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ODIN’S QUEST FOR WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE
ODIN THE SHAMAN
The shaman offers himself as a link between the material world and other worlds that exist on other planes of existence. He acts as a conduit between Midgard and Asgard in the Folk Faith. He holds a position similar to a priest, but there are differences. The Shaman is someone who has the ability to enter a trance-like state. In this state he is able to journey in spirit to the other nine worlds, rising to Asgard or descending to Niflheim. He may possess the power to visit the Gods, see into the future, speak with the dead, see into the past, and can even rescue a lost soul. He may be someone who seeks wisdom or answer questions about someone’s destiny. A shaman can be someone of either sex, and a true Norse shaman was an expert in both Galdor Magic and Seither Magic.
Among the Gods there are two who have exceptional abilities as shamans.
One is Odin, who sacrificed himself to himself by hanging on the World Tree for nine days and nights, and pierced himself in the side with his spear. Through this ritual sacrifice he learned the secret of the runes. The ceremony of initiation usually involves a symbolic death to gain knowledge. Odin learned the secrets of Galdor Magic, which is the power to use the runes to transform the environment we live in according to our will. It is the ability to turn our power outward, to affect the world around us, reshaping it to conform to our way of living. The purpose of Galdor is to make the objective world conform to our intellectual perception. Everything that is in the multiverse of the Norse cosmos is runic in principle. The essence of everything can be broken down into runic energy. To master Rune Magic is to become master of all realities, and reshape reality in accordance to our own desire. This includes the power to change DNA, or even change the Past. Thus, Odin is the power to transform the world we live in.
The other God, or Goddess with exceptional ability in magic is Freyja. She was a Vanir who arrived in Asgard to teacher Odin the secrets of Seither Magic, while Odin taught her about Galdor.
Odin is known as the God of the dead, but he is not the ruler of the Netherworld. He is not associated with Pluto or Hades. Instead, Odin is the gatherer of the dead. He rides his eight- legged steed, Sleipnir, across the landscape hunting for the souls of great men. This is called the Wild Hunt, and is typical of the shaman. The shaman often rides an animal through the spirit world. Odin rides Sleipnir to Hel to seek knowledge of a dead seeress. He also lends his steed to Hermod to seek out Balder in Hel, and ask Hel to release Balder and his wife for Odin and Frigga. Hermod is Odin’s mind, or subconscious mind, that fares-forth to other realms of reality. He is the only other Gods who is permitted to ride Sleipnir. Odin’s daughters, the Valkyries, led by Freyja, perform the task in Odin name, to carry off the spirits of fallen heros. They are taken to Asgard where they are divided between Freyja and Odin.
Odin is the All-Father who is reborn in the form of Odin, or the Holy Trinity of Odin, Vili and Ve. Odin also dies in Ragnarok, but is reborn afterwards in the form of the resurrected
Balder. This is typical of the Shamanistic practice dying and being reborn. Odin’s sacrifice was voluntary. He did it to acquire secret knowledge. This hidden knowledge was revealed to him and transformed him. He learned the secret of the runes. Christians try to claim that Odin’s hanging from the tree, with the spear piercing his side, was borrowed from the story of Christ. The truth is that the Christians borrowed it from the old faiths of pagan Europe. The tale of Odin’s sacrifice is very different from Christ’s death. Odin isn’t sharing the suffering of the world, or saving men from sin and damnation. Odin’s sacrifice is for his own transformation, and a lesson for us to learn how to transform ourselves so we too, can acquire hidden knowledge.
Odin the shaman is also the shape-changer. The shaman not only rides an animal to other worlds, but often transforms himself into an animal. Odin took the form of different animals. He transformed himself into an eagle, a serpent, a fish. He also has two ravens that act as his mind traveling the universe. Munnin is the power of reflective thought while Hugnin is the power of the intellectual or cognitive ability. These birds are symbolic of the shaman as a seer.
Odin also performed another form of self-sacrifice by surrendering his left
eye so he might take a drink from Mimir’s well. This act bestows upon him knowledge and wisdom.
