Odin: Ecstasy, Runes, & Norse Magic

ISBN-13: 9781578636105

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser

Publication Date: 09-01-2017

Pages: 320

Product Dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

Diana L. Paxson has been teaching classes and leading rituals on trance work for more than twenty years. She is the coauthor, along with Marion Zimmer Bradley, of Priestess of Avalon and has continued the immensely popular Mists of Avalon series on her own.

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CHAPTER 1

Will the Real Odin Stand Up, Please?

High One, Just as High and Third These are his names as we have heard, Wide of Wisdom counsel gives, Odin, Oski, Omi lives, We call on Wodan, Vili, Vé, to All-father, Sigfather, Gandfather pray.

— "Namechant," by Diana L. Paxson

The man was in a blue cloak, and called himself Grimnir (the masked, or hidden one); he said nothing else about himself, though he was asked.

— Grimnismál, prologue

Those who have grown up with the straightforward definitions of gods that you find in Dungeons and Dragons manuals may find themselves frustrated when they try to explain Odin, who is "the god of ..." a lot of things. One place to start is by looking at the names and titles he has been given over the years. The "Namechant" quoted above gives a few of them (for the music, see appendix 2 at the end of this book).

In Neil Gaiman's American Gods, Shadow asks, "Who are you?" His companion offers "Mr. Wednesday," since it is his day. When Shadow insists on his "real" name, Mr. Wednesday answers, "Work for me long enough and well enough ... and I may even tell you that" (Gaiman 2001, 22). For many who work with, or for, Odin, that is indeed the goal.

In "The Lay of Hárbard," Thor, worn out from fighting giants, arrives on the shore of a fjord and calls to the ferryman to come over and take him to the other side. Apparently he is too far away to realize that the man at the ferry is his father. Odin seems to be in a quixotic mood. When the exchange of pleasantries works its way around to introductions, the god replies, "I am called Hárbard, I seldom hide my name ..." (Hárbardhsljódh 10).

This may be the only joke Odin makes in the entire body of the lore. The point, of course, is that Odin has more names than anyone else in Asgard, and never gives his own name when a byname will do. He is the ferryman Hárbard ("Hoar-Beard") when he teases his son at the shore. As the wanderer Vegtam, he conjures the seeress from her grave-mound to give him answers, and as Grímnir, the Hidden One, he withstands being "roasted" by King Geirrod. Still other epithets, bynames, and hypostases may be found elsewhere. In The Viking Way, Neil Price lists 204 names used for Odin in the lore.

Why does he have so many names? In the section of the Younger Edda called Skáldskaparmál, Snorri Sturlusson, writing for young poets, explains that in poetry you can call a thing by its name, substitute another word, or use a descriptive kenning. Given that kings needed praise poems to spread their fame, poets had to find a lot of terms for the patron of kings. The other reason, of course, is that Odin is interested in a great many things. Those who work with him today may refer to him as "the Old Man," or sometimes, "You bastard." How many names Odin really has ranks with his last words to Baldur as one of the great unanswerable questions in the lore.

Some years ago, my friend Lorrie Wood got a post from someone who was trying to understand the relationship between Odin's many aspects. This is how she replied:

The aspects of Odin that are in one or another "name clump" may resonate more with me, and others with another, but none of them aren't Odin. The aspects of Lorrie that might be collected under the aspect of "lwood" — the parts of me that directly pertain to having been a systems administrator for fifteen years — have friends to whom that's the way they know me. The folk who know me as "Clewara," a community organizer for a certain poly-MMORPG gaming guild primary based in EVE Online, see a different side of me. Our enemies within that game see me and my alternate characters, which only means to them I'm a target, or I'm gathering reconnaissance on them because THEY are — well, we are to one another, ultimately. That's another group of folks who know me after that fashion. Both of those me's aren't the same me as the Lorrie who's been chugging along in service to the Troth for a decade and a half. That's another batch. The Lorrie that stands at Diana's side running Hrafnar isn't the same and hasn't the same friends as the foregoing either.

