Episode 12: Landspirits

Things we talk about in this episode:

Opening Music:

'Ancient Whispers I' by P C III, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/P_C_III/Ad_Astra_Vol_1/03_Ancient_Whispers_I]

Closing Music:

'Round II - The Ancients' by Learning Music, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Learning_Music/An_End_Like_This/32_Round_II_-_The_Ancients]

Background fire ambience by inchadney from freesound.org

“Permission to boop!” - ‘sharp tooth paddle doggo’ meme

“Roaming the valleys...” Blackadder, series 3 ‘Amy and Amiability’

The Muppet Show Theme – from the Muppet Show 1976-1981

A trip round whales and Wales

Kate bangs her elbow

Landspirits and animism

Saga of Olaf Tryggvasson – the four major landspirits of Iceland are a dragon, an eagle, a bull and a giant. These are now on the national Icelandic coins and the Icelandic coat of arms. https://eng.forsaetisraduneyti.is/state-symbols/icelandic-coat-of-arms/history/

Ibn Fadlan sees the Rus leaving offerings out for landspirits, which dogs eat.

Egil’s Saga contains an account of a cursing pole being set up to scare landspirits away - Egil's Saga, Penguin Classics, 1976, ISBN 0-14-044321-5, p. 148

Spirits of place, and house.

Nice table

Genii Loci – the Roman spirits of place

Modern spirits – spirits of glass, concrete and electricity (Kate’s phone beeps: the spirit of electricity makes itself known...)

The dragon prow: One version of the Icelandic Book of Settlement says that the ancient law of Iceland forbade having a dragon-prow in place on one's ship in harbor or coming in to land "with gaping mouth or yawning snout," because the landvættir would be frightened away - (Ulfljót's Law)

Keflavik air base, and the Icelandic foreman’s dreams of landspirits. - KveldulfR Hagan Gundarsson, Elves, Wights, and Trolls, Studies Towards the Practice of Germanic Heathenry vol. 1, New York: iUniverse, 2007, ISBN 0-595-42165-2, p. 18.

A prayer/dedication to the landspirits

Offerings for the landspirits

How to find us online

Bonus material:

Why exactly is Kate waving?

‘Thirteen! Thirteen!’ From the TV series Rome, Season 1, episode 11 ‘The Spoils’.

What legion was the 13th?

The ninth legion in Damnatio

‘defeated in detail’ - a legion and an industrial shredder

“To the trees!” - Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (1991)

The Ents get in the way – Ents from Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

Suzanne and Kate recount The Battle of Teuteberg...

“The line must be drawn here! This far and no further!” - Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

...and sing Desumiis Luge very badly… (Desumiis Luge, from the album Arcane Dominion I by Eluveite) caution: these lyrics are based on a Roman curse tablet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamali%C3%A8res_tablet

Episode 11 - Prayer

Things we talk about in this episode:

Opening Music:

'Ancient Whispers I' by P C III, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/P_C_III/Ad_Astra_Vol_1/03_Ancient_Whispers_I]

Closing Music:

'Round II - The Ancients' by Learning Music, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Learning_Music/An_End_Like_This/32_Round_II_-_The_Ancients]

Background fire ambience by inchadney from freesound.org

Welcome to episode 11! or is it 10a, or 12b…?

A wee wifey

This episode is rated UPG

What is UPG?

The spiritual driving test

Prayer is personal

What is prayer?

Prayer doesn’t have to be words

Prayer with the Gods is not a business transaction

Posture in prayer

Prayer can be formal or informal

The ritual of prayer

Prayer can be things other than words (again)

Choosing right action as prayer

What do you use prayer for?

Warning: results may vary...

When do I use prayer? Formal and informal revisited

Spontaneous prayers

Life and annual occasions that might warrant prayer

Who can prayer be addressed to?

Prayer to your ancestors and the landspirits

One of Suzanne’s favourite prayers for opening special occasions. Feel free to adapt for a group occasion as you like.

How to find us online

Prayer is hugely subjective, and what one person likes, another might not. It’s all good. If you are looking for a prayer of praise for a specific deity, then there’s lots of sites out there with prayers or poetry on that you can adapt to your liking.

