References to Woden, Hengist and Horsa in Bede-a Comparison with Other Sources

My readers may wish to read my Woden in Old English Literature and Woden in Mediaeval English Literature in order to gain some background knowledge in the early English references to Woden as I do not intend to go over old ground. In addition to the sources referred to in the earlier essays we have of course the reference to Woden in the genealogies of the kings of the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. These genealogies are to be found of course in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles but we also have some references by Bede in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People.  Penned by Bede when he was about 59 years of age in 731 it is the first example of an English identity to be expressed in literature.

Born in Jarrow in the historical county of Durham Bede joined St Peter and St Paul's Abbey at Monkwearmouth-Jarrow, a double Benedictine monastery, at the age of 7, surviving at the age of 14 a plague that killed most of the population in the vicinity. A pupil of Alcuin he became a scholar of great renown and historically plays an important part in the forging of an English identity. Indeed he is known as the 'Father of English History' and deservedly so. Unfortunately his writings are largely ignored by the heathen community but as I have said before if we are serious about reviving Germanic heathenism we must comb through the historic sources and attempt to place our religion on a traditional and historic footing. That does not mean that we should not have a contemporary outlook but we can not and should not ignore the past.

I first read Bede's Ecclesiastical History in the mid 1980s as a Christian and visited many places associated with Bede and early English Christianity such as the monastery remains at the front of St Peter's Church in Jarrow and St Peter's Church at Monkwearmouth in Sunderland, also in the historic county of Durham. It should be noted that St Peter's at Monkwearmouth contains many original Anglo-Saxon architectural features dating back to the 7th and 10th centuries. The 'Bede's Chair' found at St Paul's, Jarrow has been carbon dated to the 14th century and thus not Bede's but remarkable none the less.

Bede starts his history with the Roman invasion of 55 BCE and then works up to the traditional tale of the Anglo-Saxon invasion of 449 CE and the formation of the early kingdoms of these Germanic peoples in Britain. He makes reference to Hengest and Horsa and gives a tantalising clue as the location of the burial of Horsa:

The two first commanders are said to have been Hengist and Horsa. Of whom Horsa, being afterwards slain in battle by the Britons, was buried in the eastern parts of Kent, where a monument, bearing his name, is still in existence. 

Bede reveals the divine ancestry of Hengest and Horsa:

They were the sons of Victgilsus, whose father was Vecta, son of Woden; from whose stock the royal race of many provinces deduce their original. 

It should be noted at this point that Bede does not indicate that Woden was a deity but I suspect that he was aware of this anyway. There are no further references to Woden in this particular work. The book gives a fascinating insight into the Christian perception of the Christianisation of the Anglo-Saxons. Bede is also noted for his reference to the Saxon Goddess Eostre in his The Reckoning of Time, written in 725 and the Goddess Hrethe in the same work.


A later reference to Hengest and Horsa is to be found in Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain, written by the year 1155. Contained within it is this intriguing passage:

"The king, at the name of Mercury, looking earnestly upon them, asked them what religion they professed. 'We worship', replied Hengest, 'our country gods, Saturn and Jupiter, and the other deities that govern the world, but especially Mercury, whom in our language we call Woden, and to whom our ancestors consecrated the fourth day of the week, still called after his name, Wednesday. Next to him we worship the powerful goddess, Frea, to whom they also dedicated the sixth day, which after her name we call Friday." 

So a full 4 centuries after Bede the names of at least two of our deities lingered on, despite the best attempts of the Church to eradicate any memory of them. It should be noted that a Hengest is referred to in the Finnesburgh Fragment, an Old English poem that is probably contemporary with Beowulf. The brothers are also referred to in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles and the 9th century History of the Britons by Nennius. There is also a brief reference to Hengist in Snorri's Prologue to the Prose Edda Snorri states that the father of Hengist was Vitta, the son of Vitrgils, the son of Veggdegg.

*The translation of Bede's Eccesiastical History of the English Nation has been copied from https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/bede-book1.asp

Hymn to Woden by William Lisle Bowles, 1802

God of the battle, hear our prayer!
By the lifted falchion's glare;
By the uncouth fane sublime,
Marked with many a Runic rhyme;
By the 'weird sisters' dread,

That, posting through the battle red,
Choose the slain, and with them go
To Valhalla's halls below,
Where the phantom-chiefs prolong

Their echoing feast, a giant throng,
And their dreadful beverage drain
From the skulls of warriors slain:

God of the battle, hear our prayer;
And may we thy banquet share!

Save us, god, from slow disease;
From pains that the brave spirit freeze;
From the burning fever's rage;
From wailings of unhonoured age,
Drawing painful his last breath;
Give us in the battle death!
Let us lift our glittering shield,
And perish, perish in the field!

Now o'er Cumri's hills of snow
To death, or victory, we go;
Hark! the chiefs their cars prepare;
See! they bind their yellow hair;
Frenzy flashes from their eye,
They fly--our foes before them fly!

Woden, in thy empire drear,
Thou the groans of death dost hear,
And welcome to thy dusky hall
Those that for their country fall!
Hail, all hail the godlike train,
That with thee the goblet drain;
Or with many a huge compeer,
Lift, as erst, the shadowy spear!
Whilst Hela's inmost caverns dread
Echo to their giant tread,
And ten thousand thousand shields
Flash lightning o'er the glimmering fields!

Hark! the battle-shouts begin--
Louder sounds the glorious din:
Louder than the ice's roar,
Bursting on the thawing shore;
Or crashing pines that strew the plain,
When the whirlwinds hurl the main!
Riding through the death-field red,
And singling fast the destined dead,
See the fatal sisters fly!
Now my throbbing breast beats high--

Now I urge my panting steed,
Where the foemen thickest bleed.
Soon exulting I shall go,
Woden, to thy halls below;
Or o'er the victims, as they die,
Chaunt the song of Victory!