In Asgard, Odin has many great halls. One of them is especially well known. It is Valhalla (the Hall of the Chosen Slain). It is to this hall that Odin brings the great heroes whom his daughters, the Valkyries have brought to him. They are known as the Einherjar. The hall is vast and has 540 gates and 800 warriors walking abreast can pass through each gateway. (540 x 800 + 432,000. But if we take “hundred” for 120 as some Norse skalds referred it to, then the number would be 576,000. What is interesting is that both numbers are divisible by both 8 and 9, which are sacred numbers in Norse Lore.) Over the main entrance, which is called Valgrind, there resides a wolf and over it there is the head of a boar and on it is perched a huge eagle, whose eyes can see to the far regions of the nine worlds. This is the main entrance of Valhalla, in which newly arrived heroes must pass. Only those deemed worthy can pass by the three guardians of the great hall. The walls of Valhalla are constructed from battle shields. So highly polished are the shields that the radiance from them fills the entire hall with light. The roof is made from spears and everywhere inside armor is used to decorate the hall.
One section of the hall is filled with long benches and tables where the heroes feast and drink, and exchange tales of heroism. They are led into the hall by the Valkyries and over the entire feast, resides Odin. The daughters of Odin discarded their armor and clad in white robes, serve the heroes with all the boar meat they can eat and all the ale, beer and mead they can drink. The meat is cut from the boar, Saehrimir, who is cooked every day by the cook, Audhrimnir and provides enough meat to feed the countless heroes of Valhalla. Every morning, the boar is made whole and renewed so that it can be butchered and cook once more. Drink is poured from the udders of the goat, Heithrun, which stands on the roof of the hall and eats the leaves from the World tree. In this hall, Odin only drinks wine and feed his wolves, Geri and Freki from his portion of the food. And everywhere are the wives, lovers of the heroes and white-armed virgins who have come to join them in Valhalla after death, providing entertainment and lovemaking.
from the tree Yggdrasil, whilst pierced by his own spear, to acquire knowledge. He remained thus for nine days and nights, a number deeply significant in Norse magical practice (there were, for example, nine realms of existence), thereby learning nine (later eighteen) magical songs and eighteen magical runes. The purpose of this strange ritual, a god sacrificing himself to himself because there was nothing higher to sacrifice to, was to obtain mystical insight through mortification of the flesh; however, some scholars assert that the Norse believed that insight into the runes could only be truly attained in death.
Some scholars see this scene as influenced by the story of Christ's crucifixion; and others note the similarity to the story of Buddha's enlightenment. It is in any case also influenced by shamanism, where the symbolic climbing of a "world tree" by the shaman in search of mystic knowledge is a common religious pattern. We know that sacrifices, human or otherwise, to the gods were commonly hung in or from trees, often transfixed by spears. (See also: Peijainen) Additionally, one of Odin's names is Ygg, and the Norse name for the World Ash —Yggdrasil— therefore means "Ygg's (Odin's)horse". Another of Odin's names is Hangatyr, the god of the hanged.
Odin's name means "Fury", "Cultic Frenzy", "Master of Ecstasy". This, perhaps, is one of his most fundamental aspects. Odin is the energy that transcends limitation, whether that limit be physical, mental of spiritual. Thus His association with the seemingly disparate aspects of God of Death, God of Battle, Lord of Ecstasy, and Inciter of Inspiration. In each of these functions you can see that the common factor is the transcendence of limitation and the opening of the consciousness to wider vistas. In death, the bond of soul to body is severed. The soul, freed of its perceived fetters of flesh, enters into a less limited existence. In Battle, the warrior "goes beyond" himself, into a state of mind where he is capable of superhuman feats. When one knows ecstasy, one is in an altered state of consciousness that is beyond their usual scope. In a state of poetic ecstasy, the Skald achieves a creative brilliance inaccessible to him in a normal state of mind.
