Podcasts about norse viking

This is the first response episode for my new segment "Ask Jewells Anything About Iceland". Thank you to everyone who sent in questions and if you would like to submit a question, you can do it here. Questions sent in from the listeners of the All Things Iceland Podcast 1. Can you please discuss some of the history of Ravens in Iceland. I was delighted to hear about some mischievous Ravens by Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, who were working in tandem to collect and confiscate tourist's goods. Do we know when they arrived in Iceland and how has their presence impacted Icelandic culture? There are several stories relating to Iceland that involve ravens. The first that pops into my mind has to do with Óðinn, the Norse God, that had two Ravens. They were named Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory or mind). They flew around the world (Midgard) and brough back information to Óðinn. Because Norse people settled in Iceland, the belief and worship of Óðinn came with them.Another story that comes to mind is of Hrafna-Flóki. He was a Norse Viking that is said to have given Iceland its name. He didn't stay in Iceland because he encountered a very harsh winter where he almost didn't survive. However, before he left he went on top of a mountain in the fjord and saw that the fjord was packed with ice. Due to that, he called this place the land of ice or "Iceland". 2. Hello. We are taking a cruise out of Reykjavik with NCL and looking to arrive a few days early to explore. We will be renting a car with Go Car Rental and wanted to know the best way to get from their Reykjavik office to the cruise port in September upon our rental return? The cruise port is Skarfabakki. Thank you for your input! The easiest way to get from Go Car Rental Iceland's Skógarhlíð location in Reykjavík to Skarfabakki is to take a taxi. It is about 9 minutes by car, so it will not be very expensive. The name of a taxi company to use is Hreyfill. 3. If there was only one beautiful place in Iceland you could visit which one would it be? This is such a tough question. I know that only one place was requested but I will provide two. One is more remote and that is Eldgjá in the Icelandic highlands. The other is the Westman Islands, which is much easier to access. To learn about all of the places I enjoy around the country, including hidden gems, check out My Iceland Map. 4. Thank you for your informative entertaining podcast. Do you need to drive in order to fully enjoy Iceland? I'm a passenger princess and don't know how I would get around if I don't come with someone who drives. You can definitely be a passenger princess and still see Iceland. I suggest taking tours that are for small groups. It is more intimate than the big buses and you see as much of the country as you want. On this website you can find many day tour and multi-day tour options. 5. How do people in Iceland view the political climate in the US??? The answer to this can be long because it involves so many layers. In short, the Icelanders I have spoken to have often been confused about what is happening politically in the US. Not that they don't understand how the system operates but wondering why it is allowed to be the way it is. An example is that politics in the US is dominated by two parties. There is also a lot of extremism and it seems that politicians often want to pass laws or vote for laws that undermine the safety and rights of their constituents. 6. Can you please slow down and maybe even spell out that names of places you mention in your podcast? It's a wonderful podcast but it is so difficult to understand Icelandic names without seeing them in print (and even then it's difficult)! I totally understand that it can be hard to listen to the podcast and not understand how to spell the words I am saying in Icelandic. One of the reasons I write a lot of notes here on my website is so that you can reference it to see what the words look like...

Incredibly, we managed to get an interview with the legendary Tull frontman (Steven's favourite band in case you didn't hear him mention it on every previous episode...)! Ian talked with us about the brand new, rocking Jethro Tull album RökFlöte, Norse mythology, Vladimir Putin appearing at a Tull meet-and-greet, the time journalists demanded details of his upcoming gender reassignment surgery, Broadsword 40th Anniversary boxset details, Under Wraps getting REAL drums, how he's a "bit of a fan" of Motörhead despite the umlauts, bands like Mötley Crüe using backing tapes on stage instead of playing completely live, how performing helps his asthma (not COPD!), how work is going on the NEXT album and its planned release date, and how he's a cranky old guy like Morrissey these days! We were told we'd get, at most, 45 minutes with Ian but we ended up chatting for over 80 minutes and it was just brilliant. We think you'll enjoy this episode. Give it a listen and check out RökFlöte, it's superb!

Little bit I'm deciphering coded messages in dead language.

It's a first for us here at RPS - an album review! Well, ROCK, paper, swords, right? There's two very good reasons for us doing this review (even putting aside the fact Steven is Tull's biggest fan): 1 - We were sent advance copies of the album, so it's only fair we did our best to listen to it and get an honest review out before the album is released. So here it is! 2 - Ian Anderson is hopefully going to be a guest on this very podcast, to chat about his career and RökFlöte in particular. It's an album based on Norse/Viking mythology/religion so it is absolutely perfect for us to review and discuss, given both Matthew and Steven are writing/have written books about the Vikings. Truly a match made in Valhalla! We hope you enjoy this bonus episode and check out the album when it's released on the 21st of April. It's FANTASTIC as you'll hear in our review. You can pre-order it here: https://jethrotullband.lnk.to/RokFlote Huge thanks to Inside Out Records, Ian Anderson, and The Publicity Connection for the review copies of the album! Stay tuned for our regular episode this Friday, as historical novelist and screenwriter David Gilman is our guest. You don't want to miss it...

