Six Questions XIV: Alex Sager

July 29, 2018 by Joseph Hopkins in Six Questions

For Mimisbrunnr.info's 14th Six Questions interview, we interview American academic Alexander Sager. Sager is department head of the University of Georgia's (UGA) Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies, and an associate professor of German Among other courses relating to German language, culture, and literature, Sager teaches a variety of courses relating to the ancient Germanic peoples, including the school's recently introduced course on the topic of Norse mythology. Sager also played a notable role in Mimisbrunnr.info's formation: he was Ár Var Alda: the Ancient Germanic Studies Society at UGA's faculty sponsor (and that of its precursors), which eventually developed into the present site.

Six Questions XIII: Rachel Shelton

June 04, 2017 by Joseph Hopkins in Six Questions

For our 13th Six Questions feature, we interview artist Rachel Shelton. Originally hailing from Washington state, today Shelton lives in rural Montana. One of the most sparsely populated and vast expanses of the nation, the west Yellowstone region of Montana features heavily in Shelton's nature-focused photographs, gathered bone pieces, and wildcrafting. Shelton's work often features motifs and themes drawn from Germanic paganism and folklore, including runic inscriptions and charms. Shelton sells her work through her Etsy shop and showcases her photography on her Instagram.

Six Questions XII: Heimlich A. Laguz

February 01, 2017 by Joseph Hopkins in Six Questions

The subject of Mimisbrunnr.info's twelfth Six Questions entry is Heimlich A. Laguz, a founding member of Elhaz Ablaze, the digital platform of the Elhaz Fellowship, a collective of five Heathen writers. Active since 2007, Elhaz Ablaze has produces a steady flow of articles founded on the principles of the group's central philosophy, Chaos Heathenism, an approach Laguz discusses during the course of this interview.

Six Questions XI: Kjersti Faret (Cat Coven)

January 25, 2017 by Joseph Hopkins in Six Questions

Kjersti Faret, Mimisbrunnr.info's eleventh Six Questions subject, is a New York-based American artist. Faret primarily works with printmaking, illustration, and embroidery, and often draws from her Scandinavian heritage for her subject matter, reflected in her pieces depicting entities and narratives from Norse Mythology. Faret makes her designs available by way of her lifestyle brand and online shop, Cat Coven.

Six Questions X: Lindy-Fay Hella

November 10, 2016 by Joseph Hopkins in Six Questions

The tenth subject of Mimisbrunnr.info's Six Question series is Norwegian singer and musician Lindy-Fay Hella. Best known for her work as female vocalist for the popular musical project Wardruna, Hella has appeared throughout the group's discography and has performed, for example, on the Norwegian government-owned NRK1 television network and in front to the Gokstad ship at the Oslo Viking Ship Museum (Norwegian Vikingskipshuset på Bygdøy). Additionally, her voice can be heard throughout the extremely popular television show Vikings (2013-ongoing), which prominently employs tracks from the Wardruna discography.

Six Questions IX: Runahild

October 01, 2016 by Joseph Hopkins in Six Questions

In Norse cosmology, the Élivágar (Old Norse 'stormy waves, icy waves') are primordial, venomous rivers. Remote in time and place, these rivers play a crucial role in Norse cosmogony: they produced the proto-being Ymir, who in turn bore the ancestors of many beings that populate the narratives that together form Norse mythology. In time, Ymir's body was dissected by a trio of gods to create the world as we know it, a sort of North Germanic myth of succession.

Borrowed into modern German, Élivágar readily becomes Eliwagar, a name under which Runahild, a musician from Lorraine, France (a city bordering Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg), has released nine albums of what she calls "Hyperborean Heathen Folk". Today Runahild lives in Norway.

Six Questions VIII: Audun Refsahl

August 15, 2016 by Joseph Hopkins in Six Questions

Our eighth Six Questions subject is Audun Refsahl, a Norwegian video game developer and Viking Age re-enactor. Refsahl serves as co-writer and history consultant for Grimnir, a small independent studio based in Drammen, Norway and published via Snow Cannon Games.

Six Questions VII: Odinson

August 03, 2016 by JH Roberts in Six Questions, Modern Popular Culture

In the seventh interview of Mimisbrunnr.info's Six Questions series, we interview Odinson, an American strength athlete and professional wrestler inspired by Germanic and Norse mythology. Odinson's character is a mixture of traditional, Marvel, and Mad Max: Fury Road Norse elements.

Six Questions VI: Kim Larsen

August 02, 2016 by Joseph Hopkins in Six Questions

The subject of our sixth interview in Mimisbrunnr.info's Six Questions series is Danish artist Kim Larsen. Larsen is best known for his musical work, particularly as founder and sole constant member of musical project Of The Wand And The Moon (OTWATM).

Since OTWATM's first album in 1999, Nighttime Nightrhymes, a steady stream of singles, EPs, and albums has cemented the project as one of the most well known groups in a musical genre widely known as neofolk. Like some of his collaborators, Larsen has frequently employed symbolism and motifs from Germanic mythology in both his musical and visual output, perhaps most prominently in the 2005 album Sonnenheim.

Six Questions V: Vigdís Sveinsdóttir

July 08, 2016 by Joseph Hopkins in Six Questions

In the fifth interview of Mimisbrunnr.info's Six Questions series, we interview Vigdís Sveinsdóttir, an Icelandic-Norwegian psychology PhD candidate and Viking Age reenactor living and studying in Bergen, Norway. Vigdís operates the site valkyrja.com, where she regularly posts her thoughts, photography, and research on Viking Age-related topics.

Six Questions IV: Kevin French

February 23, 2016 by Joseph Hopkins in Six Questions

The fourth entry for Mimisbrunnr.info's Six Questions series is an interview with American academic and Heathen Kevin French. Outside of his academic work, French maintains a popular following via his Tumblr blog, where he regularly fields questions regarding topics such as North Germanic religion, runology, and Germanic linguistics.

French is additionally moderator for Fuck Yeah Norse Mythology, a Tumblr blog that functions as something of an aggregate for posts on Norse mythology within the Tumblr community, ranging from art to discussion threads. French's Tumblr activities provide a window into how Germanic Heathenry exists and operates on a popular internet platform in 2016.

Six Questions III: Frøydis

January 18, 2016 by Joseph Hopkins in Six Questions

The subject of our third Mimisbrunnr.info's Six Questions entry is Frøydis. Frøydis has a background in fashion modeling—represented by model agency Pholk in Norway—and was notably a finalist in Norway’s Next Top Model in 2008 (before exiting the competition due to illness).

In addition to modeling, Frøydis is active in Viking Age reenactment, environmentalist, live action roleplaying (LARP), and cosplay circles. She maintains a blog documenting her activities, Lin og Lauk (Nynorsk ‘flax and onion’, referring to a magic formula appearing on a runic inscription from Fløksand, Norway and in the Old Norse Völsa þáttr).