The Mixed Celtic and Germanic Tribes of Continental Europe and the British Isles-the Belgae

 Our knowledge concerning the tribes inhabiting the British Isles, most especially the island of Great Britain itself comes primarily from the writings of Greek and Roman historians, and archaeology. Population genetics is also beginning to play a part in unfolding our knowledge of Bronze and Iron Age Britain.

A simplistic understanding of the ethnicity of the tribes present in the island at the time of the Roman Conquest in the years 43-87CE is that all of the tribes were 'Celtic'-speaking 'Britons' until the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon invasions and colonisation of present-day England in 449CE. This is not only highly simplistic but false. A mix of both Celtic and Germanic peoples was already present in these islands at the time of the Roman Conquest. Migration from continental Europe was a factor for thousands of years prior to this. Some of the tribes of the Roman province of Britannia (present-day England and Wales) were not Celtic at all but Germanic or Celto-Germanic. The better known of these were the Belgae, who migrated from Gaul during the late 2nd century or early first century BCE.

The Belgae were not a single tribe but a confederation of closely related tribes resident in northern Gaul, namely the Bellovaci, Ambiani, Atrebates and Veromandui. Ironically, modern maps showing the location of Iron Age tribes in Britain locate the Belgae to the west of the Atrebates but the latter were part of the Belgae confederation. The German or Germanic roots of the Belgae are confirmed by Caesar in Book II of his Bello Gallico:

                           'When Caesar inquired of them what states were in arms, 

                            how powerful they were and what they could do, in war,

                            he received the following information:

                            that the greater part of the Belgae, were sprung from the Germans, 

                           and that having crossed the Rhine at an early period, 

                           they had settled there, on account of the fertility of the country,

                           and had driven out the Gauls who inhabited those regions;.....'

                            (Devitte translation)

Of the Belgae who migrated to Britain, we know that the Atrebates were among them, and possibly, the Ambiani (from Numismatics, the study of their coinage). In addition to the Belgae, it is now speculated that the Iceni of East Anglia also had Germanic or Celto-Germanic origins. The Cenimagni tribe, referred to by Caesar in Book V of Bello Gallico may very well have been a misspelling of ICENI and the name is suggestive of a Germanic root. The image of what appears to be Odin on Iceni coinage adds further weight to the hypothesis of Germanic origins.

The Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/license

The ancient city of Winchester in Hampshire was the administrative centre of the kingdom of Wessex (the West Saxons). The kings of Wessex eventually united the whole of England into one kingdom. The present King of the United Kingdom, Charles III is a descendant of Alfred the Great, the most notable of the kings of Wessex. However, Winchester's history can be traced much further back than the 9th century and the etymology of its name is derived from Wenta, a Celtic word with the meaning 'tribal town' or 'meeting place'. Subsequent to the Roman Conquest, Winchester became an important settlement for the Belgae, its name then being recorded as Wenta Belgarum, meaning 'Wenta of the Belgae'.  

What should be pointed out however, is that mixed tribes on the continent or in these islands may be mixed in terms of language, culture, belief or ancestry or any combination of these features. Thus, when discussing the possible Germanic ancestral antecedents of the Iceni, the Belgae or any other tribe, it must be borne in mind that there is no evidence that they were necessarily Germanic-speaking.

 Referring back to the continental home of the Belgae, Caeser referred to the German origins of these people but his precise words were: 'that the greater part of the Belgae, were sprung, from the Germans,....'    The emphasis here is 'the greater part'; he did not state that they were all sprung from the Germans and neither did he say that those who were of German ancestry were not also descended from any Celtic peoples as well. By the time that Caesar wrote about the Belgae, they had already been settled in Gaul for a sufficient time for any mixing of blood, language, culture and religion to occur. 

Tacitus, writing in his Germania, chapter two states:

                                  'for that the people who first crossed the Rhine, and expelled

                                   the Gauls, and are now called Tungri, were then named Germans;

                                   which appellation of a particular tribe, not of a whole people,

                                   gradually prevailed; so that the title of Germans, first assumed

                                   by the victors in order to excite terror, was afterwards adopted

                                   by the nation in general.'    

The Tungri, it should be pointed out, were part of the Belgae tribal confederation.

More or less within the same time period that Caesar was writing his Bello Gallico, the Belgae who were already established in southern Britain were still ruled by the same king who governed the Belgae in Gaul, Diviciacus of the Belgic Suessiones tribe. It should be noted that the etymology of Suessiones appears to be Gallic in origin, not Germanic. This Diviciacus should not be confused with the druid of the same name who belonged to the Gallic Aedui tribe.

