Gods of the North

Gods of the North is about the mythology of the Vikings, Angels, Saxons and Jutes and how it has shaped cultures, languages and later religions. The author Brian Branston states that a myth is like a dream; a direct expression of the unconscious mind, and the events of a myth, its characters and symbols are to the human race as the events, characters and symbols of his dream are to the individual. Like a dream the myth may ignore the conventional logic of space and time relationships, of events following one after another in a causal sequence. Nevertheless, a dream has a meaning which can be made plain; and so has a myth. It is not easy to interpret the myths of our own culture, for our near ancestors-those of a thousand odd years ago-were persuaded to forget them or to relegate their broken remnants to the nursery.

The Gods of the North were once upon a time the gods of our forefathers. The fossilized remains of these deities survive in place-names for instance, as Wansdyke, Wednesbury, Wensley, Tuesley and Thundersley; in the names of the days of the week, as Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; in folklore and fairy tale with their stories of witches on broomsticks.