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23 Oct 2024 13:23

Prayer at the bull sacrifice to the Striker:
This bull has come willingly, eagerly, whole, unblemished,
bedecked with gold, to the place of sacrifice, in celebration and beauty.
A pure offering is this, without blemish or stain.
A proper offering is this, fit for the Undying Ones.
Through the fire, through the sacrifice, through its life,
the Striker is honored.
A proper offering is this, as it is right to give.
This bull to the Striker.

The full sacrificial ritual will be on https://www.hamingja.foundation/membership

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23 Oct 2024 13:17

Self-proclaimed ‘Reddit Witches’ are complaining that they are finding it difficult to cast negative spells on Donald Trump because he has “some kind of protection around him.”

https://modernity.news/2024/10/23/witches-complain-they-cant-cast-spells-on-trump-because-he-has-some-kind-of-protection-around-him/

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23 Oct 2024 09:47

It’s not a smoking gun, but the evidence points to Europeans inventing the wheel.

“Although the new model may explain how the wheel was invented in Eastern Europe, potentially spreading from there, it may not be the last word on the topic. "I think it's still possible that multiple civilizations independently discovered the wheel on their own," James said.”

https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/1st-wheel-was-invented-6-000-years-ago-in-the-carpathian-mountains-modeling-study-suggests

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22 Oct 2024 13:25

“Those who lived in Asgard present to us now the usual confusing clutter of names, of ancient gods, great once, but overtaken by changes in human sensibility, of overlapping attributes, of sectarian preferences, the whole given a mysterious inner logic by that Indo-Aryan groundswell whose steady but almost imperceptible movement surfaces only in an occasional name, an occasional characteristic. Thus we have All-father, a variant perhaps of the Vedic Sky-god, Dyaus, altered by the Greeks to Zeus; for the Romans, a version of his name, Dyaus-pitar, or Sky-father, became the familiar Jupiter. In Scandinavian mythology, his attributes - but not his name - became those of Odin. Thus the divine was transmuted.”

Peter Brent “The Viking Saga” 1975

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21 Oct 2024 22:06

Very interesting to consider axe head intensity in Bronze age Britain. If they were a currency then it reveals economic activity

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21 Oct 2024 12:53

The Swedish island of Gotland has an incredible history that left amazing stones carved with pictures and symbols relating to an ancient cult of the sun!

https://youtu.be/AXuf9pjciMc

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20 Oct 2024 12:22

If the Aesir/Vanir war must be reduced to a mere mythologised historical event, in an euhemeristic convention, then it would more plausibly represent conflicts between competing Indo-European groups of Scandinavia in the early Bronze Age.

Or, since the war does not take place in Scandinavia anyway, it could represent a memory of older conflicts on the steppe.

But Germanic folk HAVE a tradition of mythologised historical events! See Atlakviða for eg. In such narratives the humans remain humans but sometimes interact with gods. Whereas the Aesir/Vanir war does not involve any humans nor does it take place in Midgard. There is no reasons to think it portrays anything other than gods.

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17 Oct 2024 16:52

A very happy Winterfylleth to you all. I and the Hearth of Devon will be meeting tonight on Exmoor, where we perform blót upon a barrow.
May the gods and the elves bless you all tonight as we hail in the start of winter!

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17 Oct 2024 14:50

A shield handle from Ultuna, with two bronze raven and wolf heads. Using sacred imagery, it adds a layer of spiritual protection on top of the physical protection of the shield. The sword from this burial had an elaborate bearded mask on the scabbard; Odin on the sword, Freki and Geri on the shield. ⴲ

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17 Oct 2024 10:57

A new paper by Zhur et al claims to have found an intermediary CHG-WSH population which demonstrates a Southern origin for farming practices in the Eastern European steppe.

The Nalchik cemetery of the eneolithic Darkveti-Meshoko culture is a proposed source of Neolithic lifestyle in the North Caucasus and for the Western Steppe herder culture of Khvalynsk further North in Russia. Farming customs are argued to have spread from the South to the North Caucasus in the first half of the 5th millennium BC, and then later spread to the steppe.

A male Nalchik sample had the native European R1b1 Y haplogroup derived from EHG and MtDNA haplogroup T2c1a1. Up to 25% of his aDNA was from the steppe /EHG. He also had genetic affinities to people on the Southern side of the Caucasus making his autosomal profile intermediate between the CHG in the South and the later WSH who had more EHG than him.

