The Norse tradition versus black book magic: Each tradition focuses on different aspects. When practicing within a specific tradition, it is crucial to follow its rules. If you choose to practice another, you must respect its guidelines, and it is generally best not to mix the two. Where these traditions cannot be integrated, it is wise not to force a blend. You must thoroughly understand both mythologies and be able to discern where they align and where they clearly do not. The Norse tradition and black book magic rest on entirely different principles. The Norse tradition is the tradition of free individuals, a tradition of warriors who were never subjugated. In contrast, black book magic is rooted in Christianity. It is a fusion of Christianity and paganism, but more specifically, it represents the darker aspects of Christianity. At its core, black book magic remains a form of Christianity, albeit its underground, shadow side. Because it is based on Judeo-Christianity, it stands in direct opposition to the Norse tradition. https://youtu.be/UmGxOGo8Ugw?si=T0TMfVPA7lgzKUMZ

Hi everyone, I'm a landscape photographer (among other things) and passionate about Norse mythology and history. I have recently taken these pictures in my local forest after a cold and frosty night. I like to call them "Fimbulvetr" as described in the Ragnarökr from the Gylfaginning texts. Hope you enjoy them!

This is a repost as we get closer...... Some history on the changing or standardizing of the Yule celebration. Hákon the Good (c. 920–961) was the son of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and was raised in England, where he converted to Christianity. When he became king of Norway, he sought to convert his people to Christianity as well, but this was met with resistance from the pagan Norse population. He worked to integrate Christian practices with traditional Norse customs to avoid conflict, which is where the idea of "moving" or adjusting the timing of Yule might come into play. Hákon the Good is known to have issued laws that required the Christian observance of certain Christian holidays, while also allowing Norse traditions to continue, including aspects of the Yule festival. One of his key moves was to decree that the feast of Yule should be celebrated at the same time as the Christian holiday of Christmas, which was closely tied to the Winter Solstice. This alignment helped to ease the transition for the Norse people, as they could continue celebrating at the same time as they had before, but now under a Christian framework. In this sense, while Hákon the Good didn't technically "move" the date of Yule (which already had Solstice associations), he helped standardize the timing of the celebration with the Christian observance of Christmas. His efforts contributed to the Christianization of the Yule festival, making it more in line with Christian customs while preserving key elements of the older pagan tradition. Dr. Andreas Nordberg: “The pre-Christian Yule feast occurs at the first full moon after the first new moon following the winter solstice, while the disting took place at the third full moon according to the same method of calculation.” (Jul, disting och förkyrklig tideräkning Kalendrar och kalendariska riter i det förkristna Norden Uppsala 2006, P.4)

THE LONE VIKING AT STAMFORD BRIDGE (NORSE) The lone Viking was an unnamed berserker warrior who is remembered in the Viking sagas for his impressive last stand at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, between the Norwegian Vikings led by Harald Hardrada and the English army of Harold Godwinson. Taking place during the Viking invasion of England, Harald and his vikings were suddenly attacked by a large army led by Harold in an effort to free York from the occupation of the Vikings. Left unarmed and unprepared, Harald tried to regroup his surprised army and retreat back to form a defensive line. As they fall back, the only barrier standing between the English and the unprepared Vikings was a small wooden bridge. Unfortunately for the English, Harald sent his berserker to guard that bridge and buy Harald time to arm and ready his army. Filled with bloodlust by drinking his potion and praying to Odin, the berserker took on the whole English army only by himself (which numbered 15,000). The English charged the Viking to gain access to Harald Hadrada, but the berserker killed many of them with his great axe and sword. He held the bridge for a considerable amount of time, and killed over 40 English soldier single-handedly. The berserker however, finally succumbed to the English when a soldier rowed to the bottom of the bridge, and stabbed the viking in the groin, mortally wounding him. The Vikings were soon defeated when the English poured into their position. His sacrifice was in vain, as Harald Hadrada and many of his vikings were soon slain afterwards, marking the end of the Viking Age. https://hubpages.com/education/The-Lone-Viking-Warrior-on-Stamford-Bridge https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stamford_Bridge

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in Scandinavian/Norse history and culture. It received it during our Jolabokaflod and absolutley love it!