Odin won the ability to transcend His Own limitations through a self-inflicted ordeal (See Havamal, st. 138-165). He hanged Himself upon Yggdrasil wounded by his own Spear to win the knowledge of the Runes. Woden mastered the shamanic technique of using physical and emotional crisis to force the psyche beyond its limits and into the transcendent realm of power, knowledge and wisdom. In this crisis unto death, consciousness is forced out of its habitual and curtailed perceptions and into a much vaster apprehension of reality. There is a very similar shamanic lore in most folk religions the world over. Usually, the seeker of knowledge must climb a tree or pole of some kind (which symbolizes the spine–which has twenty-four vertebrae, corresponding to the twenty-four Runes of the Elder Futhark ), must suffer a personal death, suspended between the realms of the divine and the mundane, and in many cases is consumed by animals. The shamanic death journey is brought about in different ways; sometimes it is brought by illness, or through deliberate dancing to exhaustion; sometimes by fasting, or through painful (usually self-inflicted) wounds. Later, if the shaman survives this, he/she returns to the middle world in a body reconstituted by his power animals, and carrying power and knowledge of the worlds beyond. Oftenthe power of the shaman is contained in songs that he/she has learned from Other Worldly guides and allies. Traditionally, this knowledge and power is generously distributed to the folk through healing and blessing ceremonies. Odin's
sacrifice on Yggdrasil is a perfect description of these shamanic techniques. When he wins the Runes, the great Mysteries, He immediately makes them available to the other Gods, and to worthy humans. Wodan is a healer in the shamanic tradition. As He is able to travel from the heights to the depths, so is he able to make whole what is broken, to bring the separate parts of the soul and body together into a healthy whole. The Second Merseburg Charm is a precious record of Odin as Healer: a shamanic aspect of the God that was strongly suppressed by the Christians. Wodan was and is, however, a God of wholeness and healing, and a God of generosity, always willing to share knowledge and wisdom with the deserving. This has always been the role of the Great Shaman.
One of Odin's well known titles is the God of the Hanged. The hanging sacrifice has indeed ever been associated with suspension between the divine and mundane states of being. Though torn between the extremes of our
nature, it is possible to reach a state of equilibrium. This rare state may be reached through spiritual practices and mental discipline, but also through crisis and sacrifice. The latter path is that of the shaman. The reward of this dearly won suspended state may be great wisdom and power. Just as the strangling noose ends the cycling between extremes that is breathing, when the shaman hangs on the tree of himself, he willingly gives up the extremes of Heaven and Hel, and falls into the void of death between them. When Odin yearned for a drink of Mimir's Well of Wisdom, He was willing to offer an eye for the privilege. In that moment he stood poised at the brink of life and death, wisdom and sacrifice. Thus it was that though becoming blind to one reality, he became sighted in another. This is the Odinic paradox. Odin has one eye that sees all that exists, and another that sees all the unmanifest realities. His wisdom, however, transcends what he sees with one eye or the other. His vision has the depth of the synthesis of both. Thus, though Odin is seen as both light and dark, his true nature transcends the limits defined by these extremes.
What is interesting is that in most depictions of him, it is his left eye that was surrendered for a drink from Mimir’s Well. If this is so, then it would be the eye that is connected to the right side of the brain, the seat of the subconscious mind and our psychic powers. It is through the right side of the mind that we
anyone who drinks its waters. One day, Odin arrived at the well in the morning of time. He met with the giant, Mimir (Memory), who is his mother’s brother, and asked for the right to take a drink of his well. He knew it was the fountain of wit and wisdom and would bestow knowledge of all things, past, present and future. Mimir agreed to let Odin take a draught, but he demanded a price for the privilege. Odin would have to give one of his eyes in exchange for the drink.
Odin did not hesitate and gladly plucked out one of his eyes, which Mimir placed deep in the well. There it shines and provides Odin with a source of continuous insight. The Terrible One gained immense knowledge, but it also left him with a thirst for further wisdom that could never be quenched. Odin never regretted his deal but though he was now all-wise, he now suffered from a great sadness, for he had gained the knowledge of the future and learned that all things are transitory - even the Gods. Knowing of the doom that awaited all things caused Odin to ever after wear of grim expression on his face.
Odin could not stop wondering if he could find the means to cheat the death that awaited him and all the Gods. He wanted to find the means to ensure that he would survive the doom that awaited him. Odin stood before the World Tree and stared at it long and hard. Cutting a branch from the tree he fashioned a great spear for himself. Raising himself high he hung himself on Yggdrasil for nine long days and nights - “A sacrifice of myself to myself.”
