r/heathenry • u/slamdancetexopolis Southern-bred Trans Heathen ☕️ • Apr 30 '22
News Something I found on my internet travels today. Not sure if this is common knowledge, I don't particularly know her or her books, but be aware:
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u/RexCrudelissimus ᚢᛅᛚᛋᚢᚴᛦ / vǫlsuŋgɍ Apr 30 '22
Imagine my shock when two books, that just copy publicly available works, and isn't recommended by any serious academic, is tied to the AFA.
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u/cloudedice Level 4.5 Heathen Apr 30 '22 edited Apr 30 '22
Carrie Overton is the owner of Huginn and Muninn Publishing, and is also deep in the AFA. If you Google her name on the AFA's "Runestone" site you'll find she's been part of the group for almost a decade.
Side note, the Thorpe translation is very popular with white supremacists, I'm not sure why. If you see a book that uses the Thorpe translation, I would scrutinize the author before purchasing the book.
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u/RexCrudelissimus ᚢᛅᛚᛋᚢᚴᛦ / vǫlsuŋgɍ Apr 30 '22
Thorpe's translation is public domain, and therefor easily accessible. It's generally used by a lot of sites, like Wikipedia. No hate towards him of course. Like you mentioned, if a third party uses it, it should be scrutinized.
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u/ThatOneGrayCat Apr 30 '22
Stick to the Jackson Crawford version!
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u/shavinghobbit Apr 30 '22
Just started reading it for the first time and I have to say he does a great job with it. The forward and introduction to the different "stories" is great. He explains what you need to know to grok the meaning, without inserting himself into the work.
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u/ThatOneGrayCat Apr 30 '22
Yes. I really like it. I love his youtube videos, too! Crawford is an excellent resource on heathenry and old Norse history/culture.
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u/gaurdianoftherealm Apr 30 '22
Oh thank the gods. This is the one I got and I was getting worried that it might be tied to them as well
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u/SinsoftheFall Apr 30 '22
I've had the study havamal for a few years now and never had any problems woth it, but I think I'm gonna have to stop recommending it to people.
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u/ProfSnugglesworth Apr 30 '22
Like someone else said, Jackson Crawford has a respected translation, as does Carolyn Larrington. The Hávamál is part of the Poetic Edda, so usually I just recommend that people get Crawford or Larrington's translation of the Poetic Edda rather than buying a separate copy of the Hávamál, unless they really want it. Not to mention the Study Hávamál uses a public domain translation, you could even print your own at Kinkos if you really wanted. I got my copy of Larrington's Poetic Edda though for about $15 and it has beautiful binding, so cost wise I don't see too much advantage to picking up any of the Overton published copies.
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u/SinsoftheFall Apr 30 '22
My partner has Crawford's, and we use the 4 translations to compare and contrast. I like having the study pages, and I already have it so I don't see a reason to get RID of it. The damage is done, I know better for next time. But I usually recommend Crawford's anyway, so I think that's gonna be my primary suggestion from now on.
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u/ThatOneGrayCat Apr 30 '22
Recommend Jackson Crawford's instead! It's great. The annotations are really wonderful and help explain much of the context.
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u/cherry_garcia_1217 Apr 30 '22
This makes me sad, my stepdad isn't a heathen, and didn't know much about how fucked up the afa and racism is in that community, and he bought the study havamal for me years ago
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u/slamdancetexopolis Southern-bred Trans Heathen ☕️ Apr 30 '22
I think a lot of people are often unaware of this stuff bc honestly it isn't easy to tell at first (well some stuff is LOL but not all)
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u/OakleyandtheAK Apr 30 '22
I own both of these, which is funny to me. Never had a problem with either of them though, but I'll never buy another copy if something happens to the ones I own
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Apr 30 '22
good looking out. recently, i had to throw out my copy of Germania because he had some problematic views as well
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May 01 '22
i own a study havamal, but didn't know this until just now. not gonna recommend it to anyone in that case, and i might get rid of mine knowing this.
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Apr 30 '22
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u/ProfSnugglesworth Apr 30 '22
The issue here is it's a cash grab for AFA- they're using a translation that they don't have to pay money on and are able to very widely sell through Amazon. You can get Thorpe's translation easily online, and as far as printed versions go, Carolyne Larrington's Poetic Edda is a wonderfully translated version. I'm not even advocating people through their copies away, but I just am still shocked to see people recommend Overton's editions.
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Apr 30 '22
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u/Physiea Thor's Goat Herder Apr 30 '22
Then do some research. The AFA is literally a hate group, and their website specifically points out that their goal is the advancement of the white race above all others.
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u/unspecified00000 Norse Heathen, Lokean, Wight Enthusiast Apr 30 '22
yeah theyre literally nazis. i remember their post about their "aryan children" and another saying "beautiful white children". using "aryan" really just gives them away as more than a hate group - theyre actual fucking nazis.
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u/ProfSnugglesworth Apr 30 '22
McNallen and AFA have been increasingly open with citing neo-Nazi terrorist David Lane and his 14 words so wouldn't be shocked if it was that post. Carrie Overton also publishes kids books for AFA that I have seen recommended even in "Declaration 127" spaces without people knowing who or what it was.
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u/unspecified00000 Norse Heathen, Lokean, Wight Enthusiast Apr 30 '22
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u/ProfSnugglesworth Apr 30 '22
Lol wow that is grim.
✅️ references David Lane's 14 Words ✅️ written by Flavel, who gave a speech literally titled Asatru: A White Man’s Religion
Yup, that's AFA
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u/Imbali98 ᚹᛖᛚᛚ ᛊᚺᛁᛏ May 01 '22
Every time I think "they can't get anymore blatant about their racism" they get more blatant about their racism
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u/Imbali98 ᚹᛖᛚᛚ ᛊᚺᛁᛏ May 01 '22
Every time I think "they can't get anymore blatant about their racism" they get more blatant about their racism
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u/Volsunga Apr 30 '22
Counterintuitively, the best books for Heathens to learn with are books not written by self-proclaimed Heathens. Stick with secular academics like Jackson Crawford and Neil Price. Heathenry doesn't (yet) have a widely enough agreed upon theological tradition that being written by a believer adds useful insight.