Dagenham Woden Idol from the third Millenium BCE

A replica of the Dagenham Idol on display in the Museum of London, by Ethan_Doyle_White , is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0  Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagenham_idol No changes were made to this image and the image owner does not endorse this blog.






Our knowledge of the Germanic deities is too tightly bound up in the public mind with Viking Age Scandinavia and consequently discussion of the Gods tends to focus too narrowly on this small geographical area in the latter stages of historical Germanic heathenism. My quest over recent years is to uncover evidence for and information about our deities over a wider northern European area and from a much earlier time period.

An interesting example of archaeological evidence for the cult of Woden is to be found in the Dagenham Idol, found in Dagenham in 1922 and carbon dated to 2250 BCE. This is a staggering 3,000 years prior to the early Viking era and significantly from what came to be England. Fortunately the idol was found buried in peat just under 10 ft below ground and near to the skeleton of a deer which is thought to have been a votive offering to the Gods. I understand that the idol is 'owned' by Colchester Castle Museum and is on indefinite loan to Valence House Museum in Dagenham with a copy on display in the Museum of London.

The idol is carved out of Scot's Pine wood and is 18 inches in height. Like many such idols found to be dated to the late Neolithic to the early Bronze Age this idol has two legs but no arms. What identifies this idol with Woden is a damaged left eye.

In an edition of the British Archaeology magazine in 2014 the Dagenham idol was identified to be similar to other idols of this nature found at Seahenge at Holme Beach in Norfolk. The wooden circles at Seahenge have an identical carbon dating and interestingly the Dagenham idol is said to originate from East Anglia as well. The fact that there should have been a cult of Woden in East Anglia in the third millenium BCE should not entirely surprise us we now know from DNA analysis and the study of the origins of Old English that there has been migration from the Germanic north of Europe to eastern England for many centuries prior to the 'Anglo-Saxon invasions' of the mid 5th century CE.

The Grim Reaper, an Aspect of Grimnir the Hooded One

For a number of months now I have contemplated writing an article on the 'Grim Reaper', a figure which has preoccupied my thoughts in recent years as I get older. Indeed I have struggled to get an article under way in the last couple of weeks until to my amazement I encountered this rather interesting post on the Inglinga blog: Wr.Alda & The Black Sun Wulf Ingessunu makes a connection between the Grim Reaper and Woden. For a long time now I have come to the belief that the Grim Reaper is a post-heathen manifestation of Woden in the Collective Unconscious of the Germanic peoples, especially in the Middle Ages when plagues were rife in Europe which owe their origins in part to the perpetuation of ignorance by the Christian Church. Wulf also makes the connection with the relatively unknown Saxon God, Krodo whose cult was centred in the Harz Mountains of north-central Germany, shared between the German lands of Lower Saxony and Thuringia. I have written about Krodo many times on my blogs. He provides new information about Krodo which supplements that which may be found on my blogs. I would encourage people to read his article in full.

What are the connections between the Grim Reaper and Woden? First of all both Woden and the Grim Reaper act as psychopomps for the dead. A psychopomp is an entity who acts as a spiritual guide for those who have recently died. In some cultures a psychopomp may take the form of an animal but in mediaeval Christianised Europe the most common form is that of the Grim Reaper. He takes the form of a man appearing in dark robes or a shroud with a skull face and carrying a scythe. Clearly the skull represents death. Th scythe is symbolic of the cutting down of the living in the form of crops to be reaped. The scythe also cuts the invisible chord that joins the physical body to its ethereal counterpart. When this cord is cut death ensues. In the same way when a baby is delivered its umbilical chord is cut and it begins a life independent from its mother's body. When the Grim Reaper comes for you there is no escaping that meeting and it would benefit us all that we prepare ourselves individually for that meeting which we can only do alone.

In the Eddas Odin and His messengers, the Valkyries have the function of being psychopomps. One example of Odin dealing out death to one of His followers and descendants is that of Sigmund, the father of Sigurd:

"But now whenas the battle had dured a while, there came a man into the fight clad in a blue cloak, and with a slouched hat on his head, one-eyed he was, [1] and bare a bill in his hand; and he came against Sigmund the King, and have up his bill against him, and as Sigmund smote fiercely with the sword it fell upon the bill and burst asunder in the midst: thenceforth the slaughter and dismay turned to his side, for the good-hap of King Sigmund had departed from him, and his men fell fast about him; naught did the king spare himself, but the rather cheered on his men; but even as the saw says, "No might 'gainst many", so was it now proven; and in this fight fell Sigmund the King, and King Eylimi, his father-in-law, in the fore-front of their battle, and therewith the more part of their folk." (Chapter 11, Volsunga Saga, translated by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson)

Woden reminds me of the ferryman in Greek mythology who ferries the souls of the newly deceased to Hades, the equivalent of the Norse Hel (not to be confused with the Christian concept of Hell). In the Eddas Odin on one occasion appears as a ferryman in the Harbardsljod in the Poetic Edda where He takes the name Harbard and engages in a flyting contest with Thor and naturally He wins the contest! Harbard has the meaning of 'grey beard' and Odin is always pictured in this way in the Eddas and Norse poetry. Whilst some scholars in the past have conjectured that Harbard may in fact be Loki (a view that occurred to me as well) Harbard is listed as one of the by-names of Odin in Grimnismal 47. Whilst Loki may be viewed in Jungian terms as the Shadow of Odin this article is not the place to explore that theory. Whilst Harbardsljod does not portray Odin as a psychopomp it is nevertheless important to point out that He occupied this role and it does have an association with death in Greek mythology.

