Review: Visions of Vanaheim

This is the 2nd edition of the book. The original edition was removed years ago, and now has Svartesól has revised the book and re-written sections of the book. This book is more of an explanation of the author’s personal beliefs than a re-constructionist text. If you’re interested in the Vanir, however, it’s an interesting read.

The book starts out reviewing the different gods and goddesses that the author categorizes as Vanir. He pulls from the different primary sources that we currently have for Norse mythology as well as from personal gnosis.

The rest of the book is mostly from a combination of shared and personal gnosis, and describes the structure of the non-divine residents of Vanaheim – the rulers and the different tribes of folk. Svartesól covers information about the different tribes as well as the rituals that they perform and how to interact with them.

The author is quite good at identifying what is from Personal gnosis, shared gnosis, and from primary sources so you can make your own decisions on what you believe.