NorsePlay.

NorsePlay wants to put forth the original & doctorate-worthy observation that there could be a historical throughline betwixt medieval Scottish Sword Dances, Viking Age Berserker Rituals, and the Vendel Period Spear Dancers. Our NorsePlay hypothesis runs thus visually, backtracking with the Scottish Sword Dances (15th c. CE): [ Go, lassies, go! ] In this tradition there's also the halberd-like  Lochaber Axe used in a dance, and a Dirk Dance, the latter termed a "battle dance" with "dueling" performers. The sword dance is done without touching the crossed swords before battle, which if successful is an indicator of imminent victory ... or death if not.   Further back, we have tentative guesses that the Viking Bersærkergang  was a ritually evoked religious ecstatic state reached via a frenzied dance , either pre-battle or done just before battle in front of assembled enemies, which would double as a psychological warfare technique. And at earliest, the Odinic ...

Female Berserker Tyri by Bob Kehl. Note the bound muzzle and tied around forelegs which mirror the bound bear motif on Viking hogback grave markers and one of the Torslunda helmet plates. Perhaps this garment design's simple leather strap answer to wrapping the pelt on the wearer may have something to do with the original motif, along with the ancient bear cult identifying with and physically harnessing the power of the bear. #    #    # 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 of...

A hammer -wielding bear named Icerlot from LEGO 's Legends of Chima evokes a northern Berserker image . We think his ice-leg is an interesting detail. #    #    # 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 him .

The idea of the Berserker Norseplays its way into the Transformers universe. In 1987 Hasbro exports Battle Beasts as BeastFormers, including this axe-wielding armored Grizzly Bear. The temperature sensitive sticker on the breastplate revealed a hidden fire, wood, or water icon used in a rock, paper, scissors type game for the 2" figures. #    #    # 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 him .

Hallucinogenic mushrooms? Trance state? Self-hypnotizing invulnerability inducing meditation? Pre-battle ritual rage dance ? Possession by an ursine totemic spirit? Not in this 21st Century: It's amino acids in a can, available in cherry cola or red apple flavours! Wouldn't you like to be a Berserker too? Any of you had this? #    #    # 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 him .

Ursine Champion , a fantasy female Berserker as depicted by Alex Konstad for Magic: The Gathering . We love her bear skull pauldron. The flavor text for the card: " Would you rather feel the edge of my blade or the sharpness of my fangs? " #    #    # 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 him .

Given the reconstructionism within Heathenry and our unending fascination with the Berserker and its association with the fury of bears, we believe there's room enough to revive the idea of the Bear Cult . Why not a combined männerbund & mutterrecht of initiates in bearcoats? Weather permitting, we'd wear our fearsome bear head everywhere. Let's do this! #    #    # 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 him .

What wins us here is the bear drinking with Odin.  I mean, just look at him pawing that tankard of ale! So to NorsePlay: Presumably this is in Valhalla, which the nearest specific Norse Lore match could make this Böðvar Bjarki (Warlike Little-Bear) of Hrólfs saga kraka  ( Saga of King Hrolf Kraki ). On Midgard,  Böðvar needed to trance out to send forth his bear-form to fight on the battlefield, but given the metaphysical afterlife arena depicted here perhaps that physical/spiritual division process becomes unnecessary, so the  Böðvar- bear gets to feast just as much as fight. #    #    # 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 s...

Perhaps this is our Heathen Worldview's magic binoculars at work, but we see alot of NorsePlay within Moonrise Kingdom 's Suzy Bishop. She's a thoughtful Huginn-esque raven, she wears a transformative bird costume like Freyja, she goes berserkergang and stabs a kid in the lumbar with lefty scissors, starts fighting with some girl in her classroom (war goddess), disagrees vehemently with her family over their possessive intentions (i.e. giving her to the giants for trade at certain points in the Lore), travels with a cat ( Bygul/Trjegul ), willingly suffers for her jewelry (the painful piercing for new earrings scene/Freyja's bargain for Brísingamen), and wanders fearlessly into the wilderness to search for her love (Sam/Óðr). Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola, have we caught you at something Eddaic? #    #    # 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 ...

Berserker bearskin headdress made by The Crafty Crawford. Complete with all paws & claws, with the upper jaw taxidermied in, claimed by Idaho harvests where the meat is eaten and the pelt sold only to cover costs with a Native American art license. #    #    # 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 him .

With their chainmail shirts, berserker-esque marshal penchant, and Icelandic-styled names like Ragnar Sturlusson here, the panserbjørne polar bears of The Golden Compass are definitely NorsePlay. #    #    # 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 him .

Watching the processional Bear Dance in Comănești, Bacău County, Romania, doesn't strike one as just a winter parade to drive out evil spirits. The men & women dressed in actual bear pelts adorned with oversized red tassels dance to shamanistic skin drums, wood flutes & whistles, pausing at certain intervals to make a mysterious trilling noise , lead by a masked old man, and subject to a call/response chant, has all the earmarks of a ritual. With the Indo-European lingual taboo on the actual word for bear, the migrant Roma who inspired this tradition first using real bears, and the serious to fierce demeanor of the dancers, recalls the idea that the Berserker may have been a formal entranced dance that lead to a legendary invulnerability in battle , and that perhaps this dance could be a remnant of the Berserkergang state at work. #    #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in  the Norse Lore when he picked up a co...

Sure they're the most celebrated chessmen in the world and thus an obvious choice for NorsePlay, but we can't help but adore & include them: The Lewis Chessmen feature four Rooks who are depicted as Berserkers! Note the battle-mad biting of shields. We got a nice museum gift shoppe replica of the Berserker at left a few years ago on our visit to London. And we're fond of this more cosmic recontextual drawing with the Berserker featured at center: [Above  display at The British Museum in their very own room, and bottom l llustration by Ilene Winn-Lederer from his Notes From London: Above & 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...

In Avatar Press' Wolfskin , a berserker northman consults his patron one-eyed god . Wrod shown here is an obvious NorsePlay analogue for our Odin. [Art by Juan José RyP, written by Warren Ellis.] #    #    # 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 him .

Ran across an illustration of the middle Bear Cult with "house of the dead" (probably Valhalla ) designed hogback-style V iking tombstone in Prudence Jones & Nigel Pennick 's A History of Pagan Europe (p132), and found this neat line up of three bear-themed gravestones that are kept at St. Thomas' Church, Brompton, Northallerton, Yorkshire, near where they were originally found. It'd be sweet if we could reconstruct these as a burial marker and/or cremains container option. #    #    # 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 m...