Ancient Germanic Swastika: Documentary

I have collected tons of archaeological to support my theory of what the fylfot really means. I hope you will agree with my conclusion and that you will find these artefacts and charming and intriguing as I do.

The swastika was used by ancient Germanic peoples such as the Goths, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. But what did it mean? Some say it was a symbol of the sun, some think it was borrowed from the Romans. In this video I explain how the swastika aka fylfot was actually connected to the cult of the god Wotan aka Odin.

Sources

•  Behrens, F. 2023. Der Tierstil II im Merowingerreich. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110981247 
• Behr, C., ‘Die Beizeichen auf den völkerwanderungszeitlichen Goldbrakteaten.’ Frankfurt a. M. [u.a.] (1991) 
• Burillo-Cuadrado, Ma & Burillo, Francisco. (2014). The swastika as representation of the sun of helios and mithras. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry. 14. 29-36. 
• Carus. P., “FYLFOT AND SWASTIKA” in The Open court (1887) 
• Cheesman. C., THE HERALDS’ SWASTIKA (2019) 
• Godfrey-Faussett, T.G., ‘The Saxon cemetery at Bifrons’ (Kent Archaeology 1876) 
• Haseloff, Eine ‘jütländische Fibelgruppe und ihre Verwandten’ in “Die germanische Tierornamentik der Völkerwanderungszeit” 1981 
• Hauck. K., Die Goldbrakteaten der Völkerwanderungszeit (1985) -Helm. R., ‘Germanischer Schmuck’ (1957) -MacLeod and Mees 'Runic Amulets and Magic Objects' (2006) 
• Pennick. N., ‘Woden’s Swastika’ in Journal of Geomancy vol. 3 no. 4, July 1979 
• Sansoni, U., ‘Alpine and Scandinavian rock art in the Bronze Age, a common cultural matrix in a web of continental influences’ In Picturing Bronze Age ( Swedish Rock Art Series: volume 3 2015)
• Renner-Volbach, D., ‘Die durchbrochenen Zierscheiben der Merowingerzeit’ Dorothee Renner. Rom.-German. Zentralmuseum zu Mainz, (1970) 
• Toreld. A., Andersson. T., hallristning Field report (2012) 
• Theune-Grosskopf, B., & Nedoma, R. (2008). Chairs in graves of the Migration and Merovingian period mirrored by a new find with rune inscription from Trossingen, Lkr. Tuttlingen. Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt. 38. 423-436.

How to be a Heathen? Asatru online course

Starting Heathenry

Starting Heathenry is a NEW ritual-focused online course which will furnish you with the knowledge and confidence you need to practise the Germanic Heathen religion alone or with others, making wise decisions about worship based on reliable historical evidence.

The course teaches you how to construct Heathen prayers for yourself, not according to the established rites of any modern group, but according to what historical sources show. Starting Heathenry assumes you are interested in Germanic paganism, know about the gods and myths, and want to begin practising this religion, but require guidance on how to do so.

Key points are displayed in videos as bullet-points to help you remember them

 

Micro-learning

A modern way of learning an ancient religion

Starting Heathenry is based on a micro-learning structure which is proven to improve knowledge retention by 18-80% in students compared to other learning methods. The 10 lessons include over 50 videos, and quizzes to access from your phone or computer. Absorb more than 5 hours of learning material bit by bit, as it suits you. Within just 20 minutes after a hearing a lecture or reading a book, 50% of newly learned information is forgotten. Over the next 9 hours, that number drops by a further 10%, and after a month, only 24% of the information remains without revision or repeat learning. Micro-learning is designed so you retain the knowledge over a long period. I previously worked on crafting such learning material for the WHO to help health care professionals learn about the dangers of side effects from medicines. Now I am using the same technique to help Heathens learn to worship the gods of their ancestors.

Enroll today. Your path to knowing the gods through ritual starts here.

Pagan Iconography on Bracteates with Dr Scott Shell

Scott Shell received his Ph.D. in Germanic Linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley. The emphasis of his study has been on historical linguistics, runology and mythology. He runs a YouTube channel called @Scott T. Shell (Continental Germanic Heathenry) which focuses on the pagan religion of the Old Saxons. Tonight he will discuss the iconography and runic inscriptions found on Germanic bracteates of the Migration era.

Odin Rituals in the 19th century - Solstice special

A Survive the Jive Solstice special. In keeping with the tradition of telling ghostly stories at Yule, here is a special about Odinic sacrifices in Sweden and England during the 19th century. Edited by Wodenwyrd.

