The Beorc-Rune may well have a connection to the Old English beorg which later became burg/burgh which came to mean a 'fortified town', and later a 'market town'. But originally this referred to an earthwork or mound, which seems clear when we compare burg with berg the latter meaning a hill or mountain (mound). We have to trace back the word 'mound' which stems from the OE mund which has its origins in the idea of 'to protect' and more so Protection of the King'. Here we see the idea of the 'burial mound' which is in fact not merely a grave-marker or kingly burial, but suggests the idea that the kingly-figure buried in the mound gives some form of protection after death.
If we turn the Beorc-Rune around it makes the figure of twin-mounds, which further emphasises this meaning. Each 'mound' is here also a triangle, and there are instances where triangular or 'spear-shaped' areas of land (in Anglo-Saxon times) were called by the name gar. It is well known from the Norse Sagas that the Ve (Weoh) was a triangular-shaped area. From the works of a chap named Bob Trubshaw we find that some sacred areas were indeed marked out in a triangle-shape.
When we open out the Beorc-Rune we get the Peorth-Rune, and this, as I have shown before, is the 'Gateway' or 'Portal' linking one world to another - the liminal area between the worlds. This is also the 'Birth-Rune' and is thus the 'Gateway to Life', both on a physical and a spiritual level.
From the Peorth-Rune we move to the Stan-Rune which is the 'stone' or 'boundary-marker-stone', made up of two Peorth-Runes facing each other. This itself suggests a two-way 'portal' or 'gateway' between the different worlds. It can also suggest the hearg which can be a 'pile of stones' marking the liminal area between the worlds. The Greek Hermes gave his name to the herma which was a 'pile of stones'.
The alternative Stan-Rune (Stan-Ing) has the same symbolism, but adds to this the Ing-Rune, and thus also twin Beorc-Runes facing each other (as well as many more bind-runes). We have linked the Stan-Rune to the White Horse Stone, this rune being 'Twin-Horses' (two E(o)h-Runes) and the alternative Stan(-Ing) Rune to the Holy White Stone of Ing because it does contain the Ing-Rune in two versions.
Each one of the above runes is made up of a combination of Ice (Is-Rune) and Fire (Kenaz-Rune). This also applies to the Gar-Rune which is shown below -
The Gar-Rune is the 'Gift of Ing' (Gyfu-Ing) but it also contains the symbol for the 'crossroads' (Gyfu) which is yet another link to the liminal boundary-area which connects to the Stan-Rune. The Germanic Ing-Rune suggests much the same, an upward-pointing spear and downward-pointing spear. There is somewhat of a 'coincidence' in the names for a 'mound' and a 'ditch', which are seemingly polar-opposites. If we take the Old English beorg or the German berg (mound) and the German graben (ditch) they are seemingly polar-opposites in their make-up (barg spelled backwards is grab). Both the mound and the ditch are usually seen together in many of the 'burial mounds' we find scattered around the land.
The Beorc-Rune contains both the 'mound' (burg) and the 'ditch' (grub); the mound, in ancient symbolism, is male and the ditch is female. The two are combined in the Germanic Ing-Rune, as well as many mound-ditch 'burial mounds'. The male-female symbolism here does not seem to have been emphasised as far as I can see. The point I would like to make here is that if these burials were meant to place the individual within the earth, then why would Woden have stipulated that the AEthlingas and Kings be buried within a mound, symbolic not of 'Earth' but of 'Heaven'?
Going to Egypt for more knowledge of the ancients, we find the God-Kings and later Pharaohs were thought to go to the stars after death. We can see the pyramids as 'mounds' but built in line with the High Civilisations which arose in the more southerly areas of the world. Nevertheless, they were 'mounds' going by another name.
Ken (torch) is known to each living being by fire
radiant and bright, it usually burns
where nobles rest within.
Steve Pollington translates inne restath as 'rest indoors', which seems to infer by the meaning that the 'nobles' (AEthlingas) rested indoors by the fire, which was 'radiant and bright'. What if this has a double-meaning, exoteric, as Mr Pollington seems to suggest, and esoteric, as I am suggesting here. Why describe the fire as 'radiant and bright' which makes the whole thing much more descriptive, and suggests some form of 'supernatural fire' maybe. I have suggested before that this verse of the Old English Rune Poem refers to the AEthlinga-Cyning (Noble-King) buried in the mound, and the 'fire' is that 'supernatural fire' that is recorded as coming from such mounds. The Ken-Rune can mean -
Kin - the kinfolk or the people,
Cyning - the King who as the Sacral King is the people.
Kan - Fire or the 'Fire-Serpent'.
Kienspan - The Pinetorch.
We have in the name 'Ken' or 'Kan' a runic-root with a number of different meanings, all of which in the concept of the Halidom are inter-connected and refer to concepts linked together as a whole. What we should also consider that the Pine-Tree (especially the Red Pine) is a source of fatwood which is a natural agent of fire (pine-resin). The term 'pyramid' (through Folk Etymology) can be seen to mean Fire (Greek pyra) and Mid (Middle), thus 'Fire in the Middle'. In the 'middle' of the pyramid is the 'sarcophagus' which are found in some pyramids without a body. This itself suggests the 'supernatural fire' in the mounds.
In this late symbol of 'The Caduceus' the torch that runs through the centre of the Twin Serpents is clearly a 'Pine-Torch' where the Pine-Cone at the top symbolises both fire and the cone. The pine-cone clearly symbolises the Pineal Gland which many see as a Pine-Cone, and is named after this. In the above we can see the 'mound' as the arch at the top (containing a Sun-Symbol) and the 'ditch' at the bottom (the inverted arch).
Cweorth-Rune
The Long Man of Wilmington
The Cweorth-Rune is very similar to the Long Man of Wilmington, who has twin 'poles' or more likely 'spears' originally. The symbolism itself is very similar to the above 'Caduceus' in the following ways -
- The Twin Spears are akin to the Twin Pillars.
- The body of the man is akin to the central 'pine-torch' or column.
- The W-shape of the arms is akin to the 'wings' on the Caduceus.
- The head of the hill-figure is the Pine-Cone - the Pineal Gland.
- What we do not have is the Twin-Serpents, although the very similar depiction of what is usually seen as Kukulkan holds Twin Serpents where the Twin Spears are.
- Above the Long Man is a phallic-shaped long barrow, but the section above the hill-figure is a round-barrow - The Sun?
The above 'round-barrow' is shaped as a 'cone' (conical) which suggests a link to the 'Pine-Cone'; it also suggests a 'pyramid', which is a cone that has been squared off. Of course, a 'pyramid' has four equilateral triangles upon a square base. The 'cone' has a round base.
The W-Shape is actually that of a 'wave' or 'wavelength'; this is both the upright and inverted 'V' shape. A 'wavelength' also suggests vibration as well as being linked to the 'antenna' and 'communication' (between the worlds).
The above is the Franks Casket where on the far left of the main central panel we find a figure sitting upon a conical 'mound'. Sarah Semple wrote in a work in 1998 that this referred to a Goddess named 'Hos' sitting upon her burial mound, since the wording was herh os sitaeth ('Here sits os'). However, the word Os has always referred to Woden, and the name is 'OS' and not 'HOS'. When blown up the figure resembles a horse (horse's head and feet on a human figure) and we know that Woden was associated with the Horse Totem. This does suggest Woden 'sitting out' on a burial-mound (utiseti). We find the horse in the same panel.
The Ur-Rune is that of the Primal Mountain and there has to be a link between the 'mounds' and the 'mountain'; in some way the mound represents the Primal Mountain. This obviously relates to the Sacred Centre which is the 'Cosmic Axis' which is the 'World Pillar' or 'Sacred Tree' ('Steed of Ygg'). The horse is the 'steed' by which the shaman moves between the worlds, hence the horse-symbol on the 'mound' or 'burial mound'. Woden, of course, is the Ancestral God and the God of the Dead.
The famous Sutton Hoo Helm comes from a ship-burial of what is thought to be King Raedwald of the Wuffingas. The ship is obviously the vessel that takes the king on his journey to Valhalla; also nearby is a figure buried with a horse, again symbolic of a journey, though this time by land and not sea. The symbolism on the helm is that of a Serpent over the crown of the head, and an Irminsul as the nose-piece. This symbolism is much like the Caduceus again. That the helm was dedicated to Woden is seen by the garnets set around one eye; when a torch (light) is shone on this eye it glimmers. The finds at Sutton Hoo featured in a recent film on Netflix.
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