A Magic Spell, "powered by" a Luni-Solar Calendar
(c) (03/06)

The Elder fuÞark, a luni-solar calendar formular?
The fact that runes play a role in calendar calculations, is proven by “runic calendars” (also Rune staff or Runic Almanac), which bases on the 19 year long Metonic cycle of the Moon. But also the 24 runes of the older row seem to reflect a luni-solar function. Probably the rune J [] is not by chance the 12-th sign of the row, as it is called jera, 'year'. Therefore these first 12 runes may reflect the solar year with its 12 months of 30 days each. If, however, one reads the row beginning with the last rune O backward, then J
[] is the 13-th sign of the row, and this reading reflects the lunar year which can produce 13 lunations.

I. The thesis in brief: A Charm for Life and Death

1. In order to design a magic charm for the sake of his (probably royal) protégée the rune-master first chose an appropriate set of runes (runic intent) and then picked the motifs which matched them best. There are 4 topic runes (and pictures) referring to life (solar level) and 2 topic runes related to death and "thereafter"(lunar level).

2. Each inscription is composed with numerical intent as to its number of runes and their values (according to their position in the runic row) both aiming at certain totals.

3. The number of runes corresponds to 10 solar years of 360 days. The odd 5 (holy-) days “between” the years were not part of them.

The value of these runes corresponds to 10 lunar years of 357 days each, slightly more than the sidereal year (354,36) holds.
In a lunar year of 13 months (the rosette of the Mægi is composed of 13 rays) this would be 7 months of 27 days and 6 months of 28 days. In the end – after 10 years – the difference adds up to one month, which is intended as not to stop the cycle.
10 is the symbol of a new start after a completed cycle of 9.

4. The divergence between the solar calendar (referring to "Life") and the lunar scheme (referring to "Death") is evened out by an "Eight-Year Cycle" (Reuter⁴), a schedule for sacrifices, and by the 19-Year Cycle, known in the ancient world as the "Metonic Cycle". Both scales are hidden in the Latin portion on the Back Panel.
5. The calendar works like a perpetual astronomical scheme which starts off the runic charm engraved in whalebone and keeps it going.

Back (T-Panel): Titus conquers Jerusalem (HIERUSALIM)

II. The thesis in detail: How did he make the Charm work?

1. Stages of Life and Death, as a Gate to "thereafter"

As expounded in Asterisk XII/2 (2003) pp. 83 - 128 (comp. www.franks-casket.de) the programme of the casket, a 7^th century royal hoard-box most likely, was meant to conjure a heroic course of life for its dignified owner.

The scenes from Bible (Mægi), ), history (Titus), classical Roman (Romulus) and Germanic mythology or saga (Weland, Egil and Herh-Os) serve as emblems for the protégée’s different stages of life in order to direct his destiny (O.E. wyrd) to the better. The pictures have little or no ornamental function. They are engraved rather for their emblematic quality to signify the decisive stages of life from birth to death and beyond.

The thematic runes ( Runes and Relevance)
This sequence of scenes begins on the F- Panel, right-hand side, and continues - running from right to left - around the box, concluding the cycle quite appropriately with the Lid as the proper location, if Heathen Walhalla and Christian Heaven were to be compared.

All 4 panels bear inscriptions, 3 of them introduced by a 9 -rune spell on the left rim [total value 330] while the 4th panel opens with “bad news” in order to change it by a 9 -rune spell [value 110] on the right rim. These 9 -rune phrases are directly followed by a “thematic” rune, i.e. a rune, the name of which directly corresponds with the theme of the picture it belongs to. In the case of the F-Panel there are two such runes alliterating in the verses of the whale, as there are two different scenes depicted. Including the Lid (Æ-Panel), which only bears a person's name, there are the following 6 thematic runes with their names (O.E. and N.E. in brackets):

• F-Panel [front]: (F = feoh, cattle, germ. Vieh, Wealth) and (G = gifu, Gift).
  The picture of the gift-bringing Mægi stands for a noble birth. Interesting is the adoption of the motif, as it replaces the traditional angel by a bird, which is the customary disguise of the Fylgja⁰
  Magi and as it fills the space over the last of the Mægi with a valknutr (Woden’s knot). This very special symbol shows that they matter more than Baby Christ on his mother’s lap. These elements - a distinguished family, the presence of the Fylgja and gift-bringing magicians - may be regarded as means to direct the way of wyrd to best of the carver’s protégée.
  Left of that picture the scene of the wealth-forging goldsmith Weland" (also known as Weyland, Wayland, Wieland, Vœlundr) is engraved. His revenge is part of this picture formula, but not the subject here, as his image is expected to procure the help of the Fylgja (who assists him here) and to enhance material goods (which he produces in abundance).
  Weland
  Thus both pictures are to augment the wealth of the owner in order to make the largesse expected from him possible. The text by its alliterating runes corresponds with the message of the pictures.
  Verses of the Whale
  

