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...