Fasting as a Religious Concept

'I wot that I hung on the wind-tossed tree

     all of nights nine,

Wounded by spear, bespoken to Woden,

     bespoken myself to myself,

upon that tree of which none telleth

     from what roots it doth rise.

Neither horn they upheld nor handed me bread;

     I looked below me -

     aloud I cried -

caught up the runes, caught them up wailing,

     thence to the ground I fell.'

This passage refers to a Shamanic Initiation in which Woden rediscovers the most Ancient Runes. The piece that concerns us here is -

'Neither horn they upheld nor handed me bread....'

Woden hung in a self-sacrifice, himself given to himself, and during this he neither ate nor drank - he fasted. The three important points are that he suffered through having no drink, nothing to eat, and pain through being pierced with his spear. The obvious parallels to Christ hanging on the Cross will not concern us here, nonetheless they point to a more ancient figure of Krist which existed before the archetype was distorted.

This post is a reply to Steed's comment on the last post, whether fasting should be part of our religion, as it forms part of other religions. I see no reason why fasting should not form part of Folkish Wodenism, so long as it is part of the Esoteric Religion rather than something that has to be done on a regular basis as part of an Exoteric Religion. Fasting can form part of the training of an individual, down to the individual, and as part of the training of the Will; it takes a lot of will-power to stop eating. It can, of course, be done for health reasons, and again that is down to the individual. 

That it formed part of the Shamanic Initiation above is obvious, and this is clearly part of any Esoteric Religion. Here neither bread (food) nor mead (liquid) is drunk; pain is also involved as well as the hanging from the tree itself, which cannot be anything but uncomfortable. A period of nine nights would certainly have ended with some kind of 'religious experience' or 'mystical experience'. 

The use of fasting is down to the individual, and would be very useful when taken up as part of a training period; the health uses should be a subject of individual experiment since what goes for one individual may not go for another - everyone being unequal before Nature. Taking one day of the week to fast may start to bring some kind of change in health; 'religious experiences' are a different matter and anyone who tries experimenting on this path should first make sure they are healthy enough to go about it. 

As an aside to this I have suffered since a child with psoriasis and nothing has actually got rid of it; about a year ago I was forced to fast for four days because of a stomach bug, and after the four days the psoriasis had disappeared. Although this ailment is supposed to be linked to an 'over-active immune system' it would seem obvious that there could also be a link to food, or something put into our food. Unfortunately, having found a 'cure' where others have failed, the practicabilities of not eating at all are not too favourable, and a 'sword-death' would be better in any case. It was also the case that it came back again after I started eating. Back to the drawing-board!

Albion - The Sword of Light and Darkness

'In the days of the Lion, spawned of the Evil Brood, The Hooded Man shall come to the forest. There he will meet with Herne the Hunter - Lord of the Trees - to be his Son and do his bidding. The Power of Light and the Power of Darkness shall be strong within him. And the guilty shall tremble!' 

The Hooded Man Prophecy - October 31st 1993, Horam, East Sussex, England.

'A healthy mind in a healthy body' - this is one of the truest sayings, and one which is hated in this modern world of degenerates, of the meek and weak, of the sickly, of the decaying and dying species known as the 'Ultimate Man'. How many people today rejoice in their sickness, rejoice in being ill, having some form of illness or other? We cannot help being ill? Well, since our society is full of weakness and sickness then maybe, just maybe, this is due to the negative attitude prevalent in this rotten and falling world. Propping up the weak and sickly does not make them any better; it does make them more dependant. One should overcome weakness and sickness and not wallow in it. Talking to people who are constantly moaning about their health, or bragging about this or that illness that they have, or someone else has, has the effect of making one 'down'; it can have no other effect. Talk to someone who rejoices in life, not in sickness and death. 

A healthy, forceful spirit will be found in a healthy and forceful body. The aim is not only to create a haeldom within the Folk-Community but to create the haeldom within ourselves. Being negative only produces negativity in others around us. Positive thoughts and actions encourage positivity within others around us.

Thus, rather than going with the negative energies around those who wallow in their sickness and ill-health we should generate positive 'vibrations' and 'energy-waves' around us that would act as a protective barrier for us, and maybe even help others through sending out such energies. To be sure, not every Greek citizen looked as healthy and perfect as the statues of the gods carved in stone. But these statues were not sculpted to show how things were, but to show how things could be with the striving for perfection through self-overcoming. 

To the point! Self-overcoming and the increase of the Will-to-Power means recreating the 'whole' man; this means that a balance of opposites has to exist within the whole. Good and Evil - Light and Darkness - within the Sword of Albion there exists the 'balance of Light and Darkness' this forming the essence of The Hooded Man Prophecy. This is not just a prophecy, it is a complete teaching into Folkish Wodenism - it is the will to re-create The Hooded Man. 