Like Woden the Grim Reaper is often portrayed as wearing dark clothing whether this be a robe or a cloak. He is certainly a veiled figure, his face almost inscrutable until close up a skull is revealed, just as one of Odin's eyes cannot be seen as it has been placed in Mimir's well. One of the most compelling arguments for a comparison is that of the name itself: Grim. Grimr or Grimnir are by-names for Odin. Grimnismal 46 and 47 record this by-name and it has the meaning of 'the masked one' as does Grimnir (see Northern Mythology, Rudolf Simek). Odin is masked or hooded, His face not clearly visible. Often a floppy hat takes the place of a hood, all with the intention of masking Him.

It is believed that the earliest accounts of the Grim Reaper are from 14th century Europe when plagues started to decimate the population. By then Christianity had obtained an iron grip on most of northern Europe (apart from the Baltic lands) but Gods can never be truly repressed and will often manifest as Archetypes in the racial Collective Unconscious. I believe that this is what happened in the 14th century. Odin may have been largely forgotten by name but his image, His Archetype persisted. Indeed when certain aspects of the Self are repressed they reappear at times in the Shadow. Woden/Wodan/Odin was repressed in the Consciousness of the Germanic peoples so in my opinion His Shadow form reappeared a few hundred years later as the Grim Reaper in the Collective Unconscious. There are accounts in many cultures of the dying being visited by the non-living prior to death. Sometimes this is in the form of dead relatives as was the case with my maternal grandfather Hermann August Wilhelm Bock who died between 1932-1933. In that case his dead relatives took the place of the Grim Reaper psychopomp. However for those of us who do not fear death He will come I believe in His true form. Instead of fearing Him we should welcome Him as an old friend about to take us home.

The image at the head of this article is that of the 13th card of the Major Arcana of The Tarot, depicting death as a personality.

Heathen Elements in Wagner's Lohengrin

The tension between Christianity and the old Germanic heathen faith is present in all of us of Germanic ancestry and this is the consequence of the forced conversion of the Germanic peoples to this alien desert religion, often the result of the lack of faithfulness and downright treason of their kings and chieftains. Those of us who have children and raise them in the spirituality of our ancient Gods will thankfully not transmit this inner tension onto our sons and daughters who will grow to become genuinely free heathens, not exposed to the direct or indirect Christian indoctrination that more often than not occurs in schools. By home schooling children or failing that, taking them out of worship assemblies and Religious Education classes we protect them from the tyranny of monotheism.

This inner tension as I term it may be found in the operas, or more correctly, the music dramas of Richard Wagner. Whether this tension between the two religions was consciously or unconsciously woven into the fabric of these works, I am unsure. One particular work that has occupied my attention and meditation in recent years is Lohengrin. This is one of his earlier works, first performed in 1850. This was during Wagner's revolutionary phase; revolutionary in the political sense of the term. Of course we know that Wagner was a music revolutionary as well!

Lohengrin unlike some of his other works was grounded in history. It was a skilful blend of German history and elements of Germanic mythology although one must look beneath the surface a little bit to understand this. In Act 2 Scene 2 we have a scene which focuses on a confrontation between the heroine of the work, the obviously Christian Elsa who was to marry the swan knight Lohengrin, the son of Parsifal. Ortrud is portrayed by Wagner as the scheming wife of Friedrich von Telramund, Count of Brabant. In essence in this scene we have the conflict between the new and alien religion of Christianity and the heathenism of the pre-Christian Germanic peoples as Ortrud calls upon the ancient Gods:

"Entweihte Götter! Helft jetzt meiner Rache! Bestraft die Schmach, die hier euch angetan! Stärkt mich im Dienste eurer heil'gen Sache! Vernichtet der Abtrünn'gen schnöden Wahn! Wodan! Dich Starken rufe ich! Freia! Erhabne, höre mich! Segnet mir Trug und Heuchelei, dass glücklich meine Rache sei!"

Ortrud invokes the Gods Wodan and Freia. It should be noted that Wagner chose the Wodan form of Wotan, quite possibly because the Duchy of Brabant is situated in modern day Belgium and is mainly Flemish. It was part of the First Reich or the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The First Reich included within its borders all of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, parts of Eastern France, northern Italy, Slovenia and western Poland so much of this empire was genuinely Germanic. Wodan was predominately used by Dutch, Flemish and Platt Deutsch (Lower Saxon) speakers. Freia amongst the continental Germanic tribes embodied the attributes of the Norse Frigga and Freyja as it is believed by many scholars that this deity was once regarded as a single unified Goddess and I am inclined to agree.

The concept of the swan knight is rooted in both Germanic and Celtic mythology and it is interesting how this theme is melded with the concept of the Grail which is rooted in Celtic mythology and ultimately Proto-Indo-European. Anne Ross in her excellent Pagan Celtic Britain (1967) points out the solar nature of the swan in the solar cults of the Bronze Age which continues into the legends of mediaeval Europe. In Germanic mythology we may recall the stories of swan maidens such as in the legend of Wayland the Smith. It would appear to be an inheritance that is common to both the Germanic and Celtic peoples and thus probably signifies a joint inheritance from Proto-Indo-European times. Anne Ross makes the observation that the legends of mediaeval Ireland and the Germanic countries feature chain or boat pulling swans that have the ability to make music. She concludes that the longevity of this theme is indicative of their origins in Pre-Celtic Europe which illustrates their great heathen antiquity. This is a subject which is worthy of further exploration. Certainly the similarity between the Celtic and Germanic legends in relation to swans points to a common Indo-European inheritance.

