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Author Topic: Thoughts on the Thunder Wizard  (Read 4805 times)

Vymir

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Thoughts on the Thunder Wizard
« on: August 26, 2011, 02:45:57 am »
I heard about Michael William Denney though a friend of mine who brought his book. I decided to look into it and take a look at his youtube channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/ThunderWizarddotcom

To be honest, some of his stuff is really good, some other stuff...well lets just say it's kinda odd. Most Heathens I come across scoff at Denney and his practices, claiming that he is trying to put a 'mystery tradition' label on the Germanic tradition and deities. Others say he is simply practicing esoteric Taoism with a Teutonic flavor. To be honest I do not know. His book was enjoyable and he offered a different perspective on some of the lore. Out of interest I practiced one of his rituals with the light elves with really good results, but there are some real inconsistencies that really bugged me. He claims Loki is an 'unsung hero' of the lore and that Hulla is Thor's real mother. He also seems to claim that the Aegishjalmur was not just a protection symbol but also a compass for the Nine worlds.

He also claims that his meditations, chants and hand seals can be dangerous for your health if a "close down" and "self massage" is not done afterwards. I've been doing meditations and some Buddhist and Hindu hand seals for a few years and I have never ever heard of a meditation or a hand seal with chanting being dangerous to your health. At times he seemed to echo New Age practices with talk of 'auras' and 'chakras' and combines his work with the 5 Elements, which is something Wiccans do.

I read the book from front to cover in 2 days and afterwards the only feeling I had was "meh". Overall, I wouldn't call it anything to rave over but some of the practices were worthwhile.

I'd like to hear what others think of Mr. Denney and his work.

Garm

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Re: Thoughts on the Thunder Wizard
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2011, 03:14:39 am »
Quote from: Vymir;15672
I'd like to hear what others think of Mr. Denney and his work.


His approach seems to be take to what's useful and discard the rest

No reason that can't be done with him

I have never read anybody whose ideas I could take as a whole
"I hate to advocate weird chemicals, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone.  But they have always worked for me"
---Hunter S Thompson

hlewagastir

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Re: Thoughts on the Thunder Wizard
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2011, 04:07:26 am »
Quote from: Vymir;15672

I'd like to hear what others think of Mr. Denney and his work.


We had a discussion on this in the SIG on the old message board.
You can read my opinion there:


http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=16135.0

bobthesane

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Re: Thoughts on the Thunder Wizard
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2011, 04:45:50 pm »
Quote from: Vymir;15672
I'd like to hear what others think of Mr. Denney and his work.

 It's crap. It bears no resemblance to Asatru, nor would it be recognizable to an historic heathen. It's a bunch of made up shit with some germanic flavor. Loki is not an unsung hero, he was a f'ing villain, pure and simple.

bobthesane

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Re: Thoughts on the Thunder Wizard
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2011, 08:15:00 pm »
Quote from: bobthesane;15766
It's crap. It bears no resemblance to Asatru, nor would it be recognizable to an historic heathen. It's a bunch of made up shit with some germanic flavor. Loki is not an unsung hero, he was a f'ing villain, pure and simple.

Having said that, allow me to elucidate further.

It's modern fabrication with some basis in northern European faith and folk practices. What it is not, is 'real' heathenry. It's horned-helmeted new-agey-ness. If such is your bag o' tea, more power to you. But it ain't heathenry, sure as HELL ain't Asatru, and in fact kind of runs counter to a lot of what we stand for (we are sooo not a mystery religion).

Aeto

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Re: Thoughts on the Thunder Wizard
« Reply #5 on: August 27, 2011, 12:46:10 am »
Quote from: bobthesane;15827
Having said that, allow me to elucidate further.

It's modern fabrication with some basis in northern European faith and folk practices. What it is not, is 'real' heathenry. It's horned-helmeted new-agey-ness. If such is your bag o' tea, more power to you. But it ain't heathenry, sure as HELL ain't Asatru, and in fact kind of runs counter to a lot of what we stand for (we are sooo not a mystery religion).


