Tales from the Ironwood

On one hand, the current article was begun on 29 August 2021 and completed on 5 September 2021. On the other hand, my meditations that brought Ymir raging into my consciousness occurred sometime in 2017. At that time I was working my way through Edred Thorsson's curriculum known as The Nine Doors of Midgard .  My meditations then focused on the rune that would come to be called *THURISAZ. In its actual ancient rendering it is known as THURS or THORN. It is in the latter form and within the context of my Armanen studies that this essay has formed like so many droplets from the melting rime. ********* I begin my meditations on THORN by considering Karl Welz’s translation of verse 148 from the Hávamál : “A third song is mine: If urgency tells To tie the opponents with magic Then I blunt the steel of my foes So that their swords will not cut any more.” [1] To be fully transparent, I performed substantive meditation on the meaning of THORN prior to beginning my Armanen rune work. ...

Sometimes articles appear fully formed in my mind before I commit them to the page. At other times they develop chaotically through a strange creative dance of research and revelation. This one, appropriately, developed through the latter method. Nietzsche wrote in Also Sprach Zarathustra that "one must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star." This star appeared in the heavens during Yule 2020. ********* Even within Ásatrú circles, some of the least understood of mythic beings are the giants. While their role in Norse cosmogony, eschatology, and even magick is essential, most Ásatrúars take an overly simplistic and perhaps naïve approach to these figures. In fact, most kindreds and tribes that I know mandate that no giants be toasted—no horn may be raised during the ceremony of sumbel to these awesome beings. The basic line of reasoning is that giants are opposed to the Æsir gods, that they play a destructive role in the events of Ragnarök ...