Blog

The Winning of the Mead

Myths are like dreams; they fascinate us but their ultimate meaning eludes us.  Different theories and interpretations can shed light on parts of a myth, or even cast a diffuse, faint glow over it all but a myth can never be fully illumined.  It always retains some of its mystery, a mystery that is not lessened by examination but rather makes it the more intriguing by seeing the depth and complexity of its spiritual, psychological and cultural facets.  Let us look at one of the most important of the Norse myths; Othinn’s taking of the Mead of Inspiration.

The knowledge-wisdom contained in the mead undergoes three births: firstly, when Kvasir arises from the cauldron into which all the gods have spat; he then dies, at the hands of the dwarves Fjalar and Galar and the knowledge is reborn as the mead. … Read more

All

How came I here, to this place, on this night, first of nine?
Rough bark grazes my skin; I reach for the ash pole, shaft of the blood fish.
The wound worm bites, I bleed; my gift to the soil falls as warm rain in this chill
While the rope holds, binds and burns with its need to contain me.
Stripped bare, hanging, moved by the breeze I am all that I ever was and will be.
My up is down, down up; sound and colour blend as I sway in this night become day.
I watch each leaf shake and tremble as they dance to the wind, every colour and hue.
… Read more

Musings

A journey begins, the price is paid, destination unknown the plans are laid

How far shall I travel no Wight portends, what will I find on this road without end?

First comes the Fee, bright coins glowing
Sheep in the fold, cattle lowing.
Concealed in my pocket I carry my wealth
From those that would have it and trouble my health.
Men become dragons, treasures are hidden,
Jealously hoarding a sparkling midden.
Have just enough that your kin want for nought,
Value the worth of the things that it bought.
Too much of anything brings anger and strife
But a man’s modest wealth is a boon to his life.
… Read more

Wellspring

In the early part of the last third of the last century, a curious thing came to pass. Like the sap rising in a tree in the springtime of the seasons, the Old Gods felt the same rising as need fire amongst the folk, on all sides of the Atlantic Ocean and all at the very same time, seeking the mysteries of their ancestral heritage.

And so it was once again that a great Wellspring came into being, and from this Wellspring issued forth many more streams. Now this ground was frozen and they found it was very hard, cold and restrictive, almost impenetrable and strewn with rocks, stones, and all manner of hindrance and obstruction.
… Read more

The Wild Hunt

One of the most awesome and terrifying images in Germanic legend is the Wild Hunt. Known throughout Germany, England, Switzerland and in Scandinavia, where they were known as Oskoreia or Juleskreia, this troop of riders, galloping through the night sky, is traditionally led by Wodan or Woden (although some Hunts are led by ancient heroes and even by female entities such as Frau Hulda and Perchta). The Hunt is usually seen at the time of important festivals, most noticeably Yule, where the Hunt is conflated with the wild winter winds. I think that part of the enduring, and now legendary, power of the Wild Hunt lies in it originally being enacted at festivals like Yule by troops of masked young men riding through the country lanes to villages, where they would race down the streets.… Read more

Ragnarök

The Norse mythological cycle is brought to a close with the Ragnarök, a cataclysmic and catastrophic narrative where a host of frost giants, fire ogres, troll wives, monsters and legions of the dead invade Asgarð and close battle with the gods and einherjar in what will be the latter’s heroic last stand.

The greatest treatment of these themes is given in the Eddic poem Völuspá. Its treatment is allusive, assuming the knowledge of its audience, kaleidoscoping events, giving greater pace and allowing time to speak of the causes of the gods’ day of reckoning.

The consequences of two events, actions laid down long ago, which cause the disaster, bringing it to pass, the gods have brought upon themselves: Oðinn, Vili and Ve’s slaying of their matrilineal kinsman Ymir, and the breaking of the gods’ vow to the giant builder of Asgarð’s wall; as Völuspá.… Read more

Alfar ok Dvergar

In Heathen Germanic culture, are elves and dwarves one and the same race of beings? They are clearly closely associated. Many dwarves have an ‘elf’ element to their names; Voluspa’s verse 12 lists Gandalfr (Wand-elf) and Vindalfr (Wind-elf) and in verse 16, one dwarf is simply named Alfr. Elves and dwarves are also seen together as the bearers of illness, as evidenced by the third and seventh Anglo-Saxon verse charms, ‘Against a Dwarf’ and ‘For the Water-elf Disease’ (as to what a ‘water-elf’ actually was, I will return to this later). – Anglo-Saxon Verse Charms, Maxims and Heroic Legends, Louis J.… Read more

Groagaldr

The text of Grougaldr, ‘Groa’s Incantation’, and its partner text, Fjolvinnsmal, ‘Fjolvinn’s Speech’ (together known as Svipdagsmal), has come down to us in texts dating from the C17th. 

Bridal Quest romances became popular in Scandinavia in the early Middle Ages and it seems to me that here an older myth has been reworked in a more fashionable guise.  (This can be compared to the sagas of the warrior poets, such as The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-tongue, where the older themes of heroism met the new, European themes of romantic love.)  A clear indication of this is seen when Menglath, in her penultimate stanza, says ‘ath thu ert aftr kominn mogr til minna sala’ – ‘that you are returned to my hall’, implying he has already been there before. … Read more

An Odian Cosmogony

The question of the origin of the Universe can be approached analytically or empirically, but in constructing an Odian cosmogony we need to consider how an individual who works within the Northern Tradition understands the emergence of the manifest Universe.

The process of the Universe coming into being as traditionally understood is described in chapters 4 to 19 of the Eddic text, ‘Gylfaginning’. The latent order suggested by the origin myth of the Universe within the traditional sources is one in which polar extremes determine the limits of being and acts of creation occur when the two extremes encounter each other.… Read more

Podcast Episode 2: Practical Magic

The second episode dives into the topic of practical Magic in all its shapes and forms.