Sprëhhan 11

/ Lokisdottir

Know the Altmâg mound1 is there, is here, and I access it. Do not construct, nor imagine. Stand anew at each threshold2, not knowing, and at ease with what is not known. Walk briskly in, knowing nothing still, and know the impress of eternity on mind. Calm the heart and mind – calm and deep – that opens to all forms of might. Bliss is in moments: the calm of morning before the house awakens; waving grain; or awaiting the Sun’s taking off the dew before the scythe – moments are bliss, or it is not at all.

He came to the Hörgr after far trekking to the fiery realm3, trading amber. “Whereof to consecrate this place,” he thought, “for I have seen of ewe and fat shoat the folk of hooded-robes4 kill and the notched stone soak. There they make holy and should we.” The Godwise gave that to kill and not eat – would Viðar or Ullr offend. “Consecrate,” she said, “this circle: the warrior with his sword motion, the craftsman with her banner, and the brewer with his mead. All with their gifts of mind – this Donar5 loves best, as keeps the hill. Consecrate thus with your essence given the Ansur6.”

My Interpretations

The only true knowledge lies in knowing we know nothing. Live in the moment.

Ritual intent. Consecrate and give thanks, in your own way.

Notes on Sprëhhan 11

  1. A burial mound, or a place where the ancestors and Náttúra remain (“nature spirits”). The traditional means of access is by Útiseta or “out-sitting.”
  2. Wright notes that this section appears to detail a method of meditation. She notes that the suggested method appears to be apophatic, rather than cataphatic, which uses memory and imagination. Here, we want to embrace formlessness.
  3. Seemingly the Middle East or Far East.
  4. Wright notes that this could describe either Christian monks or the desert tribes.
  5. Donar is invoked as the Ansur who creates protection to every head and stead. Wright notes further that the Regin Pillars erected in every Hof have nails pounded into them, using a hammer. These reginnaglar, or “advising nails,” make holy the pillars and protect the Hof.
  6. “Gods” from Proto-Germanic *ansis, *ansuz which is from Proto Indo European *h2énsus, meaning “life force.”
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