Winifred Hodge Rose
Here is a galdor—a magical incantation / charm / chant—that was used in old Heathen times. Sith Galdor or ‘Journey Charm,’ is an Anglo-Saxon charm intended to protect one from the perils of travel through dangerous territory. Here, I use the Anglo-Saxon spelling ‘Siþ.’
I view the ‘Sith / Siþ’ or journey referred to in this incantation as our ‘journey through life’ which has many opportunities for growth and goodness, but also presents hindrances and unhealthy influences. Siþ Galdor can be used to create a spiritual barrier to help us withstand unhealthy influences from our environment that affect our thoughts, emotions, attitudes, judgement. When we are not constantly struggling, whether consciously or subconsciously, to deal with these influences and their impacts on us, we have more energy and clear-mindedness to focus on worthwhile actions and directions for our lives.
I offer this galdor in two slightly different Anglo-Saxon versions, with a pronunciation guide. I also offer two of my translations. One is a word-for-word translation so you can get a sense of the literal meaning of the incantation. The other is a translation to support actively working with this incantation, where I have focused on word-meanings that—based on my experience—can best focus the power of intent in this charm. I encourage you to experiment with these various forms and see what works best for you!
Note that Siþ Galdor as presented here is only the first part of the original charm. There are many more lines to it, which are clearly Christian additions to the shorter part here which shows more signs of Heathen origin. According to Storms:
“The magical atmosphere of the charm is restricted to the beginning (the part I include here)… …it has a fairly well-developed Anglo-Saxon charm formula, which though late, is original. It is a typical instance of the change that has come over magic (during the Christianization period in England). The intensity and the emotional depth which we met with in the preceding (earlier) charms has given way to another emotional atmosphere, namely that of popular religion, and the forces evoked by performing magical actions and pronouncing magical words have been replaced to a large extent by the power of (the Christian) God…” (Storms is referring to the continuation of the charm, not included here; p. 220; parentheses are mine.)
Storms also discusses the corrupt state of the text, which leaves out normal word endings, changes vowels, exhibits unusual spelling, and the like. The first version of the charm I offer, below, presents this ‘corrupted’ text—‘corrupted’ in a textual, grammatical sense, not in a spiritual sense! Storms mentions that part of the issue may have been the gradual language transition from Old English (Anglo-Saxon) to Middle English. (See Storms pp. 216-220.) My own sense is that this was copied by someone who could barely write, and / or someone who spoke an uncommon dialect of the language that, for example, dropped the final consonants of some words, pronounced vowel sounds differently, and slurred or dropped vowel sounds in the middle of words. I’m familiar with some obscure dialects in modern languages that do those things, so it’s a plausible explanation.
The Original Anglo-Saxon Siþ Gealdor
Here is the first, more Heathen part of the original Anglo-Saxon version as found in Storms p. 116-7 and Rodriguez p. 156. I intersperse lines of my own word-for-word translation here.
Ic me on þisse gyrde beluce and on Godes helde bebeode,
I me in this rod / enclosure lock and on God’s keeping / protection / loyalty / grace / favor bid,
Wið þane sara stice, wið þane sara slege,
Against the sore stitch, against the sore blow,
Wið þane grimma gryre,
Against the raging / roaring dread / terror / horror / violence,
Wið þane micela egsa þe bið eghwām lað,
Against the great fear / horror / peril / monster that is hateful (to) everyone,
And wið eal þat lað þe into land fare.
And against all that (is) loathsome / hateful that fares over land.
Sygegealdor ic begale, sigegyrd is (misspelled for ‘ic’) me wege,
Victory-galdor I galdor / sing, victory-rod I me bear,
Word-sige and weorc-sige, se me dege.
Word-victory and work-victory, they me avail.
Ne me mer ne gemyrre,
Nor me nightmare (or ‘lake’) not hinder / obstruct / trouble / disturb, (see note below)
Ne me maga ne geswence,
Nor me young man not distress / afflict / harrass / oppress,
Ne me næfre minum feore forht ne ჳewurþe.
