The hamlet of Taston (from Thor’s Stan) in Oxfordshire is named after Thor’s Stone (stan being OE for stone) which can be seen in the picture above. The stone was said to be a thunderbolt from the thunder god himself and that an image of a thunderbolt can be found on it. The surrounding area in also sacred to Thunor as not too far from the stone is a spring called Thorsbrook (Thor’s stream).

One of the oldest surviving uses of the Anglo Saxon Gar (spear) rune is on the 8th Century Ruthwell Cross, where it takes the place of Gyfu in galgu (OE: gallows) on the east face…perhaps a nod to Woden, when the memory of His worship was fresh in the minds of the Anglo Saxons. ᚸ

Many English places named after a god included the suffix -leah, (-ley in modern English), meaning a woodland clearing or open land. This suggests the common folk prayed to the gods outdoors (or privately at home), whilst the two largest heathen temples we know of at Yeavering and Rendlesham were both associated with royalty.

photo - Thursley (Thunor's clearing) common.

This three inch knife blade was found near Odense on the island of Funen and contains one of Denmark’s oldest rune innoscriptions. The runes read ᚺᛁᚱᛁᛚᚨ (hirila), a name that is believed to be derived from the word *ᚺᛖᚱᚢᛉ ‘heruʀ, sword’ with the suffix‎ -ᛁᛚᚨ ‘-ila’, some suggesting this knife was called ‘little sword’.

The Old English Rune Poem (OERP) stops with the Ear rune. In the book Eagle’s Mead, author Eirik Westcoat pens another four verses for the runes cweorð, calc, stān and gār, sometimes referred to as the ‘grail’ runes.

Cweorð byþ cweorna sum and se cwica fýres;
bēam hēo byrneð, bǣr-fǣġne þeġn;
sāwle hēo lȳseð, þe sēċoð rodor.

Querth is a sort of quern and the quickener of fire. It burns a tree, a thane doomed to the bier. It releases a soul, which seeks the heavens.

Calc byþ cūþ wel – cēnum wōðborum
swā se hālga horn, hefiģ mid lēoðum,
nýdfull æt symble; þes naca dweorga,
weģ-winn Wōdnes, byþ wynsum grāl.

Cup is known well by keen bearers of inspiration and madness as the holy horn, heavy with poems and necessary at sumbel. This boat of dwarves, a journey-gain of Woden, is a winsome grail.

Stān byþ strangest - swā stede-bletsung
ģif ģehālgod write, hǣðenum rūnum:
hearga ǣċe; þēos heorte eotenes
līf-ģifende tācn, byþ langsum grāl.

Stone is strongest as a blessing for a place if hallowed with writing, with heathen runes: an eternal altar. This heart of the etin, a life-giving sign, is an enduring grail.

Gār byþ gum-dōm, gūðwuda drȳ-wiga:
wyrde hē wealdeð, wæl hē ćēoseð,
blōd hē bēodeð; þes brand Wōdnes,
unģemetum ēaċen, byþ æðele grāl.

Spear is man’s sovereignty and a sorcerous hero of battle-woods. It rules over wyrd, it chooses the slain, it summons blood. This fiery brand of Woden, immeasurably powerful, is a noble grail.

Tapestry from c.1385 depicting king Arthur wearing a coat-of-arms with three golden crowns, representing the kingdoms of Logres, Cambria and Alba. The same heraldic emblem is also associated with the kings of Anglia, notably Edmund the Martyr, a Wuffinga king. The Wuffingas are believed to be from the Wulfingas who originated in southern Sweden, where the national coat-of-arms is called the Tre Kronor or Three Crowns.

It’s the full moon tonight (just after 10pm over England). For our Norse friends it’s a Yule moon, for our Gaelic friends today is Imbolc. As usual my family-hearth will honour our gods and ancestors with a symbel and libation. Wesaþ hála!

Photo credit Brett Sayles

The name Wusc-frea which appears in the Deira royal lineage means ‘wish-lord’, Wusc being cognate with the German Wunsch and Norse Óski – a byname of Woden in his role as wish-lord. Writing in 1849, John Mitchell Kemble suggested Óski may also be cognate with Oisc (also recorded as Ésk) the founder of the Kentish line of kings, and perhaps a Jutish name for Wóden.

On the Nordendorf I fibulae there is a runic innoscription on the reverse.

I: awa leubwini
II: logaþore / wodan / wigiþonar

The name Wodan is clear and wigiþonar is perhaps from *wīgian 'to hallow’ or *wīgan ‘to fight’, Holy-Thunor or Battle-Thunor. The name logaþore seems connected with Lóðurr or Loki (Loga). There are OE words (seemingly) cognate with Logaþore which even describe Loki, Logðor or logeðer for example meaning cunning, crafty or malicious.

Me þæt wyrd gewaf.
Wyrd wove that for me.

The 'Osterby Man' by IlmarinenKowal.

“Look-out for small curved pirate ships of the Saxons in whose every oarsman you think to detect an arch-pirate. Captains and crews alike, to a man they teach or learn the art of brigandage; therefore let me urgently caution you to be ever on the alert.”
~Sidonius
Painting: Saxon Warship by Mary Evans. 𐃏

The Saxons were well known for their maritime skills. They raided the British coast long before Hengist and Horsa led the Germanic tribes to Britain, which meant the Romans who occupied Britain were required to build sea defences, along the southern and eastern coastline, which became known as the Saxon Shore fortifications. The Angles were also a maritime folk. One suggestion for the origin of the name is that it comes from the angle fishing hook (A History of the English Language).