An Encounter with Pagan Metal

Except that what I heard then were no musical notes. These were sounds of the earth. Crackling; slowly rumbling; like a fissure opening up on the ocean floor; or a mountain growing, or a volcano awakening after millennia of stillness. The music had not even started that I was already captivated.

Reading the Silmarillion

Ultimately, whether he intended the Silmarillion to function as a national epic for England, Britain, the Anglosphere, or the entire world does not really matter all that much. What matters is that he succeeded.

Joe Louis, Max Schmeling, and the Wizard in the Forest

As we perform the enchantment of mythicization on our world, we lift people, places, and things from the mundane to the meaningful. The trivial becomes tremendous and the ephemeral becomes enduring. Myth, regardless of veracity, can have more power than any truth. This power is not always used for positive ends.

Column: Nordic Heritage and Scandinavian Idyll

As my wife takes our daughter to bed for a well-deserved nap, Hanne takes her bicycle out of the shed, hands me the map, a helmet, and a bottle of water. In less time than it takes to recite the runes of the elder futhark, I am out adventuring.