The first thing we notice is that The Hooded Man must 'come to the forest'; he must do so because he is of the wild woodlands, of the wilderness of Nature, of the wild-wood. He returns to the home of the Barbarian; outside the realms of 'civilisation', outside the safe boundaries of the urban dwelling. He is the Wolf's Head, the 'outlaw', because his aim is survival and where survival is at stake man-made 'laws' have no place. He is outside the laws of the Old Order. Every law made today will be designed to halt the coming of The Hooded Man; his coming will bring to an end the Old Order. 

The guide to The Hooded Man will be Herne the Hunter, the One-Eyed Hunter-God we know as Woden. In this respect he is the Horned One ('Herne') who bears the Horns of Power - obvious by the symbolism of the Horns of the Stag. Herne the Hunter is his guide, and yet he is The Hooded Man, since Woden is 'The Hooded One'. The 'Son' here is indeed, the 'Father'. He does the 'Will of Woden' which works through him as his Will. Herne is a guide just as a god guides us, but it is down to our own strength and will that we overcome and struggle against all odds. 

Herne the Hunter is 'Lord of the Trees'; he is the 'Spirit of the Forest', the 'Spirit of the Woodland'. He is like Wid-Ar who is the Woodland God - the 'God of the Woodland', Wid-Ar the Mighty One. Herne is the 'Spirit of Nature', and The Hooded Man is the 'Spirit of Nature'. His power comes from the trees, from the wildness of the woodlands, the strength of the forests - that is our strength. Yet Herne the Hunter is not only the 'Lord of the Trees' for he is also the 'Lord of the Animals'. He is the 'Lord of the Wild'. He is Rudra-Shiva, he is Igg the Terrible, he is the 'Wild One'. Our power comes from the trees and animals, from the woodlands and forests of our land. The Hooded Man is arising in the Folk-Soul of the Saxon Nation.

Within The Hooded Man, as within the Sword of Albion, lie the balance of the Power of Light and the Power of Darkness. Within him is the union of Apollo and Dionysus in terms of Nietzsche. We know that the balance of these opposites lies with one of our gods - Woden. Woden is a god of the wild, the storm, the fury, the divine madness (woda); he is also the god of calm, of meditation, of stillness, of poetry and prophecy. Here lies the will-to-create and the will-to-destroy - that which creates also destroys. This world is a web of forces, of creative-destructive forces; it is energy, fiery energy that creates, builds, sustains and then destroys itself. The Hooded Man is the Creator and Destroyer of worlds - 'the beginning and the end', 'the first and the last'. Strong are these powers within The Hooded Man.

The Hooded Man is the 'Divine Fool' acting through his intuitive will; he is 'The Fool' of the Tarot, numbered 0 - the Void. He appears as a hooded figure, inside whose hood there is a total darkness, not 'blackness' but a Void! His eye appears from the Void; he can be an Agent of Chaos, laughing at the (s)laughter of battle, of the breaking down of structures, of 'law-tables', of that which is decaying, degenerate and dying. Ho! Ho! Ho! He laughs as he mounts Sleipnir and rushes through the Nine Worlds at a furious pace, leading the Wild Army of the Dead. That which is falling only needs a push!

'The guilty shall tremble!' Controlling powers need authority, they need to make laws to stop any form of opposition to their agenda. Anarchists do not want authority, and they do not want laws. Nihilism and anarchy are necessary in that they break the power of the authority that oppresses. Left-Wing Anarchy, however, in the form of such organisations as ANTIFA, are based upon the upholding of the 'multi-cultural society' and the 'sword-arm' of the agenda of the Global bankers - Marxist Socialism and Communism. ANTIFA opposes the forces that seek not to 'integrate', not to become a mongrel 'Race of Tan' and to lose their identity, to lose their only hope for the evolution of Man. Thus ANTIFA is alright so long as it is contained and takes this path, for it does not oppose the agenda of Global Capitalism, it protects by violent force that agenda. But it is controlled - and it is contained. Should these forces be transformed into a real opposition, through the creation of a new Barbarian and the creation of new Tribes of Barbarians separated out from this society, raw and surging with energy and power, like the Germanic Tribes that swept down upon Rome, this new 'Roman Empire' will fall just as surely as the Roman Empire fell before yesteryear's Barb-Aryans. 

