The Isle of Many Gods

This is the kind of book that I usually pick up with some reticence, too often having found myself infuriated by authors claiming their knowledge of deity to objective fact rather than subjective experience, or worse, lack of information mixed with fantasy. But David and Sorita's book has not annoyed me. Indeed I have found it both useful and interesting.

Concentrating on the deities 'worshipped in ancient Britain during the first millennium CE through to the Middle Ages', they limit the number to those for which there is either literary or archaeological evidence. That number of gods is, nonetheless, pretty comprehensive: I didn't count but there must be around 250. Each entry is made up of the simple information the authors discovered in their research, providing that evidence for a presence in Britain. If a book of so many gods were truly comprehensive, of course, it would be volumes long, and this is not. But like all the best books in Paganism, it inspires with clues, hinting that, if we are sincerely interested, there are other books and records (and indeed places) where further exploration can be done.

As well as the A-Z, there are brief but informative pages about why so many gods were worshipped in Britain, which I read a couple of times; not because it told me anything knew (though one who hasn't come across this information before would find the pages very helpful), but because I love this important part of Pagan understanding. It so beautifully shreds the validity of pompous isolationism, the pedantry of racism, and encourages us to be truly pluralistic, accepting that our British (European) heritage is a rich blend of cultures, ideas, stories, in ancient times and up to the present day.

It's definitely a book to explore.