“Nick Brink brilliantly applies the use of ancient ritual postures and ecstatic trance, as taught by anthropologist Felicitas Goodman, to reclaim the wisdom of his ancestors and to make an impassioned plea for us all to welcome the return of Baldr and the Great Mother as our guides into a new era of peace. I was moved and inspired by ... Read morethe depth of his research and his deep love for the stories that help us know more truly who we really are.”
Belinda Gore, Ph.D., author of The Ecstatic Experience director of training and former president of
“This book is a lively combination of ancestral imagination, mythology, and historical reality. The author introduces a series of ecstatic trance postures that have been identified elsewhere as having ancient use for facilitating a variety of meditative inquiries and are frequently represented by some of the earliest known sacred figurines from around the world. The author, as he should, leaves the reader to form his or her own opinion as to the degree to which the story can be taken literally or as metaphor, as reality or imaginal fantasy, as personal or collective. Either way, James Hillman suggested that imagination and soul are fundamentally the same thing, and in that sense this book is a soul-focused journey into some of the long-ago roots of modern civilization.”
Raymond Hillis, Ph.D., professor emeritus of counseling, California State University, Los Angeles
“For millennia ancient societies depended on their shamans to bring back information through trance states that was needed for their continued survival and evolution. Now, as we enter into the dawning of a new age, Nicholas Brink is one of those rare individuals bringing us once again into altered states of awareness through the correct use of postures that deepen the trance state. This is a must read for anyone on this path of awakening.”
Rahasya Poe, C.Ht., author of To Believe Or Not To Believe and The 12 Spiritual Laws of Recovery: An
“Baldr’s Magic is for anyone who loves mythology and myth-making. They will find themselves interested in one fine man’s personal tale in addition to his take on today’s society. Baldr’s Magic gives us hope and encouragement that our time is being reborn into the values of the ancient Great Mother, the values of compassion, nurturing, and peace. His “Lost Eddas” show the magic, enchantment, and compassion of the Vanir gods, and they show the strong, bold Æsir gods, whose life is war. Do not miss the last part of the book, “The Teachings of the Vanir,” and final comments.”
Lisa N. Woodside, Ph.D., professor emerita of humanities, Holy Family University, and certified teac
“Baldr’s Magic brings alive the world of the ancient Nordic people during a time of prehistory when the Great Mother was worshipped, the time of the Vanir, the gods and goddesses of fertility, a time of peace when mankind lived sustainably on Earth. Then something happened. Men began to control the world, began to value physical strength, began to fight among themselves, and worshipped the Nordic gods of war, Odin and Thor. This book is about this time of transition. Nick Brink shows a real command of the ancient Nordic beliefs and fills in the missing beliefs or the beliefs that were never recorded: the lost stories of the Vanir. With the use of hypnotic and ecstatic trance he journeys back in time to recover these stories that offer us the picture of what the world was like when the Great Mother was worshipped, a world of peace and cooperation, a world of magic that provides us with guidelines for the coming new age.”
Michael Bell, Ph.D., retired professor of Medieval and Folklore Studies, University of Colorado
“An inspirational piece of work. Reading this book will bring you through the tale of the old gods of the Vanir as we know them from Norse mythology: a peace-loving society in balance with nature and the Great Módir, Mother Earth. With the tools of ecstatic and hypnotic trance, the author assesses the ancient world of the gods and people from the old Norse world. He tells us the tale of Ragnaro?k, and the survival of the Vanir, and he shows the reader the new peaceful world that is to come.”
Monica Steensdatter, registered psychiatric nurse, Nuuk, Greenland
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