Nor me never my feorh / life-soul timid / cowardly / afraid not becomes.
‘Nightmare’ or ‘Lake’?
This line toward the end of this poem is rather puzzling: “Ne me mer ne gemyrre.” The word mere means a sea, ocean, lake, or pond: a body of water. Rodriguez’ translation of the line uses this meaning: “…that no mere (lake) obstruct me…” (p. 157 ). Storms’ translation assumes that mer is an alternate spelling of mare (mahr-eh), a nightmare or a haunter of the night (‘nightmare’ comes from this word, not from a horse!). His translation is “may no nightmare disturb me.” A similar A-S word is mera, an incubus: a male demon considered to engage in sex with women while sleeping and suck energy from them, or otherwise simply a nightmare. (The concept of the incubus is a foreign one and came into Anglo-Saxon knowledge from Latin texts. I think that mera was used to translate ‘incubus’ simply in the original A-S sense of a night-haunter, a nightmare.)
So which meaning is intended in the charm: a nightmare (mare or mera), or a body of water (mere)? Let’s look at the verb associated with this noun mer and see what makes sense in this context. The verb is gemyrre (pronounced yeh-MEER-reh). It’s defined in Bosworth-Toller as: “ge-myrran; to hinder, obstruct, force, trouble; impedire, turbare, obstruere :– Móde gemyrde disturbed in mind…” Now, it makes no sense to suppose that a journey-charm, however powerful, could actually move or remove a lake or sea that might be hindering or obstructing one’s path! So I think that Rodriguez’ translation, “that no mere obstruct me,” doesn’t make sense. If a mere or lake is obstructing your way, you will just have to go around it, not chant a spell to get it to move! It is possible, though, that the meaning gemyrre here could refer to turbulent, troubled water during a voyage across the sea or a large lake. If one is on a sea voyage then a spell to calm rough water would certainly be useful.
But if the journey is not over water, then ‘nightmare’ would be of more relevance. The phrase quoted from the Bosworth-Toller definition of ge-myrran, above, comes into play here: mode gemyrde meaning ‘disturbed in mind,’ disturbed in one’s Mod-soul. Nightmares, night-haunters, will-o’-the-wisps, and countless other supernatural or magical beings and phenomena were taken seriously in the old Heathen cultures. A great concern was the ability of such beings or phenomena to lead one astray, off one’s path either physically or mentally, or both. When traveling alone across a dark, deserted landscape, perhaps forest or marshland, the possibility of being confused and led astray by some spooky mirage or misperception would be profoundly worrisome. So, in translating this original word mer, I believe the ‘nightmare’ meaning fits better in the charm than the ‘lake / sea’ meaning does, in general, though the latter meaning would make sense if one is embarking on a sea voyage.
Spelling and Pronunciation
I use the ‘thorn, þ’ and ‘eth, ð’ characters (representing the sound “th”) in both versions of the charm, as given in the published texts. In my own emended version that follows in the next section, I use two additional special characters to help guide pronunciation: a dotted ‘ċ’ representing the ‘ch’ sound, and a ჳ showing when the written letter ‘g’ is actually pronounced as a consonantal ‘y’ as in ‘yet. Rather than explaining the complex A-S pronunciation rules about when ‘g’ is a ‘g’ versus a ‘y,’ and when ‘c’ is a ‘ch,’ I’ve simply used the special characters for your (and my own) convenience!
Because I offer this charm as a mode of working Heathen magic, for my own use I have regularized some of the spelling of the Anglo-Saxon words, which I believe enhances its magical power when one is speaking it aloud. You can make your own choice about which version to use; as you will notice, there is not a great deal of difference between them. As for the title, both ‘Galdor’ and ‘Gealdor’ can be used. ‘Gealdor’ or ჳealdor reflects the common Anglo-Saxon accent that softens the ‘g’ sound in some contexts; it is pronounced ‘yealdor’. (See Mitchell & Robinson p. 39.)
