Harrowman Ealdham

Happy Solmonath! Hail the Earth Mother!

Many plants were believed to ward off lightning and thunder – thus associating them with the thunder god. Stinging nettles were sometimes burnt on the fire during storms and in parts of Germany were known as Donnernessel (Donner’s nettle or thunder nettle). Burdock is another plant made sacred to Thunor (Donner / Donar) as a plant used to protect against the storm. In parts of Germany Burdock was called Toennersbladen or thunder-leaf. Interestingly both can be brewed into an ale. I once made a nettle ale which went the colour of copper (Thunor’s beard) and in England ‘Dandelion and Burdock’ is a root beer with origins dating back to the thirteenth century. Pictured above - Burdock

Happy Solmōnaþ! (Sol-Month) The name was recorded by the Christian Anglo-Saxon scholar Bede in his treatise De temporum ratione (The Reckoning of Time), saying that "Sol-Monath can be said to be the month of cakes, which were offered to their Gods" In Old English, “Sol” is mostly used to refer to soil or mud. Implying that this month is sacred to the Earth-Mother Goddess. However, this could only be one of the meanings of the word in this context. “Sol” is also believed to mean “cake” and can perhaps be linked to the English custom known as souling. In this tradition one would go house to house and sing songs where the guests would be gifted “soul cakes” in exchange for prayers. This tradition is usually credited to be Christian, but as with most Christian traditions, this one may indeed be Pagan. So be sure to give an offering of cakes to the Earth-Mother.

Never, from dawn forward, pour a shining libation of wine to Zeus or the other immortals, without washing your hands first. Hesiod, Works and Days 724

Lokean practice is a false religion and a blasphemy (goðgá) that should be rejected and shunned. It is one of the many tools used by the powers that be to subvert our people and to further prevent them from reconnecting with and reviving our ancestral traditions. Things such as Marvel, Vikings, and other forms of disgusting media have left a negative mark on the revival of our Folkway. As other channels have stated; Loki was never/intended to be worshipped. His oath with the Æsir was broken when he murdered the beloved son of Óðinn and Frigg, Baldr. The Gods hunted him with no mercy. If you use the myths to understand the cosmos or the personalities of the Gods, then it would be painfully obvious that Loki, despite the good he has done in the *past*, is an evil being. (along with Jormungandr and Fenrir) Loki has no power. At this moment he is serving his deserved punishment bound by the entrails of his son Narfi. Just like his evil son the Fenrir. They are bound and destined to die at the hands of the Gods. In the end, evil is a necessary part of existence and ultimately plays a role in the greater Good. If it wasn’t, the Gods wouldn’t allow it to exist. But that doesn’t mean you should worship evil. That would be going against our divine duty and guardians of this realm! Just because you can’t appreciate the truth without a lie doesn’t mean that you should lie!

Here is one of the Torslunda plates that also depict the spear dancer motif for comparison.

Alamannic silver foil discovered in Obrigheim, Germany. From the 7th century AD It is nearly identical in nature to the spear dancer depicted on the torslunda plates found in Sweden.

In my opinion the depicted face mirrors the numerous Woden heads found across England making the educated guess here much more plausible…

This Anglo-Saxon 'Green Man' dates from the 10-11th century and differs from the Green Man whose face is made from foliage. Here we see a man's face with greenery coming from his mouth. This could well depict the Divine Breath that Woden used to breathe life into Ash and Embla, the first of our folk. We could thus equate this idea with the Anglo Saxon Os rune which means both God (Woden) and mouth (Divine breath).

“The Druids believe that men’s souls and the universe are indestructible, although at times fire and water may prevail.” - Strabo (c. 63 BC – 21 AD)

Native American art from the Haida tribe located in the Pacific Northwest. Similar to Germanic Pagans, they believe that the first of mankind was created by a Raven God on a beach.