Sources:

 
 Higgens, T. W. E. “A Survival of Odin-Worship in Kent.” Folklore, vol. 7, no. 3, 1896, pp. 298–99. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1253238.
 GUNNAR OLOF HYLTÉN-CAVALLIUS - 1863 Wärend and Wirdarne. An attempt in Swedish Ethnology.

Music:

 Wodenwyrd, Deep Gnome, Baerdcyn

PAGAN FUTURES - Talks, photos and Key points

The playlist below contains the talks of Dr. Borja Vilallonga and myself, Tom Rowsell, as well as the live musical performances by Wolcensmen and the Q and A panel session with the three of us interacting with the audience.

Several people have requested that I post the summary of the core assertions of pagan belief from the talk as text for people to refer to. To reiterate them simply; 

• We revere nature as a path to the divine and therefore require access to sacred natural spaces 
• We revere death as a path to the divine and therefore reject any ideology that seeks to escape death
• We revere our bodies as a gift from the gods - which were created according to divine will and are therefore neither incomplete nor imperfect - but must be maintained and kept healthy and strong 
• We believe that the diversity of mankind is a manifestation of divine will, not a problem to be overcome - and that to approach the divine we must follow the example of our own ancestors, revering the sacred spaces of our own ancestral homelands in order to become closer to the gods of our ancestors
• We must therefore live in accordance with our own ancestral laws and customs

My talk "Pagan Tradition in a Globalized Future" is also available on Odysee and several podcasting websites.

PAGAN FUTURES: London Conference

• Date –   25th June 2022

• Place –   London, UK

• Theme –   European polytheistic traditions in a globalised future

Pagans represent a small but growing force within the diverse religious landscape of the UK and Europe at large. Despite this, the philosophical and political foundations of British, and Western institutions in general, presume common values predicated on thought systems which exclude pagans. How can the integrity of our tradition be upheld going forward?

Key Points

• This conference is being organised in association with the Survive the Jive™ Historical Research Project.
• The theme of this conference is- 'Preserving European spiritual traditions in a globalised future'.
• The purpose of this conference is to bring together polytheist thought leaders of the Indo-European traditions to consider building a philosophical framework for preserving the integrity of our traditions within an emerging new world order
• Historian, YouTuber and renowned polytheist Thomas Rowsell known for the Survive the Jive YouTube channel shall be the keynote speaker.
• Dr.Borja Vilallonga, Ph.D. is a scholar of history and religion previously at Columbia University, New York University, and the University of Newcastle. He has devoted his research to the relationship between traditional religion and modernity and runs a YouTube channel called 'The Modern Platonist'
• There will a live musical performance from the pagan folk artist Wolcensmen
• Audience participation is encouraged during a Q and A session with the speakers
• It is estimated there are over 250,000 pagan polytheists in the UK in addition to a similar number of Hindus
• Current political rhetoric regarding alleged ‘common values’ of ‘global humanity’ deliberately marginalises, excludes or misrepresents the deeply held beliefs of polytheists
• Advancements in technology pose challenges to those who uphold pagan systems of ethics
• Let us address these issues and more, together

Tickets available via eventbrite

Holy holes: Passing through and looking through

 

Passing through rituals involving holes in stones and trees are widespread in Europe and beyond and are related to rituals that involve looking through a hole to see spirits. In this video we look at the passing through rituals associated with megalithic structures in Britain and Ireland, and the arboreal passing through rituals associated with oak and ash trees all over Europe, known as träddragning in Nordic countries. We also look at the related customs of looking through holes among the Sami and the Welsh, the Odinic ritual of looking through an arm akimbo as described in the Viking saga of King Hrólfr Kraki, and at the hagstone or adderstone tradition from Britain and the associated magical practices. 

Animations by Castor and Bollux animation: 

Will  

Eliot  

Efa 

Additional art by: 

Thomas Cormack - Elf blot 

 Christian Sloan Hall - Odin 

Graman Folcwald - Anglo-Saxon burial 

Christopher Steininger - Odin

Sources:

Camden, W., ‘Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland’ (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610) Copyright 2004 by Dana F. Sutton. 

Campbell, J. G., ‘Witchcraft & second sight in the Highlands & islands of Scotland’ (1902). Davies, J. C., ‘Folk-lore of West and mid-Wales’ (1911). 

