NorsePlay.

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...

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986 CE), Argentinian poet, writer, and national librarian, is a globally recognized giant of Latin literary  erudition. His essays, mind-bending short stories, and bittersweet verses almost all manage to reach & grasp something beyond themselves, unveiling a cosmic truth. And this last aspect is the NorsePlay & insight that Borges recognized within the Edda s, as a number of his works fondly explore the Norse Lore. In the earliest times, which were so susceptible to vague speculation and the inevitable ordering of the universe, there can have existed no division between the poetic and the prosaic. Everything must have been tinged with magic. Thor was not the god of Thunder; he was the thunder and the god . ~ from Borges' The Gold of the Tigers The literary parallels here between just-so events in Latin magical realism & surrealism being presented in a matter-of-fact way is equally found in the sagas & histories where troublesome zombie ghost...

With some concern we've recently been watching the thousands of earthquakes and threat of an eruption of some degree in Iceland, which happened Friday night at Fagradalsfjall Mountain. [3/20 photo by Vilhelm Gunnarsson.] The island country's been statistically overdue for one for awhile now, as Iceland formed up out of the Mid-Atlantic rift, and straddles the North American & Eurasian tectonic plates, so geographically it's lava-made and volcano-centric. The Reykjanes Peninsula happens to be where metro Reykjavík is, which groups nearly 2/3rds of the country's population together, and in this context is a vulnerability in terms of possible lava flow and poisonous gases. While the eruption was originally predicted to be at Mount Keilir, ~20 miles SW of Reykjavík, the instead active Mount Fagradalsfjall fissure eruption is ~25 miles SW on an opposing slope away from the capital. So far the lava is mostly within the unpopulated Fagradal valley south of the mountain. If...

While NorsePlay has commented on an exceptionally remarkable descriptive/deed name  found in Sagas of Icelanders , only until we recently finished reading the Landnámabók   ( The Book of Settlements ) did we realize that such name appellations  were far less the rare exception.  Perhaps in a land of multiple Thorgeirs and Bjorns there needed to be some additional distinctions to set people apart. [map of settlers' names represented by ships.]  Yet there are also many descriptive names based almost solely on physical characteristics that may seem mean-spirited, though in a society where poetic skills are valued maybe such name-making was an unavoidable convention. NorsePlay presents a sample list of names from the Landnámabók   to increase the awareness of this practice: Hergils Knob-Buttocks Eystein Foul-Fart Tongue-Odd Mice-Bolverk Thorarin the Evil Hallgerd Twist-Breeks Havard the Lame Arnmod the Squint-Eyed Bjorn Butter-Box Hroald Sp...

We took a break from our long four-year reading-fest of comparative Norse Mythology & Norse Lore source materials to book club a ScandiNoir novel by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Þriðja táknið (translated as The Third Symbol) , or re-titled for English audiences, Last Rituals . Given the goetic-looking runestave symbol and mention of witchcraft flaunted on the cover, we're promised spookiness from the get go, though given this is a first novel in an intended series, we spend a lot more than a goodly amount of time establishing our lead character's voice as a financially challenged divorcée mother-of-two's status as a l awyer-cum-detective . As a grown late-30s-something with what one would presume much criminal defense experience in what's arguably the most feminist country in the world, attorney Thóra Gudmundsdóttir's surprised reactions due to her underexposure to body modifications, BDSM, and other subculturally outré elements in the mystery comes off l...

A Younger Futhark alphabet classroom poster designed by Icelandic graphic artist Siggi Oddsson. It's neat seeing things like a helicopter and automobile as associated icons to help learn the runes and pull them forward in time to the present. [ available here from the The Icelandic Magic Company.] #    #    # 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 .

Graphic artist Siggi Oddsson 's runic re-design of the Icelandic licorice candy lozenge package for Opal. In Odds' runification of popular logos, he shows examples of an alternate reality where the conversion never happened, and the use of the Fuþark had endured to the present. We feel the clever idea of this exploration could be impetus for cultural & religious reclaiming. [photo by Eygló Gísladóttir.] #    #    # 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,...

