A Dream of Wotan: Wotan id est furor

 Early on Friday morning (about 6.00am on 29/5/22) I had a very vivid dream in which I appeared to be on the top of a high rise building. Why I was there, I do not know. In the distance I could see something or someone getting closer and closer. I felt a sense of alarm and a feeling of danger.

As the image drew swiftly closer, I perceived that it was a human figure on a horse. As the figure approached the building I could see clearly that the person had the face of an old man with a long white beard, riding a white horse. He was bare headed and his face appeared very angry. His face grew ever more angry and in that moment I sensed that this was none other than the German god, Wotan/Wutan/Wuotan/Wodan. I stress Wotan, not Woden or Odin. Wotan or Wuotan has a greater sense of rage than Odin, and even Woden. The root of Wotan is the German word 'wut' which has the connotations of rage, frenzy and even possession. Of course other versions of this name have the same root but 'Wotan' conveys the meaning better, and it was this name that was communicated to me during the dream. All of these names for the god stem from the hypothetical Proto-Germanic *Wodanaz, 'the lord of frenzy'.

It was unclear to me whether Wotan's rage was directed at me personally or it was simply a characteristic of the god that was being manifested. Before the god could get closer to me I was spirited away to a far away place, a place that Wotan has pre-determined for me. This was the sense of the dream. 

The Coming Coronavirus Second Wave and My Premonition

After reading about reports of covidiots holding VE day street parties across the United Kingdom I decided to air my views further on the pandemic on my blog. Let me remind my readers that I was given a premonition in late 2019 in the form of a very strange dream. You can read about this on A Dream From Late 2019 Concerning Mass Death

Let me recap the essential elements of my dream! I saw piles of corpses filling the streets and police helicopters in the skies above. I knew instinctively that these people did not die of misadventure of any kind but from natural causes of some description. At the time of the dream there was no mention of Coronavirus or any epidemic in China in the news. A month or two later the whole thing kicked off in Wuhan, China. Even then I did not suspect that the virus would spread around the world and cause a global pandemic. It was only in mid March 2020 that I realised that my strange dream (which meant nothing at the time) was a premonition. Indeed there are many countries such as Ecuador and Iran where corpses are literally piling up. This has not happened yet in the United Kingdom, although the death toll is the highest in Europe. It could be argued that in the terms of more than 30,000 deaths that they are indeed 'piling up', but I believe that by the end of 2020 they will literally be piling up when the apparently inevitable second wave will have hit the United Kingdom.

The Prime Minister announced some easing of the lockdown yesterday evening, causing great confusion in the minds of everyone, not least his own Cabinet! His replacement of the 'stay at home, save lives' message with 'stay alert', a vague and ineffectual slogan, was effectively a green light for less disciplined members of our society to go ahead and do their own thing. Commuters were seen cramming together like sardines in underground trains in London. Irresponsible fools held street parties which police officers, risking their own lives had to interrupt, resulting in the arrests of many drunken fools, with many of these scum spitting and coughing in the faces of officers. NHS consultants, having witnessed death on a daily basis and the horrors of this ravaging disease first hand, took to Twitter to voice their alarm, anger and frustration. Likewise a police Chief Superintendent voiced his concern after recovering from a coma caused by the virus. This man was under 50 and in good health, thus demonstrating that anyone can be a victim.

Coronavirus is not only affecting people over the age of 50 and those with health problems but the young and healthy as well. There are plenty of examples of such cases for people to research on the internet should you question my word. Despite the fact that this is a latter day plague, the members of the David Icke fan base are out in force on social media platforms, particularly Youtube, the haven of many fools who trot out their unscientific conspiracy theories like confetti, and the largely half educated masses soak up their propaganda like a sponge. This is particularly the case with the so-called 'right'. One tends to find that such people will favour more than one conspiracy theory and often they tend to follow a similar pattern. It does not surprise me that many who contend that Coronavirus is either a 'hoax' or 'man-made' also tend to deny the reality of climate change (whether man-made or not) or believe that the likes of 'Tommy Robinson' or Melanie Shaw are being 'persecuted' by the establishment. Usually these people favour the same theories and form a veritable cohort of sorts. They are predictable, easily read psychologically and fodder for manipulation.

