Traditionally, the start of the Viking age is dated from 793 CE, when the Vikings attacked the monastery at Lindisfarne in England. However, there is evidence that the Vikings were raiding in the Baltic region up to a century earlier, and they may have been actively raiding elsewhere. The traditional end date for the Viking…
There is good evidence that the Vikings were sailing into the Baltic and the region of Estonia from the start of the 9th century and that by the 10th century, they were having a big impact on the area with several Estonian-Viking settlements emerging in the mostly Finno-Hungarian region. However new archaeological evidence suggests that…
While most people have heard of the Knights Templar and now that they have something to do with the Crusades, few people know much about their history or their Viking connection. This is a brief history of the Knights Templar that highlights some of the practices that they seem to have borrowed from Viking warrior…
While we might think of the Vikings as ancient history, our knowledge of what the Viking world was like is constantly evolving thanks to new archaeological discoveries. New finds can push back the dates for important events, reveal greater spheres of influence, and elucidate rituals, fashions, and more. With that in mind, here are some…
We know that the Vikings believed in life after death. What exactly they believed it looked like is unclear. While surviving sources provide descriptions of Valhalla, Odin’s hall in Asgard for brave fallen warriors, Helheim, the underworld, and other afterlives, these were written by Christian observers of Norse culture and were highly influenced by Christian…
Did you know that the Vikings were contemporary with the Crusades that saw Christians from the West try to recapture Jerusalem ? The Vikings were already officially converted to Christianity when the Crusades began, though pagan traditions continued. However, the Vikings did not join the main Crusades into the Holy Land. Instead, they had conquests…
When the Vikings landed on English shores they didn’t just take away slaves and previous goods to line their own pockets, they left quite a lot behind. Laying down roots as settlers from the mid-9th century, they had a pretty big influence on local culture and society. Let’s look at some of the ways that…
Many modern pagans, and other people who want to create greater alignment with natural cycles, celebrate the Wheel of the Year. These are festivals that align with important moments in the solar calendar, and therefore the seasons, such as the solstices and equinoxes. While there are many neo-pagan festivals based on the idea of the…
While we think of the Vikings as legendary warriors, the Vikings themselves had their own legendary heroes and fighters. There were the Berserker warriors believed to embody the spirit of the bear to become invincible in battle. Read our post on the Berserkers here. And there were also the Jomsvikings. The Jomsvikings were a semi-legendary…
Many Wiccan and Neo-Pagan traditions venerate the triple goddess, who manifests as the maiden, mother, and crone. They represent past, present, and future, and also the cycle of life and death as new growth, fertility, and death. She aligns with the cycles of the moon, with the maiden the waxing moon, the mother the full…