#drmarkweisman #alaskaulfhednar #norsewisdomListen with us how an ordained minister of the church, upon innocently stumbling on his Norse Viking and pre-Viking ancestry, gets contacted through dreams and channelling the ulfhednar spirits of that time, changing his life and path forever becoming a shaman and sharer of Odinn's wisdom. Refreshingly, Dr Mark Weisman, Alaska Ulfhednar is a gentle, honest and down to earth self proclaimed “goofball” who shares this wisdom as a humble man with a message to bring people together, no matter what their beliefs. We have a lot of fun too as we're sure you will.Check out his books for pre release and even book in a consultation at: https://akulfhednar.com/Follow Alaska Ulfhednar on his socials:https://www.facebook.com/Akulfhednar Thanks to our major supporter Subtle Energy Science. Their quantum healing technology is out of this world, we use it and it blows our mind. See all their products @:https://subtle.energy/ref/425/?campaign=episodenotes and check our socials for the latest exclusive offer! Don't forget to like – share and subscribe to our podcast so we can reach more listeners! Thanks so much for your support!!!! If you would like to contact us with questions, comments or suggestions, email us @ mickandthepsychic@gmail.com To book a session with Xzavia go to https://optimysticxzavia.com.au/To book a session with Mick go to https://hearnhypnosis.com/

Hello Interactors,The 80s band Tears for Fears released a new album recently. Their biggest hit, Everybody Wants to Rule the World has new meaning this week. What is it about empire building sociopaths in the West and the East that makes everybody want them to stop trying to rule the world?As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive community so I welcome your participation.Please leave your comments below or email me directly.Now let’s go…CHRONICLING THE TRUTH OF THE RUSRurik, a Norse Viking prince, made his way south from present day Denmark, to establish a ruling government in Novgorod in what is now Russia. He was invited by Slavik and Finn-Ugrik people to apply his governing skills to their feuding tribes.Rurik then extended his presence further south to a city called Kiev in 850. It took another 1000 years for Kiev to be pronounced Kyiv in Ukrainian. In Russian it’s still pronounced Kiev. This outpost became the center of what became the Kievan Rus; a loose collection of Slavic, Baltic, and Finnic peoples of Eastern and Northern Europe. The city was well positioned on a visible bank on a northern edge of the Dnieper River. Its convenient and defensible position allowed Rurik to reign over what became the Rurik Dynasty.The people of modern-day Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus all stake claim to this origin story.Rurik was replaced in 882 by his kinsman Oleg. It was Oleg that declared Kiev to be the capital of the Kievan Rus. Given the nexus of trading activity in Kiev it became a contested region. Oleg led many wars against semi-nomadic tribes from the south and the east.One hundred years later one of those leaders from the east, the Byzantine ruler Basil II, came asking for money. Then leader Vladimir of Kiev agreed so long as he could marry his sister. Basil II gave his sister over on the condition Vladimir, a pagan, convert to Orthodox Christianity. He not only agreed, but insisted everyone in the region convert as well. He baptized the people of Rus in 988 and just like that Christianity was spread throughout the region.This Rus-Byzantine religio-political arrangement was no doubt influenced by the Roman Catholic Church who sought influence over this important Eurasian borderland. By 1054 there came an East-West schism in the church. Eastern Orthodox churches in Constantinople and those in Rome each viewed the other as drifting from the ‘true church’. They split between Orthodox Catholics of the East and Roman Catholics of the West. Though they both continued to largely share the same beliefs and practices.There is no central Orthodox Church in Ukraine any longer. It has since splintered into a variety of denominations along with a myriad of other religions. It’s estimated 75% of Ukrainians believe in a Christian God. But another East-West schism has emerged this week as Putin and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill seek to pull Ukraine back from the allure of the West. They both seek a centralized Russian Orthodox Church under Kirill and a central government under Putin. A forced religio-political unification of the people of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine under a single language, religion, and government. Echoes of Oleg and Rurik and historic east-west tensions – Vladimir of Kiev meets Vladimir Putin.In 1113 a document called The Primary Chronicle was written from which this history is documented. The first sentence reads, “These are the narratives of bygone years regarding the origin of the land of Rus’, the first princes of Kiev, and from what source the land of Rus’ had its beginning.” Seventy-four years later came another source of regional history, the Hypatian Chronicles, and with it the first printed occurrence of the word Oukraina – Ukraine.The etymology of this word is debated to this day. The most popular interpretation comes from a Slavic word for ‘borderland’ or ‘frontier region’ but others argue it’s more possessive as in ‘territory’. Perspectives are as variable as their lineages.A Dutch map from 1645 shows the word Okraina in the middle of wilderness. Wild indeed. By this time in history this region was known to be wild with wars fought over its land, riches, and strategic position between Europe and Asia. From the days of Rurik to today territories in western Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova have cyclically been claimed by Germany, Astro-Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. These boundaries have been