Tales from the Ironwood

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...

"Becoming Odin" was written on 12 January 2020 although the key ideas have been forming in my mind over the past couple of years. I recall many of these thoughts taking shape while touring Columcille Megalith Park during the spring of 2018. ********* For Ásatrúars the two primary texts are Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda and the anonymous compilation known as The Poetic Edda . It has long been my contention that Snorri’s thirteenth-century work contains secret messages and meaning for those who understand or are able to decipher the text.[1] The first part of Snorri’s Edda contains the well-known Gylfaginning (“The Tricking of Gylfi”), one of the most important early accounts of the Norse gods. On the surface, Gylfaginning recounts the tale of a wondrous visit to Asgard (ON: Ásgarðr ) by King Gylfi of Sweden. Once in Asgard Gylfi poses a long series of questions to its rulers, High ( Har ), Just-as-high ( Jafnhar ), and Third ( Thrithi ) --three of the many names of O...