NorsePlay.

In confronting the grim reality of losing one's dog, the question then arises: Will you see your animal in the Norse afterlife? [This entry is dedicated to my American Bully, Buddy Guillermosson. He has a terminal tumor in his lung, so I'm answering the above question for both of us.] In the Norse Lore there are canids to be found in Asgard, such as Odin's wolves Geri & Freki, who literally eat for him , so one must specifically suppose this happens at the table in his hall of Valaskjalf, and at the warrior laden tables of Valh ǫ ll, the latter being the most famous of afterlife settings. [the top panel of the Gotlandic Tjängvide picture stone's interpreted as Odin arriving outside of Valhalla, and note the dog present in the lower left of the upper panel.] The first chosen & other half of these honoured warriors go with Valkyrie leader Freyja to the blessed field of Fólkvangr & welcome hall  Sessrúmnir, where Freyja's chariot pulling cats play & r...

While we've actually featured something about elf-appeal before, we came up with the term  álfarsexual , but if we didn't grab a cheesecake image of say a potential Dökkálfar from Svartálfaheimr  with at least a solid +16 Charisma as a visual example of this word's preference we'd be remiss. You're welcome.  [from Irina-Isupova's "sexy darkelfs series": Arrana from her DeviantArt .]  #    #    # 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 t hen 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 e mployment/ opportunities in  investigative mythology, field research, or product development to offer,  do contact ...

  Most Viking history texts tend to reference this wonderful bit of runic graffiti, but hardly ever show it, so NorsePlay has decided to feature this detailed photo of Halvdan's inscription. Probably carved by a bored Viking turned Varangian Guardsman while having to endure a tedious mass while standing in the upper gallery of the Church of Hagia Sophia, his action was definitely counter to the preached values of humility he was hearing and more from his Arch-Heathen worldview of establishing reputation and leaving your mark of achievement forever on the world. In this simple way, Halvdan has succeeded. Note Halvdan wasn't the only sermon-bored Varangian either as there are two more runic inscriptions, and possibly five on top of that awaiting valid confirmation, along with carvings of four drakkar Viking ships! Arinbárðr was another identifiable name, but his carving is much less readable than Halvdan's. In Byzantium, an environment where literal cutthroat politics always...

  There is an intimate quality in this depiction of Týr & Fenrir with Týr encapsulated in the wolf's embrace. Some retellings of this story instead cast Týr as Fenrir's caretaker & friend, with the god playing and (over-)feeding him, which may make this rendition of their fateful but necessary moment together here more of that variant narrative. Yet this art might also be visually read as Týr uncomfortably trapped by the wolf into the obligation of his oath. Storytelling accents aside, this moment also foreshadows Týr's end in the jaws of helhound Garmr, who is probably one of Fenrir's get , and whom  Týr  mutually slays come  Ragnarök, and depending how their bodies lay upon Vígríðr field, may mirror this in a more final & deadly embrace. [limited edition linocut handprinted by artist Kevin Cain who vends on Etsy as LiterateGriffin. Find this item here .]  #    #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something spe...

When we talk about the universal functions of electricity , which runs everything from the cognition in your brain to the internet, we are on a supernatural level talking about Thor. The charges that hold atoms together are an operating principle wrought by Thor's power, so the extension of Thor's role as a protector is that he keeps the all the matter that Midgard is constructed of together so that we may exist upon it in the first place. The resurrection of Thor's goats from death brought about by the hammer is in a sense a doubled Frankenstein's monster moment (well, really it's temporally the other way around as Shelley's Romanticism/Enlightenment-inspired fiction came far after) where on an atomic level Thor's electric charge re-coheres & reconstructs the dead matter of  Tanngrisnir & Tanngnjóstr using his hammer. (This godly feat could also be an electrically-based particle acceleration to produce a directed time-reversing effect, but that...

  I've successfully plotted 800 mappoints for my Map Of Midgard Project! This is the seventh progress update since  the initial blog post ,  the first update ,  the second update ,  the third update ,  the fourth update , the fifth update , and the sixth update . Of the original backlist of 360 mappoints left to plot, 178 potential sites remain. Again this list would be less by now, but additional data for other mappoints does keep appearing in the course of research to add to the grand total number. This update in point, of the 100 points mapped since last update 30 are additional! [text mural by Dane EB Itso thrown up in Vardø, Norway, on the southernmost building of the island.] The above in-real-life memepaint appeals to my project's sense of discovery & wonder. It is also the above piece's incidental self-countering reflexive function to then label this unknown but evocative Scandinavian building's physical truth, which then actively puts it o...

The flaw of the short handle was just one possible outcome in the creation of Mjölnir. What if Loki's horsefly form had stung a bit harder? Or, what if Brokkr hadn't paused at all? What if Eitri & Brokkr had extra time to forge something even more artful if they hadn't been on a deadline for the crafting contest? What if they had integrated additional mystical materials? Could a more infused hammer defeat Jörmungandr from a greater distance to save Thor from the serpent's poison at  Ragnarök ? In Thor concept artist Charlie Wen's multiple hammer design submissions, we see the implications of the above questions NorsePlay out. And maybe it isn't too late for the Thunderer to go get some hardware upgrades and change his fate. #    #    # 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 t hen he's been fascinated by the trut...

