The following are excerpts from my upcoming book Souls of Flame: Honoring the Fire Etins of the Northern Tradition.  I put them up as a public service in hopes that others can benefit from my experiences and UPG.  As usual all of this is copyrighted by myself and can not be used without my permission.

If you want further elaboration on this I suggest  you buy my book when it comes out.  (Just had to throw in a bit of shameless self-promotion there).

Surt is regarded by most as the enemy of Gods and man, the destroyer of the world who will burn Yggdrasil at Ragnarok after slaying Frey, the most beloved of the Gods who stands against the Lord of Muspelheim unarmed save for an antler. For many reasons He is looked upon as nothing more than a ruthless destroyer, a feared adversary who would not hesitate to take down an unarmed foe, and the bane of the Aesir and of humankind. Yet that is just one of His many faces.

The truth is that Surt is the oldest being in all the Nine Worlds. His origins are shrouded in mystery even to those who are closest to Him, but it is known that He was there at the beginning. He rules Muspelheim, the land of primal fire, one of two worlds whose collision with each other while orbiting the World Tree ultimately led to the creation of the rest of the Nine Worlds and all life that dwells on them. Those who work with Him have come to know Him as the Godfather of the infamous Loki, the one who taught Laufey’s Son the mysteries of fire and was a father to Him when His birth father abandoned Him.

He is also Grandfather to me, and is an invaluable friend and ally to those who have won His friendship. To those who have not, He is someone to be wary of for He does not suffer fools and is merciless with His enemies and those who would harm His family and friends.

I have witnessed and experienced His terrifying presence which demands respect at the very least from those who would be His enemies. I have witnessed and experienced the playful side of His nature, for like all Fire Etins He has a great love of life and embraces the gifts of joy and laughter fully and without inhibitions. I have witnessed and experienced the fierce loyalty He has to those whom He considers friends and family, and have experienced how ferociously protective He can be of such individuals. For a long time after first meeting Him I have come to know a lot about Him and His subjects in the kingdom which He rules, and though I wouldn’t call myself an expert or an authority I do feel I have a good grasp of how to work with these powerful, primal Beings.

The first thing I was stunned by when I first visited Muspelheim at Loki’s behest was how complex the social structure and rules of etiquette are. The Etins of this world have a complicated hierarchy which is not always easy to understand, and the most some will get to understand is that Surt and His bride Sinmora are the Alphas. Most of the time though that is all anyone needs to keep in mind; more important to keep in mind is the rules of behavior.

The Etins of Muspelheim are civilized, which surprises many who think of them as savages or primitive. While it is true that there is some simplicity to how they choose to live and that they can come across as “primitive”…which is only natural, since they are among the oldest races of the Northern Tradition….it is never safe to assume that they live in complete anarchy nor that you should just throw your manners aside and be rude at best, downright offensive at worst. While they do like visitors to be polite and show respect however, they don’t like visitors to be too polite. If you are too polite and well-mannered they see that as a way of putting on airs, and that you must be doing it because you have something to hide. It is very hard to get a good grasp on and it can be hard to find a happy medium between being polite and letting it all hang out, but that’s what they prefer. They prefer a visitor to be themselves and show their true colors. It shows that you trust them, which they don’t get very often. Showing them that you trust them is the first step towards winning their friendship.

Surt more than any of the others is like this in that there is no hiding anything from Him. It is all or nothing with Him, and if you seek to be on His good side you had better be ready to bare your soul to Him. Everything, all the nooks and crannies, all the scars, all the nightmares, all the secret desires, all the dark little things you don’t like to think about and sure as Hel don’t want anyone else finding out. He wants all your tears, all your joys, all your heartache. That was His first lesson to me….fire doesn’t let anything hide. Fire burns all the barriers you impose on yourself, fire makes you bare all. It illuminates everything, especially what you don’t want illuminated. It was a tough lesson for me to learn and as I wept He watched me, wiped the tears from my eyes, and said Now you understand.

That gesture, so fatherly and protective, a loving touch coming from a God who is so feared, whose presence is so imposing, who could burn you to ashes with a look, broke me. I have been proud to call Him Grandfather since.

Some might wander how I can possibly embrace a God who seeks my destruction, and my answer simply is that He doesn’t. Ragnarok is a prophecy and no one in the Nine Worlds wants it to be more than a prophecy, even Surt. If it does come He is ready to fulfill His role of burning away the dead wood to make way for the new world that is to arise from the ashes of the battle between the Jotnar and Aesir, but He does not wish for everything to be destroyed, nor is it anything personal against anyone. He simply has a role to fulfill…He was there at the beginning, so it is only fitting that He should bring about the end. Perhaps a well-deserved end, if we do not get our act together.