The swan solar motif is not confined to the Celto-Germanic cultural area but can be found in other lands settled by Aryans such as India:

"The Irish gods and the Celestial Rishis of India take the form of swans, like the swan-maidens when they visit mankind."(Indian Myth and Legend, 1913, Donald A. Mackenzie)

Some scholars seek the origins of Lohengrin in the Anglo-Saxon myth of Skeaf, the culture-bringing hero of the Anglo-Saxons:

"Scholars are now universally agreed that the origin of the Swan-Knight story is to be found in the myth of Skeaf, the reputed ancestor of the Anglo-Saxons. This legend relates how to the shores of these, our own ancestors, there drifted a rudderless boat, in which, cradled on a sheaf of corn, and surrounded by arms and treasure, there lay a sleeping child. To the child the Angles gave the name of Skeaf, from the sheaf of corn on which he lay. Grown to manhood he became their king, and from him they learned the arts of peace and of war. At length the king died, and obedient to his will they bare the body to the seashore, laid it again in the ship which had brought him hither, and the vessel and its burden drifted away into the unknown distance. From Skeaf sprang a mighty race of kings, and the folk were fain to believe that this mysterious ancestor of their rulers had been in truth a god." (Legends of the Wagner Drama, 1900, Jessie L. Weston)

Recently on rereading an article by Wulf Ingesunnu's in the Sword of Wayland (Black Front Press, 2016) I saw a reference by Wulf which linked the God Hoenir to the stork who in fairytales is responsible for delivering new born babies to their parents. Jessie Weston also links Hoenir to a bird but this time both the stork and the swan:

"Some scholars hold that Hoenir himself may have been a personification of the swan, or stork, the white water-bird, and translate aurkonungr as 'lord of the ooze.' Cf. Corpus Poeticum Boreale, Introduction, p. cii. The origin of the myth is certainly extremely ancient, and involved in great obscurity." (Legends of the Wagner Drama)

She relates a tale from the Faroe Islands in which a peasant, playing a game of skill with a giant has to forfeit the life of his son if he is unable to hide the child. He calls upon the aid of Odin, Hoenir and Loki. It is Hoenir who is successful in hiding the child by transforming him into a piece of down and concealing him in the neck of a swan. she consider that Hoenir is a spring or light God.

Odin Appearing in Human Form to the Volsungs

Can the Gods appear in human form as apparent biological entities? We know from the Icelandic sagas, especially the Volsunga Saga that this was certainly believed in pre-Christian times. Over the years I have occasionally encountered people who have had this experience and I have also read of modern day encounters. One example of this is the claim by author Alice Borchardt, the sister of Anne Rice, that she encountered Odin on a streetcar when she was young. (See A Conversation with Alice Borchardt in her book Silver Wolf, 1999)  These encounters with deities tend to involve focus on Odin/Woden. This should not surprise us as Odin was perceived by our ancestors as the 'Wanderer'. He is portrayed in this way in Wagner's Siegfried where He becomes Der Wanderer. Other Gods have appeared to humans in the Sagas but the vast majority of such episodes involve Odin.

If we believe that the Gods are independent and powerful beings (as did our ancestors) then there is no reason why we should limit them to being 'archetypes' (a modern Jungian interpretation of deities) or psychic forces. Like Edred Thorsson I believe that there are many ways of interpreting the Gods and it is illogical to assume that only one interpretation is the correct one. I happen to accept all of the interpretations.

As previously mentioned, the Volsunga Saga is replete with encounters between Odin and the clan which He sired, the Volsungs. What I intend to do in this article is highlight each encounter between Odin and men as outlined in the saga, in chronological order.

The human ancestor of the clan was Sigi but it was his father Odin who was the divine progenitor. Sigi is also mentioned in the Nafnathulur, the last section of the Skaldskaparmal of the Poetic Edda. He is listed amongst Odin's sons. With Odin's help he became king of Hunland. Snorri also mentions Sigi in the Prologue of the Poetic Edda and he is referred to as the rule of Frakland which is the land of the Franks. However the term Hunland or Hunaland may be considered to include the territories of the Franks.

"Thus it is well seen that Sigi has slain the thrall and murdered him; so he is given forth to be a wolf in holy places, and may no more abide in the land with his father; therewith Odin bare him fellowship from the land, so long a way, that right long it was, and made no stay till he brought him to certain war-ships. So Sigi falls to lying out a-warring with the strength that his father gave him." (translation by Eirkr Magnusson and William Morris, 1907)

Although the information about Sigi is sparse in the saga it is clear that he enjoyed the presence of Odin throughout the early years of his life. Not only did Odin sire him but raised him as a son, protected him and helped him to make a name for himself.

Sigi's son was Rerir and he succeeded Sigi as king and became more powerful than his father. However it is not until the latter part of his life that Odin actively intervenes in his life.

"Much wealth won in war gat Rerir to himself, and wedded a wife withal, such as he deemed meet for him, and long they lived together, but had no child to take the heritage after them; and ill-content they both were with that, and prayed the Gods with heart and soul that they might get them a child. And so it is said that Odin hears their prayer, and Freyja no less hearkens wherewith they prayed unto her; so she, never lacking for all good counsel, call to her her casket-bearing, the daughter of Hrirnir the giant, and sets an apple in her hand, and bids her bring it to the king." (Magnusson, Morris)

After eating the apple Rerir's wife becomes pregnant and bears to Rerir his son, Volsung but the pregnancy lasted 6 years and he was born after the death of his father. Apart from this there does not appear to be any recorded incidence of Odin physically manifesting Himself to Rerir as He did to Rerir's father, Sigi. It should be noted that in Jesse L. Byock's translation that it is Frigg who provides the apple. I have not yet read the saga in Old Norse but I suspect that the Goddess is not actually named but referred to as 'Odin's wife' and thus assumed to be either Freyja or Frigg.

Volsung became king of Hunland after his father, Rerir. Interestingly Volsung had a great hall bult and in the centre stood a huge tree which stretched out through the roof.

