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I am in search of information on various myths and religous texts. Though I myself do not believe in any religion I have an odd thirst for knowledge in this topic. If anyone has any good site, books, or anything else I would appricate it if you could recomend some to me.
Thank You
Nid-Vaeda
A few things to read would obviously be a religion's main spiritual text, like the bible. Or you could read the Theogeny about the origin of the Greek gods, or any creation myth from a culture, such as the Enuma Elish, which is a Babylonian creation story, or the Hindu creation myth where the caste system is made, I can't remember what it is called.
koran
torah
bible - old and new testaments
the vedas
baghavad-gita
tao-te-ching
shariyat-ki-sugmad
local college bookstore, religious section: for compilations of works - these will likely have complete works as well.
myth/folklore section of local bookstore - a gold mine, hopefully, if yours is well stocked with selections from around the world.
new-age bookstores are sometimes stockpiled with religious texts/myths from all around the world, as well (case in point garland of letters in philly).
also the inspirations/spiritual insights that may come in your dreams.
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~cherryne/edda.html
On this sight you will find some some parts of the poetic Edda. The Edda is one of the books in the old nordic religion Asatro. Not the best translation, the beauty of the language doesn´t really stay in the english translation.
Info from the sight:
The Poetic Edda is the older of the two Eddas and therefore sometimes called the Elder Edda. It is also sometimes referred to as Saemund's Edda after a famous Icelander. It consists of many different tales which were put together by an anonymous person probably around 1250 CE. The date of origin of the various poems has long been under discussion. Birger Nerman, in The Poetic Edda in the Light of Archaeology, puts forward the opinion that the majority of the stories must have been written before the Viking age. This book is quite dated though (1930) and it would be interesting to see a more recent essay on this subject.
The Poetic Edda can be divided into two sections, a mythical one and a heroic one. There are fifteen mythical poems:
Völuspá or "Prophecy of the Vala"
A volva chants about the cosmos, from creation to destruction.
Hávamál or "Sayings of Hár"
Wisdom sayings. Also, the story of how Odin learned the runes.
Here is a short bit of the wisdom of my ancestors :-), from Havamal:
“12
Less good than belief would have it
Is mead for the sons of men:
A man knows less the more he drinks,
Becomes a befuddled fool,
13
I forget is the name men give the heron
Who hovers over the feast:
Fettered I was in his feathers that night,
When a guest in Gunnlod's court
14
Drunk I got, dead drunk,
When Fjalar the wise was with me:
Best is the banquet one looks back on after,
And remembers all that happened,
“
I would also recommend a book by Rollo May, a psychotherapist. I think it is called The Cry for myth, or something like that. He writes about the human need for myths and analyses some of them.
Thank you for all of the recomendations but does anyone have information on lesser known relgions such as native american and african? Also does anyone know of a good site/book on the beliefe system of feudal Japan/China?
Read Graham H a n c o c k`s books (I`m typing it that way because there`s a not so nice word in the name and they don`t show it in posts :mad: ). His books are really good and give a bit unusual interpretation of many myths and legends of different religions.
Nid-Vaeda, you can read the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Theogony, the Eneid, the Major and Minor Eddas, The Book of the Dead, La Mort D'Arthur, and Arabian Nights, among others, to have a glimpse on mythologies.
Also, you can check Bulfinch's site .