They all intersect and overlap: the Linux administrator learned how to handle groups of people and both know how to do a good turn in desktop publishing and so on. They all gather data and see patterns and weave threads and tease sense from them and all that happy fun stuff. Those are all me!

So how much less could Odin be Odin, whether I'm calling him Vegtam or Valfodr? Those address the god in different places, but they're the same god. Who is the Far-Crier? Who is the WayTamer? Who is the Hooded One? Who is the Old Man? Who is Frost-Beard and Horsehair-Mustache and Fire-Eyed and Dead-Eyed? Who is WoeWorker and Desired One?

Yes.

In this chapter, you will encounter a summary of Odin's names and history that will give you a context for the more detailed discussion of his major aspects in the chapters that follow.

Aliases and Aspects

The name by which we know Thor's father best is Óðinn, anglicized as "Odin." In Old English, he is Woden, in German, Wotan, or the archaic Wodanaz. The root word can be translated as "frenzy," "voice," "poetry," "vision," "excitation," or "mind." As you shall see in chapter 10, these terms derive from a state of mental exaltation that can indeed manifest as either inspiration or berserk fury. To me, the fervor of excitement one feels in the throes of creative achievement of any kind captures the essence of Odin's primary name.

In the earliest myths, Odin is accompanied by two other gods. We don't know much about his companions, and for this reason, scholars sometimes identify them as "hypostases" of Odin, or other "persons" sharing the same nature. In Völuspá 4, we learn that Midgard was made by the "sons of Bor," identified by Snorri Sturlusson in Gylfaginning 5 as Odin, Vili, and Vé. If one loosely translates these as "Mind," "Will," and "Holiness," they make up a useful creative trinity.

In verse 18, Odin, Hœnir, and Lódhur create the first humans from logs of wood found on the shore. Hœnir does appear elsewhere in the mythology. Lódhur is unknown, though some have speculated that this is another aspect of Loki. In the Prose Edda, Snorri Sturlusson offers us a more explicit trinity. When King Gylfi enters Valhall, he sees threethrones, one above the other, and is told that "the one that sat in the lowest throne was king and was called High, next to him the one called Jafnhár (Justas-high), and the one sitting at the top was called Thridhi (Third)" (Sturlusson 1987, Gylfaginning 2). Given that the "words of the High One" (Hávamál) are ascribed to Odin, it is pretty clear that Jafnhár and Thridhi can be identified as Odin as well.

But three names don't begin to cover Odin's multiplicity of roles. After roasting in silence for nine nights between King Geirrod's fires (Grimnismál), Odin responds to receiving a horn of beer from the king's son with fifty stanzas of lore, in the final section of which he gives fifty-four names by which he has been known during various adventures. He was Grimnir, the masked, or concealed one, when he came in disguise to Geirrod's hall, but when he leaves, he is Ódhinn, "best of gods."

Elsewhere in the lore, other names appear. Each one tells us something about the god. Drawing from all sources, we see Odin in many roles — the great sovereign and creator, the master of magic, the winner of the runes, the god of destruction and frenzy, the god of ecstasy, the god who loves women, who speaks to the dead, and gives defeat or victory.

Although he can take many forms, Odin's bynames give us a pretty good idea what people thought he looked like. When he wanders the world, he appears as a lean man wrapped in a blue or shaggy cloak, with a broad-brimmed hat pulled down over one eye, leaning on a staff that might also be a spear. His symbol is the Valknut.

Colors associated with him are black, gray, and blue, and his numbers are three or nine. If the hat comes off, we see him with an eye-patch, half-blind beneath the bristling brows, or if angered, with a blazing eye. Beard and moustache are long, and he is lean and pale. Generally, he appears as old, but in one reference (Bárdharsaga Snaefellsáss 18), his hair is still red, which would explain where Thor gets his ruddy hair.

We should also not be surprised that Odin also has names derived from the creatures with whom he is associated, Bjorn, the bear, and of course the ravens (Hrafnagudh). Surprisingly, we have no wolf names, unless Hildolf ("Battle-Wolf") should be counted here, instead of under his warrior epithets.

