a sound of sheer silence

alyx, barista and bookseller from the good ol sunshine state! i love star trek & neil gaiman & the magnus archives a little too much

[kosmogrl]

[yakusokuhoshi]

[broomsick]

List of interesting ressources pertaining to norse paganism, scandinavian folklore and history, and nordic religions in general

These are sources I have personally used in the context of my research, and which I've enjoyed and found useful. Please don’t mind if I missed this or that ressource, as for this post, I focused solely on my own preferences when it comes to research. I may add on to this list via reblog if other interesting sources come to my mind after this has been posted. Good luck on your research! And as always, my question box is open if you have any questions pertaining to my experiences and thoughts on paganism.

Mythology

The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

Dictionnary of Northern Mythology

The Prose and Poetic Eddas (Online)

Grottasöngr: The Song of Grotti (Online)

The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

The Wanderer's Hávamál

The Song of Beowulf

Norse Mythology: Myths of the Eddas (Online)

Rauðúlfs Þáttr

The Penguin Book of Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings (Kevin Crossley-Holland's are my favorite retellings)

Myths of the Norsemen From the Eddas and the Sagas (online) A source that's as old as the world, but still very complete and an interesting read.

The Elder Eddas of Saemung Sigfusson

Pocket Hávamál

Cassell's Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend (Online)

Cassel's Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend

Myths of the Pagan North: Gods of the Norsemen

Lore of the Vanir: A Brief Overview of the Vanir Gods

Anglo-Saxon and Norse Poems

Gods of the Ancient Northmen

Gods of the Ancient Northmen (Online)

Norse Mythology - The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook: From Vikings to Valkyries, an Epic Who's Who in Old Norse Mythology (A vulgarized and fun read for for newbies!)

Two Icelandic Stories: Hreiðars Þáttr and Orms Þáttr

Two Icelandic Stories: Hreiðars Þáttr and Orms Þáttr (Online)

The Elder Eddas of Saemund Sigfusson; and the Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson (Online)

Sagas

Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes: Hervor and Heidrek & Hrólf Kraki and His Champions (compiling the Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks and the Hrólfs saga kraka)

The Saga of the Jómsvíkings

The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise (Online)

The Heimskringla or the Chronicle of the Kings of Norway (Online)

Stories and Ballads of the Far Past OR Stories and Ballads or the Far Past - Translated from the norse (Icelandic and Faroese) with introduction and notes

Stories and Ballads of the Far Past: Icelandic and Faroese

Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway

The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok

The Saga of the Volsungs (Online. Interesting analysis, but this is another pretty old source.)

The Story of the Volsungs (Online) Morris and Magnusson translation

The Vinland Sagas

Hákon the Good's Saga (Online)

The Saga of Hervör and Heidrek (Online)

The Saga of the Jómsvikings (Online)

History of religious practices

The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age Scandinavia

Nordic Religions in the Viking Age

Agricola and Germania Tacitus' account of religion in nordic countries

Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions

Tacitus on Germany (Online)

Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs

Scandinavia and the Viking Age

Viking Age Iceland

Landnámabók: Book of the Settlement of Iceland (Online)

The Age of the Vikings

The Vikings (Online. Mind the year of publication, this source is pretty old!)

Gesta Danorum: The Danish History (Books I-IX)

The Sea Wolves: a History of the Vikings

The Viking World

The History of Iceland

Guta Lag: The Law of the Gotlanders (Online)

The Pre-Christian Religions of the North (This is a four-volume series I haven't read yet, but that I wish to acquire soon! It's the next research read I have planned.)

Old Norse Folklore: Tradition, Innovation, and Performance in Medieval Scandinavia

Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings

The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings by John Haywood

Landnámabók: Viking Settlers and Their Customs in Iceland

Nordic Tales: Folktales from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark (For a little literary break from all the serious research! The stories are told in a way that can sometimes get repetitive, but it makes it easier to notice recurring patterns and themes within Scandinavian oral tradition.)

Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Short Introduction

Saga Form, Oral Prehistory, and the Icelandic Social Context

An Early Meal: A Viking Age Cookbook and Culinary Oddyssey

Runes & Old Norse language

Uppland region runestones and their translations

Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas and Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader

Five Pieces of Runic Poetry

Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Critical Guide

Eddic to English: A survey of English translations of the Poetic Edda

Catalogue of the Manks Crosses with Runic Inscriptions

Old Norse - Old Icelandic: Concise Introduction to the Language of the Sagas

A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture

Five pieces of runic poetry translated from the islandic language: Quotations

Nordic Runes: Understanding, Casting, and Interpreting the Ancient Viking Oracle 

YouTube channels

Ocean Keltoi

Arith Härger

Old Halfdan

Jackson Crawford

Wolf the Red

Sigurboði Grétarsson

Grimfrost

(Reminder! The channel "The Wisdom of Odin", aka Jacob Toddson, is a known supporter of pseudo scientific theories and of the AFA, a folkist and white-supremacist organization, and he's been known to hold cult-like, dangerous rituals, as well as to use his UPG as truth and to ask for his followers to provide money for his building some kind of "real life viking hall", as supposedly asked to him by Óðinn himself. A source to avoid. But more on that here.)

