Ancient and Modern Germanic Pagan Concepts of the Souls
by Winifred Hodge Rose
I’m pleased to announce that my first book in the Heathen Soul Lore series has been published. Links to purchase each of the eight different formats of the book are included at the end of this page. Here is a description of the book:
Heathen Soul Lore Foundations: Ancient and Modern Germanic Pagan Concepts of the Souls 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. The book is richly illustrated, in order to stimulate engagement of the imagination in comprehending these abstract entities and their metaphysical contexts. (575 pages.)
Here is a link to the detailed Table of Contents, for more information about what is covered in the book: https://heathensoullore.net/detailed-table-of-contents-for-book-i/
Publication reviews:
“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.” Diana L. Paxson, author of Essential Asatru: Walking the Path of Norse Paganism, and Trance-Portation: Learning to Navigate the Inner World.
“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.” John Michael Greer, author of A World Full of Gods: An Inquiry into Polytheism.
“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.
“The similarities between her research and surviving Urglaawe lore from Braucherei and Hexerei are astounding, particularly when adjusted for cultural context. The same ideas expressed in different ways. Amazing stuff!” –Robert Lusch Schreiwer, co-author of A Dictionary of Urglaawe Terminology.
This book includes soul lore writings from this website, along with illustrations. If you are interested in this subject, but your funds are limited, you will be able to find almost all the textual material that’s in the book, here for free on the website. The advantage of the book, in addition to being in a more user-friendly and consolidated format, is the many illustrations, with brief photo-essays and captions meant to promote intuitive understanding of the soul lore material, and provide seeds for meditation. As with all of my books, I want to make sure that people who are interested in what I write have access to my work, whether they can afford the books or not. But if you can afford the book, your purchase is a great compliment and support to me, and I thank you! I am delighted if you choose to buy this book from any bookseller, but in response to many queries, I will mention that I receive a larger portion of the profits if you purchase from Lulu.
Book Formats and Links:
The paperback book with B&W illustrations is available through Lulu, Amazon, B&N, and other booksellers.
Link for Paperback from Lulu:
EPUB E-books are available in color and in B&W versions through Lulu, B&N, and other booksellers.
Link for color illustrated EPUB from Lulu:
Link for B&W illustrated EPUB from Lulu:
Kindle E-books are available in color and B&W from Amazon.
Color Kindle:
B&W Kindle:
The hardcover book is available in color and B&W versions. In order to keep the prices as low as possible, these are only available through Lulu. The cost would be almost twice as high if the books were in general distribution, due to distribution fees. Here are the Lulu links:
B&W hardcover:
Color hardcover:
A color PDF e-book is also available from Lulu:
Here is a cover image of the book. My thanks and appreciation to Heathen artist Dale Wood for the soulful painting on the cover.