There need be no barbarians from 'without' this time, since it is the world that is today enslaved, not just a part of the world; this time the barbarians will arise from within, separated out from the 'mob', from the 'herd', from the mass-consumers, raw and strong, healthy and virile, opposed to the weakness and sickness of this 'Modern World' - they will be the 'Men Above the Ruins' who 'Revolt Against the Modern World'. Each will be a form of The Hooded Man, each will hold within himself the 'Powers of Light and Darkness', each will wield the Sword of Victory holding within itself the 'balance of Light and Darkness'. And then, only then - 'The guilty shall tremble!'

There are 58 Words in this prophecy, and there are 58 Letters in 'The Power of Light and the Power of Darkness are strong within him'. 58 is the number of ROBIN. 'Robin' comes from 'Robert', a word meaning Fame-Bright which is 'Light': as 'Robin Hood' this become 'Fame-Bright Hood' which is a way of saying 'Light-Darkness'. In the name 'Robin Hood' we have the archetype of the Folk-Hero that holds within him the Balance of Light and Darkness - the whole Man. In Jungian terms the 'whole man' who has re-integrated the Shadow side of his nature - the Dark Side. This is the bit that Judaeo-Christianity, Socialism, Liberalism and Humanitarianism cut out! In this prophecy lies the way back to right, the way back to wholeness and the recreation of the Whole Man. 

The Hooded Man Prophecy had need of reform; rather than a 'hope' for our Folk it had need to be reforged into something to be emulated, something to be strived for, something to struggle for, something that would become a self-overcoming, that which will inspire people into action. Inspired by the Prophet Nietzsche (Zarathustra), this prophecy will no longer be looked at as a 'hope' that is awaited for, but as a means to ensure the Final Victory of this epic struggle. Perhaps too long have people sat back in the 'hope' that a hero will arise to get them out of this mess - now it is down to the individual to become that hero, to make himself or herself into that Folk-Hero needed to awaken our Folk and to lead our Folk to victory. The Hooded Man is a complete teaching program for the 'Warrior-Thinker'; it is the Way of the Cultic-Warrior'.

Victory or Valhalla!

End-Note: Those who have not, as yet, learned 'The Hooded Man Prophecy' off by heart would now do well to do so; it needs to be memorised (with the heart) and to be meditated upon, thus allowing its wisdom and teaching to become part of you, to be integrated into your whole being. This has always been the basis of Folkish Wodenism but it has now become even more important as being an active work rather than a 'hope' that someone else will do things for us. The time for 'hope' has gone, now is the time for action. The prophecy was given on October 31st which is 'Halloween' the time of the Ancestors; it was inspired by the Ancestral God, Woden, and by the Spirits of our Ancestors who guard us and guide us - we are the Ancestors, Blood of their Blood, Spirit of their Spirit - and our DNA proves that. These Ancestors live on in us; the time has come to awaken them in our Blood-Memory and to get them into action again in our times. He who does not hear the Call of the Ancestors from the distant past, and does not hold out his hand to embrace them - is lost forever! We who have heard the 'Call of the Blood' must now hear the 'Call to Action'. 

The Strong Man is Mightiest Alone

One of the foremost dogmas of the modern world is that children must be 'socialised', they must always be with other children, never alone with themselves. This dogma spreads into the grown-up world where the 'loner' (or perceived 'loner') is often seen to be a threat; when explaining some maniac who lets loose on a killer spree the term 'loner' more than likely appears in the press and media. As if everyone who seeks solitude, peace and quiet where they can think, is an 'extremist' or a 'lunatic'. Let us look at this from a different perspective, a perspective appropriate for a more sane world that we would wish to live in. 

Friedrich Nietzsche foresaw the splitting-off into two distinct types of man - the 'Ultimate Man' who would have the slave-mentality and herd-mentality, and the "Superman' who would have a master-mentality and rugged individualism which creates great strength and the 'Will-to-Power'. The former - the 'Ultimate Man' - is the dying species of mankind, the masses of today, 'The People', the consumer; the latter - the 'Superman' - will one day be the master of the Earth and will create a renewal of Nature and the spiritualisation of the Earth. To prepare the way for the 'Superman' it is necessary that those who will this break away from the 'mob', the 'masses', the 'consumers' and become hermits or solitudes. This he sees as a necessary step to the creation of the Superman. 

Thus, it is necessary today to become 'solitaries', to break free as far as we can from this society. I say 'as far as we can' because it is necessary to do this over time, step by step, achieving the small 'victory' at each step of the way. As Nietzsche stated, these 'solitaries' will one day be a 'people', a 'chosen people' because they have chosen to do this of their own free will. Out of this 'chosen people' will come the Superman - of the future. 

