A leed (poem) I wrote in Anglish playing around with skaldic speech. In it, Woden brings a man back from death to question him about what death is like for those that are tired of life, those that fear death, and those that accept and even risk death for the chance of a better life. I wrote it in a similar form to the Old Norse ljóðaháttr verseform.

"Galder galed ¹
the gallows' Lord
as the lich ² He sung from sleep.
Runes He raist ³
to read the lips
of the man there cold as clay.

The man then moved
to meet the one
that sung him from his sleep.
'Who hails me?
Who bears me
from Hel's halfhearted care?'

'Tis Waytame, me,
that welcomes thee
to the land of living men.
For runes and rede
to raise from thee
I dragged thee from the dead.

I raised thee up
to understand
what wisdom have the dead.
Now answer me
what I ask of thee:
what awaits all wayworn men?'

'Tis bitter cold
and blinding dark
on the winding way to Hel.
No sweetness waits,
nor sleep's embossom, ⁴
in the dreary hall of Hel.'

'I raised thee up
to understand
what wisdom have the dead.
Now answer me
what I ask of thee:
what awaits those death do dread?'

'Hel's cold will
awaits all things,
this the earg ⁵ shall share.
She sees not place
nor purse's weight
but kills without a care.'

'I raised thee up
to understand
what wisdom have the dead.
Now answer me
what I ask of thee:
what awaits those death would dare?'

The dead man faltered,
meeting the eye
of the wight that 'Waytame' hight.
'Thou know it well
great on'eyed one
I see Ygg within thine eye.

Deathlessness wins
the one dares death,
for he knows what thou too know.
He lives full well
with wisdom won,
Yggs eye he gladly holds.
Deeply spake the dead,
now sink I back to sleep.' "

¹ galed = "chanted, sang spells"
² lich = "corpse"
³ raist = "carved, scored"
⁴ embossom = "embrace"
⁵ earg = "coward, man without honor, complete outcast"

ᚻægl bẏþ hƿitust corna;
hƿẏrft hit of heofones lẏfte,
ƿealcaþ hit ƿindes scura;
ƿeorþeþ hit to ƿætere sẏððan.

Hail is the whitest of grain;
it is whirled from the vault of heaven
and is tossed about by gusts of wind
and then it melts into water.

The OE 'g' was pronounced more like a 'y', so the rune name hægl probably sounded like hay-l or hail.

Wayland’s Smithy appears to be central in what can only be described as Welandes landscape. Just a few miles north of the long barrow was once a mound recorded in the Woolstone (village) charter as Beadhildæ byrigels meaning Beadhildæ’s barrow (now lost to ploughing) which served as a boundary marker between Woolstone and Compton Beauchamp. Weland had kidnapped Beadhildæ whilst in the form of an Eagle to avenge his imprisonment by Beadhildæ’s father.

A 10th century charter from Compton Beauchamp names another local mound as 'Hwittuces hlæw' which locally became associated with Widia or ‘Widia’s Low’ (Widia’s burial mound). Widia was the son of Weland and Beadhildæ, whilst the Idlebush Barrow, which in the Woolstone charter was recorded as Weardæs beorh was once connected with Wade, Weland’s father. (Based on the work of author Leslie Grinsell).

In the Norse myths, Thunor receives his power or mana from the earth, this energy is called ‘jarðarmegin’ or earth power. In Julich, in the lower Rhineland, there are three innoscriptions to the matres (mothers) which mention Ferhui (life-power); the innoscriptions read 'Ala-ferhui-ae' and is meant to mean 'those who give complete life-power'.

In OE we find a cognate to ferhui in ferh (also spelt feorh and feorg) from the Proto-Germanic ferhuz meaning body, life and oak-tree - the oak being Thunor’s tree. Ferh / Feorg may even be connected to the OE Fyrgen who is Thunor’s mother, an aspect of Eorþe and the source of his power.

art - Thor Raises His Hammer by Arthur Rackham

These three Anglo-Saxon coins all bear a face believed to be of Woden (often called Woden Head coins). Interestingly they all (as do many AS coins) include the symbol of an equal armed cross with dots on each end. I wonder if it represents a constellation?

Anglo Saxon coins were called sceats or sceatta – a word that comes from the proto West Germanic *skatt which meant both treasure and cattle, a concept found within the Feoh / Fehu rune.

The three Iceni coins pictured above all contain a wolf. Above the wolf on the first coin is a symbol very similar to the crosses found on ‘Woden Head’ coins whilst the style of wolf on the second and third coin is referred to as the Norfolk Wolf. In the neighbouring county of Suffolk is the village Freckenham, which means home (-ham) of the Wolf Warriors, where Frec is cognate with Freki. Interestingly, a study of Iceni coins by John A. Davies shows that the majority of words found Iceni coins are West Germanic.

These three coins found near Ribe in Denmark all contain Wodenic symbols, including a snake, valknut, the face of Woden and in the centre of each coin a deer. In OE the High Deer or Heahdeor was a symbol of Anglo-Saxon royalty. Heah meant tall, high, proud or exalted and is cognate with Hár – a byname used by Woden.