I’ve replaced the ‘a’ in some words with ‘o’, such as changing ‘and’ to ‘ond’. Both spellings are used in A-S texts, but I find it helpful to use ‘ond’ because it’s a reminder that this word is not pronounced with a flat American ‘a’ but like ‘on’ with a ‘d’ at the end. The word ‘the,’ spelled þane in the original charm, is usually spelled þone = ‘thon-eh’. I’ve added diacritical lines over long vowels, as is often done in modern A-S dictionaries and grammar-books to help with pronunciation. I provide a detailed pronunciation guide after my emended A-S text that will help if you want to speak either version of the incantation in Anglo-Saxon.
I’ve broken the lines of my emended version into shorter lengths and added some punctuation, to help with comprehension and to guide rhythm and emphasis when speaking the incantation for working purposes. I’ve also broken it into four sections or verses that to my mind have different focuses. The first is the ‘bidding’ or calling on the Deities. Second is a list of perils. Third and fourth are the building up of personal power and statement of intent for the incantation.
Emended Anglo-Saxon version of Siþ ჳealdor
Here is my emended version of the Anglo-Saxon charm, including special characters to guide pronunciation:
Siþ ჳealdor
Iċ me on þisse ჳyrde belūce
Ond on [Godes] helde bebeode:
* * *
Wið þone sāran stiċe,
Wið þone sāran slēჳe,
Wið þone grimman gryre,
Wið þone miċelan eჳesa
Þe bið æჳehwām lāð,
Ond wið eall þat lāð
Þe into land faraþ.
* * *
Syჳeჳealdor iċ begāle,
Siჳeჳyrd iċ me weჳe,
Word-siჳe ond weorc-siჳe,
Se me dēჳe!
* * *
Ne me mara ne ჳemyrreþ,
Ne me māga ne ჳeswenċeþ
Ne me næfre mīnum Feore
Forht ne ჳewurþe.
Pronunciation notes
– The ჳ symbol is pronounced as a consonantal ‘y’ as in ‘yet.’
– The dotted ċ is pronounced as modern English ‘ch’.
– The ‘th’ sounds ð and þ are unvoiced, as in ‘thin,’ in all the words in this charm except ჳewurþe, where þ is voiced as in ‘than.’
– Double consonants are both pronounced, as in grim-man, pronounced ‘grim-mon’.
– All the ‘f’s in this charm are pronounced as ‘f’ except for ‘næfre’ where the ‘f’ is spoken as a ‘v’.
– The short words with ‘e’ such as ‘me, ne, se,’ etc, are all pronounced with the ‘e’ as ‘eh’.
– Belūce is pronounced ‘beh-LOO-keh,’ bebeode is ‘beh-BEH-oh-deh.’
– In words with the short prefixes ჳe- and be- the accent is on the second syllable, e.g. ჳeswenċeþ = yeh-SWEN-cheth. Otherwise, accent is on the first syllable.
– All vowels and consonants are pronounced; there are no ‘silent letters.’ For example, sāre is pronounced ‘saa-reh,’ siჳe is ‘si-yeh,’ dēჳe is ‘day-yeh,’ Feore is ‘feh-or-eh.’
– ‘H’ is pronounced, not silent.
– ‘R’ is pronounced as a flip or roll of the tongue.
– Næfre has a long vowel sound as in ‘bād’ (I could not find an ‘æ’ with a macron over it!).
My Working Translation
My translation follows, using words that, for me, capture the full intent of the incantation as a magical working. I’ve chosen words with A-S roots, used words that emphasize a chanted rhythm for the incantation, and use alliteration where I can. I explain word usage and meanings, below.
I ward myself with this yard,
And bid [God’s] troth to keep me:
* * *
Against the sore stitch,
Against the sore blow,
Against the roaring dread,
Against the great fear
That is hateful to everyone;
Against all loathsomeness
That fares through the land.
* * *
Winning-galdor I sing,
Winning-rod I wield,
Word-winning and work-winning:
I make mighty use of them!
* * *
No nightmare bewilders me,
No one harries me,
Never shall my Feorh-soul
Give in to fear.