Although he had ANF ancestry too the authors think this was not the source for animal husbandry and other Neolithic practices in his culture, but rather the CHG admixture was. This, they argue, is because the “Pre-Pottery Neolithic populations (PPN), in contrast to Anatolian Neolithic populations, had the most significant impact on the genome”

IBD analysis indicates Khvalynsk_I0434 genome had input not only from Nalchik man but also from his ancestors. However the WSH genome of Khvalynsk did not mix a lot with the CHG rich people in the south. The “Genetic heterogeneity of the Khvalynsk individuals…demonstrates relatively low intensity of the mating links between the Northern Caucasus and the steppe communities. Still these contacts were sufficient to transfer herding skills and lead to irreversible changes in the lifestyle in the steppe.”

Khvalynsk were of the same racial type as the Proto-Indo-European Sredny Stog culture. They developed barrows and had horses so are certainly related to PIE even if not ancestral to the main PIE cultures that came later. There is no reason to think this Nalchik sample is evidence of a Southern origin of PIE language.

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17 Oct 2024 10:19

Winterfylleth in Devon last year

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17 Oct 2024 09:11

Tom Bjorklund has determined that a people most related to modern Estonians had nappy hair and African noses despite archaeological and genetic evidence to the contrary.

We can argue about WHG complexion but there is no way they had African features like this. It’s ridiculous.

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15 Oct 2024 18:38

Lecture from Helen Gittos on the archaeology of conversion era or pre-conversion Anglo-Saxon England. Although she has some feministic biases there are some good points made here.

-Women were instrumental in the conversion of England (similar thing is evident in Icelandic lit) because Xianity was more appealing to some kinds of women than Heathenry which is a more masculine and honour based religion.
-There is some evidence for Christian artefacts in very early English contexts that were probably mediated by mixed marriages between Heathen men and native Brythonnic Xian women
-Changes in female dress in the 6th c appear to show "Byzantification" however I suspect this is just continental fashion rather than a religious change
- Some female grave goods like spoons and incense burners are probably good indicators the women were Xians
-Women who wore bracteates (or coin pendants as she calls them) with images of Emperors like Tiberius rather than Germanic kings are possibly Xian

Some points she made are highly dubious eg the idea that the transition from Germanic animal Style 1 to 2 around 560 AD represents some kind of religious transition influenced by Christianity is rubbish. The same kind of style 2 is found in Scandinavia far from any Christian influence in the 6th century! Also saying there is shamanic imagery in style 1 but not 2 is speculative/untrue. Also some of the Germanic brooches she considers Xian on rather flimsy evidence.

That said: it is clear there was a constant Christian presence in England after the AS invasion, despite what I have said recently. However this was marginalised in the 5th/6th century and preserved by women.

https://youtu.be/5jTx_2zYyOg?feature=shared

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15 Oct 2024 13:35

Bede tells us that the Anglo-Saxon pagans divided the year in two and that the winter began on the full moon in October and that this night was called Ƿintirfylliþ.

This is presumably the Autumn festival of the pagan English.

Austrfararvísur tells us that in Autumn, among the Swedes, a blot took place at a hof for elves and that it was associated with Odin.

Since many pagan festivals in Europe take place in late October and are associated with All Saints day and the dead, we deduce that the Autumn festival of the Germanic pagans was held on the full moon to the elves who we understand from Icelandic and English sources, were associated with the noble dead and with barrows.

On the full moon of October I wish you a glad Winterfylleth or alfablót. Hail the noble ancestors!

https://youtu.be/H5Y1RqCbuJE

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15 Oct 2024 13:32

Radagaisus was so fierce he nearly scared all of Rome enough to return to paganism!

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23 Oct 2024 13:21

þæ ne sy nan to þæs cwidol wif ne to þæs cræftig man þæt awendan ne mæge word þus gecwedene.

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23 Oct 2024 11:45

NEW EPISODE — Radio North Sea International — Barrows: The Monument of our People

https://hearthfireradio.com/podcast/barrows-the-monument-of-our-people/

The Indo-European barrow aka kurgan aka burial mound is a funerary monument tradition that lasted about 6000 years and spread from Eastern Europe as far as Chine to the East, the Atlantic to the West and Siberia to the North. This monument is not only the proof of our greatness but is also the sacred centre of the Heathen religion.

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22 Oct 2024 15:11

Brent had misunderstood the IE theory such that he seems to believe all European paganism was derived from the Vedic religion. However, he was on the right track with identifying the mythic cognates.

