Inscription runique de la Cascade de Rûnes ᚠ Hidden Runic Inscription & Ouroboros in Lozère, France

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Southern France is not a typical place one would expect to discover a runic inscription, there's no record of Norse settlement in this part of the country and this inscription stands alone, with no associated artefacts. While still hidden from plain view in the woods surrounding Cascade de Rûnes, it was discovered in the 1990s and an internal discussion has been circulating about it in this region of France (Occitanie).
What can be concluded (in an obvious theoretical spirit, including my personal musings) is that is was probably engraved in the 19th century by a person with sentiment for pre-Christian ancestral religion or heritage.
What could disqualify this inscription from being a relic of the Viking Age is inconsistency with runestones in northern Europe. For example too much spacing between each word and too much spacing between the inscription as a whole and its circular frame, whereas in Norse runestones one would expect the words to be separated by dots rather than spaced and also have no space between them and the frame.
In the spirit of Norse runestones, the circular frame is in fact an Ouroboros, a snake biting its own tail, representing Jörmungandr, the World Serpent. If the snake releases its tail, Ragnarök, or the Doom of the Gods, will ensue and the world will be destroyed.
The inscription reads: "From Earth to Sky therefore from Sky to Earth" and appears to be inspired by Gylfaginning, the first part of the Prose Edda, dealing with the creation and destruction of the world (and other issues). In this part of the Prose Edda, Odin explains to King Gylfi that Bifröst, a bridge that the Gods built, connects Midgard (our world) with Asgard (the world of the Æsir, or the Gods).
The person who engraved the inscription could have chosen this location for a couple of reasons, for example such as a fitting name already existing for this site, as a waterfall, river and a nearby village are all named "Rûnes". In addition, the second largest concentration of standing stones (menhirs) in France from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age are located on Mont Lozère in close proximity to the site, thus giving it the correct atmosphere for this kind of tribute to pre-Christian heritage.
While runes could still have been used in several rural locations in Scandinavia through the centuries until the modern era, by and large the Latin alphabet, used by the Catholic Church, phased them out. The runes were used both for writing, and for religious practices (including magic), their lack of use meant local ancestral heritage was weakened as a result as well.
The 19th century saw flourishing esoteric revival which included exploring pre-Christian religions, therefore engraving such a runic inscription could be considered in this inspirational atmosphere.
Attribution:
Blood Eagle by Alexander Nakarada |
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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
creativecommon...
Daudir by Alexander Nakarada |
Music promoted by www.free-stock...
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
creativecommon...
Runestone drawings for comparison:
Runestone Sö 223 by Gustaf Upmark den äldre, 18th century, (public domain: commons.wikime...
Runestone U 582 by Johan Hadorph, 17th century (public domain): commons.wikime...
Runestone U 1097 in Uppland, 1709 by Johan Peringskiöld (public domain): commons.wikime...
Runestone U 1087 by J. Hadorph and J. Leitz, 17th century, in Peringskiöld's Monumenta (public domain): commons.wikime...
A 19th century contemporary sharing a passion for runes:
Runes carved by John Wolley in Sweden in the 19th century, photographed by Jukka Parkkinen (public domain): commons.wikime...
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