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       #Post#: 56--------------------------------------------------
       The Well and the Tree by Paul C. Bauschatz
       By: Alfred Raeburne Date: October 27, 2014, 3:06 pm
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  HTML http://www.amazon.com/Well-Tree-World-Germanic-Culture/dp/0870233521/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414440161&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Well+and+the+Tree
       "Before I start, I think this work is somewhat dated in a number
       of important respects. I don't think it should be read as
       authoritative. However it is very thought provoking. If course,
       pioneers rarely if ever get everything right. The goal of
       reading a pioneering work should be to pick up ideas and
       directions for future work.
       The work is a series of essays which attempt to explore
       different aspects of early Germanic concepts of time and
       perception. This is an important piece of Germanic philology and
       deserves close attention by any Germanic scholar or pagan. The
       essays describe the relationship between concepts of past and
       reality, and between different aspects of myth and world.
       On the negative, the book places a great deal of emphasis on the
       now-disregarded theories of Marija Gimbutas regarding kurgan
       invasions, and the author is not very good at explaining why a
       number of choices are made in his analysis. For example, why
       should the three wells be reduced to one? What are the limits of
       this approach? I think sometimes he gets carried away in his own
       simplifications.
       Similarly, his discussion of language tenses centers almost
       exclusively on early Gothic translations of the Greek New
       Testiment. There is very little attempt to look at the specifics
       of communicating future events in Old Norse literature for
       example because he jumps to the conclusion that this element of
       communication didn't really exist as such in early Germanic.
       Unfortunately without a clear analysis of all the main Germanic
       languages, even linguistically proficient readers are not able
       to judge for themselves without going back and redoing the
       analysis themselves.
       On the positive side, the author brings our attention to a
       number of important elements of the interplay between the Well
       and the Tree in Norse mythology. In particular, the connection
       of clay with layering, and this with laws and fate is quite
       interesting. Also, the connection of the well with the past
       provides a great deal of food for thought. The attempt to move
       "Skuld" out of the idea of a simple representation of the future
       is also welcome.
       On the whole, I think this is one of the most important works in
       the field. Despite the negative elements above, I think this
       book should be required reading for anyone doing any serious
       studies of early Germanic cosmology and thought."~Christopher R.
       Trevors
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