Book Review: 'In Search of the Indo-Europeans', by J.P. Mallory

Book Review
'In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth', by J.P. Mallory


When I first picked up this book, it's because I'd been trying to read Jaan Puhvel's 'Comparative Mythology', but found myself frustrated by my lack of grounding in the more 'physical' aspects of what we know of the Indo-Europeans. As the title of Puhvel's book suggests, it represents a particular method of researching IE cultures as opposed to giving a good overall introduction to the subject, and so while it's an entertaining read, I think I would recommend that any newcomer to the subject start with Mallory's book.

Although drier than Puhvel's writing, Mallory is methodical and conservative in his interpretations of physical, and linguistic evidence, which I appreciate. I found the first chapter, 'The Discovery of the Indo-Europeans', and its overview of the various scholastic currents that eventually led to the discovery of the Indo-Europeans very entertaining; indeed I had a good chucked about Goropianism (P11).

Chapters two and three were concentrated on tracing the various Indo-European groups in Asia Minor and Europe respectively, and this is where Mallory really filled in what was missing for me when I first tried to read Puhvel. His approach in each chapter is to start with the cultures that we can most confidently describe as being IE language speakers with the earliest literary records, before widening his focus to other similar groups in the same geograhpic area. For example, in chapter three, he begins with the Hittites, turns his focus to the other IE cultures in the Anatolian group (Luwian and Palaic), and then gradually traces his way around the other various IE groups in Asia Minor and beyond (such as the Tocharians). Along the way, Mallory integrates evidence from the archaeological record (such as burials and pottery), and the contemporary accounts of neighbouring cultures with whom the IE cultures interacted, to present the fullest picture possible without wandering into the realm of supposition. The interdisciplinary approach is one that I truly appreciate.

As someone with a language-based degree and a burgeoning interest in linguistic paleontology, chapter four, 'Proto-Indo-European Culture', was a delight to me. In this chapter, Mallory takes a look at what words we have been able to reconstruct of the Proto-Indo-European language, and what we can ultimately ascertain about everything from the kind of environment they lived in, to their economy, social structure, and technology. I especially found the section on familial relationships, especially regarding fosterage and the roots of nepotism (P. 124) interesting.

When it came to the chapter on Indo-European Religion, I think I was hoping for a little more, for it to be a little longer and more in depth, however I think that would have been going outside Mallory's typical purview and more into the realm of supposition. As expected, there was a heavy focus on tripartation, horse sacrifice, the divine twins, and a discussion on the usefulness of what Mallory refers to as 'new comparative mythology'. This is, without a doubt, Puhvel's territory, and were I to give advice to a newcomer on what to read and when, I would tell them to read Mallory, but then begin Puhvel's book after reading chapter five.

Chapter six took a look at the problems of trying to locate the Indo-European Homeland. Again, Mallory took a methodical and careful approach, and began by ascertaining just how big, on average, a linguistic area tends to be. Then, moving onto an analysis of the potential neighbouring cultural areas of that homeland, he sets out to prove contact through loan words, the geographical concentration of IE languages, linguistic paleontology, and a cursory look at archaeology.

The next two chapters, 'The Archaeology of the Proto-Indo-Europeans', and 'Indo-European Expansions' were some of my favourites in the book. I found myself fascinated by the commonalities of burial practices among the early cultures that might be called PIE cultures (such as Sredny Stog, Corded Ware, TRB, Globular Amphora, Yamnaya, and other steppe cultures), and the use of ochre in ritual. In some ways, to me, the ochre seems to be representative of blood, its use on Kurgan burials, anthropomorphic stone stelae (as found at Kalanchak, P. 204), and Afansievo censers (P.223), suggests that it may have been seen as a purifying/sanctifying substance. When discussing the Corded Ware culture, Mallory does not mention the use of ochre, and so I wonder if for some reason the use of ochre in ritual didn't continue as the Indo-Europeans expanded north and west, and why that would have been the case. These chapters were dense, satisfying, and I feel like I could write an entire review on just them.

The epilogue, as a discussion of the history, use, and abuse of the term 'Aryan', left me both irritated and glad. I was irritated because there are certain movements that would try and use Indo-European studies to support racist agendas, but I was glad that Mallory not only went there, but thoroughly demonstrated the error of ideologies that would see us place people and languages in hierarchies of 'greater' and 'lesser'. After addressing that less savoury subject, Mallory moved on to looking at the actual legacy of the Indo-Europeans, the domestication of the horse, our linguistic heritage, and as the final picture in the book (Peter Breugal's 'Land of Cockayne') demonstrates, a potential adherence to the idea of tripartation.

