A Summary of my Runic Bracteate Illuminations, 2021 - 2022

During the latter end of 2021 and early 2022, my runic mission took me to the 5th century AD runic bracteates. I found that by colouring - nay, illuminating them - much of their meaning and power could be recaptured. Here are the four I have looked at so far.

The first bracteate I looked at was the Darum, pictured below,in November 2021. DRIK43 Gold Bracteate, Denmark. The Rok Runestone and the Franks Casket are some of the most complex and difficult examples in the Runic Corpus, as they were created by absolute masters of the art of rune-making. An art that, while being revived, is still far below the peak it had achieved with those works. Therefore it behoves us today to be more modest in our studies, and so start with the simpler examples of the output of the ancient rune-masters. Not the somewhat disparate early rune marks on various objects whose interpretation can be very difficult too, but rather at that large body of objects, appearing at a certain epoch, which we call bracteates. On these gold amulets, German rune-masters - with an obvious nod to the Roman ornaments and coins which inspired them - created a marvelous series of Runic artefacts. Some do not display runes, but all the marks on them are somewhat 'runic' in style. We learn from the Franks casket that the rune-master will sometimes carve pictures on an object to illustrate runes or in lieu of runes. We know that the braceates were worn as amulets mainly by high status Germanic women, as they are found buried with them. We know also that these bracteates were often deposited into the holy springs and swamps, as votive offerings to the heathen gods. In line with the above, the bracteates were likely presented as tokens of initiation to those who entered into spiritual/tribal groupings. Also, the bracteates always show images of gods and goddesses, as they were actually envisaged by the heathen peoples themselves. As I've said, the runic inscriptions on them are simple, but we should remember that they were loaded with significance. Rune-masters did not make meaningless marks, and they rarely gave something just a single significance. Symbols - whether runes or pictures were loaded with multiple meanings. As befits a society believing in Wyrd, nothing accidentl was tolerated. As with the Franks Casket, colouring the runes and pictures helps to bring them alive ['bloods them', as the rune-masters said], and helps us pick out the various strands of meaning. The following ideas are my own, from observation and reflection, and not taken from books. This example from Darum in Denmark, dated 400 to 650 AD, is often too lightly dismissed. It is actually a very serious object. My first remark about it is how beautiful the 'line' of the designs are. Germanic art has a special linear quality which informs the runes themselves and is found in many later artists such as Albrecht Durer. True, we know these designs were cast and made into dies, and were therefore repeated. As they became worn with reuse the casts became corrupted; however this example is a particularly good one. The central figure is a stylised image of a god on a horse. He wears a helm, and above it, and therefore referring to the god on the horse is the word ᚨᛚᚢ - ALU - followed by .... five dots. The Franks casket rune-master has taught us that dots always have meaning. They are not 'filler'. They usually refer to a number in the Futhark, in this case the 5th rune which is ᚱ - R - 'raidho', to ride. The horse is being ridden by a god - the word ALU, which literally means 'ale' can also refer to magic: a god is a magical being. There is a decorative saddle on the horse which has three dots on one side and three on the other. Juxtapostion of dots like this can refer to the rune code of 3:3. This means the third rune of the third aettir. This is the rune ᛖ - *Ehwaz, the horse. The importance of the horse in Germanic heathenism and culture cannot be overstressed. As we travel around the bracteate's golden disc, following the spiral suns to its edge, of which there are 36 - so three times 12. A triple of anything adds to its magical power, and the 12th rune is ᛃ - J - Jera, 'harvest', which also appears in the inscription. We find the second runic word upside down from the viewer. This betokens a hidden word. Runes are not meant to be easily read like ordinary writing: they are meant only for the gods, wights and the dead. They are not for the ordinary reader. This occluded word then, appears to be a name, a Germanic name which appears elsewhere on other runic artifacts. It is ᚾᛁᚢᛃᛁᛚ - NIUJIL, or NIWjIL, if the U rune is read as 'W', as is likely, as the rune has a slightly different form to the U in the first word ALU. Properly the name should be Niwjila, the last A is missing, but then given runic concision it is probably borrowed from the first rune of ALU which follows it on the circle as we come around. But before then we meet five more dots. Once again R, to ride. Why again? Because the figure underneath the horse which the dots refer to is a foal. The name Niwjila means something like 'newbie', or as the experts say, 'Little new-comer'. The newly born foal is just that, and this name was also an epithet of Balder. So we have a depiction in runes and pictures of the god Balder on his horse [called Lightfoot] and a newly born foal, just as Balder is the newborn god after Ragnarok. But the foal is also referred to in the second Merseburg charm: "Phol and Woden travelled to the forest. Then was for Balder's foal its foot wrenched. Then encharmed it Singund and Sunna her sister, then encharmed it Frija and Volla her sister, then encharmed it Woden, as he the best could: As the bone-wrench, so for the blood-wrench, and so the limb-wrench bone to bone, blood to blood, limb to limb, so be glued." This charm is very reminiscent of the Darum bracteate. The reference to Sunna [and Singund is probably a reference to the moon] leads me to see a quartered moon and a sun interlocking with Balder's horse's tail, which I have coloured accordingly.