I will say this one more time: I agree that governments may very well attempt to use the pandemic as an opportunity to unleash yet more electronic surveillance on their populations and are complicit in the introduction of the cashless society. However, that in itself cannot be used as an argument to deny the reality of the Coronavirus or its deadly nature. In the United Kingdom about 15% of people infected with the virus have died and it is an horrific way to die. Some conspiracy theorists talk of losing their 'liberties' due to the measures imposed by the government. I see no such loss of liberties. People are not under house arrest; they have been free to go to work if necessary, go shopping for essentials, obtain medicine and medical treatment, enjoy outdoor exercise and provide care to others. Many of these people in normal circumstances would have welcomed several months at home, resting. These very same people who lecture the rest of us about the value of 'family' find that they cannot after all bear being in the presence of their 'loved ones' for any extended period of time! One sees the same thing at Yule and at funerals! Hypocrisy at its very best!

Whilst I firmly believe that my dream was a premonition I hope that I am proven wrong over the course of time. The issue of free will and fate and their interaction, as with the nornir of Norse mythology, are complicated issues. All one can do is to be faithful to the message that the gods give us as individuals. I believe that this premonition emanates from the gods. If I fail to deliver its message then I will have demonstrated disobedience to the gods. My priority is and always has been the gods. The feelings of others about the message is irrelevant. All I can do is speak the message. I am not responsible for the feelings, actions or inaction of others: they will answer for that themselves before the judgement seat of the gods. The nornir and the gods knew that I would be receptive to, and not dismiss their message. They also knew that I would speak the message without fear or favour.

Another characteristic that the naysayers on this issue generally share in common is their lack of a scientific education. I am not a scientist. It is thus reasonable for me to take note of and rely upon the best judgement of scientists and physicians. It is the height of sheer hubris for someone lacking a scientific education to venture to debate with scientists as if they were their equals. I have also observed that the vast majority of the deniers tend to be below the age of 50 and generally in good health. These are the very same people that are at the least risk (apart from children) from the virus but are quite prepared to challenge the government's measures, which are designed to keep those of us who are at greater risk, safe! They fail to see the questionable moral stance that they are taking.

There are some who believe that by flouting the government's guidelines they are showing themselves worthy of Valhalla, failing to see that their only reward will be a painful, suffocating straw death. Bravery must not be confused with foolishness and being reckless with one's life. Julius Evola took this attitude when 'braving' an air raid in Vienna in 1945, resulting in the paralysis of his lower body for the rest of his life. He literally tempted fate. This is what happens when you deliberately tempt the nornir. Our ancestors survived long enough to breed by not recklessly risking their lives to prove a foolish point. This is the behaviour expected of children and young fools.We need to be guided less by our testosterone and more by the intelligence that All-Father has given us. Unfortunately this is a lesson that the young usually must learn for themselves; the hard way. Some never learn this lesson!

Germany, South Korea and China, who all recently eased their lockdown measures are now experiencing what appears to be a second wave. The same thing can and I feel will happen in this country within the next one to two months. If this happens then the final death toll will not be in the tens of thousands but the hundreds of thousands: all because of the stupidity and the arrogance of the masses.

A Dream of Death at Sea

The night before last I awoke from a strange dream which had many different parts to it, or should I say scenes which appear disconnected. It would be helpful if I broke the dream into its various 'scenes':

Scene one 

I have a roofer who has carried out a lot of work for me over the last 3 years and indeed fitted a new roof for me 2 year ago. He has become somewhat of a friend despite the fact that he is a born again Christian! However he seems very traditional in his world views and they do align somewhat with mine. I found myself in his house, a guest among many others, seated around a dining table when a cat stole the food in front of me. I have interpreted this part of the scene but it has no relevance to the rest of this post. I did not see my friend but I knew that he was somewhere in the house and his wife gave me a bag of sweets and gifts which were given to everyone else present as well. To receive a gift in a dream may be interpreted that you are viewed with esteem by others.