https://norsemythology.substack.com/p/odin-is-not-an-unmanly-god

More info about the Dna article 'Norse Code' in Natue magazine. Prof Alice Roberts's (edited due to length) social media post: "My friend Pontus Skoglund and his colleagues have JUST published this incredible new piece of research into Viking-era migrations - using ancient DNA and a brand analysis called Twigstats. [......] This new analysis includes a new piece of information relating to [.....] the remains of 30+ individuals from a mass grave in Oxford, thought to have been slaughtered in the 1002 St Brice’s Day Massacre, [......]. Ancient DNA analysis is an incredibly powerful tool for understanding populations, migrations and families [.....]. This is really exciting science. And it’s really hard. First the archaeogeneticists have to take samples from ancient bones, then they extract DNA from the samples [......]. Ancient DNA might survive the ravages of time - but it’s usually broken up into tiny pieces, [......]. So the next stage is assembling those segments of code into a whole genome. It’s a mindblowingly huge puzzle which is only made possible with advances in computing power. But reconstructing an ancient genome is just the beginning. What the archaeogeneticists are really interested in is comparing lots of genomes - looking for similarities and differences. These are the key to understanding what was happening to populations in the past - and tracking migrations. Over time, genomes acquire new mutations. Those mutations will be inherited by descendants of the person in whom the mutation first arose. While most of the genome will be identical between two people, the pattern of these little differences is crucial for working out what happened to populations over time - and for tracking families. [.......]. Pontus told me that distinguishing different Iron Age Scandinavian groups, for instance, is MUCH harder. It’s not a perfect analogy, but imagine trying to tell if someone is Norwegian or Danish by the appearance - it’s hard. But Twigstats works by focusing on salient differences - and these are ones related to relatively recent mutations [......]. It ignores older mutations which have been sifted and sorted through populations over time, creating confusing ‘noise’. So it’s a bit like snipping a twig off a gene tree so you can focus on just those branches - ignoring the rest of the tree. Hence the name: Twigstats. This means you can now spot subtle but important differences between populations that are quite genetically similar. And then this also means you can spot when in time a population starts to look more similar to another one - implying that those populations have merged with each other. In other words: some people have migrated and settled in a new place and started to mix with the population already there. Pontus and his colleagues tested their new technique on simulated data to make sure it worked - which it did, very well. Ten times better than anything else they’d tried before. They used it to look at some real samples, looking at modern human and Neanderthal DNA - to test a criticism of the theory that these species interbred with each other in the Palaeolithic. Now this is something I’ve been following for years, ever since my first big landmark series for the BBC, The Incredible Human Journey. Back then, in 2008, there didn’t seem to be any evidence of modern humans (Homo sapiens) and Neanderthals mixing. At least, fossil bones weren’t providing a suggestion of interbreeding. But then ancient DNA came along - with the first Neanderthal genome published in 2010. And then it seemed there was evidence for interbreeding, around 60,000 years ago. But a few scientists have criticised this claim, saying that the patterns in the modern human DNA could have happened another way, just through genetic variants being sorted over time, creating a sort of mirage of an interbreeding event with Neanderthals. Most archaeogeneticists still thought that interbreeding explained the pattern. But there was an element of doubt. [....] Twigstats finally puts that doubt to bed. Neanderthals and modern humans definitely met up and swapped genes with each other (delicately put). [.......] The main focus of the study was the later first millennium - the Viking Age. And here, Pontus and his colleagues were able to use Twigstats to track migrations of different populations that have been difficult to ‘see’ before, they’re all so similar. They found evidence for migrations of Germanic people southward into Poland and Slovakia, as well as into south-central Europe and Britain. And then later, those people that ended up in Poland were themselves replaced during the Slavic period. They also found evidence of a previously unknown migration into Scandinavia, before the Viking Age - transforming the ancestry of Denmark and southern Sweden. Interestingly, this seems to coincide with a change in runic script and language - establishing Old Norse and the Younger Futhark."

Norse code. The use of genetic ancestry to trace history and probe events of the past is challenging because ancestries in many locations are relatively similar, making it hard to distinguish groups and populations. In January edition of Nature Magazine, The researchers use a new technique to examine the genomic history of early medieval Europe. This allowed them to track the expansion of two streams of Scandinavian-related ancestry across the continent, as well a later stream of ancestry expanding into Scandinavia before the Viking Age (around 750–1050). The cover is inspired by the serpentine carvings found on Viking Age runestones and features the Elder Futhark runes for the DNA nucleotides A, T, G and C (K). — show less Cover image: Art by Oliver Uberti. (Stone texture: © Olga Yastremska, New Africa, Africa Studio/Adobe Stock)

With more members here on Folkrealms I would like to ask is anyone here in Colorado, preferably Western Colorado? I run a Forn Seð organization called Úlfung, and I like to extend invitations to the Norse Pagans of Colorado to check it out if they are interested in connecting with a local group. We cover the whole of Colorado, having members from all over the state, and have just recently got up to 200 members! Our main operations and where we run the organization is in Western Co, and sadly things are still lacking for the East side of the state members, but we are working on that, unfortunately building this sort of thing is a bit difficult. We also love partnering with other Forn Seð organizations and Norse Pagan groups around the world to help expand the heathen community and continue the growth of our spiritual following. -Photo by our friend here on Folkrealms [Ulfason]

🇬🇧 Come and celebrate the Summer Blót with the Nordiska Asa-samfundet (Nordic Asa-community). On Saturday, July 12, 2025 at 14:00, it is once again time to celebrate the summer with gods, goddesses and the beings of the place with a big blót at the Rök Runestone in Ödeshög, Sweden! The Summerblót is a time when hundreds of norse heathens from all over Sweden and other parts of Midgard gather in Rök, Ödeshög in Sweden and celebrate the summer around the original time of Midsummer with a big blót at the fantastic Rök Runestone. In addition to Saturday’s blót, various activities are organized throughout the day at our campsite located next to store Röks Lanthandel (Lanthandlar´n i Rök). The evening ends with a guild. More information about the various activities, camping and the guild check out the link below. The Summer Blót is a public event where everyone is welcome to attend regardless of membership in the Nordiska Asa-samfundet (Nordic Asa-community) or not. More info & booking: https://asa-samfundet.se/en/events/summer-blot-2025/