• R-Panel [left]: (R = Ride).
  Romulus and Remus, sons of Mars, the Roman god of war, are shown here in a "Germanised" setting (Holy Grove, Woden's wolves 2), where they are invoked to help on the way to and at war.
  Romulus. As the Fylgjur was believed to be present at the protégées’ life-time in the shape of bird or beast, the wolves may be associated with these super-natural helpers. The image of the Divine Twins, due to the initial R their names begin with, is meant to help the warrior-king, owner of the well-filled hoard box, at his raids and battles.
  

• T-Panel [back]: (T = tir, > Triumph and Glory).
  Titus, the later Roman emperor, conquers Jerusalem (70 AD). The rune is a reverence to Tiw, the old god of victory and justice, similar to Odin/Woden and Mars. The zoo of bird and beast under the arch again may refer to the Fylgjur, akin with the old Norse Valkyries. With this rune and picture a heroic life comes to its peak of honour and glory.
  Thus the topic serves to equip the carver’s client with all the attributes a famous Germanic warlord wants and needs to have.
  Titus
  

• H-Panel [right]: (H = Hail) and (S = Sun.)
  Some hero of a lost saga meets Herh-os, the brave man’s Valkyrie (i.e. his lifelong Fylgja), who now brings death (H) in battle on him (H) and who - like the resurrecting Sun (S) - will raise him from the dead to escort him to Woden's Valhalla. This is the only desirable end for a pagan warlord. . Actually, the thematic rune is , as it follows a 9-rune spell [value 110] here on the right rim. As it means light and life, it determines the charm on this panel. Death on the battlefield, brought about by a Woden’s daughter and being raised from the dead by her kiss and a draught of her beer, that is the only desirable end for a pagan warlord. The end? Not quite! .
  Herh-Os
  

• Æ-Panel [lid]: (Æ = æsc Ash )
  According to the Runic Poem the ash “offers stubborn resistance, though attacked by many a man.” Here a certain Ægil(i), a famous archer, assisted by his Fylgja or Valkyrie - now his heavenly other half - defends Woden's Valhalla against the frost giants. The holy site is marked by 3 valknutr or Woden’s knots, an arch and double headed birds and beasts (Woden’s ravens and wolves?) under the vault. With this setting the rune master conjures the afterlife his client, the warrior king strives for.
  Ægil
  

2. Runes, Numbers and Values to help the Charm

Each inscription is composed with numerical intention as to its number of runes and their values (i.e. their position in the runic row), both aiming at certain totals. It seems as if the carver had allowed (or limited) himself (to) a definite and significant number of each rune (see Runes & Values), from which he then composed his texts, in order to create suitable numerical values.Out of the Anglo-Saxon runic row of 33 runes he used only 22 (2 x 11) of the first 27 (3 x 9) characters.
Altogether the carver used 281 runes and 7 dots to make up in number, so that he arrives at (288, i.e. 12 x 24)
It was no plain superstitious belief in the number 24 itself, it was rather the idea that one used the cosmic powers associated with 3,4 and 8 if a text observed these factors. This would lead to formulas like 24 (= 3 x 8), 72 (= 3 x 24) or 288 (= 12 x 24) etc. This, too, was the reason for many other inscriptions of 24 letters, often just the runic row.

In detail:

Panel	Number of runes	Multiple	Value of runes	Multiple
Front	72	3 x 24	720	30 x 24
Left	72	3 x 24	932	?
Back	48	2 x 24	612	36 x 17
Right***	74	+ 22 pict.	1008	42 x 24
[Pictures	22	22+74=96 (4 x 24)	295]	(?)
Total	288	(12 x 24)	3567

^**including words within pictures (risci, wudu, bita, mægi, Ægili)
^*** the number of runes (74)+ those within pictures (22) seem to be a unit (96 = 4 x 24)

3. Lunisolar Aspects of Runic Numbers and Values

3.1 The plain solar year as reflected in the inscriptions

In early medieval thinking each and every number (and its multiple) was of some significance, in particular 3 and 8 and their multiples. That is why the Common Germanic row of 24 runes is divided into 3 groups (or ‘families’, O.N. Ættir) of 8 runes each

If we equate 24 with 300 (1+2+3+4 ... +24 = 300) and multiply that with 12 [the number of runes (288) is the product of 12 x 24] the score is 3600. This is the number of days in 10 solar years of 12 months at 30 days each, occasionally subdivided into 6 weeks of 5 days (O.N. fimmt), which produces a year of 72 weeks.

