The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/thor/page/4)
I read accounts of the Old Way in its day with love and longing. I am profoundly moved when I read the sayings of Odin, whether by myself, in communion with the kindred, or discussing them with college students. I see the lore as touchstones for righteous living, guidelines for right action, and comfort in the darkness. We can deeply care about all of this without pretending that we can go back and do like they did.
How can city-dwelling Heathens bring back the old sense of wonder when gazing upwards? How can we reenchant the post-post-postmodern skies in this third decade of the 21st century?
Despite all their violently macho bravado, even the gods have empathy.
“I think we have a problem.” I held up two identical wooden blocks, each stamped with an image of a man bent low under the weight of a massive boulder. “We’ve got two Sisyphuses and no Graces.”
Ever since then, across six decades, I’ve associated the forest – any forest – with dwarfs, elves, secrets, songs, trolls, traps, witches, wizards, and other mysterious manifestations. All unknowingly, my ex-monk philosophy professor father was laying the tracks for my later embrace of Norse mythology and Ásatrú religion.