An old religion is reemerging in Iceland. A wire report said that a major temple to the Norse gods is being built, the first one since the Vikings were in power about 1,000 years ago. It will be circular, with a dome for sunlight, on a hill with a view to Reykjavik.

It will be a place for traditional religious ceremonies such as weddings and funerals, but I expect they’ll be adapted for the 21st century; Iceland’s neopagans already celebrate a sacrificial ritual, Blot, without the animal sacrifice, the report said.

I don’t know if there will be weekly temple services for the nation’s 2,400 members of Asatruarfelagid, the religious association for Odin-worshipers. That’s less than 1 percent of Iceland’s population, but three times the number of followers 10 years ago, and interestingly, the claim is that it’s Iceland’s second-largest religion, after Christianity.

With this Viking revival, my thoughts went to the movies, with the pantheon that includes the gods Thor and Loki becoming special-effects driven Hollywood superheros.

My thoughts went to a Facebook meme that some would consider blasphemous, thanking Odin, the chief Norse god, for ridding the world of ice giants while some presently practiced faiths make promises that haven’t come to pass.

My thoughts went to a folk song about the many gods of world religions throughout history, the song’s point being there’s a lot that the many religions have in common.

With all of that, I see that the Norse pagan religion never actually went away. It got shifted over to mythology, alongside the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and many dismissed deities, and woven into Western consciousness. Is mythology where religions go to die, when they’e appreciated as stories rather than supernatural influences on people and nature? Or is that when they find greater truth, as stories with wide appeal, stripped of the limitations of a particular faith tradition?

The high priest of the Norse faith in Iceland, Hilma Orn Hilmarsson, was quoted, “I don’t believe anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,” Odin. He instead spoke of story, saying, “We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology.”

Reviving a religion that’s been moved to mythology is almost impossible if reinstituting its rejected ways is the aim. Adapting it to modern life, however, is different.

Putting the emphasis on story makes the religion approachable, places it on a human level. It brings in the sacredness of our sharing one to another, and shows our fondness for tales of inspiration, adventure, and love. It’s the common practice of talking and listening, of education and entertainment.

Sacred story time easily goes beyond traditional scripture.

May the religious seekers who find their way to the Viking revival have comfort in the tales of these figures called gods. May the literature help them in this world in which it’s nearly impossible to comprehend, much less manage, the forces of nature and human psychology. And, please, may the ice giants stay away.

First Published February 7, 2015, 5:00 a.m.