Odin knew that wisdom could only be obtain through sacrifice, so he grabbed his spear and plunged it into himself. While he hung from the tree, and impaled upon his spear, he stared into the eternal depths of the immeasurable vastness of the universe.
“I know that I hung On a wind-rocked tree Nine whole nights, With a spear wounded, And to Odin offered Myself to myself; On that tree Of which no one knows From what root it springs.”
(ODIN’S RUNE-SONG)
All the knowledge of the universe flowed into his mind. Finally he called out in pain. “I am the All-Father and to me all knowledge has been bestowed. No drink or bread or any form of nourishment is given to me. The secret of the roots of the great tree has been revealed to me as I peered into the hidden ethers of the Cosmos. I seized the knowledge and gave it order, fashion it into runes.
“I formed a rune that can give great wealth to anyone who is willing to learn its secrets. Great energy and luck it can give. I named it Fehu.
“I formed a second rune that will bestow eternal strength and virility to anyone who is willing to learn it secrets. Its vitality has the power to nourish make new again. I named it Uruz.
“I formed a third rune that will bestow power and protection from the evils that dwell in the world to anyone who is willing to learn it secrets. It energies can break all barriers and restore order. I named it Thurisaz.
“I formed a fourth rune that will bestow wisdom and divine inspiration to anyone who is willing to learn it secrets. Its energies can break the mental fetter thru ecstatic force. I named it Ansuz.
“I formed a fifth rune that will bestow order and divine order to anyone who is willing to learn it secrets. Its energies can channel force on the right road to the right results. I named it Raidho.
“I formed a sixth rune that will bestow illumination to anyone who is willing to learn it secrets. Its controlled energy can craft new ideas and wondrous treasures. I named it Kenaz.
“I formed a seventh rune that will bestow generosity, hospitality and love in marriage to anyone who is willing to learn it secrets. Its energy is the force of exchanged powers. I named it Gebo.
“I formed an eight rune that will bestow joy and happiness to anyone who is willing to learn it secrets. Through its energy you can fulfill your wishes and create harmony. I named it Wunjo.
“I formed a ninth rune that will breakthe fetters of stagnation and allow change to happen to anyone who is willing to learn it secrets. It energies will protect one from harm. I named it Hagalaz.
“I formed a tenth rune that will bestow power to survive through the worst privations to anyone who is willing to learn it secrets. It is the power of Need-Fire that can counter one’s Orlog. I named it Nauthiz.
“I formed an eleventh rune that will bestow strength of character to remain calm in times of stress to anyone who is willing to learn it secrets. It can restrict unwanted forces. I named it Isa.
“I formed a twelfth rune that will bestow self-confidence, self-control and patience to anyone who is willing to learn it secrets. Its energies is the fulfillment of good acts. I named it Jera.
( Rune poem by Robert Blumetti )
After Odin has fully developed the runes, he cuts himself down and begins carving the magic signs into the spears, Gungnir, that he impaled himself with, and upon the teeth of his horse, Sleipnir. He then began traveling through the nine worlds, inscribing the runes into all things so that anyone who seeks the path of an Odinic shaman could discover the secret of the magic runes in the world that surrounds them.
Odin makes the supreme sacrifice for knowledge. His death represents the passing of the old self and rebirth as a new man who possesses occult wisdom. When Odin surrenders his eye for a drink from Mimir’s Well, he is undergoing a shamanistic ritual. Plucking his eye out is the same as giving up oneself for hidden knowledge. The same is true when Odin hangs from the World Tree and impales himself with his spear. In ancient times it was custom for a man to assist and teach his sister’s sons as a kind of godfather. It was Mimir’s task to assist his sister’s son to obtain the wisdom to evolve. At Mimir’s Well reside the three Norns. They are the Norse counterparts to the Greek and Roman Three Fates or Parcae: Clotho (who held the distaff), Lachesis (spinner of the thread of life), and Atropos (who snipped the thread to end a life).
There is a parallel in this story between Odin and Christ. Again! This story is not influenced by Christianity, but the other way around. It was Christianity that was influenced by the old Indo-European faiths of Europe and the Asia. Let’s explore the similarities between Odin’s death on the tree and Christ’s death on the cross. Their deaths were both voluntarily. Odin and Christ are both pierced by a spear. In both cases the spear develops magic qualities. (The Spear of Longinus). Odin says he receives no food or nourishing drink, while Christ is given only vinegar. Both Odin and Christ call out before they die. But again, Odin’s death and sacrifice have very ancient roots in the old faiths and were adopted by Christianity. If anything, it was the story of Christ’s crucifixion that was influenced by the old faiths.
