If you are interested in the transformational power of symbols, runes and sigils and want to learn more about the strongholds of Northern myth, wonder and the deep imagination, then please consider joining this 4 week offering with Skàld Andreas Kornevall. This will be a supportive community of like minded individuals that will go tracking into the fertile grounds of the Otherworlds and to stir inspired discoveries within the Skaldic arts, runes and Northern Myth and Story.

There will also be a basic anatomy lesson of lines and dots in cave art and design theory to lay the groundwork for runic understanding.

A recording of all session will be available to the participants until the 2024 Spring Equinox. General Outline of the Programme.

Week 1 – Thursday January 11th, 2.30pm NYC/ 7,30pm UK time; 90min

Establishing a solid understanding of the world of symbols, what they are and how they are different from signs. Learn about the idea of destiny and fate and the concepts of “Urlog” and the “Wyrd,” whilst hearing about images from the Creation Myth of the Eddas.

Week 2 – Thursday January 18th, 2.30pm NYC/ 7,30pm UK time; 90min

Initiatory Runes. Symbols as an initiatory language. Here we will explore Odin’s initiation on the Tree of Life. Followed by meditations and chanting. We will also see how the runes are embedded within the poetic voice of nature, seeing trees, rivers, tracks, bark and leaves in a new way to begin to unearth the runes and their meaning from a personal perspective.

Week 3 – Thursday January 25th, 2.30pm NYC/ 7,30pm UK time; 90min

Practical session: Runes – How to send, how to pray, how to bless?

What is an oracular practice, what is oracular language? When we understand symbols as animistic and alive, then how do we create a relationship to the symbol?

This session will also explore the special polytheistic mindset of Northern Europe and how the perception of self was closer to the idea of a “psyche,” which is a more nuanced, complex and poly-sensory notion of the self.

Week 4 – Thursday February 1st, 2.30pm NYC/ 7,30pm UK time; 90min

We will go on a journey to retrieve “unbidden” images/visions and learn to craft our visions into poetic (Skaldic) metres with simple writing techniques. You will learn how to transform your visions into personal songs or chants, to draw out the chant from nature and fully express it. We ask – how can the shape of a leaf, a flower, or the boughs if trees become chants?

Other areas of work for this programme will be sigil and mark making as a new “craft of feeling” and as an intuitive artistic inspiration.

About Andreas

Andreas Kornevall is an author, storyteller and ecological activist. He grew up in South America, Sweden and Switzerland, and now directs the Earth Restoration Service charity. In response to the sixth mass extinction, he was the catalyst behind the Life Cairn movement: memorials for species rendered extinct at human hands. As a storyteller, he works with old myths and fairytales which shine a torchlight on life’s journey; his stories tend to gravitate around the Norse material which have led him to lecture and perform in universities and other educational centres. He is also a prize-winning author, whose work has been published in magazines such as Resurgence, The Ecologist, Permaculture magazine and in the Dark Mountain series. He is a member of the ‘Forn Sed’ (Old Customs Association) in Sweden which works closely with ancient Norse culture, traditions and spirituality, unearthing old legends, forgotten folklore and endangered Norse languages. His latest book “Waking the Dragons” is out through Green Magic Publishing.

Through his charity he has planted over 200 woodlands in the United Kingdom and he has recently been voted by the University of Southern California as one of their 100 spiritual exemplars.

“Andreas Kornevall offers a powerful immersive experience of travelling into Norse mythology and Runic divination, food for both soul and intellect. Understanding Runic script as mythic symbols opens a door into the archetypes that inform all human existence, and Andreas’ deep knowledge and love for his subject is truly inspirational.”

Professor Angela Voss, Christ Church University