Websites

The Troth

Norse Mythology for Smart People

Voluspa.org

Mimisbrunnr: Developments in Ancient Germanic Studies

Icelandic Saga Database

Skaldic Project

Life in Norway This is more of a tourist's ressources, but I find they publish loads of fascinating articles pertaining to Norway's history and its traditions.

Germanic Mythology

Stories for all time: The Icelandic Fornaldarsögur

[broomsick]

I've somewhat updated this list, in case some of you were interested in checking out new ressources!

[broomsick]

My newest finds in messy order! (Definitely will make another post when I get the time).

Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia (online)

The Enigma of Egill: The Saga, the Viking Poet, and Snorri Sturluson (online)

The Specter of Old Age: Nasty Old Men in the Sagas of Icelanders (online)

Penguin Classics Egils Saga (Pálsson & Edwards)

Viking Society for Northern Research web publications index (Database! Check date of publication, some of the documents are outdated.)

The Laxdæla saga translated from the Icelandic with an introduction by Thorstein Veblen (online)

Viking Age England

Erik Bloodaxe: His Life and Times: A Royal Viking in His Historical and Geographical Settings

River Kings: The Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (online)

Norse mythology: legends of gods and heroes (a pretty old ressource, but still an interesting read) (online)

Three Icelandic Outlaw Sagas (online)

Frey's Offspring: Rulers and Religion in Ancient Svea Society  (online)

The Role of Rulers in the Winding Up of the Old Norse Religion (online)

Nordic Culture

Heimskringla Vol. 1 - Viking Society for Northern Research (University College London), Vol. 2, Vol. 3. (online)

Dumézil's works, original tongue:

Mythes et dieux de la Scandinavie ancienne (Myths and Gods of Ancient Scandinavia)

Mythes Et Dieux Des Indo Européens (Myths and Gods of the Indo-Europeans)

The Sea Wolves (audiobook version on YouTube)

[oneleggedflamingo]

27.06-25

Misc.

- Vivera Rossi

[emmbrr]

ewe make my heart sing 🏹

[thenordroom]

A light-filled functionalist apartment in Stockholm

[muppethole-deactivated20240312]

it's my earnestly held belief that every human person holds within them an invisible timer that counts up from the last time they stuck their feet in a body of water and the higher that number gets the more sludge builds up in their brain and in their heart

[artemis-pendragon]

The way Crowley is a creator whose greatest strength is imagination and Aziraphale's favorite past-time is reading fiction. absolutely insane how many layers there are to these two. they're just so woven into each other. anyway. I'm going feral again don't mind me

[halemerry]

The way Crowley gave humanity knowledge and Aziraphale's strongest worldly tie is through books and the way Aziraphale gave humanity innovation and Crowley's strongest worldly tie is his car will never not make me unhinged.

[soracities]

my heart's full to the brim w the joy of loving btw. i'll die one day but also i won't. on account of the love.

[soracities]

pick up struggling honeybee from a crowded high street. a fragment of me lives w her. compliment the cashier on her hairband. a fragment of me lives w her. alert the stranger on the bus when the travel card falls out of their pocket. a fragment of me lives w them. let the toddler in the park join our game of football. a fragment of me lives w them. i'll die but i won't. i'm here but i'm everywhere else too. you get me?

[papenathys]

Absolutely insane lines to just drop in the middle of an academic text btw. Feeling so normal about this.

[ A Critical History of English Literature, Vol. 1, Prof. David Daiches, first published in 1960 ]

[karam-ba]

thesis • antithesis • synthesis

prints

[kirknspock]

“let me help” 1x28 the city on the edge of forever // 1x29 operation: annihilate!

[thegreaterlink]

Princess Bride grandpa voice That day, Kirk was amazed to discover that when Spock was saying “let me help…”

[gyossefka]

Audrey Benjaminsen

[tulipfemme-deactivated20240718]

i mean this completely seriously but… a cup of coffee can save your life a little, a shower can save your life a little, making your favorite meal can save your life a little…….little things actually add up to really big things in the long run if you let them, the secret to surviving everyday is infusing a little bit of magic into the mundane i truly believe that

[sunrec]

“You may have noticed that the books you really love are bound together by a secret thread. You know very well what is the common quality that makes you love them, though you cannot put it into words: but most of your friends do not see it at all, and often wonder why, liking this, you should also like that. Again, you have stood before some landscape, which seems to embody what you have been looking for all your life; and then turned to the friend at your side who appears to be seeing what you saw - but at the first words a gulf yawns between you, and you realise that this landscape means something totally different to him, that he is pursuing an alien vision and cares nothing for the ineffable suggestion by which you are transported. Even in your hobbies, has there not always been some secret attraction which the others are curiously ignorant of - something, not to be identified with, but always on the verge of breaking through, the smell of cut wood in the workshop or the clapclap of water against the boat’s side? Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling (but faint and uncertain even in the best) of that something which you were born desiring, and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year by year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for? You have never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it - tantalising glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest - if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say “Here at last is the thing I was made for.” We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds, when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work. While we are, this is. If we lose this, we lose all.”

— C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

[dixt]

utrecht, the netherlands ⋅ ph. utrechtalive 

[ruhlare]

something so intimate about handmade stuff, handmade bread, handmade presents, or handwritten letters, in general intimacy and tenderness are stored in hands, in holding hands and playing with each other's fingers, warming each other's hands...

[soracities]

(Yannis Ritsos)