...Of lending money on interest and increasing it by compound interest they [the Germanics] know nothing, - a more effectual safeguard than if it were prohibited.

-Tacitus, Germania. Ch. 26

Sunna by John Michael Rysbrack. I took this photo of Sunna at the V&A museum in London. Sunna is depicted here as a male personification of the sun, not the Anglo-Saxon goddess we all know. Rysbrack’s source for his work were the engravings of Richard Verstegan (1550-1640).

Abbot Ælfric of Eynsham’s homily provides insights into Anglo Saxon land wight worship, plantlore, and healing.

In it, he says no Christian man should “fetch his health from any stone nor tree”, referring to land wights.

He said it isn’t perilous to eat medicinal herbs, so long as it’s not “enchanted with magic” but rather God’s words, which likely refers to metrical charms such as the Nine Herbs Charm, imbuing already medicinal herbs with spiritual properties.

He also condemns “binding” herbs on oneself; referring to amulets containing herbs with medicinal uses and religious significance. Herbal amulets, carrying herbs to keep evil spirits and illness away, are mentioned in Bald’s Leechbook and the Lacnunga.

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There were many different terms used to describe those who used herbs in their magic or for healing, including the term 'Wyrtgælstre' which appears in an Old English text from around 1050 and was used to describe a woman who chanted over herbs.

The light thou beholdest
Stream through the heavens,
In flashes of crimson,
Is but my red beard
Blown by the night-wind,
Affrighting the nations!

Lines from The Challenge of Thor by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The photo is of 'red sprites' (or transient luminous events) which can occur during thunderstorms. I think Thunor's Beard is a fitting name for this phenomenon.

In the entire Sutton Hoo find, there is
one exception to the use of gold foils with cloisonné garnets: the helmet. The 23 garnets of the proper right eyebrow are all backed with foils, but the 25 garnets of the left eyebrow are not...

The effect is replicated on the face of the animal above his brows. When seen indoors by the flickering light of the fire, the wearer of the Sutton Hoo helmet was one-eyed.

Text from An Eye for Odin? Paul Mortimer, Neil Price

Woden linoprints by Hāmasson

Another ink drawing of Woden by Hāmasson. My first Woden drawing here.

Carl Emil Doepler believed Scēafa to be a name of Ing. In Beowulf, the legendary progenitor of the Danish royal line, Scyld (/Skjöldr) is called Scēfing; son of Scēf, and the Anglo Saxon Rune Poem describes Ing as first seen among the East Danes.
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“Ing was first seen by men among the East-Danes, 
till, followed by his chariot,
he departed eastwards over the waves.
So the Heardingas named the hero.”
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“Ing wæs ærest mid East-Denum
gesewen secgun, oþ he siððan est
ofer wæg gewat; wæn æfter ran;
ðus Heardingas ðone hæle nemdun.”
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Yet we have a lady, who is high and mighty, high she is and holy, therefore courtiers love her—she is named Frea.

…To Frea, their lady, they gave her Friday.

Lines from the poem Layamon's Brut (ca. 1190 - 1215) also called The Chronicle of Britain.

Whittled wooden Woden weohs!

Small Woden carvings with pyrographed faces. I made these to be offerings to the fire, or to be left at sacred sites.

Tolkien had Woden in mind when he created Gandalf. In a letter to Sir Stanley Unwin in 1946 he discussed the subject of the German edition of The Hobbit and described his idea of Gandalf as being an Odinic Wanderer.

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us"

Remembering JRR Tolkien,
3rd January 1892 - 2nd September 1973.

image source

Your fate is woven,
Your life-thread is spun.
Your wyrd is a song-
That will now be sung.
By Urd, who knows;
How your path begun.
By Verðandi, who chooses;
How your worth is won.
By Skuld who decides,
How your death will come.

poem by Hāmasson

Sunday (7th September) is the full moon, it’s also a Blood moon, turning red due to a lunar eclipse starting at18.30 for us in England to see.

Given all the current events in England at the moment, this could well be seen as an omen but we should consider September was once our ninth and sacred month, Haliġmōnaþ or Holy Month. Lets hope the blood moon symbolises the birth of newer and greater things to come.

As with every full moon, my family hearth give thanks to our gods and ancestors, this month we will be performing our rites during the eclipse. Hāl the Awaking English Spirit and the stirring White Dragon. Hāl Englaland!

Moon over Thor’s Hill last night.

Anglo-Saxon era stone carved fylfot pattern from Breedon on the Hill, Leicestershire.

Some sources claim the word fylfot means 'four footed' but this is debatable. Here the prefix fyl- is said to be a corruption of fēower, OE for ‘four’. Other suggestions are that it means 'filler' (page filler) from OE fyllan and ‘foot’ due to the symbol being a decorative design used to fill the foot of written documents. Either way, the fylfot is a symbol of Woden for many English heathens.

Interesting horned Green Man from a church in Garwick, near the Welsh border. Thought to be based on Cernunnos, which would cement Him as a god of nature and fertility; could also be based on Woden giving the breath of life. ᚩ