There is also speculation by scholars that the Regni or Regnenses in southeast England were also part of the Belgae confederation or at the very least they were influenced by them and may have had a Belgic leadership stratum. Gunivortus Goos (Gardenstone), a Dutch researcher and a long time resident of Germany (whose books I recommend) suggests in his excellent new work, Britain and Boudicca (2025) that other tribes such as the Catuvellauni and the Trinovantes were or may have been of Belgic origin. Mr Goos provides a lot of interesting information on individual tribes in his aforesaid work with maps and coloured illustrations. 

It would also appear that the Belgae were not restricted to just Gaul and modern-day England but were also present in Iron Age Ireland too. According to Professor Thomas Francis O'Rahilly (1882-1953), some of the Belgae settled in south-west Ireland in the fifth century BCE, becoming the Iverni (Erainn). He also was of the opinion that the memory of the Belgic settlers was preserved in Irish mythology in the name and people of the Fir Bolg. This latter theory is no longer acceptable to 'mainstream' historians (nothing to do with Irish republicanism then?).

What we do know from this patchwork of Celtic and Celto-Germanic tribes present in Iron Age England is that the accepted paradigm of a totally 'Celtic' Britain prior to the Anglo-Saxon colonisations from 449CE onwards is now no longer tenable! 

                           

The Nonsense Talked about so-called 'Shield-Maidens'

 In recent years a great deal has been assumed on the subject of 'shield-maidens', sparked off by the discovery that the body buried in Birka grave Bj581 was that of a female, not a male. From the time of its discovery in 1878, it was naturally assumed to be male due to the presence of a sword, a seax, an axe, a spear, two shields, armour piercing arrows and two stirrups.

Analysis of the skeleton's pelvic bones  in 2016, and a DNA analysis in 2017, established the remains to be female. An analysis of the weapons indicates that they had been used. Naturally, academics and feminists are wetting themselves into a frenzy about this and the assumption (unproven) follows that 'shield-maidens', either organised groups of them or individuals, were a common and natural part of life in 10th century Sweden, and by extension, the rest of Scandinavia and the wider Germanic world. However, as the saying goes, 'one swallow doth not a spring make.'

One thing that I would like the academics and feminists to explain, is the lack of wear and tear to the woman's bones, which one would expect from a seasoned warrior. The presence of weapons in a grave is not proof that its occupant was a warrior, and the condition of the bones would suggest otherwise. However, that did not hinder the makers of the television series, The Vikings from presenting 'shield maidens' for their gullible audience to uncritically assume as an historical 'fact'. It was an enjoyable series but at the end of the day, it was simply fiction.

Likewise, feminists and academics will refer to the presence of a few female warriors in ancient myths and legends and cite that as evidence to support their theory. Typical examples from the Germanic world include the following: Brynhildr from the Volsunga Saga, Brunhild from the Niebelungenlied, Hervor from the Saga of Hervor and Heidrek, Lagertha from Gesta Danorum (Deeds of the Danes) and many other lesser known ones. Examples from the Celtic world include Queen Mebd of Connacht from the Tain Bo Cuailinge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley), and Scathach, also from the Tain. There are also examples that my readers will be aware of from ancient history but none of them are said to be warriors but leaders of warriors, such as Boudica, the Queen of the Iceni (Tacitus, Annals), Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd, princess of Deheubarth, Aethelflaed, the Lady of the Mercians and daughter of Alfred the Great. Nobody is disputing the historical existence of female leaders of warriors but that is a far cry from the concept of the common place so-called 'shield-maiden'. 

Meritocracy, the Enemy of the Traditional World and the Indo-European Caste System

Some time ago I read read some suggestions that the revived Germanic caste system should be based on a meritocracy, something which I cannot agree with and in essence is a contradiction of the concept of caste. Meritocracy is defined according to the Collins Concise English Dictionary as:
"rule by persons chosen for their superior talents or intellect." In effect this is the system which is used by democracy which the aforesaid dictionary defines as: "government by the people or their elected representatives."

It is clear to me that we cannot have both; a caste system and a meritocracy. The caste systems of the Indo-European peoples were no doubt a reflection of the original Aryan caste system, something which I have discussed many times on this blog and on my previous blogs. I do not intend to repeat the same arguments here. There was originally no mobility between the various castes. Only gradually with the onset of degeneration and intercaste miscegenation did this happen. This eventually caused the breakdown of the caste system and the loss of racial consciousness and blood memory. People were born into the caste which was fitting to their non-corporeal essence. There was generally no desire to be different to the station and caste that one was born into. This is a very modern and western notion and has no place in a traditional Aryan world view. Julius Evola in his Revolt Against the Modern World argues that traditional man was able to develop his own nature within the caste system and the said system was regarded as a "natural, agreeable institution" with no thoughts of 'social injustice' or 'oppression' which are modern political concepts. A man recognised his relation towards his superiors and inferiors according to their inner nature which the caste system was a visible expression of. The modern concept of 'social mobility' in antithetical to the traditional Indo-European concept of caste. The castes defined functions and ways of being. In essence they were a microcosm of the divine order of the Gods.

