NorsePlay.

  With her appearances in The Northman and Furiosa , there's something formidably NorsePlay shieldmaiden in the performative multi-part soul that makes up Anya Taylor-Joy. Sure, it's called acting, but then add to it the above and below IRL (well, as IRL as a high fashion magazine interview spread & event runway can get) use of Viking-esque chainmail motified outfits. And looking at the above or below brings to mind Freyja 's Brisingamen's exceptionality as the Níu Heimar's ultimate necklace , which could possibly make it more body draping gleaming garment than jewelry-based accessory (though those hip-placed arrow shafts above are going to be unacceptably arm hampering). This additionally defensive purpose would also give Loki more personal use motivation for stealing it since it could serve as a byrnie. Maybe as we look beyond the Viking Age to carry it forward into the now & our future , we could take some NorsePlay'd cues from this, though we could ...

With The Map Of Midgard's Project 's broad idea of inclusion born of an expansive Heathen Worldview, I've added a mappoint  in my Tucson's very own Catalina Mountain range for what is known as the Sonoran Sasquatch. If we look at the sasquatch/bigfoot idea through a Norse Lore lens , we can see these creatures best fitting the idea of trolls, so in this context to fit the map I've stickpinned this entity as The Sonoran Troll. I'd first heard of this creature from this website , which has two photos from its evidence page that are completely pulled from elsewhere: a werewolf's large footprint casting, and the giant's footprint with a human's barefoot in the heel from somewhere in China. You could write the website off right there, except their following photo actually matches a bit of SE Rose Canyon Lake shoreline: What also gave me other probable cause to include it is my friend Chris Travers attested that he'd heard a monsterous giantesque tra...

Ha! Post-conversion reversal and self-help tough love motives aside, this meme inadvertently speaks to why the hard polytheism of the Norse Gods better reflects & applies to not only the within, but to existence as a whole in the without. When we discuss the universe in operation, there's countless variables, things that are in constant conflict, that work at odds, not just the mentally & socially mentioned above, but physically & materially on a grand scale. The implication of this is that spiritually & divinely there are forces in direct & indirect opposition, which indicates not one monotheistic hand on the wheel, but many Gods pushing & pulling on that wheel in degrees of disagreement, whether that's Æsir or Vanir protectively steering, or their accursed anti-cosmic adversaries trying to just run the whole thing off the rails into final ruin. And the stories have the Gods themselves having divergent opinions/actions about how to solve problems, wh...

This troll's head balefully gazes from the scroll top the world's oldest yet found Norwegian Hardanger Fiddle, the Jaastadfela, or the Jaastad Fiddle:   There's a long tradition of fiddle music being learned from communications, eavesdropping, exchange, or barter with otherworldly Nordic creatures, so as that idea went forward into the conversion, music was demonized and rulers & clergy began to hold burnings where these now-demonic tools were tossed onto the pyre. With this destruction we've lost some of the throughline as to how old these amazingly wrought fiddles with their beautiful inlay, distinct carving, and their extra two to five sub-bridge sympathetic strings to catch vibrations from the top four that produce a more resonant droning/ringing which many might consider magical in its way. It was also originally painted yellow, so its appearance must've been that much more striking to pair with its differing sound. If we go way further back into the Norse ...