Wood of the Gods

Once upon a time, different trees and in turn, their woods, were attributed to certain deities depending on the use of the wood: shields, bows, ships, sail masts, etc. Rowan, being particularly strong, was used by the Vikings as sail masts and named ‘Thor’s Helper’. Meanwhile, ash made good bows for archers and lime was the wood of shields.

The Celts ascribed their language to the various woods, using them to mean letters in their ogham alphabet. Trees such as apple were full of magic, owing to the godly fruits hanging from their boughs. While the resin from some trees became spiritual incense, used to call upon sun gods in ancient civilisations (Frankincense and the sun god Ra of ancient Egypt).

 

Apple Blossom

From when humans first found shelter, nuts and fruits from these ancient and often tall plants, a symbiotic relationship began. Trees have been used to build homes, ships, bridges, fences, forts and barricades, weapons, wagons, furniture, cutlery, toys and much more. We’ve burned it for fuel and warmth. We’ve taken its fossilised sap and created beautiful jewellery. We’ve made incense and essential oils from their branches, leaves, flowers or fruit, that have become perfumes or healing remedies.

 

Grubenhaus, Jarrow

We love trees. They give us oxygen. And trees love us, because we give them carbon dioxide. We are partners on this planet and we would be lost without them. It is no small wonder we deified them. Where would the Druids be without their oaks and mistletoe? Where would our wooden henges be? Norwegians have their Stavkirks, wooden churches made with roof tiles that replicate scales on some kind of immortal sea creature. Viking and Saxon warriors were referenced in old poems as ‘Tree Men’. Overly tall men were ‘Ash tall’, for those trees were great in height.

We owe so much to them and have lived with them for so long. We are truly blessed to have the company of trees: the wood of the gods...

 

'Tales of the Wulfsuna' Trailer

BUY Tales of the Wulfsuna here

Life Plotting!

 In the same way we might plan our novels, it can also be practical to apply the same process to planning parts of our day-to-day lives. It may sound crazy, and not all of us want to plot our own lives in quite the same detail as a novel. However, a little thoughtful organisation can help alleviate the weekly stresses.

You could begin by separating your weekly tasks into groups, rather like chapters. Within these ‘chapters’ you can separate things down into smaller pieces, like paragraphs. This way, you only have to focus on the ‘paragraphs’ and once you have completed them, one by one, you will have finished a ‘chapter’.

For instance, housework can be one chapter in your week. The housework paragraphs could be ‘dust+vac’, ‘clean floors’, ‘sinks+toilets’ and ‘laundry’. Then you can have a self-care chapter or a work chapter for the week, perhaps each day doing one or two paragraphs from each of them.

It is easier to approach writing your novels by writing one paragraph at a time. Translating this method to help you through your working week, one task at a time, isn't too far of a leap. And it works well for me. Give it a try!

Classical Themes #4 - Mythical Animals

 Myths, magic, rituals, quests, places, people and animals; all of these elements are helping to shape the tales in my ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series.

Horses provide us with names of people, places, mythical creatures and months of the year. ‘Marrek’ is a Cornish name for ‘horseman’; ‘Equos’ in the Celtic month of June to July means ‘horse time’; ‘Whitehorse Hill’ and ‘Vale of the White Horse’ speak for themselves; Nix and Kelpies, Rhiannon and Epona are shape-shifting creatures that drag or transport the living to the land of the dead. Places like ‘Studley’ tell us there was once an equine stud farm at that location in Saxon times.

Animals have been pivotal in assisting deities, providing tales of destiny and immortality across the world.

Think of:          Athene, the Greek goddess of fate weaving wisdom and war;

Fairy Godmother in Sleeping Beauty, epitomising the ‘Fey’ or Crone spinner of destiny;

Serpents appear in tales from Sumerian, Hindu, Ancient Egyptian and Norse mythologies. A thousand years before the Garden of Eden and Genesis, Sumerian serpent-god ‘Nigizzida’ was consort of the Mother Goddess and Lord of the ‘Tree of Truth’. ‘Kundalini’ is the serpent coiled around the ‘Tree of Immortality’. Norse mythology has the ‘Midgard Serpent’; Egypt ‘Mehen the Enveloper’ who enfolds the sun god ‘Ra’ during his nightly sleep in the Underworld and ‘Ananta’ is the cosmic Hindu serpent in whose coils the gods sleep.

Medusa mosaic

You will have to read my ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series to discover how these influences are woven into my stories, but these and other legends, beliefs and folklore are threaded through the series in various ways, with each tale leaning towards several themes. These layers wrap my saga into real-world legends, hopefully providing access to readers and leading them gently and comfortingly into my fictional legend.

Some underlying threads may be incorporated purely by accident, perhaps where my mind delved into a subconscious ancient memory I am not actively aware of. It would be pleasant to imagine, would it not, that we all possess an element of this ancient subconscious, bringing archetypal elements to us from deep in our paleo-lithic historical memory?

