Why do you torture yourself so? There is no one GOD, there are no multiple gods, there is no Jesus, there is no Thor. You will find the Creator, the God, in your heart, in the writings of the learned, in freaking Time magazine. You won't find Him or anybody else living in fantasy land.
one of my heathen contacts recommended myths and symbols in pagan Europe by h r Ellis Davidson. i haven't read it yet, but it looks fascinating. it covers Celtic and Norse.
Teutonic Religion by Kveldulf Gundarsson
Our Troth ed. by K. Gundarsson
Essential Asatru by Diana Paxson
A Book of Troth by Edred Thorsson
Northern Magic by Edred Thorsson
Avoid at all costs: Rites of Odin by Ed Fith
Norse Magic by DJ Conway
Anything by Silver Ravenwolf
Prose Edda Bylock trans
Poetic Edda Larrington is my favorite but if you have the patience Bellows has the best notes
Icelandic Sagas (a three inch thick book from Penguin books. Fun)
Gods and Myths of Northern Europe HR Ellis Davidson
Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe HR Ellis Davidson
The Volsung Saga (Totally my fave. Dragons and betrayal and suicide and murder....better then a soap opera)
Road to Hel HR Ellis Davidson
Germania by Tacitus (If you want to really give yourself a headache slog through the Latin version. I'm a masochist what can I say)
Ummm trying to remember off the top of my head what's in my library and what's on my "I really really want it" list. That's all I can think off of the top of my head. I tend to gravitate toward historical and archaeological sources then contemporary authors.
Among them I recommend Galina Krasskova's "Exploring the Northern Tradition" and Diana Paxson's "Essential Asatru" as primers, as those are good books for beginners who don't need to jump into the more scholarly stuff right away.
However, at least a basic level understanding of the Eddas and Sagas is paramount so you need to get yourself a copy of those, both the Poetic and Prose Eddas and the Sagas. You can find them on Northvegr and the Icelandic Lore section of the Sacred Texts site, both linked on my page.
In addition it's a good idea to read H.R. Elis Davidson (anything by her, but especially "Gods and Myths of Northern Europe" and "The Road to Hel", if you can find the latter), and stuff like "Germania" by Tactitus.
Read as much as you can, and don't just stick to the "ancient" stuff either. A lot of the more later Germanic tales like the fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm can hold good clues about how the Germanic peoples viewed the worlds, and since fairies and land spirits and the honoring of them is a big thing in Norse/Germanic religion, they are also valuable because they give good hints on how to deal with them (and how not to). You can find all sorts of good stuff at Northvegr too.
http://home.earthlink.net/~jordsvin is my website and has a lot of information. For the more "magical" or "esoteric" forms of Heathen religion, I have a free on line Rune book there (or go ogle Jordsvin Rune Month) which has a good reading list in the wrap-up article, plus the Seidhr section of my page has many links, articles and a reading list. For the Anglo-Saxon version of Germanic Heathenism (Asatru is Scandinavian-oriented), buy Hammer of the Gods by Swain Wodening, a frequent poster to this forum. It's an excellent book; I am proud to have done a great deal of the proofreading and comments after the initial publication. For an intro to the continental German Heathenism, Coulter, James Hjuka. Germanic Heathenry: A Practical Guide. n.p.: 1st Books, 2003 is very good.
By far the book I have used the most: Sheil, Thor and Audrey. The Road to Bifrost Volume V: The Mysteries on Bifrost?s Path. New York: Trollwise Press, 1991. Highly useful, especially for hands-on work with our Gods and Goddesses. This is a very practical book with a lot of common sense and information on how to work with the Gods and Goddesses. http://www.thortrains.com/bifrost/bookrtb.htm
The Icelandic Sagas, The Poetic Edda, Freya Aswynn's Northern Mysteries in Magik (Freya Asywnn is great), Northern Magik by Eddred Thorrson (Eddred Thorrson has many great books), The masks of Odin, Myths of the Norsemen.
That is just to get started. Good luck and enjoy your studies. Can I make a suggestion if I may? I have studied many paths on my way to my own and one thing that made it easier to understand another way of being and believing was to put aside (to be retrieved later) all that I believe now and be open to experiencing it as though it was my way. Live it for a while, do it, and how they did it and maybe a little about why will dawn on you naturally. And when your studies are done you can integrate what you have learned with what you already know. Good luck and enjoy!
Avoid ALL modern authors. Seriously. All you'll be getting is someone *Else's* UPG, frequently based on how they personally do it . . . and all too often, it's little more than paganism or Wicca dressed up in Viking clothing.
Krassnokova's book, for example, has a section on Rokkr/Jotun worship, which is a bit like finding a "how to worship Satan" chapter in a Southern Baptist theology textbook.
I make the following recommendation to pretty much everyone who asks:
Read "Gods & Myths of Northern Europe" (also published as ". . . of the Viking Age" in a nifty hardcover edition recently) by Hilda R. Ellis Davidson to get the "big picture" and cultural foundations.
Buy a copy of the Poetic Edda in a translation you like . . . there's Hollander, Larrington, Bellows, Dronke, and Bray available. Preferences vary (I like Bellows, but grew up reading KJV, so archaic English doesn't faze me) and the big Penguin edition of "Sagas of the Icelanders."
In the Edda, read *just* the Havamal. Then read a Saga. Read the Havamal again. Read another Saga. Read a Saga, read the Havamal. Repeat until you've read all the Icelandic Sagas.
By then, you should have a good understanding of how our ancestors LIVED their beliefs . . . and you'll be safe from the UPG crowd.
Pagans/Heathens/Anyone else, can you suggest some good books for learning about ?satr
