Godshapes I: Hœnir, Bird-God?
Our first Godshapes entry focuses on a lesser known figure, one of the most difficult figures in the corpus to conceptualize: a god by the name of Hœnir. Hœnir’s case is a curious one. In the body of Old Norse narratives that come down to us today, the god generally lurks in the shadows, a quiet companion to other gods. While the record strongly implies that Hœnir was an important figure, what we are told seems cryptic and obtuse and lacks the clarity to confidently place his characteristics in context.
Six Questions I: H. L. H. Swärd
The present post marks the first entry in a new series on Mimisbrunnr.info, Six Questions. Six Questions consists of brief interviews with artists, academics, and otherwise notable individuals that regularly work with topics from historic Germanic studies (as well as subjects such as modern Germanic Heathenry). With Six Questions, Mimisbrunnr.info hopes to provide data on a topic often obscure even to specialists in the area: How concepts of the ancient Germanic peoples are introduced, interpreted, and explored in the modern world.
While following a general formula, interview questions may vary by subject. To maintain accessibility for as wide an audience as possible, interviews are conducted in English, and, for convenience on the part of the subjects, interviews are conducted by way of a variety of media. E-mail interviews are unedited beyond typo correction and formatting.
The subject of our very first Six Questions session is Swedish artist H. L. H. Swärd, who works under the name Forndom. As Forndom, Swärd produces work in a variety of media, including photography and music. Swärd is himself a student with a focus on North Germanic religion.