About

Who I am

Mathias holds a PhD in Old Norse mythology and has a general background in Nordic literature and languages including Old Norse, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic. He teaches Nordic and Arctic cultural studies at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Here, he offers courses on Old Norse mythology, the Viking Age, Scandinavian witchcraft, and Arctic cultures.

He is a published author of both academic and popular books, and he is the host of the podcast The Sacred Flame. Before he created The Sacred Flame, he was the co-host of the Nordic Mythology Podcast with Daniel Farrand of the company Horns of Odin.

Mathias has worked on a number of projects with musicians, music festivals, and media producers. He has worked with the bands Wardruna, Faun, and Nebala, the festivals Midgardsblot (Norway) and Fire in the Mountains (Wyoming), and he has contributed to WIRED’s Each and Every God in Marvel and PBS’s Luna and the World (Let’s Go Luna).

He has authored the academic book Volcanoes in Old Norse Mythology, a popular book on Nordic spirituality titled Ásatrú for Beginners, and the children’s book Norse Mythology for Kids. He is currently working on the book Ásatrú Music: The Sound of Nordic Antiquity with assistant professor Ross Hagen of Utah Valley University (USA). When Mathias isn’t writing books, he does freelance writing for, among others, Cvlt Nation.

Consulting

Are you looking for a good consultant and/or concept developer for your film-, TV-, music-, literature-, or game project? I can help you with that!

I’ll dig out the right material from historical Nordic literature or archaeology to fit your purpose. I’ll consult the most recent research on a subject about the Nordic past, provide scholarly analysis and interpretation, and brainstorm with you to make it fit into your vision.

Translating

Does your project need translation into Old Norse, Proto-Nordic, Old English, the modern Scandinavian languages, or perhaps transliteration into runes? We can talk about that too.

Text writing

Do you need assistance with a writing project? Lyrics for music, manuscript writing, online content, editing, and other kinds of processing of a large amount of text are one of my specialties!

Ensuring Quality

Unfortunately, there is a long-standing tradition among white supremacists to appropriate Nordic history and culture and use symbols from the Nordic region to promote their political agenda. This can make it difficult to navigate the information about Nordic culture that is available both online and in books. I have the necessary insight into the history of white supremacist appropriations of Old Norse mythology, runes, and other aspects of Nordic culture to help you avoid that.

Click the links below to find out more about me.