'The Strong Man is Mightiest Alone' - People need to be alone sometimes, alone to be able to think without distraction. Being separated as a Folk-Community should never need to be a drawback, since there are times when we need to work alone, to work as individuals, but foremost to drive ourselves of our own Will. To strengthen the Will. This is the will to overcome, to go beyond, to strive to go beyond our own limitations. This has to be something personal, something only you can do, something only working alone can do. 

'Socialisation' is merely a catch-phrase to hide the agenda to have children pushed into the 'mob', forced to 'integrate', forced to become part of the modern 'collective', into the herd, the flock of sheep led by their 'shepherds'. This is why the first thing that those who are appointed to oversee 'Home Schooling' ask if the child is 'socialising'; so long as they are still pushed into the herd that is alright. Woe betide the one who needs to be alone sometimes! As I said, this flows over into adult life where everyone is encouraged to join some group or other, to work with others, and above all to be driven by others - and not driven by themselves. Today there is a drive for 'integration' into the 'multi-cultural society'; everyone has to become part of this, even if it means becoming part of a degenerate, decaying and dying society - becoming the 'Ultimate Man'. 

Many people who have come to us to join the Woden Folk-Community first ask the question - 'Is there anyone else I can contact in my own area? Fair enough, people today who do what we do can become isolated, but should this really bother us? No! Because we operate as a small group of Wodenic Activists, together with supporters who make up the Woden Folk-Community, then we will be few and far between. In the USA people will be even more spread out, this continent being much larger than our small island. But this should not be a hindrance, it should not make us give up because we have to work alone. Think on this, once you start to get involved there is someone in your area - YOU! From this you can build up through your own effort and will. 

I have to work alone most of the time because there is now no-one else in my area, or at least no-one who works with me within Wodenism. That does not stop me doing what I have to do, indeed it drives me on to do what I have to do - I have to drive myself. We are also part of the Woden Folk-Community and are definitely not alone, even though we have to work alone most of the time. Our Folk-Moots here in England bring us together. Then we work as a group, as a Folk-Community. Our strength lies in the many individuals striving in some way towards bettering themselves, and joining the struggle for the freedom of our Folk and the healing of the Earth. 

There are going to be times when we may get complacent, or times when we feel that we cannot go on with the work; this is natural, I have felt like this many times, even more so of late. Times when we feel down, we feel things are not going right, and at these times we make excuses to ourselves, excuses to get out of doing what we have to do. We make excuses so that we do not have to do something. Doing so is a sure sign of weakness, and it is this weakness that we need to overcome. Making excuses is a weakness and invokes 'because'; 'because' is negative and must be transmuted into something positive. 'I cannot do this because....'. Because of what? Because I do not feel like doing it? Because I cannot be bothered to do it? Making excuses is a weakness of mind because it gets us out of doing something through convincing ourselves that we have an excuse for not doing something. Yes, no doubt we all do this, but we have to train ourselves out of doing so. 

When you say 'I cannot do....because' or 'I cannot go...because' think clearly of what you are about to say; is this because you really 'can't' or is it because you cannot be bothered. And then think about the excuse you are about to give yourself. Is this true, or something you are about to make up to convince yourself that you cannot do it? Making excuses to yourself is a weakness; convert this into a strength by doing what you thought you could not do. Will yourself to do it. 

Although we work alone it is also important that we build the Folk-Community, the Tribe of Woden. We have always used the Wolf Totem as our own and the mottos - 

The Strength of the Wolf is the Pack

The Strength of the Pack is the Wolf

Wolves Amongst The Sheep

Rise and Rise Again

Until Lambs become Wolves

The Wolf Pack is a fitting symbol for our Folk-Community since it is a 'pack' of 'individuals' and not some sort of collective in the modern sense of the term - it is not a 'herd' or 'flock' with a 'shepherd' to lead it. But any such Folk-Community will be stronger when the individuals within it are strong and individualistic. Rugged individuals who can work alone, and strong enough to drive themselves, and have an abundance of the Fiery Energy and Life-Force needed to carry on against all odds. Individuals who are able to carry the Flame of Freedom into the future.

Comfort, ease, happiness, the safety in numbers, these are all reserved for the man of today - the 'Ultimate Man'. Self-overcoming means taking ourselves out of that 'comfort zone', taking the hard way, taking the way of the 'Lone-Wolf' sometimes; to overcome oneself one must first have to struggle, not 'take the easy way out', not take the easiest route, not seek 'happiness'. Yes, seek Strength through Joy which means gaining in strength and will in the most joyful way we can - enjoy striving and struggling against all odds. We lone-wolves who stand alone against the world - against all odds! Did not Ragnar Lodbrok laugh in the face of death! 

