The Use of Images of the Gods in Germanic Religious Practice

There is a rather misleading statement contained in Tacitus' Germania in which he states regarding idols of the Gods:

"The Germans, however, do not consider it consistent with the grandeur of celestial beings to confine the gods within walls, or to liken them to the form of any human countenance. They consecrate woods and groves, and they apply the names of deities to the abstraction which they see only in spiritual worship." (Germania 9, translation by Church and Brodribb)

We do know from archaeological excavations that the ancient Germans did in fact possess idols of the Gods and as I have already demonstrated in earlier articles they also built temples for the worship of the Gods. Anthropomorphic wooden idols have been found in Germanic speaking areas going back as far as the Bronze Age. A good example of such an idol is the Broddenbjerg idol which dates back to the 6th century BCE and discovered in a peat bog in Viborg in Denmark. These idols are known as ithyphallic (the male variety of course) and referred to as Pole Gods. There are female versions of these wooden idols as well. Such idols were not confined to the Germanic peoples but are also to be found in formerly Celtic speaking and Slavic speaking areas, indicating that this was a northern European religious feature.

Rudolf Simek (Dictionary of Northern Mythology) is of the opinion that Pole Gods were known as early as the European Stone Age and thus represent probably one of the most archaic expressions of Germanic and Aryan religiosity. He conjectures that the Pole Gods may in fact be connected in some way with the Irminsul. Perhaps theses were smaller variations of this cult.

Tacitus does contradict himself as elsewhere in Germania 40 he refers to the sacred grove of Nerthus and the implication is that She was represented by an image, cared for by Her priest. Perhaps Her image was more elaborate than that of the Pole Gods.

Going forward to 11th century Iceland we have the bronze figurine of the Eyraraland Thor holding a Hammer which strongly resembles the famous Foss Wolf's Hammer. The Icelandic sagas frequently refer to temple images of the Gods. Adam of Bremen in 1070 wrote about the golden images of three Gods; Thor, Wodan and Fricco in the Uppsala temple in Sweden. So clearly the Germanic peoples consistently used idols or images of the Gods as part of their religious practice from the Stone Age to the Mediaeval period. Such practices continued in the Baltic lands right up to the 16th century.

I believe that it is a misunderstanding to say that the Germanic peoples literally worshiped these figures made by their own hands. This is a typical accusation made by Christian clerics. What they fail to understand is that these figures represented the Gods symbolically. Nigel Pennick explains this very well in his Secrets of the Runes. In discussing the mysterious force known as Ond he states that it can accumulate in sacred images and worshippers are in fact accessing the reserves of Ond located in the image, the inner essence in other words. This same energy may be found in sacred wells, groves and stones.

Yngly, the Slavic Ing

Much of what we know of Slavic mythology is contained in their surviving poetry, some of which is ancient and can be traced back to pre-Christian times. William Shedden Ralston in his Songs of the Russian People (1872) is one of the earliest works in English to throw light upon Slavic mythology. Even today his book remains one of the few available in the English language. This is a shame as the more we can learn about Slavic and Baltic mythology the more insight we can get into our own Germanic mythology and religious practices.

Ralston on page 62 of his book (Chapter : The Old Gods) refers to this surviving literature as the "Slavonic Vedas". Today one sometimes comes across the term Slavic Vedas or the Slavic-Aryan Vedas. These are still (to pardon a pun) a closed book to us in North-West Europe. It is hoped that in the course of time that this will change. Interestingly one branch of Slavic heathenism, Ynglism regards the creator of the universe as a God named Yngly and His followers as the Ynglings who were the patriarchs of the Slavs and other Indo-European peoples. How close indeed is this name to the Germanic Ing, the Ingling dynasty and the Ingvaeone division of the Germanic peoples! Incidentally if anyone is able to advise me where to obtain a printed copy of the Slavic-Aryan Vedas in English (or German) I would be grateful!

The main symbol of the Ynglists is a type of Swastika. Their religion appears to be firmly rooted in an Indo-European Weltanschauung and this should be of interest to us. An awakening is occurring amongst the Aryan peoples as they seek to recover the lost and battered lore of their pre-Christian ancestors who were forced to accept the alien and Semitic religion of Christianity. We can only succeed in our endeavours if we take a two sided approach to this. Everything that we teach and practice must ultimately be grounded in the traditions of our ancestors but at the same time we can recover knowledge through the Blood Memory. We must be rooted but not stuck in the past as if we were merely a re-enactment society but venture forth into the future as the form of our religion evolves over time, suited to our current and future needs.

