Spell for Loss of Cattle :D

[mucgwyrt]

Just had to share this old Anglo Saxon Spell for all us farmer-joes :farmerjoe
Its quoted from an old out of print book by Godfried Storms, called "Anglo-Saxon Magic" and is supposedly an old authentic anglo-saxon spell translated from the Lacnunga. Either way, it makes me want to go out and buy a farm just so I can see if it works! :lol:


For Loss of Cattle -

Nothing I own may be stolen or hidden; any more than Herod could Our Lord. I thought on St Helen and I thought on Christ hung on the cross; so I think to find these cattle, not to have them go far, and to know where they are, not to lose them, and to have them looked after, not to be led astray.

Garmund, servant of God,
Find me those cattle, and fetch me those cattle,
And have those cattle, and hold those cattle,
And bring those cattle home,
So he never has land where he can lead them,
Nor ground to bring them to,
Nor house to keep them in.
If one do this deed, let it never avail him!
Within three nights I will know his might,
His might and his main, and his protective crafts.
May he wither entirely, like wood withered by fire,
Be as brittle as a thistle,
He who thinks to thieve these cattle
Or to carry off theses cows.
Amen.


edit - anyone know who "Garmund" is? I'm not too up on my bible-lore :huh:

[mothwench]

i don't know. in any case he doesn't necessarily have to be from christian lore. i think that maybe where the word god crops up, it might be that it's christianised odin lore, similar to the anglo-saxon rune poems. (see Os)
this is only a theory of mine though, really i have no idea.

:lol: there's alot of neat farming magic out there. i have a slavic chicken god, a kind of a stone with holes that my brother found on the beach in poland. he said he was told that the locals hang them up in their henhouses to protect the chickens from a certain chicken-assaulting land spirit.
:spinner: so i know what you mean... i want to get some chickens to find out if it works. :T

[banondraig]

"Garmund" doesn't sound biblical to me at all. from what i know of old english name-words (others please feel free to correct) "gar"= "spear" or "arrow" and "mund"="mound"(i'm less sure about this part). so this "Garmund" would perhaps be a warrior protecting a howe of some sort, or his parents expected him to be when they named him. ;) i've never heard that name before though, just throwing out ideas.

[mucgwyrt]

Could be. Below's the Anglo-Saxon, which does say Garmund, but it could be that it just hasn't been translated over to English in the above version, you know?




Garmund, godes ðegen,
find þæt feoh and fere þæt feoh
and hafa þæt feoh and heald þæt feoh
and fere ham þæt feoh.
þæt he næfre næbbe landes, þæt he hit oðlæde,
ne foldan, þæt hit oðferie,
ne husa, þæt he hit oðhealde.
Gif hyt hwa gedo, ne gedige hit him næfre!
Binnan þrym nihtum cunne ic his mihta,
his mægen and his mihta and his mundcræftas.
Eall he weornige, swa syre wudu weornie,
swa breðel seo swa þystel,
se ðe ðis feoh oðfergean þence
oððe ðis orf oðehtian ðence.
Amen.

[mucgwyrt]

"spear" - gar

and -



The concept of mund, which is very similar to ideas about frith appears in common association with weddings in the ancient Heathen belief. Mund meant not only the handgeld, but could also refer to "protection." This not only meant physical protection, but also spiritual protection as well.


Some kind of spiritual and physical protection... :huh:

ps - the site that came from has some damn good essays on it -
http://haligwaerstow.ealdriht.org/rituals.html

edit: Oo arr me luvverrrrr - "When that is done, then let the king's mund be established" i.e. the king's protection. Therfore Garmund = Spear-Protection :graduate:

[mucgwyrt]

i don't know. in any case he doesn't necessarily have to be from christian lore. i think that maybe where the word god crops up, it might be that it's christianised odin lore, similar to the anglo-saxon rune poems. (see Os)
this is only a theory of mine though, really i have no idea.

:lol: there's alot of neat farming magic out there. i have a slavic chicken god, a kind of a stone with holes that my brother found on the beach in poland. he said he was told that the locals hang them up in their henhouses to protect the chickens from a certain chicken-assaulting land spirit.
:spinner: so i know what you mean... i want to get some chickens to find out if it works. :T

You'll hafta post us a picture!
Was it a really old one he found, or some absent minded farmers...? Curious to know how far that one goes back!

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

Ohhh, interesting. Thanks for sharing. Now one of us needs to win that lottery so we can get our farms and try out the spell.

BTW, what's the Lacnunga? Is it something like the Eddas?

[mothwench]

You'll hafta post us a picture!
Was it a really old one he found, or some absent minded farmers...? Curious to know how far that one goes back!
actually, i did. ages ago. hang on... *dissappears into the basment*

edited to add: here it is, it's in a really long thread, i hope the link takes you to the right post. or maybe i could link the image from the attachment.

http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=32304&page=8&pp=10&highlight=chicken+holes+beach+poland

[mucgwyrt]

I've only just ordered the book, got this excerpt from the good ol' tinternet, but I think its something like that.