"...a certain man came into the hall unknown of aspect to all men; and suchlike array he had, that over him was a spotted cloak, and he was bare-foot, and had linen-breeches knit tight even unto the bone, and he had a sword in his hand as he went up to the Branstock, and a slouched hat upon his head; huge he was, and seeming ancient, and one-eyed. So he drew his sword and smote it into the tree-trunk so that it sank in up to the hilt; and all held back from greeting the man. Then he took up the word, and said 

'Whoso draweth this sword from this stock, shall have the same as a gift from me, and shall find in good sooth that never bare he better sword than is this.' 

"Therewith out went the old man from the hall, and none knew who he was or whither he went." (Magnusson, Morris)

The old man although not named is clearly Odin. Of course it is Sigmund, one of the 11 children and 10 sons of Volsung who has the strength to draw the sword from the Barnstock. Sigmund likewise becomes a great king, enjoying the favour of Odin. However it is not until the end of his life that Odin makes his next appearance.

"But now whenas the battle had 'dured a while, there came a man into the fight clad in a blue cloak, and with a slouched hat on his head, one-eyed he was, and bare a bill in his hand." (Magnusson, Morris)

A 'bill' is an antiquated term for a spear. Odin came against Sigmund and Sigmund struck Odin's spear with his sword causing it to break into two pieces. This event caused the battle to turn against Sigmund and he was defeated and killed. Sigmund's wife Hjordis gives birth to Sigurd after his father's death. This follows the pattern set by Volsung who likewise was born after the death of his father Rerir.

Sigurd is without a doubt the greatest of the Volsungs and probably the greatest of all the Germanic legendary heroes. Indeed one could define him as an archetype.

"So the next day went Sigurd went to the wood, and met on the way an old man, long bearded, that he knew not, who asked him whither away." (Magnusson, Morris)

Towards the end of the passage it is revealed that the old man was Odin and He assisted Sigurd in choosing a horse, Grani who was descended from Odin's steed Sleipnir.

Sigurd set off on a voyage to kill King Lyngvi and after a few days there was a great storm at sea and encountered an old man on a craggy headland.

"Then they asked of him his name, and he sang:

           'Hnikar I hight, when gladdened Huginn, and went to battle, bright son of Volsung; now may

           ye call the carl on the cliff top, Feng or Fjolnir: Fain would I with you.'

           They made for land therewith, and took that man aboard. Then the storm abated, and on they

           fared till they came aland in the realm of  Hunding's sons, and then Fjolnir vanished away."

          (Magnusson, Morris)

 

 

 

The White Horse of Woden

I have always assumed that Woden rode a grey horse for it is written in the Eddas that Odin's horse Sleipnir was grey. (See Gylfaginning, translation by Anthony Faulkes). Some translations do not mention the colour of Sleipnir. I am in the process of learning Old Norse and Modern Icelandic so at some stage I will not be so dependent upon English translations of the Eddas and Sagas!


I have checked all the references to Sleipnir in both the Elder and Younger Eddas and I can only find this one reference to his colour. It needs to be born in mind though that the composition of this Edda was relatively late. Snorri Stuluson composed this work around the year 1200 CE so we cannot tell how ancient the concept of a grey Sleipnir is. We also do not know whether Snorri obtained this information from an earlier source as Sleipnir's colour is not mentioned in the Poetic/Elder Edda which was composed possibly as early as the 10th century although it is incorrectly attributed to the 12th century Icelandic priest Saemand the Learned. It is thought by scholars that the Elder Edda contains genuinely ancient material and most if not all of it would have been familiar to people in the Viking Age so it is curious that the colour of Odin's horse is not mentioned in these early poems.

What has caused me to question the colour is due to a rereading of parts of Jacob Grimm's Teutonic Mythology Volume 1:

"We are expressly told, this wild hunter Wode rides a white horse." (page 156)

"In S. Germany they tell of the lord of the castle's grazing gray (or white), Mone anz. 3, 259 ; v. infra, the 'wuetende heer'."

Grimm refers to various legends from Mecklenburg regarding the Wild Hunt whose leader is known as Wod which my readers will be aware that along with its variant Wode is the oldest name of our High God:

"A peasant was coming home tipsy one night from town, and his road led him through a wood; there he hears the wild hunt, the uproar of the hounds, and the shout of the huntsman up in the air: 'midden in den weg!' cries the voice, but he takes no notice. Suddenly out of the clouds there plunges down, right before him, a tall man on a white horse." (Teutonic Mythology Volume 3, page 924).

I will not repeat the entire story here but refer my readers to Grimm but it should be noted that the 'tall man' is referred to as Wod in the rest of the tale. However it should be noted here that Wod rode a white horse, not a gray one and I believe that this was the original colour of the horse whether it was eight legged or not (this may be a later development). Likewise the name of the horse, Sleipnir was probably a later and more northerly development. Of course whilst this information may in itself be interesting my readers will be wondering why I have posted this article. The reason for this will become clear. According to the Purana Hindu scriptures Kalki will ride a white horse and carry a blazing sword. Like Sleipnir it is a horse that is capable of riding through the air.

