{"podcast":{"title":"Norse Mythology: The Unofficial Guide","slug":"norse-mythology-the-unofficial-guide-5485323","podcast_index_feed_id":5485323,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/798ea82c/podcast/rss","website_url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/waelhraefn","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/production/podcast_uploaded_nologo/20293923/20293923-1658030265583-4bb66d6449893.jpg","author":"Wælhræfn","episode_count":45,"summary":"What makes Norse mythology \"norse\"? Why does Thor kill giants? What do the myths tell us about Loki's gender identity? The world of popular media is always happy to provide a modernized re-telling of ancient stories with a heavy scoop of creative license, but on \"Norse Mythology: The Unofficial Guide\", we'll dive into the original tales directly from the sources and learn together from experts in the field about what these stories really mean and how they would have affected the lives of the ancient people of the pagan north. Contact me any time at waelhraefn (at) gmail (dot) com!","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/norse-mythology-the-unofficial-guide-5485323"},"episode":{"title":"Episode 39 - The Worship of Good and Evil","slug":"episode-39-the-worship-of-good-and-evil","published_at":"2026-05-16T22:37:14+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/norse-mythology-the-unofficial-guide-5485323/episode-39-the-worship-of-good-and-evil","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/norse-mythology-the-unofficial-guide-5485323","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/waelhraefn/episodes/Episode-39---The-Worship-of-Good-and-Evil-e3jfgfr","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/798ea82c/podcast/play/120094651/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-4-16%2F0a4391c4-477f-dfa8-77c7-bd3fd0d80ac0.mp3","summary":"Are the gods the good guys or the bad guys? On that note, did ancient Norse people ever worship the jötnar? This week we take a look at what it really means to be a god in the Norse mind. Two surprising sources will help inform our analysis: a horse phallus preserved in herbs and an Icelandic volcano. Don't miss it! Sources: Giants” by Margaret Clunies Ross in Pre-Christian Religions of the North volume II, 2020 “Cyclical Rituals” by Jens Peter Schjødt, also in Pre-Christian Religions of the North volume II, 2020. “Ritual responses to catastrophic volcanism in Viking Age iceland: Reconsidering surtshellir cave through bayesian analyses of AMS dates, tephrochronology, and texts” by Kevin Smith, et al in the Journal of Archaeological Science volume 126, 2021. “Lausavísa from Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in Heimskringla 1” by Diana Whaley in “Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 1: From Mythical Times to circa 1035. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 1.” 2012. “The Poetic Edda”, transl. by Carolyne Larrington, 2014 “The Prose Edda”, transl. by Anthony Faulkes, 1995 Contact: Write in: waelhraefn (at) gmail (dot) com Join the Discord: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/Nvw5hmkRsW⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Music: Celebration by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com) Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","meta_description":"Are the gods the good guys or the bad guys? On that note, did ancient Norse people ever worship the jötnar? This week we take a look at what it really mea…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3515,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/norse-mythology-the-unofficial-guide-5485323/episodes/episode-39-the-worship-of-good-and-evil/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/norse-mythology-the-unofficial-guide-5485323/episode-39-the-worship-of-good-and-evil.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}