NorsePlay.

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, which

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  project, and spearheaded the neo