"Lord Kalki, the Lord of the universe, will mount His swift white horse Devadatta and, sword in hand, travel over the earth exhibiting His eight mystic opulences and eight special qualities of Godhead. Displaying His unequaled effulgence and riding with great speed, He will kill by the millions those thieves who have dared dress as kings." (Srimad-Bhagavatam (12.2.19-20) 

White horses had a particular mystical significance for the Germanic peoples and were used for purposes of divination:

"Augury and divination by lot no people practise more diligently. The use of the lots is simple. A little bough is lopped off a fruit-bearing tree, and cut into small pieces; these are distinguished by certain marks, and thrown carelessly and at random over a white garment. In public questions the priest of the particular state, in private the father of the family, invokes the gods, and, with his eyes towards heaven, takes up each piece three times, and finds in them a meaning according to the mark previously impressed on them. If they prove unfavourable, there is no further consultation that day about the matter; if they sanction it, the confirmation of augury is still required. For they are also familiar with the practice of consulting the notes and the flight of birds. It is peculiar to this people to seek omens and monitions from horses. Kept at the public expense, in these same woods and groves, are white horses, pure from the taint of earthly labour; these are yoked to a sacred car, and accompanied by the priest and the king, or chief of the tribe, who note their neighings and snortings. No species of augury is more trusted, not only by the people and by the nobility, but also by the priests, who regard themselves as the ministers of the gods, and the horses as acquainted with their will. They have also another method of observing auspices, by which they seek to learn the result of an important war. Having taken, by whatever means, a prisoner from the tribe with whom they are at war, they pit him against a picked man of their own tribe, each combatant using the weapons of their country. The victory of the one or the other is accepted as an indication of the issue." (Germania 10, Tacitus, translation by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb) 

As my English readers will know the English countryside in the south of the country has various chalk images cut into the sides of hills and some of these are of horses such as the Uffington Horse which is said to date back to the Bronze Age. The Westbury Horse is another example which certainly goes back to at least Saxon times. The flags of Kent and Niedersachsen in Germany feature a white horse. The chieftain brothers Hengest and Horsa likewise have names that are equine in nature. Thus the White Horse had a clear mystical importance in the culture and psyche of pre-Christian Germanic man. It was also revered by the Celtic peoples. The Goddess Rhiannon who features in the  Mabinogi, rides a 'pale' horse and She may be associated with the Gallo-Roman Epona. In Slavic mythology the God Svantovit owned an oracular white horse. In Greek mythology the God Poseidon fathered a winged white horse, Pegasus.


We should not be surprised that the horse, especially the white one was held in such high esteem as the Aryan peoples accorded a solar origin to this noble beast. Anne Ross in her Pagan Celtic Vritain (1967) points out the importance of the horse to the Indo-European peoples, having not just an economic value but was of ritual and cultic importance, frequently appearing on Celtic coins.


The book of Revelation refers to a white horse in two chapters:

"And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer." (Chapter 6, verse 2, AV)

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." (Chapter 19, verse 11, AV)

It is more than clear to me that regardless of that single reference in the Younger Edda the colour of Woden's horse is white and the colour matters because this ties him in with the Kalki avatar and the figure(s) referred to in Revelation 19. However we know from the Eddas that it is not Woden Himself that is coming but His son and avatar Widar. When Widar takes His place at Ragnarok He will mount a horse and I believe that this will be the horse of His father, Woden. It makes sense for all sorts of reasons.

"O’ergrown with branches
and high grass
is Vidar’s spacious Landvidi:
There will the son descend,
from the steed’s back,
bold to avenge his father." (Grimnismal 17, Poetic Edda, translation by Benjamin Thorpe)

Woden, a God of Frenzy and Divine Madness

A study of Old English words containing the element wod can prove illuminating when considering the character of our High Lord Woden. For this article I have relied mainly upon J.R. Clarke Hall's excellent A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary.Words indicative of madness and frenzy contain this element:

wodendream-madness.
wod-frec-madly ravenous.
wodheortnes-madness.
wodlic-foolish, mad, furious (as an adverb wodlice it also means madly, furiously, blasphemously).
wodnes-madness, frenzy, folly.
wodscipe-insanity.
wodseoc-mad.
wodthrag-paroxysm, madness, fury.
wed-fury, rage, foolishness, madness.
wedan-to be or become mad, rage.

It is interesting to note that whilst all of the above words are indicative of connotations of madness, frenzy, fury and folly the adverb wodlice can also mean 'blasphemously'. I believe the reason for this unusual meaning is one of distortion by Christian clerics who by demonising Woden associated the adverb woodlice with blasphemy but this I contend was not an original meaning as the concept of blasphemy is both Christian and unGermanic and should really be disregarded for the purpose of this study but it is interesting to note nonetheless.

The God Odin is often associated with the intellect, with the left side of the brain but it is more than clear that our Woden is primarily associated with the right side of the brain which is concerned with the creative elements of the brain and the Unconscious. I believe that it is in the light of this that we must approach Woden, not with the intellect but with the so-called irrational, the Unconscious, with the dream state. It is only when we abandon our 20th and 21st century rationalism can we hope to find and indeed approach this God. This is why it never ceases to surprise me when our enemies try to defame us by labelling us as 'mentally ill'; they demonstrate most clearly that they have not the slightest understanding of Woden or for that matter of us!

By contrast with Woden, Odr although derived from *wodaz has the meaning of mind, wit, soul and sense, more indicative of the left side functions of the brain. The OHG wuoti (madness) derives from the Proto-Germanic *wodin which in turn derives from *wodaz. The Middle Dutch woet has the meaning of madness. The Old Saxon wodian also means to rage as does the OHG wuoten with the added meaning of to be insane.

In order that we may draw closer to our Woden we must consider much more than ever before that we embrace the irrational for that which appears to be irrational to modern man is in fact the true and genuine state of Germanic man which has been suppressed by the Christian churches and repressed by Germanic man himself. Through this mindset we will be able to connect with numinous beings and with the Gods themselves.

Odin's Mountain-Roseberry Topping

Over recent weeks my thoughts have lingered on the image of a large hill in the Cleveland area of the North Yorkshire Moors; Roseberry Topping. About 15 years ago I carried out a series of rites in the company of a folk comrade from Woden's Folk, dedicating or more accurately rededicating the hill to Woden. Over recent weeks I have come to the conclusion that this hill should carry a much greater spiritual significance for those of us who are heathens than it currently does.