We are here not to change society but to change ourselves; how can we change society if we cannot change ourselves? In changing ourselves we can lead others, encourage those who are asleep to awake and change themselves, overcome themselves, overcome their limits and take up the same struggle for freedom. We have to change ourselves, we have to overcome ourselves, our aim is self-overcoming. That means striving to better ourselves, striving to become stronger, striving to become more healthy, striving to become greater, striving to overcome the limitations placed upon us. Striving to become free men and women once more. 

'To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life' - to eat of the Tree of Immortality, to become 'as gods', to become the 'Superman'. To him that 'overcometh', those who take up the path of self-overcoming, of self-sacrifice rather than self-preservation. This starts with the 'lone-wolf', the 'hermit', the 'solitary', who is able to stand on his own two feet and not have to have others around to help him. Self-sacrifice, not self-preservation is the key to overcoming the self; when we overcome the self we find the 'Higher Self'. 

The essence of Nietzsche's teaching is that man can overcome himself due to his own free will and his own efforts - in this he does not need a 'God' to do it for him. This is where the mistake is made in the idea of 'worship' of a god; this does not mean to venerate a god, bow down before a god, it means to emulate a god, to strive to become like that god. That is the original and true meaning of the word 'worship'; thus we 'worship' Woden not because we bow the knee before him, but we try to become Woden. Woden is an archetype that we strive to become - the Aryan Archetype. 

In Nietzsche's Will-to-Power or Will-to-Might we can see the life-energy that permeates everything; indeed, is this not unlike the maegen known to the English? Our word 'might' is derived from the same root as maegen - *magan. It means 'strength' or 'power'; maegen means 'power', 'main strength' or 'force'; thus it is part of the Life-Force that permeates the Cosmos. It is an aspect of the Life-Force conferring confidence, ability, success and the will-to-win. Heroes like Beowulf were said to have an abundance of maegen; this was their personal power which they built up within themselves. The Root *magan means 'to be able', that is, to be able to achieve something. It is their personal Will that enables them to achieve. I think this is what Nietzsche means when he uses the term 'Will-to-Power' or 'Will-to-Might'. 

The above shows that maegen is built up in the individual, though some individuals will no doubt have more than others of this force and energy. The aim must be to increase this, to build this up within oneself. In order 'to be able' we have to transmute negative energies into positive energies; to do this we have to transmute the negative thoughts of the mind into positive thoughts - to stop using 'excuses' for not doing something and do it. Weaknesses must be transformed into strengths. 

Maegen is in direct opposition to the term used in the Eddas - ergi - a term meaning 'softness', 'laxness' and 'unmanliness'. There can be no softness, laxness or unmanliness within the strong and virile - the Cultic-Warrior. The Socialist feels vile and blames others for it, the Christian does likewise but blames himself. Both strive for 'equality' and only the weak promote 'equality' because they hate anything that is better, stronger, more powerful than themselves. Anything that has more might and main. Judaeo-Christianity tamed the 'Blond Beast' the 'Teuton', as Nietzsche declared; 'Saint Paul' spread the weakness and softness that would render the old Roman Empire powerless against the forces of  degeneration and decay. Today it is the remnants of Christianity, the forces of Liberalism, Humanitarianism and Marxist Socialism that preach 'equality', i.e. the weight of the masses pulling anything higher down into its depths! 

Another concept linked to maegen and to miht is hael or heil; this is the power of kingship, meaning 'luck' or 'good fortune', but with somewhat different connotations than these words are usually taken to mean. Hael is something inherent in the higher type of man, the kingly type of man; it is also built up in the individual, and can be lost or taken from the individual, just like we see in 'luck'. There is a higher meaning to this in that a sacral king was imbued with 'luck' (hael) but he could also lose it; in such cases the king no longer served the needs of the tribe in that when his 'luck ran out' so did the 'luck' of the tribe. There were instances when the king was given up as a sacrifice when this happened. Certainly his 'luck had run out'! 

The Wolf, the Bear, the Boar and the Stag were the animals usually used as tribal totems; these represented the strength of the tribe since all of these animals are associated with strength. The Raven was also a tribal totem, this being the Bird of Battle that feasted on the flesh of the dead warriors. The Horse symbolised the Sun, and was used by the Germanic peoples who were descended from the most ancient Solar Race. The Sun is the prime symbol of Light, of Energy, of Power and of Creation. The Solar-Race are the Creators, the Creative Race. This is the Arya and the Aryan Race. 

