#the norse eddas

[sejsoup]

havamal is so funny to me bc its just odin giving life advice. like yeah go off girl

[illustratus]

The Binding of Fenrir by Mabel Dorothy Hardy

[solradguy]

''There sits Sigurd stained with blood; Fafnir's heart he roasts in the fire. I would call the prince wise and prudent if he himself ate that gleaming heart."

-Poems of the Elder Edda - tl: Patricia Ann Terry

[broomsick]

List of interesting ressources pertaining to norse paganism, scandinavian folklore and history, and nordic religions in general

These are sources I have personally used in the context of my research, and which I've enjoyed and found useful. Please don’t mind if I missed this or that ressource, as for this post, I focused solely on my own preferences when it comes to research. I may add on to this list via reblog if other interesting sources come to my mind after this has been posted. Good luck on your research! And as always, my question box is open if you have any questions pertaining to my experiences and thoughts on paganism.

Mythology

The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

Dictionnary of Northern Mythology

The Prose and Poetic Eddas (online)

Grottasöngr: The Song of Grotti (online)

The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

The Wanderer's Hávamál

The Song of Beowulf

Rauðúlfs Þáttr

The Penguin Book of Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings (Kevin Crossley-Holland's are my favorite retellings)

Myths of the Norsemen From the Eddas and the Sagas (online) A source that's as old as the world, but still very complete and an interesting read.

The Elder Eddas of Saemung Sigfusson

Pocket Hávamál

Myths of the Pagan North: Gods of the Norsemen

Lore of the Vanir: A Brief Overview of the Vanir Gods

Anglo-Saxon and Norse Poems

Gods of the Ancient Northmen

Gods of the Ancient Northmen (online)

Two Icelandic Stories: Hreiðars Þáttr and Orms Þáttr

Two Icelandic Stories: Hreiðars Þáttr and Orms Þáttr (online)

Sagas

Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes: Hervor and Heidrek & Hrólf Kraki and His Champions (compiling the Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks and the Hrólfs saga kraka)

Icelandic Saga Database (website)

The Saga of the Jómsvíkings

The Heimskringla or the Chronicle of the Kings of Norway (online)

Stories and Ballads of the Far Past: Icelandic and Faroese

Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway

The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok

The Saga of the Volsungs (online) Interesting analysis, but this is another pretty old source.

The Story of the Volsungs (online) Morris and Magnusson translation

The Vinland Sagas

Hákon the Good's Saga (online)

History of religious practices

The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age Scandinavia

Nordic Religions in the Viking Age

Agricola and Germania Tacitus' account of religion in nordic countries

Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions

Tacitus on Germany (online)

Scandinavia and the Viking Age

Viking Age Iceland

Landnámabók: Book of the Settlement of Iceland (online)

The Age of the Vikings

Gesta Danorum: The Danish History (Books I-IX)

The Sea Wolves: a History of the Vikings

The Viking World

Guta Lag: The Law of the Gotlanders (online)

The Pre-Christian Religions of the North This is a four-volume series I haven't read yet, but that I wish to acquire soon! It's the next research read I have planned.

Old Norse Folklore: Tradition, Innovation, and Performance in Medieval Scandinavia

Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings

The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings by John Haywood

Landnámabók: Viking Settlers and Their Customs in Iceland

Nordic Tales: Folktales from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark For a little literary break from all the serious research! The stories are told in a way that can sometimes get repetitive, but it makes it easier to notice recurring patterns and themes within Scandinavian oral tradition.

Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Short Introduction

Saga Form, Oral Prehistory, and the Icelandic Social Context

An Early Meal: A Viking Age Cookbook and Culinary Oddyssey

Runes & Old Norse language

Uppland region runestones and their translations

Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas and Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader

Catalogue of the Manks Crosses with Runic Inscriptions

Old Norse - Old Icelandic: Concise Introduction to the Language of the Sagas

A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture

Nordic Runes: Understanding, Casting, and Interpreting the Ancient Viking Oracle 

YouTube channels

Ocean Keltoi

Arith Härger

Old Halfdan

Jackson Crawford

Wolf the Red

Sigurboði Grétarsson

Grimfrost

(Reminder! The channel "The Wisdom of Odin", aka Jacob Toddson, is a known supporter of pseudo scientific theories and of the AFA, a folkist and white-supremacist organization, and he's been known to hold cult-like, dangerous rituals, as well as to use his UPG as truth and to ask for his followers to provide money for his building some kind of "real life viking hall", as supposedly asked to him by Óðinn himself. A source to avoid. But more on that here.)

Websites

The Troth

Norse Mythology for Smart People

Voluspa.org

Icelandic Saga Database

Skaldic Project

Life in Norway This is more of a tourist's ressources, but I find they publish loads of fascinating articles pertaining to Norway's history and its traditions.

[hiljametsa]

Heima glaðr gumi, ok við gesti reifr, sviðr skal um sik vera. Minnigr ok málugr, ef hann vill margfróðr vera, opt skal góðs geta.

'If you want to be very wise, be happy at home, and cheerful with guests. Cultivate wisdom, a good memory and eloquence, and speak kind words often.'

-- Hávamál 103, tr. Jackson Crawford.

[a-denn]

[astxrope]

I have a proposition for you all :)

Intersex Lyf.

Adios.

[thorinsghivashel]

Glad to find familiar names in the Poetic Edda, in the Lokasenna where Loki speaks of a Myrkwood. They remind me of how cool Tolkien really was and how much the norse poetry influenced his work.

