For #ÞórsdagsÞrautin, let's go back to 1988 and the narrow window between graduation and Basic Training. I visited our German exchange student in his hometown for my first real thrill of international travel.

Putting the finishing touches on my giantess presentation. I've sent out an invite for a test audience before the presentation, and I'll hold a couple other presentations for people elsewhere in the world. Just feeling excited. Nervous.

Finally got around to penning my thoughts on why I had to leave FolkRealms.

Isn't that always the way. #OldNorse #ScandiMyth

Inspired by a colleague saying she’d like a lesson on how to read a runic inscription, here’s a lesson! open.substack.com/pub/jasminhi...

Look, I'm going to tell you a secret. If you buy an e-book while it's on sale, you never have to read it. If you have $2 to spare & want to help that particular author, you can just chuck the book into the oubliette of your TBR. Every sale helps. The author will never know, but you gave them a gift.

You are allowed to let parts of yourself go quiet without declaring them dead. #ÓðinsdagsAndakt

Yesterday’s #Wordle: heita (vb.): 82 cits, e.g. [GoogleTrans: to threaten (someone/something), to make threats against (someone/something)] ‘Þá mælti Hrafn fyrst, svá at heyra mátti: þat er þeim nú…’ (Stu in BLAdd 11127) onp.ku.dk/o92872

Nearly 20 years ago, I was privileged to join my new family of in-laws on a cruise. One morning we woke up early to witness the ship cutting its engines and drifting slowly, silently, into the fjords of Geiranger, Norway. #TísdagsTǫltit

eigna (vb.): 192 cits, e.g. take into one’s possession, misappropriate, subjugate, take possession (of wealth), treat as one’s own, acknowledge ownership of ‘ne ser jordena ath eigna adrir en þau benedit ok margre…’ (IslDipl in AM dipl isl fasc IX 23) onp.ku.dk/o16712

Passion is not required; continuation is. #MánudagsMæda

My beloved Toki is getting too old to live, with an expanding list of maladies and discomforts. I cast tarot and rune (not pictured), and they told me the same thing: respect the natural cycles, let the next stage of life begin. Better to govern this than let it break down, but it's hard.

dauðr (sb. m.): 35 cits, e.g. fiercely, violently // heftigt, voldsomt ‘sva brennr þessi riki maðr til dꜹðs i sinv hiarta, at ...’ (Mar in Holm perg 11 4°) onp.ku.dk/o14169 #OldNorse

Go outside. Touch snow.

I have no #LaugardagsLetin. Just clothes I threw on to scrub the bathtub, more clothes I threw on to drive down to the library. My hair's out of my eyes, that's my style.

blíðr (adj.): 187 cits, e.g. gentle, cheerful, mild, friendly, kind, affectionate, amorous // blid, munter, mild, venlig, hengiven, kærlig ‘konungr tok þa vel orðum Þorolfs. ok gerði sik þa bliðan ok katan’ (Eg in AM 132 fol) onp.ku.dk/o9173 #OldNorse

The #runes are the story of #OldNorse cosmology itself. Wunjo is joy, valuable only because it is fleeting; we harm ourselves by clinging to it. Hagalaz doesn't strengthen by trial: it punishes all injudiciously, and that which remains was already strong. It can only be endured.

@skaldic.org is an interesting account, providing excerpts of #OldNorse literature with the translation. Great for #LanguageLearning or just staying in touch with #ScandiMyth and culture. #FylgjendaFryádagr

Today's #BandcampFriday: when you buy music on @bandcamp.com 100% of the sales go to the artist! Today I bought two albums by Forndom and everything by Noiduin. #NeverSpotify 88% of songs streamed there did not earn revenue b/c they were played <1K times in 2025. Spotify is exploitative.

Cancel your Spotify subscription.

Normally I don't go for gratuitous marketing gimmicks, but I'm curious about #OldNorse inspired foodstuffs. These Norse Roots kettle chips in tallow are freakin' amazing, and I'm glad I got to try Hammerheart Brewing's seasonal Høst Øl smoked wheat ale and Weltanwanderer smoked helles ale.

Here's my #ÞórsdagsÞrautin, that time I encountered an actual runestone before I could fully appreciate it. #OldNorse

C141.1 Tabu: menstrous woman not to go near any cultivated field or crops will be ruined.

F531.1.1.5.1 Giant with eight eyes.

