Tales from the Ironwood

This essay was originally written on 10 August 2024. Shortly thereafter I gave in to the impulse to self-censor. This decision was grounded in the fear of the opinions of others. A more recent talk with an old friend impressed upon me the importance of such ideas. Indeed, if I am not to share this vision, then who shall? Revised during the contemplative morning of 27 December 2025. Revised 31 January 2025. ********* About ten years ago, I embarked on a search for an answer to the age-old question: Who am I? At the time, I convinced myself that a deeper understanding of my ancestors would reveal that answer. In the course of that search, I discovered Ásatrú—the modern revival of the old Northern gods, intertwined with a strong emphasis on ancestor veneration. I believed I had finally cast off the imposed teachings of Christianity and uncovered my true self in the lives and spirits of my long-dead forebears. Yet today, what once seemed so certain now appears clouded by self-decepti...

Then Ganglieri asked: "Where is this god, what power has he, and what great works has he performed? High said, "He lives throughout all ages and rules all his kingdom and governs all things great and small." Then spoke Just-as-High: "He made heaven and earth and the skies and everything in them." Snorri Sturluson, Edda. [1] ********* Cosmogony is the study of the origin of the universe. Each culture and religion has an origin story that forms the basic tenets of their mythos. While the exoteric tales may stir the imagination or be cast off, even by adherents of the faith, for failing the tests of rationality or scientific understanding, the esoteric meanings of such stories convey deep messages for those who embrace the faith or who are raised in that particular culture. In bygone eras, children raised in families that practiced Ásatrú, the worship of the old gods of the North, were bound to understand the esoteric principles of the religion without having to b...

"Why Ásatrú?" was originally written on 25 August 2018. It was later transformed into one of the middle chapters of my book, Tales from the Ironwood. I think it serves well as a stand-alone piece and is a fair representation of my thinking at the time. It has become one of the most popular of my articles. Victor Hugo warned however that "popularity is a piece of faded tinsel that is out of date." ********* WHEN FRIENDS AND FAMILY LEARN that I have embraced a faith that honors and worships the pre-Christian gods of Europe, they are typically bewildered. I recall one of my cousins saying, “Well that’s fine, but I think it’s crazy.” I refrained from pointing out the “crazy” things that Christians believe like a teenaged virgin giving birth to god Almighty or that everyone born before the time of Christ was damned to Hell for all eternity. Other friends and family often remained silent, choosing not to discuss religion, but presumably thinking much the same. Few se...

This article later became the first chapter of my book, Tales from the Ironwood: The Spiritual Journey of a Modern-Day Heathen . The initial draft was written on 10 November 2017. It has gone through substantial editing and rewriting since that time. It is presented here to introduce my very personal adventures along the road from the Ironwood to Midgard. ********* THE IRONWOOD IS A DARK and frightening place—a forest located somewhere east of Midgard —inhabited by mythical monsters. It is the home of troll women and giantesses and wolves of tremendous stature and hunger. In the Eddas, the author of the Völuspá ( The Prophecy of the Seeress ) mentions the Ironwood: The giantess old in Ironwood sat, In the east, and bore the brood of Fenrir; Among these one in monster's guise Was soon to steal the sun from the sky. [1]  Snorri Sturluson also recounts in his Gylfaginning ( The Tricking of Gylfi ): A certain giantess lives east of Midgard in a forest called Ironwood. I...