Scene two

I leave the house on a bicycle but I recognise that it is not mine. In waking life I do not own a bicycle. I notice that it has no wheels but in their place are ceramic objects resembling chamber pots! I attempt to return the bicycle to the house. The riding of a bicycle in a dream may signify the need to spend more time relaxing and to achieve balance in one's life.

Scene three

The dream abruptly moves on to this third scene where I find myself along a seashore which on waking I feel is the French coast. The sea resembles sand rather than water. I see a man throw himself into this 'sea'. I am watching him and there is a female by my side. I do not know who she is. The man gradually drowns or sinks below the surface of the sand which now has become water. The sea of course represents the unconscious and the drowning may be interpreted as my sinking into my own subconscious and this comes with a risk-the loss of one's own identity in the process. I gradually come to realise in the dream that the drowned man is me. The unknown female may in Jungian terms represent my 'anima', particularly as this is a death scene. The Odian term would be 'Hamingja'.

Scene four

The scene abruptly moves on to another location close by the one in scene three. There is a shelter by the shore and I notice from the accents that there are a lot of foreigners present but I hear someone speaking in German, an old man. I decide to approach him and I ask him in German whether he spoke German or English. It turns out that he is English and we have a short discussion, the content of which I cannot fully recall. I conclude from the accents of the other people that we are on the French coast and I sense that it was on the opposite side of the English Channel. The old man in Jungian terms may be the 'wise old man' or 'sage'.

Scene five

Again the scene changes abruptly and I am still close by the location in scene four. I am looking out over the sea from the edge of the shore when I notice that in the ground are memorial stones to the dead. With shock I see my own memorial stone. I use the term 'memorial stone' because these were not graves but seemed to signify that they were memorials to people lost at sea. The strange thing is my real name in waking life was not on the stone but an entirely different one: 'Peter Birke'. I came to the realisation that I was dead and the drowning man was me. I look around and shout at the others saying that this cannot be true for I am not dead but alive. I then awoke.

This dream is only one of two where I dreamed that I was either dead or in the abode of the dead. I refer my readers to the following post: A Dream of Valhalla/Folkvangr and Freyja A third dream that I had of the dead (though I was clearly alive) came to me in late 2019 and may be a prophecy: A Dream From Late 2019 Concerning Mass Deaths In all my six decades I have never dreamed of death before-or at least not anything that I can consciously recall on waking. The dream from 2019 took place BEFORE the advent of the Coronavirus epidemic/pandemic and the piles of dead bodies, neatly stacked up were NOT the result of misadventure but a plague. The government helicopters could symbolise the drones that the Police in many countries are using to police the population during this crisis. At the time the dream did not make any sense to me.

This latest dream I am interpreting in psychological terms. I do not at this stage regard it as a personal premonition although I would say that both my late mother and brother did receive premonitions just days before they left this realm and in my mother's case she saw her name on her gravestone just four or five days before she died. She was a spiritualist medium with finely tuned psychic powers.

I have never encountered the name 'Peter Birke' before and the spelling of the surname is exactly the same as I recall from the dream and I believe that there is some significance attached to that. I have researched the name 'Birke' and it appears to be German in origin but despite my maternal German ancestry I was totally oblivious to this fact until I carried out a Google search of the name. I would ordinarily spell the surname with a 'u' which is the English spelling of the name so I must conclude that there was a specific reason for me to see this German spelling in my dream. The forename 'Peter' is common in both England and in Germany.

Eriu, Goddess of the Aryans-a Dream

The following short article was originally published on my Celto-Germanic Culture, Myth and History blog on the 7th of August 2011.

The Gods and Goddesses can communicate with us from the Collective Unconscious via dreams and other states of altered consciousness such as hypnotic trances. Recently I encountered a Goddess during the hypnopompic state of sleep prior to awaking. I often find that dreams experienced shortly before waking stay imprinted on my memory especially if they have a mystical content as this one clearly did.