When you see so many new “FoLkIsH” people and pages these days being so obnoxious, ignorant and unwilling to tolerate even the slightest difference of opinion, you really need to wonder what it is they’re playing at. Very few contribute anything of any theological value, or anything about their own practices. It’s probably no coincidence that they’re also always the ones who vehemently deny that there’s any deeper allegorical meaning to our myths. It certainly seems like they’re deliberately trying to undermine the return of paganism by sowing discord, and I bet you half of these people are Boniface-posting on other accounts. If they’re not already, give them a few years.

Góðan Jólablót!

New archeological find of a late Anglo-Saxon crow/raven mask pendant. There have been others found like it and they most likely depict the God Woden due to his association with crows and ravens.

One of the most overlooked sources on the theology of the Germanic people is preserved in the Correspondence of St. Boniface. In particular, there's a letter from bishop Daniel of Winchester who advises Boniface on how to convert the Germanic people, which is dated to cca 723-724. Essentially, Daniel advises Boniface to convert the Germanic people by asking a series of quite novice questions. We will now quote and comment on some of the parts relevant to Germanic theology, insofar as we find them useful. On the Method of Converting The Heathen: "[...] I am taking the liberty of making a few suggestions, in order to show you how, in my opinion, you may overcome with the least possible trouble the resistance of this barbarous people [continental Germanic tribes, most likely the Saxons]. [...] Do not begin by arguing with them about the genealogies of their false gods. Accept their statement that they were begotten by other gods through the intercourse of male and female and then you will be able to prove that, as these gods and goddesses did not exist before, and were born like men, they must be men and not gods." Daniel here essentially attacks through the literalist reading of myths. He wants the Germanic people to admit that the Gods had a beginning, because this is what the myths say literally, and as soon as this is affirmed, he can put the status of the Gods into question, because what is divine has no beginning nor end, so how could these beings be Gods if they had a beginning? This is easily refuted by explaining that the myths are not to be read literally, but allegorically. Yet what this illustrates is the weakness of the literalist reading of myths, and that it was and can be weaponized by a religious adversary. "Do they think the gods should be worshipped for the sake of temporal and transitory benefits or for eternal and future reward? If for temporal benefit let them say in what respect the heathens are better off than the Christians. What do the heathen gods gain from the sacrifices if they already possess everything?" It is interesting that Daniel mentions the doctrine that the Gods already possess everything. And since he mentions it, it is likely that at least a part of the population must have held these beliefs. Of course, we find a parallel doctrine in the Platonic authors (cf. Sallust, On the Gods and the World, c. 15: "The divine itself is without needs, and the worship is paid for our own benefit.") "This conclusion also must be drawn: If the gods are omnipotent, beneficent and just, they must reward their devotees and punish those who despise them. Why then, if they act thus in temporal affairs, do they spare the Christians who cast down their idols and turn away from their worship the inhabitants of practically the entire globe? And whilst the Christians are allowed to possess the countries that are rich in oil and wine and other commodities, why have they left to the heathens the frozen lands of the north, where the gods, banished from the rest of the world, are falsely supposed to dwell?" Why would a Christian missionary try to persuade the Germanic people that their Gods aren't omnipotent, beneficent and just unless they really did hold these beliefs? Clearly, this belief must have been something quite universally held because it is one of the main concerns for Daniel. But what is especially interesting are the implications of the Germanic people holding these beliefs. If the Germanic people viewed the Gods as omnipotent, then they couldn't have understood the myths literally, but must have held these theological doctrines in parallel with a non-literalist reading of the myths.

Wherever the art of Medicine is loved, there is also a love of Humanity. Hippocrates

“Jove (Jupiter), both produces one God and produces many Gods from himself, but each of these is either a whole by himself or is one of the things in him. He produces the entire chorus of Jupiter-like deities by itself, as one, or again the many deities at once as the many in him, and each deity in particular as one of the qualities in him. And he produces a unity from a unity because they are contained in him as the many. Again, the chorus of the many Gods is the complete pleroma of Jove, in terms of the differentiated, but in Bacchus as the totality of the unified.” Damascius - CFP Ch. 94