The idea for this book was one of the earliest inspirations I received from the Mead of Poetry. It has been a long road to its completion, and many deserve thanks for their active help with it or for contributing to the conditions that allowed it to grow.
First and foremost, my thanks go to the Hearth of Yggdrasil, to whom this book is dedicated. They supported my development as a poet during its earliest days, and many of the poems in this book were first recited in their rituals or other events. The development of a liturgy must have a religious community as its context, and without the Hearth of Yggdrasil, I might not have had that context, and this book would likely have been quite different.
Next, thanks go to the Rune-Gild, that august initiatory school, which enabled me to make the self-transformation necessary to becoming the skald and scholar that I am today, and whose curriculum lead me to encounter the Mead of Poetry. This book comprises the largest part of my Masterwork with them. Great credit also goes to the East Coast Thing, for the spark via a lore contest that got me started on writing poetry in late 2010, and for the reception it has given to my poetry there in the years afterwards, both in its skaldic competition and outside of it.
Thanks also go to Jesseca Trainham for her wonderful cover art and to Laura Kemmerer for copyediting the text and to Scott Mohnkern for further proofreading. Furthermore, I thank my family for supporting my endeavors over the years, but most especially my mother, Janet Westcoat, for support in publishing this book and my brother, Jeffrey “Sigurd” Westcoat, for offering feedback on many of my poems.
Finally, thanks go to the gods, the Aesir and Vanir, but most especially to Óðinn, Bragi, Kvasir, Víðarr, Freyja, and Thor for their inspiration.