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Aspects of Anglo-Saxon magic
Title
Aspects of Anglo-Saxon magic / Bill Griffiths.
ISBN
1898281157
9781898281153
Published
Norfolk, England : Anglo-Saxon Books, 1996.
Physical Description
245 pages ; 25 cm
Local Notes
BEIN 2018 15345: Paperbound. From the library of Charles Bernstein.
Notes
"The texts are printed in their original language (e.g. Old English, Icelandic, Latin) with new English translations"--Page 4 of cover.
Includes texts in Old English, and Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems, with English translations.
Summary
"Magic is something special, something unauthorised; an alternative perhaps; even a deliberate cultivation of dark, evil powers. But for the Anglo-Saxon age, the neat division between mainstream and occult, rational and superstitious, Christian and pagan is not always easy to discern. To maintain its authority (or its monopoly?), the Church drew a formal line and outlawed a range of dubious practices (like divination, spells, folk healing) while at the same time conducting very similar rituals itself, and may even have adapted legends of elves to serve in a Christian explanation of disease as a battle between good and evil, between Church and demons; in other cases powerful ancestors came to serve as saints." "It seems that there was a convergence of the two cultures, native and Christian, and this may affect the tendency to view pagan 'gods' as near omnipotent beings. Here it is argued that their origin was usually ancestral, their status rising to match the organisational needs of the Germanic migrants or to parallel the growing authority of the Church and its god. At a popular level did the familiar dead continue to be regarded as a source of benevolent power?" "In pursuit of a better understanding of Anglo-Saxon magic, a wide range of topics and texts are examined in this book, challenging (constructively, it is hoped) our stereotyped images of the past and its beliefs." "The texts are printed in their original language (e.g. Old English, Icelandic, Latin) with New English translations. Contents include: twenty charms; the Old English, Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems; texts on dreams, weather signs, unlucky days, the solar system; The Signs of the Fifteen Days before Doomsday and much more."--Jacket.
Other formats
Online version: Griffiths, Bill, 1948-2007. Aspects of Anglo-Saxon magic. Norfolk, England : Anglo-Saxon Books, 1996
Format
Books
Language
English, Old (ca. 450-1100); English; Icelandic; Latin
Added to Catalog
July 01, 2024
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references.
Contents
Guide to Dates of Principal Texts
The Up World
The Dead World
The Around World
Elves, etc.
Medicine
Agriculture
The Empty World
The Rational World
The World of Magic
Magic in the Anglo-Saxon Period
Women as Seeresses
Amulets and Oddments
The World of Science
Astronomy and Astrology
The Calendar
Divination
Dreams
Lots
Runes
The Animal World
The Role of Literature
Texts
Charms
The Tergensee Charm
The First Merseburg Charm
The Second Merseburg Charm
The Lorsch Charm
The Land Ceremonies Charm
The Nine Herbs Charm
Wid Cyrnel
A List of Herbs
Wid Dweorh
Wid Faerstice
For Delayed Birth
For the Water-Elf Disease
Against a Wen
For a Swarm of Bees
For Loss of Cattle
For Theft of Cattle
For Loss of Cattle
A Journey Charm
A Prose Charm against Conspiracy
Charm for a Horse
Augury
The Old English Rune Poem
The Icelandic Rune Poem
The Norwegian Rune Poem
Alphabet Divination
De Somniorum Eventu
The Import of Dreams by the State of the Moon
Import of Dreams by Content
Import of New Year's Day
Weather Signs
Thunder
De Diebus Malis (Concerning Unlucky Days)
Science & Knowledge
Alfred on the Solar System
AElfric's De Temporibus Anni (extracts)
Adrian & Ritheus
Solomon & Saturn
The Signs of the Fifteen Days before Doomsday.
Subjects
Subjects (Local Yale)
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