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Words Of The One-Eyed includes my unique interpretation of the Viking Age poem Havamal, and an essay discussing how the wisdom in the text relates to our modern lives.
ANCIENT WISDOM AND MODERN MYTHOLOGY
I’m Paul Begadon, and I help people improve their modern lives by analyzing the old knowledge and ancient wisdom in myths, legends, literature, and stories.
I’m the author of “Unchaining The Titan,” published in 2016, “What Are You Selling?,” published in 2018, “Words Of The One-Eyed,” and “The Layman’s Havamal,” both published in 2021.
In my time, I’ve been a soldier, mechanic, engineer, salesman, author, and publisher. Born in Ireland, in 1989, I’ve spent most of my adult life traveling that land and others, absorbing culture and studying history and folklore. I now live in Dublin with my family.
Like the archetypal Woodkern outlaws after whom this project is named, I find myself drawn to wild places beyond the crumbling borders of industrialized society. This spirit of the mythic and the wild is reflected in my written work and graphic designs.
Click the buttons below to read some of my writing, or check out my books to learn how old knowledge can improve your life today.
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This book is an exploration of the wisdom in the Viking Age poem Havamal, specifically as it relates to the average person who isn’t a scholar of Old Norse or even an enthusiast of Viking culture. This book is for the layman, the average person who simply wants to improve their life using proven advice.
The poem Havamal is earthy, cynical, stoic, and grim in its depiction of human life. Havamal means “The Words of the High One.” The poem’s speaker is none other than Odin, King of the Gods, who has traveled the many worlds seeking power and suffered greatly in his quest. Through suffering, he has won great wisdom, which he shares with us in this poem. Though the speaker of Havamal is a god, it was actually composed by human poets during the Viking and Medieval Ages. Therefore, the text’s advice is not lofty and ethereal, like some other gnomic literature, but very human.
This book will interest people who want to live well in the modern world. The advice given in the poem is specific. For example: keep your eyes open when you enter a gathering because there could be enemies inside. But the wisdom behind the words can be extracted out and applied to more general situations, which is what the author has done for each of Havamal’s 164 verses.
The Layman’s Havamal contains an original rendering of the poem into English and a complete analysis of each verse as it relates to modern life, in a way which is sure to improve your standing in this slippery world.
HERE'S WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF THE LAYMAN'S HAVAMAL