In order to bring this 360-day year (72 weeks of 5 days each) in line with the tropical year of 365 days 5 hollowed day-week (of 5 days) was celebrated, which was neither a part of the past nor of the oncoming year. The German term "zwischen den Jahren" (between the years), remembers this practice. This was the time from Midwinter, Middanwinter till Modra Nect (O.E. Geol, N.E. Yule), in our terms Dec. 21^st. till Dec. 25^th., which was seen as the re-birth of the sun . In later days this date celebrated the birth of Christ, who himself was equated with Sol Invictus, the “Invincible Sun”. ¹¹

The 3 days between (in our terms) the 21^st (Midwinter) and the 25^th December (Modra Nect) could be regarded as a period of transition from Death to Life , comparable to the Resurrection of Christ (after he had “descended into hell”) on the 3^rd day. With regard to this the picture of the Mægi is quite meaningful, as they, too, - told by their gifts - symbolize the cycle of life. The period of 10 years – which results from the number and value of the runes – does not constitute a certain duration of time and spell, it rather describes a cycle, which ends after 9 (19, 29 etc.) completed years and sets in again with 10 (20, 30 etc.). This way the sequence does not come to an end.

This type of solar calendar may have been in use with peasants, but it was not sufficient for the temple or church. Here the days of feasts, in particular Easter, needed to be predictable. On the Runic Casket it serves to regulate the solar aspect of “here and now”: Life.

3.2 The plain lunar year as reflected in the inscriptions²

The number of runes (288) in the text is one aspect, their total value (3567 or 3572) the other. The number is plain counting, the value bases on the position of the runes in the fuþorc (f = 1; u = 2, þ = 3, o = 4, r = 5 etc.). The old method did not change even when the Anglo-Saxon runic row adopted up to 9 more runes (27, later 33), probably for numeric reasons. These new values (runes 25 to 33) were included into the numeric calculations.

A rosette of 12 rays can be regarded to be a symbol for the solar year or, more precisely, for its cycle from birth to death, 360 days from Geol to Midwinter. If the number of 288 runes stands for 3600, this would make 10 solar years of 360 days each, i.e. 12 months of 30 days.

A rosette of 13 rays (as in the picture of the Mægi) would indicate the same, though now hinting at a lunar period. If the runic value 3572 is read in terms of days, this would make 10 lunar years of 357,2 days each, i.e. 27,476 days per month.³ This is close to (but not quite) the sidereal lunar year of 355 days, divided into 13 months of 27 days each; a total of 351 days with 4 leap days (months of 28 days) added to it.

The lunar month by the Sidereal Cycle , calculated by modern observation, actually measures 27,322 days, a difference of a couple of hours per month, of 2,8 days per year, of quite precisely one lunar month in 10 years. Why that? This difference may well be intended, as the rune-master did not want the circle to come to a stand still, a "dead end", literally. This method seems to be kept through at other cycles, as we will see further down.

We achieve a similar result, now according to the Synodic Cycle, if we divide the runic value (~ 3570 days by 12 months). With 29,7 days we are a couple of hours over the 29,5 days per month, which sums up to about 3 days per year or one month in 10 years. Again this may indicate the beginning of the new cycle. Nevertheless, the correspondence with the sidereal cycle is due to the values they base on.

Quite precisely the synodic month takes 29.53059 days. 12 months of 29.53 days make a year of 354,36 days; 11 days short of a tropical year, which has 365.2424 days. An embolic year of 13 months was the corrective. Thus a third Liþa (name of the months June and July) was inserted, when the cycle threatened to drop behind.

However, the Germanic country folks – almost each and everyone those days – would observe the moon from new to new, as the new month (new moon) started with the first sighting of the waxing crescent, the "knife of time , which “cut the months” from one another." Their month was 29 or 30 days long, depending on the edge of that "knife".

The Three Mægi, believed to be astronomers, may be supposed to have worked with a 13-month calendar (cf. rosette), of 355,18 days per year. A calculation of that nature is based on expert astronomic knowledge as priests will have had. And people like them knew the means to even out the discrepancies between the calendars.

