NorsePlay.

There's a lot of  great detail in this cosmological sketch print of  Die Neun Welten / The Nine Worlds  by E. Müller-Baden, c. 1900 CE. It almost looks like Yggdrasil's tertiary root is so far away from the main body of its subterranean structure that it's pretty slim pickings for Níðhöggr, who never actually does cause critical damage on The World Tree, so perhaps this offers a reason as to why. This diagram also solves the arboreal co-identification problem by specifically making Læradr the upper portion of Yggdrasil . There's also a more geographical separation between portions of  Niflheim depending if you're an oathbreaking victim unmercifully given to  Níðhöggr 's serpentine children (#2), or if you're a regular deceased (#9), which would probably spare Hel 's broader populace the gnashing of dragon teeth & wailing of the dishonourable. Though if any of you recall where the " Egisheim" Sea is cited from, do let me know. Below is the ...

After having seen the amazing Franks Casket at The British Museum, and being very intrigued by the reproduction Franks Casket that YouTub e channel Crecganford sometimes has in his videos' background (it seems he won't gift it to me, I asked in a comment), I decided to see if I could find one, and was amused to instead find this clarification on an eBay listing: Heh! The fact that the vendor had to write this totally kills me, and says rather much about some consumers out there.  And if you know where I can get a Franks Casket reproduction, do let NorsePlay know in the comments below. #    #    # 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 n...

There's this sudden departure in Ragnarok S1 E2 where the teen jotun Fjor needlescratch hijacks the Edda High School's Spring Dance's DJ booth with his phone to put on a seething & primal track, and a ritual of choreography involving his sister Saxa & odd new kid in school Laurits unfolds in front of the student body who clears the floor for their weird leaning, quick, whip-jerk movements that the trio performs more for each other and its own process' sake, than to the surprised & awed room. The implied NorsePlay from this would be: How much of a different culture have the jotnar developed in their cosmological exile into frosty Jotunheimr (or flaming Muspelheimr) since the beginning of time?  The scene reveals a semi-supernatural music & dance tradition stepping out into view, impressing its way into a Midgardian small town world. Later episodes show the jötnar having to vote on a consensus for war by placing their hands upon an axe, and double-handedl...

To compliment the original logo vinyl cutout sticker on the driver's side of the NorsePlay-mobile , I recently commissioned a sticker for the passenger side! This more modern runic-based NorsePlay logo was inspired by the VolvaHaus music request entry , which I'd designed in 2020 CE for the front of a t-shirt. The trihorn is instead linearly styled into an "NP" monogram logo using a triple-intersected Elder Futhark Nauthiz  (ᚾ),  the letter N, and the top opening of the horns with  Pertho ( ᛈ), the letter P, which has been thought to represent a drinking vessel ,  or a gaming dice cup, all of which is apropos of NorsePlay. Plus the design happens to work as an abstract of pushrods and pistonheads to make for a great racing reference . The slim <1/32" lines made this sticker a challenge, but after much consultation they came out beautifully. [Orange, white, & red versions!] And as with our first sticker , NorsePlay would again like to raise its horn to Hea...

This may not be to everyone's style but there's something more modern & expressive in this Freya illustration by Stella Spente of Stockholm, Sweden. As a Goddess of Love, Freyja seems utterly joyful here on her skyward ride, holding aloft a völva's wand with radiant power, keys to Sessrúmnir's ownership all a-jangle at her hip, the glow of a thick torc-versioned Brísingamen adorning her neck, processional flowers vining the cart's posts.  There's a sense of purpose & fulfillment here in our Goddess, as though she rides out not only for herself, but to spread that love for those who've lucked into their own skyward ride of companionship. When not also being an amazing & formidable  War Goddess , it would be neat to think of Freyja riding forth much like this everyday to spread what is arguably the greatest of blessings.   And there's always the question of visually answering how a chariot gets drawn by her cats  Bygul & Trjegul, whic...

