PSA Reading List, Page 1: Background

PSA Reading List: Background
with annotations by those who recommended the books

Contemporary Paganism, General Works

Margot Adler. Drawing Down the Moon.: A readable history of modern British and American paganism. --Richard

Pagan History

Gerald B. Gardner. The Meaning of Witchcraft. Magickal Childe.: Unreliable as history, but a fascinating account of the nature of European pagan culture and its relations with the Christian church. --Steve
Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick. History of Pagan Europe. Routledge.: The authors "describe the hidden history of Europe, the persistence of its native religion in various forms from ancient times right up to the present day." Covers Rome, Celts, Germans, Baltics, Russia, Balkans. --Steve
Margaret A. Murray. The God of the Witches. Oxford University Press.: Recommended by Joey.; Murray's history and anthropology have been discredited, but this was a big influence on early neo-paganism. Likewise her earlier book, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe. --Steve
Monica Sjöö and Barbara Mor. The Great Cosmic Mother. Harper & Row.: All about the ancient Goddess religion and how it was trampled by patriarchy. --Steve

Classical (Greco-Roman) Mythology

Bullfinch. Mythology.: I would suggest Bullfinch's Mythology rather than Ovid. Newbies would be better served (I think) by reading it straight, rather than satires. Perhaps Ovid could be included in a list of secondary reccommendations, or with a note that this is satire of the pantheon. Otherwise, it seems to me to be somewhat disrespectful to that tradition to offer a parody of it as introductory text, however amusing it may be to the cognoscenti. --Stephanie; I second that ["Bullfinch's Mythology rather than Ovid"]. Bullfinch's has some very good scholarship (well, for the time) concerning general mythology. --Robert
Edith Hamilton. Mythology.: Shorter and drier than Bullfinch, but pulls together the primary sources and mostly indicates what comes from where. --Steve
Ovid. Metamorphoses.: A satiric poet's take on virtually every myth he knew about, written in the 1st century C.E. --Richard

Norse/Scandanavian Mythology

Snorri Sturrlson. The Elder Edda.: Compiled 12th century C.E.; the most extensive surviving primary source for Norse myth. --Richard

Russian/Slavic Mythology

Simonov, Pytor. Essential Russian Mythology.: Recommended by Jo.; Several heroic myths supplemented by overviews of important figures and recurrent themes. --Richard

European Folklore

Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, transcr., collec. & ed.. Grimm's Fairy Tales. (many eds. avail.): These stories had been handed down orally for centuries when the brothers Grimm wrote them down in the late 19th century. The authentic folk wisdom of Northern European peasants who had remained pagan at heart. Only about 35 of the 211 stories are severely contaminated by Christian influence. --Steve

Yoruba Folklore

Harlod Courlander Tales of Yoruba Gods and Heroes.: A collection of Tales from the Yoruba people of Western Africa. Collected by the author from oral re-tellings, and with expansive appendixes, this book is a must for anyone interested in African mythology. --Lance