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22 Oct 2024 13:11

“Brodir had been a Christian and an ordained deacon, but he had cast aside the faith and become a renegade and sacrificed to heathen spirits and was very skilled in sorcery. He had armour which no steel could bite. He was both big and strong and had such long hair that he tucked it under his belt; it was black.”

Njal’s saga describes a strong Icelander named Brodir who, having been fully educated and ordained as a deacon, then reverted to the true faith.

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21 Oct 2024 15:47

Jacob Grimm recorded a survival of Woden worship in Blekinge, Sweden and Mecklenburg, wherein farmers would leave a section of rye unharvested for Odin’s horse. They would braid the tops together and sprinkle them with water, take off their hats and bow, and recite thrice;

"Woden, take care of your horse now, with thistle and thorn,
so next year we may have better corn!"
Another version was;
"Woden, Woden, feed your horse now, with thistle and thorn, next year, better corn!"

He noted that it was said during winter nights, he could be heard roaming the fields with his hunting dogs (Freki and Geri?).

This was likely a remnant of offerings on Winterfylleth and/or Álfablót; in the Austrfararvísur, Odin is mentioned during a sacrifice to the Álfar. In rural regions of Scandinavia and Germany, the Old Ways never fully disappeared.

Art by Carl Emil Doepler, 1905. ⴲ

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21 Oct 2024 12:53

Not only did Celts and Scythians have tattoos, but it seems Germanic people did too. Besides Ibn Fadlan's description of Vikings tattooed from fingers to neck with blue/green images of trees and symbols, but there is evidence the nobles of the Northumbrians and West Saxons in England had tattooing practices too. The practice of "scarring and dyeing" of the face or body, usually to mark the death of a loved one is recorded in several sources including; Poen Hubertense (8th century) 53, CCSL 156: 114, Poen Floriacense (8th century) 48, ibid., 101and Poen Merseburgense a 131, CCSL 156: 162.

"Some half dozen continental penitentials from the late 8th to the late 9th century testify to self-mutilation by mourning kinfolk. Under the heading of "Lamentation for the Dead," two prescribed penance for a mourner who "lacerates himself with his nails or sword over his dead or pulls his hair out or rends his garments." In the others, the mourner cuts his hair and tears at his face with his nails or sword because of, or after, the death of parents or sons. These records are not from England, but during their visit there in 787, Pope Hadrian's legates noted the "frightful scars" and dyes (tattoos?) sported by some of the Northumbrian and West Saxon gentry; these may have been the result of ritual self-laceration of the same sort." Legatine Synods - Report of the Legates George and Theophylact of their proceedings in England 19, Haddan and Stubbs

Here are some translations of the original Latin church texts:

"if any thing remained of the rite of the pagans, it is torn away, despised, and cast away. For God formed a beautiful man in beauty and appearance; but the pagans, by a diabolical instinct, brought upon them terrible scars, as Prudence says; "dyed and harmless paltry dirt." For he seems to do wrong to the Lord, who dishonors and disgraces his creature."

"Certainly, if someone for the sake of God would suffer this injury to be dyed, he would receive a great recompense from it. But whosoever does it from the superstition of the Gentiles, does not profit him to salvation, even as to the Jews the circumcision of the body without credulity of heart."

The practice persisted among Christians and was hated for its association with Gentiles (pagans).

"You also put on your garments, after the manner of the Gentiles, whom, by God's help, your fathers were expelled from the world by arms, you put on: a marvelous and exceedingly astonishing thing; so that you may imitate the example of those whose lives you have always hated."

So basically tattooing was part of some rite to the dead, and it was banned by the church because of Jewish beliefs. Aversion to tattooing is explicitly connected to Judaism in these early references.

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20 Oct 2024 12:18

The theory that the Æsir-Vanir war was an allegory for a war between the invading Indo-Europeans and the Early European Farmers/Hunter Gatherers is deeply flawed.
Most importantly, cognates to the Vanir gods are found in other Indo-European religions. The most obvious example is Freyja/Ēostre, cognate to Greek Eos, Baltic Aušrinė, Roman Aurora and Vedic Ushas, the most-mentioned goddess in the Rig Veda.
Myths of wars between gods exist in other Indo-European religions, such as the Titanomachy of Greek paganism, the wars between Devas and Asuras, and the battle between Shiva and Vishnu in the Puranas. It is not at all unique to Germanic paganism.
Painting by Donn P. Crane, 1922.

