The Origin of Odin

I was interviewed by Gnostic Informant about the origins of the chief Germanic god, Wotanaz 

Odin's Role as God of Runes and Galdra

Returning to the topic of the highest god, Odin. First I address why the Romans weren't entirely wrong when they compared him to Mercury/Hermes. Then I present my theory about how Odin learned the nine sacred songs called Galdra and why this is related to his role as the god of the runes. The dankest god, Odin, and esoteric theories go together like runes and galdra. I look at the origins of runes themselves and the usage of runes in conjunction with galdra and thus seek to solve the mystery of the runes and the god who first learned them on the world tree. 

Pagan Iconography on Bracteates with Dr Scott Shell

Scott Shell received his Ph.D. in Germanic Linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley. The emphasis of his study has been on historical linguistics, runology and mythology. He runs a YouTube channel called @Scott T. Shell (Continental Germanic Heathenry) which focuses on the pagan religion of the Old Saxons. Tonight he will discuss the iconography and runic inscriptions found on Germanic bracteates of the Migration era.

Odin Rituals in the 19th century - Solstice special

A Survive the Jive Solstice special. In keeping with the tradition of telling ghostly stories at Yule, here is a special about Odinic sacrifices in Sweden and England during the 19th century. Edited by Wodenwyrd.

Sources:

 
 Higgens, T. W. E. “A Survival of Odin-Worship in Kent.” Folklore, vol. 7, no. 3, 1896, pp. 298–99. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1253238.
 GUNNAR OLOF HYLTÉN-CAVALLIUS - 1863 Wärend and Wirdarne. An attempt in Swedish Ethnology.

Music:

 Wodenwyrd, Deep Gnome, Baerdcyn

Odin the Cuckold?

 

"Myths are things that never happened but always are" Sallustius

“Now, the myths imitate the gods themselves in terms of what is expressible and inexpressible, unclear and clear, manifest and hidden, and they imitate the goodness of the gods. So, as the gods have made the good things stemming from perceptible things common knowledge for all, but those stemming from intelligible things only to the wise, in the same way, the myths tell everyone that there are gods, but who they are and what they are like, they tell only to those who are able to understand.” Sallustius 

Myths can be interpreted in many ways; some are simply crude naturalistic or material stories which associate a god with natural phenomena. In addition to these Sallustius also describes Psychic myths which pertain to the activity of the soul and appeal to poets, and also Theological myths which do not pertain to material attributes and behaviours associated with the gods but convey aspects of the gods and divine wisdom philosophically. This last kind requires interpretation by the wise with specific reference to the nature of the gods in the context of the entire tiered cosmos. There are myths of this kind in which the gods behave in ways that are metaphysically problematic such as when a god kills, rapes or consumes another god - which naturally confuses those who attempt to interpret them literally. There are also certain myths which combine aspects of all three kinds of myth and can be understood by different kinds of people differently but must be dissected appropriately by the learned.

Here I shall offer an exercise in public myth interpretation, in the hope that the method I demonstrate not only illuminates the divine meaning of this particular myth, but that the method here shown shall serve as a model that others may use to aid them in their understanding of the gods and their pursuit of pious worship. 

This particular myth, which concerns Odin and his two brothers, has quite naturally confused many for centuries, since it is only recorded by Christians who have deliberately used it to defame the immortal gods, and one would be inclined to attribute the myth itself to Christian fabrication, were it not for the fact that it is recorded in similar forms by quite chronologically and geographically remote sources. 

Óðinn means “ecstatic one” and is formed with the prefix óðr which refers to the divine frenzy or ecstasy with which that god was associated. In Völuspá He and His brothers Vili (“will” as in “will power”) and Vé (“holy” or “holy space” which is cognate with with Gothic weiha 'priest' and with Old English weoh “idol” or “sacred space”) create the world through the first sacrifice of the primordial being, Ymir. This act is the foundation of all sacrifice and establishes order in the cosmos. All subsequent sacrifices recreate and participate in the same sacred moment when Ymir was slain, and from his disordered body came forth the ordered forms which constitute our world. The names of the three brothers demonstrate the prerequisites necessary for a sacrificer to perform a proper sacrifice; divine ecstasy, will and sacred space. 

This must be kept in mind when addressing the myth which is the subject of this blog post. The myth itself is alluded to in three sources; First in Lokasenna, a poem which may have been composed in the 10th century, and in which Odin’s wife Frigg “beloved / wife” is accused by Loki “lock / bound” of taking both Vili and Vé as lovers. Second, in Ynglinga saga, written by Snorri Sturlusson in the 13th century, there is an allusion to Odin’s long absence during which His brothers took over His kingdom and His wife.