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Hearth Culture Essay

I was fourteen when I first started to pray to the gods I pray to now. Well, mostly the same gods, anyway. Back then, I would just stand, unsure whether it was 'Pagan' to put my hands together or close my eyes. My sources, such as they were, were the entire Pagan section from my public library – about five or six books in total, and all with a distinctly Wiccan flavour. But still, as it was the mid 90s, it would be roughly three more years before I would see the internet in my backwoods corner of England (in the next town), and it was 1999 when the internet came to our home.

This was both a curse and a blessing; a blessing because there was no 'noise' from outside sources to tell me what I 'should' be doing, and a curse because I remained in a state of ignorance when it came to anything outside of the half a dozen Pagan books from the library. Some things I got right, making offerings to trees and water, for one. But I think I got a whole lot more wrong – a least for me.

Over the years, what might be termed as my 'hearth culture' has gone through countless changes as my environment ( and by extension, I) have adapted. When I joined ADF, I was at a crossroads of sorts, because to put it simply, I didn't feel like what I was doing was 'watering my whole tree', and I'm sorry to say that most of modern Heathenism came to feel empty to me. To borrow terminology from Isaac Bonewits in 'Neopagan Rites', the magical technology wasn't just incompetant, but it seemed anathema to many.

However, I have a drive, and a need to be engaged with the magical and otherworldly. Interactions with the 'other' have been a part of my life ever since I was a child growing up with the Spiritualist heritage of my father's side of the family. At this point, I've seen too much of the otherworldly, especially the dead, to ignore that side of me in order to not make some people uncomfortable.

I also have a drive to worship Celtic gods as well as Germanic, but this proved to be a large mental block for quite a while, and it was only when I started to research the cultural borrowings between the Gauls and Germans during the La Tène period that I began to feel more comfortable with the Irish and Brythonic sides of my heritage. As I looked at the Gauls, I began to look at the Indo-Europeans as a whole, and found myself understanding far more of the Germanic worldview for it. Some of the depth missing from mainstream Heathenry started to fill in for me, and in worshipping the Celtic gods that I worship, I found a kind of healing.

My hearth culture as I experience it now is both Germanic and Irish/Brythonic. The deities I worship are Woden, Frija, Thunor, Hama, Ing, Macha, Brighid (who I see as being the same as Brigantia, and the sovereignty goddess of the land where I grew up), Lugh, the Divine Twins, Blodeuedd/Blodeuwedd, and the Taliesin. I also worship the Aelfe (elves), Matronae, Feorrin ('fairies', in my native dialect), Cofgodas (house spirits), and make offerings to Garanus as a liminal guide. The Ancestors are a main part of our hearth culture, from the whole family offering rituals to the touching their shrine and saying a quick prayer or 'I love you' on my way past. When my daughter was born, it was at their shrine that we first presented her when my husband sprinkled water on her head and named her on her ninth day.

With a few friends who also straddle the worlds of Heathenry and ADF, the process of building a Proto-Grove began, and it's been really excellent because we not only do we have great 'ritual chemistry', but we're mostly on the same page about our hearth culture focii. We're a dual Norse/Irish grove, and alternate High Days between the cultures in a way that really works for us. Imbolc is about Brighid, Ostara honours the dawn goddess that brings the spring, Beltane is all about the Sidhe. At summer solstice we honour Sunna, and Lughnasadh is for Lugh. We're pretty set on the Divine Twins for the Autumn Equinox (based on the idea that in various IE cultures, the temple pillars representing them were typically aligned with the Fall equinox), and Samhain is all about the Ancestors (and maybe the Morrigan). Yule is yet to be discussed, but will in all likelihood be Germanic - probably in honour of Odin. I would also like to include Frija, but we'll have to see how the others in the PG feel. Regardless, my own Yule celebrations will honour Frija,and the Matronae, simply because that's the High Day focus in our home at that time of year. We also typically celebrate for 13 nights, and have various rituals during that time. As for patron deities for the PG, we have a consensus to just take it easy and see if any come up in an organic way.


If there's one thing though, that being a long-time Heathen has taught me, it's that hearth culture is a changing thing, it's mostly never set in stone. It's a thing that's alive, built up of layers of action, of piety, of prayer, of ritual, of oaths, and service. It's also something that adapts to environment and to each new arrival in the family, only to be passed on to those that come after us. I don't know how this hearth culture is going to look in another twenty years, but I do think that there is plenty of room for growth, for strengthening our reciprocal relationships with the kindreds, and being the best we can be for those around us.