The aim within Folkish Wodenism is to create the 'Cultured Thug' of Lord Byron, postulated by the late Jonathon Bowden. We usually refer to this as the 'Warrior-Thinker' who is a blend of the 'fighter' and the 'intellectual'. Rather than today's intellectual who has no courage, has no 'balls', no strength to fight, and today's fighter who has little intelligence, we wish to blend the two into one strong individual, strong in mind, strong in body and strong in spirit. This 'New Man' must overcome himself, become stronger in will, in power and in mind and spirit - the highest spiritual beings are the strongest. The Strong Man is Mightiest Alone - the 'Warrior-Thinker' must be the end-product of this urge to self-overcoming, the urge to struggle against all odds, the urge to evolve, to create the Superman. 

Gateway to Thule

The centre known as the Third Eye or Mind's Eye has always been seen as the point of communication with the Divine or Higher Powers. We are told that Thule-Hyperborea can neither be reached by land or by sea; if we use the ALU-ULA Formula we get -

'Neither by land (Bodn) nor by Sea (Son) can Thule be reached.'

Only through the Mind's Eye Centre - Odroerir - can Thule be reached, and contact made with the Ancient Ones. Using the Ansuz-Rune and the Triangle symbol, as well as the visualisation of the White Swan, this centre can be opened to allow contact with the Great Ones of the Ancient World. 

The 'sinking' of Thule was not in itself merely a physical happening since it 'sank' deep into the Blood-Memory of our Folk. Just as the lost lands were taken into another dimension, or exist in another dimension, they also exist in the Blood Memory and can thus be awakened. It has been prophesied that Thule Initiates will awaken Thule in the Blood-Memory. 

The problem with a study of Thule is that we are drawn to looking for a physical place located in physical time, a long lost land connected to a Golden Age. This detracts from the more important aspect of the legend, that Thule is a Primordial State from which a great Spiritual Power emanates. This is the Sacred Centre, the Primordial Polar Centre where dwells the Chakravartin - 'He Who Makes The Wheel Turn' - who is Mundilfore or Waendal, whose symbol is the Swastika - Sign of the Pole. 

Access to this Polar Centre is through an ascent of Mount Su-Me-Ru which has a physical location in the human spinal column. This spinal column has the 33 runes, moving downwards from Feoh through to Gar at the bottom. If we move this force upwards, reversing the runes, we end at Feoh which is a rune meaning 'Gold', referring to the Spiritual Sun and the Light of Enlightenment. The Mind's Eye is the key to the concept of the 'seer' or 'see-er'; this refers to those who 'see' directly into the Well of Memory and the Well of Wisdom. 

The Norse Myth about 'Mimir's Head' is thus itself enlightening, since it is through the Head Centre that communication with the Gods or Powers takes place. Note how Woden consults Mimir's Head prior to Ragnarok; and he leaves his Eye in Mimir's Well (Well of Memory or the Blood-Memory). 

Yuletide Rites

This may seem to be a strange time to look at the Yuletide Rites, since we have just passed the Yuletide for another year. But I suggest that people look towards the next one now so that they can get ideas of how to improve their Yule Rites. There are some things that I would like to bring up that may help for the 2018 celebrations.

The use of a Yule-Wheel is important, so anyone who does not as yet have one should think about this. This is not really a 'Yule' wheel since it can also be used at the other points of the year, as I will show later. But it should be a six-spoked wheel bought from a source that makes them, or from an 'antique shop' (you know the ones, they buy 'rubbish' from you and then sell them as 'antiques'). You should also get a forked stave about 2-3ft high which fits into the hub of the wheel. A smaller wreath is hung from the forked stave and this is decorated. Do this early and it will be ready to use throughout the year. The best source for its use comes from the 'SS Handbook' which tells all about the use of the wheel.

I always decorate my Yule-Wheel with evergreen twigs; now, I would suggest using pine, spruce and holly and not fir since fir-twigs shed their needles all over the place within a few days. The others do not and will last across the Twelve Nights of Yule. Make a note of this for next year if you have not already found this out the hard way - as I have. I also cut up small (9" long x 3" diameter) logs of birch which I drill out and put the same evergreen twigs along the logs. Holly is also hung around the room too. This brings greenery into the house for the Twelve Nights of Yule. 

The best time to start doing these things is around 2-3 days before the Winter Sunstead (21st December); this is so that not too long a period and not too short a period is left to prepare. It is wise to do it at around this time as as to prepare the mind for the coming rites and celebrations. But it is wise to get hold of the materials such as the birch-logs and the wheel-stave well before so that they have dried out. 