Evans, George E., ‘The Pattern Under the Plough’ (1966). 

Guðmundsson, H., ‘Handan hafsins’ Háskólaútgáfan (2012). 

Hand, Wayland D. “‘Passing Through’: Folk Medical Magic and Symbolism.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 112, no. 6, 1968, pp. 379–402. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/985938. 

Kuusela, T., 'He met his own funeral procession': The Year walk-ritual in Swedish folk tradition. Chapter in: "Folk Belief and Traditions of the Supernatural". Edited by Tommy Kuusela & Giuseppe Maiello. Beewolf Press 2016. Pp. 58-91. 

Saxo Grammaticus. Gesta Danorum: the History of the Danes I, ed. Karsten Friis-Jensen, and trans. Peter Fisher (Oxford, 2014), book 2, ch. 7, pp. 138–39. 

Marwick, E. (1975) The Stone of Odin. In Robertson, J. D. M. (1991) An Orkney Anthology: The Selected Works of Ernest Walker Marwick (Vol 1). Scottish Academic Press: Edinburgh. 

McDowall, Sue ‘PASSING THROUGH & UNDER: A RITUAL HEALING IN ENGLAND’ Folklore Thursday blog. 

National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin. https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5009137/4990205/5100637 https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5009301/5005811/5133480 https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4922361/4874175 https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5009277/5003835/5131790 

Ryan, Derek ‘Hag Stones, are they an example of authentic Irish folklore or a neo-pagan import?’ The Tipperary antiquarian blog (2019) 

Rydving, Hakan. (2010). The 'Bear Ceremonial' and Bear Rituals among the Khanty and the Sami. Temenos. 46. 31-52. 10.33356/temenos.6940. 

Skott, F., ‘Passing Through as Healing and Crime’ (2014). 

Thoms, William J. “Divination by the Blade-Bone.” The Folk-Lore Record, vol. 1, 1878, pp. 176–179. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1252358.

The Afterlife and the secret Odin Brotherhood with Dr. Mark Mirabello

Mark Mirabello, Ph.D., is a professor of history at Shawnee State University in Ohio and a former visiting professor of history at Nizhny Novgorod University in Russia. He has appeared on Ancient Aliens and America’s Book of Secrets on the History Channel as well as in the documentary The Kingdom of Survival. He is the author of The Traveler's Guide to the Afterlife which Examines beliefs from many different cultures on the soul, heaven, hell, and reincarnation; and also The Odin Brotherhood, first published in 1992, in which Mirabello reveals some of the secrets of a mysterious society in Britain which values "knowledge, freedom and power" as part of their occult work which honours Odin and the other Norse gods. I asked him about these and other subjects pertaining to magic, the afterlife and pagan beliefs.

Learn more about him and his published works on www.markmirabello.com 

Interview with Ian Read of Fire + Ice

 

Germanic pagan Ian Read is best known for his neofolk project 'Fire + Ice' which “takes the purity and philosophy of early music and melds it into a message redolent with powerful seeds of honour, truth, loyalty and the bond of true friendship.” Ian is also Drihten (lord) and Rune-Master in the Rune-Gild, an initiatory school devoted to the esoteric and exoteric study of the Germanic runes.

Learn more on his blog: https://runa-eormensyl.com/

Jive Book Review: Odin's Wife (Frigg and Jord)

Is Odin's wife Frigg the same as his lover Jord the Earth goddess? William P. Reaves thinks they are the same figure and that her cult survived in to recent times among German peasants who called her Frau Holda. I will briefly review his book on the subject here.

Podcast: Interview with Ralph Harrison of the Odinist Fellowship

This Podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, Player FM and all good podcasting apps and platforms.

Ralph Harrison has been an Odinist for 40 years. He is the Director of the Odinist Fellowship, the UK’s only registered charity for the indigenous faith of the English people. They acquired a 16th century chapel in Newark which was consecrated on Midsummer's Day 2014 as the first heathen Temple in England for well over a thousand years. You can donate to the charity or the temple using the links below. Ralph and I had a nice chat about the Heathen religion, its rise in popularity in recent years due to the success of TV programs like Vikings, and also the dangers the faith faces from new age influences like Wicca and naturalism.

Contact the Odinist Fellowship

 Email  OF website 

Address:
ODINIST FELLOWSHIP,
B.M. EDDA,
LONDON WC1N 3XX.

Newark Temple website
Newark Temple Facebook page