Author Boff Konkerz NorsePlays the Galdrastafur into pretend patterns for more social media plusses, faster WiFi, and Tinder right swipes! Meant as a subversively humorous modern critique of society's political & social foibles, this book's take seems quite Icelandic, though the idea of expanding the vocabulary of sigils in Icelandic magical staves to achieve modern goals is worth considering. Any of you read this? [thanks to Arith Härger for featuring this on his YT channel and his cautionary words about checking sources for your tattoos.] #    #    # 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. ...

One of NorsePlay's favourite landmark sculptures, the Sólfar , or Sun Voyager. [Photo from Day 2 of my Iceland: a travelogue experience.] Made by Jón Gunnar Árnason in 1990 for the birthday of Reykjavík. While there we watched foolhardy tourists fail to climb its overslick aluminum sides and nearly eat it. We see the probable influences of the Nordic Bronze Age petrogylph ship images and the staves of galdrastafur within Sólfar 's structure. #    #    # 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 ...

There's this single line in War of the God s, and if you didn't look at it right, you'd just read thoughtlessly past it, but an important aspect of the Norse cosmological worldview turns inside it: " Thunder rolled, unseen wheels. " [quote from Poul Anderson (1997), sculpture Þórsvagninn by Haukur Halldórsson.] #    #    # 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 .

Thor lords over his namesake Norse Mythology-inspired souvenir shop in Reykjavík, Iceland. Featuring Odin & Freyja fixtures. [Designed by Hans Alan Tómasson. Visit the shop at Laugavegur 7. Photo by Art Bicknik.] #    #    # 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 .

Icelandic ogress Grýla by Þrándur Þórarinsson (2009). She only eats bad children, which could be seen as providing a service, in its own grim way. [Þrándur Þórarinsson, Gryla , 2009.] "Grýla is a mythical giantess living in the mountains of Iceland. Most of the stories told about Gryla were to frighten bad children, and her name is mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's thirteenth century Edda. Grýla was not directly linked to Christmas until the 17th century. By that time she had become the mother of the Yule Lads. Terry Gunnell hypothesizes that the medieval custom of dressing as Grýla may be related to other visiting traditions such as Julebukk or the Yule Goat and that her name may mean 'threat' or 'threatening'. She has the ability to detect children who are misbehaving year-round. During Christmas time, she comes from the mountains to search nearby towns for her meal. She leaves her cave and hunts for the children. She devours children as her favori...

In one's quest for more social interaction across the Nine Worlds, it might seem that Icelander Hallgerður Hallgrímsdóttir has gotten in direct touch with the Alfar when one comes across her book Please YoursELF: Sex with the Icelandic Invisibles (2005). Complete with stick figure illustrated positioning and intercourse tips. This could take everyone's NorsePlay to a whole other level. And if you think about intimacies in the Norse Lore, we have Aesir partnering with Vanir, both partnering with Jötnar, Vanir partnering with Dwarves, Saxo & Snorri's accounts of a Scandinavian kingdom of Alfheim being ruled by human-elf mixed descendants of the Alfar, so why wouldn't we as Midgardians proactively explore options of desire & love on a supernatural/otherworldly level? [Verify here:  http://web.archive.org/web/20180304232624/http://hallgerdur.com/index.php?/work/please-yourself/ ] #    #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something spe...

Day -1 : Deplaned! ... and it begins with me sprinting full out from one end of Phoenix's mile-long Sky Harbor Airport to the very last concourse, which of course looks very action film terrorist red flag-like. The plane (if you can call the wee Red Bull can with wings an actual plane) from Tucson was 45 minutes late getting in due to confidence inspiring "maintenance issues", which left me with less than 10 minutes to make my connection to Denver. "The door is closed." I can see the plane through the window, still connected to the jetway. "But the plane is  right there ." "The door is closed. You'll have to go talk to customer service," she states in flat disciplinarian tones with barely veiled punitive relish. By contrast the sweet great aunt US Airways desk agent's deeply apologetic about me losing a whole day in Iceland, and I simply can't get pissed at a nice old lady who's doing her best to get me out as early as ...