november: merseburg and its magic.

on my vacations in november last year my parents and i visited merseburg, a very old town in saxony-anhalt which is mainly famous for the merseburg incantations, ancient magical spells written in old high german. its origins are still unknown, there were found in an archive in merseburg, but were actually written in fulda. i have kind of a deeper connection to those magical spells, rooting back to my medieval culture phase i had when i was a late teen. those spells are constantly used in the medieval music scene and i came in contact with them pretty early on through the band in extremo. 

In Extremo-Merseburger Zaubersprüche I von Lupus-novus

Eiris sazun idisi, sazun hera duoder;

suma hapt heptidun, suma heri lezidun,

suma clubodun umbi cuoniouuidi:

insprinc haptbandun, inuar uigandun.

Once sat women,

They sat here, then there.

Some fastened bonds,

Some impeded an army,

Some unraveled fetters:

Escape the bonds,

flee the enemy!

to this date i am still really fond of those incantations, there is just something about it, that combines my love about nature and mythical, mystical paganism of old eras, that draws me to them. recently i rediscovered the spells in umberto eco's world famous book 'the name of the rose' and it's like things come full circle. i stumble over them again and again.

the city of merseburg is, like i mentioned before, already really old and of course it's medieval core is what is most beautiful about it. the merseburg cathedral  & the merseburg castle are a few of the highlights in the city, but there is plenty more to see and learn about. let's have a remembrance walk through the city.

reading man sculpture at the gotthard lake. it was sculpted by martin wetzel.

what would be a lake without its ducks?

the big gotthard lake.

the former cathedral apothecary ( yellow building ).

a sign in french for a little restaurant.

walking through a very french looking quarter.

first glance of the cathedral.

beautiful plaza in front of the cathedral.

the cathedral is part of the castle ensemble, it's built right next to it ( on the left you see the entry gate to the castle ).

old masonry.

main portal with henry II in the middle. he refounded the

 diocese merseburg again and was a big benefector of it.

a side entry door. i love the details on it, like the raven with the ring ( refers to the raven legend ) and the man calling out. of course: vita et pax - life and peace.

here's the thing with the raven and the ring: it's an old legend about thilo of trotha, a bishop of the merseburg cathedral. he had a golden ring in his possession he left by an open window and upon return didn't find it. he accused his servant to have stolen it and executed him. much later they found the allegedly stolen ring inside a raven's nest which of course made thilo regret his decision about his servant and therefore he built a raven's cage next to the castle which had to accomodate ravens at all times, this was the raven's penalty. so it's more like a symbolic gesture, you see. thilo von trotha made the raven the main detail on his coat of arms after that.

the raven's cage. there are still two ravens living in here.

the inner court of castle merseburg. we later entered the castle to have a look at the museum of history of civilization merseburg.

in one of the gardens of the cathedral.

i always love how old walls and buildings make the best match with flowers and plants. it kind of has an organic feeling.

inside the museum. there was a taproom from the early 20th century with an old music player ( that's the thing with the line 'komet' written on it ).

there was a glass bead exhibition in one of the rooms which was totally amazing. flapper dresses, fashion accessories en masse and all embellished with little beads! all the work that had to flow into making these things, and the love of details... it was extraordinary.

skeleton sculpture.

outside again, next to the castle well.

it was slowly time to say good-bye to merseburg, but we still made a little walk along the saale river.

i love it so much when the sky mirrors itself in water surfaces.

little devil demons on house walls. there were more of them strewn all over merseburg.

an old mill remade into an appartment house.

the castle in the twilight.

a baroque garden palais.

house of the estates.

illuminated leaves.

the estate house again from a different side and perspective.

we started with the gotthard lake first and ended the day there again.

thank you so much, beautiful merseburg, for having us!

merseburger zaubersprüche pt II.

Phol ende uuodan uuorun zi holza.

du uuart demo balderes uolon sin uuoz birenkit.

thu biguol en sinthgunt, sunna era suister;

thu biguol en friia, uolla era suister;

thu biguol en uuodan, so he uuola conda:

sose benrenki, sose bluotrenki, sose lidirenki:

ben zi bena, bluot si bluoda,

lid zi geliden, sose gelimida sin!

Phol and Wodan were riding to the woods,

and the foot of Balder's foal was sprained

So Sinthgunt, Sunna's sister, conjured it.

and Frija, Volla's sister, conjured it.

and Wodan conjured it, as well he could:

Like bone-sprain, so blood-sprain,

so joint-sprain:

Bone to bone, blood to blood,

joints to joints, so may they be mended.