Paganism Explained, Part III: The Cult of Mithra & Hymiskvida

by Varg Vikernes, Marie Cachet

An explanation to the cult of Mithra and the Norse myth Hymiskviða. 86 pages, 5" x 8".

Genres: Paganism, Mythology

86 pages, Paperback

Published February 26, 2018

About the author

Varg Vikernes is a Norwegian musician. In 1991 Vikernes conceived the one-man music project Burzum, which quickly became popular within the early Norwegian black metal scene. In Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, director Sam Dunn described Vikernes as "the most notorious metal musician of all time".

"After creating in the course of four early albums an impressive body of art that essentially ended black metal as it was by raising the bar beyond what others could easily participate in, Vikernes was imprisoned for sixteen years for his alleged role in church arson and murder. During the time he was in prison, he put out two more impressive keyboard-based albums and several books’ worth of writings before falling silent around the turn of the millennium." (source: www.deathmetal.org)

Since then and after his release in 2009, he has authored several writings on Nordic/Germanic neopaganism and European nationalism from a primitivist and naturalist stance focused on cultural values in the community and family.

Reviews

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Varg and his wife make an excellent analysis of paganism and propose a meaning to the myths without falling into new age claptrap. The entire series is excellent.

[Canuknot (Cyn) · Rating 3 out of 5]

My whole experience with the “paganism explained” series has been, “well, I guess that is one way to interpret it...” there’s really no better way to describe these books. Without being able to ask anyone from that era what the heck is going on you can allow Varg and his wife Marie to take you on a journey of interpretation which is as good as any other. I appreciate the loss of Christian veneer in their writing which is hard to get from any modern Asatru practitioner. There is a depth and wealth of knowledge about the ancient European ways that has been lost on Christian writers and if nothing else I appreciate that the Cachets are trying to dig it up.

[Calicolex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Small book

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Varg discussing Mithra and while I can concede the similarities of themes in the great redeemers of history it is noteworthy that different cultures represent things differently and the words may change but the rhythm is essentially the same.