| Northern Mysteries & Magick |
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This is the third incarnation of Leaves of Yggdrasil, Freya Aswynn's valuable contribution to the genre of worthy books on Northern European magic. Originally self-published in a limited private edition over a decade ago, it was re-released by Llewellyn in 1990 and garnered considerable respect and exerted a significant influence.Now her work has been retitled, slightly reworked, and reissued once more. As many of our readers may already own a copy of Leaves of Yggdrasil, the question will be: Is there any reason to purchase the new edition? If you have never heard Aswynn's distinctive musical/poetical recordings, the answer may be in the affirmative. One of the biggest selling points of the new edition is the compact disc included inside the back cover. This contains similar material to the tracks Freya Aswynn has released on a few independent and underground albums over the years. Given the obscure nature of many of these releases, the CD version here is probably the first time her audio work has been made readily available. Regarding the book's contents, everything has been re-typeset. The diagrams have been improved and newly rendered, although the other illustrations remain unchanged. There is some additional material added to the introduction and most particularly to Chapter 6 on the Feminine Mysteries. Aswynn states, “there has been a virtual revolution in Asatru, and women are more and more involving themselves in a significant way… With this in mind, I have updated and extended this chapter, exploring the matriarchal aspects and feminine Mysteries which deserve to be given much greater prominence in the Northern religion.” Some new areas covered include a discussion of Valeda and additional material on the Sigdrifumal. Another useful addition to the book is the index at the back. Like many of the Llewellyn productions the new edition tends to skew things a bit towards a generalized pan-pagan direction, but the core material here remains as worthy of attention as when it was first published. |




This is the third incarnation of Leaves of Yggdrasil, Freya Aswynn's valuable contribution to the genre of worthy books on Northern European magic. Originally self-published in a limited private edition over a decade ago, it was re-released by Llewellyn in 1990 and garnered considerable respect and exerted a significant influence.