The other thing to consider for next year is the kindling of the Need-Fire through the use of Friction-Fire. In a comment made on 'The Triple Godhead' our Langbard Comrade, Dragonerosso, mentions the most ancient use of the Swastika in birthing Agni, the Fire-God. This can be done with the use of a Swastika-Wheel made with a central hub which produces Friction-Fire when the wheel is turned quickly. This could be tried as an experiment.

As I said before, the Yule-Wheel can be used for rites throughout the year - Easter, Midsummer, Ancestral as well as Yule. To do this another wheel should be made, shorter than the one that hangs from the top parallel to the wheel, and this should be made into a 'Sunwheel' by crossing it with two staves. The wheel is decked out with flowers and other things for each festival - see the 'SS Handbook' for this. 

The following is the Agni Myth which refers to the Winter Sunstead and the Triumph of Light -

Agni (The Fire) is the son incarnate of Savitri (The Sun), conceived and born of the Virgin Maia, and had the carpenter Twasti (Maker of the Swastika) as his earthly father. In the Cave of the One of Twin-Sticks, which has the name 'The Mother', lives the Goddess Maia, the embodiment of Creative Power, who gives birth to the Son under the influence of Vayu (Spirit), the breeze of the wind, without which the fire cannot be lit. The first spark that came from the cavity (cave) of the sacrum of Maia, by turning the Fire-Twirl (Pramantha) represents the birth of Agni; this spark is called 'The Child'. 

Hereward the Wake

Harold Godwinsson is the hero of Englisc Nationalism; as the last 'Anglo-Saxon' king he is still honoured today at Battle Abbey each year by many Englisc Nationalists. What has always seemed strange to me is the complete rejection of the Danish and Norse influence on the English Folk. This seems strange in view of the background of their hero - Harold Godwinsson. 

Harold Godwinsson was the son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and Gytha Thorkelsdottir (Gytha - Daughter of Thorkel) who was the sister-in-law of King Cnut of England and Denmark, descended from the 'Vikings'. Gytha's brother was Ulf the Earl who married Cnut's sister, Estrith. Even the name 'Harold' stems from the Danish Vikings. Anglo-Saxon-Dane might be more appropriate, and thus the input of the Danes and Norsemen placed into its rightful position in English history. Harold Godwinsson was 'Anglo-Dane'. 

With the death of Harold Godwinsson the power of Wessex decreased somewhat, and the pockets of resistance against the Norman outlanders arose mainly in the Danelagh where they held out for seven years against the Norman oppression. The heroes of the time were Robin Hood, Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, William of Cloudeslee, Edric the Wild and the famous Hereward the Wake who held out in the Fens of East Anglia. 

Hereward the Wake was Lord of Bourne and of the ancient family of the Wake; his symbol was the 'Wake Knot' which is in the form of a 'W'. His lineage is not clear from history, since anything English was heavily suppressed by William the Bastard. The most famous (fictional) book written on Hereward the Wake is that done by Charles Kingsley, and he traces Hereward's lineage to that of Leofric of Bourne (Leofric of Mercia) and the famous Lady Godiva. Hereward also seems to have had some Danish ancestry. Most of the names of the followers of Hereward the Wake are distinctly English, Anglo-Saxon names in areas ruled by the Danes, proving how far integration between Anglo-Saxon and Dane had gone by this time. Scholars have also suggested that he was of Anglo-Danish descent. 

Hereward's following was made up of unruly brawlers - Geri, Winter, the Wulfrics, the Wulfards, the Azers and other wild fighters. Hereward is described as being short but strong-chested, having one grey and one blue eye, and long locks of golden hair that marked him out as being 'of ancient royal race'. His wrists and throat were tattooed in blue patterns, which, like the statement made by William of Malmesbury, shows the English to have tattooed themselves. He wore a gold ring around his neck (torc, worn by Germanic Tribes in this area) and gold rings on his wrists. At least this is the way he is described by Charles Kingsley. 

I am not going to go into the history of Hereward the Wake since it should be pretty well known, and would take up too much space in a short post. Kingsley has him slaying a bear, which takes us straightway into Archetypal Myth. History now becomes myth and legend -

"And they talked and sung of The Wake, and all his doughty deeds, over the hearth in lone farmhouses, or in the outlaw's lodge beneath the hollins green; and all the burden of their song was ' Ah that The Wake were alive again!' for they knew not that The Wake was alive for evermore; that only his husk and shell lay mouldering there in Crowland choir; that above them, and around them, and in them, destined to raise them out of bitter bondage, and mould them into a great nation, and the parents of still greater nations in lands as yet unknown, brooded the Immortal Spirit of The Wake, now purged from all earthly dross - even the Spirit of Freedom, which can never die."

