Norse Cosmos and the Nine Worlds: A Complete Beginner’s Guide
Start Here Have you ever tried to read Norse mythology and found yourself lost? The gods are fighting giants, a squirrel is running up a tree, someone gives up an eye for wisdom, and it is not entirely clear what any of it has to do with anything else. Most of the...
The Blót and the Sumbel: What These Rituals Actually Were and How Serious Practitioners Approach Them Today
Two ritual forms sit at the center of historical and modern Heathen practice. The blot is a sacrificial offering, a way of giving something of value to the gods and spirits in exchange for relationship and favor. The sumbel is a drinking ceremony, a formalized...
The Anglo-Saxon Charm Tradition: A Practical Guide to the Oldest Surviving Heathen Practice in the English Language
The oldest surviving pre-Christian practice in the English language is not a hymn, not a prayer, not a description of a festival. It is a medical charm for healing a diseased patch of farmland. It was copied into a manuscript by a Christian monk. And it is remarkable....
The Völva and the Staff: Women’s Ritual Authority in Viking Age Religion and What the Archaeology Confirms
For a long time, the volva, the Norse seeress who traveled between communities offering prophecy and magical services, was treated by scholars as primarily a literary figure. Then the archaeologists caught up with the mythology, and the picture changed completely....