Notes on Translation and Meanings
In the first line there is a complexity of words that’s worth understanding: Iċ me on þisse ჳyrde beluce. Gyrd / ჳyrd or ‘yeerd’ is related to ‘yard’ as a unit of measure, a yardstick, and one of its meanings is a rod, stick, staff or wand. It’s also related to ‘gird’ and ‘girdle,’ as something that surrounds something else, like our waist or hips. It encloses and measures a space. In this line it refers both to the warded space that is defined and surrounded, and to the rod, staff or wand which is used to measure and demarcate that space. The verb here, belūcan, comes from lūcan, to close or lock, the root of modern ‘lock.’ Both ჳyrd and belūce (beh-LOO-keh) in this line are referring to an enclosure and to the rod that is used to outline and ‘lock’ that enclosure. In my attempt to capture the multiple meanings of gyrd, I use its descendant word ‘yard’ in this opening line, to imply the ‘yard’ or space that is warded, the ‘yardstick’ that shapes that space, and the resulting sense of being protectively ‘girded’ by the charm. If this wording doesn’t work for you, you can say “I enclose myself with this rod / staff / wand,” which is also an accurate translation—it just doesn’t have as much of the nuance!
I recommend that in place of “God” in the second line of the text, you substitute the name(s) of the God or Goddess to whom you are praying to stand by you. Note that with this phrasing we are not pleading with any Gods to ‘save’ us. Rather, we call on the troth we have with the Gods: the trust, reliance, faithfulness that has grown between us, asking them to ward us and strengthen us to face any challenges we might encounter with their power and deep wisdom backing ours. When I want to call on more than one Deity I repeat line two, speaking a different God-name each time, to give the charm more power. For example:
And bid Tiw’s troth to keep me,
And bid Thunor’s troth to keep me,
And bid Ing-Frey’s troth to keep me,
And bid Frige’s troth to keep me,
etc., for however many Deities I want to call on.
For the Anglo-Saxon version, this would read:
Ond on Tīwes helde bebeode,
Ond on Þunres helde bebeode,
Ond on Ing-Frēan helde bebeode,
Ond on Frīჳan helde bebeode,” etc.
In the third section of the charm, the ‘victory verse,’ I’ve used the native word ‘winning’ instead of ‘victory.’ You can easily change it to ‘victory’ if you prefer that: “Victory-galdor I sing, victory-rod I wield, word-victory and work-victory: I make mighty use of them!”
Also in this section: an interesting implication relates to the word ‘sige-galdor / victory-galdor.’ The spelling here, syჳeჳealdor, is clearly intended to match the meanings of the other ‘victories’ that one claims in the charm, but its spelling is different from the other ‘victories,’ using a ‘y’ instead of an ‘i.’ (Standardized spelling was centuries in the future!) This offers a double meaning, because syჳe also means ‘sight’. I like to use this double meaning to mean “I sing winning-galdor and sight-galdor,” song-charms for clear sight to penetrate hidden meanings and subtle influences that could affect me, and thus I claim victory over them.
In the last part of the charm, I discussed earlier the term ‘nightmare.’ I’ve chosen to use the word ‘bewilder’ as my translation of gemyrre in this line, though that’s not the common meaning of gemyrre. ‘Bewilder’ is similar to the translation ‘disturb’ that’s used in the A-S dictionary, but ‘bewilder’ brings in the sense of disorientation, confusion, and feeling of being lost or overwhelmed that a nightmare gives and that I think is the real impact that a ‘nightmare’ (whether waking or sleeping) has upon one’s ‘journey of life.’ I discuss this viewpoint further in the next section below.
In the next line I’ve translated the verb ჳeswenċeþ as ‘harries,’ an old Germanic-language word derived from words for ‘to plunder, lay waste,’ and ‘army, mob, crowd.’ Additional meanings for ‘to harry’ include ‘to oppress, assault, rob, persecute, ravage, devastate,’ as well as milder actions such as ‘to harass, hound, vex, trouble, overwhelm’ us. I figure this verb covers a lot of ground that the incantation is intended to address!
