Hello all!
I have heard of Anglo-Saxon Heathenism and especially the Ealdriht, but lost them out of the eyes again. I see that they both have a wealth of information on their websites.
I also see that the Ealdriht dissolved itself just very recently, that's a pity, but obviously parts of it will carry on under other names, so hopefully their knowledge won't be lost.
Thank you Jeb for the interesting websites that you have contributed. We will turn this thread into a Germanic knowledge storehouse!
Concerning the incorporation of ceremonial magic into the Rune system by Edred Thorsson, this could well be. One of his most recent publication under the name of Stephen Flowers is "Hermetic Magic: The Postmodern Magical Papyrus of Abaris". I have ordered, but not yet read this book. It seems to be an account of classical Hellenic/Egyptian hermetic magic complete with scriptures, philosophy, deities, alphabets etc. The book seems to propose to hold rituals in that tradition complete with invocations in classic Greek language etc. One must be involved quite deeply in something in order to be able to write such a book.
I never heard about the "Temple of Set". Information on the internet says that this is a successor organisation to the "Church of Satan", although the TS seems to propagate more what is called "Setianism", but anyway. I'm also aware now that Thorsson has written a book titled "Lords of the Left Hand Path". Okay, I can see now why people would be cautious about Thorsson. He seems to have turned away from the Germanic path.
But basically, I've come to learn that, you're going to hear good points and bad points about almost everything regarding the runes and rune authors. I just take it all in and do what feels right for me.
There is wisdom in your words, Jeb. This is probably what all (esoteric) studies sum up to.
Lily,
Asatru rituals are not very different from ours in the OBOD. Just the culturally colored layer on the outside differs, they have different festival names and of course another pantheon, but the basic ritual structure is the same and from what I hear many Germanic groups celebrate the same eightfold yearly cycle.
As far as ancient and modern are concerned,it is about the same as well. Asatruars are slightly better off than "Celts", though, as some rituals (blots) are described in medieval Nordic literature, so that at least some impression of what such a ritual could have been does exist. We also know that Germanic tribes made excessive use of the stave rhyme in ritual language.
You'll find an excessive description of Asatru ritual under "Living True" in chapters #35-54 on the resources page of The Troth.
http://www.thetroth.org/resources/ourtroth/
Dave,
Merovingian (482-751 CE) literature is almost non-existant, since tradition of knowledge at that time still functioned orally.
After the Merovingians came the Carolingians. Charlemagne was crowned around 800 CE. Under his reign, science and art made progress and important scholars of that age were residing at his court, among them the Anglo-Saxon Alkuin as director of the court school. The literary language was Latin. Some important works of this time are
- 700 St. Gallen Manuscript (a collection of legal terms)
- 790 Wessobrunn Prayer (a prayer in early Bavarian language, possibly the fragment of a poem on the creation of the world)
- 802 Lex Salica (a collection of laws)
- 802 Frankonian Baptism Vow
- 810 Saxon Confession
- 810 Murbach Hymns (a collection of church hymns)
Then there is the Muspilli, the Heliand and other better known works.
As we can see, the material is only preserved in fragments and is not of much use if we want to reconstruct life, worldview and religion of continental Germanic peoples. Most of it is for church use, as the only people who were able to read and write at that time were clerics and people at the royal court.
Kernos,
we could set up a Germanic tribe in your woodlands, do some sword-fighting training and then make a Celts vs. Teutonic reenactment once a year.
Or better, the united Celtic and Teutonic tribes against the Romans! Do we have volunteers for playing the Romans??
Have a good start into the new week,
Eilthireach.