“Odin had two brothers, the one called Ve, the other Vilje, and they governed the kingdom when he was absent. It happened once when Odin had gone to a great distance, and had been so long away that the people of Asia (nb. Anatolia - Snorri wrongly connects the Aesir to Anatolia by way of folk etymology) doubted if he would ever return home, that his two brothers took it upon themselves to divide his estate; but both of them took his wife Frigg to themselves. Odin soon after returned home, and took his wife back.” 

Ollerus surfing on a bone

The third source, Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, is more complicated to interpret because the Christian author reduces all the gods to mortal humans with histories in Scandinavia and the near East. Saxo tells two or three heavily distorted stories which appear to pertain to the same original myth; in one of these, a euhemerised version of the god Ullr “glory” with the Latinised name Ollerus replaced Othinus (Odin) after the latter was banished for His rape of Rinda. Ollerus is described as a cunning wizard who could travel across the seas on a bone - He ruled for ten years, but was ultimately expelled by the returning Othinus, and killed by the Danes in Sweden. A second refers to another wizard called Mithotyn (Mit-Oðinn) who wanted to be worshipped as a god, and so seized the opportunity during another of Othinus’ journeys abroad, and led the people to pay holy observances to his name. Just as in the other story, Othinus returns and the usurper flees, but this time to Finland, and is there killed by the locals. Mithotyn apparently haunted his barrow thereafter - which is likely Saxo’s way of downplaying the significance of his cult which evidently spread to Finland. Saxo does not mention Frigg’s infidelity in either of these stories but he does in a third;

“But his queen Frigga, desiring to go forth more beautified, called smiths, and had the gold stripped from the statue (of Odin). Odin hanged them, and mounted the statue upon a pedestal, which by the marvellous skill of his art he made to speak when a mortal touched it. But still Frigga preferred the splendour of her own apparel to the divine honours of her husband, and submitted herself to the embraces of one of her servants; and it was by this man’s device she broke down the image, and turned to the service of her private wantonness that gold which had been devoted to public idolatry. Little thought she of practising unchastity, that she might the easier satisfy her greed, this woman so unworthy to be the consort of a god; but what should I here add, save that such a godhead was worthy of such a wife? So great was the error that of old befooled the minds of men. Thus Odin, wounded by the double trespass of his wife, resented the outrage to his image as keenly as that to his bed; and, ruffled by these two stinging dishonours, took to an exile overflowing with noble shame, imagining so to wipe off the slur of his ignominy.” 

From Saxo’s three mangled stories we can discern there was an original myth, free of Christian moralising and euhemerism, in which Odin was absent and during this time He was usurped by one or two other gods and that His wife Frigg was unfaithful during this absence. This then matches what Snorri preserved in Ynglinga saga and what we see in the earlier Lokasenna poem. 

Despite what pop culture representations and ill-informed online commenters may tell you, Germanic paganism was not at all tolerant of infidelity. Tacitus described the practices of the Germanic tribes of the 1st century as follows: 

“Very rare for so numerous a population is adultery, the punishment for which is prompt, and in the husband's power. Having cut off the hair of the adulteress and stripped her naked, he expels her from the house in the presence of her kinsfolk, and then flogs her through the whole village. The loss of chastity meets with no indulgence; neither beauty, youth, nor wealth will procure the culprit a husband.” 

1000 years later the Vikings of Iceland were less brutal towards such women but hardly any more forgiving. Adultery resulted in either divorce or fines, or both. So we cannot conclude that the infidelity of Frigg reflected a social tolerance of polyamory, promiscuity or infidelity since none of these were remotely acceptable. Therefore this myth must belong to the category which Sallustus termed Theological and must be explained philosophically. 

In light of my brief explication of the creation myth from Völuspá above, we can also understand the cuckold myth as relating to the danger of imbalance which threatens the stability of the sacrificial act whence the world and divine order proceeds. When one of the three essential prerequisites of sacrifice is absent; divine ecstasy, then the other two constituents expand beyond their natural limit, taking its place and thereby resulting in an abominable crime, here represented as cuckoldry - the defilement of the beloved - as well as the usurpation of the divine kingdom. The wise see the need for the balance of the three sacred components, but the unwise may proceed with a blót having only intent and a sacred space but none of the óðr and this lack produces an imbalance as shown in the myth. 

Óðr is often translated as “frenzy” “fury” or “madness” but it can equally be translated as “ecstasy”, from the Ancient Greek ἔκστασις ekstasis, "to be or stand outside oneself” and this more properly reflects the state of being one must first achieve prior to communion with the gods. As a noun the word can also mean "mind, feeling" and also "song, poetry" - the former pertaining in this context to the mindset or feeling proper to ritual space and time, and the latter pertaining to the sacred galdra “chants, songs” which Odin himself created, since he is called ein skǫpuðr galdra “the sole creator of galdra”.

