This is Book II of the Heathen Soul Lore series, which follows after Book I, entitled "Heathen Soul Lore Foundations: Ancient and Modern Germanic Pagan Concepts of the Souls." To understand and work with the book you now hold, you will need to be familiar with the material in Book I, or else refer to the relevant articles on my website, HeathenSoulLore.net. In "Heathen Soul Lore: A Personal Approach," we move from the conceptual and theoretical levels of soul lore discussed in Book I, to comprehensive personal and practical levels of Heathen spiritual understanding. Here are explanations of the souls, based on research presented in Book I, but tailored to modern Heathen life. Guidelines and exercises are provided to promote deep, personal exploration of each of the souls, and lead to an understanding of the roles each soul plays in our daily life, our character, actions, choices and decisions. Each chapter about the individual souls is accompanied by a bind-rune to promote meditation on the nature of that soul, for those who have knowledge of rune-lore. When we become Heathen, we gradually become aware of a whole different world-view, one that includes views of what our souls are, and how they interact with all other beings and other Worlds of the cosmos. Who are each of your souls? They are complex beings, and getting to know each of them is like getting to know another person, but a person who is yourself, expanded in directions you may not have known were there. This book offers ways to explore and grow your souls in a Heathen context, and to integrate your conscious connections with them into your daily life. Reviewing Book I of this series: "There's a wonderful shaping and hope-bringing quality to the work here that I think will play a key role in helping to move Heathenry towards something deep and infinitely satisfying. It's really hard to overstate the impact this book could have." --Cat Heath, author of "Elves, Witches & Gods: Spinning Old Heathen Magic in the Modern Day."

Heathen Soul Lore Foundations presents a living spiritual landscape, rooted in ancient Germanic languages and understanding, offered for modern Heathens to explore and use in their own spiritual practice. This book also presents an approach for identifying and exploring ancient concepts of 'what a soul is' that may be of interest to followers of other branches of historically based modern Paganism, and to scholars of comparative religion. Linguistic analysis, literature, folklore, comparative religion, anthropology, esoteric and philosophical approaches are used to analyze old Germanic-language words relating to 'the soul'. The following souls, identified through this process, are thoroughly reviewed: Ferah, Ahma, Ghost, Hama, Aldr, Mod, Hugr, Sefa, and Saiwalo. Both scholarly and inspirational perspectives are taken, intended to stimulate both intellectual and imaginative exploration of these soul-concepts and the world-view which opens out from them. This book is richly illustrated with B&W images, in order to stimulate engagement of the imagination in comprehending these abstract entities and their metaphysical contexts. // Review by Diana L. Paxson, author of "Essential Asatru: Walking the Path of Norse Paganism" "Since she first sent me the article on "Heathen Full-Souls" for Idunna: A Journal of Northern Tradition in 2006, I have been fascinated by Winifred Hodge Rose's development of the concept of the souls as an interactive system. I am delighted to see the full presentation of so many years of patient research and contemplation becoming available at last. In Winifred's hands, philology becomes a spiritual adventure, as words from the old Germanic languages reveal new insights into who we are and our place in the spiritual universe." // Review by John Michael Greer, author of "A World Full of Gods" "Winifred Rose has done an excellent job of gathering and synthesizing material about Heathen soul lore from a wide range of disparate sources. The resulting book is a scholarly, thorough resource that belongs on the bookshelf of every Heathen, and everyone interested in the subject." // Review by Cat Heath, author of "Elves, Witches & Gods: Spinning Old Heathen Magic in the Modern Day" "There's a wonderful shaping and hope-bringing quality to the work here that I think will play a key role in helping to move Heathenry towards something deep and infinitely satisfying. It's really hard to overstate the impact this book could have."

Provides an overview of Heathenry, a modern polytheistic religious movement based on the ancient religion of the Germanic and Scandinavian peoples.

Ode to Our Wild Feminine Souls This provocative book invites you to create your own spiritual path based on often-suppressed ancient principles and contemporary practices. Using the elements (earth, water, fire, air, ether) rather than traditional patriarchal hierarchies, this 'holy book' is designed to connect each individual to their universal — but often denied — powers. Wild woman Danielle Dulsky takes you deep as she explores and embraces sacred feminine archetypes such as the Mother Goddess, the Crone, and the Maiden. Join her as she guides you to envision and explore a world that enriches and supports your spirit, body, and mind as well as our global community and the Earth.

Previously published in 2005 as Exploring the Northern Tradition.

How the ghost stories of pagan times reveal the seamless union existing between the world of the living and the afterlife • Demonstrates how Medieval Christianity transformed the more corporeal ghost encountered in pagan cultures with the disembodied form known today • Explains how the returning dead were once viewed as either troublemakers or guarantors of the social order The impermeable border the modern world sees existing between the world of the living and the afterlife was not visible to our ancestors. The dead could--and did--cross back and forth at will. The pagan mind had no fear of death, but some of the dead were definitely to be dreaded: those who failed to go peacefully into the afterlife but remained on this side in order to right a wrong that had befallen them personally or to ensure that the law promoted by the ancestors was being respected. But these dead individuals were a far cry from the amorphous ectoplasm that is featured in modern ghost stories. These earlier visitors from beyond the grave--known as revenants--slept, ate, and fought like men, even when, like Klaufi of the Svarfdaela Saga, they carried their heads in their arms. Revenants were part of the ancestor worship prevalent in the pagan world and still practiced in indigenous cultures such as the Fang and Kota of equatorial Africa, among others. The Church, eager to supplant this familial faith with its own, engineered the transformation of the corporeal revenant into the disembodied ghost of modern times, which could then be easily discounted as a figment of the imagination or the work of the devil. The sanctified grounds of the church cemetery replaced the burial mounds on the family farm, where the ancestors remained as an integral part of the living community. This exile to the formal graveyard, ironically enough, has contributed to the great loss of the sacred that characterizes the modern world.

Sex. Drugs. Loud music. Wild costumes. Dazzling light shows. These words can all describe a great rock concert or a hot dance club, but they were also part and parcel of the ancient cultural phenomenon known as the “Mystery religions.” In this book, author Christopher Knowles shows how the Mystery religions got a secular reincarnation when a new musical form called rock 'n' roll burst onto the scene. The Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll traces the history of the Mysteries — their rise, their fall, and their survival through long centuries of repression. Knowles shows how the Mysteries prefigured subcultures as diverse as Santeria, Freemasonry, Mardi Gras and even the Holiness churches of the American frontier, and explains exactly how ancient rituals and music found their way to the New World. In the process, The Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll traces the development of rock's most popular genres such as punk and heavy metal, and reveals how many of rock's most iconic artists play the same archetypal roles as the ancient gods. You'll see how many of the rituals and customs and even musical styles of our postmodern society have stunning ancient parallels. You'll meet history's first pop