Suzanne had found A Book of Pagan Prayer (Ceisiwr Serith, 2002) really useful. Whilst it’s not a wholly heathen book of prayer, there is plenty in there, including sections on how to write your own and what things you might want to consider.

Episode 10 – Paracetamjolnir – Grim Humour

Things we talk about in this episode:

Opening Music:

'Ancient Whispers I' by P C III, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/P_C_III/Ad_Astra_Vol_1/03_Ancient_Whispers_I]

Closing Music:

'Round II - The Ancients' by Learning Music, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Learning_Music/An_End_Like_This/32_Round_II_-_The_Ancients]

Background fire ambience by inchadney from freesound.org

The Tea Break at the Wall of Asgard…

Paracetamjolnir…

We are your bona heathens… (Julian and Sandy: Round the Horne)

Faith should be joyful and life affirming

Humour is subjective

Faith through the lens of humour allows change and growth

Humour is based in a shared understanding of culture

‘At least we won’t die a straw death’ - Arrgh where is this from? I know it’s a saga, it’s a small matter of remembering which one...I’m sure I haven’t dreamt it…

Vikings are fatalistic.

Kate likes a happy ending

Vikings are utilitarian

In a hole in the ground...

The Viking graffiti at Maeshowe

A bit of a neolithic diversion:

Maeshowe and the Viking graffiti - http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/maeshowe/maeshrunes.htm

A laser scan of the tomb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DX-OBFdUTE

The Neolithic village of Skara Brae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skara_Brae

The Tomb of the Eagles http://www.tomboftheeagles.co.uk/index.html

The two most notable inscriptions: ‘X carved these runes up high’ and ‘Ingeborg is a very fair woman’

The Lincoln Comb Case: ‘Thorfast made a good comb’ http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=65237&partId=1

Only listen to this after the 9pm watershed...

A parallel with Ibn Rustah’s translator

‘And notice gentlemen, the faster I go...’ - The Far Side, Gary Larsen

Funnies and faith go together

How to find us online

Frithcast Episode 09 - The Building of the Walls of Asgard

Opening Music:

'Ancient Whispers I' by P C III, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/P_C_III/Ad_Astra_Vol_1/03_Ancient_Whispers_I]

Closing Music:

'Round II - The Ancients' by Learning Music, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Learning_Music/An_End_Like_This/32_Round_II_-_The_Ancients]

Background fire ambience by inchadney from freesound.org

This is Suzanne’s interpretation of one of the stories from early on in the Myth cycle, The Building of the Walls of Asgard. We hope you enjoy it.

This tale can be found in Gylfaginning from the Prose Edda, an overview of the original can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sva%C3%B0ilfari

Episode 8 - Archaeology

Things we talk about in this episode:

Opening Music:

'Ancient Whispers I' by P C III, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/P_C_III/Ad_Astra_Vol_1/03_Ancient_Whispers_I]

Closing Music:

'Round II - The Ancients' by Learning Music, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Learning_Music/An_End_Like_This/32_Round_II_-_The_Ancients]

Background fire ambience by inchadney from freesound.org

Kate needs more coffee

Episode 7 – Beowulf Commentary

Things we talk about in this episode:

Opening Music:

'Ancient Whispers I' by P C III, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/P_C_III/Ad_Astra_Vol_1/03_Ancient_Whispers_I]

Closing Music:

'Round II - The Ancients' by Learning Music, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Learning_Music/An_End_Like_This/32_Round_II_-_The_Ancients]

Background fire ambience by inchadney from freesound.org

Kate mentions every detail

What makes a good story?

When the Romans leave

Linguists and sat navs

A trip around the word Caesar

A word about translations

Layers of meaning

Seamus Heaney’s version and why Suzanne prefers it

Kate loves Christmas Pudding

Kate is Barred…

A little dragon aside

Moby Dick gets mistaken for Star Trek and Shakespeare

Kate watches too much Star Trek

The 13th Warrior (film, 1999)

The Eaters of the Dead (book, 1976)

Kate misplaces Siberia

Ibn Fadlan’s account

Suzanne attempts to pronounce his full name…

We’re never flushing Star Trek out the airlock...