contested, drawn, and redrawn since the invention of maps.Maps played a significant role in attempts to ‘permanently’ define the boundaries of territories, and so did the proliferation of books that defined their historic narratives. The Gutenberg press, invented in the late 1400s, offered those with power and money to write and disseminate narratives coincident with territorial boundary maps that fit their view of the world and of history. This was the world’s first use of mass-media to control a particular geo-religio-political narrative and competing counter-narratives concerning regional communities. Many of which were communities of the imagination.NATIONALISM; JUST IMAGINEImagined Communities is the title of a book by a Cornell political scientist, Benedict Anderson. He addresses the still vague notion of ‘nationalism’ – a squishy idea with a powerful force. He argues for a definition that transcends historical attempts to define it by self-interested ideologues. The word ‘nationalism’ was not widely used until the 19th century. It has since become a term we insist on ascribing to every human just as we do gender, race, or ethnicityThe Scottish political theorist Tom Nairn wrote, “’Nationalism’ is the pathology of modern developmental history, as inescapable as ‘neurosis’ in the individual…and largely incurable.’”Anderson proposes this definition of nation: “an imagined political community – and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign.” By imagined he means even the most sparsely populated nation will include enough people that one will ever be able to know, meet, or even hear their fellow residents. And yet, everyone claims to be able to imagine who they are. The British-Czech social anthropologist, Ernest Gellner succinctly writes, “‘Nationalism is not the awakening of nations to self-consciousness: it invents nations where they do not exist.’”Imagined communities became sovereign nations during ‘The Enlightenment’. Faced with historical dominion by religions while simultaneously discovering the multitude of religions in the world, even the most devote elite came alive with dreams of their own imagined free nations – accepting they must also fall under the guise of a given God. Hence the existence of the United States – one nation under God.A God that some interpret as encouraging, excusing, or mysteriously ignoring communal inequalities and exploits in the name of national identity and comradeship that runs as deep as it does wide. As Anderson surmises, “Ultimately it is this fraternity that makes it possible, over the past two centuries, for so many millions of people, not so much to kill, as willingly to die for such limited imaginings.”One of the unifying elements of these imagined communities is language. In the 18th and 19th century the people of the northern Balkans witnessed the invention of a number of literary languages. In the 18th century the Ukrainian language was ‘tolerated’ by the more dominant Russian speaking population as a folk language spoken by yokels in Ukraine – or “Little Russia” as it was called.But in 1798 Ivan Kotlarevsky, a Ukrainian writer, wrote a poem in Ukrainian about life in Ukraine. It became very popular. Six years later, in 1804, the Kharkov University was founded and became the literary hub of Ukraine. In 1819 the first publication of Ukrainian grammar was printed. Russian grammar was defined just 17 years prior.By 1830 more Ukrainian writers were published in their native language. This is the date that established the language as a bonding element of Ukrainian nationalism. In 1846 the first nationalist organization was founded. And not by a politician with a sovereign agenda, but by a historian.Language invention was happening in many places during this time. In 1820 Finland, for example, an interest in Finnish tradition and culture emerged and was written in Latin and Swedish. This created a groundswell of nationalism by writers, teachers, pastors, and attorneys. They stitched their collective past stories and dialects and published dictionaries and grammar guides. They forge a more confident and self-determined government and national identity defined by their borders and their language.These writers, lexicographers, folklorists, and composers were not acting solely out of national pride, but to feed a burgeoning print market. And who were they selling to? Affluent and powerful families. Only half of the most advanced states in Europe were able to read in 1840. Over ninety percent of Russians could not read.But it wasn’t just the old ruling classes and nobility that were becoming literate. A rising middle class was emerging. Former plebes and appendices amassed wealth and become professionals in a growing worldwide commercial and industrial economy. And with it a growing number of wealthy upper class – the nouveau bourgeoises.As the number of capitalist and wealthy land owners increased through the rise of the industrial age, so did the number of languages they spoke. Latin was displaced by local dialects. This enhanced the bond between commercial and political elite separated by distant cities but united by their language, national identity, and status. Status is what they shared with those in other nations that may not speak their language. Whether it was across a border or an ocean, they knew they were dealing with another well-educated, wealthy man beaming with national pride just like them.And with this growth in wealth and status came increased investment, bureaucracy, and debt in budding nation states. Infrastructure, civil and social services, and militaries were needed. Between 1830 and 1850, Russia’s expenditures grew 44 percent, 75 percent in America, and over 90 percent in Netherlands. All amidst the proliferation of print media in a local vernacular aimed to strengthen the bonds of a growing population of literate masses; imagined communities forged together in a shared belief