The next one, in December 2021, was the Funen. Bracteate: Funen, Denmark IK 58 (5th - 6th century AD) - coloured by Bill Boethius Osborn One drawback of writing about Germanic heathenry on the internet is that it is easy to forget that this Germanic culture was an oral one. We write and read about it so much that we no longer understand the reality of that culture's orality. Not only that, but we are drawn to the minority literal aspect of that oral culture, the runes. Without meaning to, we fail to look at the runes through the eyes of an oral culture. By writing and reading about runes we distort the culture of our ancestors into a literate culture, and do not grasp that it was an oral one. Not only that, we also distort the runes. We forget that in an oral culture, writing has a very different place to that which it has in a literate culture. An oral culture is not an uneducated one. People in an oral culture are very educated when it comes to symbols and the symbolic. Their memories carry a whole load of symbolic tales passed down to them generation to generation [and nothing strengthens the bonds of kinship so much as an oral culture]. In such cultures writing has an otherworldly and mystic aura. Writings are 'silent words' - and to whisper is a meaning of to rune. So symbols, such as the runes, clustered together are not necessarily seen as words but as a forest, where the various branches of the trees make rune-shapes and speak the language of the trees. And each runic symbol would be ripe with meanings and associations, and so viewed individually, even when arranged in clusters. So, when looking at this bracteate, we should look at the runes on it with those kinds of eyes - the ear-eyes of an oral culture. With this bracteate, as I coloured it, I became amazed to see what emerged. The goddess [the piled hairstyle was noted amongst high born Germanic women] rides a horse which the brilliant artist has made to gallop with his graphic skill. The goddess has an outsretched hand into which a bird of prey seems to drop a golden ring or torc. I have seen various translations of the runes on this piece, but they all seem to be wide of the mark, perhaps because they approach it from a literate perspective, rather than an oral one. Amongst the Germanic heathens, 'ring' was a term that applied to a finger ring, and arm ring [or oath ring], and a neck ring [torc]. So a torc can be referred to as a ring, although I agree with you, that it looks most like a torc. Your suggestions and questions are very fertile. Yes, the rider of the horse has her foot down, perhaps bringing the horse to an abrupt halt as the bird drops the torc into her hand [some see the main rider figure as a man, but I am sure it is a female]. You mention the bird [I fancy it to be an eagle] has its wings crossed - great observation! That suggests that the eagle is offering some obeisance to the rider, who - as I said - I take to be a goddess. I am looking through pre- 500 AD German tales and so forth for such a scenario, although it may be a lost one or a changed one, as most of them weren't written down until many centuries afterwards, by which time - being passed down generation to generation by word-of-mouth - would have changed. The forms of the runes are typical of runic bracteates [there are over 200 of them] and you start to recognise them. The runes are usually transliterated as; ZAROH, which is read right to left as HORAZ [under the horse's white head, not tail]. This is the ancestor of the word 'whore', but meant in pagan times 'beloved'. The first four runes above the bird's blue tail are LATHU, read left to right, meaning it is usually said 'invitation' - it refers to initiation: it is thought these bracteates served as cultic amulets. The letters that run immediately after these runes, around the top and above the bird are problematic to runologists! There is no agreement - or even idea - what they could mean. The direction of runes usually denotes the direction they are to be read. But these runes have mirrored reversals. If you ignore the reversals it is something like: AERAALIIU. So this is what we need to look at too. The last three runes on their own above the goddesses's hair are ALL. It is usually said that these should be the common bracteate word ALU, meaning 'ale' or by extension, 'magic'. But I don't think this runemaster made mistakes, so I reserve judgement on that too. What I think the bracteate is about is an early version of Freyja/Frigg and the Brisingamen necklace [golden torc] story. Loki shape changed to steal the torc - Heimdall shape changed to return it to Freyja/Frigg. The later tales say the shape change was to a fly/seal, but I fancy the earlier story was a shape change to an eagle. The term HORAZ fits here, meaning beloved/whore. Freyja/Frigg being connected with whoring