Wild Ride … icons continued

Wild Ride, otherworld, virtual reality, Christian tongue, St George, Dragon, Tyr Fenriswolf, Ulvhedin, Berserk, swastika, hunting game, Constantine I, Mithras, Bullfighter, Remus, Romulus, Chi Ro, Graal, myth of Tyr, magician, high seat, sound of cat feet, woman's beard, sinews of the bear, roots of the mountain, fish's breath and spit of the bird

This motif could show hunting game with dogs and a scene out of the life of nobility. Boys of the age 12 to 102 would like that. This is life. The stiff Celtic hair is like speed lines on a car. It looks private. This bract they found in a mound with stones at Raunes Vats Rogaland.

There are no bullhorns on the horse but the five dots on right foot make this horse from the otherworld. Compare with some other occurrences I would say it symbolise "full moons" and it could be the time allowed for hunting/ or the opposite forbidden hunting. The use of "game law" we see in rock-carvings.

I note here that I have difficulties in using the right words since we do not think that way any more. Their otherworld was much like the "virtual reality" people make with helmets and maybe a glove. It was the model for their world. Maybe archetype is the right word.

Our abstractions is part of our language and as soon as we speak about ancient archetypes it is easy in Germanic language to use the word "avgud/ abgott"(idol), which contends a Christian valuation and is like heresy in Christian tongue. Then Christianity becomes the Otherworld. I am neutral and giving our ancestors the Human Right to have their faith without my comments and without using disparaging attitude. The swastika and the tri-point symbol is the normal mentioning of the time and year

This picture make the ants fool around on my baldhead. As such it should be the oldest St George and Dragon I know of. If it was not the fact it is found under the altar of church at Frons. The hero is seen en many church ornaments at least in West Sweden as "Gods Rider" in 12^th century in the time of the crusades.

We see also the Water-snake and two crosses for the sun year. The figure near his sword could be the new moon marked with 6 strokes and that is the season. In his left hand he has the javelin maybe.

The Wolf was born out of reality as the asterism we call Sagittarius as fixstar of Ramadan and marking the moon year in conjunction with sun year. Like the previous animal there are some marks on the hind leg. There are the normal swastika and along the border there are two runes U and G. The hair make even this Speedy Gonzales.

Here the Tyr and Fenriswolf myth is unspoken since we see no hand in the gap of the beast. Originally Tyr put his hand in the gap while the other heroes fettered the beast. They used a special rope made of sound of cat feet, woman's beard, sinews of the bear, roots of the mountain, fish's breath and spit of the bird …it is obvious that such thing do not exist in the real world. It would have been easier to say that they draw a line from asterism Cancer to Sagittarius and then the hand of Hercules was cut off. But then there would have been no enigma in the story and foreign people would know what it was all about.

… as a child I was quite naive and wondered what it looked like. The same was the case with giant Thor riding in chariot drawn by goats ??? But the noble men needed paraphrases and dramatising images for the battle with the enemy. In the Bear Game they were not allowed to use the name of the bear and then they used foreign words. Ulvhedin / Wolf-guise was used for the enemy and Berserk / Bear-guise for hero … I think we see some of it today when they use the word "terrorist" even for freedom fighters.

We can expect that the language of those days used more icons and pictorial expressions. For them it was natural to speak about the time of Wolf, Buck or Horse since everyone knew what they meant. Their sense was of space-time, i.e. including all happenings within a period. We are against the wall if we do not know the codes behind the symbolism. Such a language become also secret compared to their "enemy-friends" the Romans.

In this picture like in many others there are the small signs for time such as the swastika. The hind leg of the beast is not real and they often make some detail unreal just as the reminder of the "Otherworld of ideas". Ion the other hand the javelin speaks for real game that surely was part of the season. Nowadays we have the "Elk game" when at least the rural part of Sweden stand still.

The flying hair and the position of the horse give impression of speed. The Celtic tactic in battle was that the cavalry attacked the line in an angle and we get the same impression here. Surely even the goldsmith loved riding. There is the dynamic and psychology in hunting we have in all beings as soon as the victim starts to run the brains are blocked by the impulse to catch.

They surely loved hunting game for all big animals when it was season for that. But here it would have been too much work to draw animals like Elk, Stag and Bear on such a small space as the bracts … still there is a few of them. They rather make a fictive are styled animal. In many picture in the bract with diameter 1 to 2 inch we get the feeling of distance and the twinkle in their eyes.

In some of the bracts we get the feeling of game and in others we can not be sure if they are picturing the asterisms and the Otherworld of ideas above our heads. From Maglemose we have four bracts and two of them there are something like a pig or wild boar. They have found similar bracts north of Copenhagen. Even today there ore big forests in these place and there have surely been big oak forests in those days. That means places for the acorn boar. In medieval times it was like a fortune for the king or nobility collecting their tax in acorn boar if possible.

On the big Island Gotland they have found many claws from bears, however I doubt there have been bear there those days. They have got them when hunting in places on the mainland … alternatively the farmen / traders brought them from their travel.

