ᛉ Sagnamaðr Stark ᛉ

A Viking Age cruciform mount with an inlaid niello knotwork design.
This design was later called Solomon’s Knot, widely used as an apotropaic symbol across Europe; its later association with Solomon attests to these properties.
Found in Braintree, Essex, 10-11th Century. 𐘾

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The Irish poem The Cauldron of Poesy describes three metaphysical cauldrons that exist within people, which when balanced, unlock poetic inspiration; the cauldrons of warming, motion and wisdom. Perhaps these are the three elements of awen that the Book of Taliesin speaks of.

“Ban pan doeth peir
ogyrwen awen teir.”
“The three elements of inspiration that came, splendid, out of the cauldron.”
~Book of Taliesin

Similarly, the Völuspá describes the Gods bestowing sense (óðr), heat and motion, and a goodly hue, upon Ask and Embla.

“Soul they had not, sense they had not,
Heat nor motion, nor goodly hue;
Soul gave Othin, sense gave Hönir,
Heat gave Lothur and goodly hue.”
~Völuspá 18, Bellows
“Önd þau ne áttu, óð þau ne höfðu,
lá né læti né litu góða;
önd gaf Óðinn, óð gaf Hœnir,
lá gaf Lóðurr ok litu góða.”

Many Celtic hanging bowls are decorated with triskelions; a symbol of divine inspiration, even awen itself.
Its Germanic counterpart, the horn triskelion, represents the three vessels of the mead of poetry, consisting of Óðrerir, whose name means stirrer of óðr, ecstatic inspiration, with Boðn and Són meaning vessel and conciliation.

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“The Hildr of battle stands every morning under a red shield; now the victory-maidens have established hard sword-play for the Danes. You have to fight with a sword, like everyone; Óðinn, the hard father of Baldr, wishes to choose the wretched, dark slain.”
~Styrbjarnar þáttr Svíakappa
Painting: Walkürenritt by Adolf Münzer, 1897.
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“Hildr stendr hverjan myrgin
hjaldrs und rauðum skildi;
nú hafa sigrmeyjar settan
sverðleik Dǫnum harðan.
Eiguð víga vægi
vill Baldrs faðir illan
Óðinn harðr sem allir
óljósan val kjósa.”

A rare early Anglo Saxon ansate or equal-armed brooch, found in Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, 5-6th Century. Similar brooches appeared in continental Europe from the 7th Century onwards; this was a uniquely English pattern, also one of the few found in male Anglo Saxon burials. 𐘾

“Halfs eyris metk hverjan 
hrísrunn fyr ǫ́ sunnan; 
vel hafa víðir skógar 
vargi opt of borgit.”
“I value each bush south of the river at half an ounce; extensive woods have often protected a wolf well.”
~Lausavísa by Víga-Glúm
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An Anglo Saxon bronze lyre bow and tuning peg from Oakley, Suffolk, 6-7th Century. Imagine the songs and epic poetry that it would have overseen. 𐘾

A Viking Age silver Gungnir pendant from the National Museum of Denmark.
Heill þér Óðinn! ᚸ

Arminius’s uncle was called Inguiomerus by Tacitus. If we are to believe -merus was a Latinization of Proto-Germanic mērijaz, renowned, his name would’ve been Ingvi’s renowned. Quite the title. 
Painting by Alexander Zick, 1901. ᛝ

People talk a lot about “unity” these days.

A major factor in the Romans abandoning their conquest of Germania was there was no one unified political centre to subdue, no one king to parade through Rome in golden chains. Take out one chieftain, a dozen more will fight on in his place.

Wars of unification were ultimately what ended the period of exploration and innovation that was the Viking Age. Scandinavia never truly recovered, and was never as feared nor respected again. Yet, centuries later, the very word “Viking” still conjures an image in the minds of millions.

Unity is overrated. The ethos of a people is ultimately what shapes history.

Painting: Furor Teutonicus by Paja Jovanović, 1899. 𐘾

A Celtic bronze funerary mask of the Hallstatt Culture, from Kleinklein, Austria, 5th Century BC. The style of the face is very similar to that of Bell Beaker Culture stelae. 𐃏

A unique Viking Age pendant from Ribe, Denmark, with a piece of quartz set in silver, held in by four bear heads. 𐘾

An unusual bronze gripping beast mount from Norddjurs, Denmark, with a highly surreal figure; perhaps a landvættir. 𐘾

Something that stands out in multiple Roman accounts of Caledonia and Germania is, there wasn’t a moment when the Romans admitted to a crushing defeat. They pretended they were in charge and winning until they couldn’t, and even when they were in full retreat, they pretended it was their idea.
In other words…never blackpill.
Painting by Angus McBride. 𐘾

In the Orkneyinga saga, a crew broke into a burial mound called Orkahaugr, today called Maeshowe, to seek shelter from a storm. The mound contains several runic inscriptions, one reading; Jórsalafarar brutu Orkhaug, “Jerusalem-travellers (crusaders) broke Orkahaugr”.
ᛁ︍ᚬᚱᛋᚬᛚᚬᚠᚬᚱᚬᚱ᛫ᛒᚱᚢᛏᚢ᛫ᚬ︍ᚱᚴᚼᚬᚢᚴ︌᛫

One of the rune sticks from Bryggen, N B384, bears interesting cypher runes shaped like bearded faces, the rune’s ætt indicated by the hairs on the left, its place within it by the hairs on the right. 
The inscription reads -sim liui sinu, “sem lífi sínu”, as his life, thought to be the remnant of a love note. The Skáld-Helga rímur contains the term “unna einum sem lífi sínu”, to love someone as one’s own life.
Or; perhaps it was a healing charm; the Old Norse term lyf/líf applied to medicine, the sustainment of life.
ᛋᛁᛘ᛫ᛚᛁᚢᛁ᛫ᛋᛁᚾᚢ

A Viking Age bronze buckle with two dragon heads at the edges of the frame and a bear head in the middle, found in North Yorkshire, 9-11th Century. 𐘾

To become a healer, the Sigrdrífumál advises carving runes on a tree whose branches face eastward.
In the Hárbarðsljóð, Thor returns from fighting jötnar in the east; facing the runes east towards Jötunheimr may have been believed to subdue evil forces.

“Brimrúnar skaltu rísta, ef þú vilt borgit hafa
á sundi seglmörum;
á stafni skal rísta ok á stjórnarblaði
ok leggja eld í ár, er-a svá brattr breki
né svá bláar unnir, þó kemstu heill af hafi.”

“Branch-runes learn, if a healer wouldst be,
And cure for wounds wouldst work;
On the bark shalt thou write, and on trees that be
With boughs to the eastward bent.”
~Sigrdrífumál 10, Bellows

Painting: Thor, Hymir and the Midgard Serpent by Lorenz Frølich, 1906. 𐘾

Lovely bronze Viking Age animal head mount or pendant from the National Museum of Denmark. 𐘾

Some musings on the bear cults of Northern Europe…

With European brown bears, an estimated 95% of charges are defensive in nature. To avoid an attack, make yourself smaller, that’s how you say “I’m not here to challenge you” to a bear. Basically, bow to the king of the forest.

This could have provided an initiation rite and a test of courage second to none; with a big bear coming towards you, every instinct screaming at you to run or reach for a weapon, will you be able to master your base instincts and remember, and have the faith, to bow?

This could be where the taboos against harming bears originated, as attempting to fight one would most often result in even a seasoned warrior becoming part of the forest floor.

This could even be how bowing and prostration became part of worshipping the Gods; not just as a show of submission, but a show of faith.

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