NorsePlay.

From previously commenting on Iðunn 's apples of immortality, NorsePlay reads that it's the goddess who makes the apples work and not the orchard or trees themselves that are left behind during her abduction by Þjazi where the Gods age in her absence, otherwise they would just go pluck the apples themselves. The question this raises in terms of NorsePlay is thusly:  If the crucial factor is how Iðunn keeps the apples, then can this preparatory process be rediscovered & applied to make our very own apples of immortality? Is there a secret agricultural procedure or cooking recipe that would make any apple a key to limitless youth & longevity? Or is the fruit's conversion within the  specific  construction of a special storage cask for altering apples? If so, can an apple a day forever keep old Elli & deathly Hel away? [Iðunn  from the amazing Johan Egerkrans'  Norse Gods (2017 CE). Differently depicted as an older beauty with her sharply drawn...

Sometime in 2017 CE, NorsePlay left a plus-tagged Google+ comment that directed the educational company The Great Courses to Old Norse Philologist Jackson Crawford, and I suggested that they commission him to do a course for them. Now in 2022 CE, that very course has materialized, and I'd like to think that NorsePlay's comment as a cultural actor was responsible for making that happen. Pretty much within the first few weeks of release, I ponied up my $75 (yes, I know they often have $35 sales, but we wanted to review it now. [And that talking squirrel running up & down that World Tree, All-Daddy, I want that squirrel NOW!]) [ No, no you really don't want that talking squirrel. ] So the pre-buying bottom line question would be: Can I get the same information from the same source by watching his YT channel's 400+ videos? Mostly. Yet, like a university course, the level of organization in these 24 half-hour lectures partitions things in an orderly fashion that hitting ...

  When we think of Norse Mythology we think of the "nor-" prefix for the North, that these colder climes specifically inspired or fostered the Norse Lore. And yet, as we look at the Norse Cosmology with its whole fiery world of  Múspellsheimr , the raging volcanos of Iceland's Midgard ian landscape, the lava tube cavern of  Surtshellir, the geysirs & hot spring pools, we find many heat-centric constructs. Add the Viking explorations of the Mediterranean into arid Northern Africa & the Middle East, such encounters had to open up hotter climates to be contextualized within their Heathen Worldview. To NorsePlay: When Odin, Vili, & Vé create the Nine Worlds, this accounts for all Midgard's landscapes and attendant weathers, which includes the deserts. These same areas would also have attendant Landvættir, the spirits that occupy that land, plus  Álfar , Hulderfolk, D vergar, all as forces that support & interact with most portions of Midgard . ...

Listening to Gifts of the Wyrd podcast, Heathen urban planner Paul Mercutio of the North River Kindred recontextualizes the city as just as much a landvættir  connective space. To paraphrase Mercutio's thoughts: In the wild there are trees, rivers, lakes, mountains, and all of that is majestic and obvious in terms of connecting with nature. And going outside's all well & good, but in the intervening 1000+ years, man has gone from agricultural to urban and is unlikely to perform any sort of radical reversal on a large scale, so we have to find connective praxis in the modern context of the city's environment. If we look at the materials of the city we find that concrete was once air, water, sand, gravel, and eight other bits of earth cemented to make that concrete. Glass is just a sheet of heated sand. Steel is iron and carbon. These are all natural elements reformed into what makes a city. Also, your utilities are tubed, piped, and wired in what resembles a root syst...

This sweet 1,000-years of Icelandic Parliament  stamp set minted in 1939 CE reminds me of the interior art adorning The Viking Village's hotel restaurant Fjörugarðurinn from my trip to Iceland , with their awesome Höfðaletur (head letter)  font. The images, mostly historical & some modern, are done in a matching style that bridges a millennium to look as though they belong together. #    #    # 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 h...