"The Maiden with the Mead" Anyone familiar with it?

[Lokabrenna]

A friend recommended this resource to me, which can be found on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Maiden-Mead-Goddess-Initiation-Mythology/dp/3639161351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313455819&sr=8-1

Yes, it's very expensive, but the author includes a link to a .pdf version on her YouTube channel in case anyone feels like a little light reading: http://www.duo.uio.no/publ/iks/2004/18497/AUTO/18497.pdf

I must admit I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, terms like "Great Goddess", and mention of "mysteries" and "secret knowledge" (which sounds Wiccanesque to me) set off warning bells. On the other hand, I'd like to read it to see what she has to say about such things. Has anyone even heard of this thesis before?

[hufflee]

A friend recommended this resource to me, which can be found on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Maiden-Mead-Goddess-Initiation-Mythology/dp/3639161351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313455819&sr=8-1

Yes, it's very expensive, but the author includes a link to a .pdf version on her YouTube channel in case anyone feels like a little light reading: http://www.duo.uio.no/publ/iks/2004/18497/AUTO/18497.pdf

I must admit I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, terms like "Great Goddess", and mention of "mysteries" and "secret knowledge" (which sounds Wiccanesque to me) set off warning bells. On the other hand, I'd like to read it to see what she has to say about such things. Has anyone even heard of this thesis before?

I have no idea, but I know mead as the traditional alcohol ( a honey wine of sorts) served at Irish weddings........I know no more than that.

[Maythe]

A friend recommended this resource to me, which can be found on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Maiden-Mead-Goddess-Initiation-Mythology/dp/3639161351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313455819&sr=8-1

Yes, it's very expensive, but the author includes a link to a .pdf version on her YouTube channel in case anyone feels like a little light reading: http://www.duo.uio.no/publ/iks/2004/18497/AUTO/18497.pdf

I must admit I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, terms like "Great Goddess", and mention of "mysteries" and "secret knowledge" (which sounds Wiccanesque to me) set off warning bells. On the other hand, I'd like to read it to see what she has to say about such things. Has anyone even heard of this thesis before?

 
That seriously sets off the bull-shit-ometer alarm. Can you read the first chapter of the pdf and decide for yourself? Or do you have to pay for that too?

It superficially sounds like Lady With The Mead Cup which is also expensive (and I haven't read) and I've heard recommended before and doesn't set off the BSometer.

[hlewagastir]

I must admit I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, terms like "Great Goddess", and mention of "mysteries" and "secret knowledge" (which sounds Wiccanesque to me) set off warning bells. On the other hand, I'd like to read it to see what she has to say about such things. Has anyone even heard of this thesis before?

 
Then read the pdf version before you buy it.

The chapter that discusses "secret knowledge", "mysteries, "Great Goddess" and "Shamanism" (I haven´t read the rest) seems to be completely sane and academic... Even though I personally think she lays too much emphasis on comparative mythology.

The study is from the University of Oslo and her bibliography holds nothing but reasonable, academic studies - this is no guarantee, but it certainly adds to its credibility.

[bobthesane]

Then read the pdf version before you buy it.

The chapter that discusses "secret knowledge", "mysteries, "Great Goddess" and "Shamanism" (I haven´t read the rest) seems to be completely sane and academic... Even though I personally think she lays too much emphasis on comparative mythology.

The study is from the University of Oslo and her bibliography holds nothing but reasonable, academic studies - this is no guarantee, but it certainly adds to its credibility.

Except for there being no 'great goddess' in our pantheon, which automatically to my mind adds to it's bullshit factor.

[RandallS]

That seriously sets off the bull-shit-ometer alarm. Can you read the first chapter of the pdf and decide for yourself? Or do you have to pay for that too?

The pdf seems to be the entire master's thesis and it is free.

[Juniperberry]

A friend recommended this resource to me, which can be found on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Maiden-Mead-Goddess-Initiation-Mythology/dp/3639161351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313455819&sr=8-1

Yes, it's very expensive, but the author includes a link to a .pdf version on her YouTube channel in case anyone feels like a little light reading: http://www.duo.uio.no/publ/iks/2004/18497/AUTO/18497.pdf

I must admit I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, terms like "Great Goddess", and mention of "mysteries" and "secret knowledge" (which sounds Wiccanesque to me) set off warning bells. On the other hand, I'd like to read it to see what she has to say about such things. Has anyone even heard of this thesis before?

 
Since its available to everyone as a free PDF,  we could start a weekly discussion group on it and go over the good, bad and ugly chapter by chapter.

[SunflowerP]

Then read the pdf version before you buy it.

The chapter that discusses "secret knowledge", "mysteries, "Great Goddess" and "Shamanism" (I haven´t read the rest) seems to be completely sane and academic... Even though I personally think she lays too much emphasis on comparative mythology.

The study is from the University of Oslo and her bibliography holds nothing but reasonable, academic studies - this is no guarantee, but it certainly adds to its credibility.