My wording of the final two lines of the charm follows the magical principle of avoiding negative terms where possible and focusing on positive ones to emphasize the real purpose of the charm. The original says literally “nor me never my feore timid / cowardly / afraid not becomes.” For magical working, I make this a statement of active power rather than of passive pleading in my translation: “never shall my Feorh-soul give in to fear.” Focusing on words that emphasize what we don’t want tends to be counterproductive in magic, so I don’t want to say the words “may I never become timid, cowardly, afraid” in a magical working. Instead, I state my intended stance in the face of fear: I will not give in to it. We may not always be able to control the feeling of fear or timidity that affects our Feorh life-soul when we are threatened, but we can state our intention not to give in to that fear, not to be overwhelmed and crushed into nothingness by it.
Interpreting the Charm for Use Today
A person in Anglo-Saxon times would clearly be concerned about the physical dangers described in the charm: the ‘sudden stitch’ that could be caused by malicious magic from wights or human magicians, or could refer to insect and snake bites. Attacks by humans and wild animals, capture, robbery, weather disasters, illness, injury, etc. There are certainly times and places where one might worry about such things today, as well. But in addition to that, today we have so many more subtle attacks and influences to worry about. Bullying and attacks happen on social media and other remote venues as well as in the physical world. Our judgements, our ideas, our values, our hopes and fears, are manipulated by influencers of all stripes. It’s hard to know the truth about so many things, with all sides clamoring that the other sides are lying or manipulating information. It goes on and on. It’s exhausting, frustrating, discouraging, maddening…and bewildering! It affects our souls as well as our psyches, our bodies, our relationships, and everything about us.
My approach to using the Siþ Galdor is to interpret the threats it describes in light of our own experiences and concerns in today’s world. I’m talking about where the charm begins: “Against the sore stitch…” The ‘stitch’ or sudden sharp pain or cramp was often considered to be caused by magic or by hostile wights of some kind, as well as by snake or insect bites. What are events that might cause you a sudden pain—maybe an emotional pain? Perhaps bad news, a misunderstanding or insult from someone, some kind of misfortune upending your day. The “sore blow”: a great disappointment, an unexpected bill or expense, a health problem. The “roaring dread”: I interpret this as the tides of ill-will, anger, hatred, cruelty, and enmity that seem to wash across the world these days. The “great fear that is hateful to all”: maybe getting fired or laid off, getting into an accident, being impacted by a crime, civic unrest, or war; being treated unjustly with serious consequences in your life.
“All loathsomeness that fares through the land”: I see this as pollution: pollution in the environmental sense, and in psychological and spiritual senses as well. “No nightmare bewilders me” is one that I find especially meaningful in today’s world. Nightmares or haunts and afflictions that arise in our minds during sleep or musing or absent-minded moments: these so often arise from the overwhelm of news, opinions, influences, advertising, distortions, AI concoctions, ranting, fake-everything, doom-scrolling, etc. These bewilder and disturb us whether we’re awake or asleep, causing turbulence within our minds, souls, thoughts and emotions.
You get the idea: interpret the things that the charm lists in terms of your own life and the concerns and circumstances of your life whose influence you want to decrease with this incantation.
Sensible Use of Siþ Galdor
We need to do our best, with the help of our Holy Ones, to buffer some of the deluge of negativity we’re all subjected to, using this charm, and do our best to make sense of what we can’t ignore. It’s important, I find, to buffer ourselves from negativity as and when we can, not only because these things are so unpleasant and stressful, but more importantly because we want to make more room for all the good things in life that tend to be overwhelmed by the constant ‘parade of horribles’ that we are exposed to. It’s a matter of refocusing our awareness and our emotions. We can use the charm to create a warded space that makes room for the good stuff!