There also remains the question as to the Identity of Odin’s brothers in other myths. Separate from the creation of the world, we also find in Völuspá a story of Odin and his two brothers who created mankind but here his brothers are named Lóðurr and Hoenir.

“17. Until there came three from that company, powerful and pleasant Æsir to a house. They found on land, lacking vigour, Ash and Embla, free of fate.

18. Breath they had not, energy they held not, no warmth, nor motion, nor healthy looks; breath (Önd can mean breath or spirit) gave Odin, energy (óð can mean energy but refers to a natural force present throughout nature) gave Hoenir, warmth gave Lódur, and healthy looks (the gifts of Lóðurr can also be translated as blood/flesh and good colour/hue/complexion).”
 Völuspá - Andy Orchard translation

Whether Lóðurr and Hoenir are identical to Vili and Vé is the subject of much scholarly debate but I will not cover that here, suffice to say that this is a possible interpretation. There is also a possibility, suggested by Hilda Ellis Davidson, that the three manifestations of Odin encountered by Gylfi in the Prose Edda and named Hárr “High”, Jafnhárr “Just-as-High”, and Þriði “Third”, can be identified as Odin, Vili and Vé. Each of these theories has merit, but even if they are incorrect, it does not affect my interpretation of the cuckolded Odin myth.

The Northman - An analysis of pagan scenes

Further to my written review of The Northman (2022), published on this blog in April, I have now created a much longer and more detailed video review of the film. This video includes close watching scene analysis of all the parts of the film which pertain to Nordic paganism. I explain the sources and reasoning behind the stylistic and thematic decisions of the film makers and provide examples of written and archaeological precedents to justify them wherever possible.

Robert Eggers' The Northman is the best Viking film ever made but some of the pagan themes within are too esoteric for everyone to understand. In this review, I explain the origin of the pagan rituals and symbols throughout the film and what they mean. Everything from valkyries, to the raven fylgja, the horned spear dancer, and the Odinic initiation ritual in a Neolithic barrow. I also explain the tension depicted in the film between the cults of the gods Freyr and Odin.

ARTWORK

Most art was by Christian Sloan Hall including Odin, Freya, Starkad and Valkyries
Horned spear dancers by Hungerstein
Wading through Hell by Jack Jones
Hel goddess by Leo Albiero
World tree by Pete Amachree
Spirit of Yule by Christopher Steininger
Mimir’s head by Graman
Vendel helmet cgi by Roy Douglas
Bear spirit and corpse animations by Castor and Bollux animation

MUSIC

Torulf

Hildigaldra

Borg

SOURCES

Primary

• Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus
• Germania by Tacitus
• Risala by Ibn Fadlan
• Egil’s saga
• Njal’s saga
• Vatnsdæla saga
• Eyrbyggja saga
• Landnámabók 
• Sturlaugs saga starfsama
• Gautreks saga
• Grettir's saga
• Saga of Bósa and Herraud
• Víga-Glúms saga
• Heimskringla
• Beowulf
• Hervarar saga

Secondary

• Chadwick, N., ‘Dreams in Early European Literature’, in: Carney, James, and David Greene (eds), Celtic studies: essays in memory of Angus Matheson 1912–1962, London: Routledge, 1968. 33–50.
• Davidson, H.E.,  Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (1964)
• Davidson, H.E., The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature, Cambridge University, (1943). 
• Peter-Schjødt, J., ‘Óðinn - The Pervert?’ in Res Artes et Religio: Essays in Honour of Rudolf Simek   p. 534 (2021: Kısmet Press) https://archive.org/details/res-artes-et-religio-essays-in-honour-of-rudolf-simek-kismet-press
• Ramos, Eduardo, ‘The Dreams of a Bear: Animal Traditions in the Old Norse-Icelandic Context’ (2014)
• Rowsell, T., “Riding to the Afterlife:The Role of Horses in Early Medieval North-Western Europe,” MA Thesis, University College of London, 2012.
• Rowsell, T., “Woden and his Roles in Anglo-Saxon Royal Genealogy”, University College London, (2012).
• Rowsell, T., "Religious Continuity in Northern European Boat Burial Practices of the Vendel Period" Research proposal, (2015)
• Rowsell, T., “Gender Roles and Symbolic Meaning in Njáls Saga” Medievalists.net 2012
• Kershaw, K., ‘The one-eyed god: Odin and the (Indo-)Germanic Männerbünde’ (Journal of Indo-European studies monograph) 2000.

JIVE TALK: Runes & Magic with Scott T. Shell

The Northman: Pagan themes explained

Back in 2010 a PR company sent me an advance screener of 'Valhalla Rising' so I could review it prior to its official UK release. I heaped praise upon the film, despite the fact it contained many historical inaccuracies, because I was delighted to see a story set in the Viking age which had an esoteric dimension and which was crafted with more concern for artistic vision than with box office sales. In the 12 years since then, that violent, moody tale of an Odinic hero has set the tone for a wave of Viking invasions of popular media, many of which, including History Channel’s Vikings series and the Assassins creed Valhalla video game, copy the “biker Viking aesthetic” established by Winding-Refn’s bloody offering. Discerning audience members are now justifiably fed up with seeing the Viking age depicted with so much brown leather, tattooed heads, woke casting (a recent fad absent in Valhalla Rising) and punk rock haircuts.