See the thing is that while the Black One has nothing blatantly against humankind, He is also not entirely happy with us either. Since He is so old He remembers a time when humans respected and even revered the primal forces of nature, when they held such forces in awe and wonder and appeased them by treating the natural world with respect, even reverence. Then came a time when we stopped doing that. We stopped respecting the natural world and decided that it existed solely for our benefit, for we are the lords of the Earth and the plants, animals, oceans, and land are there to serve us, and we have been abusive masters. We have killed off entire species, we are destroying the oceans, raping the land. We are killing the planet, and ourselves, out of our hubris and because we left the old ways and old ideas behind.

And Surt the Black sees this, has been watching this for a long time. And He is not happy. So although He never wants to see things come to it, He stands with His fiery sword ready to cut us down, like the blade that cuts the weed choking the flower and preventing it from blossoming.

He has been more than patient with us, even if most of us have been ungrateful, cursing His name and refusing to acknowledge Him as the God in His own right that He is. He has been more than patient, like a father shaking his head at erring children.

Surt’s lesson is about respect more than anything else…respect for the world around you, respect for others, and most of all respect for yourself. It has been said by a lot of people devoted to Loki, myself included, that though Loki will not hesitate to crack jokes at your expense and treat you to a barrage of cutting insults, He won’t hear those who He considers friends cut down on themselves. It’s one of the main things that will anger Him in a heartbeat. Well, I can tell you He gets that from His Godfather. Surt has not allowed me to wallow in self-pity when things go wrong, has not allowed me to indulge in self-flagellation or self-hatred. He won’t have it. He’s fine with humility, but He doesn’t want to hear “I don’t know why You bother with me, I’m not important”. The only time I said that I was treated to a glare I never, ever want to receive again. So I have been careful.

Surt’s lessons in humility were well-taught since He Himself is surprisingly a humble God. It was a year before I was allowed to set up an altar to Him and even then His grudging permission was accompanied by Nothing fancy, please. He considers postering and putting yourself on a pedestal an (at the risk of being offensive) Aesir trait, and won’t have it. That might sound strange for a fire giant, but the truth is that when they approach an intruder their presence is already so imposing and terrifying that they don’t need to poster. Surt’s distaste with haughtiness was passed down to Loki, who is excellent at knocking such individuals on their asses.

Gratitude was another lesson I got to learn at His behest, and at His orders I do a yearly fast to remind myself that I have it better than those who go without food not by choice, and thus it is a lesson to always be grateful for what I have. Surt can’t stand whining, and He can’t stand obsession with material possessions or ungratefulness. So I go through my fast gladly, because I have begun to internalize that attitude. I have realized that no matter how shitty my life gets, it can be worse. I have a roof over my head. I have food on the table and in my cupboards, I have friends and family, and I have love. Those things I have learned to appreciate more and more, and appreciation goes hand in hand with respect.

He also taught me to let go and burn away old grudges and wounds. Holding on is not the way of the path of Fire, He told me. In too many sessions to count I was forced to relive old hurts, old angers, and old pains to their very fullest and then feed them to the flames to watch them burn as I danced for joy that I was free of those burdens. Holding on to such keeps a person from living life to the fullest and embracing the pleasures of the world, something which the Gods of Primal Fire frown upon. Their lust for life and the joy they find in everything is contagious and they are good for anyone who needs to rekindle that spark of life.

More than anything I have had to allow myself to feel, and feel deeply. I have shed more tears thanks to Surt than any other Deity, even my patron Loki. They were not all tears of sadness or pain either…most of them have been tears of just pure emotion, of all of my feelings good and bad being brought up to the surface just by Surt’s mere presence. Maybe His presence is just that powerful, maybe it’s because of my ties to Him, but Surt drives me to wear my feelings on my sleeve. Not an easy accomplishment for someone who usually keeps them bottled up, but that has had to change.

I have seen Him touched. I have seen Him amused. I have seen Him angered, and at His deadliest. He has helped me find respect for myself, He has helped me purge and cleanse, He has helped me learn how to feel, and He has helped me learn to embrace life and find my inner fire.