Here's the thing about  Brute Norse : It's my favourite podcast. Creator/host/p hilologist  Eirik Storesund is the punk rock academician you never knew you needed. Irascible, hypercritical, and occasionally crass, all blendered into the unapologetically erudite. That mixing of dwarf-burnt motor oil into Nordic spring water makes you wonder how that even works. BN 's not the same 101/105 intro course level re-tread over so much that it's churned into the shallowest of indistinguishable muddy ground material that everyone else does. There's almost always a Gods/Runes/Sources/Hot Takes Review series of things when a vid/podcaster starts out with different levels of success, style, or research. And if you've been consuming the ever widening gyre of cybervikingsphere offerings, it becomes increasingly harder to find something different with serious depth or with just 5% of something you haven't already heard elsewhere. Enter Brute Norse in 2017 CE. So far beyond ...

While I don't know Hong Kong's Genesis Pens from a knarr's oarhole, they're crafting a line of fountain pens called The Norsemen , and they're apparently out of stock, so maybe they've done something right. Pictured above is the matte-sanded Raven Black version. [translucent Yggdrasil-accented ink window on the Jötunn model.]    With four different designs named after Norse Lore-relevant aspects, their resin barrels are engraved with Nordic motifs, each slightly different from the other three. [opaque frosted, gold-engraved Sleipnir version, inked with matching Bungubox Ebisu Gold (note, the above writing sample is from a swapped in custom nib).] While these open editions retail at around $200 each, the pen has the looks of a $500 limited edition from a more known company, but the default nib is a Polished Steel #6 Jowo, which I have no experience with, though apparently from the above picture, it can be ground or swapped if you felt you needed to custom upgrade...

Given the current darkening of seasons, I've decided to finally examine what mythical Nordic horrors lie within the cinematic forest of Netflix's film  The Ritual (2017 CE, based on Adam Nevill's 2011 CE novel). Like other offerings in the folk horror subgenre, The Ritual also crosspollinates this with the tropes of a monster film , and given its Norse Lore context, it's definitely a NorsePlay from its following elements: 1. The Runes.  Mysteriously carved far too high up on tree trunks out in the middle of a nowhere wilderness forest adjacent to Sweden 's  270-mile King's Trail (Kungsleden), are various runes , mainly Othala (ᛟ), Algiz (ᛉ), and Nauthiz (ᚾ), two also visible as hanging ornaments/ amulet s in the cabin. There's alot in the Norse Lore pinned upon the runes, the most compelling being Odin's  Rúnatal where the Allfather lists the magical uses for them. 2. Human Sacrifice.  The hikers lose one of their party during the night, waking to fin...

  This family tree isn't the most comprehensive (nor correct, if you spot Gerriod being outside the line of descent for jötnar, and a few other things), but NorsePlay is posting it for the attractive & lateral thinking tree ring approach it takes. Note that Ginnungagap is given central primordial parentage, which since it's a place (or not-place, perhaps), is a markedly different way of looking at the Norse Cosmogony, though probably just incidentally serving the design. It would be pretty brilliant if someone were to run with this design to create something more encompassing. [Designed by Severino Ribecca.] #    #    # 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 ...

During Marvel Thor 's The War of the Realms (2019 CE) comic book run, this neat cosmological map of Yggdrasil tapped into the figural stylings of the Torslunda helmet plates (6th~8th c. CE). Seeing that Vendel Period context with the modern skyscrapers of current-day Midgard and the added figure of Spider-Man hanging from one of the branches thrown in is a superclever archaeological borrowing that we wouldn't mind seeing NorsePlay'd more in any medium. #    #    # 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 ...

While NorsePlay has no doubts about its expertise in the Norse Lore and its research & expository credentials by holding & applying its double degree in Journalism & Creative Writing here weekly, we felt it wouldn't hurt to add to our CV by swooping up a certification from Coursera's course on  Old Norse Mythology in the Sources as taught by the celebrated Dr Mathias Nordvig, Nordic Studies Professor at University Colorado Boulder. That, and we wanted to review it. Mathias and I have traded a few emails regarding my Map Of Midgard Project, and I consider him an online acquaintance. Mathias is unquestionably stellar as a public disseminator of information via YouTube, co-host of the irascibly fun Nordic Mythology Podcast , his own blog, and as a leading academic contributor to the new Pre-Christian Religions of the North  (2020 CE) reference set , so I'm much less reviewing him as opposed to the Coursera format. We're lucky to have someone of Mathias' c...