not otherwise be apparent.

Mothers' Union Banners: A neglected British 'folk art' is provisional publication encouraging people to document the Mothers' Union banners which can be found in most parish churches, and discover how they fit into the broader social history of the Church of England, the Arts and Crafts Movement and women's suffrage. While some are commissioned from specialist ecclesiastical needlework providers, most were designed and made by the members of the Mothers' Union branch. They seem to make up a body of work where 'folkloric transmission' dominates the designs and motifs. After many adventures, Brutus and his fellow Trojans escape from Gaul and "set sail with a fair wind towards the promised island". [18] Considerable new scholarship in recent decades has shed much light on Anglo-Saxon England. In this pioneering study Bob Trubshaw approaches the history and archaeology of the era from the perspective of the underlying worldviews – the ideas that are 'taken for granted' in a society rather than consciously chosen. In Everything is Change Beatrice Walditch shows how contemporary ideas of an ever-emergent cosmos are also part of the traditional worldview in places as far apart as Greece and China. This understanding of how the world works is in complete contrast to Christian concepts and the various successors – including supposedly secular science as well as modern paganism.In the days before TV screens mediated between man and animal, no encounter inspired more terror than coming eyeball-to-eyeball with a dragon. Its fiery, poisonous, crushing power seemed to guarantee victory. We take for granted the names we use for places. Yet these names are a valuable part of our cultural heritage, providing a detailed insight into the early history of the region. Place-names reveal the otherwise lost voices of our forebears who settled here. This unique account of 'clog almanacs' and runic inscriptions was first published as one chapter of T he Danes in Lancashire and Yorkshire, published by Sherratt and Hughes in 1909. A wealth of material has been gathered here, and it has been well digested before being compiled into this book. It is a very useful reference book for those of us who are interested in the water element in general and in wells in particular. I found it both inspirational and interesting […] an excellent book' As none of the wooden weohs and stapols have survived there is, clearly, considerable speculation involved. However these suggestions fit within a plausible 'underlying' worldview established in the first two volumes of The Twilight Age. The fifth volume of this series looks in more detail at the locations of such carvings.

Aristotle or Pseudo-Aristotle (1955). "On the Cosmos, 393b12". On Sophistical Refutations. On Coming-to-be and Passing Away. On the Cosmos. Translated by Forster, Edward Seymour; Furley, David J. William Heinemann, Harvard University Press. pp.360–361. at the Open Library Project. DjVu There's a sense of wonder throughout, of tapping into something old and mysterious in our heritage. It was almost lost, but the last few decades have seen a revival of interest in such wells. This book forms a part of our increasing knowledge base about them and encourages us to get to know them more. I am inspired to visit more wells, especially those local to me, and to begin to really get to know them much better than I do now.This] is a tremendous source-book, which… also has plenty of stories, full bibliographies, and many wise comments on issues of interpretation. It is an engrossing read, and the photographs are marvellous.' Thinking About Places pivots around Bob Trubshaw's observation that "… because we spend our lives in a variety of different types of places means we are about as oblivious to the nuances of 'theory of place' as a fish is to the water it swims in. Which also means 'theory of place' is as important to archaeologists as water is to fishes." With this book the study of English holy wells moves out of the realms of romanticism and myth-making into the light of history. Jeremy Harte draws on maps, miracles, legends and landscapes to present his detailed discussions in a readable and often witty manner.