MEAD OF WISDOM
When I meditated on the tale of the Mead of Poetry, it was revealed to me how our ancient ancestors was given Vrilology as a means to transform themselves and the world around them, and then lose this knowledge.
After the Aesir and Vanir made peace, they united their combined knowledge of Galdor and Seither magic or science. We read how they spat in a great jar, which is metaphor for joining everything they knew and let it ferment (spittle was sometimes used for fermentation). The result was the creation of a new man–Kvasir, who was all-wise. Kvasir is the new man or the new species of Vril Being created through Vrilology (the combined magic of Galdor and Seither) in possession of the
Kvasir then sets about the world bringing his knowledge to all he met. The Vril Beings began to explore the world and make contact with the many different peoples they came into contact with, bestowing on them Vrilology, in hope that they will use to improve their lot. But because vrilology was given to the Vril Being by their Gods, who created them, and because the other peoples were alien, they could not fully understand Vrilology and thus misused it. We can
read this in how the two Dwarfs Fjalar and Galar. Fjalar means “hider” or “spy” according to Rudolf Simek, and Galar is “screamer.” Here we have Dwarfs, who are creators of the material world, who have great powers of creation, but lack the spirituality. One steals Vrilology and the other (screamer) then re-teaches it to all in a corrupt form. The result is inevitable–the knowledge of Vrilology is lose to Chaos. This is explained in the story when they are forced to surrender the Mead (Vrilology) to the Giant Suttung, after the Dawrfs tried to use it to control Chaos (when they killed Suttung’s parents. Suttung then takes the Mead (Vrilology) which is stored in three jars (Odhroerir, Son and Bodn) and gives it to his daughter, Gunnlod to guard.
The rest of the story is how we, the descendants of the Vril Beings, can retrieve Vrilology.
In this part of the tale we read how Odin, in disguised as Bolverk (evil-doer) sets out to Suttung’s realm. He is evil-doer, because our return to the old Folk Faith is perceived as “evil’ for deviating away from the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Heretics!
Odin comes across those who work for Suttung, the nine thralls, who work for Baugi, Suttung’s brother. Odin ticks Baugi. He agrees to work for him and in the process, get those who are his servants to destroy themselves. Odin then performs the work of Baugi’s servants and is able to force Baugi into helping him steal into Suttung’s fortress so he can retrieve the Mead (Vrilology). Is Odin telling us that we must use stealth and cunning to survive the eventual reaction by the three monotheistic religious establishments who will not look favorable upon the rebirth of the old Folk Faith?
Baugi agrees to drill a hole through the mountain, into the subterranean chamber where the Mead is being stored. Baugi tells Odin he has finished drilling, but Odin is weary and before he transforms himself into a serpent and enters the worm, he blows into it, only to discover chips flying back into his face. Knowing that the hole was incomplete, he scold Baugi for trying to trick him. If he had entered it as a serpent, Baugi could have killed him while he was trapped inside by plunging a spear into the hole.
This is clearly a warning to all who seek the path of spiritual transformation that there are no shortcuts, no half measures. If you do not dedicate yourself totally, the forces of Chaos (Baugi) will trip you up and you will fail.
Baugi completes the hole and Odin transforms himself into the serpent and slithers through the hole into the chamber within. Clearly the image of the serpent has multiple meanings. In Indo-European mythology it is a symbol of seeking enlightenment. It is also the serpent or dragon that represents uncontrolled Vril energy that must be mastered so that one can learn to use it to transform oneself and the external world. It also represents the lowly state of existence, living on our bellies to the dictates of the external mundane world. In this state we need to slide about in cracks and holes, hiding from danger, living on a plain of reality that is at its lowest.
