Of Oak & Ash

I begged that he tell me of those bright and those dark; the dread-homes of dead things, the hallowed halls of high Gods, so of the Worlds ‘neath the windy World Tree might I know.

And so High from the highest of heights spoke thus, as he sat in his seat at the summit of All: “Wisdom I shall grant you; but what shall you give? For the price is a gift for a gift from the Gods.”

So to High I did say, “I shall swear to you thus: that a sacrifice be made unto you and yourself. I promise you this with prayer and praise, from one wanderer to the wisest of all.”

Then High said to me, “I hear your prayer, and the words that you weave for your oath. So my knowledge I’ll grant you, that know you might of the Worlds ‘neath the windy World Tree.

“The first I shall speak of is the first among worlds, the supreme and shining seat of Gods. Esageard we call it, cradled by Heaven, where rule does High from his hall.

“Within Esageard are three heavenly halls, a refuge for the righteous from rot, and the Fields of Frīge, Neorxnawang, and Wælheall where wælcyrian roost.

“Within our borders beneath one of three mighty roots, reside the three weavers of Wyrd. There they tend to the well from which fate is drawn and draw up the doom of Men.

“Yonder, yet not far from Esageard are the hallowed halls of the elves. There dwell they in brightest Ælfhām ruled by fair Ingui-Frea.

“By Ælfhām, you’ll know, is the abode of Man, called Middangeard, or by you Middle-earth. By an ocean it’s embraced, older than time, wherein waits the World Serpent for night.

“To the east if you go you shall find Ettin-home, Ēotenhām, land of the ettins and ents. Where in Iron-wood wolves and worse monsters are spawned, and ‘neath a root is Memory’s well.

“Yet go north from your world, Middangeard, and you’ll arrive in murky Murkhām. Where halls of gold and of grand craftsmanship serve as dwellings for the deep-delving dwarfs.

“Further still from Murkhām is misty Hell, where the Queen of the Dead does dwell. Find your way to the hall of the Goddess Hell lest you wind up in Wyrmsele, ravaged by worms.

“Next go north to the northernmost realm, Nifolhām, a bitter land of frost and fog, where the third of the World Tree’s roots does rest above a bubbling, ancient spring.

“From this spring flow the rivers, their numbers unnumbered, that with waters old wend a way between worlds, crossed only by bridges, and we brave wanderers.

“Thus I speak of the seven worlds beneath the World Tree, and to you make this knowledge known. Go with it, wanderer, with wisdom and sense.”

I’ve always had a passion for storytelling, and for putting my ideas to paper, but it wasn’t until the end of secondary school when that passion truly awakened. Since then my passion has only grown, and my skills have been honed by years of writing for both fun and for university courses. I’ve left behind me a long trail of short stories and half-finished novels — some of them decent, most mediocre — hidden away in old storage boxes or the recesses of ancient HDDs. I could probably dredge up some of the older stories and find within them, tucked between unedited lines, the seeds of my recent work.

In February 2021, I self-published my first novel: The Immortal King. It began as a short story, inspired by Beowulf, heroic Old Norse sagas, European folklore, and the scholarly works of French historian and philologist Claude Lecouteux. Like many of my short stories (both published and unpublished), this story began as a little bit of fun — a way to scratch an itch, so to speak. I wanted to tell the story of a wandering wise-man who specialised in dealing with things of a not-so-physical nature.

In this story, a Godspeaker (as I called him) named Edward came to Henton, a little woodland village, and there was employed to deal with the corpse of the lord’s dead brother, who had a tendency to crawl out of his grave and harass the townsfolk at night. Through the writing of this story, however, I fell in love with the characters I had created and the world in which they lived, so decided to turn it into a novel. I needed a plot, and having recently read the old folk legend about the British King Herla and the Wild Hunt, I decided to create a retelling of this legend involving my own Edward Godspeaker.

Thus, The Immortal King was born.

It took several years to write this book, working on it on-and-off in conjunction with my history degree(s). During this time my plans and ideas changed, the story evolved, until eventually I had something solid.

In 2019 I did a postgraduate degree (Bachelor of Arts with Honours) in history, and this took up a lot of my time. I didn’t have much time to work on my book that year, so Edward and co. found themselves sorely neglected. I planned to do an MA in history the following year. By summer of 2019-2020 (I live in New Zealand), I had completed by Honours degree and my enrolment for an MA was accepted. I had a research topic lined up, a full scholarship available, and…

…I quit. After I finished my dissertation, I realised that my true passion lay in writing fiction and fantasy. I love writing history (I decided to return to academia and do my MA this year!), but that summer I realised how much I missed the world of Ardonn. And so, I quit university, held on to a part-time job as a tutor, and decided to spend 2020 focusing chiefly on my novel.

