Here’s the actual text for the Recaning Song, which is what we use in this Guild to create sacred space:
Gif ænig attor cume eastan fleogan
oððe ænig norðan cume, oððe ænig suðan cume,
oððe ænig westan ofer werðeode.
Ic ana wat ea rinnende
þær þa nygon nædran nean behealdað;
Motan ealle weoda nu wyrtum aspringan,
Sæs toslupan, eal sealt wæter,
ðonne ic þis attor of ðe geblawe.
Translation:
If any poison comes flying from the east,
Or any from the north, or any from the south,
Or any from the west among the people.
I know a running stream,
And the nine poisons you can behold,
May all the weeds spring up new herbs,
The seas slip apart, all salt water,
Then I this poison from you blow.
Obviously there are different ideas about how to pronounce this song. This is one interpretation thereof. if you research slightly different ones, feel free to tweak it for your own use. However, the song just doesn’t have power when the modern English translation is sung – it really wants at least an approximation of Old English. So here I’ve written out a somewhat-phonetic version of the words, which will hopefully help people.
My “phonetic” shorthand:
“aa” is a as in bat
“th” is soft as in “thing” at the beginning and end of a word, hard like “that” in the middle
the “ea” and “eo” diphthongs are sometimes one sound, sometimes two – “eeah” and “ayo”
“kh” is the gutteral “h” sound
Gif aanee ah-tor coo-meh eeah-stan flayo-gan,
Ohth-the aanee nor-than coo-meh ohth-the aanee su-than coo-meh,
Ohth-the aanee west-an o-ver wair-thayo-deh.
Ikh ah-nah waht eeah rin-nen-deh,
thar the nee-on nah-dran neeahn be-heeald-ahth,
Moe-tan eeah-leh wayo-dah noo weer-tan ah-spring-gan,
Saas toe-sloo-pahn, eeal seealt waa-ter,
Thon-neh ikh this ah-tor of thee geh-blah-weh.