[Main Blog Post] First Two "All Father" Drafts

[jprussell]

Alright, after a lot of poetic stagnation, I've pulled two drafts of an "All Father" prayer for the Heathen Rosary out of, well, somewhere (let's hope it's from the mead that made it to Asgard, and not that which was "lost" upon the way!). Even more than usual, I'd very much appreciate your thoughts on these, as I can tell neither is "there" yet, but in working out the "Hail Idun," your input was invaluable.

Oh, and I also realized I hadn't posted my "Tree Creed" which I've been using in my daily prayer for nearly a year now, so I've put that in here too.

Again, thoughts very much welcome!

Comments

All-Father and Idunn poems

[(Anonymous)]

Jeff, these are such beautiful poems / prayers! I haven't studied or written much in the strict forms of poetry you use here, but your work seems very effective to me. One minor comment: in the "Father of Three", second verse, you use "him" in reference to Woden, but in the rest of the prayer you seem to be addressing Allfather directly. So should "him" perhaps be changed to "you"?

Commenting on your term "Fallfather." That's a really nice name, and alliterates well! It isn't a direct translation of Valfoder, which would be Wael-father in Anglo-Saxon, but father of the fallen, as opposed to the slain, is a pleasing development, I think. It expands his role from receiving only warriors, to all those who have fallen through whatever means.

I hope you'll be inspired to further refine these prayers to your satisfaction and the benefit of us all!

Winifred

Re: All-Father and Idunn poems

[jprussell]

Thank you for the kind words!

That's an excellent point on "Your" versus "His" - that would indeed make it more immediate and personal, which is much of the point here.

I had to double check based on your comment, as I didn't intend to use "Fallfather," though I did consider it, though I did use "Fallhall" in place of Waelhall/Valhalla. Honestly, that might have been a misunderstanding of the etymology - I thought "fall(en)" was a more-or-less straightforward derivation from the same etymology as val, but I haven't studied Old Norse (or Old English) as closely as I should. It may have been a happy accident, though. I've come to think that Valhall as "only for those fallen in battle" might be a slight misunderstanding. For one, I've read indications that some earlier depictions of (at least parts of) Helheim were more pleasant than the only-gloomy, dreadful place that Snorri tells of. I think maybe I read that in Kvilhaug? I might have to review my notes. The other thing I read of this sort was in Kris Kershaw's One-Eyed God, which pointed out that the good part of the afterlife was likely for "all dead men of the tribe," but since all of those men would likely have been warriors, the sense of "hall for fallen warriors" became dominant. This might be a bit of wishful thinking, but when I read that, I was filled with a great sense of relief. Given my wider esoteric study than only the Germanish lore, I'm coming to think that there are more options in the afterlife than merely "dreary, unpleasant place" and "exclusive club for those who died bravely in battle in service of Odin," but thus far, it's a mostly intellectual suspicion, not based on much personal spiritual insight.

Once again, many thanks for the encouragement, and I'll keep plugging away!
Jeff

Re: All-Father and Idunn poems

[k_a_nitz]

Rough German version of the "Three Drinks" All-Father:

Drei Getränke zum Allvater.

Ein Getränk vom wagend hindurchgedrungen Tod
Drei Nächte liegend mit holden Mädchen,
Siegreiche Dichtkunst zur würdigen Dichter.

Ein Met aus Gedächtnis, anständig gewann
Durch das furchtlos ausgepflückte Auge,
Verdienter Denkvorrat für herzliche Denker.

Ein Zug aus dem Schicksal, teuer gekauft
Mit dreimaldrei Nächten auf dem Baum dürstend,
Runen für beratfertigen Zauberer zu gewinnen.

[k_a_nitz]

Rough German version of your Saying of Belief:

Spruch des Glaubens

Heilwillig wandten wir unser Herz vorwärts,
Um wohlige Götter anzubeten,
Die fruchtbare Nuss neu zu wässern.

Hell mit Heiligkeit wird unser Herz,
Als Pfand geben wir an vertraute Götter
Im Freihandel auf dem Baum lebensverbindlich

Leuchtend mit Glück sollte unser Herz sein,
Zum Steuern wird gegeben von festen Göttern,
Uns zu segnen mit lebensheilenden Blümen.

And a rough translation of the last Hail Idun ;-)

[k_a_nitz]

Heil Idun,
Samen Yggdrasils,
Gutsprechendes Weib von Dichtkunst,
In gesegneten Blumen umkränzt.

Heilige Idun,
Eröffne unser Herz
Mit Biers teuerstem Getrank
Zum Erwachen des ewigen Lebens.

Re: And a rough translation of the last Hail Idun ;-)

[jprussell]

Please take this as applying to all of your translations, but to avoid too much repetition: thank you for these!

Did you just go for a straight "sense translation," or did you try to do anything poetic with them? At first glance it doesn't jump out at me, but I will admit I have not tried to parse things like alliteration or meter.

Also, I wonder: did you notice whether these were any easier to translate than "regular" English? I did my best to write them wholly in Germanic-root words, and I wonder if that had any effect on translating into a cousin language.

Cheers,
Jeff

Re: And a rough translation of the last Hail Idun ;-)

[k_a_nitz]

I initially went for a straight sense one, though there was enough there that I could see potential for pushing the alliteration (though I'm not familiar with Skaldic meters) - ie. Hell mit Heiligkeit wird unser Herz [Bright with holiness  our hearts become].
And there is also a preponderance of H and W (mirroring the original!) in:
Heilwillig wandten wir unser Herz vorwärts [Hallowward we have  our hearts fore-turned]
(Heilwillig was coined for Hallowward)

Troth took me a bit of thought, and I ended up with Pfand (pledge)

I definitely enjoyed it as a quick exercise.

Re: And a rough translation of the last Hail Idun ;-)

[jprussell]

Ah, interesting, thank you! If you'd like a quick guide to various Germanic metres adapted to Modern English (and so, presumably most of the way to adapted to modern German), I summarized what I learned from Eirik Westcoat's Viking Poetry for Heathen Rites here: https://jpowellrussell.com/#rules_of_germanish_meter

Should you ever decide to play around with it, the somewhat simplified rules are basically about number of stressed syllables and which syllables should (and shouldn't) alliterate. One caution that I reckon is even more important in German than English - note that the alliteration goes on the stressed syllable, and prefixes are usually unstressed (for example, in "unstressed", the stress goes on "stress" :)). Of course, you can play around with this is you're willing to have some poetical affectation.

Re: And a rough translation of the last Hail Idun ;-)

[k_a_nitz]

Thanks, that I may well do - though it will have to wait as today I'm planting roses and the next two days I'm bottling beer and brewing some more :-)

Re: And a rough translation of the last Hail Idun ;-)

[jprussell]

Sounds like a better use of your time all-around to me, so I certainly can't blame you!