My dream seemed short and the entire focus of my attention was on the appearance of a Nordic looking female being who spoke these words to me: "I am Eriu,Goddess of the Aryans." This is all She said but it made a deep impression upon me.

Eriu, daughter of Emer (a God of the Tuatha De Danann) was one of a trinity of Goddesses who along with Banba and Fohla founded the land of Ireland (also known as Eire, Erin and Eireann). Indeed Eire was named after Eriu Herself. Thus we can conclude that She is a Goddess of sovereignty and inheritance. In Jungian terms this may be interpreted as the manifestation of the Anima, who may be regarded as the collective manifestation of all the females a man has known, especially one's mother. This idealised feminine is the direct counterpart to the Animus in women. The Anima is a guide to inner wisdom and is a sign that the dreamer must confront his destructive side. She is the embodiment of the feminine qualities of female power, sensitivity and intuition.

For a person to be psychologically whole the feminine and masculine parts of the psyche must be in balance. In Germanic mythology the a man's Anima was known by the term Fylgia who accompanied him throughout his life in Midgard and was a type of ancestral guardian spirit.

I have in part interpreted this dream as a need to explore and integrate the solar mythology with the lunar, the God with the Goddess. Too often in heathenism we focus primarily on the male deities often to the exclusion of the female deities and this creates a spiritual imbalance. This is something we must address in the Northern Tradition to avoid our religious path becoming imbalanced and to avoid females from being deterred from exploring their native Germanic traditions.

Shortly after the manifestation of Eriu a most exciting Aryosophical work has been published called The Epic of Arya. In Search of the Sacred Light by Abir Taha, the author also of Nietzsche, Prophet of Nazism: The Cult of the Superman-Unveiling the Nazi Secret Doctrine. I fully encourage readers of my blogs to obtain copies of these two exciting works.

It is significant for me that a deity whose name is linked to the term Arya and the blood and soil doctrine should choose to reveal Herself to me. I believe that as followers of the ancestral Gods we must actively seek to communicate with the Gods and Goddesses and two of the most practical and legal ways of doing so are by inducing trance like states and the incubation of dreams.

A Dream From Late 2019 Concerning Mass Deaths

Late in 2019-I cannot recall the exact month I awoke from a most vivid dream. On this occasion I did not write it down for it was so clear but at the time it lacked any genuine meaning for me but only in the last day or two did it come back to the fore of my mind.

In the dream I was living in a bungalow that once was owned by my late parents from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s. It is extremely rare for me to dream about this house as it is now so long ago since I lived there so I believe that aspect of the dream has some personal significance for me. I looked out of the living room window beyond the front garden to the street and I could see rows and rows of piles of dead bodies. I was flabbergasted as I could not understand why these people died and how there was such a multitude of corpses. At first I thought that there may have been a massacre but I dismissed this as I could not hear any commotion from within the house. I then looked up into the sky and I could see what were clearly government or police helicopters who were observing the scene.

With the succession of months since I had this dream we have witnessed the onward progression of the Grim Reaper as this mediaeval like plague COVID-19 ravages the countries of the world, leaving thousands stricken, dead and many whose lungs will be scarred for life. It is now clear to me that this was a premonition granted to me to see the effects of the virus. Let my readers be clear about one thing: millions will die-probably even within this small country. Like World War One every household will know someone who will have died from this virus. We are living now in very uncertain times.

One thing that I have discovered in the past few days are the measures which some governments are taking and will take in the battle to fight this virus and these will entail an even greater degree of surveillance over our individual lives and a  loss of personal freedom. It may even hasten on the cashless society which I discussed many times on my former Aryan Myth and Metahistory blog. Many shops concerned by the dangers that handling coins and bank notes pose are recommending or even insisting that customers use a bank card. This is a natural fear and it is understandable that they should wish to protect their staff from potential contamination but the end result is an enslaved society for that is exactly what faces us if cash is allowed to disappear in favour of electronic 'money'.