Professor Jean Haudry makes the observation in his The Indo-Europeans that "Celtic society has three function-classes.....but only two birth-classes." By this statement he is arguing that there was a certain degree of mobility between the priestly and warrior castes but not so with the third. In ancient Germanic society the descendants of a man that had been freed from the condition of thraldom were only recognised as freemen from the third generation onwards.


This point regarding mobility is important as the first two castes-sovereign/priest, warrior/noble are clearly distinct from the third caste which relates to either production or trade (the mercantile or middle classes). The difference is most apparent when we consider the Rigsthula in the Elder/Poetic Edda. The third caste here is not that of the producer but that of the thralls and it is very clear from the description of this caste that they bear no physical (an in my opinion, genetic) resemblance to the jarl or karl castes:

"Edda a child brought forth: they with water sprinkled its swarthy skin, and named it Thrael. It grew up, and well it throve; of its hands the skin was shrivelled, the knuckles knotty, and the fingers thick; a hideous countenance it had, a curved back, and protruding heels." (Rigsthula 7-8, Thorpe translation)

By comparison the karl is described as being a 'ruddy redhead' and the jarl as having 'light' hair. Clearly the higher Germanic castes were of Nordic race whilst the thrall is by definition a slave and is clearly of inferior physical, mental and spiritual disposition. As I have mentioned before the thrall has no place in the true Aryan caste system for the Germanic is a degenerated form of the Aryan. If one studies Rigsthula one can see the original Aryan tripartite system: Kon (son of Jarl), Jarl and Karl. Thus the kon (priestly/royal caste is biologically related to the jarl (warrior/noble) and rules over the related  karl caste. The introduction of the thrall caste only occurred in my opinion when the Germanic peoples encountered, conquered and enslaved alien peoples. One lesson that history teaches us is that imperialism and slavery rebound upon the conquering elite with the pollution and watering down of the Aryan blood. We are seeing this sad state of affairs all around us today. It is of course likely or at least possible that the physical descriptions in Rigsthula are an exaggeration to emphasise the difference between the castes, no doubt to help maintain caste boundaries.


Let us now read what Caesar had to say about the caste system in Gaul:

Throughout all Gaul there are two orders of those men who are of any rank and dignity: for the commonality is held almost in the condition of slaves, and dares to undertake nothing of itself, and is admitted to no deliberation. The greater part, when they are pressed either by debt, or the large amount of their tributes, or the oppression of the more powerful, give themselves up in vassalage to the nobles, who possess over them the same rights without exception as masters over their slaves. But of these two orders, one is that of the Druids, the other that of the knights. The former are engaged in things sacred, conduct the public and the private sacrifices, and interpret all matters of religion. To these a large number of the young men resort for the purpose of instruction, and they [the Druids] are in great honor among them. (The Gallic Wars, Book 6:13, McDevitte and Bohn translation)

Clearly the only castes which mattered among the Gauls were the Druids (priestly) and the Knights (warriors/nobles). Unfortunately he does not give us a physical description of the various castes. The Irish caste system is also worth examining in this context. Peter Berresford Ellis states that Irish society was divided into various sub classes of druids, a 'warrior nobility' and 'free peasants' called 'cow-herds'. He makes the interesting observation that the Irish term for 'cow-herds' is bo aire. He also states that the 'Chief Magistrate' of a tribe was known as the Aire Echta. (See page 194 of The Druids)

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that it was the highest castes of Indo-European society that were clearly Nordic in race and descended from the ancient solar Aryan race, semi-divine beings who brought culture and order to a chaotic and primitive world. With the onset of the Kali Yuga these semi-divine beings degenerated from their godly condition and thus many of their European descendants today behave little better than the beasts of the field in their lechery and drunkenness. The masses have become degenerate both physically and spiritually. They have become as thralls and  are acting according to type. This is why a meritocracy can have no lasting benefits. As a final point  I would ask my readers to consider the fake knighthoods and peerages are today doled out to political sycophants and wealthy donators to political parties. These modern day 'lords' and 'knights' are fake plastic impostors and undeserving of titles which once belonged to those of superior noble blood and those who through courageous deeds in warfare were elevated to the status of knighthood. Even those families with ancient titles no longer deserve the station that they hold. How many of these newly knighted parvenus can mount a horse and fight with sword and lance? This is just another example of life in the Kali Yuga in the degenerate 'western world', the epitome of which is that enemy of all nobility, the United States of America, a capitalist cess pit  which is viewed by many British politicians and the masses in general as worthy of emulation!