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17 Oct 2024 15:35

Happy Winterfylleth.

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17 Oct 2024 11:16

Phoenicians didn't sail to Britain to buy tin or for any other reason.

This was just made up by some old British people who wanted to be involved in Mediterranean history cos it was cool.

Phoenicians got their tin from Iberia and had no need nor ability to sail to Britain.

This myth is bizarrely persistent.

Trade goods from the Mediterranean like coins and pottery did make it to Iron Age Britain but there's no evidence of direct trading, despite what you might see online or in old books. No Phoenician colonies or trade emporia in Cornwall, no Phoenician place names or DNA, nothing like that.

It's weird how many people still think this is a thing. I still regularly get comments saying Phoenicians sailed to Britain and even Scandinavia in the Bronze Age. They didn't even exist as a distinct thing then, didn't even reach Iberia until 900 BC or whatever.

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17 Oct 2024 10:19

Last night the Hearth of Devon made an offering to Ingui Frey and the ylfe at a Bronze Age barrow. We burnt incense in the need fire, we buried porridge in the barrow and we poured libations of mead as offerings beneath the moon of Winterfylleth. We call this both Winterfylleth and also Álfablót

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17 Oct 2024 10:19

Tonight is the full moon which the Anglo-Saxons called Winterfylleth. It marks the start of Winter and the dark half of the year just as Samhain does for Gaels. The Norse called it Vetrnætr "winter nights" and it included a blot to Frey called Haustboð and a blot to the elves called Álfablót. But what is the connection to Halloween?

https://youtu.be/H5Y1RqCbuJE?feature=shared

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15 Oct 2024 19:03

Timeline of religious and demographic change in Early Dark Age Britain

400's
-Rome leaves Xianity behind in South Britain
-Pictland and parts of England (eg North Devon) remain Celtic pagan
-Welsh Britons send mission to Ireland
-Welsh Britons send mission to Devon
-Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata established in West Pictland
-Pagan Germanic tribes take over Eastern Britain and replace 80% of people in region

500's

-Pagan Germanic tribes in East move gradually across island mixing with natives
-Some native Britons convert to Wodenism, while others particularly women cling to Xianity.
-Germanic culture and relgion dominate in England while Brythonnic language and Xianity dominate Wales.
-Christian Gaels establish monastery on island of Iona in 563
-Iona sends missions to convert Gaels and Picts
-596 Rome sends first Gregorian mission

600’s
-634 Iona sends Aiden to convert Northumbrian Angles. Lindisfarne established in North.
-653 End of Gregorian Mission - Many Saxons now Xianised in South.
-686 Last Heathen kingdom in England (Wight) is forcibly converted

Heathenism continues among peasants for centuries after as new laws against paganism continue to be passed for several centuries.

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15 Oct 2024 17:49

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

Thank you all for supporting Hearthfire Radio. This is a big step forward for heathenry. So many of you have reached out and said things like "this has been needed for years". It's a labour of love.

But the reality is, it's also very expensive. We budgeted for it to run 3 months before it has to pay for itself. We are now halfway through that 3-month period and we are also halfway to the number of subscriptions we need. But the bulk of people signed up right away, so this means that we are actually behind, and may not meet our goal in time.

So please don't wait to sign up, or it might be too late. This is our best shot to have our own platform.

We're going to launch a few things that will make it easier to support us. Thanks to everyone who has signed up so far. Please send a DM to your friends and tell them about us. The more eyes we can get in front of, the better our chances.

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15 Oct 2024 13:32

“Radagaisus, by far the most savage of all our enemies, past or present, inundated all Italy by a sudden invasion with an army reported to number more than two hundred thousand Goths. Aside from the fact of his own dauntless courage and the support of the vast multitude, he was a pagan and a Scythian, who, according to the custom of the barbarous tribes, had vowed the blood of the entire Roman race as an offering to his gods. Consequently, when he threatened the defences of Rome, all the pagans in the City flocked together, saying that the enemy was powerful, not merely because of the size of his forces, but especially because of the aid of his gods. They also said that the City was forsaken and would soon perish because it had completely abandoned its gods and its sacred rites. Great complaints were raised everywhere. The restoration and celebration of sacrifices were at once discussed. Blasphemies were rife throughout the City, and the name of Christ was publicly loaded with reproaches as if it were a curse upon the times.”
~Orosius

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15 Oct 2024 13:30

A wooden bowl from Vimose with a raven head handle (originally two), possibly a ritual vessel. ⴲ