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The Return of Odin
- The Modern Renaissance of Pagan Imagination
- Narrated by: Micah Hanks
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
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Publisher's summary
A controversial examination of the influence and presence of the Norse god Odin in contemporary history and culture. It:
- Documents Odin’s role in the rise of Nazi Germany, the 1960s counterculture revolution, nationalist and ecological political movements, and the occult revival
- Examines the spiritual influence of Odin in relation to Jesus Christ
- Profiles key individuals instrumental in the rise of the modern pagan renaissance
Exploring the influence of the Norse god Odin in the modern world, Richard Rudgley reveals Odin’s central role in the pagan revival and how this has fueled a wide range of cultural movements and phenomena, including Nazi Germany, the 1960s counterculture revolution, the Lord of the Rings, the ecology movement, and the occult underground.
Rudgley argues that it is Odin and not Jesus Christ who is the single most important spiritual influence in modern Western civilization. He analyzes the Odin archetype - first revealed by Carl Jung’s famous essay on Wotan - in the context of pagan religious history and explains the ancient idea of the Web - a cosmic field of energies that encompasses time, space, and the hidden potentials of humanity - the pagan equivalent to the Tao of Eastern tradition. The author examines the importance of the concept of wyrd, which corresponds to “fate” or “destiny”, exploring techniques to read destiny such as the runes as well as the existence of yoga in prehistoric and pagan Europe, which later produced the Norse Utiseta, an ancient system of meditation.
Rudgley documents how the Odin archetype came into play in Nazi Germany with the rise of Hitler and the pagan counterculture of the 1960s. He examines how the concept of subterranean and mythic realms, such as the Hollow Earth, Thule, and Agartha, and mysterious energies like Vril were manifested in both occult and profane ways and investigates key occult figures like Madame Blavatsky, Guido von List, and Karl Wiligut. He provides pagan analyses of Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings and documents the impact the Odin archetype has had on nationalist and fascist groups in America and Europe.
Examining pagan groups in Europe and America that use the Norse template, Rudgley reveals true paganism as holistic and intimately connected with the forces at work in the life of the planet. Showing how this “green” paganism can be beneficial for dealing with the adverse consequences of globalization and the ongoing ecological crisis, he explains how, when repressed, the Odin archetype is responsible for regressive tendencies and even mass-psychosis - a reflection of the unprecedented chaos of Ragnarok - but if embraced, the Odin archetype makes it possible for like-minded traditions to work together in the service of life.
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“In this fascinating work, Richard Rudgley provides a gripping and enlightening guidebook to the ‘lost continent of the European imagination’ as well as a necessary warning about the dangers of letting the ‘Odinic experiment’ get out of hand.” (Gary Lachman, author of Lost Knowledge of the Imagination)
“Richard Rudgley understands the god Odin, who goes wherever knowledge is to be found no matter the danger involved. Thus, we find Rudgley delving into many areas of infamy in The Return of Odin because that is where the search leads. To do this is brave, and I salute any author who dares it.” (Ian Read, former editor of Rûna magazine and rune master with the Rune-Gild)
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Story
The Nazi fascination with the occult is legendary, yet today it is often dismissed as Himmler's personal obsession or wildly overstated for its novelty. Preposterous though it was, however, supernatural thinking was inextricable from the Nazi project. The regime enlisted astrology and the paranormal, paganism, Indo-Aryan mythology, witchcraft, miracle weapons, and the lost kingdom of Atlantis in reimagining German politics and society and recasting German science and religion.
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sobering
- By Nicholas Monco on 10-27-17
By: Eric Kurlander
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Asian Journals
- India and Japan (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell)
- By: Joseph Campbell
- Narrated by: Fred Stella
- Length: 26 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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At the beginning of his career, Joseph Campbell developed a lasting fascination with the cultures of the Far East, and explorations of Buddhist and Hindu philosophy later became recurring motifs in his vast body of work. However, Campbell had to wait until middle age to visit the lands that inspired him so deeply. In 1954, he took a sabbatical from his teaching position and embarked on a year-long voyage through India, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and finally Japan.
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What a journey!
- By Anonymous User on 08-11-18
By: Joseph Campbell
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The Chalice and the Blade
- Our History, Our Future
- By: Riane Eisler
- Narrated by: Riane Eisler
- Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins
- Abridged
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Riane Eisler believes that war and the "war of the sexes" are concepts neither divinely nor biologically ordained. Join the author as she reconstructs a prehistoric culture based on partnership rather than domination and traces the roots of the global shift to patriarchy. Eisler, an acclaimed scholar, futurist, and activist, also presents new scripts for living based on a more socially, economically, ecologically, personally, and spiritually balanced society. This script is in direct opposition to the tension and violence typical of what she calls the dominator model. Her vision is the partnership model, which today is struggling to reemerge. This program is an important contribution to that struggle.
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the chalice and the blade
- By Anne on 07-25-08
By: Riane Eisler
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The Alphabet Versus the Goddess
- The Conflict Between Word and Image
- By: Leonard Shlain
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 24 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Who changed the sex of God? This groundbreaking book proposes that the rise of alphabetic literacy reconfigured the human brain and brought about profound changes in history, religion, and gender relations. Making remarkable connections across brain function, myth, and anthropology, Dr. Shlain shows why pre-literate cultures were principally informed by holistic, right-brain modes that venerated the Goddess, images, and feminine values.
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Can't Even Get Started
- By Marie on 02-08-19
By: Leonard Shlain
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Battling the Gods
- Atheism in the Ancient World
- By: Tim Whitmarsh
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Long before the European Enlightenment and the Darwinian revolution, which we often take to mark the birth of the modern revolt against religious explanations of the world, brave people doubted the power of the gods. Religion provoked skepticism in ancient Greece, and heretics argued that history must be understood as a result of human action rather than divine intervention. They devised theories of the cosmos based on matter and notions of matter based on atoms.
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We have a history as long and as rich as any relig
- By Glencannnon on 08-13-19
By: Tim Whitmarsh
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The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali
- A Biography
- By: David Gordon White
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Consisting of fewer than 200 verses written in an obscure if not impenetrable language and style, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra is today extolled by the yoga establishment as a perennial classic and guide to yoga practice. As David Gordon White demonstrates in this groundbreaking study, both of these assumptions are incorrect. Virtually forgotten in India for hundreds of years and maligned when it was first discovered in the West, the Yoga Sutra has been elevated to its present iconic status.
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Academic Hubris
- By John on 10-31-14
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Beyond the North Wind
- The Fall and Rise of the Mystic North
- By: Christopher McIntosh, Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson - foreword
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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"The North" is simultaneously a location, a direction, and a mystical concept. Although this concept has ancient roots in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales, it continues to resonate today within modern culture. McIntosh leads listeners through the magical and spiritual history of the North, as well as its modern manifestations, as documented through physical records, such as runestones and megaliths, but also through mythology and lore. This mythic conception of a powerful, mysterious Northern civilization was known to the Greeks as "Hyberborea" - the "Land Beyond the North Wind".
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Mostly fringe
- By Meg on 11-28-20
By: Christopher McIntosh, and others
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The Witch
- A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present
- By: Ronald Hutton
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 16 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Why have societies all across the world feared witchcraft? This book delves deeply into its context, beliefs, and origins in Europe's history. The witch came to prominence - and often a painful death - in early modern Europe, yet her origins are much more geographically diverse and historically deep. In this landmark book, Ronald Hutton traces witchcraft from the ancient world to the early modern state.
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Meticulously researched, dry but great.
- By Matthew T Shank on 09-21-18
By: Ronald Hutton
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God
- A Human History
- By: Reza Aslan
- Narrated by: Reza Aslan
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In layered prose and with thoughtful, accessible scholarship, Aslan narrates the history of religion as one long and remarkably cohesive attempt to understand the divine by giving it human traits and emotions. According to Aslan, this innate desire to humanize God is hardwired in our brains, making it a central feature of nearly every religious tradition. As Aslan writes, "Whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless if we are believers or not, what the vast majority of us think about when we think about God is a divine version of ourselves."
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His best work yet
- By Jeff M on 11-15-17
By: Reza Aslan
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101 Secrets of the Freemasons
- The Truth Behind the World's Most Mysterious Society
- By: Barb Karg, John K. Young PhD
- Narrated by: Paul Brion
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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From the illustrious George Washington and the infamous J. Edgar Hoover to brilliant imaginer Walt Disney and bad boy of baseball Ty Cobb, Freemasons have influenced every aspect of American life. Yet this secret society remains as controversial and mysterious as ever. In this tell-all audiobook, you'll learn the truth about the largest - and oldest - fraternal organization and unravel the mystery of this intriguing society - one secret at a time!
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Very Scattered
- By Amazon Customer on 03-04-20
By: Barb Karg, and others
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The Yugas
- Keys to Understanding Our Hidden Past, Emerging Energy Age and Enlightened Future
- By: Joseph Selbie, David Steinmetz, Swami Kriyananda - foreword
- Narrated by: Paul Brion
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Today's view of history cannot account for ancient anomalies, such as the Pyramids and advanced knowledge contained in India's Vedas. But in 1894, an Indian sage gave us an explanation not only for our hidden past but for the trends of today and for our future enlightenment - the 24,000-year yuga cycle.
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Excellent book but one slight problem
- By Z on 02-19-19
By: Joseph Selbie, and others
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Ibn Khaldun
- An Intellectual Biography
- By: Robert Irwin
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) is generally regarded as the greatest intellectual ever to have appeared in the Arab world - a genius who ranks as one of the world's great minds. Yet the author of the Muqaddima, the most important study of history ever produced in the Islamic world, is not as well known as he should be, and his ideas are widely misunderstood. In this groundbreaking intellectual biography, Robert Irwin provides an engaging and authoritative account of Ibn Khaldun's extraordinary life, times, writings, and ideas.
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Issues with accuracy, pronounciation
- By Moh 3aly on 01-02-19
By: Robert Irwin
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Dark Star Rising
- Magick and Power in the Age of Trump
- By: Gary Lachman
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Within the concentric circles of Trump's regime lies an unseen culture of occultists, power-seekers, and mind-magicians whose influence is on the rise. In this unparalleled account, historian Gary Lachman examines the influence of occult and esoteric philosophy on the unexpected rise of the alt-right.
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Step Right This Way!
- By Brad on 06-03-18
By: Gary Lachman
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The Shaolin Monastery
- History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts
- By: Meir Shahar
- Narrated by: Kevin Young
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The Shaolin Monastery charts for the first time in any language the history of the Shaolin Temple and the evolution of its world-renowned martial arts. In this meticulously researched and eminently readable study Meir Shahar considers the economic political and religious factors that led Shaolin monks to disregard the Buddhist prohibition against violence and instead create fighting techniques that by the 21st century have spread throughout the world.
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Dry and uninspired
- By Jonathan on 07-18-17
By: Meir Shahar
What listeners say about The Return of Odin
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Araworn
- 10-04-20
All in all a good book
all in all this was a good book very informative I learned a few new things being of German descent myself I did however take some issue with the area that had to do with Nazi Germany and as the book says chosen ones the way it was worded as though the chosen ones are no part to blame and what happened with them seeing as that they have been kicked out of over a hundred countries it stands to reason that not all the countries can be anti-semitic but there must be some pattern of behavior the chosen ones act out that causes the host Nations to want to rid themselves of the chosen people then the book addresses so-called white supremacist Timothy McVeigh Etc I'm not quite sure why it was necessary to drag these types of topics and people into this it wasn't at all what I was expecting when I purchase the book having said that when you listen to as the author himself State the reasons for some of these people that are brought up do the things they do and think the things they think in the very conclusion itself touches on the very things that are happening it just seemed to go a little off topic to me but it was a good book none the less
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3 people found this helpful
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- Odin folkvar
- 12-17-19
very informing, modernization of norse
while the book at times does seem a little boring due to a dull sense of narration, the narrator does speak clearly and intelligently, the book itself covers everything from the beginning of norse mythology into the traditions and beliefs of vikings, on to nazis and how they used paganism and norse beliefs in their rise and time in power, on to neo nazis and how the norse myths have influenced them and how they see it in their eyes, there is also theoretical suggestions on famous serial killers and how it may have an effect on their beings or decisions made, also covering well known books such as lord of the rings and journey to the center of the earth and how norse origins influenced these stories and others. overall a very informative book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Big Kountry
- 06-30-22
lots of info
lots of info in this i didn't know, andnsomethings that i didnt see with the modern world happening that pertains to odin of the past. but very eye opening and def recommend
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- S. Michalski
- 11-10-20
Ignorance Grasping at Inane Thoughts
Got 2/3 of the way through the book, then deleted it from my library. Some interesting historical data is shared, but equating Odinic energy and archetypes with fascists and serial killers shows a complete lack of knowledge and understanding of this major spiritual/religious being. Don't waste your time or money.
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6 people found this helpful
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- trever
- 12-17-20
not what I was looking for
would you like to hear hours long rants about how evil and bad Odinn is and his followers? or how Odinn is the cause of all racism? neither do I. don't buy this book.
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6 people found this helpful