The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/iceland)
The Norse myths are laced with a melancholic focus on the end of an age. Karl Seigfried notes that today it also feels as though a way of living is passing. But just as Ragnarök leads to a rebirth, so too might our own times – if we are willing to work for it.
“Sundrung oozes a sort of dark mysticism which can only stem from a deep understanding of Old Nordic lore,” writes Lyonel Perabo of the new album by Icelandic heavy metal band Nexion.
Karl E.H. Seigfried examines the role of duplicitous counselors in Norse mythology, looking at sources from Volsunga saga to Sörla þáttr to puzzle out what lessons these figures can tell us about our situation today.
Of the two divisions of deities in Norse mythology and religion, the Æsir are – largely thanks to Jack Kirby and Stan Lee – the better known in today’s popular culture. The Vanir, however, are just as complex and worthy of veneration as their Æsir counterparts.
A new exhibition of medieval Icelandic manuscripts showcases the earliest versions of many core texts of Norse mythology and Icelandic literature, including the Poetic Edda and the Saga of the Greenlanders, which details the Norse discovery of the New World.