of an illusory nation, identity, and an expected entrenched in-group allegiance to an irregularly shaped border drawn on a map by someone invested in securing it.TRUST EMPATHYThe national borders of Ukraine were absorbed into the larger Soviet Union in 1944. The Dnieper River forms a natural east-west boundary that also divides ethnicities. Putin has strategically captured those cities in Ukraine that already have sizable ethnic Russian populations. These cities have a long history of bouncing back and forth between more ‘western’ or ‘eastern’ ruling nation states.My brief version of this rich and complex history cannot be reduced to east versus west, good versus evil, or Russian versus Ukraine. And yet that’s what mass media does every single day. Our brains seek efficiency, our short attention spans lead us to crave easy answers – a team to root for, a nation to blame, a person to hate. An imagined community which to affiliate.Whether it’s The Primary Chronicle of the early Rus, the dissemination of Gutenberg pressed books, invented languages, or mass-media pumping out sound bites they all share a common goal. They propagate propaganda from a group of selected, elected, or protected imperialists and (usually) capitalists invested in perpetuating, protecting, and expanding imagined nations. They speak, act, and plot on behalf of a group of diverse collections of people; portions of whom believe they share something in common, a common identity, an imagined community. Nationalists.But another portion of whom see these imaginary nations as vacuous, illusory, and increasingly weakened by a growing global cyber-connected mass of humanity. They are introduced to, awakened by, ‘woke’ to the widespread voices of the historically squelched, discarded, sidelined, and suffering. Individual lives directly impacted by powerful, greedy, and imperialistic power brokers.The three most dominant modern-day authors of nationalism, select sorcerers of imagined communities, and cunning cartographers of calculated cartesian colonies are China, Russia, and the United States.Their influence can come in three flavors:Formal geo-politics by academics, intellectuals, and think tanks. One example is The Pentagon’s New Map of 2004.Practical geo-politics by politicians. For example, Bush’s ‘War on Terror’ or Obama’s ‘world without weapons’ – a drone policy that targeted and killed innocent people in Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia.Popular geo-politics by filmmakers, artists, and musicians. These geo-political messages target ordinary people in books as inert as Readers Digest or as overt as James Bond books and films. Not to mention the more obvious Captain America.These catalysts of nationalism contain messages that create unhealthy biases in ways that only neuroscience can detect. Neuroscientist Emile Bruneau dedicated his academic and professional career to achieving peace in the world by understanding the negative effects of bias, often fed by governments through media, can have on behavior.As an undergrad he worked as a counselor in Ireland with a non-profit that brought troubled youth riddled with the historic tensions of their Protestant and Catholic upbringing. After a week of successful trust building between these kids, the staff were patting themselves on their altruistic backs for a job well done.And then, unexpectedly, a fight broke out between two boys. The next thing they knew all 129 kids were wailing on each other. He left that experience convinced he and his fellow counselors had somehow made their condition worse. He sought neuroscience to help him uncover the biological evidence behind what he experienced.What Bruneau’s novel research techniques have revealed are three aspects of our intuition that we should evaluate with care, caution, and suspicion: trust, empathy, and dehumanization.Trust: For the first time those Irish kids trusted each other despite their differences. But the instance that trust was broken betrayal set in and with it violence toward the perpetrator. The greater the trust, the greater the fall at the first sign of betrayal. Altruism isn’t always true nor is it always permanent.Empathy: Having empathy is a prized virtue especially in intergroup conflict. Western media has clued into this. Muslim terrorists are portrayed as violent and selfish sociopaths who lack even an ounce of empathy for others. And yet the first woman Palestinian suicide bomber, Wafa Idris, was one of the most caring, sensitive, and selfless members of her community. She even trained as a volunteer medic. Bruneau discovered the measure of one’s empathy is not a predictor of violent behavior. But what is a consistently strong predictor is the gap between empathy for your own in-group relative to the empathy for the out-group.Dehumanization: The sure fire way to reduce empathy for an out-group is to dehumanize them. History is ripe with nation states bombarding their imagined communities with images and words depicting their enemies as animals. As the British colonized Ireland they portrayed the Irish as monkeys. The Germans portrayed Jews as rats. The US pulled, and continue to pull, from a veritable zoo of animals to portray Japanese, Germans, Iranians, Mexicans…the list is embarrassingly long.When the U.S. was negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran Mike Huckabee was quoted as saying, “I think we underestimate the radical nature of these animals who run Iran.” The accompanying graphic, presumably from Fox News, included an illustration of a sewer drain over Iran with insects streaming from it.Bruneau used this occasion to conduct an online experiment. He presented Americans with a picture of the evolution of humans from the hunched chimpanzee to upright homo sapiens. Beneath it were three sliders; one for Americans, Europeans, and Iranians. He then asked them to slide the slider to the appropriate stage in evolution from