The pro’s and con’s of Ibn Fadlan’s account

Palm tree Vikings and personal bias

‘Elephants’ – Eddie Izzard

The difficulties of language and translation – the slave girl and paradise

The differences between the original accounts and the book/film

Ibn Rustah’s account and his tricky translator

How to find us online

More Beowulf pls…

Beowulf a new translation by Seamus Heaney- available as a single or multi-lingual edition. Also available as an illustrated edition.

Available as an audiobook read by Seamus Heaney

Also available in two parts on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaB0trCztM0 (part 1)

You can listen it in the original Anglo Saxon, performed by Benjamin Bagby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzmmPRG4smU (opening)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqnuinjk088 (lines 553b – 607)

Or the entire live performance: https://vimeo.com/40671018 (with slightly shaky camerawork)

The 13th Warrior (1999)

The Eaters of the Dead – Michael Crichton (1976)

What the slave girl does at the funeral according to Ibn Fadlan:

“Friday afternoon they led the slave girl to a thing that they had made which resembled a door frame. She placed her feet on the palms of the men and they raised her up to overlook this frame. She spoke some words and they lowered her again. A second time they rasied her up and she did again what she had done; then they lowered her. They raised her a third time and she did as she had done the two times before. Then they brought her a hen; she cut off the head, which she threw away, and then they took the hen and put it in the ship. I asked the interpreter what she had done. He answered, "The first time they raised her she said, 'Behold, I see my father and mother.' The second time she said, 'I see all my dead relatives seated.' The third time she said, 'I see my master seated in Paradise and Paradise is beautiful and green; with him are men and boy servants. He calls me. Take me to him.' " Now they took her to the ship. She took off the two bracelets she was wearing and gave them both to the old woman called the Angel of Death, who was to kill her; then she took off the two finger rings which she was wearing and gave them to the two girls who had served her and were the daughters of the woman called the Angel of Death.”

For more info on the connection between the Muslim Arab world and the Rus: http://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/199906/among.the.norse.tribes-the.remarkable.account.of.ibn.fadlan.htm

Episode 6 Massive Swords and Anglo Saxon Disco Balls

Things we talk about in this episode:

Opening Music:

'Ancient Whispers I' by P C III, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/P_C_III/Ad_Astra_Vol_1/03_Ancient_Whispers_I]

Closing Music:

'Round II - The Ancients' by Learning Music, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Learning_Music/An_End_Like_This/32_Round_II_-_The_Ancients]

Background fire ambience by inchadney from freesound.org

Quote from Seamus Heaney’s interpretation of Beowulf, opening lines

Leeeerooooy Jeeeeeenkiiiins… (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeroy_Jenkins)

I clank for coffee

Introduction to Beowulf

Kate’s Beowulf in under 5 minutes – in about 11 minutes…

Hrothogar, king of the Danes. He builds the feasting hall, Heorot.

Anglo Saxon disco balls.

Warrior on a stick.

Hrothgar is married to Wealthow, and they send out a cry for help.

Beowulf comes, and fights with Grendel.

Grendel’s mum takes nark

Unferth makes a late entrance

Suzanne has to go rethink some stuff…

Beowulf fights Grendel’s mother

Beowulf is king in Geatland

Always turn left at Alberquerque

A thief steals from the dragon

Dragon attack by Michael Bay

‘He’s got the same eyes’

A kingdom dragonectomy

“It’s dangerous to go alone, take this…” quote from the 1986 action-adventure Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda

‘I am issuing you this mortal blow...’

How to find us online

Quote from Seamus Heaney’s interpretation of Beowulf – Beowulf’s funeral.

