The Skaldic Eagle Takes Flight!
The Skaldic Eagle soars through the sky, ever seeking the brilliance of the Sun above, for his is a Solar path! He flies in the heights among the mountains—those bright, rarefied, clear, and cold realms of grandeur—but also through the deep valleys and dark caves, the secret places where Lunar currents lurk. Like Odin, his exemplar, he seeks to synthesize the runes of both these extremes into great treasures of Spirit. Also like Odin, he is more often than not, a solitary wanderer throughout the worlds. Most importantly, however, he is a poet like Odin—for it was Odin himself who became the very first Skaldic Eagle when he liberated the art of poetry from the world of the giants and brought it to gods and men in the form of an Eagle.
Eirik Westcoat, creator of The Skaldic Eagle project, has been on a quest for Óðrœrir—the Mead of Poetry, which makes whoever drinks it into a skald and/or scholar—ever since he realized it truly existed back in 2010. For him, the pursuit of this greatest of meads is closely connected to similar pursuits of Mystery and Ascent. Extremely dedicated to rune-work, he credits it with nothing less than the complete transformation of his life.
After finishing a two-year adventure abroad in Iceland and Norway, where he earned an MA/MPhil in Viking & Medieval Norse Studies, he returned to Iceland, where he earned a PhD in Icelandic Literature. Eirik currently lives in southwestern Pennsylvania, where he enjoys bonfires, fine cigars, and grow walnut trees. However, there’s a good chance he’ll be flying off on another great adventure before too long.
His project, The Skaldic Eagle, is full of poetry and runes with the goal of bringing the mead to Midgard! Throughout his website, you can find literary poems dedicated to the gods in the Anglo-Saxon style of continuous alliterative verse, Asatru and Norse myth within a variety of meters, and even saga-style prose. Some titles include the following:
A Skaldic Eagle Takes Flight
Hanging from a Tree
The Roots of Trees
Building Asgard’s Wall
Call to Thor
The Winds of Reykjavík
The Heart of the Slain
Hallowings 1 – A Selection of Poetic Hallowings
Hallowings 2 – More Poetic Hallowings
The Turning Wheel
If you are interested, many more poems, along with several audio accompaniments, can be found on his website.