In Germanic mythology, Myrkviðr (Old Norse "dark wood" or "black forest") is the name of several European forests.

The word myrkviðr is a compound of two words. The first element is myrkr "dark", which is cognate to, among others, the English adjectives mirky and murky. The second element is viðr "wood, forest".

The name was anglicised by Sir Walter Scott (in Waverley) and William Morris (in The House of the Wolfings) and later popularized by J. R. R. Tolkien as "Mirkwood".

The name is attested as a mythical local name of a forest in the Poetic Edda poem Lokasenna, and the heroic poems Atlakviða, Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and others.

J.R.R.Tolkien comments on Myrkviðr in a letter to his eldest grandson:

"Mirkwood is not an invention of mine, but a very ancient name, weighted with legendary associations. It was probably the Primitive Germanic name for the great mountainous forest regions that anciently formed a barrier to the south of the lands of Germanic expansion. In some traditions it became used especially of the boundary between Goths and Huns. I speak now from memory: its ancientness seems indicated by its appearance in very early German (11th c.?) as mirkiwidu although the *merkw- stem 'dark' is not otherwise found in German at all (only in O[ld] E[nglish], O[ld] S[axon], and O[ld] N[orse]), and the stem *widu- > witu was in German (I think) limited to the sense of 'timber,' not very common, and did not survive into mod[ern] G[erman]. In O[ld] E[nglish] mirce only survives in poetry, and in the sense 'dark', or rather 'gloomy', only in Beowulf [line] 1405 ofer myrcan mor: elsewhere only with the sense 'murky' > wicked, hellish. It was never, I think, a mere 'colour' word: 'black', and was from the beginning weighted with the sense of 'gloom'..."

[ashsomethingart]

Lokabrenna Tarot - Major Arcana 01 - Vitki (The Magician)

Ash Something Art, Adobe Photoshop CC, 2024 10 Hours All art is created by me and is (C) Ash Something Art No AI was used in the creation of this work.

[izunias-meme-hole]

Loki Appreciation Post

Loki from the original mythology is pretty good and has yet to get an adaptation that does him true justice by reworking and expanding upon him in full, though the Marvel (In general, not just the MCU) and God of War revisions of the trickster are definitely enjoyable too despite having a LOT of differences. Also Record of Ragnarok is there too.

[loki-was-framed]

I love the implications of this throwaway line in Loki Season 2.

[illustratus]

The Ravager by John Charles Dollman

[thequeerlibrarian]

I bought this pretty book because I'm going to Scandinavia later this year 😍

I know some of my mutuals/followers live or went there so if anyone wants to give me tips what I should visit I'd be happy <3

[broomsick]

Crooked and far | is the road to a foe,

Though his house on the highway be;

But wide and straight | is the way to a friend,

Though far away he fare.

Hávamál - The Sayings of Hár, stanza 34

Hail Óðinn ❤️

[dandelionjack]

what did i do on the plane journey, apart from reading? i relistened to the bifrost incident, of course. funny how two years ago i was obsessed with it solely owing to my lovecraftiana hyperfixation, and didn’t care about the norse mythology side of things at all, and now it’s kind of the opposite. proof that the mechanisms were artificially synthesised in a lab to hog all my autism to themselves

i don’t know WHAT compelled them (ha) to decide to veer into abject yog-sothothery halfway through what originally pretends to be your standard fare “what if this historical mythos was actually Steampunk Sci-Fi In Space!!” mechs concept record, but it was absolutely the right decision. playing this fast and loose with mythological figures is justified when your story quite literally goes off the rails

also fascinating how this was a magnus s5 trial run. lyf is a jon clone just as much as she-odin is a jonah clone. black box audio recordings transmitting messages from eldritch dread powers that will end the world? all the doors are open now? you don’t say??

[ingenue-europa]

CW: substance abuse One thing that can be very hard in heathenry, as well as for a lot of faiths and cultures, is struggling with a substance abuse disorder (particularly alcoholism.) I myself am a recovering alcoholic and heathen and I cannot emphasize how difficult it is to reconcile not drinking with the overall prevalence of drinking in the lore and in the community of heathens. Let me just say that the Havamal says don't hold on to the mead-horn, but drink your fair share. If your fair share is none, then so be it. And the gods don't expect you to do anything that is to your detriment. There is no requirement. If any amount of alcohol results in excess, then it's ok to not consume it at all. One thing I do to counteract the cravings is to share my drinks with the gods. I give and offering of whatever I'm drinking, because I know that I wouldn't dare share my alcohol (which used to include mead on occasion) with Odin right after HE JUST SAID. Some one who cares about your recovery won't drink in front of you (if that's what you need, of course.)

This also goes for people who are not of age. Don't feel any pressure from the popular portrayals of Norse culture. “A traveler cannot bring a better burden on the road than plenty of wisdom, and he can bring no worse a burden than too much alcohol.” Odin gave you permission, friends. This may resonate with other faiths. There are substitutes for alcohol in most traditions, I'm willing to bet. And if you need support with substance abuse and need a little more diversity than AA or NA, there's also Pagans in Recovery (which does require you already be a part of a 12 step program) and Recovery Dharma (a Buddhist inspired recovery program.) I can't speak to other programs, but these communities worked for me.

Props to Jackson Crawford for his translation of The Poetic Edda.