Episode 5 Nine Realms in 20 Minutes

Things we talk about in this episode:

Opening Music:

'Ancient Whispers I' by P C III, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/P_C_III/Ad_Astra_Vol_1/03_Ancient_Whispers_I]

Closing Music:

'Round II - The Ancients' by Learning Music, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Learning_Music/An_End_Like_This/32_Round_II_-_The_Ancients]

Background campfire ambience assembled using samples and mixing tool at http://www.ambient-mixer.com.

Flailing Chocolate and their high calorie songs – Listener Challenge

“Lots of planets have a North” - Dr Who 2010

‘The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler of Bexhill on Sea”, gas stoves and Walking Backwards for Christmas -The Goon Show

“The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town” The Two Ronnies

Coffee powered druid

I’d like to take you on a strange journey – Rocky Horror Picture Show

Time Travel Trousers – Professor Elemental

Midgard is right here

Muspelheim and Niflheim create the universe

Journey around the nine worlds

A bad joke

Asgard

Jotunheim – home of the giants

Alfheim and Svartalfheim

Vanaheim, and the Vanir and Aesir war.

Accidental decapitation

Helheim and Hella

Pop culture references to the underworld, Dantes Inferno

The World Tree

Ways between the worlds – Bifrost – not a rainbow trampoline

Coffee

Animals around the World Tree

Nithog and library returns /What is enough breakfast for a deer?

The eagle in the rap battle – flyting at it’s finest

Enter the squirrel – Ratatosk/ Scrat from the Ice Age films

“Hold tight, Min.” - The Goon Show

The historical and the mythic truth

The Celtic otherworld

On a plane to Jotunheim

How to find us online

In case you’re wondering, Etemology.com has the origins for the word Hell as: “Old English hel, hell, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hel and German Hölle, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘to cover or hide’.

Episode 4 I Already Havamal

Things we talk about in this episode:

Opening Music:

'Ancient Whispers I' by P C III, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/P_C_III/Ad_Astra_Vol_1/03_Ancient_Whispers_I]

Closing Music:

'Round II - The Ancients' by Learning Music, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Learning_Music/An_End_Like_This/32_Round_II_-_The_Ancients]

Background campfire ambience assembled using samples and mixing tool at http://www.ambient-mixer.com.

I remember what this is called!

Kate runs out of steam

Havamal – translated by Bellows (1936)

Beowulf

A list of the 5 rough sections of the Havamal:

Section 1: Guest Rights and Responsibilities: verses 1-80. Especially verse 77 “Cattle die, kindred die...” and keeping guests knees warm.

Section 2: Verses 81-110. On Women: including 2 stories of the seduction of women.

Section 3: Verses 111 – 137. Advice for the Stray Singer: “I advise you...” Especially verse 127, the basis for Declaration 127.

Section 4: Runes: verses 138-146: Especially verses 138-139 which describe the Allfather’s self sacrifice to obtain the runes.

Section 5: Verse 147 to the end: Charms:”I know a first, a second” etc. Verse 157 mentions the runes again.

Translation and language considerations

9 noble virtues

How to find us online

Section 2 is actually 30 ish verses, not 20 ish. 80-110. My bad.

Some of the translations available online: (most at: http://www.heathengods.com/havamal/index.htm)

Bellows 1936

Thorpe

Hollander

Larrington

Bray – also available at http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/havamal.html

Chisholm

Auden and Taylor

Episode 3 – It Depends on Who’s Looking

Things we talk about in this episode:

Opening Music:

'Ancient Whispers I' by P C III, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/P_C_III/Ad_Astra_Vol_1/03_Ancient_Whispers_I]

Closing Music:

'Round II - The Ancients' by Learning Music, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence

[http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Learning_Music/An_End_Like_This/32_Round_II_-_The_Ancients]

Background campfire ambience assembled using samples and mixing tool at http://www.ambient-mixer.com.

Star Wars (Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith)

The coffee is missing

Values and tenets in faith

The central tenet of modern heathenry

Values of dick may vary

The Nine Noble Virtues

The World Tree and Ratatosk

Describe the Nature of the Gods

Offering and Sacrifice

Societal Rece… recipi… recitor…

Lets start somewhere

Heathen Expert…

How to find us online.

(Edited 2020 - removing social media links)