The Greek churchfather Origen d. 254 AD had altars for the Sun, Orpheus and Christ then he was fully covered. Constantine I preferred personally the Sun and it was a time of several religions in the sense of those days … and not our type of more or less fundamentalism.

I think we see one text mentioning Isis in the rune texts and I have been looking for the black and white Zoroasterism but in vain. But the Mithraism we see in one detail "the mask" and we have some place name also keeping it in memory

We cannot be sure if this belongs to the agriculture myth. We have the girl Frau born from the soil and even the boy I think they called Little Hans in Denmark and his day was 6^th of May. In Denmark we have also Kim = Frau = Germ coming out of the corn. This bract was found in grave around the neck so it could be a wish for rebirth.

For the adventurers and soldiers the myth would be a little different. It seems they were "searching the pearl for the Lass" or sometimes "fighting the Dragon". At least among the officers Mithraism was the religion in the Roman Army. They have found several "Taurobolium" underground at the former garrisons of the legions.

Furthermore the Celtic warriors prepared themselves before they went to the "Otherworld of War". That made them insensitive for all kind of things in the war situation. The symbolic act was that they greased their hair and mixed it with ash or lime. The Roman soldiers did not have that problem because at least in the early time of empire they had "the Circus" that made them indifferent to other people than Romans. That is why they were good in close fight with swords because they could stand looking in the eyes of the enemy without feeling anything.

As we see from the finds in Pietroasa Romania the "officer's club" practised some kind of ritual with the "oath ring" and the bowls. That is the nature of brotherhood to gather around symbolic things and rituals … there are a lot of such thing even in our day's society. Boys of all ages love rituals and secret clubs … even the ladies love being together in their own circle.

The text has caused problems for the interpreters since the runes are Anglo-Frisian. That language has many vowels like the Nordic languages that made special letters for them from the original diphthongs AA, AA, AU and EU.

They have interpreted the three words "howl (gagga) … boys / sons … pay" and that sounds for me when writing from the hip, "Howl with the Lupus boys, that pays" … we have a proverb on Dal, "If you want to eat with the wolves, you have to howl with them too".

The attitude to the Romans was ambivalent form the very beginning as we also see from the fact that some parts of the Heruli and the Erils could be at war against the Romans if it was time for that when Rome was weak. The relation was like cat and dog or maybe like bear and wolf. That is maybe caused the expression Ulv as special word for the wolf. The word Ulvhedin for wolf-guise used about the Roman as enemy. The Nordic people were then the in bear-guise the Berserk (bear shirt). Surely other tribes used their own secret language too.

The spiral expresses IN and OUT and the icon was useful in the relation. There is also the eight-beamed symbol for time / year. It is not frequent on bracts, but when we compare it to next Roman coin we get a link to the origin of the symbolism in the bract.

I think there is not much doubt that this coin was model for the bract. The coin is from the time of Constantine I 306 - 337 AD that seems to be the beginning of the heydays of Herulian co-operation with Romans. At that time the emperor alternated between Trier and Rome where his courts were. We can speculate if there were Batavians and Herulians in the horse guard at the time. In the Brangstrup finds from Fyn there are 13 golden coins of Constantine, while the other emperors left normally 2 - 3 coins to the find. As far as I found there is a small collection of coins with Constantine's head wearing this special helmet with peak in front. That helmet is also seen on the Goddess Minerva on many types of coins.

I found more data about the helmet of Constantine I. In 1997 they made a find in South Netherlands that in fact is the former land of the Batavi that became the Imperial Guard and the name Batavians was used about the guard. It must have been an officer's helmet and we can draw some conclusions from the find.

On the front of the crest there is an emblem made from silver chloride, a very light sensitive material and silver amalgamate. Very hard materials to work with. The helmet and the crest, to which the emblem was fixed, was gold clad with silver studs. According to the restoration experts this helmet must have been a radiant beacon of light as soon as the sun struck it. Such a helmet was constructed for a Sunking or his servants.

When they analyse the emblem they get that Constantine was clever wen constructing the emblem with P and X called Chi Ro by the Greek Christians meaning that they believed the army was "Militie Christ". But the emperor was more in the hands of his army. In fact the Roman Army for long elected the emperor.

In the army the Mithraism was the main religion and they saw P as the sword of Mithras and the X was the sun-year or symbol of sun as Mithras was the sunlight. On their big shields they carried the PX and in the cross point of the letters they painted the Sun.

For churchfather Origene it was mostly intellectual faith but for Constantine it was a also a matter of tradition since like his forerunners he was "stand-in" for Deus Sol Invictus" =The unbeatable Sun god. Many early emperors wore the spike crown = sun crown. Christians naturally see it as pagan cult, but in fact worshipping the sun is more earthy and healthy and the fictive reality of Christianity. We should let the Romans and other have their freedom of religion without many disputes.

