These are the referenced sources by Sawyer and Lund for those interested.

Some general points I gathered that were of particular interest to me:

• Bridges and fords were places of significance involved with blotes in water such as rivers and streams.

• They are also connected with runestones at times.

• Bridges prior to christianity were made of wood and only after becoming christian do we find stone bridges being made.

• Typically building bridges in honor of the dead is associated with women patrons and this is suggested to affirm their connection with christianization.

• Bridges in the Lore are seen to mark a gateway between worlds. The world of the dead lies beyond the Gjallarbru. Rivers and streams marked natural borders and a bridge or ford allowed for the border to be crossed. This could be both practical and symbolic and even both at the same time.

Here are a few other instances of the "stonebridge" popping up (although they stem from essentially one source).

"hann lifi ey sem steinabrú"

"He lives ever on just as a stone bridge."

- Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar

"Ólafr yrði gamall sem steinabrú."

"Olaf became as old as a stone bridge."

- Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar

"þótt hann yrði svá gamall sem steinabrú."

"Although he became as old as a stone bridge."

- Gautreks saga

An interesting reference to magic is found in Grettis saga Ásmundarsson, where an old witch uses her magic to attack the main figure of the saga, Grettir, the greatest outlaw Iceland ever knew. No one could get at him on this little island he made his home because he resided on the top of high cliffs only accessible by a ladder, which he controlled. It runs,

"Nú var svá gjǫrt, sem hón beiddi; ok er hón kvam til strandar, haltraði hón fram með sjánum, svá sem henni væri vísat til, þar sem lá fyrir henni rótartré, svá mikit sem axlbyrðr. Hón leit á tréit, ok bað þá snúa fyrir sér. Þat var sem sviðit ok gniðat ǫðru megin. Hón lét telgja á lítinn flatveg, þar gniðat var. Síðan tók hón hníf sinn, ok reist rúnir á rótinni, ok rauð í blóði sínu, ok kvað yfir galdra. Hón gekk ǫfug andsǿlis um tréit, ok hafði þar yfir mörg rǫmm ummæli. Eptir þat lætr hón hrinda trènu á sjá, ok mælti svá fyrir, at þat skyldi reka út til Drangeyjar, ok verði Gretti allt mein at."

"Now it was done as she (Thurid the old witch) asked. She came to the strand and limped along the water's edge, just as she wished. There before her she found a piece of driftwood with roots still attached and so large that a man could only just carry it over his shoulders. She came to the tree and looked it over, then she asked it be turned over. The other side was singed and scraped. She had a little flat face cut into the already scraped part of the wood. She then took her knife out and raist (carved) runes upon that side of the wood, reddened them with her blood, and afterwards spoke galder. She then went counterclockwise around the wood and spoke over it with powerful magic. After that she let the wood be pushed out to sea and said that the wood should make its way to Drangey (Grettir's island) and bring great harm to Grettir."

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"

Att »blotas» hette ännu vid början af 1600– talet i Wärend, att med dragen knif göra vilda, hedniska åtbörder. Ordet förekommer icke sällan i landets domböcker från denna tid, och oftast i sammanställning med orden mana eller svärja, såsom: »när han länge hade blotas och mant»; »när han så hade svoret och blottas» o. s. v. Vi torde häraf få sluta, att blotandet eller offringen i forntiden skedde med vild åtfärd och under framsägandet af vissa manings — eller besvärjningsformler.

That “to blot” still in the early 1600s in Wärend meant to perform wild, heathen gestures with a drawn knife. The word appears not infrequently in the country’s court records from that time, and most often in conjunction with the words mana or svärja, as in: “when he had long sacrificed and exhorted”, “when he had thus sworn and sacrificed”, etc. From this we may conclude that blot or sacrifice in ancient times was carried out with wild manner and accompanied by the recitation of certain invocations or incantations.

Wärend och Wirdarne, by Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius

The terms mana, maning and svärja in Old Swedish and Danish were all used in late folk tradition and trolldom. Mana is a request or an order, and maning is an exhortation, or a conjuration; svärja is used for adjuration; making pacts, swearing oaths, or the recitation of formula meant to conjure spirits.

Folk attestations like these confirms to us the older understanding of gods and spirits as personal beings rather than impersonal concepts or archetypes, and that dealing with them traditionally is direct through our word, pact and blood, as we see in the sagas.

Particularly svärja caught my eye. I immediately thought of our modern English meanings of "to swear an oath" and "to speak obscene language." It struck me as a great clue as to the two opposite meanings for the same word - one maintains a sense of honor and the other as blasphemy, then I found this on wiktionary:

The original sense in all Germanic languages is “to take an oath”. The sense “to use bad language” developed in Middle English and is based on the Christian prohibition against swearing in general (cf. Matthew 5:33-37) and invoking God’s name in particular (i.e. frequent swearing was considered similar to the use of obscene words).

