Éarendel was the OE name for the Norse figure Aurvandill. His toe froze off after Thunor had carried him on his back across the Élivágar river, so Thunor threw the toe into the sky where it became the brightest of stars (possibly Venus). In some ways Éarendel's role as a light bringer mirrors that of Eostre. This inspired Tolkien's character Eärendil who was a mariner (from the OE etymology of ēar which meant wave or sea). Below is Tolkien's poem Éalá Éarendel Engla Beorhtast, partly based on the OE poem Cynewulf's Crist.

Éalá Éarendel Engla Beorhtast by J.R.R. Tolkien

Éarendel arose where the shadow flows
at Ocean's silent brim;
through the mouth of night as a ray of light
where the shores are sheer and dim
he launched his bark like a silver spark
from the last and lonely sand;
then on sunlit breath of day's fiery death
he sailed from Westerland.

He threaded his path o'er the aftermath
of the splendour of the Sun,
and wandered far past many a star
in his gleaming galleon.
On the gathering tide of darkness ride
the argosies of the sky,
and spangle the night with their sails of light
as the streaming star goes by.

Unheeding he dips past these twinkling ships,
by his wayward spirit whirled
on an endless quest through the darking West
o'er the margin of the world;
and he fares in haste o'er the jewelled waste
and the dusk from whence he came
with his heart afire with bright disire
and his face in silver flame.

The Ship of the Moon from the East comes soon
from the Haven of the Sun,
whose white gates gleam in the coming beam
of the mighty silver one.
Lo! with bellying clouds as his vessel's shrouds
he weighs anchor down the dark,
and on shimmering oars leaves the blazing shores
in his argent-timbered bark.

Then Éarendel fled from that Shipman dread
beyond the dark earth's pale,
back under the rim of the Ocean dim,
and behind the world set sail;
and he heard the mirth of the folk of earth
and the falling of their tears,
as the world dropped back in a cloudy wrack
on its journey down the years.

Then he glimmering passed to the starless vast
as an isléd lamp at sea,
and beyond the ken of mortal men
set his lonely errantry,
tracking the Sun in his galleon
through the pathless firmament,
till his light grew old in abysses cold
and his eager flame was spent.

Change

Many times in my life, I’ve changed; having the ability to assimilate new information & reprogram the way I think. Many think they know me, but in reality, I’m as if a stranger to them because I continue to change; growing in my beliefs & improving upon my skills. My father always taught me to strive for better, & to this day, I never settle for mediocrity. Life is about change. If we cannot change, we stagnate, & therefore fail. From talents to relationships to beliefs, change is to be embraced. It’s normal to feel regret at having, later in life, learned a new skill, mended relationships, or coming to a greater truth, for that skill would’ve been useful while younger, the relationship less hurtful as it was growing, & the truth sweeter if enlightenment came earlier; however, Fate goes ever as she shall & draws us according to her will. We must strive to live each day to the fullest & cast off the regrets of the past. Faraþ ġesunde.

~ Folcweard Lárġyfa

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-The Æfinrúnar Book 1-

The Æfinrúnar are the runes of earthly life, the sacred practices handed to us by the divine. In the Rigsþula, Heimdallr bestowed gifts to the classes of men. He gave them the tools of civilization, the Æfinrúnar, & Aldrrúnar.

This book is reconstructing the ancestral Norse religion using source material to piece together our ancestral ways. Our goal is to establish a religious standard for our people rooted in the traditions found in our lore. For far too long we have been told our ways were destroyed with no hopes of rebuilding a truly authentic system. The Æfinrúnar Book part 1 gives us the tools to reforge local communities & establish a sacred space, build a stalli, celebrate the holy tides, & honor the gods & our ancestors in a traditional way. This book covers rituals including creating statues, sacrifice, home rituald, & rites of passage, et al. We offer an orthopraxy for those wanting to dive deeper.

https://news.1rj.ru/str/TheNorroenaSociety

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An interview with Þórbeorht, Ealdorblótere of the Ealdríce Þéod of the Wínland Ríċe of Þéodisċ belief.

https://youtu.be/AmwcJdR8KEk

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How easily could speakers of Old English and Old Norse understand each other?

