Beyond the North Wind: The Fall and Rise of the Mystic North"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 readers, chapter by chapter, 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 unique, powerful, and mysterious Northern civilization was known to the Greeks as "Hyberborea"--the "Land Beyond the North Wind"--which they considered to be the true origin place of their god, Apollo, bringer of civilization. Through the Greeks, this concept of the mythic North would spread throughout Western civilization. In addition, McIntosh discusses Russian Hyperboreanism, which he describes as among "the most influential of the new religions and quasi-religious movements that have sprung up in Russia since the fall of Communism" and which is currently almost unknown in the West. |
Contents
1 | |
9 | |
3 Midnight Land Northern Light | 21 |
Evidence for migration from the North | 39 |
5 The Nordic World and Its Legacy | 51 |
6 The Runes | 69 |
Samurai of the West | 85 |
8 Northern Mysteries Resurrected | 95 |
12 A Russian Hyperborea? | 163 |
13 The North in the Age of Mass Communication | 177 |
14 Conclusion | 193 |
Whos Who in Northern Mythology | 201 |
225 | |
Illustration Credits | 229 |
230 | |
About the Authors | 235 |
The Northern Sanctum | 109 |
10 Old Gods New Age | 123 |
Russia and the Northern Spirit | 145 |
Backcover | 237 |