Christopher McIntosh - Beyond the North Wind: The Fall and Rise of the Mystic North

Praise for Beyond the North Wind

Like the runes he explores, Christopher McIntosh's use of language contains capsules of magical power. His shamanistic journey to Hyperborea leads the reader through myths, place names, folktales, star lore, and intriguing and outlandish archaeological traces. He shows how in another dimension Hyperborea never went away, how it is still a root of primal forces, giving individuals in politics and the arts a sense of energy and powerfor good or for ill.

Mark Booth, author of The Secret History of the World

Unique among scholars, Christopher McIntosh knows Iceland and the leaders of its Pagan revival: Russia, with its new wave of art and literature; and the popular genres of folk music, fiction, and film. All this is backed by a profound knowledge of Western esoteric traditions. In his new book Beyond the North Wind, he not only chronicles the rise of the Northern egregore but also contributes his own loyalty and learning to it. He argues persuasively for the reality of Hyperborea as a prehistoric circumpolar culture, and for the perennial value of its legacy.

Joscelyn Godwin, author of ARKTOS

In Beyond the North Wind, Christopher McIntosh takes us on a journey to explore all the profound cultural history and nuances of Hyperborea in the European heritage, expertly guiding us to understand the Northern Mysteries of Paganism in new and deeper ways. Numerous important historical figures and traditions and all manner of ancient ideas are here, presented in an engaging way. If you're interested in finding your spiritual North, read this book!

Arthur Versluis, author of Entering the Mysteries

Beyond the North Wind is a masterful example of academic detective work, leading to the astounding conclusion that our Arctic northlands were once home to a lost prehistoric civilization. Highly recommended.

Herbie Brennan, author of The Atlantis Enigma

Among many other things, Christopher McIntosh's book deals with the fascinating topic of Hyperborea, the legendary northern homeland. This mysterious land has captured the imagination of many esotericists, artists, and explorers, especially those in Russia. Based on a variety of documentary sources and beautifully written, Beyond the North Wind makes compelling reading.

Alexander Andreyev, author of The Myth of the Masters

Beyond the North Wind is important and deserves celebration for the profound, but, until now, hidden truth it contains suggesting a Nordic origin of civilization, backed up by solid research in archaeology. Both esoteric scholars and educated Heathens will find it of inestimable value. The book contains a wealth of information from Russia, not seen before in the West, to my knowledge, as well as an extensive appendix listing gods and other beings from Norse mythology. Fascinating and pleasant to read.

Freya Aswynn, author of Northern Mysteries and Magick and Leaves of Yggdrasil

I commend this work highly both to fellow scholars and to anyone seriously interested in the highly charged meaning of the word Nordic. McIntosh's genial text is consistently illuminating, easy to read and digest, scholarly but by no means dry or obscure. He wants to communicate his knowledge and interest, clearly and fairly, and succeeds wonderfully in a work representing the achievements of a lifetime of open-hearted study and valid experience.

Tobias Churton, author of Occult Paris

The North is back with a vengeance. So says Christopher McIntosh in his latest book, Beyond the North Wind. In a mixture of scholarly research, historical evidence, archaeological findings and speculative musings, the author invites the reader on an adventure of exploration to find the truth about a mysterious, advanced, prehistoric culture in the North. I would definitely recommend this book.

Ingrid Kincaid, author of The Runes Revealed

This is an amazing and deeply original book; a work of immense erudition written in an elegant, approachable, and luminously intelligible style. Its quiet wit tempers its awe-inspiring and sometimes terrifying perspectives. I have been educated and delighted by this book.

Frederick Turner, Founders Professor of Arts and Humanities, University of Texas at Dallas

This edition first published in 2019 by Weiser Books, an imprint of

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
With offices at:
65 Parker Street, Suite 7
Newburyport, MA 01950
www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright 2019 by Christopher McIntosh
Foreword copyright 2019 by Hilmar rn Hilmarsson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

ISBN: 978-1-57863-640-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
upon request.

Cover design by Kathryn Sky-Peck
Interior by Debby Dutton
Typeset in Minion and Warnock

Printed in Canada
MAR

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For Donate

I have reached these lands but newly

From an ultimate dim Thule

From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,

Out of SPACEOut of TIME.

EDGAR ALLAN POE, DREAM-LAND

Some Characterizations of North

At once alluring and elusive, unabashedly imaginary and tempered by realism... an elemental force... a place of early fading light, of rain, twilight, melancholy and loneliness... a place of purification and escape from the limitations of civilization... a hard place, a place of uplands, adverse weather, remoteness... a place of quiet, a land of long snows... a place of darkness and dearth... a place of austere felicity, where virtuous people live behind the north wind and are happy... a place of isolation, absence, stillness, remoteness, and the absence of alternatives... a shifting idea, always out of reach, always leading to a further north, to an elsewhere... a place of prodigies, icebergs, volcanoes, and the magnetic mountain; a place of treasures... a place of geographical and cultural isolation, simultaneously lush and hard... a place of contrast between nature and urban civilization... a place that is dark, cold and timeless... a place where you can be truthful to yourself...

QUOTATIONS ASSEMBLED BY DR. MARJORIE ROTH
FROM VARIOUS SOURCES TO ACCOMPANY HER LECTURE
FIRE AND ICE, SEA AND SKY: NORTHERN MUSIC AS A
MIRROR OF NATURE, DELIVERED AT THE NEW YORK OPEN
CENTER CONFERENCE MYSTERIES OF THE NORTH IN
ICELAND, AUGUST 2016.

Good sense is needed

by him who travels far.

HVAML/SAYINGS OF THE HIGH ONE,
FROM THE POETIC EDDA

The author of this book has indeed traveled far, and reading it I often thought about how our respective journeys through life have intersected with each other in ways that suggest the intention of the Norns of fate.

My initial encounter with the writings of Christopher McIntosh (personal contact was to come later) was during my first visit to London in late March 1979 when I had to sneak out of Paris where I was living with my girlfriend, as my three months' visa had not been renewed. I was told by friends that a weekend return trip to the UK through a cheap student travel agency would solve my problem, which it did. I was armed with two addresses: the Atlantis Bookshop in Museum Street and Watkins Books in Cecil Court. The Atlantis was nearly everything I had dreamed of, but Watkins was closed.