European Native Faiths

One of the runic marks found is called the thunder broom (donderbezem), and is based on the Hagal rune. It is said to have originally been a symbol of the Germanic thunder god Donder (Donar/Þorr, etc.). The symbol was used to protect buildings against lightning and evil spirits.

Runic mason marks in the Low Countries All throughout the Low Countries, buildings contain brick symbols. These mason marks, often seen on churches, are sometimes Christian in meaning, but some of the symbols harken back to older times.

Aarno Karimo🇫🇮 — Uhri (Sacrifice / Offering) The Supreme God Ukko, who dwelleth in the upper skies / heavens, is known by various names among all the Finnic peoples. The worship of #Ukko among the Mari people, which has inspired this artist's impression of an ancient sacrificial offering preceding a communal feast, is of incredibly ancient origin, and has in all likelihood changed hardly at all since the distant past.

Channel photo updated

“Veles” by Andrey Klimenko

“Ride of the Valkyries” by Hermann Hendrich

Möjbro Runestone The Möjbro Runestone is a stone bearing the image of a warrior on horseback with a Proto-Norse runic inscription. The drawing on the runestone is thought to be inspired by continental Germanic images of glorious warriors on horseback, that in turn were inspired by Roman images. Various interpretations of the inscription exist. It is read from right to left and is generally understood as the memorial stone of a fallen warrior named Frawaradaz. Some interpretations: -Frawarādaz the most noble is killed intentionally. -Frawarādaz was slain on his steed.

In Germanic tradition, the concept is found in various different forms. The most important of these is the battle between the Midgard Serpent and the thunder god Þorr (Donder/Þunor, etc.). During Ragnarök, Þorr dies after slaying the Midgard Serpent. The runestone shown above depicts a different iteration of the motif, where Þorr goes fishing for the Midgard Serpent.

The Greeks have various related stories as well. One of these is the battle between the giant serpent Typhon and the Greek thunder and sky god Zeus. By slaying this serpent with his thunderbolts, Zeus becomes the king of the gods.

In ancient Anatolia, the Luwians worshipped an axe-wielding storm god Tarhunz, who slayed a serpent called Illuyanka. The image above is of a relief discovered in the city of Malatya that shows this culture’s version of this Proto-Indo-European story.

Indo-European Chaoskampf An element found in nearly all Indo-European faiths is a battle between a hero or deity and a serpent or dragon. The dragon or serpent loses in these battles, but in some cases the slayer of the dragon/serpent dies as well. Often, the deity is a thunder or storm god. The following posts will contain a couple of interesting examples.

“The Oath of Svarožič” by Boris Olshansky