 
At a fairly quick glance, that's about how it looks to me - genuine academic scholarship, but the lens it's done through is at least somewhat monomythic/neoPagan.  There's always a lens (scholars being human); being able to suss out what the lens is tells you what variety of salt to use, and perhaps how much salt.

Sunflower

[btb]

A friend recommended this resource to me, which can be found on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Maiden-Mead-Goddess-Initiation-Mythology/dp/3639161351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313455819&sr=8-1

Yes, it's very expensive, but the author includes a link to a .pdf version on her YouTube channel in case anyone feels like a little light reading: http://www.duo.uio.no/publ/iks/2004/18497/AUTO/18497.pdf

I must admit I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, terms like "Great Goddess", and mention of "mysteries" and "secret knowledge" (which sounds Wiccanesque to me) set off warning bells. On the other hand, I'd like to read it to see what she has to say about such things. Has anyone even heard of this thesis before?

 

yes, i am familiar with this author.. before you buy the book, visit her website.."the lady of the labyrinth" she is a scholar and has translated much work of the eddas and:pop: other manuscripts. many works are FREE and maybe even "mead" is available on there too now.

[btb]

Except for there being no 'great goddess' in our pantheon, which automatically to my mind adds to it's bullshit factor.

 


awwww. maybe too harsh. :confused:her workscope is enormous and she is very "spiritually" involved in her work. i think she leans very much to recon.

not plugging , but a fab source for info for me.

[btb]

A friend recommended this resource to me, which can be found on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Maiden-Mead-Goddess-Initiation-Mythology/dp/3639161351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313455819&sr=8-1

Yes, it's very expensive, but the author includes a link to a .pdf version on her YouTube channel in case anyone feels like a little light reading:
http://www.duo.uio.no/publ/iks/2004/18497/AUTO/18497.pdf


I must admit I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, terms like "Great Goddess", and mention of "mysteries" and "secret knowledge" (which sounds Wiccanesque to me) set off warning bells. On the other hand, I'd like to read it to see what she has to say about such things. Has anyone even heard of this thesis before?

 
her gullveig interpretation is priceless!! try he facebook too  "ladyofthe   labyrinth"

[yewberry]

I must admit I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, terms like "Great Goddess", and mention of "mysteries" and "secret knowledge" (which sounds Wiccanesque to me) set off warning bells. On the other hand, I'd like to read it to see what she has to say about such things. Has anyone even heard of this thesis before?

 
Yeah.  Her YouTube channel hints further at her leanings in the pan-European mother goddess direction.  I have no idea about this particular book, though.

Brina

[SunflowerP]

awwww. maybe too harsh. :confused:her workscope is enormous and she is very "spiritually" involved in her work. i think she leans very much to recon.

 
Not to recon as it's used in this SIG (and is usually used in other pagan contexts).  Pagan/Heathen Reconstructionism is about determining the actual religiocultural practices of an ancient culture (thus, Hellenic Recon, Celtic Recon, etc), through the use of sound scholarly sources.

Just because she's "very spiritually involved" in her work doesn't mean she has scholarly accuracy (in fact, too much spiritual investment can interfere with sound scholarship by creating a bias in favor of how one wants things to have been, rather than how they were).

Pointing out that someone's work is inaccurate isn't harsh among recons; it's how recons do things.

Sunflower

[bobthesane]

awwww. maybe too harsh. :confused:her workscope is enormous and she is very "spiritually" involved in her work. i think she leans very much to recon.

not plugging , but a fab source for info for me.

LOL uuuh, you haven't spent much time hanging with hardcore recons, have you

I'm calling her on her 'bullshit'. There was no Great Mother Goddess of Europe in antiquity. There were and are a variety of deities known in different places by different cultures, many of whom have overlapping qualities that are common to nearly all cultures. You know, motherhood, fertility, home life, etc. That merely proves that humans in widely separated places and times all view some things in the same light, and so do our deities. It provides no proof of some Super Mom goddess.

[Trollkarl]

There were and are a variety of deities known in different places by different cultures, many of whom have overlapping qualities that are common to nearly all cultures. You know, motherhood, fertility, home life, etc. That merely proves that humans in widely separated places and times all view some things in the same light, and so do our deities. It provides no proof of some Super Mom goddess.

 
A brief skim of the free pdf seems to lean almost towards the Theosophic. There are a lot of quotes of the Rig Veda (which, while fine in its own right, needs a lot of Dumezil to be brought into a discussion of Norse mythology).

Also, it's a minor point, but someone who can't figure out how to present ON letters in a modern word processor for their Masters Thesis... that raises a few red flags.

Still, the notion of some sort of underlying commonality between the various depictions of ladies serving mead isn't inherently a bad one. That it connotes sacred marriage? Seems like a stretch, but I'll reserve final judgement until I've read the pdf.