Congratulations to Arthur Koopmans for his terrific discussion of his Norse myth research on Mike and Maurice's Mind Escape podcast, which was streamed live just a couple days ago, on Wedesday, June 24th (which, as Arthur points out, is Odin's Day or Wotan's Day, from which we get our English name for the day).
Above is the YouTube video recording of the interview, complete with Arthur's accompanying artwork which really helps bring the subject to life.
I am very happy to see that the Star Myth connections in the world's ancient myths resonated with Arthur, who had already been drawn to the Norse myths for inspiration in other areas of his life.
Building on what he found in some of my research including in Star Myths of the World, Volume Four: Norse Mythology, Arthur has done his own original analysis to advance some very insightful additional arguments regarding important episodes in the surviving Eddic texts, including the pivotal sacrifice of Odin hanging upon Yggdrasil for nine days and nine nights in order to obtain the secret of the runes.
You can see more of Arthur's work at his website, Secrets of the Norse.
I very much commend Arthur's work to everyone and am very happy to see it, and hope that many more men and women around the world will be inspired by the incredible treasure given to all cultures in the ancient myths, and the powerful messages they have for our lives, and the ways that they use the language of the heavens to convey their ancient meaning to us even in this very moment.
If you know someone who loves the myths and might be excited to learn about the ancient world-wide system of celestial metaphor which weaves through the sacred stories, please let them know about resources such as Arthur's website, as well as my Star Myths of the World site. Those in college now (or teaching at colleges) might especially find new inspiration for directions of fruitful study -- but I'm convinced that all men and women can benefit from exploration of the myths.
During the above interview, Arthur says (beginning at about the 44:00-minute mark in the video clip):
It's amazing how the myths are based upon the stars. I think this also enriches the way I experience these myths: I think it's a wonderful thing. That you can go out, you can look up at the night sky, you can see all these stories played out -- by looking at the night sky, you have the feeling that you are more connected to this larger cosmos that's out there, which we are a part of.
Well spoken.