I wish safety for all my readers and trust that everyone will take the measures that are necessary for their personal survival and that of their families.

A Dream of Valhalla/Folkvangr and Freyja

I do not often discuss my dreams on my blogs but on occasion I feel that there is a pressing need to do so and this is one of those occasions. Last night I woke up at about 3.00 am following a very vivid dream. In my dream I saw a procession of warriors and they were led by a female who I sensed was a deity but not a Valkyrie. She rode on a horse. I do not recall if the warriors she led were on horseback or not as everything in my dream was indistinct and the whole dream lacked colour. It was entirely monochrome in nature, consisting of various shades of grey. There was no light in the dream but it was not entirely dark either but resembled twilight. The female at the head of the procession also carried a very large round shield in front of her. I instinctively realised that this was a Goddess and was Freyja Herself.

Freyja led the warriors through a gateway, the details of which I could not make out. I was not part of the procession but watched it from the side. There was no interaction between them and I. Then immediately after this I found myself inside a very large enclosure with thousands of people. I could not discern their features but I knew that these were all dead people and the enclosure was indeed the fields around Valhalla. I found that not only was I in Valhalla but I was positioned upon a hill and started 'preaching' to the masses. Please excuse my use of a Christian term but I cannot think of a more appropriate alternative! I started to tell the masses in front of me that Odin was the father of all the Gods, that He was the father of great heroes that bear His blood in their veins and that He is the father of all our people whether they can claim direct descent from Him or not. In essence I was publicly proclaiming my faith in Him. I make no apology for using the Norse version of His name as 1/4 of my ancestry can be traced back to the original Norwegian colonisers of a hitherto deserted area of western Lancashire in the 10th century. Of course my ancestors also knew Him by the name of Woden, Wodan and indeed Gwydion too. At this point I woke up. I did not see Odin within the dream, only Freyja. Of course the fact that it was Freyja who led the host of dead warriors and it was a field that I found myself in would lend to a better interpretation that this was Folkvang ('field of the host') that I visited rather than Valhalla but both are equally worthy places to spend eternity!

I have had a few mystical dreams over the years, all of which I have been able to interpret and I do hold a qualification in Dream Analysis but do not claim to be any kind of expert in the field and the interpretation of dreams is by necessity a personal one. Not all dreams have a 'meaning' but are merely the actions of the subconscious playing through and rerunning thoughts encountered in the  conscious mind during the daytime. However this dream stands out as one which merits a spiritual interpretation. I am not going to attempt an interpretation here because my intention is to initially make the dream publicly known. In addition to a spiritual or mystical interpretation it should be noted that the ancients believed that via the dream state they could encounter other entities including Gods. This is the first time that I have ever encountered a deity within a dream and the first time that I have dreamed about Valhalla or the afterlife. Whilst I was aware of being in Valhalla I had no awareness of whether I was dead or still a living, breathing human being.

My late mother who has been dead 31 years this year was a spiritualist medium and she often told me of her out of body encounters in the dream state where she engaged in astral travelling and encountered the spirits of the dead and angelic beings. This was her belief and I am not in a position to judge that belief as beliefs are inherently personal things. As an aside on one occasion she told me that she had left her body in order to minister healing to my half sister in Germany. Many years later my half sister related to me the experience of her being seriously ill and seeing the spirit or form of my mother by her bed. They had fallen out with each other before this encounter and never spoke to each other again and yet both parties related to me the very same experience which I cannot explain through rational or scientific means.

The dream could be interpreted as an example of astral travelling to a different realm and there are a few examples of this in the saga literature of northern Europe so it is a belief that was held by our pre-Christian ancestors. A third interpretation may be that of a premonition. This is partly why I am making known this dream today on my blog, in order to strengthen the faith of my fellow heathens in the reality of our Gods, the afterlife and the existence of worlds outside of along side of Midgarth if indeed it is a premonition. A few weeks ago I discussed with my partner how both my mother and my late brother had premonitions in the form of dreams of their impending demise and speculated whether this would be my experience as well.

