Ragnarok

17 March, 2019 - 16:29 Riley Winters

Fenrir: The Monstrous Wolf of Norse Legend

One of the three children of Loki by a giantess (jötunn ) named Angrboða, Fenrir plays an imperative, though short, role in Norse mythology. A wolf of remarkable size and strength, Fenrir has one...

15 July, 2018 - 21:38 Riley Winters

How it Ends: The Ancient Roots of Doomsday Prophecies and End of the World Beliefs

Hollywood’s obsession with the End of Times is not over yet – Armageddon, Deep Impact, Doomsday, Legion, Thor: Ragnarok and 28 Days Later, are just a few of the blockbusters, out of hundreds, that...

25 April, 2018 - 19:00 Caleb Strom

Denizens of Valhalla and the Transient Afterlife of Norse Myth

The ancient Norse were one of the few cultures to create a mythology that did not necessarily promise eternal life of any kind for the souls of the deceased. The world was believed to be heading...

Thor and the Midgard Serpent, by Emil Doepler, 1905.

11 April, 2018 - 19:01 dhwty

Thor: How a Norse Warrior God of Thunder Handles a Predicament

Thor is one of the most important gods in the Norse pantheon. He’s normally depicted as a middle-aged man with a red-beard wielding his famous weapon, a magical hammer known as Mjollnir...

9 April, 2018 - 23:03 dhwty

Heimdall, Watchman of the Gods, Will Sound the Horn as Ragnarok Approaches

Heimdall is a god in the Norse pantheon, most well-known for his task to announce the coming of Ragnarok by sounding his horn, which will be heard across all worlds. He is one of the better-known...

1 June, 2017 - 19:03 Veronica Parkes

Epic Battle Equals Doom or Twilight for Norse Gods? Ragnarök: The Real Message in the Myth

In Norse mythology, Ragnarök encompasses a series of events that will come to pass. It foretells an epic battle which leads to the death of numerous gods, natural disasters, and the death of the...

14 January, 2017 - 00:49 Brad Yoon

Ragnarok: The Rainbow Bridge that Connects Heaven and Earth at the Caribbean Basin – Part II

According to the Old Norse philologist Rudolf Simek and religious historian Mircea Eliade, Ragnarök marks the end of a cosmic cycle that will repeat ad infinitum. I argue that the Norsemen also...

13 January, 2017 - 00:41 Brad Yoon

Ragnarok: Norse Account of Strange & Wonderful Land Doomed to Destruction – Part I

Before the rise and spread of Christianity in the first millennium of the common era, paganism was the common religion of Europeans. Just as there is not a single Christian faith, but many...

Odin Riding Forth on the Cover of "Legends and Lore"

14 December, 2016 - 00:48 Mark Miller

Gold Pendant Found in Denmark Depicts Norse God Odin, and May Have Been a Sacrifice to Avert the Disastrous Weather of 536 AD

Odin, the high god of Norse mythology, rode his eight-legged horse Sleipnir through the nine worlds dispensing ecstasy to all those who invoked him. Now an image of a man with a horse depicted on a...

21 December, 2014 - 22:29 Riley Winters

The Enigmatic Loki, a Trickster among Gods in Norse Mythology

The Norse trickster god, Loki is undoubtedly the most debated figure from Norse mythology to this day. Though he appears to be a scheming, mischievous deity who has no real loyalties, scholars still...

Æsir gathered around the body of Baldr. Painting by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg 1817

13 December, 2014 - 12:27 Riley Winters

Baldr: The Shining God Who Shines No More

Known among the pre-Christian Scandinavians, and the gods themselves, as the "Shining God", Baldr was the image of perfection in the Norse religion, and the pride and joy of the Æsir (members of the...

25 November, 2014 - 11:57 dhwty

Epic Cosmic Battles and the Forces of Creation and Destruction in Belief Systems around the World

Stories of epic cosmic battles can be found in many world cultures. In these battles, the lines are often drawn clearly, with the forces of good on one side and the forces of evil on the other. For...

Ragnarok and the Apocalypse - Norse Mythology

17 February, 2014 - 11:09 johnblack

The story of Ragnarok and the Apocalypse

In Norse mythology, Ragnarok is a series of apocalyptic events that will define the end of the world, where giants of frost and fire will together fight the gods in a final battle that will...

