Home
Culture
Germanic
Oldest

Germanic

Minnesinger at court

The Secrets of the Minnesinger

The writer Aventinus stated that the Minne and the Minnesingers did not have anything to do with love and constant courting. Minne means “memories”. The sonnets render last honors to old lords, to the proud history of a folk and their secrets. In these songs one can find a hidden knowledge … Troubadours or Minnesingers such as Wolfram von Eschenbach proclaimed Sibilla a prophetess, a...
background sword

The Arthurian Cycle

In every varieties of the Arthurian legend, the traditional reality of Arthur (who supposedly was the Warrior King of the Nordic Cimres as they definitely battled against the Anglo-Saxons between the 5th and sixth century C.E.), is less important in comparison to the aspect according to which we are led to see in his kingdom a sense of the fundamental regal function purely linked to...
Hexen kommando

German Witches

It’s almost Walpurgisnacht, no better moment to have a closer look at our witches or Hexen. Where did this cruel hatred against women and the ancient pre-christian sanctuaries start? When Pope Innocent VIII (1484–92) professed his belief in witchcraft, he condemned it, and dispatched inquisitors to Germany to try its supposed practitioners and punish them unimpeded. Singling out Mainz, Cologne, Trier, Salzburg, and Bremen, the papal bull declared that “some parts of Northern Germany” were infested with “many persons of […]...
Walpurgisnacht engraving

Walpurgisnacht

In the last days of paganism in Germany, the druids’ sacrifices were subject to punishment by death at the hands of the literalist Christians. Nevertheless, at the beginning of springtime the “druids” and the populace sought to regain the peaks of the mountains so that they could make their sacrifices or experience their celebrations at these remote locations, intimidating and chasing off the Christians (usually...
Maier files witches

Walpurgisnacht the day after

Bible quote from Book Exodus 22:18  “Don’t allow a female sorcerer to live.” Most legends and history intertwine and are inclusive of many items woven into a subject. As already said in previous post yesterday – https://www.maier-files.com/walpurgisnacht/  -, Walpurgis has many legends and stories very few which are true and have cost many innocent people their lives. If your garden or farm prospered better than...

Meet the Disir

Apart from gods or goddesses, medieval authors often refer to female guardian spirits identified as dísir and sometimes fylgjur. The conceptions under-lying these two kinds of spirits undoubtedly differed initially, however some of the later authors employed the terms interchangeably. Reference is made several times to sacrifice to the dísir, conducted at the start of the winter season. The ritual concerned a festive meal and seems to have been a private ceremony, hinting that the dísir belonged to one household, […]...

Crows and Ravens in mythology

Crows are brought up in the mythology of countless cultures around the world as they are frequently characterised as guides for traveling between worlds. European folklore explains that crows convene courts, pass judgments, and also execute guilty members. Connected with the Goddess’s death aspect, crows came to be perceived as evil or simply fearsome. Witches’ foot In medieval days, finding the foot of a crow,...
Albruna Gudrun

Albruna

In ancient times the Maidenschaft (Society of maidens) was organized in 4 groups, which are the Hexas (the lowest group), the Drudas, the Walas and finally the Albrunas. The Hexas group had as their duty the care and preservation of the eternal flame. These Hexas were also initiated into herbology and arts of animal-healing. DRUDAS The DRUDAS, however, provided service as “Wise Women.” They were...
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 […]...
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...
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...
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 […]...
Copyright Maier files 2023
Maier files books