The Tenth Rune Spell
Let’s fuck with someone, shall we? Time to hone your defence against the dark arts skills.
In a 13th century Icelandic text called the Poetic Edda, we find a long poem called Hávamál, and in that poem the god Odin recites a list of Rune-spells he has learned while hanging upon the World Tree (axis mundi). This part of the Hávamál has come to be called the Song of Spells. There are many translations of this verse; here are four of them.
For the tenth I know,
if I see troll-wives
sporting in air,
I can so operate
that they will forsake
their own forms,
and their own minds.
~ Benjamin Thorpe
A tenth I know: when at night the witches
ride and sport in the air,
such spells I weave that they wander home
out of skins and wits bewildered.
~ Olive Bray
If I see the hedge-riders magically flying high,
I can make it so they go astray
Of their own skins, and of their own souls.
~ Nigel Pennick
A tenth I know, what time I see
House-riders* flying on high;
So can I work, that wildly they go,
Showing… Continue reading
Imbolg 2010
(Click View with PicLens for slideshow effect, the other one doesn’t work. Or click on image for single viewing)
Lady L came early and we did a quick run through of the ritual while I put the scalloped potatoes in the oven. Then we set about rearranging my living room, Lady L prepared Brighid’s throne while I put dirt in the pot to stand my stang in and then we tackled the altar. The gang showed up and after the usual preliminaries we got to work.
We went in procession around my home, placing offerings at each shrine and altar, giving a beer and new adornment to the house guardian as well.
We planted the stang, the World Tree. We called on Earth, Sea and Sky to anchor us. We raised a hedgerow around us. We parted the Veil, creating a Gap in the Hedge, above and below and asked someone special to watch and guard.
We lit the Hearth Fire, thanking it for its warmth and light in the cold winter. We honoured the Well, now frozen and full of ice and snow, but waiting the melting of spring. We sat together and… Continue reading
It’s Not Done Yet
Hedge Witchery
Hedge is a Teutonic term originally meaning any fence, boundary or enclosure, later meaning a specific type of living thicket planted to act as a fence, enclosure or boundary.
Old High German (language used roughly from 500 to 1050 C.E): hegga, hecka
Old Dutch (600 to 1150 C.E.): heggehn
Old Saxon or Old Low German (800 to 1200 C.E) : haeg
Anglo-Saxon or Old English (550 C.E to 1250C.E): hecg, hegge, haga, hecge or hege
Middle English (11th century and about 1470 C.E): hedge, hegge, hedgen, heggen
Suffolk dialect (at least 1300 C.E. to present day): hetch
Modern English (1550 C.E to modern day): hedge
Middle English hagathorn meaning “hedge thorn” becomes the modern hawthorn
Old Teutonic stem haja- meaning “behind the hedge” gives rise to the Old English haja, Middle English heye, haye and thus the English hay. Behind the hedge lays the hay field.
The old words for hedge also gave rise to the words hawk (hedge-bird), haggard, edge and hag (witch).
Old English for hedgerow is heggeræw.
Saxon haegtessa and the Old English haegtesse, roughly translates to hedge-rider, hag-rider, witch and witch-fury.
In a 13th century Icelandic text called the Poetic Edda,… Continue reading
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