Here's a little bit of English history for you guys.

In 1710, Queen Anne urged Parliament to pass an act allowing for the construction of fifty new churches in London. The act was passed, but building fifty churches is easier said than done and so only twelve of what were called Queen Anne's churches were ever built.

The first Queen Anne church was St Mary le Strand, on the former site of the largest maypole in London. A rise in puritanism in the 1660s meant that many of the city's maypoles were torn down by religious extremists due to their pagan origins; this maypole fell over from a high wind in 1672.

In its original plans, St Mary's featured a 250ft colum to honour Queen Anne. The design was approved and the materials were acquired, but the plan was quietly cancelled following Anne's death in August 1714.

"Then sought the Gods | Their assembly-seats,
The Holy Ones, | and council held,
To find who should raise | the race of dwarfs
Out of Brimir's blood | and the legs of Blain." -Vǫluspá, Stanza 9

The dwarves are responsible for the creation of various divine tools such as Draupnir, Gungnir, and Mjǫllnir.

Let us delve deep into the cave of mystery and uncover hidden knowledge that may help us learn more about the magical nature of the dwarves as doorways into magical power.

NEW Substack:
Doorways Into Magical Power: Dwarves in Norse Mythology.

The Haustlǫng (Autum-long) poem composed by the 10th century Norwegian skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir is one of the earliest poems detailing various mythological scenes of the Gods. The poem was preserved in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda and contains numerous kennings that allow us to gain an understanding of the way in which the Norse and thus Germanic people as a whole conceptualised the world.

In detailing Thor's fight with the jǫtun Hrungnir, Þjóðólfr says:

Ok harðbrotin herju
heimþingaðar Vingnis
hvein í hjarna mœni
hein at Grundar sveini,
þar svát eðr í Óðins
ólaus burar hausi
stála vikr of stokkin
stóð Eindriða blóði

"And the hard-broken whetstone of the home-visitor of the female follower of Vingnir (Hrungnir) flew whining towards the boy of Grund (Grund: Jǫrð, boy of Grund: Thor) into the roof-ridge of his brain, so that the pumice of steel weapons (whetstone), still stuck in the skull of the son of Óðinn (the son of Óðinn: Thor), stood there, spattered with the blood of Eindriði (Thor)."

It is interesting to note that the whetstone is described as flying towards Thor in the direction of "the roof-ridge of his brain". Roof-ridge, in this case, is a kenning that means the top half of the skull.

The skull being referred to as a roof is similarly described by the Icelandic skald Arnórr Þórðarson jarlaskáld (c. 1012-1070), who, in his poem Magnússdrapa verse 19, says in reference to King Magnus:

Jafnmildr ungr skjǫldungr stígr aldri und gǫmlum hausi Ymis á skildan við; rausn þess grams vas gnóg.

"Never beneath the ancient skull of Ymir will an equally bounteous young king step aboard a shield-hung vessel; the magnificence of that lord was ample."

Here, we see another example of the skull being referred to as a roof. The sky being being called the ancient skull of Ymir coincides with the creation myth in Vǫluspá, where the three Gods, Óðinn, Villi, and Vé, create the Earth and use the skull of Ymir as a dome or roof placed overhead.

The Wang Dong Disagreement.

Special thank you to Imperium Press for sending me a review copy of Germanic Theology by Tristan Powers.

Two things I liked:

-Powers' discussion on the intrinsic physicality of the realms within the cosmological structure of Yggdrasil. Powers' position corresponds to the reachability of Hel, for example, by the living and the dead found in the sources. He brilliantly details the way in which the nine realms exist with overlapping structures that are intrinsically connected via the world tree.

-Powers' position on Ginnungagap mirrors my own, that the Yawning Void serves as the creative potentiality from which things arise. Powers suggests that given the aforementioned two points, we should reject the notion of transcendence entirely, which I do not necessarily agree with. However, I agree with the concept of creative potentiality which is also explored in Aristotle's theory of potentiality and actuality.

Two things I disliked:

-Powers' mistakes and reliance on hypothetical reconstructionism. For example, on page 79 Powers suggests that Odin's byname Þundr means thunder and connects this to the hypothetical "*Dyḗus ph₂tḗr". This is incorrect, as Dr. Jackson Crawford states that the word Þundr is not related to thunder and is instead a past participle to the verb þenja, meaning "stretched". Therefore, Odin's epithet Þundr likely references His hanging on Yggdrasil.

-Powers references Hinduism as a filler source too frequently. Additionally, the book mostly goes over numerous scholarly theories as opposed to the study of the nature of the Gods and the metaphysical principles within the myths themselves.

Ultimately, Germanic Theology by Tristan Powers is a decent book but I would not call it theology. Commendably, there are gems contained within such as the aforementioned comment on Ginnungagap, and the book itself functions extremely well as a compendium of academic theories that can be referred to when studying.

Germanic Theology by Tristan Powers: https://www.imperiumpress.org/shop/germanic-theology-vol-i

See you in Hel > See you in Hell

Odin, friend of altars

It is interesting to note the similarity between the English understanding of Woden and Norse understanding of Óðinn as the creator of shrines, altars, and temples.

