polska: Brazen head

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

A brazen head, brass, or bronze head was a legendary automaton in the Middle Ages to the early modern period whose ownership was ascribed to late medieval scholars, such as Roger Bacon, who had developed a reputation as wizards. Made of brass or bronze, the male head was variously mechanical or magical. Like Odin's head of Mimir in Norse paganism, it was reputed to be able to correctly answer any question put to it, although it was sometimes restricted to "yes" or "no" answers. In the seventeenth century, Thomas Browne considered them to be misunderstanding of the scholars' alchemical work, while in modern times, Borlik argues that they came to serve as "a metonymy for the hubris of Renaiss…

Evidence: 42 • authority: 80

Ask Her Any Question and She Will Answer Like Glass

Evidence: — • authority: 88

Contemporary Germanic/Norse Paganism and Recent Survey Data. In order to address the lack of quantitative studies pertaining specifically to contemporary Germanic/Norse Pagans, the following article relates the data and conclusions of a recently conducted research survey on those adhering to the various traditions dedicated to the pre-Christian Germanic/Norse deities. The survey, which garnered just under three thousand respondents, was distributed globally in order to gain a broader perspective of the demographics and beliefs of those identifying as "Heathen". The research served as part of graduate studies anthropological fieldwork conducted at the University of Amsterdam, and includes a…