On Sunday 2nd of July 1989 my mother told my late former first wife of a dream that she had a few days previously in which she saw her gravestone. My wife told me about the dream after we returned home that evening. I was rather sceptical and dismissed the dream straight away. I was at the time a fundamentalist Bible-believing Christian. However 4 days later on Thursday 6th of July she was dead. She had a heart attack which she could not possibly have predicted by any rational means. My late father pointed out the rather unusual date: 6/7/89!

In 2009 I received a telephone call from my brother who likewise told me of a dream in which he had received a premonition of impending death. 10 days later he died suddenly and again there is no rational explanation for how he could have predicted this. My German grandfather who died in 1933 was taken ill and shortly before his death he sat up in bed and told my grandmother of seeing a crowd of dead relatives at his bed who had come to greet him. Shortly after this experience he died. This was not a dream that he had but a vision whilst awake. The appearance of dead relatives prior to death is a form or function of the psychopomp. Odin, Freyja and the valkyries all performed the function of a psychopomp. The Grim Reaper is the best known form of the psychopomp in western Europe since the middle ages and I have already speculated on the association between Him and Odin in another article: The Grim Reaper, an Aspect of Grimnir the Hooded One

We will see what this dream actually means with the passing of time and thus I dare not venture an interpretation.

RUNA: A Personal Mystical Experience

Many years ago when I was a young man of approximately 20 years of age I had a hypnopompic dream or at least I thought that it was a dream. I may very well have been in a light trance at the time. Back then and even now it is difficult for me to distinguish which it may have been. I heard an audible voice say to me as I was lying on my bed, "Behold I show you a mystery" which corresponds with a verse from the New Testament (I Corinthians 15:51, AV):

"Behold I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."

Back then I had already started out on my spiritual path and my quest for wisdom, knowledge and truth. Living in a nominally Christian country it was natural that I should seek such wisdom in the Christian tradition and so I had began an exhaustive biblical study to seek answers and indeed to seek not only the  answers but most importantly the questions! However I was not consciously familiar with this verse although I may very well have encountered it in my readings and thus it may have sunk down into my subconscious mind. However this may have happened its revelation to me marked a moment of transition or initiation into the mysteries or RUNA as it would be called in the Rune Gild. One could call this an initiation.  In Runamal I (page 13) Dr Stephen Edred Flowers (Edred Thorsson) reveals how he audibly heard the word RUNA in his ear in June 1974 whilst on a drive home to Austin, Texas. The receiving of this word from an invisible source marked the beginning of his initiation. From that point onwards Woden guided him in his quest via the Runes. I would advise my readers to obtain a copy of this work which has been republished by Lodestar in 2017 as he has much to say on the meaning of RUNA.


It is significant that only the very first part of the verse from I Corinthians was revealed to me which had no obvious Christian content whatsoever. Only now after 40 years do I understand the message of this dream if that is what it is. "Behold I show you a mystery" corresponds very well to the motto of the Rune Gild: 'Reyn til Runa!' (Search out the mysteries). My experience was only a few years after Dr Flowers received RUNA. It is through the dream state that our ancestors were able to communicate with the Gods and other advanced spiritual entities. They are still communicating with us this way today.