and sex magic - the Brisingamen torc was made by dwarves, and Freyja/Frigg slept with them all to pay for it! So HORAZ here is a term for Freyja/Frigg who is riding the horse [Hofvapnir?] frenziedly in anticipation of the return of the torc which is done by the loyal Heimdall in the form of an Eagle. The term LATHU then is Frejya/Frigg's invitation to Heimdall to return the torc to her hand. The mirrored reversal passage, AAEERAAALIIU, is an attempt by the runemaster to mimic bird speech. ALL is an acrostic Alu Lakauz Lathu - the three magic working terms which appear on many bracteates. we are dealing with a culture which read symbols rather than words. There will not be the precise labels we expect in a literate culture. Not only that, the runemasters didn't create to be read by men. They created for the gods and the dead. The bracteates have a group of stock templates which are then altered and modified. Coding is often used by runemasters, and dots are included in that, and shouldn't always be thought of as filler. Overwhelmingly, I look to the overall coherence of the piece; that's what clinches it for me - the totality. That is how symbolic art is 'read'. I'm thinking it might portray one of Freyja's witch-priestesses, who were said to go into a trance and then transform themselves into mares. I favour the view that the indecipherable passage is bird speech as this was understood by some wights. I read that the Freyr like figure, King Dag "could understand the chatter of birds".

The crucial Vadstena bracteate was next, in January 2022. Vadstena bracteate IK 377, 1 [550 AD, Sweden] This is an historical and traditional object from some 1,500 years ago. It is also a very magical object, and I always try to keep the historical, and traditional on board with the mag-ical and the imag-inative. That's why I like to colour the bracteates, as I have done here. It really brings out the meanings, not only of the runes on them, but of the pictures too. The linear quality of these bracteates tells me that they were created by runemasters who were also great artists. The Vadstena is very important for runaological reasons too, as it demonstrates that the ancient Germanics put the 24 rune Futhark into three groups of eight [aettr]. It is clear to me that the Futhark was invented with three aettr, as that reflects the three Norns, the latter being the inventors of the former, mythologically speaking. So here we have the Futhark around the edge of this piece, reading 'backwards', from right to left, encircling the whole brooch like the midgard serpent. It isn't easy to read the runes, but then they weren't meant to be read in the way that we might read a political slogan. They were written only for the benefit of the gods ... and maybe other runemasters. The central image, in an almost cubist art, prefiguring Picasso by many years, is of a head on a horse. To the left of the head is a bird which seems to be dropping a golden torc towards the head on the horse. Such golden rings, called oath rings, were highly prized in the Germanic warrior culture. They were gifted by chieftains to their warriors, and sometimes offered by warriors to the gods after victory in battle. So here we have the eagle [symbolising battle] offering the torc to the head on horse back. The experts tell us this head on the horse is Odin/Woden, and while it doesn't look like what we think of as Odin today, I will accept their view. The hair is long and probably done in a swabian knot. The horse isn't eight-legged, but no matter. I believe that this illustrates the eight runes which precede the Futhark inscription. They are TUWATUWA. At first read as LUWATUWA, experts are now convinced it should be TUWA. TUWA means offering, and is therefore repeated twice: "Tuwa is clearly a zero-grade form of the root of taujan equivalent to Sanskrit dúvas (collective) ‘offerings’, and cf. Old Saxon twithon ‘grant, give’, Lithuanian duoti ‘to give’ etc.; see O. Grønvik, ‘Runeinnskriften på gullhornet fra Gallehus’, Maal og Minne 1 (1999)." Two is an important encoding on this bracteate, as will be revealed. Why have a complete Futhark as an inscription? Some say that this represents the complete multiverse - all the things that are - all the fates that there are. But there is something changed in this Futhark, and we know that this runemaster does few things accidentally. He has changed the Perthro rune ᛈ to the Berkano rune ᛒ, so that the Berkano rune occurs twice. This means that the accumulated number of the 24 runes is not 300, as it should be, but 304. 3 + 4 is 7. The seventh rune is Gebo, or gift - hence tuwa, the offering. But more than that - this means that B occurs twice - tuwa tuwa! And that the two Bs might be Borr and Bestla - the father and mother of Odin, who is on the horse. Borr means 'son', 'born', and Bestla is probably the name of a tree goddess like Berkano. Both names reach back into proto-Germanic. Other things to note are that the Jera rune symbol is the same as that of DRIK43 which I have already looked at. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1051991394921891/posts/4398218216965842/ That Othila and Dagaz's positions are changed at the end of the Futhark. Dagaz was obscured by the clasp but I have made it good in this rendering. Knowing the clasp would be put there, perhaps the runemaster was happier having Dagaz obscured than Othila! The usual commentary is that this is a horse template. And I foolishly didn't question that. But - the long tongue and claws suggest a giant wolf. It looks like the artist took the horse template and altered the tongue and hooves to create a monstrous horse/wolf hybrid. I attach the three bracteates I have done for comparison - it is remarkable that the artists takes the same figure on a horse, altering it - abstracting it - to tell different stories. But there is a consistency in the runes to suggest these are all by the same artist. So I would say that this is Odin riding the Fenris Wolf - this further supports my interpretation. Alain, if it is a protection of Tiwaz - and I don't dismiss that - what other aspects support that? It is my contention that the bracteate runes and images work together to create a complete 'story'. However, the Fenris Wolf certainly links to Tyr too. But how do you explain the double B rune in the Futhark? Given the media being used, I don't think it is possible that this is a mistake. The creature could be Loki the shapechanger in the form of a bird. Loki, who tricked Balder's brother Hodr into killing Balder. Loki as a bird is ridden by Balder and so conquered.

Here, below, I concentrate on the runes alone, and put them left to right to make them easier to 'read', and just give some clarity. They are still beautiful whether you can read them or not. I wrote all the runes free hand.

The final one, the Over-Hornbaek, was done this week. Bracteate DR BR22 [Danish 5th century] Coloured and interpreted by Bill Boethius Osborn 2022 Looking once more at an historical example of rune making from around 1, 500 years ago. This is another piece of magical importance. The combination of pictures, symbols and runes is at a very high level. This includes reversed, inverted, coded and bind runes. All invented by the ancients. Note that the same picture elements we have looked at in other bracteates have been used, but here as in the others, the elements are morphed to guide the meaning. The god on a horse motif is central with the horse galloping down. I fancy the god could could be Thor, given the prominent Thor's hammer in motion symbol [also known as a flyfoot or svastika]. This brings us to the symbols. Note that the flyfoot has four dots, indicating too the fourth rune - the Ansuz rune of the Aesir. As with some of the other bracteates we have the torc or oath ring which nestles on the horse's head. The ring has two dots which is the second rune Uruz, indicating the wild beast. There is also a curled figure which looks like a stylised Jera rune - a propitious sign. The horse's saddle has three dots against one. This indicates the third rune of the first aett, which is Thurisaz. This is a coded reference to the fact that the Wunjo runes in this inscription are to be seen as Thurisaz runes. All coding adds to the magical power of the amulet. Now looking at the inscription [which is framed in a serpent with a raven's head at either end] we see that it has two inverted runes - Tiwaz and Othala. Here we have an inversion of the natural order: the sky pointing to the earth, and the earth pointing towards the sky. This means that gods are upon the Earth! [Note that the inscription is to be read from right to left on the bracteate. I will read it left to right to make it easier]. There are bind runes, which all involve Ansuz - so the power of the gods imbues the runes. Ansuz binds with Hagalaz, Laguz and Uruz. Not only that, but Ansuz is also used as a mirror rune. In these, Ansuz is often reversed, being able to look backwards and forwards in time - so encompassing the three Norns. The last bind rune has three arms at right angles - this to emphasise the power of three, which is thirty in the inscription. Thirty is an important number in Germanic heathenry as are all multiples of three. Thirty is a martial number, as it states in the Prose Edda: "Thirty are a squadron". After taking the above bind runes into account, the inscription is transliterated as: THRTGTH HAGELA ALA AASULO ALH This can be translated as: THE THIRTIETH. ALL DEVOTED ONES BY THE TEMPLE OF A PRECIOUS GODDESS This is a spell quite fitting for this precious golden amulet. [I am indebted to Askr Svarte for the translation of the inscription.]