Now, unfortunately neither this nor any other charm is guaranteed to ward us from all these misfortunes! Also, I have mixed feelings about focusing on negative things such as the ‘list of horribles’ in the charm. Heavily focusing on anything, including negative things, could help bring them into our lives, which we don’t want here! This leads me to go comparatively lightly over that list of horribles when using this incantation, respecting its meaning and intent but not dwelling too heavily on that. This list should not be the real focus of the incantation! Instead I focus my power on the next parts of the charm: “…word-winning and work-winning: I make mighty use of these!”
What the final two parts mean to me is this: unfortunate things may happen to us, even when we use this incantation. The probability and the intensity may be reduced when we use the charm, but we can’t completely prevent all negative events in our lives. What we can do is rise victorious over them, one way or another. We may be able to mitigate, overcome, strike back at negative events and circumstances. At the very least we can support ourselves and ask our trustworthy Gods to support us: our confidence, our strength, our resilience, our wisdom, our integrity, our honor, so that we are not overwhelmed even when we experience negativity and misfortune.
We can refuse to be bewildered, instead depending on our own wisdom, intelligence, insights, experience, good judgement—as well as seeking insights from those we trust, including our Deities. We can refuse to give in to being harried, oppressed, harassed, working on our own behalf and those we care about, standing our own ground even under difficult circumstances.
We can refuse to be overwhelmed by fear as a long-term, paralyzing state of mind, even though fear is a natural reaction under many circumstances—and it is a survival mechanism because it forces us to pay attention to whatever is threatening us. If it is a direct, personal threat, then our attention is vital so we can figure out what to do about it. But much of the dire negativity we’re exposed to isn’t a direct, personal threat that we can do anything about; it’s an environment saturated with overwhelming negativity. Long-term living with fear and anxiety about things we can do nothing about is counterproductive: it exhausts and erodes our ability to act on our own behalf. This is where warding is helpful, to lighten the burden and create some space where we can focus on and build up the good things in life.
This is what I use the charm for: to enhance my ability to detect, understand, mitigate, deflect, negotiate, oppose, or withstand whatever threats I may perceive around me. At the same time, I enclose myself away from threats and fears I can do nothing about, ensuring that there’s some time and attention in my life for the good stuff! I find this incantation useful, but not because I’m focused on long lists of threats—which is generally an unhealthy way to live unless one really has to do so under dire circumstances. I use it to support my confidence and courage, to empower myself, to affirm my working connections with my Holy Ones, and to remind myself what is important to work for in my life—including maintaining my own peace of mind.
I believe that this is what ‘warding ourselves’ really consists of. We can’t seal ourselves up hermetically, away from all influences from the outside world. We can, however, choose to buffer ourselves against negative influences that we can do nothing about, and are better off not dwelling upon. And just as importantly, we can prepare ourselves to deal with the influences and situations that must be faced, standing on our own ground and on our own terms, singing our victory-galdors loud and clear, and pursuing our word- and work-victories! I suggest that use of this incantation can help us do that.
Note: if you’d like to know more about the Feore / Feorh life-soul that is mentioned at the end of the Siþ Gealdor you can read my articles linked below. Feor or Feorh is the Anglo-Saxon term for this soul; in these articles I use the Old Saxon term instead: Ferah, because it is less easily confused with modern English ‘fear.’
https://heathensoullore.net/born-of-trees-and-thunder-the-ferah-soul/
https://heathensoullore.net/study-guide-3-exploring-your-ferah-soul/
Book-Hoard
Online version of: An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, based on the manuscript collections of the late Joseph Bosworth. Edited and enlarged by T. Northcote Toller, M.A. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1898). https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/books/asd/index-introduction
Hall, J.R. Clark. A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Fourth Edition. University of Toronto Press, 1960.
Mitchell, Bruce, and Fred C. Robinson. A Guide to Old English, Fifth Edition. Blackwell Publishers, 1992.
Rodriguez, Louis J. Anglo-Saxon Verse Charms, Maxims, and Heroic Legends. Anglo-Saxon Books, 1993.
Storms, G. (Godfrid). Anglo-Saxon Magic. Gordon Press reprint 1974, originally 1948.
The online dictionary “Wiktionary: Old English” is helpful and includes pronunciation guidelines.