Working For A Better Life (valkyrieofodin) wrote in runesforall, @ 2008-05-21 09:36:00 |
|
|||
Current mood: | disappointed |
Book Review: Rune Might by Edred Thorsson
First of all folks let me say that I respect Edred Thorsson as a writer, and that I think it is a great thing to be able to put forth as many books as he has. But that not every book can be a shining example of what we should do. Sometimes, the failures are what we learn best from. And in my example Rune Might is just that, an example of what not to do.
First of all Edred was not working solely on his own material here, he was trying to bring forth the collected works of several other well known runesters/ rune masters of a different era and make them consumable for folk of our time. Which is a very valiant thing. Unfortunately, I don't think that a lot of what they had to say translates very well. The language that they were using was the language of the early era 1904-1940s. Particularly in Germany, Austria and the general area. Much of it is colored by the politics of the time. And because of this, Edred felt the need to spend the first 31 pages of the book disseminating on who was politically allied with what. Which may be necessary for some folks in order to suspend their own internal judges, but for many would simply be beating a dead horse. After all these people are dead and that is that. It was entertaining writing to a certain extent but by the time we got through it all, I just wanted the knowledge. Period. Some of it was very interesting, but much of it felt as though it were falling flat in my opinion. In one area an area on runic yodeling for example they give the phonetic sounds to yodel but do not translate the actual meaning of what you are saying. You go through four such rounds.. And I don't know about you, but I like to know what I am saying.. Intent means a lot to me. Also, the folks of this time period talked a lot about things that came flavored with an East Indian flair, Rune Mantras and Mudras and the like. Today we would simply call them Rune Galdr and Stadhgaldr. This works at a cross purpose to me. And felt very alienating. I found myself having a difficult time enjoying this book in full. There were some interesting things on runic hand-signs in the book which I enjoyed, but some of them seemed slightly unworkable where others were much much more workable. Edred did talk a bit about passing runic energy from person to person in a kind of runic 'daisy chain' type of circle and then releasing the energy for healing or other purposes. The reason I give the Daisy Chain analogy is that he kept putting the idea forth that the alternation of MALE/FEMALE MALE/FEMALE must be maintained if at all possible. He seemed to have a big fear of any homosexual overtone. He also threw in some very overt runic sexual positions that had almost no practical use I could see other than just fun. He didn't even outline what you might do with the energy. Though he had some interesting graphics to go with them. That was about all I could tell that was his personal contribution to the book other than the first thirty one pages.
Overall, I'd say that for entertainment the book was interesting and enjoyable. Educationally.. I wouldn't say that the book stands too well on it's own as far as integration and bringing issues forth in a language the majority of modern runesters will enjoy or be receptive to.
Overall I'd give it a 5 out of 10