Keep this story in mind too, as the Maier Files huge storyline will continue. Surprising links exist with historical battles and quests. As said before, there’s always more than meets the eye. The tale of Taliésin is written down in the french book “Bélisama ou l’Occultisme celtique” by Ernest Bosc (1895). Belisama or Belisana is a supreme Celtic Goddess, and the virgin mother, more on that in another post. The legend of the famous celtic...
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 has also taken care to label him (the name is...
Legend tells us that one day Ilias, founder of the city of Troy, was asleep and had an extraordinary dream that the gods were communicating with him. When he woke up he found nearby a statue of a woman holding a shield and carrying a spear. It was the sacred statue of Pallas Athena, the Palladium. We know from Plutarch that in antiquity Isis was identified with Athena, the Greek goddess of Wisdom. Athena got a half-sister, a dark-skinned gal […]...
When you think of faeries, what comes to mind? For many, it’s the benevolent wish-granters and environmental champions depicted by Disney and other Hollywood cleansers. However, delve into actual folklore, and you’ll uncover a more sinister and complex world. Far from being the charming creatures of modern tales, faeries have long been feared as beings who kidnap, deceive, and even kill. Here, we explore the darker side of faerie folklore, shedding light on their terrifying...
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 Nibelungenlied and as Gutrune in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen....
Hella, Hel, known to all Germanic peoples, including the Goths as Hellarunester. A Gothic word for “witch” was Haljoruna. The name itself stems from a root meaning “to hide”. The word Hellirunar describes people who ‘rune’ (Speak, sing, whisper) with Hel/Helja, the goddess and realm of the underworld. “Hell”, in its original meaning is the hidden realm, the dark and foggy place where the dead and unborn dwell. Often the term is used in a sinister meaning. The bishop Wulfila […]...
Laurin was probably one of the most popular poems concerning the knight called Dietrich and is attested in variety of manuscripts as well as in printed editions. It almost certainly originates in the 12th century in Tyrol, and has 4 major variations or versions. They all are written in rhyming couplets, except the Dresdner Laurin which is written in stanzas. The earliest version of the story (the so-called elder Vulgate edition (ältere Vulgatversion)) starts with...
Most stories worth their salt begin in a place where daylight hesitates—a place where mist creeps and the world’s edges grow indistinct. So it is on certain mornings in Gelderland or Flanders, when a traveler, boots soaked and spine tingling, passes through a hollow where the grass grows thick and the air, for a moment, feels ancient. The locals will warn you: tread gently, for here the Witte Wieven—the White Ladies—have danced since before cathedral...
Did you know that witches consider amber as the best gemstone for locking thoughts and memories in place and keeping them safe? Known for its soothing properties Amber was used medicinally for thousands of years for headaches, heartaches, and pains of all kinds. (another hint in the Maier-files puzzle). One of the important threads in the Maier files series is the history and hidden secret of the Amber Room or in German Bernsteinzimmer. The Amber Room is a world-famous chamber decorated […]...
The attentive reader of the first episodes of Maier files will have noticed that the tale once told by Rolf Dietrich and the history of Otto Maier are filled with powerful themes and images that might provide a clue to the real hidden mystery, among them: the Rose Trail (Troj de Reses), web of woven silk, the knights in the line of Dietrich von Bern, the enchanted windmill, fiancée of the Month of May, the...
Carl Jung had written extensively on Abraxas. In his 1916 book called The Seven Sermons to the Dead, Jung called Abraxas a God higher than the Christian God and Devil that combines all opposites into one Being. Abraxas was a polymorphous world spirit which permeates — or even encompass — the very fabric of existence. Abraxas is … a thousand-armed polyp, coiled knot of winged serpents … the hermaphrodite of the earliest beginning … the...
The iconography of The Ghent Altarpiece has since a long time fascinated researchers. When it was finished in 1432, the work of art became instantly the most famous in Europe. It was the first real oil painting. Oil had been utilized to tie shades to artistic creations since the Middle Ages, however Jan van Eyck was the first to exhibit the genuine capability of oils, which permit far greater subtlety and detail than largely-opaque egg-based tempera paint, which was preferred […]...