"The surviving Anglo-Saxon manuscripts: The Leechbook, the Lacnunga; others"

[mucgwyrt]

actually, i did. ages ago. hang on... *dissappears into the basment*

*impatient* :steppy: Mind the spiders :spinner:

[mothwench]

look up above you, i edited it into my post. :)

[mucgwyrt]

Right, so in order to protect Chikin-the-stuffed-cow (he likes to think he's a chicken, who's to argue?) I need to find a beack pebble with a natural hole in it. That could take a looooot of beach combing! :spinner:
Its very pretty though; funny that the circle is almost perfect!

[mothwench]

yeah, it looks like a crow's head. :floating: recently i read an article about this slavic chicken assaulter (this spirit/elf/creature thingy i can't remember the name of now.) , and in it they mentioned those chicken god stones.

my brother was told it just helps them lay more eggs. but i imagine he might have been only half-listening, he's not as keen on those stories as i am. that's the way he said it when he gave me the stone, he was just like, they make the chickens lay more eggs or somethin' :rolleyes:

[mucgwyrt]

some people :rolleyes:

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

Right, so in order to protect Chikin-the-stuffed-cow (he likes to think he's a chicken, who's to argue?) I need to find a beack pebble with a natural hole in it. That could take a looooot of beach combing! :spinner:
Its very pretty though; funny that the circle is almost perfect!

Maybe you can also cast the Lost Cattle spell while hanging the stone over his head, perhaps attatch it to the stone as a scroll or something. You know protect him in both his chicken and cow aspects. :nyah:

[mucgwyrt]

:rotfl:

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

Found any bear protection spells lately? Andrew rather likes the idea of having one to protect him. :T

[mucgwyrt]

not many bears in Anglo-Saxon Britain, sorry!

edit: You could always use the cattle spell and say "bear" instead ;)

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

not many bears in Anglo-Saxon Britain, sorry!

edit: You could always use the cattle spell and say "bear" instead ;)

I don't think it'd work. Too domesticated sounding for a bear. :hehehe:

[mucgwyrt]

Hhhhmmm... what if you shout it with GRRs in between each line as you jump up and down on your bed?! :rotfl:

[mucgwyrt]

PS Anyone know what "water-elf disease" is?

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

Hhhhmmm... what if you shout it with GRRs in between each line as you jump up and down on your bed?! :rotfl:

If I did that, then Andrew would just laugh at me. And really you can't have your teddy bear laughing at you. (Yes, I really think he would laugh. No, really.) Perhaps a spell for protecting children. After all he does think he's my son's older brother and that he's one of our children.


PS Anyone know what "water-elf disease" is?

Can't say that I do, but I do know that the Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic tribes tended to attribute a lot of diseases and other problems like nightmares to elves; I'm assuming dark elves in this case.

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

Ohhh, I just found this.


In addition to the flying venoms, elves are a great cause of sickness to man and beast. Indeed King Alfred's physician Bald devotes a whole chapter of his Leech book to remedies for elf-shot. there are many kinds of elves; wood elves and water elves, bright elves and dark elves, but all the elves are of the race of Cain and therefore so hateful to mankind.

It's not much help, and in fact the comment about them being the race of Cain is more than a little suspect, probably a later post-Christian addition to the lore, but it's something.
My guess then is that water-elf disease would be any disease contracted by after getting shot by a water-elf.

Here's the website (http://www.regia.org/main.htm) I found it at if you're interested. It doesn't look half bad, and it seems to deal a lot with the mingling of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon beliefs in Britain.

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

Found the following at the Kildonan Times e-zine (http://www.angelfire.com/zine/kildonan/times/2004/issue48.html), it claims that water-elf disease was probably chicken pox or measles.


***This second charm is to cure "Water-elf disease," which was probably chicken pox or measles.

Prepare this for medicine: carline thistle, cassock, the tuber of iris, yew-berry, lupin, elecampane, the heads of marshamllow, water-mint, dill, lily, attorlothe, pennyroyal, horehound, dock, elder, centaury, wormwood, strawberry leaves, and comfrey. Steep in ale and sing this charm over it thrice:

I inside have inscribed the best of war-bandages,
so wounds shall not burn nor burst, nor spread nor multiply, nor throb,
nor wound grow, nor injury deepen,
but to him I myself proffer a cup of healing;
let it not pain you any the more than earth hurts earth."

Then sing many times over the wounds (pocks or blemishes): "Let earth reduce you with all her might and power."

(By the time you gathered all those herbs, then sang the chant over every measle bump, you'd need a stiff drink and a charm for yourself!)

[mucgwyrt]

Ahhh, I see :)
Oh and Cain is supposed to be the Grendell's father also (its in beowulf and everyfink), so I think there's something there, christian or not.