In Ibn Fadlan's Risala  (§ 85) , when Viking trading trips to Russia didn't work out after their first four attempts at the market after leaving offerings at the large godpoles , merchants would then employ a roundabout appeal via Gods' wives & children   by instead leaving offerings at their smaller statues surrounding those godpoles  to then intercede for them and get their Gods' attention & favour that way. This one-degree-removed hierarchy networking seems amusing, yet let's NorsePlay this idea from a religious practice standpoint and look at the divinity of the children themselves. Some modern Asatruar point out that the Æsir Gods & Ásynjur Goddesses are usually too busy to attend to individual appeals since on a cosmic level they are big picture beings keeping the Norse Níuverse in order . For instance, Odin's chessmastering things so Ragnarök either never happens or to make it so that the Aesir get the upper hand to  defeat the prophecies ...

We're not exactly sure what specifically's going on in this bear-a-riffic illuminated illustration from the  Spiezer Chronik by Diebold Schilling. The 1484-85 CE manuscript is an early history of Bern, Switzerland, from the founding of the city to events that took place in the mid-15th century. To NorsePlay, this looks like a medieval stylization of a marching army of berserkers in full-on bear form. The flute & drumming bears leading could also make it a ritual procession  or dance . Given that Bern may be named for the bear, emblazoned the bear on its flag & coat of arms, installed a Bärengraben or bear pit as a municipal feature since 1857 CE, that the Swiss Plateau was overrun & settled in ancient times by the Germanic Alemanni & Burgundians staring in the 5th century CE and looking at that in tandem with Tacitus' earlier accounts of tribal elite warrior s in Germania , and the bears in the 6th–8th century CE Torslunda plates,...

After winning the Southwest Frith Moot Viking Games' Knife Throwing event in 2019, I thought I could possibly win that again last weekend in Arizona's White Mountains, along with the prestigious Axe Throw by building our very own backyard NorsePlay Axe Throwing Target and putting in the practice. So many, many drinking horns of mead and late into the night before the Viking Games, SFM co-organizer & Chieftain of Wanderer Kindred Vincent Enlund says he'd like a way to include Kubb, the celebrated Viking lawn game, but without it having to take days like the annual championships up in Eau Claire, because we've serious Heathenry lecture s scheduled for the afternoon, otherwise Kubb's a no-go. Bragi's tongue's suddenly in my mouth and I say: "Let's invent Speed Kubb! We can reduce the kubbs from 5 to only 3 with no throw-ins, only give the players 3 batons so that way the opponent at least gets one turn, half the playing field, and keep the King ...

There's a point where attestation ends, intuitive inference begins, and we have to NorsePlay the more likely ideas to see if they grant us returns from our praxis. In that progression of reasoning & trial, we find that Healing Goddess  Eir is broader than the limited attestations and can address both physical & emotional malaise. And we strongly suspect her hand manifesting in the crop of vaccines that have begun to open up Midgard again, so if you have a moment, go give her a blot of thanks. Also, along these associative suppositions, while we've found much parroting that the goddess is connected to a white Eirflower , we can't actually find which flower this specifically is. If we NorsePlay it to research and assign one , which white flower might it be, taking into account healing properties in tandem with Indo/Migration/Iron/Viking Age regional origins? Our NorsePlay would be the Alpine/Southern Germany Edelweiss , which is used in folk medicine and has many no...

During the early medieval period of Iceland, after the conversion brought with it a change from an oral tradition to written manuscripts , quills were made from goose, swan, and ravens' feathers. Quills were always selected from a left wing, since the feather would curve away from the right-handed writer so they wouldn't Odinically poke themselves in the eye , nor have the feather blocking their line of sight from themselves to the page. One could be poetic in saying that Huginn & Muninn had a pinion in the Prose Edda 's scripting , the memory of Snorri writing, and the thoughts of Snorri composing, onto the vellum pages. [Raven wing photo from the Slater Museum of Natural History Raven Quill Dip Pen made by Mariya Green aka Vrana Raven (Etsy: vranaraven.)] #    #    # 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 t h...

At Crooked Tooth Brewing in Tucson, AZ, USA, the dwarven-inspired hammer art & colour text label on this bottle speaks for itself: From the cavern cities of Nidavellir, this beer has plum & date forward notes on a dark, dark sour tide of 11% liquid hammer -to-your-face. Crooked Tooth recommends splitting the bottle ... which we did not do ... and now very much agree with them after the fact. #    #    # 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 t hen 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 e mployment/ opportunities in  investigative mythology, field research, or product development to offer,  do contact him...

[plant matter, pine, lichen, and moss, suspended in resin!] NorsePlay has to ask if the ancient Germanic tribes had 3D printers and polycarbonate to create with whether they might've celebrated the runes in these materials, highly elaborating on their decorative aspects to better court the attention of the Norns and obtain deeper readings, or to use as sharper foci for galdr or  seiðr . [Yellow Glitter Runes!] In terms of "blooding" the runes, there's even a gold flake & pigs blood version that has suspended dots of blood in them. That's some serious  Neo-Vitki  tech for you. [Crafted by Portland's SaintDeath on Etsy, thanks to friend & artist Chiara Caballero for bringing these to our attention.] #    #    # 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 t hen he's been fascinated by the truthful potency...

When you depict the cosmos, you map it, you are performing the ritual of sacred geography , taking abstract invisible concepts and stickpinning them into a fixed place where they're suddenly more concrete, in a real position , around the corner, or over that mountain range, or under that hill, and even if that place's time & space doesn't match nor measure nor visibly scale as ours does, you've given or found it a physical connection point attached to our own. It felt real enough to begin with, enough to record it in mythological lore and make a story of it, but in assigning it a location , it gets that much more real and perhaps accessible. After every rain, Bifröst is a two-way street , and there's a point where the land we walk meets the trunk of Yggdrasil and connects all the points of the Norse Cosmos to us. Mostly we see more general depictions of Yggdrasil , and the above world tree map diagram re-titles some of the otherworlds, possibly to be more lin...