Roseberry Topping is of sandstone formation and dates back to the Middle and Lower Jurassic periods which are reckoned to be between 208 and 165,000,000 years ago. The top of the hill is very distinctive with a conical shape or cap which is said to protect the underlying clays from the effects of erosion by the weather. It is said that from the top of the hill one has views of the surrounding countryside for up to 50 miles, seeing the nearby Cleveland hills and even the Pennines in the west. Having climbed to the summit I can confirm that this is indeed true! Pragya Vohra in the Introduction to The Vikings in Cleveland (Edited by Heather O' Donoghue and Pragya Vohra, published by the University of Nottingham, 2014) describes the top of the hill as "a volcano-shaped outlier of the Cleveland hills". This is the best and most succinct description of its summit in my opinion.

We know from the etymology of the name of the hill that it was indeed sacred during the time of the Danelaw from the 9th century onwards. According to Eleanor Rye (The Vikings in Cleveland) the name of the hill was first attested in the 12th century and was known as Othenesberg and Ohensberg and she suggests that these two names indicate that its Old Norse original name was Odins berg. This has the obvious English meaning of 'Odin's mountain'. Please note that the Old Norse letter 'eth' would have been used in the Old Norse, not the English letter 'd' but I am limited by my keyboard! Eleanor Rye also mentions  Onsbjerg on the Danish island of Samso, recorded as Othensberg in the 15th century which appears to confirm the etymological assumptions. J.C. Atkinson writing in The Journal of the Ethnological Society of London (1869-1870), volume 2, no. 3, pages 351-366) finds the following variations of the name between 1119 and 1540-Otneberch, Ohtnebereg, Othenbruche, Othenesbergh, Ornbach, Ounsbery, Onesbergh, Hensberg, Hogtenberg, Thuerbrugh and Thuerbrught.


Close to Roseberry Topping is the village Newton under Roseberry in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland in North Yorkshire. As an aside the church of St. Oswald in the village has a rather interesting Anglo-Saxon carving featuring two apparently mythical creatures. The name of the village would originally have been Newton under Ounsbery. The rather unusual term 'Topping' features in the dialect of both Yorkshire and Lancashire for hill names. It is believed that Roseberry Topping is the only known example of a hill or mountain in England containing the name of Odin. However there is also an Anglo-Saxon cognate in Woodnesborough, a village in East Kent, two miles to the west of Sandwich. It is first attested in the Domesday Book in 1086 with the name Golles-Wanesberge. Around the year 1100 the name was recorded as Wodnesbeorge and in 1484 it appears as Wodnesbergh.The Old English reconstruction of the name would have been Wodnesburh, the hill or mound of Woden. (See A Dictionary of English Place-Names by A.D. Mills (Oxford University Press).)


Roseberry Topping is close to the north-eastern boundary of the Danelaw and the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria and it would have been visible to the Vikings as they sailed up and down the river Tees and must have had an awe-inspiring effect upon their imagination. The river Tees it must be pointed out is the boundary between my county of birth-Durham on the north bank and the North Riding of Yorkshire on the south bank. Despite the river being an ancient boundary the people of South Durham and the North Riding have a great deal in common and this commonality has in recent years been recognised by the creation of the 'Tees Valley', a 'city region' administered by the Tees Valley Combined Authority which consists of five unitary authorities: Darlington (County Durham), Stockton on Tees (County Durham), Hartlepool (County Durham), Middlesbrough (North Yorkshire) and Redcar and Cleveland (North Yorkshire). Interestingly the unitary authority of Stockton-on-Tees includes land south of the river in North Yorkshire-Thornaby on Tees, Yarm and Ingleby Barwick. The Tees Valley is part of the North East Region of England and has its own airport-Durham Tees Valley, previously known as Teesside Airport and is due to revert to its former name. It is situated just outside of Darlington.

The ancient county of Yorkshire is divided into three 'Ridings' and this is a curious expression which likewise dates back to the Danelaw. The renowned scholar Jesse L. Byock writing in his Viking Language 1 (page 25, 2013, Jules William Press) reveals that the term 'Riding' derives from the Old Norse thridjungr which means the 'third part of an assembly'. It can also be used to describe a geographical region. The Old Norse term was adopted into Old English as thriding. In Modern English the 'th' has been dropped. Once again it should be noted that the Old English/Old Norse letter 'thorn' rather than 'th' is the correct spelling and likewise the 'd' in thriding has been substituted for the Old Norse 'eth'!

It is my hope that the sacred Odinic associations of Roseberry Topping become more recognised by the heathen community and that it should in time have a similar status that Waylands Smithy has in the folklore and mythology of Woden's Folk. Both places should in my opinion be considered 'sacred centres' for our Wodenist community, Roseberry Topping having a particular significance for the Woden's Folk Community of the north of England, the Danelaw part of England.

Wotan-the Archetype of the Awakened Aryan Man

Wotan/Woden/Odin represents the archetype of the questing and awakened Aryan man, in particular the questing and awakened Germanic man.

Whilst it is clear from our studies of Germanic mythology that Wotan was not the original primary God of the Germanic pantheon – that honour rests with Tiw/Tyr/Ziu  – nevertheless, Wotan represents that questing and awakened part of the Aryo-Germanic soul more than any other deity.

In this article I wish to focus in particular on Wotan’s sacrifice of his eye and the way in which he has been presented as a wandering and questing God, especially in the Wagner’s music dramas contained within Wagner’s magnum opus, Der Ring des Nibelungen. Wotan appears in only the first three of these music dramas: Das Rheingold, Die Walkuere and Siegfried. He is conspicuous by his absence from Goetterdaemmerung. In Das Rheingold and Die Walkuere he is known by His primary name of Wotan, but in Siegfried, where the emphasis switches to the God-man Siegfried and the world of Middle Earth, He appears in His guise as Der Wanderer – the Wanderer.