4. The 8- and 19-Year-Cycles as Correctives

T-Panel: Latin text part: HCFUGANTHEUALM

In order to catch up with that solar year of 365.24 days a cycle of 19 years (a time-span of 235 lunations) was introduced, during which the divergence of time from about 11 days in 1 year could be reduced to about 2 hours in total. This Metonic Cycle required 7 Embolismic years, i.e. leap years of 13 months inserted among the Ordinary years. ⁴

Along with that rule we have the Eight-year cycle (Reuter⁵: Achtjahr ). It has 5 years of 12 months and 3 embolic years of 13 months with 99 lunations altogether, a number which made this particular cycle very special. It was easier to observe because of the shorter time span and good enough for the calculation of feasts and sacrifices, but on the long run less precise.

If the Runic Casket incorporates a lunar calendar, we may expect such a corrective. Here we turn to the T-Panel (Back) with its otherwise inexplicable Latin text, strange in grammar and script, a passage which has puzzled scholars ever since:

H

C

F

U

G

a

N

T

H

E

U

a

L

M

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

O

E

O

O

O

O

E

(E)

O

O

O

E

O

E

O

?

(E)

O

E

O

4.1 Baffling at first:

• At the first glance we are struck by the singular S-rune , which appears in its rare shape among the Latin letters, and different from all the other 19 (!) s-runes in their normal shape elsewhere on the casket.⁶

• There are 20 letters instead of the 19 characters we would expect. And, by the way, 20 s-runes.

• Apart from the rune there is a runic , while the letter I looks about the same in runic and in Latin script.

• Then we may wonder about the shape of the letter a, which appears in the form of a majuscule as we know it from Anglo-Saxon manuscripts like the Lindisfarne Codex.

• Finally we are irritated by the verb form fugiant, where we would expect fugiunt instead.

   

  4.2 Clearer now:
  

• The runic S is not only rendered in its older and here unique form , but as the 16^th character of this text it is also placed exactly in the same position (16) the s-rune occupies in both the runic rows (fuþark and fuþorc). Its name (O.E Sigel), Sun hints at 'her' function as the "solar corrective" of the lunar cycle, and if so this Sun dominates letters and runes, a row which may be understood as the 19-year Metonic Cycle.

• With its 20 characters the text overshoots the cycle of 19 and leads into the 20^th year. While 19 years are 235 lunations sharp, the 20th character adds it up to 238, which means 3 more lunations.

• The 20^th character ('M', meaning ‘man’) is intended to perpetuate the cycle beyond Geol (s.a.). It takes the same position (20) as the m-rune in fuþark and fuþorc.

• When figuring his values the carver must have intended the characters I, R and S [ ] as runes, in order to reach the value 48 (2 x 24) on this panel and thus an overall total of 288 (12 x 2 4).

• The two letters a in the shape of majuscules take the positions 8 and 17. The time span between them is rendered by the 8 characters they embrace. Assumed the runes stand for lunar leap years, they quite precisely reflect 3 years of 13 months along with 5 years of 12 months. Thus this section may refer to the "Eight-year cycle", a period of time after which sacrifices had to be made⁷.
  Likewise all the 5 rune-like letters and the 2 majuscules represent the 7 (or 8, if the s-rune is not exempted) years with intercalary months in the course of the 19 year cycle. Nevertheless, their sequence is odd and thus unlikely to render the embolismic years in their order, which would have been difficult to do in a coherent text. So the carver may have confined himself to rendering the number of leap years without regard to their proper position in the cycle.
  

• Needless to say, the rune master chose fugiant not due to his "poor Latin" but due to the need of an 'a' in this place in order to indicate the next "Eight-year" (*æht gear). The way the two marks are positioned does not allow a second full "Eight-year", neither preceding nor following this one.
  

We may still wonder why there are 20 characters instead of 19, which stand for the 19 years of the Metonic Cycle. But as the calendar is to "power" the spell of pictures and runes for the benefit of the protégée for whom it was designed, it must not end here. So the 20^th letter, M - holding the same position (20) as the rune in fuþark and fuþorc, where it means “Man” - takes him into the next cycle. It perpetuates the sequence beyond midwinter, which is synonymous with “death”.

And if we now figure the value of all the 20 characters - Latin, runic and majuscule - in the same way we treat the runic values of the other texts we arrive at 238.
With 235 lunations the Metonic Cycle is fulfilled, the odd 3 lunations are part of the 1^st year of the new cycle, indicated by the 20^th letter. And as the year begins on Geol, which is the 25^th December⁸, 3 lunations will take him to the beginning of spring, which is in March⁹.
It is no coincidence that the Christian Easter date – the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring – is oriented at this particular lunation. And Christ, also identified with Sol Invictus is said to be “resurrected from the dead” on the 3^rd day.
An analogous idea may be seen in the wanderings of Homer’s solar hero Odysseus, who after a 19 year errantry returnes to his palace and waiting there for the 3 nights of the new moon before he discloses his identity. And if he is the only one able to send his arrow through the eyes of 12 axe blades rowed up one behind the other, his identity, with the sun becomes apparent, which after 19 years returns to the old position and the rays. It takes less than a “Stonehenge” to observe that.