Trade relied upon basic communication, for example.
The languages spoken by the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse derived from a common root called Proto-Germanic which was used in what is now southern Scandinavia and Germany around the 4th century AD. There is evidence for the language in Roman and Greek writing and in runic innoscriptions. Over time it diverged to form a number of related languages including Old English and Old Norse.

As well as structure and vocabulary the two languages shared a poetic metre and also a common body of myth and legend, for which the most substantial record is found in the Old Norse sagas. In some of the sagas we find reference to trade and communication between the Nordic and Anglo-Saxon people, and we also know about the international nature of the courts of Alfred and Cnut, where stories and histories were shared.

The Gersum Project is exploring the Scandinavian influence on English vocabulary by examining the origins of more than 900 words in a corpus of Middle English poems from the North of England. English words with Old Norse origins include such basic terms as sky, egg, law, leg, call, take, window, knife, die and skin, and the pronouns they, their and them.

Dr Jackson Crawford provides a look at the relationship between Old Norse and Old English, including their common origins, mutual intelligibility, and the many words English borrowed from Old Norse as well as the equivalences in poetry and place names. He also discusses how the standardised forms recorded in the texts available to us which don’t always reflect the spoken language at various times throughout the overall period.

https://youtu.be/BaWgJq9OVGM

Source: https://www.findglocal.com/GB/Workington/101343761610197/The-Man-Who-Gave-His-Horse-to-a-Beggar

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Image: The approximate extent of Old Norse and other Germanic languages in the early 10th century from Wiglaf, based on Europe plain rivers.png by Dbachmann. [CC BY-SA 3.0]
Map key is:
Red - Old West Norse
Orange - Old East Norse
Pink - Old Gutnish
Yellow - Old English
Green - Continental West Germanic languages (viz. Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Old Dutch, Old High German)
Blue - Crimean Gothic

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Æfinrúnar: A Sedian Book of Rites and Prayers

An altar is sprinkled before a sacred tree. A song resounds through an inviolate grove. Husband and wife are bound in holy matrimony. The funeral pyre is solemnly lit. These are the rituals of an ancient culture, reconstructed after years of research. The religion of the ancient Norse has been resurrected after centuries of slumber, and now we properly rebuild its ceremonial tradition. By thoroughly examining every source on the topic, we have been able to develop a greater understanding of these practices and how we can use them today. By doing so, we reforge the link to the ancient past. Once severed from the Gods, we can now use their holy teachings, the Æfinrúnar, to once again invoke them to witness our rebirth. May their light shine upon us all.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y4VZT9H/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_X2KBM8BNW9CX52PBX043

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As promised, I'm pleased to announce the launch of: https://fyrgen.com/

This will be the hub where links to my efforts and content can be found. The first weekly podcast episode is being planned and should appear within the next couple of weeks. The website will grow as my productivity grows, to include a link to merchandise fairly soon too.

For those who'd like to (and can afford to) throw a few £ my way, or some crypto, links and addresses for all of those can be found at the above website and anything given is greatly and humbly appreciated. Subscriber content will be at SubscribeStar, Patreon and Substack (with an exclusive 'The Secrets of ALU' document available and more bits and pieces to come), and Ko-fi, BuyMeACoffee and PayPal are there for casual tips/donations.

Thank you to everyone who gave me the nudge I needed to organise this.

Ancestral Blood Memory

Take the time to build real life. Devote yourself to relationship. Share love together. There is no greater feeling than that of growing old with someone.

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In Life & in Death, Honor those We Love

Flateyjarbók records that in times of grief, our forebears hung a mourning banner:

“The men sat drinking as long as they liked that night, and then went to bed ; but after they had left the hall Queen Thyri took down the hangings, and instead put up black and grey cloth until all was covered. She had done this because it was the custom in those days when tidings of grief came to do as she did."

The Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem:

ᛠ Éar is horrible to every knight,
when the corpse quickly begins to cool
and is laid in the bosom of the dark earth.
Prosperity declines, happiness passes away and covenants are broken.

The cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth. In life & in death, honor those we love.

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