animal to human for each group. Iranians fell 13 points shy of the reportedly 100% human Americans and Europeans.He conducted similar experiments while people’s brains were being scanned by an MRI machine. When people were shown imagery of out-groups or people in social classes lower than their own, like the homeless, the same region of the brain was activated for those people as for animals.But here’s the good news. Bruneau said he can find small sets people where these effects are minimized. They’re people whose occupations lead them to have empathy for out-groups. For example, Israeli peace activists brainwaves match those of Palestinians. They’re indistinguishable.Bruneau discovered that just five minutes of explaining what happens in our brains is enough for people to shift their behavior toward empathy for members of an out-group. If you reveal the fact that bias exists in all of us, we’re motivated to overcome it.As we continue to be inundated with words and images by academics, intellectuals, think tanks, politicians, pundits, broadcasters, artists, cartoonists, mapmakers and other creators of mass-media, be mindful of how they portray Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians. Know that Russian, Ukrainian, American, and European political and commercial institutions have a vested interest in preserving their imagined communities.Those representing the interest of the geo-political states of Russia, China, and the United States will, as always, be using dehumanizing tactics as a way to reduce empathy for members of out-groups while boosting empathy for their own in-groups. It’s this gap, Emile Bruneau warns, that we need to mind.I feel pressure every day to take a side in this war, but I’m trying to resist. Putin must be stopped, that much I know. But if I must choose, I choose ordinary people and other members of our animal world. I choose empathy for the Russian mother whose son is being forced to commit crimes against humanity; empathy for the Jews throughout Ukraine who have experienced extermination attempts at the hands of both Russian and Ukrainian hate groups over the years; empathy for those fighting for their lives in Ukraine, seeking asylum in other lands, and the brave souls who continue to share real images and stories from a living hell brought on by yet another sociopathic imperialist.I am suspicious of attempts by governments and corporations that ask me to trust them, to side with them, given centuries of betrayal. Yet I need government and companies to live a safe and comfortable life. And I need them to act on behalf of the living world and not imagined communities. I seek empathy for all creatures who feel depressed, suppressed, or oppressed by their political and commercial institutions, contained by their imaginary borders, and routinely manipulated through dehumanizing mass media propaganda that only serves to widen humanity’s collective empathy gaps.It is believed that the Slavic people seeking peace in their land said to Rurik, 'Our land is great and rich, but there’s no order in it'. Those words have never been more true. Though, I suspect a Viking ruler lacked empathy for out-groups. But, then again, it was Christians who painted horns on the helmets of Norse sailors to dehumanize them as the devil. Subscribe at interplace.io

Is your knowledge of Vikings and Norse legends limited to what you’ve seen in movies and TV shows? And, what about the use of ancient runes?Internationally renowned expert Kaedrich Olsen shares his depth of knowledge about all things Nordic and the paranormal along with how runes can be used to unlock your potential for growth in this ethereal Living 4D conversation. Look for Kaedrich on his website and GaldraKraft. Find him on social media via Facebook, Instagram and YouTube (also via GaldraKraft). For Living 4D listeners: Save $50 on Kaedrich’s Guided Practice personal sessions when you use the promo code AbyssChek.Show NotesAn accurate definition of a Viking. (5:44)Debunking the myths of Norse history that weren’t much different than modern Rambo movies. (12:02)Kaedrich’s psychic development and first contact with runes soon led to his life’s true calling at age 13. (21:34)“One of the fun things I love about Norse culture, both modern and ancient: There is no one way to pin it down.” (31:35)Extraterrestrials, religions and Nordic traditions. (40:40)Differences between the astral realm and interdimensional beings. (54:43)Kaedrich’s secret goal. (1:18:08)Nordic beliefs about sexuality and polyamory vs. monogamy. (1:24:35)Paul and Kaedrich debate love as the highest spiritual value. (1:37:59)Liminal space. (1:56:57)Finding a comfortable place between hubris and humility. (2:13:42)The real goal of a teacher: Liberation, not salvation. (2:24:16)How the Norse defined mind and spirit. (2:35:26)The basis of magic and what separates hard reality from soft reality. (2:53:50)Runes as psychological archetypes. (3:03:17)Create your own runes. (3:10:27)Resources Kaedrich’s appearance on Open Minds with Regina Meredith on GaiaRunes For Transformation: Using Ancient Symbols to Change Your Life by Kaedrich OlsenThe Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. HallThe Way of Wyrd by Brian BatesMore resources for this episode are available on our website.Paul is now accepting applications to the CHEK Academy. Click here to apply today!Thanks to our awesome sponsors: Organifi (save 20 percent on your purchase by using the code CHEK20 at checkout), Paleovalley (save 15 percent on your purchase by using the code chek15 at checkout), BiOptimizers (save 10 percent on your purchase by using the code paul10 at checkout), Cymbiotika (save 15 percent on your purchase by using the code CHEK15 at checkout), One Farm CBD Oils (save 15 percent on your purchase by using the code CHEK at checkout) and Essential Oil Wizardry (save 10 percent on your purchase by using the code living4d at checkout).