In the Ynglinga Saga, it is stated in a euhemerised account that Óðinn is the builder of temples, and in the Anglo-Saxon source Maxims I, Woden is described as a constructor of idols:

Woden worhte weos
"Woden wrought idols"

This is reflected in some toponymic place-names in England such as Woden's Dyke and Grim's Ditch. Grim being an epithet of Woden meaning hooded or covered, with the Old Norse name being Grímr. This can also be connected to another one of Woden's epithets in Old Norse - vinr stalla - Friend of Altars.

In the skaldic poetry, a kenning that is often used in reference to the Gods is "son of Odin". Both Baldr and Thor are referred to by this kenning in particular.

In the poem Haustlǫng (Autumn-long) by the Norwegian skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir, Thor is referred to as burr Óðins, meaning son of Óðinn.

The same kenning is used for Baldr in stanza 7 of Húsdrápa by Úlfr Uggason:

Boðfróðr Freyr ríðr fyrst til borgar sonar Óðins á inum golli byrsta borg ok stýrir folkum.

"Battle-skilled Freyr rides first to the funeral pyre of the son of Óðinn (Baldr) on the boar bristled with gold (Gullinbursti) and leads the troops."

Additionally, the Æsir are also collectively known as ætt Óðins, meaning family/race of Óðinn as noted in stanza 13 of the Hallfreðar Saga. This kenning corresponds to Snorri Sturluson's account of Óðinn in the Gylfaginning, where Óðinn is referred to as the Allfather because "he is father of all the Gods and of men..."

A number of Woden’s Burg’s can be found across England including Wednesbury in Essex. A church now sits on the highest point and probably replaced a Weoh dedicated to Woden. This church uses the Three Seaxes of Essex as an emblem and boasts a ‘Woden window’. Another church which unconsciously continues to hold the spirit of Woden is at Woodnesborough, spelt Wodnesbeorge in 1100. The current church replaces the far older Saxon one – however a local legend has it somewhere either in or under the church a Golden image of Woden still remains!

Adam’s Grave was a Neolithic long barrow as was once known as Wodnesbeorh as recorded in an Anglo-Saxon charter. Two battles were fought there (or nearby at Wanborough) in 592 and 715 - Her micel wælfill wæs æt Woddes beorge, 7 Ceawlin wæs ut adrifen." (There was great slaughter at Woden's hill, and Ceawlin was driven out.) It is also believed that one of the hills had a chalk figure of Woden carved into it.

Image- Wodnesbeorh barrow by Hedley Thorne

WODEN. Song: Danheim - Skugga.

Woden as Mercury

There is an obscure Old English text, Solomon and Saturn, which credits Woden with the establishment of letters:

saga me, hwá aeróst bócstasfas sette?
ic the secge, Mercurius ge gygand.

"Tell me, who first established letters?
I tell thee, Mercurius the giant."

The exerpt from Solomon and Saturn above also coincides with verses 138-139 in the Hávamál, which credits Woden with the discovery of the runes. Mercurius is the original Latin form of Mercury, who we know was identified with Woden since the time of Tacitus (c. 56-120 AD) and was worshipped as the highest god amongst the Germans:

"Of the gods, Mercury (Odin) is the principal object of their adoration; whom, on certain days, they think it lawful to propitiate even with human victims. To Hercules (Thor) and Mars (Tyr), they offer the animals usually allotted for sacrifice..." -Tacitus, Germania

Moreover, in his Annals, Tacitus wrote of how war broke out between the Hermunduri and the Chatti over a salt bearing river. He notes that each side vowed to sacrifice the other to Mars and Mercury for victory.

In sources as late as the 12th century, such as The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1095-1155), the identification of Mercury as Woden is further exemplified. Geoffrey writes in reference to Hengist, the leader and first king of the Jutes in Kent, that they "...especially worship Mercury, whom we call Woden."

Additionally, Layamon's Middle English poem Brut - which was largely influenced by the Anglo-Norman poet Robert Wace's Roman de Brut (1155) - states that Hengist once said that Woden is the highest of Gods.

For those who would prefer to read in the Substack format with pictures, you can do so here in this (free) article.

Souls on the Banks of the Acheron - Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl, 1898.

This newly uploaded documentary on the origin, lives and art of the Gravettians is an intriguing look into the culture of ice age Europeans.

Three things I found very interesting were:

-In good times, the Gravettian population could reach a peak of 30,000, while in bad times it could fall as low as 2,000.

-Gravettian groups often travelled over 200km (125 miles) to obtain the best raw materials for tool production.

-The distribution of specific types of personal Gravettian ornaments in the archaelogical record reveals what are likely 9 distinct culture groups across Gravettian Europe. There were also regional differences in how people lived and how they were buried, with cave shelters being utilised in the west whilst in Central and Eastern Europe, people preferred to live in open air sites.

As always, another top-tier production by Dan Davis. I'm looking forward to seeing what's next!

The Gravettian Culture: Lords of the Mammoth Steppe.