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Book Review - 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Paganism' by Carl McColman

When I first picked up this book on Kindle I liked the overall structure of the book, the five themed sections with chapters focusing on an aspect of each theme made for easy navigation, and there is a logical progression to the sections and chapters.

 The first section, 'Pagan Basics', was an overview of Pagan beliefs, the relationship of Pagans to the earth, three different types of Paganism, and a look at the other cultural odds and ends that have come to play a role in modern Pagan belief.

 While I appreciate the difficulty of talking about a path as wide and varied as Paganism in terms that would please everyone, the first chapter reads like a set up for the 'No True Scotsman' fallacy, presenting things that the author finds distasteful (like animal sacrifice) as 'not Pagan', regardless of actual Pagan practice. The whole first section seems to be a vehicle for the author's biases in general, especially with regards to worshipping 'the Goddess', and the sacredness of nature (not all Pagans worship the Goddess or have find the earth sacred). For a 101 guide to Paganism, it seems to be more 'Wicca-lite' than a real look at some of the diverse set of beliefs and traditions that huddle under the Pagan umbrella. Even the treatment of the three paths the author chose to focus on (Shamanism, Wicca, and Druids/Revivalist traditions) further reflects his biases with the chapter on Wicca being notably longer than the others. Not only that, but he squeezes Druids, Asatru, Romuva, Hellenismos, and Kemeticism into one chapter, and repeatedly brings discussion of Druidry back to Shamanism. The very complex traditions of Asatru and Romuva are only alloted one paragraph each, and poor Hellenismos and Kemeticism get a small paragraph between them!


In the final chapter of this section, the author looks at other factors that he felt contribute to the 'Pagan Puzzle', and while he does look at the influence of the Western mystery tradition, I don't think he devoted enough time to it, given its influence in Wicca (and therefore neo-Paganism on the whole).

The second section, 'How to Think like a Pagan', begins with an examination of Pagan cosmology, in which three different schemas are presented, then moves onto ideas of the Goddess and God, the spirit world, the elements, and the cyclic nature of Pagan beliefs.

I do like that the author takes the time to essentially explain discernment when dealing with the otherworld and spirits (chapter 7), and that the dead are not necessarily the same as they were in life. I think that's really helpful to have in a beginner's book, and not enough books tackle that. I also like that he points out in chapter 11 that not all Pagans have the same ideas on what constitutes 'the elements'.

Unfortunately, this is also the section in which he further cements the duotheistic mindset of Wicca, devoting a chapter to exploring 'the goddess', and another to exploring 'the god'. I think it's a major neglect of the author to not devote any significant time exploring the different Pagan approaches to deity, and that he could have filled an entire chapter looking at henotheism, duotheism, and the different types of polytheism. His treatment of fairies is similarily frustrating, on the one hand he seems to pidgeonhole them in elemental associations, but then on the other hand, rightly makes the point that they're all individuals, not all nice, and that some are best left alone.

The most annoying bit of this section though for me, was chapter 11. McColman gives the symbols for the four elements of Wicca, then equates them with yin and yang, and then genitalia. This feels like something from his own tradition, but rather than explaining that that's where he's getting it from, it feels like he's pointing it out as a universal truth. I also found it kind of worrying that he gave the king of the fire spirits as 'Djinn', especially when you think about what Djinn actually are in traditional lore. Not something I'd want beginners to mess around with.


The section on Ritual is a good primer on Wiccan-esque ritual, which isn't really my cup of tea, although the section in which he links Wiccan tools with the tarot suits is quite well done. The section on festivals needs to be better cited too, but citation of sources isn't a particularly strong point of this book. I understand that this is a 'Complete Idiot's Guide', but even complete idiots should be furnished with well-cited guides.

All in all, I think the section on Magic is one of the best sections in the book. The chapter on meditation is very well done for beginners, and aside from the generalisations about 'Pagans not cursing', on the whole, it's not too bad. I especially appreciated the inclusion of the origins and wider meaning of the words 'heal'/'healing' in Chapter 20 and their association with 'wholeness'. So kudos to Mr McColman there!

The final section is by turns good and bad. I really liked the section on the different types of groups, their pros, cons, and how to evaluate if a group is truly good for you to be involved in. This is a self-protection issue that I don't think is brought up enough in beginner books, and I especially appreciated the advice to keep an eye on how much time you're spending online vs actually doing (chapter 24). It was also good to have a section on how to build your own practice as a Pagan, but that would have been better without the encouragement to find one's 'matron' and 'patron' deities.

On the whole though, while there were some good parts, I wouldn't recommend this book.
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