Odin through the Ages — Who Odin Is and How He Got That Way

Odin's names as we find them in the lore tell us a great deal about how he was seen at the end of the Viking Age. But gods, or our concept of them, evolve over time. For a more extensive discussion of Heathen history, see volume 1 of Our Troth: History and Lore, compiled by Kveldulf Gundarsson.

One question that is sometimes debated is whether Odin was part of the original Indo-European pantheon, migrated northward from the Middle East, or evolved from a god of death to become the god of kings. Lyonel Perabo (2015), a student of Scandinavian studies at the University of Iceland, characterizes Odin as a divine "vacuum cleaner" who sucked up the characteristics and powers of a number of other deities as he evolved.

Indo-European Origins

Nineteenth century scholars thought that the cult of Odin might have originated outside the Germanic area, among the Gauls or possibly on the Danube, and reached the north sometime between the 4th and 8th centuries CE (Common Era).

In the prologue to the Younger Edda, Snorri Sturlusson makes Odin a descendant of Thor who foresees that his destiny is in the north andmigrates first to Germany and then to Sweden. Like other medieval historians who were inspired by Virgil's epic of the founding of Rome to link the legendary founders of their royal lines to Troy, Snorri says that Troy was the original home of the Æsir, and thus, the Aesir came from Asia. On the other hand, in the Ynglingasaga (2–5), he says that during Roman times, Odin led his people to Russia from somewhere east of the river Don, then to Germany, and finally to Scandinavia. Clearly, the present is not the first time that Europe has received an influx of immigrants from the east.

To find Odin's origins, how far back must we go?

Although the most likely explanation for Snorri's attempts to connect the Æsir with Troy is medieval literary fashion, it is tempting to see a possible source in folk memories of the migration of the Yamnaya culture from the steppes of the Caucasus and Urals into northern Europe four or five thousand years ago. A genetic survey reported in the June 2015 issue of Nature indicates that steppe herders whose background included Near Eastern elements moved west at this time (Callaway 2015). They joined with the hunter-gatherer and Middle Eastern farming populations that had arrived earlier to become the late-Neolithic Corded Ware people.

By the Bronze Age, a vital culture was flourishing in northern Germany and Scandinavia, enjoying vigorous trade with the eastern Mediterranean. These people spoke the Proto-Indo-European language, which diverged over time into the Baltic, Germanic, Italic, and Celtic language families. Other groups had moved east and south from the original homeland, carrying their language to Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, and what are now Turkey, Armenia, India, and Iran.

What did these early Indo-Europeans believe? The French scholar Georges Dumézil is best known for his "tripartite" theory, the idea that just as Indo-European society was divided into three classes (preserved in the Hindu caste system and reflected in the Eddic poem Rígsthula, which tells how the god Heimdall established social classes), the gods of all IndoEuropean–descended cultures can be divided into three groups. We have the gods of physical well-being, who would include Frey, Njordh, and most of the goddesses; the gods of physical prowess, especially Thor; and the gods who maintain cosmic and juridical order, namely, Odin and Tyr (Dumézil 1973). This idea has been vigorously criticized by more recent Heathen scholars, who point out that to lump all the Vanir into the third function seriously unbalances the pantheon, and, among other problems, ignores the importance of Frey as the patron of the Swedish Yngling kings.

However, Dumézil's analysis of Odin in relation to the deities of India is worth considering.

The gift of shape-changing so characteristic of the former [Varuna] coincides with the maya that the latter employs so abundantly. The immediate and irresistible catch that Varuna makes, expressed by his lines and his knots, is also Odin's mode of action. On the battlefield he has the gift not only of blinding, deafening, and benumbing, but literally the gift of binding his enemy with an invisible line. (Dumézil 1973, 40)

Varuna is associated with the night, and the stars are the thousand eyes with which he sees all; however, as Indian religion evolved, he became a god of the sea, and the dead who are in his charge are those who drown. For Kris Kershaw (2000, ch. 11), it is Rudra, deadly leader of the Vedic equivalent of the mannerbunde who danced in animal skins over black clothing, who seems the closest analogue to Odin.