Shall have to look for a child spell when The Book comes *anticipation :steppy: *

[mucgwyrt]

Yes, thats the spell I was looking at (prolly different source though, judging). Sounds like plague or pox... :huh:

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

Thanks for the info about Cain, didn't know that before. :fpraise:

I'm going to look in the Carmina Gadelica, there are all sorts of incantations and charms in it, and plenty dealing with children. Maybe they'll even have one for bears.

[mucgwyrt]

Carmina Gadelica, what's that?

Yeah, like it or not, the Anlgo-Saxons were very christianised really, more so as time goes on. Their writing seems like a purer form of christianity though, in a way I can't describe - just feels lighter and less manipulated. People actually believed in God and worshipped God, as opposed to worshipping the Organisation which is The Church. It was also pre-grail conquest etc wasn't it? Less violent, less crimes to weigh down their conscience.

edit: but thats just my personal opinion, I doubt others will agree ;)

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

The Carmina Gadelica is a compilation of prayers, charms, hymns, and incantations from the Scottish Highlands and Western Isles. It was gathered by Alexander Carmichael in the 19th century. He wandered around the countryside collecting these from the folk who lived thereabouts and still clung to the older traditions. They have heavy Celtic Christian overtones to them, but it is incredibly easy to read the pagan origins in most of them. It's an invaluable resource to anyone interested in Scottish traditions, religion, and beliefs.

[mucgwyrt]

Will go read some; there're some online versions :)

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

I think this prayer for good wishes is a good example of the lasting pagan beliefs in these Christian prayers:

Wisdom of serpent be thine,
Wisdom of raven be thine,
Wisdom of valiant eagle.

Voice of swan be thine,
Voice of honey be thine,
Voice of the Son of the stars.

Bounty of sea by thine,
Bounty of land be thine,
Bounty of the Father of heaven.

We all know that Christians would be the last people to see wisdom in the serpent, though this was a common association for pagan Celts. The Father of heaven could easily be used to refer to the Dagda. Remember the Cauldron of Dagda, which had an endless supply of food which could restore the strength of those who ate it and had healing properties as well. Very easy to switch the Father of Heaven with "the good god."

The Welsh goddess Cerridwen is also associated with a cauldron, in which was contained the bounty of the universe in the form of knowledge and wisdom. So she could also be substituted for Father of heaven.

As for Son of stars, the goddess Arianrhod is associated with stars so her name could be placed there.

[mucgwyrt]

Innnnteresting... :smile:
What kind of thing would that prayer be used for? (ie what do you mean by good wishes?)

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

I would assume it would be used for wishing blessings on others. Like me telling you I hope you have a happy and healthy life. Ohhh, I bet it would be great for toasting a couple at their wedding. Oh, and it be a lovely prayer to recite over a newborn child.

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

Also, there is a pagan version of the Carmina Gadelica online. It's quite incomplete, but of what's available I find it's quite nice. And as you said the Carmina Gadelica is online, but not in it's entirety. You'd have to buy it read the whole thing (it's huge).

Anyhow, here's the link: Pagan Carmina Gadelica (http://www.celticprayers.cjb.net/).

[mucgwyrt]

So apparently Garmund appears in Beowulf. I shall have to look when I get home :D



Hygelac himself is identified as the nephew of Swerting (line 1203), and Eomer as the nephew of Garmund (line 1962).


edit:



1960
eðel sinne; þonon Eomer woc
hæleðum to helpe, Hemminges mæg,
nefa Garmundes, niða cræftig.


Eomer woke to him,
help of heroes, Hemming's kinsman,
Grandson of Garmund, grim in war.



Sssso who was Garmund then?



The galdor has only two parts. In the first part, the spell caster asks Garmund, a thegn of God to locate the cattle

...

Thane [n] a man ranking above an ordinary freeman and below a noble in Anglo Saxon England especially one who gave military serve in exchange for land.


So what, Garmund ranks above the normal anglo-saxon but below God; an "angel"?
(did anglo-saxons believe in angels?)

edit: confused confused!


A Saxon could be a freeman or a slave. A freeman was either a thane (rich) or churl (poor).

[Mòrag Elasaid Ní Dhòmhnaill]

So apparently Garmund appears in Beowulf. I shall have to look when I get home :D

Sssso who was Garmund then?

So what, Garmund ranks above the normal anglo-saxon but below God; an "angel"?
(did anglo-saxons believe in angels?)

edit: confused confused!

I think what the first quote you posted is saying is similar to the second quote. That Garmund a person or something belonging to a station, a class of people, not a supernatural being like angels.

Look at the definitions you posted again:


Thane [n] a man ranking above an ordinary freeman and below a noble in Anglo Saxon England especially one who gave military serve in exchange for land.


A Saxon could be a freeman or a slave. A freeman was either a thane (rich) or churl (poor).

[mucgwyrt]

Yup, a Thane does seem to be just a rich upperclass Anglo-Saxon. I just assumed I think, with the "God" being thrown in there...

Man its difficult researching what stuff is :rolleyes: