Overview of non-fiction articles
This page provides a listing of my non-fiction contributions, including a thumbnail image and a few sentences of each essay, along with a link to the full article available on this site.
About Walburgis
The figure of Walburgis likely embodies a pagan aspect, representing the divine leader of witches who convene on the Blocksberg (Brocken), a mountain located in the Harz low mountain range of Germany. Additionally, springtime traditions associated with Walburgis, such as the practice of riding around fields with new sprouts, are interpreted as originally stemming …
The Legend of Blenda
The Swedish Blodberget—the mountain of blood—owes its name to an old legend about a woman named Blånda, Blända or Blenda. Peter Rudebeck (1660–1710), a former owner of the ironworks in Huseby (today a stately, castle-like manor house with magnificent gardens and historic grounds where in the easrly days was a small village), wrote down the legend and told it everywhere.
It is said to have happened a long time ago when Danish troops attacked the area around Åsnen (a lake in Småland, southern Sweden). Thereupon, Blenda called on the women of the region to resist and …
Loki – a provocative lecture
The three Aesir gods Odin, Hœnir and Loki once hiked around. At the time they became hungry and had nothing to eat with them, they butchered an ox from a drove on a grazing in a nearby valley. (It remains unclear from the myth whether they asked the farmer for permission and compensated him, or if they simply acted unlawfully.) The preparing of the meat however was hindered by the magical powers …
The Early Franks – A Lecture
And at that time along the Lower Rhine there was a group of small Germanic peoples, whose warriors in previous years had served in the Roman army, and therefore knew well of the wealth of the Romans, but they possessed that themselves scarcely or not at all.
On the one hand, they were certainly attracted by the prosperity of the relatively peaceful and thriving Gaul. On the other hand were their own settlement areas endangered by other Germanic peoples and ….
A ‘Saxon’ Goddess Hulda
In the year 815, Emperor Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, was hunting in the outskirts of the Hercynian forest, and, in following a white buck, he outdistanced his followers and lost both his quarry, his horse, and his way in the Innerste River.
The Emperor swam to shore and wandered alone until he came to a mound sacred to the ancient Saxon goddess Hulda — a beautiful mound covered with her own flower, the wild rose. Again and again he sounded his hunting-horn, but …
The Munic Night Blessing (fragment)
Presumably from the 14th Century a Middle High German incantation has been handed down, which clearly shows the superstition of that time which existed within the Christian dominated folk religion. The spell probably was named after its place of discovery, since the 17th Century the document was in ownership of a Bavarian prince-elector and before it belongs …
Gunnar’s Melody
he poem deals with a topic from the Norse Nibelungen Saga which can be recognized in several poems of the Poetic Edda. In this poem, Attila, King of the Huns, orders to bring King Gunnar in a garden full of snakes with the intention that he should be killed by poisonous snakebites. But except for one snake, Gunnar succeeded …
Helith – an Anglo-Saxon Pagan Deity
Hence it sounds agreeable to accept Helith (Helið, .etc.) as a pagan god from early Anglo-Saxon England. The meaning of that name could point to words meaning ‘hero, warrior’; a war-god therefore would not be a devious interpretation. The name could also derive from words related to words for health and healing, and therefore could denote a god of healing. …
Odin – Most Prominent
The title of this humoristically meant talk expresses it already so well, yes, this lecture is about Odin, the God whom we know from many works as the highest divine leader of the Viking gods. Allfather of gods and humans of the Norse peoples of the Viking Age, probably already some time before that Era, up to the Christian conversion of northern Europe. Certainly, he still has that position for many …
Thorri and the Thorrablot
Thorri had two sons Nor and Gar and a daughter called Goe. The story goed, that Goe disappeared and her brothers were searching for her. At last they found out who had abducted her. That was Hrolf from the Mountain, a son of the giant Svadi and a grandson of Asa-Thor.
