Review: FIRE JEWEL: A Devotional for Freyja

I'm usually not much for pagan devotionals, mostly because there are alot of them out there of varying states of quality or lack therof. It can be hit and miss when you are a creating a devotional work by various authors, many of whom are amateur writers and poets. I was interested in this work however, for a couple of reasons.

The recent release of FIRE JEWEL: A Devotional for Freyja by Gefion Vanirdottir piqued my interest, I have been waiting for its release. Mainly because one) there is so little devotional material available geared specifically to Freyja and 2) I have know of its release for some time and the author is familiar to me. She is someone I know from a few different forums online and I have always found her to be a very open-minded and knowledgeable person when it comes to the practice of Vanatru.


Book Information


Title: FIRE JEWEL: A Devotional for Freyja
Author: Various, Compiled by Gefion Vanirdottir
Publisher: Asphodel Press
Publication date: 2013

OVERVIEW

The book was only recently released on Amazon, and I picked up a copy as soon as it was available there. I read it here and there over a couple days and found it interesting. About half the book, around fifty pages was composed of various essays on Freyja, with the rest dedicated to rituals and ending with a selection of poetry and songs for Freyja.

As a disclaimer, the book was published by Asphodel Press, and includes a few works by Raven Kaldera and Galina Krasskova. There are many including myself who do not hold the highest opinion of these individuals and some of their views about paganism and polytheism in general. However their contributions to the book were minor and I found them to be very vanilla, a short essay on making a garden to Freyja  and instructions for making prayer beads by Kaldera and a recipe for bath salts and few paragraphs about prayers and devotions by Krasskova. Altogether underwhelming if one is looking for controversy from this book.

The book also includes lots of images of Freyja and other subjects linked to her thematically, which were very clear and well done.

REVIEW

Despite some misgivings about the publisher, I really enjoyed this book. My particular favorite was the section of essays, in particular those authored by Rhonda Turner. Though they might be a bit eclectic for the heavy reconstructionist, I found her writing very enjoyable and in line with my own practice of Vanatru. She covered many bases with her essays and her personal anecdotes only added to the value of her writing. I found her tone to be very honest and sincere, and was particularly happy that she included some references to ritual and practice regarding ones sexuality. The link between Vanatru and sexuality is something most of us know about but rarely speak of. It was refreshing to hear such an open and honest perspective from another pagan about this, however brief it may be. 

Gudrun of Mimirsbrunnr was another author who wrote quite a bit for the book, and I found her essay on divine twins interesting and liked the rituals and song/ poem she included. Both of these authors caught my attention and I would definitely like to learn more about them and read more of their work if possible. So if anyone knows of their work or personal sites, please send me a link or comment and I will gladly post that information for others to find. 

The section on ritual was interesting, though I personally like to perform ritual from a more free flowing rather than scripted basis. I enjoyed some of the project ideas proposed such as the bath salts and the making of a portable altar to Freyja. The poems were a nice touch and I found them to be interesting and heartfelt. I like reading poems more for the emotional connection they create with the author. I find poetry to be very revealing about the author themselves, so it is always interesting to see how others conceptualize their interactions with the divine. 

I was very impressed with the design of the book as well. The cover art is striking and is composed of one of my favorite modern images of the goddess Freyja. The book was well laid out, text was clear, and the black and white images were neat and clean. I especially liked how many of the shorter works and poems were accented with images of Freyja, ladies with cats, etc. It was a nice touch that I wasn't really expecting. 

The only cons for me were the length of the book coupled with the price. I purchased the book for 14 dollars and some change on Amazon, coming in at a discount of two dollars off the LULU listed price when I purchased. For just over a hundred pages it seems a bit steep, but one must factor in the limitations when the work is an anthology for a limited audience, such as contributor copies and publishing costs, etc. I would have liked to see more essays included in the book, as I found them the most valuable to me personally. With only four essays it seemed a bit lacking, but again this is something that is out of the control of the creators of a devotional work. 

GRADES
  • CONTENT     B+
  • LENGTH        B-
  • ACCESSIBILITY    A+
  • DESIGN         A
  • QUALITY       B+
  • PRICE            C+
  • OVERALL GRADE  SOLID B+
I could not in good faith give this book an A grade due to the limitations of length and price, however I enjoyed the book and am satisfied with its purchase. It is an interesting read and I one that is valuable for anyone who works with the goddess Freyja. I am glad to call it a part of my collection, and happy to support pagan writers and authors who publish such works out of their devotion to the gods more than anything else. 

In Frith
Cena 



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