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twelve night of Yule with Holle

Holle and the twelve days of Yule

Holle the goddesses and Yule. Frau Holle is connected to springs, wells and lakes, where she lives in a land on the bottom of the water. She is also connected with the fog. Holle can be seen as a bright shape drifting in the fog, and her fog maidens are “die Hollen”, who move over the land to come to the aid of women and...
Wheel of the year

A Trip Through the Wheel of the Year

The 8 ancient festivities for each sign an essential point in nature’s yearly cycles. They are generally portrayed as 8 equally spaced spokes on a wheel symbolizing the year in total; the days on which they fall are approximately equally spaced on the calendar, as well. The wheel of the year consists of two sets of four holidays for each. One can find four sun-festivals...
Women's work wood carving

Women’s Work

Women today tend to trivialize goddess Frigg’s functions. If you try to unravel the different levels, connections, storylines and hidden meanings in Maier files, getting into the world of Disir and ancient European goddesses can be very helpful. An interesting read is the original work of Mrs. Karlsdóttir. Mrs. Karlsdóttir in her book Norse Goddess Magic  states that women today tend to trivialize goddess Frigg’s functions. The main reason is that some women who are still trying to disentangle themselves from unfair […]...
ilmarinen finnish folklore

Secrets hidden in Finnish Folklore

An enigmatic depiction of the golden fleece quest: an Athenian Red-figure cup discovered in 1834 and attributed to the Athenian painter Douris (c. 480 BC) shows in its interior the goddess Athena who watches as a huge serpent disgorges a man, alive. Behind them is a tree with a ram’s skin in its branches. These clues assure us that the hero is Jason. The artist...
Gundestrup

The Grail Myths

Occult knowledge and ancient wisdom. What was Parsifal seeking in Wolfram Eschenbach’s poem that was referred to as “the Grail”? A stone ? The Lapsis exillis? It is also said that a pagan astrologer read the mystery of the Grail in the stars: ” Flegetanis, the heathen saw with his own eyes in the constellations things He was shy to talk about, Hidden mysteries that...
Birgid cross

The mysterious Brigid

  To fully grasp a Deity, you need to make an effort to understand the heritage and characteristics of the very first people to worship that Deity. Brigid the Celtic goddess Brigid originated in the pantheon of the Celtic people—the inhabitants of Ireland and the British Isles. Similar to Brigid, the history of these folks is mysterious and multifaceted. You can somewhat decipher what’s going on, but a large amount of the heritage is lost. Mysterious artifacts reveal a little […]...
Albruna Gudrun Maier files

The mighty Gudrun

The name Kudrun, and hence the title of a German epic, is rendered as “Gudrun” in most older English translations. But today the form “Kudrun” is preferred because Gudrun is also the name of an unrelated character in Norse mythology. Gudrun is a major figure in early Germanic literature that is centred on the hero Sigurd, son of Sigmund. She appears as Kriemhild in the...
Gudrun's sacred woods

The mysterious German forests

The German forest is immense, vast, dense, dark, and impenetrable. It is the refuge of the exiled and of outlaws. A site of lairs for terrifying and often monstrous animals. The dwelling place for brigands and marginal individuals. The woods thereby forms a natural frontier. The Bohemian Forest (or Nemus Boemicum) to the south connects with the Bavarian Forest and the Austrian Nordwald; the forest...
Nornir and Runes

Projekt Nornir

We take it for granted that the past is fixed and time is linear. History always happened the way we remember it happening. But how do we know for sure that that’s the case? Otto Maier started to work on a project called “Nornir” in the 30ties and 40ties. To understand project Nornir and its goals you need to step into a forgotten old Germanic worldview and its concepts about Time and Destiny … Many “modern” people perceive the Norse […]...
Disir

Who are the mighty Disir?

A Backstory on one of the less obvious themes in the Maier Files and Dietrich’s personal tale, the Disir. Who are the Disir? Or should we call them Idis or Dís? According to the Roman historian Tacitus, the ancient Germanics and Teutons thought of their women as “goddesses”. Especially holy were the spirits of the female ancestors, who continued to watch over and ward their...
funeral

The greatest secret of the North that only two know.

The crime that finally turned the gods against Loki was his role in the death of Balder, however this event is also one of the great puzzles of northern mythology. Why were Odin and Frigg, with all their knowledge, not able to prevent the disaster? What did Odin say -before he climbed on bale-fire- into the ear of his son? This is maybe the greatest...
Horselberg

Is this the Tannhauser Venusberg?

Grimm writes that the Hörselberg of Thuringia was still considered in the 10th through 14th centuries to be the residence of the German goddess Holda and her host. He cited legends of night-women in the service of dame Holda.  Those women rove through the air on appointed nights, mounted on beasts. He asserted that they were originally dæmonic elvish beings, who appeared in woman’s shape and did men kindnesses. Grimm asserted that the identity of Venus with the German goddess […]...
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