I had heard of this guy before and took a look at some of his youtube videos. It's not my cup of tea but I am not going to knock anybody who wants to give it a try. He stresses that it a modern practice and it is not based on any Heathen practices. It just seems to me like Qigong and Tai Chi with a Norse touch. He only seems to focus on a select few gods though, only Hulla, Wodan, Thunor, Freya, Frey and Nerthus which is strange but anyway and the whole Loki comment about him being an 'unsung hero' kind of threw me. From one of his videos, he doesn't consider himself Asatru or even Heathen, just a Teutonic Shaman. However I wouldn't exactly call what he does 'fluffy', New Agey yeah but not fluffy, some of it seems quite involved and doesn't exactly focus on the sort of love and light crap that most New Agers go on with. To me, as long as he doesn't claim to be Heathen, Asatru or an Odinist I have no problem with it.

hlewagastir

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Re: Thoughts on the Thunder Wizard
« Reply #6 on: August 27, 2011, 04:05:20 am »
I´m with Bob on this one.

Quote from: Aeto;15872
He stresses that it a modern practice and it is not based on any Heathen practices.


Just because I stress that the moon is made of green chese dosen´t make it so.

Read the old thread on his podcasts. No matter how much he calls it "modern" he still tries to validate modern or foreign practices and ideas with history (often twisted, taken out of context or non existant).
As I mentioned in the other thread his podcasts are tagged as Heathen/Asatru...
And on his youtube page he tags it as Asatru too...

Another Example:
Description under the Tags/headline "Viking Meditation Asatru Paganism wicca yoga shamanism":

"The Oseburg Ship Burial was discovered in Norway in 1904. The two women buried in this ship are thought to have been Heathen priestesses or Volur (Staff Carriers) who would have been high level Shamans. In that burial were found numerous magical objects such as wands and staffs. But one artifact was a bronze statuette of someone in the meditative posture known as "full lotus." This posture is well known among Hindu yogis and Taoist wizards as the most powerful posture for high level energy meditation. This artifact dates to 800 A.D. or earlier and is string evidence that our Teutonic Ancestors practiced what we would consider today to be meditation"
http://www.youtube.com/user/ThunderWizarddotcom#p/u/13/rWknzU0rBhY

FollowerofOdin

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Re: Thoughts on the Thunder Wizard
« Reply #7 on: January 04, 2013, 11:38:34 pm »
Quote from: Vymir;15672
I heard about Michael William Denney though a friend of mine who brought his book. I decided to look into it and take a look at his youtube channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/ThunderWizarddotcom

To be honest, some of his stuff is really good, some other stuff...well lets just say it's kinda odd. Most Heathens I come across scoff at Denney and his practices, claiming that he is trying to put a 'mystery tradition' label on the Germanic tradition and deities. Others say he is simply practicing esoteric Taoism with a Teutonic flavor. To be honest I do not know. His book was enjoyable and he offered a different perspective on some of the lore. Out of interest I practiced one of his rituals with the light elves with really good results, but there are some real inconsistencies that really bugged me. He claims Loki is an 'unsung hero' of the lore and that Hulla is Thor's real mother. He also seems to claim that the Aegishjalmur was not just a protection symbol but also a compass for the Nine worlds.

He also claims that his meditations, chants and hand seals can be dangerous for your health if a "close down" and "self massage" is not done afterwards. I've been doing meditations and some Buddhist and Hindu hand seals for a few years and I have never ever heard of a meditation or a hand seal with chanting being dangerous to your health. At times he seemed to echo New Age practices with talk of 'auras' and 'chakras' and combines his work with the 5 Elements, which is something Wiccans do.

I read the book from front to cover in 2 days and afterwards the only feeling I had was "meh". Overall, I wouldn't call it anything to rave over but some of the practices were worthwhile.

I'd like to hear what others think of Mr. Denney and his work.

 
I watched some of his video's but I don't really like them. It's not Asatru, as others have said, and so I'm not really interested in watching any more of his video's. Give me some good, solid, facts and practice and I'll watch.

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