In The Cult of Oðinn: God of Death?, Stephan Grundy explores the possibility that Odin's original role may have been that of a god of death and the dead. Three major functions are ascribed to him in Old Norse literature — battle god, god of kingship, and god of magic and poetry. As a god of war, he does not actually take part in conflict, but rather (via his valkyries) is the chooser of the slain. His major battle skill is to demoralize the enemy. As a god of kingship, he connects the living ruler with his ancestors in the gravemound. As a god of magic and poetry, he chants charms to speak with the dead and travels through the worlds. In later chapters, we will see more about all these skills.

Is Odin a shaman? Grundy and other critics of this theory point out that properly speaking, a "shaman" operates in a tribal cultural context quite different from the world of the Viking Age, much less our own. Certainly Odin's other functions argue for a very different identity. However, if we look at Odin's roles as a god of magic and battle, it is possible to see him at an earlier period as the shaman who migrated with the tribes, working magic to encourage their warriors and terrify their foes.

Odin and Rome

Most of our written information on the origins of Scandinavian culture comes from sources such as the Eddas, The Lives of the Norse Kings (Heimskringla) by Snorri Sturlusson, and the history of the Danes by Saxo Grammaticus, all written down in the 12th to 13th centuries. These sources begin with events from the Migrations Period (4th through 7th centuries), when many different Germanic tribes were moving south and west into Europe. We also have a few references in chronicles and inscriptions from the Roman Empire. Even at that date, there is evidence for what H. M. Chadwick calls "the crafty, magical, bardic side [of Odin] on the one hand, and the warlike side on the other" (Chadwick 1899, 29).

The Romans dealt with the abundance of deities they encountered as the Empire expanded by the interpretatio Romana — identifying the native gods as local forms of whatever Roman god they most resembled. Germans who served with the Roman army and the Romano-German population living along the border of Germania felt that the Roman equivalent of Wodanaz was the Roman Mercurius (who himself overlaps, but is not quite the same, as the Greek Hermes). Mercurius is associated with travel, commerce, and communication and was also a psychopomp who conducted the souls of the dead to the Otherworld. In Cologne, the cathedral was built on the ruins of a Roman temple to Mercurius Augustus. The temple was erected to honor the Emperor Titus, but if I were trying to describe Odin's role as a god of kings in Roman terms, this aspect of Mercurius is the name I would use.

According to Tacitus, a Roman historian who collected information from officers who had served in Germania, the chief god of the Germans was "Mercurius" (Tacitus 1964, Germania 9), who was given human sacrifices. The Greek Hermes and the Roman Mercurius are gods of communication, guides for the dead, magicians, and tricksters — categories that certainly apply to Odin. However, Hermes generally facilitates, rather than originating, action. The messages he carries are those of Zeus and other gods, not his own, whereas Odin speaks to the dead and sometimes is responsible for their deaths rather than serving as a guide. Mercurius and Hermes come closer to Odin in his aspect as Hermes Trismegistus, who in the Hellenistic period was master of esoteric wisdom, though Hermetic magic tends to be far more ceremonial than the skills attributed to Odin in the Ynglingasaga. Finally, the tricks played by Odin have a deeper purpose, and often a deadlier result, than the relatively innocent pranks ascribed to Hermes.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Odin"
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Copyright © 2017 Diana L. Paxson.
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xv

Interlude: King Gylfi Visits the Hall of Hár

Chapter 1 Will the Real Odin Stand Up, Please? 2

Interlude: "Wanderer"

Chapter 2 The Wanderer 25

Interlude: The Second Merseberg Charm

Chapter 3 Master of Magic 44

Interlude: "Rune Song"

Chapter 4 Rider of the Tree 63

Interlude: The Building of Bifrost

Chapter 5 All-father 91

Interlude: "In Gunnlödh's Bed"

Chapter 6 Desired One 123

Interlude: "Head-Ransom"

Chapter 7 Battle God 150

Interlude: Bölverk and the Thralls

Chapter 8 Bale-Worker 176

Interlude: "Wodan's Hunt"

Chapter 9 God of the Dead 196

Interlude: At Mimir's Well

Chapter 10 God of Ecstasy 225

Appendix I Rituals 251

Appendix II Music 261

Bibliography 277