*Ø* Blogmanac August 17 - August 25 incl. | Odin’s Ordeal
In Norse mythology (Ásatrú), Odin (or Othin), Nordic (Icelandic) and Germanic, is the supreme god, and god of war and death, but also the god of poetry and wisdom. He was the patron of a fanatical warrior cult, the Berserks. He is thought to be a syncretisation of the Germanic War gods Wodan and Tiwaz. His role, like many of the Norse pantheon, is complex: he is both god of wisdom and war, roles not necessarily conceived of as being mutually sympathetic in contemporary society. His name has roots in the Old Norse word óðr, meaning ‘inspiration, madness, anger’.
Odin was head of the Aesir sky gods and the main god of battle victory, as well as god of the dead. He was worshipped in the Viking period (c 700 AD) through to Christianisation (c 1100 AD) and beyond, the centre of his cult being Uppsala, Sweden.
The Roman historian Tacitus refers to Odin as Mercury for the reason that, like Mercury, Odin was regarded as Psychopompos, ‘the leader of souls’. We know him from Snorri Sturluson’s Prose, or Younger, Edda, and the Historica Danica (by Saxo – the book that gave us Amleth, who Shakespeare turned into Hamlet), and other codices and inscriptions. He ruled over the Valkyries, warrior spirits, and lived in the Hall of Valhalla, which he populated with the spirits of slain heroes, who will defend the realm against the Frost Giants on the judgement day (Ragnarok).
Like Buddha and Jesus
Odin’s symbol is the raven, his weapon, a spear carved with runes or treaties. Odin is also symbolised by a knotted device, the valknut. He wanders the earth disguised as a traveller, and once pierced himself with his own spear, and hung on the world tree, Yggdrasil, in his pursuit of knowledge through communication with the dead. The nine days on which he hung on Yggdrasil are known as Odin’s ordeal (nine being a number deeply significant in Norse magical practice – there were, for example, nine realms of existence), thereby learning nine magical songs and eighteen magical runes. His ordeal of hanging on the tree until his enlightenment reminds one of the stories of both the Buddha and Jesus. Incidentally, one of Odin's alternative names is Ygg, and Yggdrasil therefore means "Ygg's (Odin's)horse". Another of Odin's names is Hangatyr, the god of the hanged.
There was a festival in Uppsala at this time in which men and animals were sacrificed and hung in trees; followers of Odin were also burnt on funeral pyres.
The final day of the nine days of his ordeal is the Festival of the Discovery of the Runes, when Odin fell screaming from the tree, having gained the knowledge he sought.
More
More on Yggdrasil
Ásatrú calendar
Viking treasure at the Wilson’s Almanac Scriptorium
Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
Receive similar items free each day with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine. Send a blank email
In Norse mythology (Ásatrú), Odin (or Othin), Nordic (Icelandic) and Germanic, is the supreme god, and god of war and death, but also the god of poetry and wisdom. He was the patron of a fanatical warrior cult, the Berserks. He is thought to be a syncretisation of the Germanic War gods Wodan and Tiwaz. His role, like many of the Norse pantheon, is complex: he is both god of wisdom and war, roles not necessarily conceived of as being mutually sympathetic in contemporary society. His name has roots in the Old Norse word óðr, meaning ‘inspiration, madness, anger’.
Odin was head of the Aesir sky gods and the main god of battle victory, as well as god of the dead. He was worshipped in the Viking period (c 700 AD) through to Christianisation (c 1100 AD) and beyond, the centre of his cult being Uppsala, Sweden.
The Roman historian Tacitus refers to Odin as Mercury for the reason that, like Mercury, Odin was regarded as Psychopompos, ‘the leader of souls’. We know him from Snorri Sturluson’s Prose, or Younger, Edda, and the Historica Danica (by Saxo – the book that gave us Amleth, who Shakespeare turned into Hamlet), and other codices and inscriptions. He ruled over the Valkyries, warrior spirits, and lived in the Hall of Valhalla, which he populated with the spirits of slain heroes, who will defend the realm against the Frost Giants on the judgement day (Ragnarok).
Like Buddha and Jesus
Odin’s symbol is the raven, his weapon, a spear carved with runes or treaties. Odin is also symbolised by a knotted device, the valknut. He wanders the earth disguised as a traveller, and once pierced himself with his own spear, and hung on the world tree, Yggdrasil, in his pursuit of knowledge through communication with the dead. The nine days on which he hung on Yggdrasil are known as Odin’s ordeal (nine being a number deeply significant in Norse magical practice – there were, for example, nine realms of existence), thereby learning nine magical songs and eighteen magical runes. His ordeal of hanging on the tree until his enlightenment reminds one of the stories of both the Buddha and Jesus. Incidentally, one of Odin's alternative names is Ygg, and Yggdrasil therefore means "Ygg's (Odin's)horse". Another of Odin's names is Hangatyr, the god of the hanged.
There was a festival in Uppsala at this time in which men and animals were sacrificed and hung in trees; followers of Odin were also burnt on funeral pyres.
The final day of the nine days of his ordeal is the Festival of the Discovery of the Runes, when Odin fell screaming from the tree, having gained the knowledge he sought.
More
More on Yggdrasil
Ásatrú calendar
Viking treasure at the Wilson’s Almanac Scriptorium
Pip Wilson's articles are available for your publication, on application. Further details
Receive similar items free each day with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine. Send a blank email
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