The Concept of Scripture Within a Germanic Heathen Context

We often hear the phrase 'religion(s) of the book' and this is always applied to the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The 'book' referred to are the collective scriptures of the aforesaid religions. The Christian Bible incorporates the Hebrew Bible, referred to by Christians as the Old Testament and adds to this the four canonical gospels, the various epistles (letters) and the rather strange Book of Revelation. What is not common knowledge amongst non-Christians and even amongst many Christians is that there is a collection of other scriptural books known collectively as the Apocrypha. The original King James Bible which is also known as the Authorised Version contained the Apocrypha and this was sandwiched between the Old and New Testaments. The same can be said for the Geneva Bible which was published in its entirety in 1560, 51 years before the King James Bible. However this was not the first English Bible for that dubious honour belongs to the Great Bible, authorised by Henry VIII in 1539. Prior to this only parts of the Bible had been translated into English, namely the Tyndale New Testament (1525) and the Pentateuch (1530) which are the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

The Apocrypha consists of the following books:

1 Esdras
2 Esdras
Tobit
Judith
Rest of Esther
Wisdom
Ecclesiasticus
Baruch
Epistle of Jeremiah
Song of the Three Children
Story of Susannah
The Idol Bel and the Dragon
Prayer of Manasseh
1 Maccabees
2 Maccabees

It is quite rare to find the Apocrypha in later revisions of the English Bible (and there have been many in recent years) and you will struggle to find a King James Bible with one but not impossible and some of the books make for very interesting reading when approached from the perspective of comparative mythology, especially Bel and the Dragon! Whilst the Apocrypha is recognised as deuterocanonical which gives them a secondary status below that of the Old and New Testaments by both the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches it is virtually ignored by those Protestant Churches which broke away from the Church of England.

What is interesting is that the quite well known Book of Enoch is excluded from the Apocrypha and did not form part of the canon of scriptures of either Judaism or most Christian Churches apart from the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches and yet part of the book is referred to in the Epistle of Jude, a book which Martin Luther did not accept as scripture along with the Epistles of James and Hebrews and the Book of Revelation. However his followers ignored him on this point! The Book of Enoch contains much that may be useful for us to study as Armanen or esoteric heathens along with the Epistle of James and the Book of Revelation. Many other initiates have come to the same conclusion including the late David Lane. The biblical books here and there do contain obvious plagiarisms from Indo-European writings, spiritual systems and mythologies which do not fit into a Semitic mindset. In addition to the Apocrypha and the Book of Enoch we have the relatively recent discoveries of gnostic gospels:

Gospel of Thomas
Gospel of Marcion
Gospel of Basilides
Gospel of Truth
Gospel of the Four Heavenly Realms
Gospel of Mary
Gospel of Judas
Greek Gospel of the Egyptians
Gospel of Philip
Pseudo-Gospel of the Twelve
Gospel of Perfection
Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians

There are also many other non-gnostic gospels that did not make it into the canon of biblical scripture but it is abundantly clear that the concept of what is 'scripture' amongst these so-called 'religions of the book' is a moot point and many of these writings are very far removed from traditional Christianity and reveal a gnostic and pagan influence.

As Germanic heathens we too have our own 'scriptures' although there is a general collective tendency to avoid use of this term but I believe that this feeling is more to do with our rejection of the Christian religion than any well thought through analysis. We have of course the Eddas which are divided into two collections of writings; the Poetic Edda also known as the Elder Edda, written down in the 13th century and ascribed to Saemundr the Learned although this is rejected by modern scholars. Apart from anything Saemundr lived from 1056-1133 and the Edda or Codex Regius (which forms part of this Edda) dates back to the 13th century. This Edda is older and distinguished from the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241) by being poetic in form. It is believed that Snorri either quoted from the Elder Edda or from a common and now lost source. The Elder Edda contains the mythological poems found in the Codex Regius but also additional material such as other mythological poems, e.g. the Rigsthula and also heroic lays such as those based upon Helgi and the Niflung Cycle. Sometimes one may find parts of the Elder Edda published in two volumes; one volume of mythological poetry and one of heroic poetry.

Both Eddas should be studied by heathens and it is advisable to study more than one translation of each Edda. It is even better if one were to study the Eddas in the original Old Norse language. To this end I have recently embarked upon a study of Old Norse as well as Modern Icelandic on which it is based. It is clear to me that from my analysis of various translations of the Eddas that there is at times a clear guesswork involved by the translator and for this reason I prefer to make my own best guess!

We are left with the important question of how do we view the Eddas? Do we view them simply as a  useful collection of old writings from which we may gain important information about our Gods or do we ascribe a certain sanctity to them? I have mentioned before in earlier articles on other blogs that there is a certain blasé attitude amongst some heathens today in terms of how they approach the Gods, as if they somehow have less power or deserve less respect that that of the Judeo-Christian god and I believe that this attitude may be explained in two ways. Heathens associate the Judeo-Christian god with a monotheistic, all powerful and universal god. However monotheism does not have its origins in Judaism but in Indo-European religions such as Hinduism and Zoroastrianism and Akhenaten's Great Hymn to the Aten (See A Son of God: The Life and Philosophy of Akhnaton, King of Egypt and Joy of the Sun: The Beautiful Life of Akhnaton, King of Egypt, Told To Young People, both by Savitri Devi). Secondly there is in these modern times a tendency to reject all authority whether this be the authority of the Gods or of man. Consequently the Eddas are seen to lack the authority of the Judeo-Christian scriptures. This may be attributed to a general trend towards the atomisation of individuals who divorce themselves from the notions of community and society. This idea is echoed in the words of the late Margaret Thatcher: "And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families." Whist individualism in itself is not a negative thing it has to be balanced towards our duties towards clan, tribe and race.

When heathens embrace the ancient Gods of their ancestors they do so with an attitude of conscious rejection of the Christian god and all aspects of the Christian religion. This is understandable and to an extent necessary. However we need to consider that the Christian religion underwent fundamental changes when it encountered our ancestors and certain accommodations were made to embrace heathens apart from the use of force, violence and law. This whole subject is analysed very thoroughly in a remarkable book which I read many tears ago by Dr James C. Russell-The Germanization of Medieval Christianity: A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation, 1994. This work has been referred to by Edred Thorsson in his writings and I recommend this book to all my readers. The process of the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples was (contrary to the perception of many heathens) a two way process and ironically we can discover remnants of our pre-Christian beliefs in some of the rituals and practices of the mediaeval Christian Church if we know where to look! Another work which may be useful in this regard is Christianity: The Origins of a Pagan Religion by Professor Philippe Walther, 2006. On the issue of the Christ figure we have the much older work, Aryan Sun-Myths: Origin of Religion by Sarah E. Titcomb with an Introduction by Charles Morris, 1899. The more recent Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled by Acharya S, 2004 is also in my opinion required reading on the subject.

Much of what is written in the Eddas is composed in the third person about the Gods and heroes but some elements of the Eddas, most notably the Havamal and elements of Gylfaginning are in the first person and spoken by All-Father Odin Himself. The Havamal (Sayings of the High One) contains wisdom that has been learned by the God, in part through His many wanderings in Midgarth and thus this part of the Elder Edda deserves special study by the Wodenist/Odinist.

Within Hinduism there are many scriptures or sacred writings and the oldest are to be found in the Rig Veda which I have often quoted from in my blogs. The Hindu approaches these scriptures with reverence and rightly so for they are the oldest Indo-European writings and the oldest religious text in use! I leave you with this one thought to consider as heathens: do not the words of Odin deserve our reverence or is this attitude to be reserved only for the Christian 'god'?

Some Observations about Bilskirnir, Folkvang, Valhalla and the Germanic Caste System

The Grimnismal of the Poetic Edda makes reference to the 540 doors of Valhalla, something which is widely know amongst heathens:

"Five hundred doors, and forty eke, I think, are in Valhall. Eight hundred Einheriar will at once from each door go when they issue with the wolf to fight." (Grimnismal 23, translation by Benjamin Thorpe)

What appears to be less known or commented on is that just one verse later it is noted that Thor's hall Bilskirnir has 540 floors:

"Five hundred floors, and forty eke, I think, has Bilskirnir with its windings. Of all the roofed houses that I know, is my son's the greatest." (Grimnismal 24) 

Why this important verse (Grimnismal 24) is ignored I do not know but it is worthy of exploration for it cannot be a coincidence that whilst Odin's hall has 540 doors his son Thor's has 540 floors. What could be the significance of this?


As Carolyne Larrington correctly points out in her notes to her translation of the Poetic Edda the reference to hundred could be that of a Germanic 'long hundred' of 120. Scholarly opinion is divided on the issue of whether a standard or a long hundred is intended here. Rudolf Simek likewise points out this uncertainty in his Dictionary of Northern Mythology. So Valhalla and Bilskirnir have either 540 or 640 doors and floors depending on which interpretation of a hundred one uses. Furthermore the 540 floors of Bilskirnir may be interpreted as 540 rooms! I should also add that the '800' warriors thus becomes 960 and the arithmetic changes startlingly:

540 x 800 = 432,000
640 x 960 = 614, 400


Likewise compared to the better known Valhalla, Bilskirnir is virtually unknown amongst non-heathens and probably is little better known within the heathen community! The interpretation of Bilskirnir according to Simek is "the one striking lightning with rays of light". John Lindow is uncertain about the meaning of the name but his interpretation is "suddenly illuminated [by lightning] or everlasting." (Handbook of Norse Mythology) Andy Orchard's interpretation is "lightning-crack" (Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend). From my rudimentary knowledge of Old Norse an interpretation could just as easily be 'shining crack'. Bilskirnir simply represents the lightning strike and of course this is a fitting name for Thor's hall.

