...Of lending money on interest and increasing it by compound interest they [the Germanics] know nothing, - a more effectual safeguard than if it were prohibited.

-Tacitus, Germania. Ch. 26

What did the English call Mjollnir? The name comes from *meldunjaʀ meaning lightning however there’s an interesting English alternative. The long handled hammers resembling the sledgehammer are sometimes called Þunressleġe or Þunorslecg (both names reconstructed) meaning Thunor’s Sledge(hammer). The word Sledge meaning ‘to strike / the blow of a hammer’ shares its root with the word Slay ‘to strike a blow or kill’. A very similar term that is attested and shares the same origin is þunorslege meaning Thunderclap. The name literally means Thunder-stroke or Thunder-blow.

​True unity does not demand the erasure of the self; it is the conscious choice of free minds to row in the same direction.

"I am not maintaining that this forest-worship exhausts all the conceptions our ancestors had formed of deity and its dwelling place; it was only the principal one. Here and there a god may haunt a mountain-top, a cave of the rock, a river; but the grand general worship of the people has its seat in the grove; and nowhere could it have found a worthier home." - from 'Teutonic Mythology' (Deutsche Mythologie) by Jacob Grimm

Our Germanic ancestors felt closest to the divine when they were in nature, especially in forests and woods. They did not need buildings, nature was their church.

Painting: 'Playing in the beech wood' by Edmund George Warren, 1876.

They do not think it consistent with the greatness of celestial beings to confine the gods within walls, or to liken them to the form of any human face. They consecrate woods and groves, and apply the names of gods to that hidden presence which they see only with the eye of reverence. - Tacitus from his book Germania.

Bynames for Frēo (Freya)

Sýr means sow, an animal sacred to Frēo whilst the boar is sacred to her brother Frēa.

Gef or Gefn means ‘she who gives’, linking her with the goddess Gefjon. An English cognate found in Beowulf is Geofon. Gefjon is connected the plough, the sea and rivers.

Hörn is also used as a name for Frīg. Hörn is thought to come from hǫrr / hörr meaning flax and both goddesses are associated with flax and weaving. Hörr is cognate with the word har – becoming harl (flax) in modern English.

Liða (Liþa or Litha) was an OE word for summer, Ærra Liða being the name for the month which fell around our June, Æftera Liða was the name for July, the two months which fall around the sunstead (this coming Sunday).

Liþa is connected with the OE word Liþe which meant ‘calm’, and this is how Bede described the English summer - ‘Litha is called calm or navigable, that is in both the month and the pleasant serenity of the breezes and is usual to navigate the sea's surface'. It is interesting that he also associated the month with navigation (sailing) as the OE verb líðian meat to sail or travel. We find the same concept with the rune name Sigel (the sun) and the phonetically similar ‘segl’ meaning to sail.

Oaths seem to hold such little value today, but in Anglo-Saxon society, oath-breaking was considered one of the gravest moral offences. An oath or āþ made to your kinsfolk was regarding as an oath witnessed by the gods. Those who broke such oaths were called wǣrloga ‘truth deceivers’.

For centuries the heads of mullein plants were dipped in bees wax to produce a natural candle. This gave the plant its OE name Candel-wyrt. Burning these candles has become a sunstead tradition. Not everyone had access to bees wax so tallow was also used, giving the plant its other name of Hedge-Taper.

My family and I are travelling up to join friends to celebrate the sunstede this weekend. We'll be honouring the gods and ancestors, our folk and land. Being a lone-wolf is one thing, but its better to be amongst like-minded folk who share the same values and vision for the future.

Glæd Sunstede!

Stonehenge photo by Paul Reiffer.

May the turning of the wheel bring frith and steadfastness to you all.

Stay strong, stay loyal and stay true to yourself and your folk and kin.

Wæs þú hāl!

⊕ᛟ⊕

My family-hearth returned from an excellent and very well attended folk-moot today, where around forty folk celebrated the sunstede with home-brewed mead, traditional English folk song and music, rites and libations to the gods.

Wes þu Sunne hāl!

The goddess Eir is associated with healing. Her name actually means mercy or help (giver). As such a possible cognate in OE would be Âr, which means the same. Eir is a handmaiden to Menglöð, whose name (according to J Grimm) means ‘one who takes pleasure in jewels’, no doubt a kenning for Freya who wears the Brísingamen necklace. Eir uses herbcraft (OE lybcræf) in her healing magic and is herself a Lybbestre. She resides in Lyfjaberg (the Hill or Mount of Healing), a name which once more connects her to herblore. Lyf means medicine and comes from *lubją meaning both herb and medicine.

Along with the heatwave, England has had some intense thunder storms. According to the Met Office, well over half a million lightning strikes have struck since Wednesday. Heofon-fýr or Heaven-fire was an OE kenning for lightning, whilst þunressleġe or Thunor's strike / Thunor's blow was the thunder clap.

Photo Nick Bull

I would describe the English today as primarily a Germanic folk. They mixed with the Celtic population of these isles, especially in the south-west, whilst in the north Danish blood was absorbed under Danelaw. Later still, Norman stock was added. For over a thousand years these folk lived in the lands king Æthelstan had once united, to become the modern English. I have both Germanic and Cornish ancestry, but I regard myself English first and foremost. To say the English don’t exist because we are the descendants of these different northwestern tribes is like trying to argue purple doesn’t exist because it's a mix of red and blue. The question is what are we willing to do, so that in another thousand years, our descendants still recognise the English we are today.