ODIN & THE RUNES, Part One
 |
Odin by Edward Burne-Jones (1883)
|
Who is Odin, the One-Eyed God?
He is the god of a thousand names, each one of which expresses a different aspect of his character.
This multiplicity of names comes from the Nordic love of word play - of riddles, alliteration, puns and kennings. A kenning is a type of poetic circumlocution. The Icelandic poet Ulf Uggason wrote, "But the sharp-looking stiff land-rope stared over the gunwale at the country-bone-folk's tester and blew poison." This line only becomes intelligible when the reader understands the mythological references. The "land-rope" is the Midgard Serpent, the snake so large that it encircles the Earth. The "country-bone" is rock, its folk are the giants, and their tester is the god Thor. So the line could read, "But the sharp-looking Midgard Serpent stared over the gunwale at Thor and blew poison" - but that would be much too simple.
Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson (1178-1241) published his Edda in 1220 to preserve understanding of his nation's poetry. With the complicated kennings they contained, they were completely incomprehensible unless the reader knew the myths and tales they referenced. Scholars are not sure what exactly the name "Edda" refers to. It can mean "great-grandmother" (as in, the one who tells old stories), Oddi (the part of southern Iceland where Snorri was raised), or derive from the óđr (Old Norse for "poetry" or "inspiration").
Another major source for Norse mythology is the Poetic Edda, a collection of poetry that mostly comes from the Codex Regius ("Royal Manuscript"), a ninety-page manuscript dated between 1270 and 1280. Snorri probably had access to many of these texts from other (now lost) sources.
One of the major names for Odin is Allfather. In the beginning of time, according to the Scandinavian version of the mythology, there was only fire and ice. Niflheim ("Home of Mist") lay to the north and Muspell (from the Old High German muspilli - "doomsday") lay to the South. When these two elemental forces clashed, the world was created. There is an entire tale of the giant Ymir, the cow Audhumla, and others, but the name "Allfather" is related to the creation of the first man and woman by a trio of young gods: Odin, Vili ("will") and Vé ("sacred enclosure"). In some sources, they are known as Odin, Hönir, and Lodur. Odin's two companions are minor figures, and they only appear as travelling companions to the Allfather. Odin becomes the central god of the mythology in its Scandinavian version, and he is the father of both humans and gods.
He is the god of a thousand names, each one of which expresses a different aspect of his character.
This multiplicity of names comes from the Nordic love of word play - of riddles, alliteration, puns and kennings. A kenning is a type of poetic circumlocution. The Icelandic poet Ulf Uggason wrote, "But the sharp-looking stiff land-rope stared over the gunwale at the country-bone-folk's tester and blew poison." This line only becomes intelligible when the reader understands the mythological references. The "land-rope" is the Midgard Serpent, the snake so large that it encircles the Earth. The "country-bone" is rock, its folk are the giants, and their tester is the god Thor. So the line could read, "But the sharp-looking Midgard Serpent stared over the gunwale at Thor and blew poison" - but that would be much too simple.
Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson (1178-1241) published his Edda in 1220 to preserve understanding of his nation's poetry. With the complicated kennings they contained, they were completely incomprehensible unless the reader knew the myths and tales they referenced. Scholars are not sure what exactly the name "Edda" refers to. It can mean "great-grandmother" (as in, the one who tells old stories), Oddi (the part of southern Iceland where Snorri was raised), or derive from the óđr (Old Norse for "poetry" or "inspiration").
Another major source for Norse mythology is the Poetic Edda, a collection of poetry that mostly comes from the Codex Regius ("Royal Manuscript"), a ninety-page manuscript dated between 1270 and 1280. Snorri probably had access to many of these texts from other (now lost) sources.
One of the major names for Odin is Allfather. In the beginning of time, according to the Scandinavian version of the mythology, there was only fire and ice. Niflheim ("Home of Mist") lay to the north and Muspell (from the Old High German muspilli - "doomsday") lay to the South. When these two elemental forces clashed, the world was created. There is an entire tale of the giant Ymir, the cow Audhumla, and others, but the name "Allfather" is related to the creation of the first man and woman by a trio of young gods: Odin, Vili ("will") and Vé ("sacred enclosure"). In some sources, they are known as Odin, Hönir, and Lodur. Odin's two companions are minor figures, and they only appear as travelling companions to the Allfather. Odin becomes the central god of the mythology in its Scandinavian version, and he is the father of both humans and gods.
 |
Reverse of Nordendorf Fibula (circa 6th century)
|
In the original German, Odin's name was Wodan. The so-called Nordendorf Fibula is a small brooch dating to approximately the 6th century, discovered in Nordendorf, Germany in the 19th century. A runic inscription on its reverse reads Logaþore Wodan Wigiþonar. This is generally interpreted to name a trio of gods - Lodur, Odin, and Blessing-Thor.
The original Germanic for Odin's name derives from the Old High German verbwatan, which survives in modern German as wüten ("to rave, to rage, to be furious"). The god is a personification of the terrifying might of nature's force and of the fierce passion that pervades the natural living world. He rides at the head of das Wütend Heer ("the furious host"), his very name present here in the adjectival form ofwütend ("raging"). This collection of gods, goddesses, and (un)dead warriors was believed throughout the Germanic world to ride through the skies in the most violent and darkest northern storms, sweeping up human victims who dared to venture outside of their homes. Wodan / Odin is often portrayed in the vanguard of the host, accompanied by his loyal valkyries and followed by Thor with his mystic hammer.
As the Germanic tribes migrated northwards and westwards, their language evolved from German to Norse to English. Wodan became Odin in Scandinavia and Woden in England. Along the way, the origin of the name seems to have been lost. By the time we get to the medieval Edda, Snorri felt confident confident in giving a euhemeristic account of the god's origin, placing him in an almost Biblical list of names that situates him as a human king descended from refugees of the Trojan war who came up into Scandinavia from Turkey. There are too many problems with this explanation of the god's origin to list, but the clearest is that the character, like so many Germanic gods, was originally a concept given corporeal form.
The original Germanic for Odin's name derives from the Old High German verbwatan, which survives in modern German as wüten ("to rave, to rage, to be furious"). The god is a personification of the terrifying might of nature's force and of the fierce passion that pervades the natural living world. He rides at the head of das Wütend Heer ("the furious host"), his very name present here in the adjectival form ofwütend ("raging"). This collection of gods, goddesses, and (un)dead warriors was believed throughout the Germanic world to ride through the skies in the most violent and darkest northern storms, sweeping up human victims who dared to venture outside of their homes. Wodan / Odin is often portrayed in the vanguard of the host, accompanied by his loyal valkyries and followed by Thor with his mystic hammer.
As the Germanic tribes migrated northwards and westwards, their language evolved from German to Norse to English. Wodan became Odin in Scandinavia and Woden in England. Along the way, the origin of the name seems to have been lost. By the time we get to the medieval Edda, Snorri felt confident confident in giving a euhemeristic account of the god's origin, placing him in an almost Biblical list of names that situates him as a human king descended from refugees of the Trojan war who came up into Scandinavia from Turkey. There are too many problems with this explanation of the god's origin to list, but the clearest is that the character, like so many Germanic gods, was originally a concept given corporeal form.
ODIN & THE RUNES, Part Two
 |
Silver figurine found at Lejre, Denmark (circa 900)
|
One name that Odin is known by is Hrafnáss ("raven-god"). He is often described and depicted as being attended by two ravens as magical familiars. They are known as Hugin and Munin ("thought" and "memory").
In the Eddic poemGrímnismál ("Sayings of the Masked One" - another name for Odin), the god says, "Hugin and Munin fly every day / over the wide world; / I fear for Hugin that he will not come back, / yet I tremble more for Munin." Odin sits on Hlidskjalf, his high seat above the clouds, and sends his ravens out to bring him back news of happenings throughout the Nine Worlds of the Norse cosmogony.
We can read backwards from this mythic structure to see evidence of shamanistic practices in the early Germanic religion. Many cultures throughout the world have the concept that the wise man or religious leader can send out his spirit in the form of a chosen animal. This spirit animal can travel farther and gather more information than anyone in human form. The fear of the god for his ravens can be seen as fear that the shaman will not wake from his trance-state, and that his conscious mind will be lost and unable to return to everyday reality.
In the Eddic poemGrímnismál ("Sayings of the Masked One" - another name for Odin), the god says, "Hugin and Munin fly every day / over the wide world; / I fear for Hugin that he will not come back, / yet I tremble more for Munin." Odin sits on Hlidskjalf, his high seat above the clouds, and sends his ravens out to bring him back news of happenings throughout the Nine Worlds of the Norse cosmogony.
We can read backwards from this mythic structure to see evidence of shamanistic practices in the early Germanic religion. Many cultures throughout the world have the concept that the wise man or religious leader can send out his spirit in the form of a chosen animal. This spirit animal can travel farther and gather more information than anyone in human form. The fear of the god for his ravens can be seen as fear that the shaman will not wake from his trance-state, and that his conscious mind will be lost and unable to return to everyday reality.
 |
Odin with wolves & ravens by Johannes Wiedewelt (circa 1780)
|
Ravens are an obvious choice for a war god, as they could be seen on the bloody battlefields of the North, flying to and fro to feast on the corpses of the dead. They are often seen in pairs, as they are one of the avian species that tend to mate for life. Given all this, the Christian notion of the all-seeing God - as in the traditional gospel hymn "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" - can be seen prefigured in that Germanic notion that "his (one) eye is in the raven."
 |
Werewolf (Egil's Saga Exhibition in Borgarnes, Iceland)
|
Odin is also attended by two wolves, Geri and Freki (both names meaning "greedy"). Like ravens, they are creatures that haunt battlefields and feast upon the slain. They may also be symbolic of a wolf-cult of Odin. The poems and sagas of the North are full of tales of werewolves, and these are generally understood to be berserkers ("bear-shirts" - i.e., wearing animal skins, perhaps meaning taking the form of an animal). These warriors were consumed with a battle-frenzy that made them act like wild animals - a frenzy that was thought to be brought on by Odin, the Raging God.
Another of Odin's names is Allvíss ("all-wise"). Our modern English word "wizard" derives from "wize-ard" ("wise-one"). Odin is the original wizard and is the role model for Tolkien's Gandalf; "Gandalf" itself is a byname for Odin that translates to "wand-elf" or "staff-elf" - the mystical figure who wanders the roads with his walking-stick. One of the most central aspects of the god in the Norse conception is as a seeker after wisdom.
Another of Odin's names is Allvíss ("all-wise"). Our modern English word "wizard" derives from "wize-ard" ("wise-one"). Odin is the original wizard and is the role model for Tolkien's Gandalf; "Gandalf" itself is a byname for Odin that translates to "wand-elf" or "staff-elf" - the mystical figure who wanders the roads with his walking-stick. One of the most central aspects of the god in the Norse conception is as a seeker after wisdom.
 |
Yggdrasil by Oluf Olufsen Bagge (1847)
|
Yggdrasil, the World Tree of Norse cosmology, reflects yet another name of Odin, deriving from the most well-known of his adventures in search of arcane knowledge. Ygg ("terrible") is one of the god's names, and Yggdrasil is generally taken to mean "Ygg's horse." This refers to the story of Odin's self-hanging in order to gain secret widsom; he "rode" the tree.
In one of the most famous passages from the Eddic poem Hávamál("Sayings of the High One"), the god says, "I know that I hung on a windy tree / nine long nights / wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin, / myself to myself, / on that tree of which no man knows / from where its roots run. / / No bread did they give me nor drink from a horn, / downwards I peered; / I took up the runes, screaming I took them, / then I fell back from there." Before we examine his relationship to hanging, we should note his association with the spear.
In one of the most famous passages from the Eddic poem Hávamál("Sayings of the High One"), the god says, "I know that I hung on a windy tree / nine long nights / wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin, / myself to myself, / on that tree of which no man knows / from where its roots run. / / No bread did they give me nor drink from a horn, / downwards I peered; / I took up the runes, screaming I took them, / then I fell back from there." Before we examine his relationship to hanging, we should note his association with the spear.
ODIN & THE RUNES, Part Three
 |
Odin on the World Tree by Emil Doepler (1900)
|
In Völuspá, Odin has hung himself, stabbed himself with a spear, and made a sacrifice of himself, to himself - all in search of knowledge that is unknowable to the living. There are many tales of Odin's wisdom-quests to the lands of the dead, and many are made on his eight-legged horse, Sleipnir. The strange number of legs is understandable if one pictures a coffin being carried to the grave by four pallbearers, two in front and two in back; the corpse "rides" to the grave on eight legs, much as Odin "rides" the World Tree.
 |
Pallbearers
|
In 1947, anthropologist Verrier Elwin recorded a funeral dirge sung by the Gond people of central India. The riddling lyrics describe an eight-legged horse named Bagri Maro as a metaphor for a man being carried to his grave: "What horse is this? / It is the horse Bagri Maro. / What should we say of its legs? / This horse has eight legs. / What should we say of its heads? / This horse has four heads." The riddle's answer is that four pallbearers equal four heads and eight legs.
Compare this to what Helene Adeline Guerber calls "the oldest Northern riddle": "Who are the two who ride to the Thing? Three eyes have they together, ten feet, and one tail: and thus they travel through the lands." In this context, the Thing is the meeting of the gods. One-eyed Odin riding his eight-legged horse equals three eyes, ten feet, and one tail. These two riddles, separated by vast distances of time and space, underscore both the concept of the coffin as horse and the idea of a hereditary connection (common or originating) between the Germanic tribes and the peoples of the Indian subcontinent.
Compare this to what Helene Adeline Guerber calls "the oldest Northern riddle": "Who are the two who ride to the Thing? Three eyes have they together, ten feet, and one tail: and thus they travel through the lands." In this context, the Thing is the meeting of the gods. One-eyed Odin riding his eight-legged horse equals three eyes, ten feet, and one tail. These two riddles, separated by vast distances of time and space, underscore both the concept of the coffin as horse and the idea of a hereditary connection (common or originating) between the Germanic tribes and the peoples of the Indian subcontinent.
 |
Runic inscription on Kylver Stone in Gotland, Sweden (circa 400)
|
Hanging on the World Tree, Odin journeys to the edge of death and, as a result, he discovers the secret of the runes, the letter-characters that were used in the Germanic world for approximately the first 1500 years after Christ. When Odin says, "downwards I peered," the image is of looking down into the depths of dead, into the void of nothingness called Ginnungagap ("beguiling void") that existed before all else in the Norse mythic universe. He pulls himself back from the brink of death ("then I fell back from there"), returning from the very edge of nonexistence. As with so much of the mythic ideas around Odin, this seems to refer to some form of shamanic initiation ritual; the wizard must undergo a trial in order to receive knowledge of secret arcane wisdom.
Runic engravings have been found in Germany, Sweden, Iceland, England, and even in Constantinople's Hagia Sophia mosque. The latter has at least two attested runic inscriptions, both grafitti with the name of the Viking adventurer - the equivalent of "Halfdan was here."
Runic engravings have been found in Germany, Sweden, Iceland, England, and even in Constantinople's Hagia Sophia mosque. The latter has at least two attested runic inscriptions, both grafitti with the name of the Viking adventurer - the equivalent of "Halfdan was here."
 |
Bluetooth logo
|
In other words, the runes were in use throughout the entire world that was inhabited (or even visited) by the migrating Germanic tribes. Runes are still around us today. The Bluetooth technology that links wireless devices is named for the 10th century Danish king who united the disparate Danish tribes under his leadership. The communications corporation used his name as a symbolic representation of how their technology unites all digital devices under one protocol, and its trademark is a bind-rune that brings together the runes for H and B - Harald Bluetooth.
Scholarly debate has raged for hundreds of years over the question of magical use of the runes. Some argue that the runes were merely an alphabet like any other, while others argue that they were used for magical incantation, and that each rune had its own magical properties. In Hávamál, Odin himself lays out a list of runes and their magical abilities. He tells the listener, "The runes you must find and the meaningful letter, / a very great letter, / a very powerful letter, / which the mighty sage stained / and the powerful gods made / and the runemaster of the gods carved out." In this and other Eddic passages, runes seem to be clearly described as magically-charged symbols activated by staining or coloring them with blood or other colored dye. Also, in the Saga of the Volsungs, which tells the story of the dragonslayer Sigurd and the valkyrie Brynhild, the mystic warrior imparts runic wisdom to the human hero, instructing him on specific runic rituals for specific magical effects. This all seems to point to a definite tradition of runes for magical use.
Scholarly debate has raged for hundreds of years over the question of magical use of the runes. Some argue that the runes were merely an alphabet like any other, while others argue that they were used for magical incantation, and that each rune had its own magical properties. In Hávamál, Odin himself lays out a list of runes and their magical abilities. He tells the listener, "The runes you must find and the meaningful letter, / a very great letter, / a very powerful letter, / which the mighty sage stained / and the powerful gods made / and the runemaster of the gods carved out." In this and other Eddic passages, runes seem to be clearly described as magically-charged symbols activated by staining or coloring them with blood or other colored dye. Also, in the Saga of the Volsungs, which tells the story of the dragonslayer Sigurd and the valkyrie Brynhild, the mystic warrior imparts runic wisdom to the human hero, instructing him on specific runic rituals for specific magical effects. This all seems to point to a definite tradition of runes for magical use.
 |
Runes by Jóhanna G. Harðardóttir (2010)
|
For further support for the magical explanation, we can turn to the Germania of Tacitus, written by the Roman historian in the year 98 AD and examine the passage in which he describes how the Germans "cast lots": "They cut off a branch of a nut-bearing tree and slice it into strips; these they mark with different signs and throw them completely at random onto a white cloth. Then the priest of the state, if the consultation is a public one, or the father of the family if it is private, offers a prayer to the gods, and looking up at the sky picks up three strips, one at a time, and reads their meaning from the signs previously scored on them." Most notably, this shores up the argument that each rune had meanings attached to it beyond mere letter-signification, as only three are drawn; mere letters obviously could not spell out very complex messages with only three characters. Interestingly, it also provides evidence that religion was often an internal family matter, where leaders of the family led religious rites instead of attending rituals led by a priestly class.
ODIN & THE RUNES, Part Four
There are also strong arguments against the mystic interpretation of the runes as magical symbols. I have been advised by an Icelandic colleague that something has been garbled in translation.
The original, Old Norse phrase from Odin's self-hanging episode that is usually translated as "I took up the runes" reads, "upp nam ek rúnar." The word nám can mean either "to learn" or "to pick something up." The Icelandic words nám ("studying") andnemandi ("student") are both related to the word nema ("to learn"). The word rún means "secret," and the meaning of the Icelandic personal names Rún and Rúnar are "friend you tell your secrets to." During the time period the poem's composition is ascribed to, the words for alphabetical symbols were letur ("letter") and stafur ("stave"). Only in later ages did the word rún come to be used for the old symbol system of Germanic letters. This all points to a translation of the Old Norse as "I learned the secrets" - mystical secrets, to be sure, but to be understood as spells or incantations, not as runic letters.
The importance of runic characters as a secular alphabet is also evidenced by modern linguistic echoes of their use. Runic letters were, generally speaking, engraved into stone or cut into wood. Beech-wood was most often used for inscribing runic messages, due to its softness and ease of cutting. The modern German word for beech-tree (Buche) gives us the word for book (Buch) and letter (Buchstaben - literally, a beech-stick). These wooden and stone inscriptions, throughout the Germanic world, were used for a wide variety of communicative purposes - to send messages of war and love, to record laws, to memorialize the deceased, to announce property ownership. In other words, they were an alphabet that was used for anything that needed to be written down, and not just for magic spells.
In trying to decide whether runes were used for magical use or for practical use, we have poetry and etymology at war with each other. The more one dives into the existing scholarship on the subject, the clearer it becomes that the background discipline of the scholar tends to determine which side of the argument they take.
The original, Old Norse phrase from Odin's self-hanging episode that is usually translated as "I took up the runes" reads, "upp nam ek rúnar." The word nám can mean either "to learn" or "to pick something up." The Icelandic words nám ("studying") andnemandi ("student") are both related to the word nema ("to learn"). The word rún means "secret," and the meaning of the Icelandic personal names Rún and Rúnar are "friend you tell your secrets to." During the time period the poem's composition is ascribed to, the words for alphabetical symbols were letur ("letter") and stafur ("stave"). Only in later ages did the word rún come to be used for the old symbol system of Germanic letters. This all points to a translation of the Old Norse as "I learned the secrets" - mystical secrets, to be sure, but to be understood as spells or incantations, not as runic letters.
The importance of runic characters as a secular alphabet is also evidenced by modern linguistic echoes of their use. Runic letters were, generally speaking, engraved into stone or cut into wood. Beech-wood was most often used for inscribing runic messages, due to its softness and ease of cutting. The modern German word for beech-tree (Buche) gives us the word for book (Buch) and letter (Buchstaben - literally, a beech-stick). These wooden and stone inscriptions, throughout the Germanic world, were used for a wide variety of communicative purposes - to send messages of war and love, to record laws, to memorialize the deceased, to announce property ownership. In other words, they were an alphabet that was used for anything that needed to be written down, and not just for magic spells.
In trying to decide whether runes were used for magical use or for practical use, we have poetry and etymology at war with each other. The more one dives into the existing scholarship on the subject, the clearer it becomes that the background discipline of the scholar tends to determine which side of the argument they take.
 |
Mimir and Odin by Willy Pogany (1920)
|
In any case, the self-hanging episode gives rise to another name for Odin: Hangatyr ("god of the hanged"). This name underscores two aspects of the god - as the wise one who is ready to sacrifice all for knowledge, and as a god who has a special relationship with the hanged. Aside from the self-sacrifice that gained him esoteric run lore, the best-known instance of Odin sacrificing for knowledge is his giving up of one of his eyes to the enigmatic figure Mimir ("wisdom") for a drink from his well, which is a symbolic draught of knowledge itself.
As for Odin's special relationship to the hanged, this can be traced back to two major historical sources. In the 11th century, the German chronicler Adam of Bremen described the pagan temple at Uppsala, located in what is now modern-day Sweden. He writes of a rite that occurred every nine years - nine being a sacred number in the Norse conception, as there are nine worlds in their mythological construct. Nine members of every species of animal were sacrificed, including human victims. They were hung on trees in a sacred grove: "Now this grove is so sacred in the eyes of the heathen that each and every tree in it is believed divine because of the death or putrefaction of the victims."
This ritual practice of human sacrifice on earthly trees clearly reflects the mythological tale of Odin and his self-sacrifice on the World Tree. In 98 AD, the Roman Tacitus wrote of the continental Germans, "Above all other gods they worship Mercury [his Roman interpretation of Wodan], and count it no sin, on certain feast-days, to include human sacrifices in the victims offered to him." Clearly, the Swedish sacrifice reported by Adam of Bremen had roots in older Germanic ritual.
In 921 AD, the Arab travel writer Ibn Fadlan described a Viking funeral ritual that he witnessed on the banks of the Volga. Among the grisly rites that accompanied the cremation, a young slave girl was killed and burned with the deceased warrior chief so that she could join and serve him in the next world. Fadlan writes, "Two held her hands and two her feet, and the Angel of Death wound a noose around her neck ending in a knot at both ends which she placed in the hands of two men, for them to pull. She then advanced with a broad-bladed dagger which she plunged repeatedly between the ribs of the girl while the men strangled her until she was dead." This repulsive act could not better illustrate the ritual origins of the Odin hanging myth; the victim is both strangled and stabbed, just as the god hung and stabbed himself. Unaware of the mythology and the role of Odin as the ruler over Valhalla ("hall of the slain"), the Arab writer found no meaning in the bloody act. That he described the woman running the ritual as the "Angel of Death" is evidence for the existence of the female ritual leaders known as "choosers of the slain" - the valkyries in their original, pre-mythologized form.
As for Odin's special relationship to the hanged, this can be traced back to two major historical sources. In the 11th century, the German chronicler Adam of Bremen described the pagan temple at Uppsala, located in what is now modern-day Sweden. He writes of a rite that occurred every nine years - nine being a sacred number in the Norse conception, as there are nine worlds in their mythological construct. Nine members of every species of animal were sacrificed, including human victims. They were hung on trees in a sacred grove: "Now this grove is so sacred in the eyes of the heathen that each and every tree in it is believed divine because of the death or putrefaction of the victims."
This ritual practice of human sacrifice on earthly trees clearly reflects the mythological tale of Odin and his self-sacrifice on the World Tree. In 98 AD, the Roman Tacitus wrote of the continental Germans, "Above all other gods they worship Mercury [his Roman interpretation of Wodan], and count it no sin, on certain feast-days, to include human sacrifices in the victims offered to him." Clearly, the Swedish sacrifice reported by Adam of Bremen had roots in older Germanic ritual.
In 921 AD, the Arab travel writer Ibn Fadlan described a Viking funeral ritual that he witnessed on the banks of the Volga. Among the grisly rites that accompanied the cremation, a young slave girl was killed and burned with the deceased warrior chief so that she could join and serve him in the next world. Fadlan writes, "Two held her hands and two her feet, and the Angel of Death wound a noose around her neck ending in a knot at both ends which she placed in the hands of two men, for them to pull. She then advanced with a broad-bladed dagger which she plunged repeatedly between the ribs of the girl while the men strangled her until she was dead." This repulsive act could not better illustrate the ritual origins of the Odin hanging myth; the victim is both strangled and stabbed, just as the god hung and stabbed himself. Unaware of the mythology and the role of Odin as the ruler over Valhalla ("hall of the slain"), the Arab writer found no meaning in the bloody act. That he described the woman running the ritual as the "Angel of Death" is evidence for the existence of the female ritual leaders known as "choosers of the slain" - the valkyries in their original, pre-mythologized form.
 |
Haraldskær Woman
|
Two ancient bodies have been discovered preserved in the bogs of Denmark that both testify to this method of sacrifice to Odin. The so-called Tollund Man and Haraldskær Woman both show proof of death by hanging, and they are generally accepted as human sacrifices. Most tellingly, the female body shows evidence of both hanging and a puncture wound. The dating of the man to the 4th century BC and the woman to the 5th century BC provides physical evidence of the ancient origins of the Norse religion. In 98 AD, Tacitus writes, "Traitors and deserters are hanged on trees; cowards, shirkers and sodomites are pressed down under a wicker hurdle into the slimy mud of a bog." This brief passage ties together the use of hanging and the bog in sacrificial rites.
In Hávamál, one of the runes that Odin knows enables him to speak with the hanged dead. He says, "I know a twelfth one if I see, up in a tree, / a dangling corpse in a noose: / I can so carve and colour the runes / that the man walks / and talks with me." Clearly, the hanged dead have a special relationship with Odin. Known as Dragudróttin ("lord of the dead"), Odin's dealing with the departed goes beyond merely those who have died by hanging. In his endless quest for knowledge of the future, he several times quizzes the dead for information.
In Hávamál, one of the runes that Odin knows enables him to speak with the hanged dead. He says, "I know a twelfth one if I see, up in a tree, / a dangling corpse in a noose: / I can so carve and colour the runes / that the man walks / and talks with me." Clearly, the hanged dead have a special relationship with Odin. Known as Dragudróttin ("lord of the dead"), Odin's dealing with the departed goes beyond merely those who have died by hanging. In his endless quest for knowledge of the future, he several times quizzes the dead for information.
http://www.blogger.comhttp://www.blogger.comODIN & THE RUNES, Part Five
 |
Odin & the Prophetess by Emil Doepler (1900)
|
The best-known of Odin’s mystic discussions with the deceased occurs in the Eddic poem Völuspá. He raises a dead prophetess to gain knowledge of the world as it was, is, and will be. Her answers range from an explication of the world's beginning to a prophecy of the end of the gods. At the conclusion of her wisdom performance, she says, “now she must sink down” as she returns to her grave.
In another Eddic poem, Baldrs draumar (“Balder’s Dreams”), Odin rides down into the world of the dead, again raising a deceased prophetess in his effort to gain knowledge of the end-times. It is from this poem that the name Vegtam originates; Odin is “way-tame” – accustomed to travelling the roads, the Wanderer of Wagner’s Ring and Gandalf the Grey of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. According to the Edda of Snorri, Odin also sends his son (or possibly his servant) Hermód on a journey into Hel, the land of the dead, loaning him his mystical eight-legged horse Sleipnir so that he can travel there to seek the release of Baldur, the murdered god of light.
Odin is also known as Gizurr (“riddler”), since he not only questions the dead, but also engages in wisdom contests with giants and the god Thor, who himself has a battle of wits with a dwarf. In the Eddic poem Vafþrúðnismál (“Vafthrudnir’s Sayings”), the eponymous giant tells Odin, “Wise you are, guest, come to the giant’s bench, / and we will speak together in the seat; / we shall wager our heads in the hall, guest, on our wisdom.” The giant loses the contest when he is unable to answer Odin’s final question.
In Harbardsljód (“The Song of Grey-Beard”), Odin matches wits with Thor in a flyting – a verbal battle that occurs often in the Germanic literature of this period. Their pairing is analogous to that of the World’s Finest in DC Comics, the pairing of Batman and Superman. One is brilliant and devious, the other is really just kind of strong. This poem is clearly written from the perspective of a poet in service to a societal group of lords and warriors dedicated to Odin, as opposed to the farmer class that usually elevated Thor to the central position.
In another Eddic poem, Baldrs draumar (“Balder’s Dreams”), Odin rides down into the world of the dead, again raising a deceased prophetess in his effort to gain knowledge of the end-times. It is from this poem that the name Vegtam originates; Odin is “way-tame” – accustomed to travelling the roads, the Wanderer of Wagner’s Ring and Gandalf the Grey of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. According to the Edda of Snorri, Odin also sends his son (or possibly his servant) Hermód on a journey into Hel, the land of the dead, loaning him his mystical eight-legged horse Sleipnir so that he can travel there to seek the release of Baldur, the murdered god of light.
Odin is also known as Gizurr (“riddler”), since he not only questions the dead, but also engages in wisdom contests with giants and the god Thor, who himself has a battle of wits with a dwarf. In the Eddic poem Vafþrúðnismál (“Vafthrudnir’s Sayings”), the eponymous giant tells Odin, “Wise you are, guest, come to the giant’s bench, / and we will speak together in the seat; / we shall wager our heads in the hall, guest, on our wisdom.” The giant loses the contest when he is unable to answer Odin’s final question.
In Harbardsljód (“The Song of Grey-Beard”), Odin matches wits with Thor in a flyting – a verbal battle that occurs often in the Germanic literature of this period. Their pairing is analogous to that of the World’s Finest in DC Comics, the pairing of Batman and Superman. One is brilliant and devious, the other is really just kind of strong. This poem is clearly written from the perspective of a poet in service to a societal group of lords and warriors dedicated to Odin, as opposed to the farmer class that usually elevated Thor to the central position.
 |
Odin's "ecstatic wisdom peformance" by Emil Doepler (1900)
|
In addition to these verbal contests, Odin expresses himself as Fjölnir (“Much-wise”) and engages in “ecstatic wisdom performances.” Most notable of these occurs inGrímnismál, in which the god, disguised in human form, is bound and set on fire by his backstabbing host. As the flames climb higher, he gives a recital of Norse cosmogony and cosmology very similar to that given by the prophetess of Völuspá. Again, this can be seen as a mythic representation of human ritual practice, in which the poet, bard, or skald of the Nordic world recites the religious knowledge of the tribe. In light of Odin’s association with the lordly caste, it is notable that Odin is passing on his wisdom to a young protégé who goes on to become a king.
Two paired names for Wotan, Haptaguđ and Haptsœnir (“Fetter-god” and “Fetter-loosener”) seem at first contradictory, but actually together form an important aspect of the Norse conception of the god. In Hávamál, Odin describes more of his runic abilities: “I know a third one which is very useful to me, / which fetters my enemy; / the edges of my foes I can blunt, / neither weapon nor club will bite for them. / / I know a fourth one if men put / chains upon my limbs; / I can chant so that I can walk away, / fetters spring from my feet, / and bonds from my hands.” Odin is able to “bind” the minds of his enemies. This is a metaphorical construct for the war-terror that grips soldiers on the field of battle, the same paralyzing fear that was described by boxers who faced Mike Tyson in the ring. As the god of war, Wotan can bind the minds of his enemies so that they are incapable of fighting.
As the god of poetic inspiration (more on this later), he can “unbind” the minds of poets so that they can create freely. Through his gift of mead and other alcoholic beverages, he can also unbind the mind so that one is unencumbered by the fetters of conscious thought. These two senses of fetter – positive and negative – are united in the god, and are reflected in Tacitus’s description of the religious practices of the Germanic Semnones, a subset of the Suebi tribe. They would ritualistically bind themselves with cords before entering a sacred grove for their rites – a practice that brings together imagery of both Wotan’s binding powers and his relationship to the World Tree. In this context, it is noteworthy that Adam of Bremen's description of the pagan temple at Uppsala states that "a golden chain encircles that temple and hangs over the gables of the building." Given the Odinnic sacrifices that occurred at the temple, it is possible that this chain was symbolic of the god's binding powers.
Two paired names for Wotan, Haptaguđ and Haptsœnir (“Fetter-god” and “Fetter-loosener”) seem at first contradictory, but actually together form an important aspect of the Norse conception of the god. In Hávamál, Odin describes more of his runic abilities: “I know a third one which is very useful to me, / which fetters my enemy; / the edges of my foes I can blunt, / neither weapon nor club will bite for them. / / I know a fourth one if men put / chains upon my limbs; / I can chant so that I can walk away, / fetters spring from my feet, / and bonds from my hands.” Odin is able to “bind” the minds of his enemies. This is a metaphorical construct for the war-terror that grips soldiers on the field of battle, the same paralyzing fear that was described by boxers who faced Mike Tyson in the ring. As the god of war, Wotan can bind the minds of his enemies so that they are incapable of fighting.
As the god of poetic inspiration (more on this later), he can “unbind” the minds of poets so that they can create freely. Through his gift of mead and other alcoholic beverages, he can also unbind the mind so that one is unencumbered by the fetters of conscious thought. These two senses of fetter – positive and negative – are united in the god, and are reflected in Tacitus’s description of the religious practices of the Germanic Semnones, a subset of the Suebi tribe. They would ritualistically bind themselves with cords before entering a sacred grove for their rites – a practice that brings together imagery of both Wotan’s binding powers and his relationship to the World Tree. In this context, it is noteworthy that Adam of Bremen's description of the pagan temple at Uppsala states that "a golden chain encircles that temple and hangs over the gables of the building." Given the Odinnic sacrifices that occurred at the temple, it is possible that this chain was symbolic of the god's binding powers.
 |
Hammars Stone in Sweden (8th century)
|
In several ancient carvings from England, Norway, and Sweden, representations of Odin are paired with the symbol now known as the Valknut (“knot of the slain”). This pictogram of three interlocking triangles has been interepreted by Hilda Ellis Davidson as a symbolic representation of the binding power of Odin. It may also be a "cousin" to the so-called Celtic knot. Today, the Swedish pulp and paper manufacturer Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget uses the symbol as its logo, the three interlocking triangles pointing up over the letters SCA.
 |
Odin captures Mead of Poetry by Emil Doepler (1900)
|
As Fimbulþulr (“mighty poet”), Odin is the source of poetic inspiration and creative frenzy. Note that he is not the god of poetry; that distinction goes to Bragi, whose name literally means “poetry,” and who may or may not have been an actual poet of the 9th century who was later elevated to godly status. Odin, instead, is the prime mover of the poetic impulse. Several Eddic sources refer to the tale of how he captured the Mead of Poetry and shared it with human poets; the mead is a metaphor for the inspiration that "possesses" creative artists. As with the “ecstatic wisdom performances” mentioned earlier, not just poetry, but religious frenzy can be seen as emanating from the god – a sort of Nordic speaking in tongues.
Odin is also known as Skollvaldr (“treachery ruler”). He is undependable; he’s on your side until he’s not. This is understandable when we view him as many of his followers did – as a god of war. The unpredictability of the god reflects the uncertainty of life in a violent age. He protects those whom he destines to succeed in battle, and they survive war and strife. Then, one day, and for no apparent reason, he switches sides and his hero falls. Where a modern Christian may ask, “Why does God do bad things to good people?” an ancient pagan may have merely shrugged and said, “We can’t predict or understand what the powers do.” I say “powers” because that is how they were conceived. A truer translation from the Old Norse “Ragnarök” than “Twilight of the Gods” is “Doom of the Powers.” Snorri seems to have confused Ragnarök (“the doom of the powers”) with Ragnarøkkr (“the twilight of the gods”). What a difference a vowel makes.
 |
The Vanir War by Emil Doepler (1900)
|
In the Eddic poem Völuspá("Prophecy of the Seeress"), the beginning of the first war in the world is signaled with the ritualized throwing of a spear: "Odin shot a spear, hurled it over the host." As in the mythic tales, it was in life. Germanic warriors of pagan times were known to begin a battle by throwing a spear over the heads of their enemies to symbolically sacrifice them to Odin.
Like so many elements of ancient religious practice, these rituals survived into later ages, but their meanings were clouded and lost. In the medieval German epic of The Nibelungenlied, Folker the Burgundian makes a strange gesture: "With that, he lifted a sharp spear and hard from the ground, that a Hun had shot at him, and hurled it strongly across the courtyard, over the heads of the folk." There is no explanation given in the text, but, in light of the slaughter that ensues, this seems a vestigial act from a bygone era, its true meaning lost.
Like so many elements of ancient religious practice, these rituals survived into later ages, but their meanings were clouded and lost. In the medieval German epic of The Nibelungenlied, Folker the Burgundian makes a strange gesture: "With that, he lifted a sharp spear and hard from the ground, that a Hun had shot at him, and hurled it strongly across the courtyard, over the heads of the folk." There is no explanation given in the text, but, in light of the slaughter that ensues, this seems a vestigial act from a bygone era, its true meaning lost.
No comments:
Post a Comment