Halfdan, son of Thor?

Halfdan was an historical 5th-6th century CE Danish king of the Scylding lineage. However Viktor Rydberg in his Teutonic Mythology Volume 1 gives him a divine parentage:

"Like his father, Halfdan was the fruit of a double fatherhood, a divine and a human. Saxo was aware of this double fatherhood, and relates of his Halfdan Berggram that he, although the son of a human prince, was respected as a son of Thor, and honoured as a god among that people who longest remained heathen; that is to say, the Swedes. In his saga, as told by Saxo, Thor holds his protecting hand over Halfdan like a father his son."

Indeed Rydberg not only claims Halfdan to be a son of Thor but also claims that he is the divine Germanic patriarch Mannus, referred to in Germania 2.2 by Tacitus. He argues that Frigg or Jord is the mother of Mannus' father Tuisto who is "a god brought forth from the earth" (Rives translation of Germania) or "an earth-born god" (Mattingley/Handford translation). Jord (Old Norse 'the earth') is an ancient earth Goddess who is referred to as the mother of Thor in the Eddas. It may be that she is far more ancient than Frigg but as we know it was common practice in our mythology for the functions of older deities to be subsumed by newer ones. If Tuisto is the son of Jord then it is possible that Tuisto may equate with Thor or that is the reasoning of Rydberg. What he does not appear to have considered is that Tuisto and Thor may have been brothers and the interest that Thor shows in Halfdan could be that of an uncle for his nephew which we know to have been a strong and sacred bond amongst our ancestors which rivalled that of father and son.

Rudolf Simek in his Dictionary of Northern Mythology speculates that Tuisto was an hermaphrodite and the manuscript form of this name, Tuisco points to the "same basic meaning". Rydberg points out that like Mannus Halfdan has three sons:

"While Mannus has a son Ingaevo, Halfdan has a stepson Yngve, Inge (Svipdag). The scond son of Mannus is named Hermio. Haldan's son with Groa is called Gudhormr. The second part of this name has, as Jassen has already pointed out, nothing to do with ormr. It may be that the name should be divided Gud-hormr, and that hormr should be referred to Hermio. Mannus' third son is Istaevo. The Celtic scholar Zeuss has connected this name with that of the Gothic (more properly Vandal) heroic race Azdingi, and Grimm has again connected Azdingi with Hazdiggo (Haddingr). Halfdan's third son is in Saxo called Hadingus." (Teutonic Mythology Volume 1, Chapter 25)

 In Our Fathers' Godsaga Rydberg refers to Halfdan as "the first Germanic king". Again Rydberg argues that Tacitus refers to him as Mannus.  Now turning to the original sources there are some intriguing references in Saxo Grammaticus' The History of the Danes (English translation by Oliver Elton) to a 'champion' called Thore who fights alongside Halfdan:

"When Halfdan had by this man's help regained his full strength, he summoned Thore, a champion of notable capacity, and proclaimed war against Erik. But when the forces were led out on the other side, and he saw that Erik was superior in numbers, he hid a part of his army, and instructed it to lie in ambush among the bushes by the wayside, in order to destroy the enemy by an ambuscade as he marched through the narrow part of the path. Erik foresaw this, having reconnoitred his means of advancing, and thought he must withdraw for fear, if he advanced along the track he had intended, of being hard-pressed by the tricks of the enemy among the steep windings of the hills. They therefore joined battle, force against force, in a deep valley, inclosed all round by lofty mountain ridges. Here Halfdan, when he saw the line of his men wavering, climbed with Thore up a crag covered with stones and, uprooting boulders, rolled them down upon the enemy below; and the weight of these as they fell crushed the line that was drawn up in the lower position. Thus he regained with stones the victory which he had lost with arms. For this deed of prowess he received the name of Biargramm ("rock strong"), a word which seems to have been compounded from the name of his fierceness and of the mountains. He soon gained so much esteem for this among the Swedes that he was thought to be the son of the great Thor, and the people bestowed divine honours upon him, and judged him worthy of public libation." (Book 7)

Hilda Ellis Davidson who provided the commentary to the translation by Peter Fisher suggests that the term 'Biargrammus' means 'rock strong' and does not occur in any other text. Thus she speculates that this may be a title for Thor. 