Akureyri, also known as the capital of the north in Iceland, is the fourth largest municipality in Iceland. Reykjavík, Hafnarfjörður and Kopavogur are larger. This town of about 18,500 people is small in comparison to Reykjavík, but it is bustling with life. Akureyri’s History This area that Akureyri is located was originally settled in the 9th century by a Norse Viking named Helgi magri (the slim) Eyvindarson. However, you don’t see the name Akureyri mentioned in any court records until 1562. That year a woman was sentenced there for committing adultery. During the 17th century, Danish merchants set up their trading operations in the town  during summer because the town has an amazing natural harbor and the surrounding area is quite fertile. Even though, this area was being used by merchants and people were living there, it wasn’t granted its municipal charter by the Danish king until 1786. This act by the king was intended to help the town grow into an urban area. However, it was deemed unsuccessful because the population didn’t grow beyond the 12 people that lived there. In 1836, Akureyri lost its municipal status, but did get it back in 1862. The town’s great port conditions and agricultural region helped it to grow its population. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=080yUIby1_4 Geography and Climate Most people assume that the farther north you go in Iceland, the colder the weather. That is not necessarily the case for Akureryi. It is located at 65 degrees North and 18 degrees West. Even though, the Arctic Circle is only about 60 kilometers north of the town, the climate there is still quite mild and is classified as subarctic.  Surprisingly, the temperatures in the summer can reach up to 25 degrees Celsius or 77 degrees Fahrenheit. The average temperature in the winter is 0 degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The relatively warm climate, at this latitude, allows for the botanical gardens to flourish without greenhouses. It is in one of the longest fjords in the country and is surrounded by beautiful mountains that reach between 1000 - 1500 meters high. The high mountains shield the town from strong winds. Akureyri is quite a cloudy place and it barely sees any sunshine between November and February. However, it has much lower precipitation than in the south of Iceland. On average, it gets about ⅕ the amount of rain that Vík in Mýrdál, the popular town in the south, gets throughout the year. World War II Akureyri was one of the three air bases used by the Norwegian-British squadron that flew Northrop N-3PB bombers during World War II. The other two air bases were in Reykjavík and Budareyri. The squadron flew from Akureyri from April 25th, 1941 until April 5th, 1943. They also operated Catalina flying boats from the town. These boast protected convoys between the U.S., the U.K., and Murmansk in northern Russia from attack by German submarines. Commercial Business in Akureyri As I mentioned in the All Things Iceland podcast episode about Halldór Laxness, many Icelandic people started moving from the countryside in Iceland to urban areas. While commerce and service industries were the most popular employers in the Akureyri in the 20th century, the fishing industry started to dominate in the early 21st century. As I had mentioned earlier in this episode, Akureryi has amazing port conditions. What I mean by that is that their harbour remains ice free all year long, which is incredible and convenient for fishing merchants. This town is home to two out of the five largest fishing companies in Iceland. The ice free port certainly has played a role in that. Additionally, the largest brewery in Iceland Vílfilfell and Sjúkrahús Akureyrar, one of the two major hospitals in Iceland, are in Akureyri. How To Get to Akureyri If you are planning to visit Akureyri, I highly recommend it. I had the pleasure of going there in December and it was absolutely lovely.

Our first guest Ragnar gives us a run down on Norse Viking belief and we also talk about Vikings, Raids, and MEAD!!!!!