The trip to see Glut and Her Daughters was almost an impulsive on-the-fly thing. All day I had been receiving little taps and pokes and didn’t know where they were coming from. I knew they were from a fire Deity. They just had that feel to them, the one I can easily discern from working with Surt and His kin for long damn long so often. Then that night I had another “tutoring” session with Frija and She informed me that afterwards I would be answering the summons to see Glut and Her Daughters. Ahhh…

I went towards Jotunheim after I got through with my lesson, which had been very intense so I was already tired, and made my way into the Iron Wood. Since I had been there only a short time ago and am on friendly terms with the Hagia I went in without a problem although I was still sniffed at and scrutinized somewhat. Still they recognized me so I was allowed on my way over to where Loki’s ex lived with His current Wife Angrboda. The Hagia as usual greeted me with a bone-crushing hug which knocked the wind out of me and didn’t help matters where my fatigue was concerned and then looked at me shaking Her head. She commented that I really should come see Her more often and when I’m ready to learn some real magic and not the crap the Vanadis has been teaching me to let Her know. This made me choke and sputter a bit but She just laughed and let me into Her hall.

It was as usual a bit dim inside with hard floors covered by fur carpets, fur throws on all the wood furniture, and a roaring fire in the fireplace. I went through a small labyrinth of rooms before I ran across a red-haired fair skin Jotun dressed in what looked to me like some kind of buckskin outfit. She smiled and introduced Herself as Glut and it was then I noticed Her Daughters were there was well. The Twins were both red-haired and fair, just like Their parents, and indeed were almost indistinguishable from Their Mother. The fact that Glut seems to like to appear as a young woman about Their age added to the confusion and sense of seeing triple.

She motioned for me to sit and asked me what I wanted from Them. I told Her about the book that I’m working on and wanted to meet Them in order to do Them justice and truly honor Them in my writings for it. She seemed pleased and flattered as did the Twins and told me in that case to get settled. I did and taking turns They spoke to me.

My name means Glow Glut said as Her eyes shimmered with a bit of gold and red And that is what I am. I am the glow of the flame, the radiance that keeps you warm and comforted, the glow that provides the light and illumination that provides hope and succor in the darkness. I am the glow of love that wraps around you and warms your heart. I am also the illuminating light that shines into the shadows to reveal what is hidden. I uncover hidden truths, but gently so. I am not as forward as my ex-Husband nor do I have His way with words, but I can be subtle. So if you have truths you do not want revealed best to avoid my glow. But you can hold onto it when you need that hope and comfort it provides.

Einmyria’s turn. I am Ashes. Ashes can be clouding, obscuring, choking when throw up into the air, when stirred to the point of chaos. They can dampen out the light, that glow My Mother provides, and slowly suffocate life. But when they settle onto the ground they become rich earth that is fertile and can provide nourishment for crops. Ashes are left over when things are burned away, such as bad memories, old hurts, old angers…those can be destructive if continually stirred by dwelling on them. But allowed to settle they become a source for new things to grow, such as understanding, forgiveness, and compassion. Out of the ashes new more positive things can arise. And that’s when My Mother’s glow comes through and helps to nourish those things that grow out.

Now Eisa. I am the Embers. I am the source of the glow and the ashes. I am the spark of flame, the glowing coal that burns long after the last lick of flame dies out, the part of the fire that burns the longest and hottest. I am the steadily burning ashes and glow that provides the greatest heat, the greatest warmth. Men use me to cook their food and keep their fires alive. That is what I do. Even when the flames are no longer roaring, even when it seems that there is no spark left, I am there hidden among the ashes steadily burning, providing that one last seed of hope that the fire will come alive again. And when the ashes are brushed away to reveal Me that is when My Mother’s glow comes forth again, radiating from Me.

Then They spoke, all three of Them in unison. That is what They do. They all work together. Their domains over different aspects of fire are interrelated and you just can’t have one of Them without the other two, or even two without the third. It doesn’t work. We work together. Together We are the aspects of the flame that people tend to overlook. So many see fire as a roaring, wild, all-consuming power. It is not always like that however and We are the aspects of fire, the mystery of the flame that are a bit less impressive but no less vital, and indeed more enduring and subtle. But for all that we are subtle, do not underestimate us nor dismiss our lessons. Come to us again and learn.

After awhile I said my goodbyes and thanked all three of them who smiled brightly and reiterated that I was welcome back anytime. I left and went back to consciousness in the mundane world feeling that now I had a better understanding of Glut and Her Daughters.

There is some confusion about Them in the Northern Tradition. The lore says that Glut is actually Logi’s wife and Eisa and Enmyria His daughters. Many people have the UPG to confirm it for them. Then you get the crowd that says it’s Loki who is their Husband and Father respectively. Actually according to a widely established UPG that I share, both camps are right. There was a Glut that was married to Logi and They had the Twin daughters. The Glut married to Loki is a descendant of that Family, and She named Her Daughters for the Daughters of Her namesake. I’m not sure what happened to the original Glut, Eisa, and Enmyria. I’m not sure I want to know, and am really not up to asking Logi anytime in the future.

Either way I hope to do all of Them honor.