In rural Essex getting footage for another video that I can't wait to get working on. It was such a privilege to gain access to this special church that is normally permanently locked.

Hael Woden!

The Raven was also associated with the Wælcyrge (Valkyrie). One Old English name for the Raven was Wælceásiga, which like Wælcyrge meant 'Chooser of the Slaine'.

Perhaps the reason our ancestors used lakes to deposit their offerings to the gods was the water mirrored the world creating an image of the otherworld?

The OE word libban or lybban meant to exist or live. Also spelt lifgan, we can see the connection with the word life. From the same root was the word lybb, which meant a drug, herb or charm. The OE Lybbestre was a female healer, skilled in herbalism (OE lybcræf).

The Cheddar Brooch, displayed at the Somerset Museam in Taunton.

I was excited to see this for two reasons; one being that it's from the Anglo-Saxon period, and the other being that it was discovered in one of my favourite places in the county (and the world for that matter) Cheddar!

I highly recommend the Somerset Museam. Full of amazing artifacts, and it's free entry!

A desire to transcend the home of man conflicts with the natural worldview of our ancestors and divine declaration. Our world was shaped for man. Do not fear your death, but savor your life.

Fire is a living entity. It feeds, it grows, it needs to breathe or it dies out. Words connected with breathing often come from the same root as words meaning to be alive or have a soul. Spirit and Respire for example – both coming from the root (s)peys- meaning ‘to blow’.

Woden blew life into Ash and Embla, giving them spirit – in the same way blowing into hot Ash and Embers can reignite a flame.

Lêodrûne was an OE name for a sorceress or pythoness, a chanting-witch who sang secret rites and enchantments. Lêoð meant song or charm – which is cognate with the word Lied (modern German for song) and the English word 'lay' or poem. The word rûne (or rune) was a secret. Her craft was lêoðcræftig or being skilled in chanting.

The chanting of song or magic spells would infuse an object with magic. The word 'spell' itself meant to talk or speak – from the Old English 'spellian' and is why we still 'spell' words. The witch became the enchanter and her spell the enchantment. The French word charm also had the same meaning, to recite or cast a magic spell and evolved into modern English word charming.

The darkness of night was when the woodland filled with spirits and otherworldly beings. But, there were those who didn’t fear the darkness! The OE nihtwæcce was a name used to describe a night-witch. The nihtgenga (male) was a night−goer, whilst the nihtgenge (female) was a night−prowler. Finally a name some may recognise, the sceadugenga, the OE word for someone who wandered the darkness.

The Swabian (Suebian) tribe who gave their name to the side-knotted hair style – the Suebian knot, were also amongst the Germanic tribes who settled in England. Amongst the East Saxons kings, the names Swæfred and Swæfbert were rooted in Swæf, the English spelling of Swab. The Swabians also gave their name to the English towns of Swaffham (Norfolk) and Swavesey (Cambridgeshire).

The spider spinning a web and the Wyrd Sisters weaving our fate – it's easy to see how some superstitions regarding spiders invoke luck or involve fate – or even foretell a gift of clothing!

The words 'spider' and 'spinner' both come from the same root - *(s)pen – 'to spin' and the words 'web' and 'weave' also share the same origin - *(h)uebh- 'to weave'. So its no wonder how the two overlap.

But there is another element to the web – another beast who has eight legs! Sleipnir! Fathered by Loga (Loki) as Loki himself has a connection with the spider. According to Hilding Celander, writing in 1911, the name Locke meant 'spider'. This may be the meaning behind the name Loki.

The Faroese word Lokkanet (Lokke's web) meant cobweb, just as the Swedish word lokkanät does, from the Germanic root word *luk meaning locked, looped or knotted. Loki the tangler indeed.

I'm curious about Pagans who talk about 'winning'. I suspect they would elaborate by saying that they want Paganism to become the dominant religion. Dominant where? Nationally? Among their ethnic kin exclusively? Globally?

And which Paganism, exactly, should 'win'? Germanic? Celtic? Hellenistic? Should Icelandic Heathenry 'win', or should Anglo-Saxon? Mercian or Bernician?

It seems to me that to talk of Paganism 'winning' is to treat it like a political movement rather than an indigenous way of life. The aforementioned are merely questions; my real point is this...

Any 'winning' that comes by the indiscriminate use of technology is of the material kind. For a political movement, that might be okay. But for a religion/indigenous spirituality, equal (if not greater) consideration must be given to the spiritual, philosophical and cultural impact of technologies. Is it any wonder that critics accuse Folkish Paganism of being foremostly political when many Folkish Pagans act more like a political movement by prioritising material victory?

According to official history, in 2600-1500 BC, whilst the people of the Indus Valley were writing noscriptures, the proto-Germanic people hadn't even discovered the runes. We were essentially illiterate until Christianity brought to us the technology of writing. Is that because we were so inferior, or did our ancestors choose not to adopt this technology?

Technological adoption can be beneficial, when the material benefits are weighed against the spiritual, cultural and physiological dangers. AI's proponents seem concerned solely with the material impact. That's not surprising in this godless modern age. But it is surprising when self-proclaimed religious people likewise pay no heed to the spiritual, cultural and physiological dangers.

So now you can produce visual propaganda in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile the hand withers, the mind atrophies, imagination fades, the exchange of energies (gift for a gift) principle is overlooked, the very purpose for which the gods gave us this life (to share in the act of creation, to nurture beauty, to forge powerful bonds of kinship, to exercise mind and body) is shunned. Worse still - those who adopt AI technology may be empowering Loki and the þursar (more on that in a future post).

Eostre linocut print by respected artist Becca Thorne.

An Old English word I just learned that I like a lot is ān-genga (pronounced AHN-YENGA-ga), which means “a solitary walker, a lone wanderer.

Very (W)Odinic when you compare that with some of his ON attestations:

Vegtamr (wanderer, waytame)

Farmagnuðr (journey empowerer)

Váfuðr (wanderer)

And of course —

Gangleri (wayweary)

Woden is the thirst for knowledge, the One who roves all over and yearns for wisdom in all the hidden and secret places in the Universe.

- Huwila 🦉

Thunor (Thor) is the god of the farmer and his wife Sib (Sif)- the corn goddess, whose hair represents the Golden Wheat. Thunor is a thunder god as we all know, and his gift is the fertility his lightning gives the soil as it hits the ground.

Nitrogen in the atmosphere can be transformed into a plant-usable form, a process called nitrogen fixation, by lightning. His bolts of lightning carry an electrical energy strong enough to break the bonds of the nitrogen molecule in the atmosphere. Once split, the nitrogen atoms quickly bond to oxygen in the atmosphere, forming nitrogen dioxide. Nitrogen dioxide dissolves in water, creating nitric acid, which forms nitrates. These nitrates then fall to the ground in raindrops and seep into the soil which is absorbed by plants.

This early Anglo Saxon pommel appears to have an interesting bindrune consisting of an early Ear rune, with the Tir and Æsc runes facing down towards the blade, and more Tir runes on the other side. If it is indeed the Ear rune, this pommel could be its earliest appearance.
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Book is Elder Gods by Stephen Pollington.