They settled the conflict and …
Proofs of Gods
Since proving the existence of one or more Gods is often attempted there are many books on the topic. Some of those books are so theoretically advanced they are incomprehensible to the average reader. In this paper I, as an average reader, am going to attempt to write about this topic for average readers.
A Ritual called Blot
The Blot is the most common ritual in Asatru. In its simplest form, a Blot is a sacrifice to the gods. In ancient times, this was performed by consuming an animal that had been dedicated to the gods and then slaughtered. The term Blot itself originates from the Old Norse blóta and the Proto-Germanic blōtaną, meaning to sacrifice and venerate.
Since we are no longer farmers and our needs are simpler today, the most frequent Blot involves offering mead or other alcoholic beverages to the deities. Many people today may view such a ritual with skepticism. Rituals like the Blot have been deliberately misinterpreted …
Natural religions today
Nowadays it may appear ostensibly unnatural to adhere to a natural religion because in western oriented industrialized nations, especially in industrialized conurbations and bigger cities the gap between humanity and nature is rather large. Many people seem to live so cut off from nature that unnatural behavior is often …
Song of the Valkyries
When Dörrud left his house on Good Friday morning, he saw twelve figures riding to a dwelling in a hill. He walked over and looked through a window to see what was going on. He saw women there who had carefully stretched a loom. They used human skulls as weaving weights, and the threads on the loom and spool were made of human intestines. They used their swords as shuttle and arrows served as reels. During the work, the women declared the following poem below. …
Warg – Werewolf
Werewolves carried out their sinister doings at the darkest time of the year during the Twelve Nights, or they were born during this time. If a werewolf casts off his skin on the 9th day, or even in the 3rd, 7th or 9th year, this is tied to cultural beliefs of what happens to a person’s soul after death. The legend says that a man who has drowned and turned into a seal sheds his skin every ninth day …
Stuffo, Stufo, Stuvo, Staffo
According to the recorded myths and church reports, this god was worshiped in Germany, in Thuringia, Upper Franconia, and in the Harz low mountain range; In all three regions there are hills with the name “Stuffenberg”. All three have different names today.
The People of the Tubantes
What exactly happened to the Tubantes is still somewhat controversial; according to an older view, they are said to have merged with the Saxons. Today, however, it is assumed that they became part of the Salians, the people who may have been the founding people of the Franks – therefore the Tubantes are seen as a sub-people of the Franks. …
Eala Frya Fresena
Eala Frya Fresena is a Frisian / East Frisian motto and central expression of Frisian freedom. It was allegedly proclaimed as a greeting by the assembled Frisians at the Upstalsboom, a medieval gathering place near Aurich. It means roughly, …
The Yule Cat
The story of the Yule Cat or, as it is called in Icelandic, Jolakotturinn, is said to have originated in the Middle Ages, although the oldest written versions of the story date from the 19th century. The lack of older sources for the Yule Cat is not saying much, however, as the sources for any form of popular culture in the past are quite limited. The story goes that …
Dido, founder of Carthage 
Even the ancient Greeks and Romans wrote about this woman and she is still the subject of publications today. This article is the result of my rich collection of information about her.
Probably the oldest source on Dido, who is also referred to as Alyssa, is a short paragraph in a writing by Timaeus of Tauromenium in Sicily (ca. 356ܺ-260 BCE). Although Timaeus’ writing has not survived, it is quoted by later writers or at least reproduced in their own words. According to Timaeus, Dido founded Carthage …
Lif and Lifthrasir
Lif and Lifthrasir, in Old Norse: Lífþrasir, are figures from Norse mythology known to us through the two Eddas. In the relevant myths, they represent the beginning of the ‘new humanity’; the old world had been destroyed, and a new world emerged that needed to be repopulated.
Mallt-y-Nos
Mallt-y-Nos, is a female figure from Welsh mythology, often depicted as a crone who rides sometimes alone, sometimes alongside Arawn, the lord of the Otherworld and his supernatural hounds, together being the Welsh version of the Wild Hunt, pursuing sorrowful and lost souls, driving them to Annwn, which is the name of that Otherworld. …
