Havamal for Heathens

Great resource for learning how to read the runes. The third part of the book has a system on how you can easily have the runes speak to you by allowing the runes to be a part (extension) of you and your flow of wyrd. Part One is a translation of the Havamal and Part Two is an explanation of what each stanza means. Overall, a great book to have for the price, which is really low. It taught me a great deal in how to think like Wodan. It's the best study Havamal I ever encountered. I'm really grateful this Kindle book exists. I'm getting more resources from Wodan's Kindred. They are truly marvelous folk!

This is a great little book. It has a section that actually gives you an understanding of each stanza of the Havamal so that you can get a grasp of what the poem actually means. The author clearly has an understanding of what is being said in the poem. Another great thing about this book is that it has a section on runes that will tell you how to read and write them without all of the hoo hah that you find in other books. If you want a real understanding of the Havamal, or even of the runes, check this book out.

A great short introduction to the Havamal and a quick go over of runes and runs casting. A good introduction

Amazing book

The commentary on the Havamal is more informative than anything out there. If you really want to understand what the Havamal is saying, check this book out.

Great book! Written in a way that is easy for beginners and veterans alike to understand and study. Worth the purchase!

As the Introduction states, “This book is a primer that was designed with the beginning heathen in mind.” It combines two topics that are often discussed in heathen meet-ups or presented in lectures for heathens and interested others: the medieval wisdom-poem Havamal, and the runes. The largest section of the book is the commentary on the Havamal, and this section may be of interest to those who are already familiar with the poem as well as to beginners.For those of us not versed in Old Norse, you can’t have too many translations of the Havamal. While I would not characterize this translation as better or worse than others available, it is often interesting to compare translations. By not trying for a rendering that reads as elegant -- and slightly archaic -- modern English poetry, Mr Mayfield (who did the translation) gives us the meaning more clearly than the rightly popular Hollander and Bellows versions.The commentary gives the novice some context: the world, the social mores, the values of our ancestors a thousand years ago. It sometimes paraphrases the rather literal translation-per-se, for more clarity. It also gives some insight into applying the wisdom of the Havamal in a world far removed from the Viking and earlier eras. This is a poem that has rightly been much studied, much quoted, much loved by heathens; there is a lot packed into its 164 short verses. It seems there is no end to what can be drawn from it, so even for those of us who have read the poem many times, and have read other commentaries, these insights from the Woden’s Folk Kindred may lead to some more “Ah ha!” moments.The rune primer section of the book introduces the futhark (runic alphabet) and gives translations of the three main rune poems that have come down to us. It also includes a modern rune poem by Berk Harbin of the Woden’s Folk Kindred, “The Lay of Rex and Rig,” written as a sequel to the medieval poem Rigsthula. This is a nice piece of alliterative verse, which echoes some of the advice of the Havamal, and restates and expands upon the meanings of the 24 runes. This poem is followed by some tips on getting familiar with the runes, both as alphabetic characters and as symbols. There are a couple of exercises that would be fun for a rune-study group to use.The main fault of the book is its lack of editorial proof-reading. There are some printing production problems, at least in the copy I got: The first page of the Introduction has the left-most two or three letters missing from each line; and in the translation of the Havamal, the right-hand pages are missing the verse numbers. These are minor annoyances. What are more bothersome are the typographical and minor grammatical errors. There is a sprinkling of wrong words, e.g., “though” instead of “thought,” missing words, and places where punctuation would ease understanding. It was not difficult for me to figure out what was meant, but did interrupt my train of thought; to someone coming to the Havamal for the first time, it could be more puzzling.Overall, this book is a good resource for heathens and those interested in the pre-Christian Germanic culture. It certainly merits another edition with some corrections and cleanup. Even with its production faults, it is a good addition to the heathen library, and a source of both knowledge and inspiration.

The writing is fine, it is the printing I am not happy with. The writing is sideways on some pages, missing some text on others. Not happy with missing so much.

Good, clear easy to read translation Excellent commentary on every verse. Gods section on runes. A new classic!