The concept of swearing as being tied in with folkish tradition as an honorable act as opposed to blasphemy in christian tradition isn't all that surprising, but does give some clarity on the backstory of our word "swear" as well as on the older language in general. How many folkish words of honor are now a mockery or evil in connotation today? We need to reinvigorate our folkish tongue by striving to bring back some old words and meanings (take blote/blot as an example) thus helping us refind ourselves and he'll establish a unique common culture founded upon our reconnection to our roots. This distinguishes us from the average Joseph and gives us new life thus setting the stage for a greater future for our children.

Nornengrütze

Der erste Schluck der Muttermilch hieß einst Nornengrütze.
Es heißt die Mütter opferten sie den Schicksalsweberinnen,
um sie Milde zu stimmen.

https://news.1rj.ru/str/URnatUR
https://news.1rj.ru/str/URArtwerk
https://news.1rj.ru/str/URbuecher
https://x.com/URGemeinschaft?t=LXeupii-MaObqPvM4SQdlA

,,URalt ist ja der Glaube, dass Bäume und Menschen verwandt, dass Blut und Harz im Grunde ein einziger Saft seien. Völker sind Menschenwälder, Wälder sind Baumvölker. Der kosmische Baum an dem das Schicksal der Welt hängt, ist die dem Odin heilige Esche Yggdrasil."

- Gerd Klaus Kaltenbrunner

https://news.1rj.ru/str/URnatUR
https://news.1rj.ru/str/URArtwerk
https://news.1rj.ru/str/URbuecher
https://x.com/URGemeinschaft?t=LXeupii-MaObqPvM4SQdlA&s=09

This message resonates deeply within myself and all others true to the Folk Way.

When we walk into the woods, upon the mountain slopes, or along the strands, when we step into the natural landscape, we strive to become one with it - another organism that is a part of the whole rather than a foreigner visiting an entirely unknown place with customs and ways of being entirely different from our own. When we step into the wild, we find ourselves at home. Our heart beats to the rhythm of the breeze blowing through the trees, our heart soars with the eagle on high, and our spirit blazes like the sun upon the ocean face.

The wilderness is life, light, and love. It is the very essence of all things and to forget that is to forget one's own self.

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.

Bitte schön!

Our world is filled with holy moments.

Make sure you don’t miss them.

Bede wrote that king Edwin set up hanging bowls along roads next to springs.
Ecgbert and Cnut’s laws attempted to ban worshipping at springs and waterfalls, and post-conversion, sacred springs were renamed after saints. If these hanging bowls were used for healing spring water, that would account for hanging bowls appearing in pagan and later early Christian contexts. ᛚ

I have recently heard people discussing the importance of keeping physical books. Some of the points are as follows,

1. Gives you clear knowledge from the past without the ability to be edited constantly (often erroneously as online information is);

2. Gives you a break from screens, granting you better health;

3. Provides a positive aesthetic element in the house, which in turn adds to the atmosphere, creating a positive and healthy environment (who doesn't want to live in a house with books on shelves everywhere?);

4. If the internet or power goes out, you still have access to all of your resource knowledge with ease (bonus: reading by candlelight is a great detox from the electro-stress we normally experience);

5. They can be passed down to future generations, leaving a concrete connection between past and present, showing clearly where family interests have lain and, in cases of notations in books, provide a closer look at the thoughts of our kin now passed.

I think this is something we all need to consider. I've never understood reading books online (except in certain cases such as a book not being available in print or being too costly). There is also a personal touch to physical books which pdfs will never match and, as the Anglo-Saxon rune poem says,

man is the joy of man

We naturally yearn for a connection with one another and the further we distance from real concrete connections, the less healthy we become.

I also have the personal goal of hand writing a few books which can pass down through the family as special heirlooms. I have a poem my great-grandfather wrote which holds special meaning in my family today and plays a special part in our blote during the Elvesblote.

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.

I found an interesting definition for the English word "stave." One of its meanings is

"a piece of poetry, a verse"

and the example I found for it came from Rob Roy's Grave by William Wordsworth in a 'stave' which runs,

"Let us chaunt a passing stave / In honour of that hero brave."

I think the concept of "rebeautifying" our language again is important. We used to possess a real beauty in language (even if just for song and poetry) which stirred the imagination in a way nearly lost to the average man today. When our language becomes dull and unimaginative, so do we - losing the very stuff of life. Yet when our language becomes a thing of beauty, then we can't help but bring light into the world and fill all with some deep joy. This calls to mind the words of Ynglinga Saga,

"hann talaði svá snjalt ok slétt, at öllum er á heyrðu þótti þat eina satt; mælti hann alt hendingum, svá sem nú er þat kveðit, er skáldskapr heitir."

"He (Woden) conversed so cleverly and smoothly, that all who heard Him believed Him. He also spoke everything in rhyme, such as is now composed and which we call scaldcraft (poetry)."