Sommeren

 

Summer is when I write the least. It’s the most distracting season and possibly the busiest (aside perhaps from Yule). The weather is often good and there is more opportunity to enjoy the garden or the park. There is gardening to attend to, plants and vegetables to tend and fruit that requires preserving, all of which I love and throw myself into (sometimes to the detriment of previously unused muscles) but it’s all part of the Summer fun!

Summer is the reserve of allowing the mind to rest as the body toils. The “little grey cells” of Hercule Poirot renown can rebuild and regenerate, in advance of my main writing seasons of Autumn and Winter. The dark half of the year is excellent for introspection, hibernation and writing. Meanwhile, the light half of the year is the time to be among others, leaping with the hares (if that takes your fancy) and filling your heart with joy.

Summer is sustenance in all things. Reap the benefits!

 

What is your preferred writing season?

 Do you love or loathe Summer?

Charity Book Auction

 

Fellow historical fiction author Gordon Doherty has been auctioning books for the past year, in support of Myeloma UK (a charity very important to him).

This week, between Weds 30th March ‘22 - Fri 1st Apr ‘22, I am donating a signed paperback of my first Wolf Spear Saga novel ‘WULFSUNA’ to the highest bidder and runner-up bidder. The highest bidder will also receive a signed copy of my Old English/Modern English saga tales pocketbook' ‘Tales of the Wulfsuna’.

Please check out the auction action! You can join in the bidding on Gordon’s Facebook page HERE and don’t forget to post a comment. BIDDING IS NOW OPEN!

You can also donate direct to the charity here at Make Myeloma History.

Good look at the auction and thank you so much for helping to raise funds and awareness for a very worthy cause.

Love & Light, Elaine xXx

Classical Themes - Part 3 of 4

 Myths, magic, rituals, quests, places, people and animals; all of these elements are helping to shape the forthcoming tales in my ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series. Part three in a series of four posts.

Immortality

This comes in the form of apples (among other things) and straddles Norse, Greek and Celtic mythology. Norse ‘Idun’ is the goddess who keeps the apples of immortality. Greek ‘Hesperides’ grows apples that give immortality, on a paradise island. The Garden of Eden is home to the fabled apple tree and ‘Avalon’, the ‘isle of apples’, is the otherworldly paradise King Arthur is taken to, where he meets the three fairy queens – the three fates – rather like the Norse Norns who guard the foot of the World Tree, ‘Yggdrasil’.

Cut horizontally, apples reveal a five-pointed star in their core: a symbol sacred to the Mother Goddess and still used today as a symbol of belief in Pagan or Wiccan faith. Gypsies call it the ‘star of knowledge’. Also a wild fruit that seeds in hedgerows, it contains ancient links to Hedge-Sitters or wise women and would have been a natural food source that could have saved the poor in hard times, as they can be stored through winter. You will find mention of apples and their trees in my ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series.

Apple quarters

Magical Drinks

These can also bestow immortality or conjure transformations. Throughout history there are countless tales of magical brews and important drinking vessels, that cross cultures and continents. Eating and drinking communally is an important part of human life and is an ideal time for characters to be brought together. I use this constantly throughout my ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series.

Consider:         The Holy Grail;

The Mead of Odin, which can confer the gift of poetry on whoever tastes it, made by the dwarves ‘Fjalar’ and ‘Galar’.

Gundestrup Cauldron

Enchantment

Through beauty, music and Ritual Bathing the theme of enchantment abounds in various mythology and folklore.

Think of:          Orpheus, who could bewitch animals and women with his lyre playing, but was then himself bewitched by a water nymph or ‘nix’;

Acteon, while out hunting with his hounds observes Artemis bathing naked. He is then changed into a stag and hunted and killed by his own hounds.

These men are doomed to die for witnessing female goddesses bathing. This reinforces the importance of the female deity sanctity in pre-patriarchal cultures. The priest or priestess figure, bathed by servants, is another element of this ancient theme. You will find this in my writing also.

Stag in misty forest

Hunting, Hounds and Wolves

Hounds and wolves devouring various people and things runs through Norse, Celtic, Ancient Egyptian, Asian and Native American mythology. Wolves are ancient creatures from the oldest forests on earth and so are entwined in the lives of humans and their mythological tales. The hierarchical make-up of wolf society also reflects the same social relationships found in the human world, with leaders, their bodyguards, their marital partners and foot soldiers. Like humans, wolves have nannies to watch over the young while the rest of the pack hunts and these are usually older, trusted females who were often former alphas. Wise-wolves, if you will. Strong, female components essential to the survival of the pack and its future. There is much to draw on from these classical themes and as you will probably guess, I use them frequently in my ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series!

