Name: Hymir's Drunken Huntsman Reel by Blödwyn
Duration: 1 min 22 s
Description: Hymir's Kettle, an amazing source of Medieval music and artistry on Soundcloud laid the original tracks of this tune. In the spirit of banditry, I stole upon the original and added a bit of Celtic drumming from the bodhran.

Hymir's Kettle, an amazing source of Medieval music and artistry on Soundcloud laid the original tracks of this tune. In the spirit of banditry, I stole upon the original and added a bit of Celtic drumming from the bodhran.

Hymir's Drunken Huntsman Reel

This is the closest thing we have to a pre-Christian Old Norse prayer. It is in an eddic poem called the Sigrdrífumál. This passage is spoken by the valkyrie Sigerdrífa who is giving the poem's hero, Sigurth, a consecrating drink of mead. Below is Jackson Crawford's translation:

Hail the day!
Hail the sons of day!
Hail to night and her sister!
Look on the two of us here
with friendly eyes,
and give us victory.

Hail the gods!
Hail the goddesses!
Hail the hospitable earth!
Give the two of us
eloquent speech, and wisdom - 
and healing hands, while we live.

Völuspá

Heil Dagr: Hail Day

This is from stanza 35 of the Völuspá(The Prophesy of the Völva). I have taken the lines out of order. Below is a translation by Maria Kvilhaug.

These stanzas are about Loki who has been captured and placed where drops of poison fall on him. These drops are collected by his "wife" Sigyn (Victory). 

Hapt sá hón liggja
undir hvera lundi
lægjarn líki Loka áþekkjan

þar sitr Sigyn þeygi um sínum
ver vel glýjuð
Vituð ér enn eða hvat?

She saw a captive lie
beneath the grove of cauldrons
Loki's harmful likeness she recognized;
There sits Victory Woman, very unhappy
Unhappy with her husband.

Þar Sitr Sigyn: There Sits Sigyn

This is from stanzas 31 - 33 of the Völuspá. These stanzas tell the story of Baldr's death ending with a phrase that I repeat in this song about Frigg's grief. The refrain is "En Frigg um grét í Fensölum vá Valhallar" which can be translated "And Frigg wept in Fensolum for the woe of Valhalla".

Ek sá Baldri
blóðgum tívur
Óðins barni
örlǫg folgin

stóð um vaxinn
vǫllum hæri
mjór ok mjǫk fagr
mistilteinn

Varð af þeim meiði
er mær sýndisk
harmflaug hættlig
Hǫðr nam skjóta

Baldrs bróðir
var of borinn snemma
sá nam Óðins sonr
einnættr vega

Þó hann æva hendr
né hǫfuð kembði
áðr á bál um bar
Baldrs andskota

en Frigg um grét 
í Fensǫlum 
vá Valhallar
Vituð ér enn eða hvat

Translation Maria Kvilhaug:

I saw for Baldr
the bloodied/sacrificed god
Odin’s child
his fate concealed

There stood on the hill
grown above the plain
the mistletoe, slender and
very fair

There was from that wood
which seemed so frail
an arrow of sorrow
and Strife shot it

Baldr’s brother
was quick being born
so Odin’s son began 
fighting at one night old

He washed not his hands
nor combed he his hair
until he brought to the pyre
the killer of Baldr’s spirit

and Frigg wept 
in the Moist Halls
for the woe of Valhol
Do you understand now, or what?

En Frigg Grét: And Frigg Wept

Heil dagr					Hail day
Heilir dags synir			Hail sons of day
Heil nótt ok nift			Hail night and her kin
Óreiðum augum			With loving eyes
Lítið okkr þinig			Look at us
Ok gefið sitjöndum sigr	and grant us victory

Heilir Æsir					Hail masculine powers
Heilar Ásunjur				Hail feminine powers
Heil sjá in fjölnýta fold			Hail to the much-giving earth
Mál ok mannvit				Eloquence and wisdom
Gefið okkr mærum tveim		grant us two
Ok læknis hendr meðan lifum	And healing hands, while we live

St. 2-3 Sigrdrífumál, Tr. Kvilhaug (mod)

Seidr Retreat

Heil dagr recording

Ár var alda			-	In the beginning was a wave
Þar er Ymir bygði		-	where Sound built
Vara sandr né sær	-		there was neither sand nor sea
Né svalar unnir		-	nor cool little waves

Jǫrð fannsk æva		-	Earth was not
Né upphiminn		-	nor heaven above
Gap var ginnunga		-	the opening of the sacred lineages
En gras hvergi		-	had no growth

St. 3 Völuspá, Tr. Maria Kvilhaug

Ár Var Alda: In the Beginning

Stanzas 23 and 24 of the Völuspá

These stanzas are about the "first war in the world" between the Æsir and Vanir deities. 

Þá gengu regin ǫll
á rökstóla
ginnheilug goð
ok um þat gættusk

Hvárt skyldu æsir
afráð gjalda
eða skyldu goðin ǫll
gildi eiga

Fleygði Óðinn
ok í fólk um skaut
þat var enn fólkvíg
fyrst í heimi

brotinn var borðveggr
borgar ása
knáttu vanir vígspá
vǫllu sporna

Translation Maria Kvilhaug:

Then all the powers went
to the high Chairs of Fate
the sacrosanct gods
to discuss this

Ought the Aesir alone owe
to suffer the loss
or ought all the gods owe
to pay the atonement

Odin hurled (his spear)
and shot against the people
there was a war
the first in the world

Broken were the wooden walls
of the Aesir strongholds
the Vanir, victorious, openly 
swarmed the fields

Fleygði Óðinn: Odin Hurled his Spear

Stanzas 4 and 5 of Völuspá

These stanzas are about the ordering of the sun, moon, and stars. 

Áðr Burs synir
bjǫðum um ypðu
þeir er miðgarð
mæran skópu

Sól skein sunnan
á salar steina
þá var grund gróin
grœnum lauki

Sól varp sunnan
sinni mána
hendi inni hœgri
um himinjódyr

Sól þat ne vissi
hvar hon sali átti
stjǫrnur þat ne vissu
hvar þær staði áttu
máni þat ne vissi
hvat hann megins átti

Translation Maria Kvilhaug:

Before the sons of Storage Chamber
lifted up the lands
they who shaped
the precious Middle World

Sun shone from the south
on the rocks of the hall
then the Earth began to grow
the green plants

Sun hurled from the south
together with Moon
She threw her right hand around
the Door of the Steeds of Heaven

Sun knew not
where she owned her halls
the stars knew not
where they owned their places.
Moon knew not
what power he possessed

Áðr Burs Synir: Before the Sons of Bur

Stanzas 44 and 45 of Völuspá

"Wind-age, Wolf-age" These stanzas refer to the deterioration of society during Ragnarök. Wind is symbolic of death and wolves of the baser human qualities like greed. 

Geyr garmr mjǫk
fyr gnipahelli
festr man slitna
en freki renna

fjǫld veit hón froeða
fram sé ek lengra
um Ragnarǫk
rǫmm sigtíva

Brœðr munu berjask
ok at bǫnum verða
munu systrungar
sifjum spilla

hart er í heimi
hórdómr mikill
skeggǫld skálmǫld
skildir ´ru klofnir

vindǫld vargǫld
áðr verǫld steypisk
man engi maðr
ǫðrum þyrma

Translation Maria Kvilhaug

Gluttony barks loudly
before the Protruding Cave
the fastening bond is torn
and Greed runs free

She knows many tidings
I see even further
about the fall of the rulers
and the doom of victorious gods

Brothers will fight their own brothers
and be their kin’s slayers
children of sisters will
betray their relations

Hardness is in the world
prostitution abounds
axe age, sword age
shields are cleft asunder

Wind age, wolf age
before all the world plunges
no man will spare another

Vindöld, Vargöld: Wind Age, Wolf Age

Stanzas 19 and 20 Völuspá

Theses stanzas speak to the cosmology of the Norns and Yggdrasill. 

Ask veit ek standa
heitir Yggdrasill
hár baðmr, ausinn
hvita auri

þaðan koma dǫggvar
þars í dala falla
stendr æ yfir grœnn
urðar brunni

Þaðan koma meyjar
margs vitandi
þrjár ór þeim sæ
er und þolli stendr

Urð hétu eina
aðra Verðandi
skáru á skíði
Skuld ina þriðju

þær lǫg lǫgðu
þær líf kuru
alda bǫrnum
örlǫg seggja

Translation Maria Kvilhaug

I know an ash stands
it is called the Old Steed
a tall tree poured over
with shining bright gravel

From there comes the dew
that falls in the valleys
it stands ever green above
the well of origin

From there come maidens
possessing much knowledge
three from that hall
which stands beneath the tree

Origin the first is called
the second is [Becoming]
they carved into the wood
Debt was the third

They made the laws
they shaped the lives
for the children of the ages
they determined all fate

Ask Veit Ek Standa: I Know an Ash Stands

Rosie Wittman "Blood Red Moon"

Blödwyn is a project of prayer and solitude. A voice in the greater discussions held in the quiet spaces of the mountains and rivers of the Illinois Valley of Southern Oregon. Wylden took the name from his great matrilineal grandmother of Ebbw Vale, South Wales. Exploration of ancestral lineage through trance and meditation, going, instead of by external technologies, into his own blood for the stories held and withheld. The secret gestures of a pace seldom seen.

Hymir's Drunken Huntsman Reel

Blödwyn

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