4.3 The choice and position of letters
Though all the letters are part of a meaningful set of words their arrangement does not merely follow orthographical needs; their aspired position may even have influenced the choice of words, their spelling as well as even the use of grammar and language. The Latin sequence: "HIC FUGIANT HIERUS AL IM" begins with H (Latin), which - if rune - means perilous 'Hail' (grains of ice, which melts). This would be in line with the beginning of the 'new year' after midwinter.

The i-rune, along with the letter H, takes position 12 in both the runic rows, i.e. it takes the rank of , meaning jera, year, equivalent to the letter J. And it stands for the letter J in "Jerusalim", here "HIERUSALIM". From this position , replacing J, looks back at the "solar year", i.e. "life". We may guess that it continues with "death" and resurrection at Easter.

The text leads up to the runic S, here in its (unique shape ). It stands for the life-giving 'Sun' (O.E. rune-name sigel), and like a fixed star maintains its position 16 here as well as in the runic rows. As the Sun is a deity, she may be identified with Baldr. Like him the Aesir Heimdall and Tiw (the god whose rune dominates this panel in meaning, number and value) are associated with the life-giving light of the sun. ¹⁰

A sequence of just 19 letters would end on I, which stands for 'Ice' (water, which freezes), the mark of winter and symbol of death. In other words, the letters take us from the beginning of the first day of the first year (Geol, December 25^th) - over the stretch of 19 years - to the very end (Winter solstice; December 21^st.

In order not to let the cycle of birth and death finish here, the 20^th letter, 'M', takes us into spring. The letter 'M', interpreted like the rune (rank 20 in the runic row and in this text), means 'man' and it may stand for the Solar Hero (Sol Invictus ), who becomes apparent after the 3^rd night of the new moon. In Christian creed it is Christ, who descends to Hell and is resurrected on the 3^rd day, to remain there for 40 days, before he ascends to Heaven (sky). ¹¹ This corresponds very well with the fates of solar heroes like Baldr. The God of light, beauty and justice, the deity of spring, is a dying and resurrecting god. The time of resurrection - here and there - is celebrated with "Easter", so named after the undying God(dess) of Spring and Equinox, if not after a forgotten god ‘Ostar’. ¹²

The overlapping featurtes of fuþark or fuþorc, respectively, and this Latin-Runic composition, the Metonic cycle, seem to confirm the original calandar function of the runic rows.

5. Jewish Lunar Calendar and FC-Calendar in Comparison

Jahr(J) = Year (Y)

19Year  = Metonic Cycle
JC        = Jewish Lunar calendar
FC 19J. = Franks Casket 19 Year Cycle
FC 8J.  = Franks Casket 8 Year Cycle, X = leap months preceding and following; 13 = one additional month
8Jahr   = Rural Germanic Cycle, no leap system known due to lack of information

The position of the leap years in both (8 and 19 year) cycles on the Franks Casket corresponds closely with that of the Jewish Lunar Calendar. Deviations result from the geographic position (degree of longitude) of the observer, as the moon becomes visible later the further west (e.g. Spain) he is. Anyway, as the rune master had to produce a legible text he may have been forced into a sequence only close to reality, in particular if - with the runic sequence a a - he had aimed at a certain score. In this case the runic value is 49 (= 7 x 7), - quite meaningful, as 7 lunar months had to be added every 19 years, and due to that 7 (like 13 was regarded to be a "lunar number". Something similar may have been intended with the sequence producing the value 32 (2x16) for the 3 leap years of the8 year cycle.

6. The Function of the "Calendars"

The circle of solar and lunar calendar, of runic numbers and values closes, when we detect that the difference between the values of the >birth panel< (Front: 720) and the >death panel< (Right: 1008) corresponds precisely with the number of runes (281 runes + 7 dots), by which the inscriptions are composed. Coincidence or not, the time between conception and birth is about the same.
The solar aspect rules life (as depicted on the panels F,R and T) while the lunar aspect dominates the ”Other-world” (as shown on the panels H and Æ).
Certainly such a calendar does not agree with what we regard a calendar. It does not indicate certain dates or seasons, it rather works like a perpetual astronomical scheme with a touch of astrology, which starts off the charm engraved in whalebone and keeps it going, procuring luck, fame and eternal life.
Who would suspect the charm behind a man, whose great name is spelt out in History Books?