Æhtemen

A trackway near the hamlet of Barnet Gate, close to Barnet, London. Barnet Gate sits on the Middlesex and Hertfordshire border but you wouldn’t want to be travelling along this track alone or at night! In Anglo-Saxon times Barnet Gate was known as Grendeles Gatan or Grendel’s Gate after the monster from the OE poem Beowulf.

The Wælcyrge in their Hrafnhamr (OE *Hraefn-hama or Raven form) guides the spear in battle choosing which warriors fall. The OE spear-rune Gar is not to dissimilar from the Raven’s call of Ga! A runic formula of GaGaGa (comprised of three Gyfu and Ansuz rune-binds) can be found on the Kragehul spear. The Anglo-Saxon Gar rune seems to be an extension on the Gyfu (X) rune.

Artist Jonas Lau Markussen has based this piece on the above historical images.

The Pliezhausen Disc Valsgärde helmet plate Sutton Hoo helmet plate Valsgärde helmet plate All these seem to depict an Odinic Warrior or even Woden himself, guiding the warriors spear.

Some of the oldest archaeological finds from Dublin are Anglo-Saxon, however its the Norse who are credited with the founding of Dublin or Dubh Linn – the Black Pool. A term associated with the Norse folk of Dublin was Tomar which was an Irish name for Thunor/Thor. Early Irish texts referred to Dublin’s inhabitants as the ‘Muintir Tomar’ or Thor’s People and that there was a temple just outside of Dublin’s walls called the ‘Caill Tomair’ or Thor’s Woods or Grove which housed a silver ring dedicated to Thor called the ‘Fail Tomar’.

Harp Song of the Dane Women by Rudyard Kipling What is a woman that you forsake her, And the hearth-fire and the home-acre. To go with the old grey Widow-maker? She has no house to lay a guest in But one chill bed for all to rest in, That the pale suns and the stray bergs nest in. She has no strong white arms to fold you, But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you Out on the rocks where the tide has rolled you. Yet, when the signs of summer thicken, And the ice breaks, and the birch-buds quicken, Yearly you turn from our side, and sicken— Sicken again for the shouts and the slaughters. You steal away to the lapping waters, And look at your ship in her winter-quarters. You forget our mirth, and talk at the tables, The kine in the shed and the horse in the stables To pitch her sides and go over her cables. Then you drive out where the storm-clouds swallow, And the sound of your oar-blades, falling hollow, Is all we have left through the months to follow. Ah, what is Woman that you forsake her, And the hearth-fire and the home-acre, To go with the old grey Widow-maker?

Greatly has Rán afflicted me. I have been despoiled of a great friend. Empty and unoccupied I see the place which the sea has torn my son. (Egil's Saga) The name Rán means 'theft' ‘robbery’ or 'to plunder' in ON. In OE the word Rân meant the very same - robbery or rapine. The name still survives in the term ransacked. She was known to drown sailors and drag ships to her watery kingdom and is most likely the Old Grey Widowmaker from Kipling’s poem ‘Harp Song of the Dane Women’. Image – Ran, by Jim Lyngvild

The talented craftsman at Wessex Woodcraft has been making some excellent weos and has wisely used a wood we can associate with the gods he has carved, Ash for Woden, Oak for Thunor and Yew for Wuldor (Ullr). This had me thinking what other trees could we associate with the gods / goddesses? There is a legend from Germany that Freya is associated with the Linden, often called Lime here in England. It is said that the Linden can buzz or hum and that this noise means that the goddess Freya is near. The buzzing of bees is also connected with the Wælcyrge, where J Grimm and others had suggested the term ‘sigewif’ (Victory-women) used for bees was also a kenning for the Wælcyrge. It’s also my belief that the Fir tree is associated with Frige (as are a number of other plants). This comes from the meaning of the name Fyrgen, a goddess who is described as Thunor’s mother and most likely another name for Frige. Fyrgen means ‘mountain forest’ and represents the Earth goddess. Fyrgen shares its root with Fir – but further more the word has an older root it shares with the word oak, thus we have a lineage of Fir – Oak or Fyrgen (Frige) and Thunor.

'Thuner' by John Michael Rysbrack (1694 – 1770)

It’s the full moon tonight so my family hearth will hold our Þrimilcemōnaþ rites in honour of Bældæg who brings with him the light of the Ēse. The church went to great efforts to conflate Bældæg with St John, whose day is celebrated 24th June (so just after the sunstede / solstice). May was associated with start of summer and the hot sunny days that came with the summer season were known as sigelbeorhte dagas or the sun-bright days.