The Animistic Worldview in Old Norse Mythology

**PLEASE READ: This class is part of the Northern Folk Traditions Conference! This class is not in-person, it is virtual via ZOOM. All classes are in MST timezone. You will receive a separate email with your zoom link. Students will also have access to a class recording after the conference for 30 days, recordings will be available within about one week of the end of the conference. A separate email will be sent to you with links to the recording. See our school calendar for all NFTC classes which may be purchased separately or you may purchase a Conference Pass for all classes at a discounted price. 

The Animistic Worldview in Old Norse Mythology:

Old Norse mythology is rooted in the natural world of northern Europe. It expresses the experiences that northern peoples have had with the natural world for millennia. The surviving medieval literature on Old Norse mythology has retained much of this perspective, especially in the Eddic poems Vafthrudnismal and Grimnismal. We will read these poems and analyze them as expressions of animistic relationality with the natural world.

YOUR INSTRUCTOR:

Mathias Nordvig has a PhD in Old Norse literature with focus on Old Norse mythology. He teaches subjects on Old Norse literature and culture, Nordic witchcraft and pre-Christian religion, and Arctic cultures at the University of Colorado-Boulder. His primary research interests are critical whiteness studies, the reception of Old Norse mythology in pop-culture and music, and Old Norse mythology as a land-based conceptual framework for life in the pre-Christian North.

*The Northern Folk Traditions Conference is a weeklong virtual conference taking place June 2-8! Ritualcravt School is proud to virtually host 9 teachers for 12 unique classes rooted in presenting our shared love of northern magical and spiritual traditions related to the Nordic countries, and our love for the ancestors and ancestral ways. This conference aims to explore rare and unusual topics of interest relating to the folk ways of our northern ancestors.