"Be ye hale, Hidden inhabitants Ye Woodwose, wild elves Greenmen, goodfellows
Blithe landwights, this offering brook.
Worthy forest gods, grants us weal. ". A Béd to landweights by the Ealdrice Théod

Swa þes middangeard
ealra dogra gehwam dreoseð ond fealleð;
forþon ne mæg weorþan wis wer ær he age
wintra dæl in woruldrice. Wita sceal geþyldig,
ne sceal no to hatheort, ne to hrædwyrde,
ne to wac wiga, ne to wanhydig,
ne to forht ne to fægen, ne to feohgifre,
ne næfre gielpes to georn ær he geare cunne. (62-9)

So this earth declines and falls, every single day;
And so a man cannot become wise
before he has his share of winters in the world. A wise person should be patient,
should not be too hot-hearted, nor too hasty with words,
neither too weak a warrior, nor too reckless,
neither too fearful, nor too quick to rejoice, nor too greedy,
nor ever too eager to boast before he knows for sure.

- The Wanderer (Old English) from The Exeter book

Speech of Alaric in De Bello Gothico by Claudian, chapter 26:

While the elder spake thus Alaric, eyeing him askance with fiery brow, brooked his words no longer, but his enkindled pride broke forth in furious speech:

*“Did not witless age that has deprived thee of thy senses grant thee indulgence never, on my life, should Danube listen unavenged to such coward insults. Am I who have routed so many emperors (Hebrus' river is my witness) to endure flight at thine advice — I whom all nature obeys? Have I not seen the mountains levelled at my feet, the rivers dried up? Never may my country's gods, the spirits of my forefathers, allow that I retrace my footsteps on a backward path.

This land shall be mine whether I hold it in fee as conqueror or in death as conquered. I have overrun so many peoples and cities, I have burst through the Alps and drunk of the waters of Eridanus from out a victor's helmet. What is left me but Rome?

My nation was strong even when it had no allied arms to help it. But now that I hold sway over Illyria, now that its people have made me their leader, I have forced the Thracians to forge me spears, swords, helmets with the sweat of their brows, and Roman towns, whose rightful over­lord I now am, to contribute iron for mine own uses. Thus is fate on my side.

Rome, whose territories I have laid waste year by year, has become my slave. ‘Tis she that has supplied me with arms; her own metal has glowed in the furnace, artfully molten and fashioned for her own undoing by reluctant smiths.

The gods, too, urge me on. Not for me are dreams or birds but the clear cry uttered openly from the sacred grove:

‘Away with delay, Alaric; boldly cross the Italian Alps this year and thou shalt reach the city.'

Thus far the path is mine. Who so cowardly as to dally after this encouragement or to hesitate to obey the call of Heaven?"*

Train and worship the joyous Gods in heaven. ?

On this day in 754AD, St. Boniface met his match.
The Ragyndrudis Codex is thought to have been the book he tried in vain to shield himself from the Frisians’ swords with. It shows significant damage from an edged weapon, and stains which may be his blood.

“Diana” goddess figures (Frigg?) from the Oberdorla Moor, Thuringia.

The English are an ethnic group first described around 731 AD as a Gentis “people, race, clan” and in Old English as a cynn “tribe, race”.

To belong to this ethnic group one must be both culturally English and also have some English ancestry.

My sister was born in Scotland and my great grandpa in Sri Lanka but they are both English because birthplace does not determine one’s ethnicity.

To say one is English if born in England is as correct as saying one is Cherokee if born in Nashville.

Tomorrow begins the first day of April or, according to our Anglo-Saxon forebears, Eosturmonath in old.high german ostermonat. A month dedicated to the beloved daughter of the All-Father Wotan , Ēastre/Ostara.

After conversion, the month was renamed to "Paschal month" in the early medieval era or "pass over" but the Hebrew name for said holiday wasn't popular so it was renamed Easter after the Goddess.
Ēastre, deriving from Proto -Germanic *Austrō(n), meaning ‘dawn’.

Jacob Grimm notes

" We Germans to this day call April ostermonat, and ôstarmânoth is found as early as Eginhart (temp. Car. Mag.). The great Christian festival, which usually falls in April or the end of March, bears in the oldest of OHG remains the name ôstarâ … it is mostly found in the plural, because two days … were kept at Easter. This Ostarâ, like the [Anglo-Saxon] Eástre, must in heathen religion have denoted a higher being, whose worship was so firmly rooted, that the Christian teachers tolerated the name, and applied it to one of their own grandest anniversaries.”