Halfdan is also pictured in Saxo as often fighting with an oak club. This was also the weapon of choice of Hercules who the Germanic peoples equated with Donar, the southern Germanic version of Thor. Donarkeule or Donar Clubs were worn as a protective amulet by the early Germanic tribes, certainly until it was later replaced by the more popular Hammer amulets. The Hammer is a later development of the Axe, all three being symbolic of the Germanic and Indo-Germanic Thunder God. There are several English and Scandinavian folktales that refer to Thor or the 'Devil' (a demonised Thor) throwing rocks down upon his enemies, usually from the top of a mountain. The oak and the mountain are strongly associated with the northern European Thunder God.

. "Halfdan, stung with this shameful affront, accepted the challenge; meaning to wipe out with noble deeds of valour such an insulting taunt upon his celibacy. And while he chanced to be walking through a shady woodland, he plucked up by the roots all oak that stuck in his path, and, by simply stripping it of its branches, made it look like a stout club. Having this trusty weapon, he composed a short song as follows:" (Book 7, Elton translation)  

Oak is of course sacred to the Thunder God and you will note that Halfdan must have possessed supernatural strength to uproot an oak by its roots! On an earlier occasion he also used a club as a weapon:

"After this he attacked Sweden, and destroyed its king in the field. Afterwards he prepared to meet the king's grandson Erik, the son of his own uncle Frode, in battle; and when he heard that Erik's champion, Hakon, was skillful in blunting swords with his spells, he fashioned, to use for clubbing, a huge mace studded with iron knobs, as if he would prevail by the strength of wood over the power of sorcery." (Book, Elton translation)

Iron of course is also sacred to Thor and the metal which his second Hammer was later constructed from. On a third occasion he again uses a club as a weapon:

"Presently he cut down an oak-tree and fashioned it into a club, fought the twelve single-handed, and killed them." (Book 7, Elton translation)

 Earlier in Book 3 of Saxo there is a reference to Thor wielding a club:

"However, Thor was swinging his club with marvellous might, and shattered all interposing shields, calling as loudly on his foes to attack him as upon his friends to back him up." (Elton translation)

 We are told that Hother (Hodr in the Eddas) "hewed off the club at the haft":

"Thus the victory would have passed to the gods, but that Hother, though his line had already fallen back, darted up, hewed off the club at the haft, and made it useless. And the gods, when they had lost this weapon, fled incontinently. But that antiquity vouches for it, it were quite against common belief to think that men prevailed against gods. (We call them gods in a supposititious rather than in a real sense; for to such we give the title of deity by the custom of nations, not because of their nature.)" (Elton translation) 

This caused the Aesir to lose the battle. In the Skaldskaparmal in the Younger Edda we have an explanation as to why the handle of Thor's Hammer was short. Loki had turned into a fly and had on several occasions bit the dwarf smith Sindri, the latter time on his eyelid which distracted him and caused the handle of the Hammer to be made shorter than desired. In the latter of the three accounts which refer to Haldan fighting with his oak club the later part of the tale suddenly and unaccountably refers to his weapon as being a 'giant hammer':

"Then with the remaining band of his champions he attacked Halfdan, who crushed him with a hammer of wondrous size, so that he lost both victory and life; paying the penalty both to Halfdan, whom he had challenged, and to the kings whose offspring he had violently ravished." (Book 7) 

 

The Germanic Physical Characteristics of the Caledonians and the Diamond Shape of Albion

There is potentially further evidence for the presence of the Germanic peoples in Scotland. Certain interesting passages from Tacitus' Agricola seem to indicate this:

"Who were the first inhabitants of Britain, whether indigenous  or immigrants, is a question involved in the obscurity usual among barbarians. Their temperament of body is various, whence deductions are formed of their different origin. Thus, the ruddy hair and large limbs of the Caledonians point out a German derivation. The swarthy complexion and curled hair of the Silures,  together with their situation opposite to Spain, render it probable that a colony of the ancient Iberi possessed themselves of that territory. They who are nearest Gaul resemble the inhabitants of that country; whether from the duration of hereditary influence, or whether it be that when lands jut forward in opposite directions,  climate gives the same condition of body to the inhabitants of both. On a general survey, however, it appears probable that the Gauls originally took possession of the neighboring coast. The sacred rites and superstitions  of these people are discernible among the Britons." (Agricola 11, translated by Edward Brooks)

This physical description of the Caledonians is matched by an observation by Eumenius who wrote that both the Picts and the Caledonians had red hair. However we must be cautious and bear in mind that Tacitus does not reveal the identity of the language spoken by the Caledonians.

 Another interesting  passage from Agricola concerns the perceived shape of England and the island of Britain:

"Britain, the largest of all the islands which have come within the knowledge of the Romans, stretches on the east towards Germany, on the west towards Spain,  and on the south it is even within sight of Gaul. Its northern extremity has no opposite land, but is washed by a wide and open sea. Livy, the most eloquent of ancient, and Fabius Rusticus, of modern writers, have likened the figure of Britain to an oblong target, or a two-edged axe.  And this is in reality its appearance, exclusive of Caledonia; whence it has been popularly attributed to the whole island. But that tract of country, irregularly stretching out to an immense length towards the furthest shore, is gradually contracted in form of a wedge." (Agricola 10, translated by Edward Brooks)

This perception by the ancients of England or Britain as being diamond shaped is significant for the diamond is the shape of the Anglo-Saxon Ing rune and the Common Germanic Ingwaz rune. This rune is the rune of the God of the English, Ing. Indeed we have a mystery here for the association between the God of the English and the perceived shape of the homeland of the English are both encapsulated in this rune's shape. This is a powerful argument for the case that the English have always resided in Albion and that their supposed arrival in 449 CE was nothing other than a RETURN. One could thus argue that England or Britain is their Urheimat and not simply a territory colonised by Germanic tribes in the mid 5th century CE. To find therefore a people such as the Caledonians residing in the north of the island and being likened by Tacitus as Germans further strengthens the argument that these islands have always been in the possession of the Germanic peoples.

Reflections on the Cerne Giant

"Cerne Abbas Giant in 2001", by PeteHarlow, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerne_Abbas_Giant The image has not been changed and the image owner does not endorse this blog.




England has many chalk hill figures and some are open to doubt as to their antiquity but much less so the Cerne giant. It is also generally accepted that the figure symbolises an Indo-European deity but whether this be classical, Celtic or Teutonic is open to debate. I have in previous articles referred to 4 possible candidates: Hercules, Herne/Cernunnos, Heil/Helis/Helith (a lost Saxon deity) and Donar. All 4 candidates have their merits as to being "Cerne".

What is interesting to note is that to the north of the figure there is a miniature earthwork known as the Trendle or Frying Pan. It is speculated that there once stood a Maypole on the mound up until the 20th century, around which people would dance on May Eve or Walpurgisnacht. This is an indication of sun worship and the pole has an obvious masculine polarity as does the phallus and oak club of the figure. It is speculated that the mound once contained a heathen temple. South of the figure is the small town of Cerne Abbas which has the ruins of a Benedictine abbey founded by Aelmar, Earl of Cornwall. Near the ruins there is a churchyard containing a spring of clear water which contains healing properties and no doubt predates the building of the abbey and the church.

Paul Newman (not the actor!) tells us in his Lost Gods of Albion. The Chalk Hill Figures of Britain, 1987 that a  wishing stone in the wall of the abbey, carved in the shape of a rosette is seen as a 'tribute' to St Catherine who absorbed some heathen qualities. Mr Newman tells us that there has developed in the popular imagination a connection between the well and the figure that "the spring supplying the feminine principle to balance the Giant's masculinity. " I think that this is a valid theory despite Mr Newman's apparent negativity towards it. The concept of male/female polarity is evident everywhere in the sacred landscape of Britain and this fact is something that academics are only beginning to grasp. St Catherine who like most saints is not an historical personage is believed to be a Christianised Indo-European fire deity. Her symbol, the wheel and her feast day 25th November are suggestive of a connection with the ancient feast of Yule.