Product Description

Sent on a mission deep into the forests of pagan Anglo-Saxon England, Wat Brand, a Christian scribe, suddenly finds his vision of the world turned upside down. The familiar English countryside is not what it seems: threatening spirits, birds of omen and plants of power lurk in this landscape of fallen terrors and mysterious forces. With Wulf, a sorcerer and mystic, as his guide, Brand is instructed in the magical lore of plants, runes, fate and the life force until finally he journeys to the spirit world on a quest to encounter the true nature of his own soul.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #443905 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 237 pages

About the Author
Brian Bates is a Professor at the University of Brighton. He is the author of the bestselling novel, The Way of the Wyrd, hardcover edition, ISBN: 0062500406. His most recent book is The Human Face, ISBN: 0789478366, co-written with John Cleese. Brian lives in the UK.

Customer Reviews

Castaneda meets Tolkien, inspirational fantasy
This book is an inspiring tale about shamanism in Anglo-Saxon times. The reader will immediately see the influences of Castaneda, Tolkien, and the Jungian/Joseph Campbell shool of psychology.

Bates does tie in some interesting historical facts, and does a good job of explaining Wyrd and other Pagan concepts. The only issues are that it does not live up to the story telling ability of either Castaneda or Tolkien, and comes across a little too clean & idealistic. The tale seems to be a fairly bare frame on which to hang the author's admiration for his own view of pre-Christian culture.

In doing so, the book reflects an idealised and romantic view of Pagan culture, akin to the fantasy traditions of Wicca. As a fellow Pagan, I can empathise with the urge to imagine these ancestors as wise custodians of the land. However, the evidence indicates that they were actually not all that different to us in exploiting natural resources (there were just less of them to make an impact), and they almost certainly practiced some rites that we would baulk at today. For every wise one, there would have been many more who were just ignorant and superstitious.

As comforting as it may be to our own conscience to believe in the 19th Century ideal of the noble savage, or the New-Age fantasy of the all knowing shaman, it does our ancestors a disservice to always imagine that their efforts came to nought, and their descendants ended up inferior to them.

The book is well worth the read as great inspiration, but take it with a grain of salt, as a simple tale based on very limited historical information seen through a very thick lense of idealism.

Anglo Saxons and their wyrd
Bates uses Carlos Castaneda's technique consisting of a dialogue between an all-knowing teacher and an ignorant disciple (a young Christian monk)to convey beliefs from the wild region between the Welsh and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (~7-8th century AD). He calls these practices 'wyrd': "that which turns out, that which comes to pass". Another commonly used synonym would be 'Indra's net' denoting an interconnectedness of all action and phenomena.

For Bates, the wyrd includes supernatural experiences related to dreaming and altered states involving guidance from animals, spirits and plants. These experiences have been (according the the Introduction) snatched from old Saxon texts. Unfortunately, this programmatic element brings a certain rigidity and lack of spontaneity into the text which never develops beyond an awkward tale.

TWW lacks the humor one enjoys in Castaneda's books. The severity of the Saxon shaman Wulf cannot match the bright sparkle of don Juan's eyes, neither can the stolidity of the narrative match the mystery and unexpectedness that one finds in Castaneda.

Nonetheless, the book represents a credible attempt to broach a topic that has been neglected by scholars and fiction writers alike. The lay reader gets info on spiritual beliefs of West Saxons, Picts, Mercians, Angles and Gaels.

Wade Me Along The Fabric Of Anglo-Saxon Mythistory...
When a monastic scribe on the shores of pagan lands wakes up from a restless night of godless nightmares little does he know that he has arrived at the brink of revelation. With his faith tucked nicely under his tunic and his Lord not far behind Wat Brand is sent on a journey of discovery placed his way by the looms of wyrd - the thread that writes destinies - working through Brother Eappa.
Guided by the mystic sorcerer Wulf enlightenment becomes but a fading flicker growing dimmer like the departing ship as the guided finds his ideas and absolute service tested by the lore of the enchanting landscape and the wonders of forces he dares not fathom. At first herded like a blind man Brand slowly awakens to a new reality oozing from within as caged as a soul shackled and muted by servitude and tunnel vision.
Way Of Wyrd is the tale of Anglo-Saxon mysticism, Celtic Wicca or ancient Druidism, rolled into the parchment of fantasy and certainly consumable as a great work of fiction. On another plane The Way Of Wyrd is the reawakening of Anglo-Saxon spiritual wisdom taking its place alongside better-known traditions like Taoism or Confucianism. The book places researched history within the setting of one Christian's discovery of another truth.
As the pagan forest is penetrated deeper and deeper the Christian enemy and the wizened wizard wont their hearts of the wisdom of the life-force and allow the bearers to travel beyond the idea of monotheism and exclusion.
Could the journeyman see the divinity lying in wait for him?