13
File, wedge,
found, needle,
handle, will,
handy, wise,
twin, fire
iron (for blood-letting), and drill,
healthy, horn-drill,
well known and calm,
open place with much sand, edge,
strong oak shield.
This verse is connected to Algiz and Víðarr. The valuable items taken from the burial mounds were given to the living on the Winter Solstice. Not all the gifts were physical; some were mental or spiritual, and some of these tools were used to fight the shadows of Hel in Ragnarök.
14
The language of dwarves is spoken
in the lingering masses,
human children,
reckoned amongst the kin that is allowed to,
those who sought,
from stone halls,
mud embankment home
until/to horses charge.
This verse is connected to Sowili and Sól. Only initiates, who knew the runes of the grave, were allowed to participate. They had visited the halls of stone, the homes of the dead under the mud, and charged the shadows on horseback, armed with torches (artificial Suns).
4.4 Týr's first Group of eight
15
There was the dripper
and defiant troll,
tall, funeral,
sea plain, glowing,
dear, alder
wave, gentle spirit
unmixed, mixed,
pieces of guts, great-grandfather.
16
White and king,
strong oak shield,
hider and make cold,
bog/sea and the easily allured;
it always remembered high
while man lives
has long been considered as relative
of he who gives permission.
These verses are connected to Tíwaz (15) and Berko (15/16), Týr and Jörð. After the Winter Solstice came Ragnarök, when the gods armed with torches and hot coals, and accompanied by the dead ancestors from the grave, had to fight the trolls (harmful spirits). Today we often think of trolls as ugly giants, but they were originally malevolent spirits who caused damage in the world. The elves, the dear dead relatives (like the great-grandfather) were in the army with the king (sorcerer) and the other initiates; those who were allowed by the deity to participate in the battle.
17
Until three came
from the crowd,
strong and loving
spirit to the house;
they found on land,
not in good shape,
ash and elm
without fate (life).
18
They had no spirit,
had no mind,
blood or language
or good colour;
the spirit gave them life spirit,
the one who lures (with singing) gave them minds,
life colour attached to them,
and good looks.
These verses are linked to Ewaz (17) and Mannz (18), Mani and Borr. The summer spirits (the gods) and the defeated winter spirits (the berserks) returned after Ragnarök to the grave mound; the well of old wisdom. The sacrificial trees, the ash and elm, grew there, and in them hung the clothes that the fighters had left there, when they went to participate in the Ragnarök battle. The men representing the winter spirits had had their totemic bear or wolf killed, when the gods/Víðarr tore their furs from their bodies and trampled on them to kill the winter spirits. Because of this these men had no longer spirit, a mind, blood, speech or good colour. The life forces of the men were hidden away in their clothes, hanging in the sacrificial trees. They were naked, tired, weakened, cold and possibly also badly beaten, and really looked like lifeless corpses. They were then carried or pulled to the grave mounds, where the gods put their clothes back on (and thus gave them back their spirits, mind, speech and colours).
19.
I know an ash stood
called “the one who demands reverence”,
tall tree, poured
white mud;
dew comes from there,
falling in the valleys,
stand evergreen over,
the well of honour/the well of stone.
This verse is connected to Laguz and Njörðr. The sacrificial tree, a. k. a. Heimdallr, located on top of the grave mound, was watered by the goddess/queen/housewife, who then used a bough from one of Óðinn's holy trees (the ash and the juniper) as a wand and used it to purify the house. The remaining spirits of the dead were thrown out, on the day of Eldbjørg, and were sent back to the realm of death, to the well of honour/stone (the grave).
20
From there came three maidens,
very wise
from the sea
which is under the tree;
one was named honour/past,
another the coming/present,
cut in pieces of wood,
guilt/future the third;
they were not satisfied
with the fluid life in the well,
they declare the fate of the children
of the age.
This verse is linked to Laguz and Njörðr. All the sorceresses, the wise women, gathered at the burial mound, the well of honour (where the sea/river of forgetfulness is located) to compete for the queen title. They tested their skills to find the one who best mastered the art of sorcery. The old queen, the coming queen and all the others too.
21
She remembers sacred folks
first (best) in the world,
they the golden horse
pierced with a spear
in the hall of the tall (i. e. Óðinn)
they burned her;
three times they burned her,
three times, she was born,
often, and not infrequently,
but she still lives.
This verse is linked to Inguz and Freyr. The sorceress remembered, i. e. she knew, how the king and queen grew corn and made the fields (the golden horse) fertile. This she needed to know if she wanted to become queen. The queen had pierced a sacred bough, a wand, into the field, into the realm of death (Óðinn's hall), and planted seeds there, to make it fertile. The golden horse was the field and its corn, which had been burned repeatedly, since they at that time used the “slash and burn” technique. This golden horse came back from the Earth (was born) over and over again.
22
Fair/light was her name
wherever she went,
a chosen woman good at predictions,
she performed sorcery,
she knew the customs
she played with the customs
and was always well regarded
amongst ill women.
This verse is linked to Dagaz and Baldr and Íðunn. The sorceress who won the bride race, the beauty contest, was naturally light/fair, a term which in antiquity was synonymous with beautiful. She was skilled at sorcery (medicine) and naturally popular with the sick individuals she visited and healed. She knew the customs and mastered them better than everyone else. That's why she was chosen to be their queen-sorcerer in the first place.
23
Then all the powers went
to the seats of the end (i. e. the grave)
the sacred gods,
and agreed;
either the spirits would
suffer losses
or were all the gods to
own party/feast (strive).
This verse is linked to Oþala and Ásgarðr. The gods went to the mound and hoped that they had chosen the right queen, and had found the right king. It would be a good year if they had, or a bad one if they hadn't.