Bilskirnir is mentioned three times in the Prose Edda; once in Gylfaginning and twice in Skaldskaparmal. Bilskirnir is situated in either Thrudvang (Gylfaginning 20, Skaldskaparmal 17 and Ynglinga Saga 5) or Thrudheim (Grimnismal). Simek interprets Thrudvang  to mean 'power-field' and Thrudheim as 'power-home'-essentially the same place. Lindow gives a slightly different translation of Thrudvang and Thrudheim-'strength-field(s) ' and 'strength-world'. Thrudvang/Thrudheim is of course located in Asgard.

So we now come to the question, who resides in Bilskirnir apart from Thor and his immediate family? One possibility is that this is the abode of thralls who have faithfully served Thor. My reason for saying this is the following passage:

"Odin has all the jarls that in conflict fall; but Thor the race of thralls." (The Lay of Harbard, Poetic Edda, Thorpe)

There is a dispute amongst scholars as to whether Harbard was in fact either Odin or Loki in disguise but the predominant theory is that it is Odin. It does beg the question that if the jarls go to Odin and the thralls to Thor then where do the caste of carls go? As discussed before in previous articles on other blogs the jarls and carls had far more in common with each other racially and status wise than the caste of thralls who are depicted as being an alien element in Norse society. It should be noted that unlike the jarls and carls the thralls being slaves were not freemen and were not allowed to own weapons so the likelihood of any of them ever dying in battle is a slim one at the very least. With this fact in mind one may theorise that Valhalla was the abode not only of the jarl but of the karl providing they showed their bravery and loyalty to Odin. The thrall would not have this opportunity but may if they were of good conduct dwell with Thor in Bilskirnir. That is ONE theory and I am not suggesting that this is correct.

The second theory is that there is indeed a connection between the 540 doors of Valhalla and the 540 floors or rooms of Bilskirnir. Whilst the feasting and battle play are carried out in the precincts of Valhalla could it be that Bilskirnir represents the actual sleeping quarters of the warriors of Valhalla? I am only suggesting this because of the numerical equivalency and for no other reason.

It should be remembered that only half of the battle slain are claimed by Odin; half are chosen by Freyja and go to Folkvang:

"Folkvang is the ninth, there Freyja directs the sittings in the hall. She half the fallen chooses each day, but Odin th' other half." (Grimnismal, Thorpe)  

This effectively doubles the number of warriors that the Gods will have at their disposal at Ragnarok. The 432,000 now becomes 864,000-something which is never commented upon by the exponents of the esoteric theories regarding the number 432,000 in Indo-European lore. I have discussed these theories before and do not wish to bog down this article in repeating them but I may revisit this in a future article. Furthermore if we apply the theory of the long hundred to the calculations then we have the following result:

432,000 x 2 = 864,000 (Einheriar of Valhalla and Folkvang)
614,400 x 2 = 1,228, 800 (Einheriar of Valhalla and Folkvang)


This would be a far bigger army in which to fight Ragnarok! The etymology of Folkvang according to Simek is 'field of the people' or 'field of the army'. The actual hall of the Goddess in Folkvang is Sessrumnir-'seat-roomer' (Simek). The life of the Einheriar in Folkvang is largely ignored by other commentators but I intend to discuss this in depth in the near future.

Germanic Rebirth, Not New Age Reincarnation

In today's New Age movement there is a lot of nonsense spoken and written about reincarnation. The modern doctrine of reincarnation is the watered down Kali Yuga distortion of the Aryan and Germanic concept of the Eternal Return. Whilst it is true that the Germanic peoples and the original Aryans believed in the concept of Rebirth that is not the same thing as New Age reincarnation which seeks to democratise an ancient and valid belief.

The pre-Christian Teutonic peoples believed in Rebirth and their concept of the 'soul' was a complex one. As Dr Stephen Edred Flowers makes clear in his remarkably informative books Sigurd: Rebirth and the Rites of Transformation  (Runa Raven 2011, Lodestar 2015) and Runelore (Samuel Weiser, 1987) our ancestors believed that body-soul complex consisted of many parts: the lik (the body itself), Hugr (the mind), Hamr (shape-substance), Odhr (faculty of ecstasy), Ond (vital breath), Minni (memory), Sal (the soul), Fylgja (the Fetch-following spirit of the opposite gender) and Hamingja (luck).

I do not intend to go into any detail about the individual parts of the Germanic body-soul complex but the reader will notice that I have referred to 9 parts. This is significant and is related to the 9 worlds of Norse cosmology. Interestingly Anglo-Saxon cosmology knows of 7 rather than 9 worlds. Again this is not something I am going to elaborate on right now but these 7 worlds are divided between 3 realms. Occultists relate the 9 and 7 worlds to a 9 or 7 chakra or wheel system.