21 November, 2013 - 23:15 aprilholloway

Viking apocalypse due in less than 100 days

We have already survived numerous ‘end of days’ predictions, with the Mayan prophecy being the most recent, but the predictions of doom and gloom are not over yet. According to Norse mythology and...

Myths & Legends

The Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter

Easter is a festival and holiday celebrated by millions of people around the world who honor the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred three days...

Ragnar Lothbrok: A Real Viking Hero Whose Life Became Lost to Legend

The Story of the Scary Shtorka and the Revival of Croatian Mythology

Involuntary Initiation: Tales of Demonic Powers of Sorcery Transmitted to the Unsuspecting

The Real Story of Medusa: Protective Powers from a Snake-Haired Gorgon

Talos – Crete

Human Origins

One Hundred Thousand Adams and Eves?

When the journalist Roger Lewin in 1987 dubbed the common maternal ancestor of all people living today “Mitochondrial Eve,” he evoked a creation story—that of a woman who was the mother of us all, and whose descendants dispersed throughout the earth.

Where are Ashkenazi Jews from? Their Origins May Surprise You

Religion Isn’t The Enemy of Science: It’s Been Inspiring Scientists for Centuries

Dark Skin and Blue Eyes: European Hunter-Gatherers Did Not Fit with Common Representations

The origins of human beings according to ancient Sumerian texts

Asherah: God’s Forgotten Wife

Ancient Technology

Is this a 300 million-year-old screw or just a fossilized sea creature?

A Russian research team known as the Kosmopoisk Group, which investigates UFOs and paranormal activity, claims to have found a one-inch screw embedded inside a rock that is 300 million years old...

Dujiangyan: The 2,200-Year-Old Chinese Irrigation System That is Still Used Today!

The Man Who Stopped a Desert Using Ancient Farming

Does ‘New Evidence’ Prove Noah’s Ark Is Buried on a Turkish Mountain?

Mega Earthquake Caused Major Shift in Inca Construction Methodology

Norimitsu Odachi: Who Could Have Possibly Wielded This Enormous 15th Century Japanese Sword?

Ancient Places

Left: The temple of Ain Dara before. Right: The temple after its recent destruction.

3,000-Year-Old Ain Dara Temple in Syria Reduced to Rubble by Turkish Airstrikes

The Syro-Hittite temple of Ain Dara built in the 1st millennium BC boasted intricate stone sculptures of lions and sphinxes, elaborately decorated walls with geometric designs, floral patterns, animals and mythical creatures, and limestone pavings that are famously imprinted with a pair of gigantic footprints.

Driver Plows Truck into 2,000-Year-Old Nazca Lines Causing Irreversible Damage

Ashurbanipal: The Oldest Surviving Royal Library in the World with Over 30,000 Clay Tablets

Roque Bentayga, Gran Canaria: Vestiges of the Mysterious Guanche People

Somalia: The Ancient Lost Kingdom of Punt is Finally Found?

The Lost Tribe of Clover Hollow – Oldest Civilization in the World Found in Appalachian Mountains?

Opinion

The astronomical ceiling at the Pronaos, Detail of the first Band west from the center. From left to right: two wind creatures (the winged ram with four heads personifies the south wind), the snake- and frog-headed eight goddesses and gods of the Ogdoad who ruled the cosmos before the creation of the world and Osiris seated on a throne sails across the sky as personification of the full moon accompanied by the seated goddesses Nephtys (left) and Isis on the right (Maat stands near the bow of the ship). Siri

Changing Colors and Scampering Across the Night Sky: What Did the Ancients Say about Sirius?

In Egypt, Sirius was the Star of Isis, Isis being the companion and rescuer of the god Osiris. In a very deep way, Osiris was Egypt.

Cracking the Code to Discover Ancient Tarot Symbolism and Forgotten Universal Knowledge

The Secret Strategic Plans of Darius the Great

The Secrets of the Kabbalists Garden

Alchemy and Generating Lifeforce —Global Temples Made in the Shape of Lingams: Shaivite Bull Cult Part II

From Green Man to Bull Son, The Universal Shaivite Bull Cult – Part I

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