A Dream of the Ancestors and the Mask of Odin

Last night, quite unusual for me I dreamed almost constantly, waking up, going back to sleep and dreaming again, one after the other, even dreams within dreams. Shortly before waking I had a dream which involved me talking to a dead ancestor. It was impressed upon me that this was a great grandfather. The ancestor did not reveal to me his name but I was trying to work out who he was by the process of mental deduction. The name of the person which was impressed upon me however was that of a great great grandfather so it is possible that the term 'great grandfather' in the dream was not to be taken literally. It was evident to me in the dream that he was dead but yet he appeared alive just as you and I are and his cosy cottage was situated (in the dream) just a few houses away from me so I was conscious that he was always close by. I do not recall what we talked about but he made himself known to me.
It does not surprise me that I dreamed about an ancestor as I have been engaged in researching my ancestry which I am sure will become a life long project! It is also not unusual for the dead to appear in our dreams for the ancients considered that in the dream state, especially before waking we are more receptive to the spirits of the dead and can communicate with them as we do with the living. Frequently the shades of departed relatives appear to me in dreams and I am very conscious that they are dead. On occasions I have had dreams in which people who I am not aware have passed on reveal themselves to me to tell me the news! This was the case with my half sister in Germany who passed on a few years ago.
Immediately after leaving my ancestor's cottage I encountered another dead person, this time my daughter's maternal great grandfather. I asked him to make an engraving on a piece of wood for me, just a bare outline as I knew that he had good practical skills. When he came back, to my surprise I found that he had completed the entire job for me, not just the outline and it turned out to be a carving of a mask of Odin! At this point I awoke. I am not sure what this all means and I am still processing the information but I will edit or add to this article on an ongoing basis. Any interpretations from my readers would be welcome.
UPDATE

I am grateful to Steed for his helpful comment. Since publishing this short article I was driven by a sudden and restless need to research my partner's paternal ancestry, joining it to my own published tree which is a lifetime work in progress!  Her maternal ancestry has already been researched with a line of ancestry leading back to the Volsungs and Odin Himself. I started by exploring her paternal grandmother's ancestry and over several long nights I managed to go back a few generations. The use of census returns can be very helpful in identifying families that you are related to or descended from and can help to confirm an ancestor's identity but the earliest ones available for England and Wales only reach back to the year 1841, the most recent being 1911. They do however contain an absolute wealth of detail in one single document. Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths only started in 1837. Prior to this date you have to rely upon parish records, not all of which have been digitalised. I am fortunate in that my paternal grandmother's ancestry is rooted in North Meols, Lancashire where parish records are freely available online and I am also indebted to the many Wills left by my ancestors from centuries ago as they too are very useful. After reaching a temporary brick wall with her paternal grandmother's ancestry I turned my attention to her paternal grandfather, researching both his paternal and maternal lines and I was surprised to see that his mother's maternal ancestry has already been well researched and I managed to find a line going back to Alfred of Wessex who as we know was a descendant of Woden Himself!
So here we have the crux of the matter and the reason for her grandfather appearing in the dream (alongside my own ancestor) presenting me with a mask of Odin/Woden. This can be no coincidence but demonstrates to us that human consciousness does in fact survive physical death. In the fluid dream state we can encounter the spirits of the 'dead' and other entities, even deities for our conscious critical analytical mind is put to sleep, no longer able to fulfil its 'gatekeeper' role until we are fully awake. Dreams experienced directly before waking linger in the mind longer and are rarely forgotten unlike the ones that we have but cannot recall from the middle of the night. This is what is called the hypnopompic state. Its opposite is the hypnogogic state. I am reminded here that our High Lord Woden is the great psychopomp. He is the great guide of souls between life and death but He has the ability to travel between other worlds and make Himself known even in physical human form. He is the director of dreams and the alterer of consciousness. Often I will ask Woden to guide my dreams using this short invocation formulated by Edred Thorsson:

"Into the well of sleep Oh Woden I wend my way to thee, to learn thy ways and wonders."

I believe it is to be found in The Nine Doors of Midgard but I can't be certain about this! It is a good habit to get into. As I have written before, prayers or invocations are not the preserve of the Abrahamic religions. Before retiring to bed on a night I ask for Thunor's blessing and protection on my household and again this is a good habit to adopt.
The link between the mask of Woden and the grandfather's ancestry is now clear although there are other interpretations, one of which was suggested by Steed. Now I have not yet had the opportunity to analyse this other researcher's findings-it was simply a discovery I 'stumbled' across but it is interesting that I was presented with the mask in its complete form although I only asked for an outline to be carved. This signifies to me that the work has already been done by others. My task was simply to look for and receive this discovery. Woden reveals Himself to us if we keep an open mind and seek Him.