Pictish Bronze beast, possibly a bull, c. 100 BC. It was probably mounted on a bucket or ritual bowl. Discovered in 2023.

Admin face reveal!!!!

The association of Ursa Major and Minor with wagons is also found in Old Norse. 
Icelandic linguist Geir Zöega recorded two Old Icelandic names for them; Karlvagn, (free) Man’s Wagon, and Kvennavagn, Woman’s Wagon. With other associations such as Odin being known as Vagna Rúni, this unnamed man and woman likely refer to Odin and Frigg. ᚬ

Stanza 65 of the Völuspá is often interpreted as predicting the coming of Christ.
“There comes on high, all power to hold,
A mighty lord, all lands he rules.”

However; it is not included in the oldest version of the Völuspá found in the Codex Regius, and may be a late addition, added in the 14th Century Hauksbók. Before it, stanza 64 contains; 
“There shall the righteous rulers dwell.”
Rulers, plural. 

If stanza 65 was included in any older versions, the fact that stanza 64 specifies multiple rulers shows it would most likely have referred to Baldr returning from Helheim, Víðarr, or even Odin Himself; the Gylfaginning establishes that Odin lives and rules through all ages.

Pic: the end of the Völuspá and the beginning of the Hávamál in the Codex Regius.
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“When I was a child, we were always told not to whistle at night.
‘Otherwise Joen's (Odin’s) hunt will come,’ my parents said.”
~Collected by Evald Tang Kristensen in Vokslev, Jylland, 1893.
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Painting by Yana Kharchenko.

West Coast of Snæfellsnes, Iceland. [2048x1365] [OC] via /r/EarthPorn https://ift.tt/TmMjdKO

ᚠloridian ᚠuthark

Part I - Feoh

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The cattle have beautiful clear faces, turning grass into wealth. Prairie that ends at the sky, forest so bright green your eyes smart, seas teeming with fish. When the palms dry they make the prettiest hot fires in the field at night to sizzle sausage. Coontie starch feeds the pigs, curlew feed on minnows, clams feed man. How much food there is! Oysters, seaweed, coco plums, musky beef, pumpkin, mahi, smokey mouth-smacking pork, beautyberry, cooter, lotus seeds, Osceola turkey. How much land! It don’t roll much, well, in fact, it’s flatter than a goddamn hotcake, but it goes on forever. How much forest with warm white-tail flesh, how many fathoms are those mineral rich limestone caves filled with gin clear water, miles and miles of drink. The blue giant sky head, the long long lang almost touching the hot equator with one hand and gripping the tanniny Suwannee basin with the other. Timber, sugarcane, watermelon. How much hay–that’s wealth. How many peppers, fingerling potatoes, tobacco, oily-peeled grapefruits, cedars for pencils, cypress mud flats for houses, fields for cows, forest for brave boars, sandy yards for chickens and crabs. Stacks on stacks of otter pelts, of gator skin—of gator teeth! Gator teeth and shark teeth for sale! Shells! You've never seen such olives and cowries. Sugar sand property for the wealthy. Rockets go up now and look at night thought of the giant head dome sky; see the tip top of the Tree–

 It was too much and we went too far. How we are suffering now for our teeming abundance–fighting for a little space for cattle—for just a glimpse of the dazzling god-touched sea. The cattle are in the field, cracker cows, cracker ponies, Gulf sheep, thinking deep green thoughts.The wooden gothic homes shaded by old oak. Beach cottages to go escape from the too much of life. The children in your yard, these are wealth too, the greatest you could ever have. Their high laughter, their clamoring at the table for datil sauce and fresh eggs. The cows are coming in now, under the pinpoints of the star-dotted sky spilt over with milk, calling softly, good night, good night, 

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- Huwila 🦉🐊🌺

Pictured: a vintage orange crate label, a cowboy driving cracker cattle through the scrub, a vintage agricultural map of Florida, and my own Feoh/Fe/Fehu runes on a rain-flecked rubber plant. (reminder that Hrafna makes lovely hand painted floral sets! ☝️🪻)

Meán Samhraidh or Midsummer

The sun was associated with the healing properties of water. Solar shrines were often set up at healing springs. Water was the mystical entrance to the Otherworld, and offerings such as glass, pottery, coins, stones, carved wooden figures and golden objects would be thrown into wells and lakes as gifts for the gods and goddesses.

Sacred wells were used for healing and divination. On certain days wells were honored by being covered with flowers and tree branches, and serenated with music and dancing. There would also be a feast to thank Earth Mother for the water who provides for all.

At midnight on the solstice, fires were lit on every hill. People danced around fires and leapt through them. Blazing herbs from the sacred bonfire were taken to bless cows and calves, torches were carried around the house and field, and coals from the Midsummer fire were scattered on fields to ensure a good harvest.

A "white horse" made of wood with a white sheet covering it was seen to "leap" through the flames to represent the beasts of the farmyard.

Oak trees near wells and fountains were decorated with colored cloths. Hawthorn trees were adorned with flowers and ribbons as people danced around them.

Bile, the progenitor and Otherworld patriarch of the Celtic peoples, is honored at Meán Samhraidh. His consort is Danu, to whom prayers for abundance and prosperity are made known on Midsummer's Eve.
Danu is linked with the rivers Danube, Dnieper, Dniester, and Don in Russia. She is the Mother of the Irish gods of the Tuatha De Danann, and she is the goddess of pregnancy, ripening and home.

So loved was Danu that the Cassiopeia constellation used to be called by our ancients as "Don's Court". The "Northern Crown" was called "Caer Arianrhod", the castle of Don's daughter. The "Milky Way" was "Castle Gwydion", the castle of Don's son. Nuada Argetlam was lord of 21.000 cattle and a god of battle and generosity. Danu was his mother.

Therefore, the hilltop fires and the fires of the far distant stars mirror mirror the constellation and goddess Danu.

Under Wuodan’s Oak, by Wouter Florusse. ᚪ