I feel it's also important to note that this Goddess was still venerated in the many songs and stories of wandering troubadours of the middle era and is featured as the goddess of the Grail(possibly), whom chivalrous Knight's dedicated their love too. She is also featured in the story of Tannhauser and dwells within the sacred mountain of the Venusberg where her retinue of knights feast and drink.
Now, I believe this is all speculation, but some connections can be made.

I believe Ostara ushers in the arrival of spring, fertility, but is also the goddess of love and sex. She may have connections to the warrior and holds a hall of her own if she is connected to the Nordic Freya as I think she is.

Hail Ēastre

The Holy lady , Mother Frost , Dunkel Grossmutter, Weisse-Frau all by names for Frau Holle a German folkloric figure popular in Alpine regions although her stories can be found all over Germany and goes by many different names which may link her to other known Germanic goddesses.
Other names include Holda,Hulda,Hulle,Holla,Perchta,Pehta,Berchta,Gauden,Goden and Gode.
The first four names derive from the German word ‘huld’ meaning, gracious, friendly, sympathetic. From middle German ‘hulde’ to proto-Germanic ‘hulthaz’ all provide the same meaning.
Another possible etymology links Holda to Hludana a goddess name, found in five Latin descriptions in the Germanic area. ‘Hlothyn’ an alternative name for Jord the earth goddess, mother of Thor is likely a relation.
The middle three names come from Austria and Bavaria and other alpine regions. These names come from old high German ‘berecht’ or ‘bereht’ meaning “bright” , which comes in turn from Proto-Germanic ‘brehtaz’. Obviously this Goddess as described by her many names all allude to her being bright or shining, perhaps also shows her connection to snow and winter which can be bright and almost blinding. Also these names reflect her mother like qualities. The last three names share a likely connection to the Gothic people of the migration era. Gaut or Goden being the Gothic name for Wodan or Odin and the origin of our word “God”. From here “Frau Goden” or in Gothic ‘Gautis Fraujō’ or “lady of Gaut” may show her true colors as being the wife of Woden as being the Nordic goddess Frigga and in turn as a earth goddess by her connection to Jord.
Like Woden Frau Holle is believed to lead and or ride in the spectral wild hunt. In Mecklenburg she is related to the figure Gauerken, which is the tale of a woman who would rather hunt forever then go to heaven. God cursed Gauerken to lead the wild hunt for all eternity. In southern Germany Holle is said to take the souls of unbaptized and miscarried children, to the PA Dutch there is a tale of her taking these young souls to her mill where she processes them for the next life , suggesting Frau holle is a psychopomp and is responsible for bringing the souls into recantation.
During the Middle Ages Frau holy was conflated with the Virgin Mary in Alpine regions while also being described as an old ugly woman with a long nose.

Frau Holle was made popular by the Grim brothers and their collection of Germanic folk tales as well as Teutonic myths. In one story Frau Holle is said to beat her pillow out of her window causing her feathers to fall to earth creating snow storms and shows her connection to the weather as well as winter and is sometimes called the lady of Frost. In Pennsylvania there is a folkloric belief that she urged the people of the lower Rhine to migrate to the new world and escape religious persecution and famine caused by the 30 years war. In Pennsylvania it is said she holds her seat of the Hexenkopf or the witches head, a peculiar rock formation in Southern Pennsylvania.

Frau holle is an extremely important Goddess to our folk she is responsible for our coming here to this new land. In our faith she remains as our patron deity not surpassing the king of the Gods Woden no doubt but taking a large role in our day to day lives, perhaps more so then other Gods which I will go over in later posts.

Heele der gross mudder Fra Holle!

“High said: “He is called All-father in our language, but in Old Asgard he had twelve names. One is All-father, the second Herran or Herian, the third Nikar or Hnikar, the fourth Nikuz or Hnikud, the fifth Fiolnir, the sixth Oski, the seventh Omi, the eighth Biflidi or Biflindi, the ninth Svidar, the tenth Svidrir, the eleventh Vidrir, the twelfth lalg or lalk.”
Then Gangleri asked: “Where is this god, what power has he, and what great works has he performed?”
High said: “He lives throughout all ages and rules all his kingdom and governs all things great and small.”
Then spoke Just-as-high: “He made heaven and earth and the skies and everything in them.”
Then spoke Third: “But his greatest work is that he made man and gave him a soul that shall live and never perish though the body decay to dust or burn to ashes.””
~Gylfaginning, Faulkes translation
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Painting by Lorenz Frølich.