Consider:

Hel’s Hounds; the Hounds of Arawn;

Anubis the Jackal-headed god;

Up-Uat, the wolf-god;

Native American ‘Opener of the Way’ – the coyote that helps Mother Earth give birth to the human race by scratching an opening in her side.

White wolf

What classical themes do you seek to include or allude to in your writing?

Let me know in the comments below!

~ ~ ~

E S MOXON has had a lifelong passion for history and writing. A childhood filled with family visits to ancient burial sites and stone circles fuelled her imagination. Inspired by classic medieval tales and Norse sagas, Elaine imagined herself inhabiting these Dark Ages and exploring the landscapes in her mind and continues to do so through her novels. The first in her ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series is ‘WULFSUNA’ and books two and three will be out soon. When not lost in pages of the past, she lives in the Midlands with her family and their chocolate Labrador.

WULFSUNA - Wolf Spear Saga 1 and Tales of the WULFSUNA

Blood, betrayal and brotherhood.

They come to honour a Warrior-Lord’s dream,

An ancient saga weaving their destiny,

But a treacherous rival threatens their fate.

The Wolf Sons are coming.

WULFSUNA

Capturing vivid memories of members of the 'Wolf Sons' Saxon tribe, they emotively convey the sagas that shaped their lives, in their own ancient language and in their own humble way.

A fictional feast for lovers of Old English with alternative views of events from the novel 'WULFSUNA' - Six tales presented in both Modern and Old English. A unique companion with detailed forewords by author E S Moxon and Prof. Stephen Pollington (author, speaker and historian) who says "the opportunity to produce fresh Old English songs proved too tempting".

TALES OF THE WULFSUNA

Classical Themes - 2 of 4

Classical Themes within the ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series

Myths, magic, rituals, quests, places, people and animals; all of these elements are helping to shape the forthcoming tales in my ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series. Here is the second of FOUR posts.

The Dark Goddess

She is a pre-patriarchal, ancient belief from Neolithic culture in many countries. Tomb burials, caves and the deep, dark ocean introduce us to the Dark Goddess. She rules the world’s ocean as well as the inner tides (our emotions, passions, psychic perceptions and soul regeneration). The ferryman of souls can deliver us to her in his glass boat, to the Sacred Isle where we enter the cave and pass through the veil to the Otherworld - the land of the dead. There is much to explore here in terms of characters’ responses to water and its powers, but also human emotions and how these fluctuate in various circumstances.

Grey beach of rocks leading to the sea

Boats

Boats and their contents have more than a passing link to the land of the dead. As well as ferrying those near death across a sacred lake to the afterlife, boats can take the form of offerings to the gods and vessels transporting offerings to the gods - treasure hoards defaced and buried in thanks for victory. Found most profusely in Denmark (though also in other countries), boats of war and the weapons of their defeated warriors have for millennia been deposited in lakes in gratitude of the gods’ protection. As well as afterlife journeys for characters, this provides us with response to conflict within societies and the rituals invoked. Boats themselves can have souls and characters, as can weapons such as valued swords or even amulets of the gods and goddesses of the time. Many of these themes are integral to my ‘Wolf Spear Saga’ series.

Consider:      Hjortspring and Nydam boats from Denmark – deliberately sunk into lakes, these boats contain a multitude of offerings from vanquished enemies: swords; axes; spears; shields; chainmail; knives; horse tack; brooches; tweezers; ear spoons; bones of horses, lambs, calves and dogs.

Oseberg ship burial

Rainbows

Another way to the afterlife can be via a bridge, often linked to rainbows, found in Christian, Norse, Greek, Chinese and Australian aboriginal cultures, among others. Water was a sacred element through which one could travel to the Otherworld, so to cross it was to, in some respect, cheat death and almost magical. Tales of dangerous creatures inhabiting the undersides of bridges come from this concept, such as Norwegian Trolls, river sirens like the 'nix' and Celtic Kelpies in the form of horses or women, who would drag people down to their deaths. Flag Fen is an excellent example of how bridges over water held magical properties, where Iron Age people deposited metal, stone, ceramic and food gifts from the causeway. Bridges can also represent boundaries between earthly realms like county borders, or unearthly realms, both of which can present characters with problems depending on the purpose of their journey. I tinker with this theme in ‘Wulfsuna’ and also forthcoming ‘Wolf Spear Sagas’.

Think of:

Bifrost – linking Earth to Asgard;

Sword Bridge – crossed by Lancelot to rescue Guinevere from the Castle of Death;

Bridge of Heaven;

Greek goddess ‘Iris’, who guarded a rainbow (from where ‘iridescent’ is derived)

Wooden bridge in dark forest

• What classical themes most interest you?

~   ~   ~

Blood, betrayal and brotherhood.

They come to honour a Warrior-Lord’s dream,

An ancient saga weaving their destiny,

But a treacherous rival threatens their fate.

The Wolf Sons are coming.

WULFSUNA