Returning to the issue of rebirth it is clear that if the body-soul complex is divided into 9 parts, on their dissolution after death they will not all go or return to the same place and may not even survive at all. Germanic mythology curiously knows of many dwelling places of the dead and this subject is elaborated on in detail in Hilda Roderick Ellis's The Road to Hel (1943, republished by Cambridge University Press in 2013). Hilda Ellis (Davidson) examines the evidence for the Germanic afterlife from archaeology and literature and finds from their burial customs that in addition to Valhalla and Folkfang the dead also resided in burial mounds, the halls of the sea Goddess Ran and the underworld of Hel. The dead as draugr (a form of vampire or zombie) also visited the living. Encountering the dead could have either beneficial or malignant results. This is why it is imperative that when undergoing any esoteric work the magician carry out the necessary protective rite which for us in the Northern Tradition is the Hammer Rite.

Dr Flowers makes it clear in his works that the different aspects of the body-soul complex depart on death to different regions. The Hamingja for instance continues by being transferred to the new born of the family, clan, tribe or race. It does not die and the naming of a child after a recently departed ancestor helps to assure the transference of the Hamingja from one generation to another. Families often used the same prefix in given names. He gives an example from the Sigurd book in the early genealogy of the Cheruscans: Segimer, Segestes, Segithank, Segimund etc. The luck of the individual was really the luck of the family, clan, tribe or race.

In terms of individual consciousness, for the greater mass of mankind death produces forgetfulness and loss of memory of previous lives in the Eternal Return, for the personality, that which makes them individual gradually fades away and dies. As Viktor Rydberg states in Teutonic Mythology Volume 1:

"In Saxo we find an idea related to the antique Lethe myth, according to which the liquids and plants which belong to the lower world produce forgetfulness of the past. Therefore, Thorkil (Thorkillus) warns his companions not to eat or drink any of that which Gudmund offers them. In the Gudrun song (ii, 21, 22), and elsewhere, we meet with the same idea." (Chapter 49)

         "Five hundred doors and forty more methinks are in Valhalla. Eight hundred heroes through
          each door shall issue forth against the wolf to combat."(Gylfaginning, Prose Edda, translation             by I.A. Blackwell and Rasmus B. Anderson, 1906)




540 x 800 = 432,0000. I believe this is certainly a symbolic figure for reasons I have stated in earlier articles for this figure is the number of years in the Hindu Kali Yuga but it could represent an actual known number of Woden Initiates. Certainly the idea of there being a large but limited host chosen by All-Father Woden is clear from our sacred writings.

It is the task of the incarnated hero, the Vira to REMEMBER who he or she is, to AWAKEN and thus awakened, to ACT. On remembering who he or she is the Vira KNOWS what his or her life's work is and devotes himself or herself to it which in essence is the winning of personal immortality, a God-like existence and to break free from the necessity, the Not of Eternal Recurrence, which is the lot of the beast-man. In returning to the celestial realm of Asgard the Vira has a face.

Swedish Government Considering a Complete Ban on all Germanic Symbols

When I launched this new blog a few months ago it was with the intention of avoiding the discussion of politics as my previous blogs were more often than not branded by my enemies in this way. However on this occasion I have decided to break my 'golden rule' as the subject matter goes beyond politics. I am indebted to my good friend and folk comrade Runebinder in drawing our attention to this recent article on the RT website: Swedes up in arms as government mulls potential ban on ancient 'Nazi' runes The relevant post on Rune Binder's blog-https://volkisch-runes.blogspot.com/2019/05/some-of-you-may-have-seen-various.html

When I read this news report at first I did not believe it; as Runebinder points out the Swedish government is not just simply considering a partial ban on specific Germanic symbols that could be linked to National Socialism but an entire ban on the Germanic symbolism of the Swedish people. This is blatant cultural Marxism and once again we see examples of self-hatred manifesting itself amongst the co-called and self-appointed Swedish 'intelligentsia' (if only some of them HAD a modicum of 'intelligence'!) and political elite. As some of my American readers would say the Swedes are 'cucked' and for once I support the use of an 'Americanism' because I cannot conceive of a more appropriate and succinct adjective to describe what is obviously a manifestation of a deep rooted psychosis.

Any legislation that would ban the use and display of the runes and even the hammer of Thor would severely impact upon those who follow the pre-Christian heathen Germanic religion and the promotion of that religion. It could effectively outlaw the ancestral religion of the Swedish people. Indeed it goes further than even this. If the government get their way the indigenous Swedish people, regardless of their individual religious beliefs and affiliations would be robbed of their history, culture and even their very identity. The Marxist political elite realise that a Sweden with a Germanic past is not a 'multi-cultural' or 'multi-racial' Sweden and as in Orwell's Ninteen Eightyfour the past must be erased and rewritten. This is truly Orwellian in its intensions and must be resisted by the Swedish people through any non-violent means possible whether those means be legal or not. When a government ceases to have the interests of its indigenous population at heart then it must be challenged and removed by the people as one would remove any form of tyranny. The following is a link to a relevant Swedish website https://samnytt.se/regeringen-vill-forbjuda-runskrift-asatroende-och-kulturarvsintresserade-rasar/

The Viking Raids: Heathen Germanic Vengeance?