It is in this human guise that he interacts with the world of men. Der Wanderer makes his appearance in Act One, Scene One and is described by Wagner as follows: “The Wanderer (Wotan) enters from the forest through the door at the back of the cave. He is wearing a long, dark-blue cloak; he carries a spear as a staff. On his head he wears a hat with a broad, round brim, which hangs down over his face.”

Clearly Wagner is drawing an association with Wotan as the Wild Huntsman who emerges from the forest. It is in the forest that we as His followers may more effectively communicate with Him. He is known in other forms and in particular in England as Herne the Hunter. His purpose as the Wanderer is two-fold: to obtain wisdom and to impart it.

It is surely no coincidence that all the great advances in technology and learning throughout history have been made by Aryan man and in particular by Germanic man. Within the psyche of Aryo-Germanic man there is a thirst for learning and the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom, not for the sake of acquisition, but in order that we may advance to the next stage of our development – the God-man. Aryo-Germanic man is the Sun Initiate who, having come from the stars, seeks to return there.

It is no coincidence that the modern space age is the direct result of the achievements of German scientists, many of whom were used by both the USA and the USSR after WWII to further their quests for the exploration of outer space. During the Third Reich, Germany experienced an explosion of knowledge and technological development which coincided with the Wotan archetype being unleashed in the collective mind of the German people through His avatar Adolf Hitler.

Germanic man is by his very nature an explorer, an explorer of new worlds, whether on this planet or in outer space, even the world of the human psyche and I think in particular of the Swiss-German founder of Analytical Psychology, Carl Gustav Jung, who has done more than anyone else to reveal once again the great Aryan soul-lore of our pre-Christian ancestors, knowledge that has been suppressed by the alien desert creed of Christianity.

Wotan represents for us the supreme Aryo-Germanic man (or woman). He encapsulates everything that we are – or should be. Jessie L. Weston, in her Legends of the Wagner Drama, defines Wotan as “the embodiment of the spirit of the Germanic peoples.”

In order to obtain wisdom Wotan sacrificed his eye for a drink from Mimir’s well, which is where He resorted to to gain wisdom and knowledge. His eye now dwells in the depths of the well. The Eddas do not reveal which eye He sacrificed. By sacrificing His eye He gained wisdom and in many ways this should, like his hanging on the world tree, be viewed as an initiation. His sacrificed eye is associated with wisdom which cannot be acquired through personal experience but that which is granted to the individual, that which in a sense is inherited just as we inherit wisdom and knowledge via the Collective Unconscious from our ancestors. This type of wisdom is deep as represented by the depths of Mimir’s well and must be associated with the right side of the brain which is the storehouse of images and symbols – the means by which the Collective Unconscious communicates with us – whilst the left side of the brain is more analytical and concerned with the human Ego.

Christianity and its associated secular creeds have temporarily detached the Germanic peoples from the Wotan archetype. It is only by responding to His call, the Call of the Blood, that we can realise both individually and collectively our supreme destiny.

The All-Father and His Subdivision

All the Gods and Goddesses are but aspects of the All-Father who is Himself a revelation of the Absolute, the unknown, unknowable, unrevealed, impersonal and immaterial God. This Urgott is androgenous but in order to experience He/She/It must first divide Him/Her/Itself into male and female, to become a divine dyad. Spirit must condense and become spirit/matter, soul/body, light/darkness, day/night, heat/cold, fire/water etc.

We find that the Gods obtain their divine consorts (Wuotan/Frigga,etc).
The dyad subsequently becomes the triad. Throughout the Eddas we find that All-Father Wuotan/Wotan/Woden/Wodan/Odin is often accompanied by two other Gods:
Wuotan-Wili-We
Wuotan-Hoenir-Lodur
Wuotan-Hoenir-Fricco
Wuotan-Thor-Fricco
Har-Jafnhar-Thridi

The Aesir gives form to humanity and lower intelligence but it is Wuotan alone who grants spirit, soul that imparts to them the divine ray. This triad is also present in the three Norns-Urda, Verdandi and Skuld. We also see this replicated in the Listian concept of Arising-Becoming-Passing Away to New Arising.

The three most holy ones subdivide into the heptad, represented by the 7 planetary spirits:
Sun-the Urfyr (primaeval fire), All-Father symbolised by the empty circle, representing not only the sun but eternity. This is the central and most important celestial body, without which there can be no life in this physical and material plane of being and becoming.


Moon-Mani/Mannus/Manu-the progenitor of Aryan humanity-the only true humanity which originates on the moon which is considerably older than the earth.
Mars-Tiw
Mercury-Wuotan
Jupiter-Thor
Venus-Freya
Saturn-Surtur
This system replicates itself in the days of the week-
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

All the Aryan peoples have a continual reminder about the legacy of their ancient and ancestral Gods in the days of the week. There are of course seven colours in the spectrum of the rainbow but we must remember that three of these-blue, yellow and red are the most important and only true colours. The other four merely mark transitional phases in the spectrum. We find this concept also in the idea of the three most important Gods-Wuotan and the other two (who of course vary in identity). Ariosophy speaks of seven elements-fire, water, air, earth and aether. The sixth and seventh elements will not be revealed until the emergence of the sixth and seventh Root Races.

There are 7 Goddesses of love-Gefion, Snotra, Siofna, Loba, Wara, Syna and Fene. The seven must be viewed as the division of the white light into the seven-levelled spectrum of the rainbow. Also in music tones rise along seven levels to a higher octave.

There are also seven Root Races and humanity is currently at the end of the fifth Aryan Root Race and is preparing itself for its higher spiritual evolution into the sixth Root Race. Man will start to ascend back into spirit, away from matter. The heptad further divides into the twelve High Holy Gods of the North, referred to in the Eddas and respresented by the 12 signs of the zodiac, the twelve months of the year and the twelve halls of the Gods.