a couplet for your potential.

we are all ashlads --

no one is a hero born.

~ kolbítur by Guillermo the IVth

["coal biter" runic translations from omniglot blog]

In many of the Norse Sagas & stories you've got a good-for-nothing momma's boy character who does naught but lay by the hearth fire choosing lazy comfort over helping out on the farm. Then something happens in the story (i.e. like a monster shows up somewhere nearby), and he unexpectedly decides to get up and go meet the greater challenge, implementing a clever plan that far outweighs what people think of his lack of action until that moment where he proves himself a hero.

That's the decision one has to make everyday. The Gods have granted you all the days before, will gift you all the days hence, and today to decide to rise to make your dream happen. And it doesn't have to happen all in one day (but if you can, do it), which is part of the clever plan, but you can slay the dragon of self-resistance one slim scale at a time with just the smallest blade of repeated proaction, and before you know it, you've won the golden hoard of achievement, proven your worth, and earned reputation. That's the lesson of those stories. That Norse Ethos & Heathen Worldview is what kills Grendel, finds North America, shakes down Paris & the UK for Danegeld, and gets one home & back from rich tradings in far Miklagarðr. And sure, maybe we're not all woven a destiny to be heroes and only mediocre son farmhands, and the world has always been full of monsters in the form of the inner trolls of personal inertia to jötunnesque global problems, but you have the opportunity right now to defeat that. Get up and go win it all, hero.

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.