Interesting post above. Pictured here is a herb called milkwort, the English name comes from the historical use of the plant by nursing mothers to increase milk flow. In Scandinavia milkwort was also called Freya’s Hair and in English lore we find it called Frigg’s Hair.

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Make sure you don’t miss them.

This Anglo-Saxon gold bracteate was found in 2010, in Scalford Leicestershire. It shows a figure drinking from a horn.

The OE month which fell around August was called Wēodmōnaþ or Ƿēodmōnaþ ‘weed month’. It’s also the month the grain harvest was bought in from the fields. So big was this task that everyone including children would help bring the harvest in, which is why in England the school holidays fall in August.

The celebration of Hlafmæsse or Loaf-Mass fell on the 1st August, known today as Lammas. The word ‘lord’ comes from hlāford or hlāfweard meaning loaf-guardian. The word ‘lady’ comes from hlǣfdīġe or the loaf-kneader and finally the servant, who was the hlāf-ǣta or loaf eater.

Many authors, including the respected Kathleen Herbert suggest the English folk-figure John Barleycorn is an aspect of the Anglo Saxon god Bēowa, also known as Bēow, Beo or Bedwig. Bēowa, the barley god is a servant of Frēa. His death, as sung in the song ‘John Barleycorn must die’ is the reaping of the harvest. Hāl wes þū, Bēowa!

There was three men came out of the west,
Their fortunes for to try,
And these three men made a solemn vow,
John Barleycorn should die.
They ploughed, they sowed, they harrowed him in,
Throwed clods upon his head,
And these three man made a solemn vow,
John Barleycorn was dead.

One of Odin’s names that is often posted about is Þundr. Jackson Crawford translates the name as meaning ‘stretched’ from the verb þenja. However Stephen Pollington translates Þundr as ‘swollen’ which is more likely. There’s an OE cognate in the word þindan ‘to swell’. The name is found in the term ‘Þundr oc Uðr’ or the ‘Swell and Wave’ and is suggested that the name refers to Odin swelling the stormy sea.

Hétumk Grímr, hétumk Gangleri,
Herjann ok Hjalmberi,
Þekkr ok Þriði,
Þundr ok Uðr, Herblindi ok Hár.

Funny enough, Þundr is the name I've lately been working on for my book. I believe Hjalmar Faulk was the first to suggest the name was connected to OE þindan and that word is connected at its root to the suggested ON þenja. The connotation of both leads to a sense of "that which moves upwards/outwards, seemingly grows in size" and the connection to Uðr as "Swelling One and Waves" would be quite fitting. We see the two nearby in the Óðins Nǫfn thula as well and if you read my past posts on the thula you will know that the names listed are all connected in meaning. The verse the names are in runs,

"...Þekkr, Þuðr, Ómi,
Þundr ok Ófnir,
Uðr, Jólnir, Vakr,..."


"Obedient One, Thin One, Resounding One,
The One that Stretched Forth/Swelled, and Swaying One,
Sea and Fate, Yuler, Watchful, "

Some of the names seem to suggest connections to His initiation. Þekkr denotes "one that is obedient, beloved" and can easily be tied into the obedience given by the student to his teacher; Þuðr means "thin" and in later context is used to refer to one thin from fasting as He did during His ordeal; Ómi could possibly be connected to His "screaming" as He took up the runes; Ófnir can mean "swaying one" and "slithering one," but within this verse it makes more sense to consider it as the former considering His swaying upon the World Tree.

Among these names, it would make sense for Þundr to refer to His "stretching out" to take wisdom, but could also be seen as His "swelling" upon gaining the wisdom. Both meanings hold true.

In a past post and my substack article, I suggested that there was a deeper connotation to Uðr, which was "that which rolls on like waves > fate." The last part of the verse quoted above shows names which I believe tie into that connection to fate as the foundational layer which orders all. Jólnir means "Yuler" and when one considers the method of time telling which saw darkness as the beginning (night marked the beginning of a new day) it makes sense that Yule (the darkest time of year) would be considered the "beginning" of the year or even of time itself, and indeed all of our information points to it as marking the turning point from one year to the next. The last name, Vakr means "Watchful" and I believe it ties in with the other names to give the three the following meaning:

Fate laid down - Yule which puts Fate into action - Watchful is that Fate which governs all.

Thunor is the thunderer, but it’s possible Woden once held this role before passing it on to his son. Some of Woden’s bynames are rooted around the name Grim. In the Grímnismál he takes the name Grímnir meaning ‘masked one’, the OE Grîma meant the same. These names come from the Proto-Germanic *grimmį̄ which meant ‘anger or wrath’ and probably referred to the darkening clouds that mask or cloaked the sky prior to a thunder storm. The PIE root *gʰrem- (which gives us the Germanic *grimmį̄) actually meant ‘to thunder’.