"England A-Wake!" This was the rallying cry we have used since Woden's Folk was first formed back in 1998. This was spelled as it is to incorporate the great English Folk-Hero - Hereward the Wake - into our Wodenic Myth. The 'Immortal Spirit of The Wake' does live on, it lives on in the blood of those Englishmen and Englishwomen who today stand true against tyranny and the loss of freedom that we endure, a direct parallel to the times of Norman tyranny some thousand years ago. Kingsley calls him 'The Last of the English' which is fitting, but today we shall proclaim ourselves as the 'First of the New English' as the phoenix rises out of the ashes of destruction. 

The Merovingian Franks

In a spurious work called The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail the authors attempt to link the Merovingian Kings to the 'Bloodline of Jesus'. This is done through the 'Priory of Sion' which is supposedly a secret society and offshoot of the Knight's Templar which held the 'secret' of this bloodline. Unfortunately, the theme has been taken up by others and continues to spread these ideas to the masses. There is a problem with this theory, and a theory it is - not fact. The book itself hints at the true origins of the Merovingian Franks -

'It is just possible that, in the Merovingians, we may have a dynasty of Germanic Heerkonige derived from an ancient kingly line of the migration period.' 

The authors quote this statement from Wallace Hadall (The Long-Haired Kings page 171) and go on to ignore it and get on with the theory that the Merovingians descended from the 'Bloodline of Jesus'. There seems far more proof that this Frankish Royal Line descended from the Wolsungas than this 'Jesus' of the Christian world -

• On December 23rd 679 Dagobert, King of the Franks, went hunting in the Forest of Woevres. He lay down to rest at the foot of a tree. One of his servants, his godson, acting on the orders of Pepin, pierced him through the eye with a lance. This tells us of an archetypal myth being played out here since Dagobert's Legend is the same as the Legend of Siegfried. Thus, the Merovingian Franks were a 'dynasty of Germanic Heerkonige derived from an ancient kingly line of the migration period' - the Wolsungas.
• If this is not enough the title of the Franks was the Sigambrian Franks or Sicambrian Franks, which suggests that they were descended from Sigi the sire of the Wolsungas. 
• The Origins Legend of the Merovingians suggests a link between them and the founders of Rome - Romulus and Remus. I am not going to go fully into this, but I have featured it some years ago and will perhaps look further into the legend. 

The Judaic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - all await their 'Messiah', so it would be in their favour if the royal line of the French were to descend from 'Jesus' rather than from an ancient Germanic Kingly Line. Especially since there are certain prophecies that indicate that the French Royal Line will be the reinstated (after being overthrown through the French Revolution). 

Dagobert was slain in order to destroy this Germanic Royal Line, and the Carolingians took over from the Merovingians, the latter being the true and original Royal Line of the Franks. The Merovingians were the 'Long-Haired Kings' and their symbol was, amongst others, the Tribal Spear, the Spear of Woden. The legend of the Spear of Destiny stems from this time, and indeed has been dated to this period by experts. These were Sorcerer Kings and similar magical objects have been found amongst their grave-goods as have been found in the Sutton Hoo Ship-Grave of the Wuffingas. 

There is one part of the Archetypal Myth which may interest us here, and that is Dagobert's death by being pierced through an eye, not through the back as we find in the Legend of Siegfried. Dagobert is not the only one to die through being pierced through an eye, for King Harold Godwinsson was also pierced by an arrow through the eye - or at least this what legend tells us. It has been suggested that this was added to the Bayeaux Tapestry, and this would be even more proof of its importance as an Archetypal Myth.

There is a quatrain from the Prophesies of Nostradamus which mentions a death through being pierced through an eye -

Dessouuz de chaine Guien du ciel frappe,

Non loing de la cache le tresor:

Qui par longs siecles avoite este grappe,

Trouve mourra, L'oeil creve de ressort.

This prophecy mentions an 'Oak Tree' (OF chene for 'chaine') struck by lightning where a treasure lays hidden; when found a man will die, his eye pierced by a 'spring'. Any piercing of the eye, and thus blinding in an eye, suggests the god Woden, of course. I have quoted the original French version because translations are not always accurate; not having a knowledge of French I am not in a position to translate. Another translation of 'chaine' could be 'chain of mountains' but this hardly fits with the 'blasted oak'. 

It is also interesting to note that the 'Forest of Woevres' is where Dagobert was said to be slain. The word 'woevre' (I think) means 'serpent'; Miguel Serrano mentions Woevre Saelde which appears to be the original Germanic name for 'Isalde' or 'Isolde', the lover of Tristan. This forest has a long connection to the Druids I think.