Germanic Paganism Sources
I can’t list these sources without first going through a million different caveats. I’m going to keep this introduction brief due to the length of this post, but be aware that these sources have been subjected to Christianization, speculation, mistranslation, etc. Many of these sources were copied down by Christian authors who may have altered the truth in order to fit their perspective. Some may have vague terms or phrases that we can no longer understand because they existed in an entirely new context. Essentially, approach all of these texts from a speculative and critical lens. This doesn’t mean we can’t decipher the truth. We can decipher the truth by comparing texts from the same time, countries, etc with each other and finding the common threads. Pairing these attestations with archaeological records is also immensely helpful and I hope to compile a list of archaeological records some time in the future. You can find many free records and studies by simply typing, for example, “anglo-saxon burials archaeological excavations.”
This list consists of records of various Germanic peoples, histories, as well as semi-legendary sagas and poetry. By exploring a variety of texts instead of just ethnographic works, we can understand the history, culture, customs, traditions, values, and more. These are all crucial in approaching paganism with the goal of accurate and thorough understanding. I wanted to focus primarily on sources from close to the pagan period, but I have also included current sources in the grimoires and runes section. For the contemporary study of Germanic paganism, I always recommend Stephen Flowers!
https://www.norron-mytologi.info/diverse/ThorpeThePoeticEdda.pdf
http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/EDDArestr.pdf
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/657/pg657-images.html
https://ia804700.us.archive.org/31/items/exeterbookanthol00goll/exeterbookanthol00goll.pdf
https://langeslag.uni-goettingen.de/oddities/texts/Aecerbot.pdf
https://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/03d/0627-0735,_Beda_Venerabilis,_Ecclesiastical_History_Of_England,_EN.pdf
https://www.ragweedforge.com/rpae.html (this website also has the norwegian and icelandic rune poems)
https://www.dvusd.org/cms/lib/AZ01901092/Centricity/Domain/2897/beowulf_heaney.pdf
https://sacred-texts.com/neu/ascp/
https://ia601403.us.archive.org/12/items/bede-the-reckoning-of-time-2012/Bede%20-%20The%20Reckoning%20of%20Time%20%282012%29.pdf
https://sacred-texts.com/neu/nblng/index.htm
https://www.germanicmythology.com/works/merseburgcharms.html
https://www.liturgies.net/saints/willibrord/alcuin.htm
https://sacred-texts.com/neu/saxo/index.htm
https://archive.org/details/booksettlementi00ellwgoog/page/n4/mode/2up
https://sacred-texts.com/neu/kveng/kvrune01.htm
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/7524/7524-h/7524-h.htm
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/598/598-h/598-h.htm
http://vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Heimskringla%20II.pdf
https://sacred-texts.com/neu/heim/05hakon.htm
https://sacred-texts.com/neu/vlsng/index.htm
https://sacred-texts.com/neu/egil/index.htm
https://sacred-texts.com/neu/ice/is3/index.htm
https://sagadb.org/files/pdf/eyrbyggja_saga.en.pdf
https://sagadb.org/brennu-njals_saga.en
https://archive.org/details/GaldrabokAnIcelandicGrimoire1
https://handrit.is/manuscript/view/is/IB04-0383/9#page/3v/mode/2up
https://galdrastafir.com/#vegvisir
https://www.esonet.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Futhark-A-Handbook-of-Rune-Magic-Edred-Thorsson-1984.pdf
*Due to link limits on tumblr, i cannot link all of these. Please paste them into your browser.
*Also, sadly I could not find some of the sources I wanted for free. I will continue to update this post with new links and it will be pinned to my profile always!
stormborns
2087
izzy806
romaincrisis
gracieabrams
tangentwithtanner