Wodan's Serpent shape is another typical one for shamanic transformation. The snake is symbolic of both the masculine and feminine, eternal life, and Kundalini. The eagle, aetheling of birds, carries the power of nobility of soul and ultimate spiritual attainment. I would like to suggest that some of His other animal "hides" (shapes) include the raven, the wolf, the horse, and the bear. In these forms, as well as in His many human disguises, He travels the worlds, gathers information, and furthers His often mysterious purposes.
Odin has been accused of trickery in his interaction with Gunnlod, from whom he got the mead of poetry. Through a complicated chain of events which you may find recounted in the Gylfaginning of the Younger Edda , Gunnlod, daughter of the giant Suttung, has become the guardian of three vats of mead which contain the power of poetic inspiration. Odin come to her in the form of a snake through a hole which has been bored through a mountain. He then lies with her for three nights, at the end of which she lets him drink up the three vats of mead. In the form of an eagle, he carries it back to Asgard, where, as is his usual practice when he has acquired wisdom, he shares it with the gods, men, and elves.
Here we have the necessity of the union of the Male Force and the Female Form which is the underlining principle of all magic and creative process in the universe. Gunnlod’s seduction is not a degradation of Gunnlod by Odin, but it is symbolic of the individual, who is of a lower spiritual order symbolized as the snale, who must pass through the darkness of the hole into a dark realm of nurturing feminine energy. It is only after the union of the two energies of Male Force and Female Form does one undergo a transformation and evolution to a higher spiritual level of reality. Thus the secrets of the Mead of Poetry/Inspiration (Vrilology = Galdor + Seither) is reveal. The individual then is transformed into the eagle, a symbol of this higher spiritual reality – the Vril Being.
In one of the poems in the Elder Edda (Hávamál:104-110), Odin appears to boast of having seduced Gunnlod and left her weeping. But is this likely? Gunnlod is a Giantess, one of the primal powers. Even a god could not take by force what she was unwilling to give, and if she shares the wisdom commonly attributed to the Giants, it's hard to imagine that he could trick her. By entering the mountain, he has put himself in her power.
Sexual experience has always been a powerful metaphor for spiritual union. As a writer, I find in this episode an allegory of artistic inspiration. I see the relationship between Odin and Gunnlod as part seduction and part surrender, the relationship between the poet and his muse. This is my version of the story:
Who are you? Who dares this darkness, slithering like a serpent, seeking my bed? Long have I waited at Worldheart, warding my secret. Who dares draw near to me now?
You hiss in the shadows, or is it laughter? It has been lonely here; I would be glad to laugh.
Ah, I see you now, one eye of light and one of darkness, and a breath of air follows, a breath of life from the world beyond these walls. Well, I am sick of secrets and shadows. Speak to me, serpent, what have you to say?
Tell me a tale; how you travelled in man-form, tricked the thralls, won Baugi's help with your labor, and as Bolverk made him bore a hole through the belly of the world. You were strong then, and cunning. Do you mean to trick me?
Serpent coils spiral runes around me, and serpent tongue whispers a spell. Do you think thus to trance me? Now it is my turn for laughter. Indeed, I admire your transformations, but if you would win me, you must make another magic.
What, I wonder, would you have here? An hour in my bed, or two, or three? Do you draw back from that suggestion? Perhaps my appearance is not quite what you expected?
You will have to be cunning indeed to cozen me. I am as old as the rocks or the running water. I am of the race of Ymir, more ancient than any woman you have ever known Now I see you smiling. So-- you do know a way to win me after all.
Come closer. Please me-- Show me that your lips know more than spells. Will you put at hazard even your manhood, surrendering your power? If you plan to possess me, you are wrong I will engulf you, but you cannot stop now, can you? You must give everything, having thus begun.
I wind you in my arms, all your wisdom lies within me. My lips are like honey-- Drink deeply, wanderer. Ecstasy fountains upward, filling me, filling you...
Swiftly then, let love grow wings to soar skyward. Suttung roars, reaching out for the eagle, The jealous ones pursue and attack you. Let them lap up the drops spilled by your passing, not knowing that what you have won from me is a prize they never had.
Will they say you have stolen my virtue? It is not so, for I remain hidden in the heart of the mountain, and my cauldrons are always full. Those who will give what you have given, those who can pursue the path you travelled, shall find through your gift, Galdorfather, the way to my arms. (1993)