We are joined by Lee Accomando, host of the Viking Age Podcast! His show is one of the longest running Norse/Viking themed shows, and he certainly paved the way for us in a lot of ways so we're excited to have him on! We had a great discussion, talking about how his podcast has developed over the years and hearing some of his favorite stories, including the discovery of Iceland and some of the exploits of Gunnhild, Mother of Kings. You can find the Viking Age Podcast and all of Lee's social media information at http://vikingagepodcast.com/ This is the Northern Myths Podcast, an archetypal exploration of the myths and legends of Northern Europe, including Norse mythology, the Finnish Kalevala, and more. If you'd like to support the show you can support us on Patreon here: Northern Myths Podcast Patreon Check out our YouTube channel for videos of all episodes and interesting clips of the show: Northern Myths Podcast YouTube Channel The Northern Myths Podcast is sponsored by Grimfrost, our favorite source of Norse and Viking merchandise. Based in Sweden, they have a vast selection of historical Viking reproductions as well as contemporary products inspired by Viking Age culture. Just like our show, they aim to build a bridge between the past and the present, bringing relevant parts of the old Norse culture into today's world. Some of our favorite products of theirs include their great shirts which we wear all the time, their beard care products, and their excellent drinking horns. Check out their website, grimfrost.com, to see everything they have available.  Our intro and outtro music is Takk from the album Sagnamadr by Folket Bortafor Nordavinden. Check the album out on Spotify, and you can purchase from Grimfrost.com or Amazon.  If you'd like to follow along with us or learn more about the ideas we talk about on the show, we have a list of recommended books on our website. Included are our recommended copies of the Poetic Edda and the Kalevala, as well as books about archetypal narrative, comparative religion, and more: Recommended Books We also have Northern Myths Podcast merchandise available at our official shop. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram:FacebookTwitterInstagram You can also email us at northernmythspodcast@gmail.com

In this episode we interview the hosts of the Saga Thing podcast, one of the longest running shows in the Norse/Viking space and a show that we personally enjoy very much. We had an entertaining talk, and a few times where they really made us think about the nature of the literature we all enjoy. Check out Saga Thing's website for more information about their show: https://sagathingpodcast.wordpress.com/ Saga Thing iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/saga-thing/id721349054 This is the Northern Myths Podcast, an archetypal exploration of the myths and legends of Northern Europe, including Norse mythology, the Finnish Kalevala, and more. If you'd like to support the show you can support us on Patreon here: Northern Myths Podcast Patreon Check out our YouTube channel for videos of all episodes and interesting clips of the show: Northern Myths Podcast YouTube Channel The Northern Myths Podcast is sponsored by Grimfrost, our favorite source of Norse and Viking merchandise. Based in Sweden, they have a vast selection of historical Viking reproductions as well as contemporary products inspired by Viking Age culture. Just like our show, they aim to build a bridge between the past and the present, bringing relevant parts of the old Norse culture into today's world. Some of our favorite products of theirs include their great shirts which I wear all the time, their beard care products, and their excellent drinking horns. Check out their website, grimfrost.com, to see everything they have available.  Our intro and outtro music is Takk from the album Sagnamadr by Folket Bortafor Nordavinden. Check the album out on Spotify, and you can purchase from Grimfrost.com or Amazon.  If you'd like to follow along with us or learn more about the ideas we talk about on the show, we have a list of recommended books on our website. Included are our recommended copies of the Poetic Edda and the Kalevala, as well as books about archetypal narrative, comparative religion, and more: Recommended Books We also have Northern Myths Podcast merchandise available at our official shop. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram:FacebookTwitterInstagram

After a short hiatus, Rose Red and Jaymi return. This time they catch with Matt and Hope Hughes. Great news, their Ethereal Visions Tarot is shipping, and boy is it amazing. Jaymi and Rose Red agree the deck is a total winner. But that's not all, for the dynamic couple is busy at work on funding another deck through Kickstarter! This time it's a playing card deck based on Norse/Viking structures. Called the Gjallarhorn deck, this already funded deck features nifty illustrations of the Norse gods. Matt and Hope tell us about how they teamed up with Doctor Jackson Crawford, Instructor of Nordic Studies and Nordic Program Coordinator at the University of Colorado Boulder (formerly UC Berkeley and UCLA) to get their inspiration. He's quite prolific and has several books on Norse mythology and has a great youtube channel and several books on the subject. Finally, in September, the Hughes plan to re-do the Kickstarter for the Dreamscape Oracle, a 24-card companion oracle to the Ethereal Visions Tarot. A big shout out to Michael Charboneau for producing today's podcast file. You rock!

