Tales from the Ironwood

"Kvasir’s Blood" was written on 8 and 9 February 2020. With the article only halfway written on the 8th, I sipped Dansk Viking Blod mead in the evening. It served as a worthy and useful inspiration. May all find inspiration through Grimnir’s gift. ********* When Germanic Heathens gather, there is typically mead about. The newcomer to Ásatrú has likely read that mead plays a significant role in many of its rituals. It may be splashed with an evergreen sprig upon those gathered or it may be sipped or even quaffed from a hefty drinking horn. But what is this drink, sometimes called the oldest alcoholic beverage? Despite various reports about the growing popularity of mead, it can be somewhat difficult to find locally.[1] I recall walking into a fairly well-stocked liquor store and asking if they sold mead. “What is that, beer?” I was asked in response. I tried again in an upscale winery. With an air of snobbery, the proprietor replied, “Wine made from honey? Some people w...

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...