Following on from my article The Fanatical Heathenism of the Saxons and the Return to our Saxon Identity  I would like to build further on my argument that the Saxon Wars against the Franks were of a religious nature. At about the same time we can see the beginnings of the `Viking` raids. The first one recorded in England was in the year 793 at Lindisfarne off the coast of Northumberland in the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria. Lindisfarne is also called Holy Island and is today a very pleasant tourist attraction.

The Vikings were a sea faring people of North Germanic descent. They did not use this term to describe themselves as a folk. The noun `Viking` comes from the Old Norse fara í víking which means to `go a viking` or to `go on an expedition`. So originally Viking was something you did, not something you were. There was essentially no difference between the Anglo-Saxons and the Scandinavian Vikings genetically or culturally. We are really the same people. Prior to the Viking Age people thought of the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians as Vikings or pirates. They too were sea raiders from northern Europe and like the Vikings were heathen, worshippers of Woden and Thunor or Odin and Thor. This is probably why the Danes were so successful in integrating with the Anglo-Saxons when they settled here. The Old English for `Viking` is wicing and appears in literature for the first time in the 9th century poem Widsith.

                              siþþan hy forwræcon wicinga cynn

                                       My translation: "since they expelled the kin of the Vikings." 


J.R. Clark Hall`s A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary translates wicingsceathe as `piracy`. Wic or vik means a bay, inlet or creek in Old English and Old Norse and some 19th century scholars conjectured that the term could mean `bay king` or `sea king`. Another explanation could be the ing of the wic or vik, ie people of the bay. Certainly it conveys the meaning of seafarers and this is something that was particular to the North Germanic coastal tribes such as the Angles, Jutes, Frisians and some of the Saxons. England as we know it today would not exist if this was not the case.

By the time that the Vikings had begun their raiding in the late 8th century most of the English tribes had been converted to xtianity and experienced the same terror that the Britons must have faced in 5th century. The Vikings raids were essentially a repetition of what happened in the 5th to the 6th centuries with the raids and colonisation of the heathen Anglo-Saxons. The Vikings rejuvenated the Germanic blood of the Anglo-Saxons and brought again the Old Gods to England.Traditionally it is said that the Vikings were motivated by the lust for loot and the desire for new land but there is an equally valid argument that this was a continuation of the religious wars which started with the Saxons not long before on the continent. The German Saxons maintained their heathen religion far longer than the Anglo-Saxons in England and the Vikings raids could be seen as revenge for the Anglo-Saxons` betrayal of their racial Gods. It is significant that many of these bloodthirsty raids were aimed at religious institutions such as churches, monastaries and abbeys. Of course these were rich pickings for gold, silver and precious jewels but this does not explain the reason for the butchery of the clergy. It was clearly vengeance as the prayer of the xtians of the time demonstrate:

"A furore Normannorum libera nos, Domine," which translates as "From the fury of the Northmen deliver us, O Lord."

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports this for the year 793:

 "In this year terrible portents appeared over Northumbria and sadly affrightened the inhabitants: there were exceptional flashes of lightning, and firey dragons were seen flying in the air. A great famine followed soon upon these signs, and a little after that in the same year on the ides of June the harrying of the heathen miserably destroyed God's church in Lindisfarne by rapine and slaughter."

Of the raid of Lindisfarne in 793 Simeon of Durham states:

 "And they came to the church of Lindisfarne, laid everything waste with grievous plundering, trampled the holy places with polluted feet, dug up the altars and seized all the treasures of the holy church. They killed some of the brothers; some they took away with them in fetters; many they drove out, naked and loaded with insults; and some they drowned in the sea."

Quite hypocritically the English monk Alcuin who served at Karl the Butcher`s court at Aachen whilst commenting upon this raid said:

 "It is some 350 years that we and our forefathers have inhabited this lovely land, and never before in Britain has such a terror appeared as this we have now suffered at the hands of the heathen. Nor was it thought possible that such an inroad from the sea could be made."

This Karl was the same bastard who butchered 4,500 Saxons at Verden, Niedersachsen in 782 because they refused to bend the knee before him and his jewish `saviour`. I do not think that the timing of these Viking raids was a mere coincidence, but vengeance for what the xtians did to the Danes` heathen Saxon brothers.

Clearly he had a very short memory for these were the tactics of the Anglo-Saxons also! The Gods of the English were once more honoured in those parts of England where the Danes settled. The wearing of Thunor`s Hammer once again became popular. This practice did not originate with the Vikings as I have demonstrated in previous articles but they certainly revived it.

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.