However for the time being he gave both parts what they wanted and the tolerant rule lasted to the time of Thodosius I that invented heresy and the religious battle that has been going on since then. Christianity seems to have the most proselytes at least in West but are still minority on the globe. Nature does not care much for intellectual reasoning and making an enigma out of natural things. On our globe the Sun drive the biosphere … that is it.

The soldiers and many people could not read and they saw only the symbolism in the letters and associated it to what they knew or was the tradition. For the emperor it was most important to please the army and his mother Helena that was driving the new religion at home. Christians want to see that Christianity began

Men and soldier need a goal and a Graal. The Bullfighter is more than 5000 years old as we know from the Sumerian Gilgamesh that together with Enkidu fought the Taurus of Heaven. In Scandinavian they invented the Fenrisulv. Another characteristic of private groups is comradeship and brotherhood, besides that they follow "the Head" and their leader. The leader gets the decorations since it would be too costly to pay them all too much. So all privates are indoctrinated to be sucking the glitter of their leaders. That has been going for so long that is almost like "letters in the DNA"

Maybe we should also mention that near Undley is the US and RAF military bases. On their property they have found a field with around 200 graves from 6^th and 7^th centuries. One excavation gave finds from a buried rider together with his horse and fodder naturally sword and shield too … military traditions living strong.

Mankind has the habit of believing the worst. Romans and historians have for 2000 years told that Celts and German were primitive beasts and even majority our academic people follow the Wolf until our time. So it is no wonder that we have bloodthirsty ancestors at least in the fictive world of history they have created.

But when it comes to concrete evidence in the leading art of golden bracts and other item we get no evidence. There are some javelins and some of them copy the roman War god mars and others are symbol of Constantinople. Not many left and we have only a few swords in symbolism and maybe a couple of battle axes. That would normally not be seen among 1000 artefacts. But some people have eye for the martial things so they see them and nothing else.

Boys in all ages want to see the Graal and sword in the past. Latest big movie is the Saga about the Ring. Hollywood is specialising in things they want to see. I see it as absurd if they make a great love story out of the Titanic catastrophe. Likewise is it absurd to advertise that the Saga of the Ring is true Celtic mythology born out of custom and folklore. I have not heard in any Celtic myth about those special feet the Hobi have …. And the Celtic ring is king size and worn around the neck. It was a symbol of the yearman or ritual leader. Used for symbolising the unity of mankind that follows the same ritual.

That kind of making new history out of the past is a disgrace to our ancestors. Keep modern fiction apart from the history of our ancestors. Hollywood is only making fun of history and it is useless when we following old use try to learn something from history. Maybe the Americans with no history envy us that much so they want to cover our true history. That is the new cultural imperialism from West.

For this topic see also the Tyr bract

Is this the self portrait of the self confident Hariuha? He has nothing to fear and has his evil eye … good as long as he believe in it. If other believes is another question. Anyway it is a funny picture and quite different from, the "wild ride".

They have found two samples of this in a hoard find at Kauge East Zealand. They think the text is made of a magician and they also think that all Erils were magicians using this as evidence. I have not found more than these two and here the texts is exceptional readworthy. Maybe there is one or two more with the word "auga = eye" but we cannot draw wide conclusions from a little word … my feeling is that we have many more and advanced confidence in our days.

I use a little of irony and directed politics since I see a lot of bad science in these aspects.

Since very ancient time it has been use that in official symbolism only the Supreme God or his stand-in on earth is allowed to be seated in a chair. In Roman symbolism Jupiter is seated naked with his Eagle at foot. Some emperors as for instance Augustus liked to sit in the chair at least on coins and cameos. Observe that this Supreme has his hand in the gap! … it is always risky to be the best!

Here on Dal we see two different traditions. In the Woodlands the Master of House used his "high-seat", but on the plains they used a little bench for both the Master and Lady of House.

We can note the Sun Eagle and the triple points for the moon calendar. In his long Celtic hair he has a diadem or maybe the "Swebian knot" symbolised. At that time even Poland and North Germany belonged to the sphere of Eril culture and to the Swebian league of course. They have found the heaviest neck-ring we know Peterfitz Poland. The neckring weighed around 2 kilos. Poland has also more finds of silver denars than on Gotland and South Scandinavia.

This is the classic medium size and weight golden bract with Sunrider with horned horse and Sun-Eagle.

LUVA TUWA . FUTHARHGW : HNIJIBRS : TBMEL[NG]O is the texts and the "luva tuwa" has given many grey hair. The futharks are not identical but together with the rows from Grumpan bract, Kylver-stone and those from Breza, Bosnien … Aquncum, Ungarn …Charnay, Frankrike they have covered the use in early texts. The samples from Europe are from places we know have been home for a period for the Heruli.

There are a few samples of texts with part of the futhark. There was no standard and they developed it to fit the local language. That is why we hear about Anglo-Frisian runes with separate runes for the sound of diphthongs and alike.

Only a minor part of the texts are fully intelligible. Others have to be solved by using all known Germanic languages. Maybe they used too much shortening in the Roman style. It was hard job to make runes, but harder to make the fantastic golden bracts.