"Every telephone call isn't for you." #ÓðinsdagsAndakt #OldNorse

The only indication I receive that my prayer to the giantess bears any efficacy at all is in moments of entropy lowering and synchronicity rising. Lately I've been catching a flickering object in the periphery of my vision. Hope this isn't a health issue.

Introduce yourself with: 1 movie 1 book 1 TV show 1 album

Completed the first draft of my presentation on #giantesses: origin, evolution, role in #OldNorse and Christian revisionism. I have to give it a dry run to estimate how long it's going to run. Just learned that 140 people have already signed up. I'm told this is highly unusual for a first-timer.

Scandinavians have been in Greenland for a very long time. This video looks at the surprisingly robust amount of Old Norse texts written in runes that are preserved there, including the world's furthest-north runes. youtu.be/VeSjyN5hi3s?...

A151.13 God dwells alone in darkness.

Yesterday’s #Wordle: haust (sb. n.): 54 cits, e.g. (I) autumn season (from the autumn equinox to the winter solstice) ‘fernir imbru dagar. þat er vetrs oc vars sumars o…’ (Hóm in AM 544 4°) onp.ku.dk/o32063

A very interesting talk for you this morning with @kristervasshus.bsky.social about the possible entomological etymology of some difficult names we encounter in early runic inscriptions and in later Norse literature too. youtu.be/39_uVHStoXk

During this season of Ísa, I'm returning to fundamentals. Even though the giantess no longer resembles what I'd envisoned, kneeling at the altar still brings me focus and grounding. I'm going to keep things quiet and boring for a while.

The inhabitants of the bright hillsides [GIANTS] were not sad after that: then Iðunn was among the giants, newly arrived from the south. All the kin of Ingvi-Freyr [GODS] became old and grey at the assembly – the divine powers were quite ugly of form –,

I'm being very restrained in my debate with someone on the pagan Norse forum why reintroducing the swastika would intensify harm to the community and not "reclaim" ancient heritage at all. I'm also paying attention to who is Liking his post, waiting to see how the community responds.

The myths told by men say more about the tellers than the intended subjects of the stories.

Sometimes I suspect the only point to my incarnating into this timeline is to witness Ragnarök. And sometimes I wish I knew what I could do to hurry it along.

Trips me out, how someone can be morally condemning around AI, and yet promote their Substack account.

#BandcampFriday means digging through my wishlist for another lucky winner. This week I selected Eihwar and Vígunðr, to see what it feels like to walk around or drive with them. #Bandcamp @bandcamp.com #NeverSpotify

A737.1 Eclipse caused by monster devouring sun or moon.

On another site, in another life … My summary of the historic and mythic origins of the runes, and how I decided upon a ritual by which to carve my own.

Very excited to have obtained a copy of @norsebysw.bsky.social's translation of the Poetic Edda, 2nd ed. I look forward to studying this all over again, seeing what decisions Dr. Crawford has made. #OldNorse #ScandiMyth

hvargi (adv.): 49 cits, e.g. [GoogleTrans: in each case, every time] ‘En hvergi sem hann var mæddr af vanheilsu edr af ꜳhyggiu, þa var þo su stund eingi, at eigi hefdiz hann þat no᷎cku…’ (Greg in Holm perg 2 fol) onp.ku.dk/o38321

Yesterday’s #Wordle: frǿði (sb. n.): 32 cits, e.g. knowledge (in general), teaching, lore, spells // viden/lærdom (om trolddom/traditioner) ‘kenndi halldis fostra min. mer a. islanndi. þat frædi er hun kalladi vard lokr’ (Eir in AM 557 4°) onp.ku.dk/o24338 #OldNorse

G361.1.2 Three-headed ogre.

Made myself a nice steel-cut oat porridge with cranberries, ginger, and cinnamon. This means I'm probably going to out and throw myself in a snowbank at some point today.

D1385.20 Runes protect from the curse of a dead Christian woman.

Practicing #OldNorse pronunciation, reading along as I listen to an Icelandic narrator. Right off the bat, I see there's going to be a ton of elisions I'll need explained. Ex.: "á milli" sounds like "ah MIT-lee," and "efniligr" sounds like "ep-NILL-yer." This was to be expected. #LanguageLearning

Taking up the runes again after a long break. This time, I look at the meaning of Wunjo: fleeting joy, communal celebration, satisfaction after effort. #OldNorse #runes #Heathensky

Going through all my old social media posts, to fill in the blanks in my date book/journal. I feel guilty about all the empty pages. It's as interesting to track my progress in #OldNorse as it is to remember which movies I've seen and document my car accident and recovery.