We all know the song. “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” And now, thankfully, we all know the controversy; celebrating a perpetrator of genocide might say a few unpleasant things about the country doing the celebrating. But there is something that most Americans don’t know: Europeans had visited the continent at least half a millennium before Columbus. Remembered in two medieval tales known as the “Vinland sagas,” and in 1960 corroborated by a major archaeological discovery, Indigenous people–most likely the ancestors of today’s Wabanaki Confederacy, among others–encountered Norse Viking sailors sometime around 1,000 CE. This used to be common knowledge in the United States. In fact, at moments of heightened xenophobia, Anglo-Americans even celebrated America’s “Norse ancestry,” considering it a far purer lineage than the Italian Columbus. Such debates are just one of the collected national anxieties Annette Kolodny traces in her masterful new book, In Search of First Contact: The Vikings of Vinland, the Peoples of the Dawnland, and the Angl0-American Anxiety of Discovery (Duke University Press, 2012). Combining her unparalleled expertise in literary criticism, close collaboration with Mi’kmaq, Passamaquody and Penobscot communities, and the consultation of innumerable sources, Kolodny deepens our understanding of the “Vinland sagas” and explores what’s at stake in national origin stories in a colonial world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all know the song. “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” And now, thankfully, we all know the controversy; celebrating a perpetrator of genocide might say a few unpleasant things about the country doing the celebrating. But there is something that most Americans don't know: Europeans had visited the continent at least half a millennium before Columbus. Remembered in two medieval tales known as the “Vinland sagas,” and in 1960 corroborated by a major archaeological discovery, Indigenous people–most likely the ancestors of today's Wabanaki Confederacy, among others–encountered Norse Viking sailors sometime around 1,000 CE. This used to be common knowledge in the United States. In fact, at moments of heightened xenophobia, Anglo-Americans even celebrated America's “Norse ancestry,” considering it a far purer lineage than the Italian Columbus. Such debates are just one of the collected national anxieties Annette Kolodny traces in her masterful new book, In Search of First Contact: The Vikings of Vinland, the Peoples of the Dawnland, and the Angl0-American Anxiety of Discovery (Duke University Press, 2012). Combining her unparalleled expertise in literary criticism, close collaboration with Mi'kmaq, Passamaquody and Penobscot communities, and the consultation of innumerable sources, Kolodny deepens our understanding of the “Vinland sagas” and explores what's at stake in national origin stories in a colonial world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all know the song. “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” And now, thankfully, we all know the controversy; celebrating a perpetrator of genocide might say a few unpleasant things about the country doing the celebrating. But there is something that most Americans don’t know: Europeans had visited the continent at least half a millennium before Columbus. Remembered in two medieval tales known as the “Vinland sagas,” and in 1960 corroborated by a major archaeological discovery, Indigenous people–most likely the ancestors of today’s Wabanaki Confederacy, among others–encountered Norse Viking sailors sometime around 1,000 CE. This used to be common knowledge in the United States. In fact, at moments of heightened xenophobia, Anglo-Americans even celebrated America’s “Norse ancestry,” considering it a far purer lineage than the Italian Columbus. Such debates are just one of the collected national anxieties Annette Kolodny traces in her masterful new book, In Search of First Contact: The Vikings of Vinland, the Peoples of the Dawnland, and the Angl0-American Anxiety of Discovery (Duke University Press, 2012). Combining her unparalleled expertise in literary criticism, close collaboration with Mi’kmaq, Passamaquody and Penobscot communities, and the consultation of innumerable sources, Kolodny deepens our understanding of the “Vinland sagas” and explores what’s at stake in national origin stories in a colonial world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all know the song. “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” And now, thankfully, we all know the controversy; celebrating a perpetrator of genocide might say a few unpleasant things about the country doing the celebrating. But there is something that most Americans don’t know: Europeans had visited the continent at least half a millennium before Columbus. Remembered in two medieval tales known as the “Vinland sagas,” and in 1960 corroborated by a major archaeological discovery, Indigenous people–most likely the ancestors of today’s Wabanaki Confederacy, among others–encountered Norse Viking sailors sometime around 1,000 CE. This used to be common knowledge in the United States. In fact, at moments of heightened xenophobia, Anglo-Americans even celebrated America’s “Norse ancestry,” considering it a far purer lineage than the Italian Columbus. Such debates are just one of the collected national anxieties Annette Kolodny traces in her masterful new book, In Search of First Contact: The Vikings of Vinland, the Peoples of the Dawnland, and the Angl0-American Anxiety of Discovery (Duke University Press, 2012). Combining her unparalleled expertise in literary criticism, close collaboration with Mi’kmaq, Passamaquody and Penobscot communities, and the consultation of innumerable sources, Kolodny deepens our understanding of the “Vinland sagas” and explores what’s at stake in national origin stories in a colonial world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all know the song. “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…” And now, thankfully, we all know the controversy; celebrating a perpetrator of genocide might say a few unpleasant things about the country doing the celebrating. But there is something that most Americans don’t know: Europeans had visited the continent at least half a millennium before Columbus. Remembered in two medieval tales known as the “Vinland sagas,” and in 1960 corroborated by a major archaeological discovery, Indigenous people–most likely the ancestors of today’s Wabanaki Confederacy, among others–encountered Norse Viking sailors sometime around 1,000 CE. This used to be common knowledge in the United States. In fact, at moments of heightened xenophobia, Anglo-Americans even celebrated America’s “Norse ancestry,” considering it a far purer lineage than the Italian Columbus. Such debates are just one of the collected national anxieties Annette Kolodny traces in her masterful new book, In Search of First Contact: The Vikings of Vinland, the Peoples of the Dawnland, and the Angl0-American Anxiety of Discovery (Duke University Press, 2012). Combining her unparalleled expertise in literary criticism, close collaboration with Mi’kmaq, Passamaquody and Penobscot communities, and the consultation of innumerable sources, Kolodny deepens our understanding of the “Vinland sagas” and explores what’s at stake in national origin stories in a colonial world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices