While I'm not an enormous fan of Stephen E. Flowers, I do appreciate this book for what it is. This is a recording (whether biased or not) of historical sigils that would otherwise be incredibly difficult to come across.
This is a must-have for any Norse practitioner who is interested in Icelandic Staves (galdrstafur) and their many uses. This will not teach you how to create your own staves.
The Galdrabok section itself is only a few pages and 47 spells. The first part of the book is the context for the work and the latter additional material from Germanic magic.
Classic Flowers. EXCELLENT translation, including explanations of ambiguity where possible, and no pretension. Half of this book is sortof a historical prologue, which does an amazing job at giving you a thorough understanding of the context these spells were created in, so you can really get a feel for their form and function.
This book was written for people with their head screwed on sideways, that is the only way you can read it. Revised???? Cut and paste from the original book., nothing textwise new.
This book serves as a good introduction to anybody who is interested in Icelandic magic, with a general overview of its history and practice and a comprehensive collection of the various magical staves, runes, and phrases from the Galdrabok and other similar sources.
A great and fascinating read for anyone into Norse folklore, mythology or history! Lots to learn here, both in the actual text and in the accompanying notes and foreword by the translator. A must read for those who want to study the Norse histories and ancient beliefs!
A very well composed and elaborated work on the subject of Icelandic magic, which I would wholeheartedly reccomend to anyone who takes interest in this subject. The author tries his best to really make this book useful for personal magical use, and even provides a brief history of magic in Island, which is helpful for both practitioners of magic and scholars who are just interested in the history of this topic. One minor flaw is the author‘s inabillity to differentiate from his connection to the temple of Seth, which definetely shows in some parts of the book, but that doesn’t mean that this book is really biased in any way or form. The author really does a terrific job at explaining and documenting the history and practice of Icelandic folk magic, and this is a definite reccomendation for anyone who‘s interested in this sort of topic, regardless if you‘re a folk or ceremonial magician or even someone who doesn’t practice magic at all.
VERY well done. Excellent foreword (about half the book) to provide context. Many references cited. Very highly recommended for fans of The Necronomicon or other grimoires. Flowers is hands-down the best in the field.