I thus found myself with an abundance of time (especially with the Covid-19 lockdowns we had that year), and really worked hard on finishing The Immortal King. Not only that, but I also managed to pump out two dozen or so short stories set in the same world, exploring themes and concepts touched on in the novel or expanding the world and its lore (you can read them for free here).

And by the following summer, I finished drafting The Immortal King. By February 2021, I made it available to the world.

The quantity of my writing died down in 2021 partly due to a series of personal interruptions (including a death and a marriage), but I kept it up as best I could. I immediately set about working on The Immortal King’s sequel (to be published this December!), and published more short stories whenever I could. The world of Ardonn is still alive and well, constantly expanding and deepening with every new tale I publish. But that brings me back to the question…

Why do I write?

For me, writing is not merely a hobby. It is my outlet, an expression of my thoughts, beliefs, and ideas. It is a mission, a sacred duty, an act of devotion. I am a pagan. Specifically, an Anglo-Saxon Pagan/Heathen/Polytheist, practicing the reconstructed religion of the hodgepodge of pre-Christian Germanic tribes that settled Britain during the Migration Era. I’m not too fond of the term, though, and prefer to call myself a Fyrnsidere, and my religion Fyrnsidu.

“Fyrnsidu” is Old English for “the ancient custom” (fyrn: ancient; sidu: custom) or, if you want a more poetic translation, “the Old Way.” I prefer this term because on one hand, it doesn’t sound as scholarly as “Anglo-Saxon Pagan” — a term which evokes the notion of a dead religion, confined to a past age and a past people. Fyrnsidu is a living religion, a spirituality that can and should thrive in the 21st Century, practiced not by ancient Germanic tribes but by…well, anyone alive today with a love for the Gods and a willingness to embrace them.

On the other hand, Fyrnsidu describes a spirituality not confined to historical sources. Fyrnsidu is a spirituality informed by the ancient traditions of the Anglo-Saxons (and other Germanic peoples, namely Viking Age Norse), but a good number of us also embrace a living, breathing spirituality preserved through Christian times. We look not only to a body of historical literature and archaeological finds to inform our faith, but also to the folklore, traditions, customs, and beliefs handed down to us from more recent times. Folk stories and folk traditions preserve the spirituality of the English built on their interactions with real numinous forces, albeit through a Christian lens.

Are we to discount 1000 years of spirituality simply because the people didn’t worship a multitude of Gods? I think not. As Fyrnsidere and Fyrnsidestre, we participate in the English spiritual traditions passed down to us by our most recent English ancestors (regardless of whether or not you are biologically descended from them), while revitalising these traditions with the ancient living Gods known to the Anglo-Saxons. We are (re)introducing a new element to English spirituality, and thus our tradition is not necessarily new, but renewed — built on a spirituality that never really died, but only transformed as a result of Christianisation. In this sense, we truly are practitioners of “the ancient custom” — be that the custom of Penda, the last pagan King of Mercia, or the custom of some Victorian coal miner.

My writing is my contribution to this renewal. The Immortal King and all of my short stories are heavily, heavily, inspired and informed by the folklore, legends, mythology, history, religion, and spirituality of my English (and more broadly European) ancestors. In this sense, I see them not merely as works of fantasy, but mythopoeia. In the same vein as J.R.R. Tolkien (though not nearly with the same level of quality) I see myself as creating a mythological contribution to the English literary tradition, containing within it the themes, concepts, ideas, and beings found within English spirituality. Fantasy is the medium I chose for doing this. The world of Ardonn is fictional, yes, but like Tolkien’s Middle-earth is also a mythic landscape within which I can convey metaphysical principles, spiritual concepts, and pagan ideas. It is the setting within which I can tell those timeless metahistorical narratives that appear again and again throughout history, or are revealed by ancient legend.

Ardonn and the stories within it are not mere fiction; they are abstract reality. By writing fantasy I make English spirituality accessible to everyone and capable of being enjoyed by anyone, and it is my hope that by doing this I can speak even to the hearts of those who don’t practice our religion, who may not be interested in historical literature or scholarly works. If my stories can touch the souls or inspire the spirituality of those who read them, even just a little bit, then I can consider my mission a success.

So, what is the purpose of this blog?

My idea behind this blog is that it can serve as a companion to my fiction writing (which I'll also post here), while also providing more informative, analytical, and theological writing for those of my audience who are into this stuff. I will be using this to shed light on the themes and ideas within my stories, and to create articles on elements of Fyrnsidu and share my knowledge of history, sometimes linking it to my fiction writing. Fantasy provides us with a much-needed escape and whisks us away to a world of abstracts, but it is also important we stay grounded and look at how the principles and ideas within fiction apply to the real world. I hope my blog can do this, just as I hope my fantasy stories can do the opposite.

So, to whoever finds themselves reading this: I hope you enjoy what’s to come! I can’t wait to share my thoughts, knowledge, and stories with you.