So when Robert Eggers, a director whose previous two films each dealt with pagan mythology and folklore in a nuanced and thought provoking way, announced that his third film would be about Vikings, and when the trailer seemed to signal a break from the biker-viking aesthetic, I wasn’t the only one who dared to get his hopes up. 

Eggers described the film as Andrei Rublev meets Conan the Barbarian; the former, Tarkovsky’s deeply philosophical biopic of a medieval Russian artist, widely praised as a masterpiece of film making, is a personal favourite of mine while the latter is the definitive sword and sorcery fantasy popcorn movie, yet to meet its match even 40 years after its release. Eggers’ boastful claim is of course promotional hyperbole but, I am pleased to announce, not too far off the mark in the sense that The Northman is indeed, consistent with Eggers’ last film The Lighthouse, a work which delves into mythology as a means to explore the dark caverns of the human psyche. Yet unlike any other of his films, it contains impressively choreographed, high octane, (and perhaps a tad gratuitously gory) action sequences which will appeal to an entirely different audience.

In a nod to the first ever story recorded in Western literature, the Odyssey, the Northman also begins with a plot summary in the form of a pagan invocation. While the immortal lines in Ancient Greek invoke the Muse, likely the goddess Calliope, the husky narration of a character later revealed to be a priest of Odin, invokes that god and then reveals exactly what is going to happen with merciless disregard for spoiler-sensitive surprise-enjoyers. This introduction is also highly reminiscent of the opening of Conan the Barbarian which presents the film as a story told by a wizened old yarn spinner, much like this Odinic priest. Right from the get-go, the very pagan theme of fate inexorably leading our protagonist to his end is introduced, and we know what must occur before we finish our popcorn.

Spoilers should not concern anyone who knows the story of Shakespeare’s Hamlet since this plot borrows from the same source Shakespeare referred to; the medieval Danish tale of Amleth recorded in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus. Amleth was previously adapted for the screen in Prince of Jutland (1994), starring a young Christian Bale as ‘Amled’. This formidable adaptation was more faithful to the original plot than The Northman is, but it occupied a more confined cinematic vision, without the much called-for exploration of the Viking world and the dark pagan themes central to the Nordic thought world which make the new film a modern classic. In the original medieval story, the young protagonist, after witnessing his father, the king, killed by his own uncle, feigns madness in order to save himself from the same fate, but is later sent by his suspicious uncle from Denmark to England. Eggers has replaced Denmark with the more dramatic landscape of Iceland, and England with the easternmost colony of the Viking world in Ukraine. But Eggers’ Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) does not feign madness, rather he descends into a very real divine madness after being initiated as a wolf of Odin. 

This transformation is depicted in two scenes showing separate Odinic initiation rituals each of which draws to some extent from historian Kris Kershaw’s work which connects the cult of Odin to the raiding party tradition of the Indo-Europeans. The first scene is early in the film, during Amleth’s childhood, when his father King Aurvandil War-Raven (Ethan Hawke) initiates his son into manhood with the help of the court jester, Heimir (Willem Defoe). This ‘fool’ character is not in the original story but his inclusion was a stroke of real genius on Eggers’ part. Heimir is a clear nod to Shakespeare’s Yorick, the court jester who Hamlet remembered so fondly from his childhood, but who appears in the play only in the form of a disembodied skull. The name Amleth itself, in its Icelandic form Amlóði, had come to mean a fool or jester in medieval Iceland, but it is thought to have originated from a term using the suffix óðr, a word cognate with Odin which refers to the divine madness or frenzy with which that god was associated. Since Amleth’s feigned stupidity is replaced by Odinic frenzy in this plot, his feigned stupidity is instead personified as a character who Defoe skilfully portrays in a manner at turns hilarious and terrifying. But Heimir is not just a fleshed out Yorick backstory, but is also a deeply Odinic figure who introduces the young Amleth to the mysteries of the Odin cult in a visually captivating scene which reimagines the world tree of Norse mythology as a family tree on which all the royals of that lineage hang like the hanged god Odin. This interpretation of the world tree as a family tree is also present in stanza 21 of Sonatorrek in Egils saga. Additionally, the Vikings also believed that kings were descended from Odin and the visual device of a family tree also serves to illustrate an unforeseen plot twist at the end of the film. During the first initiation, young Amleth not only becomes a "wolf of the High One", but is also advised by the fool in regards to the mystery of women which he says is connected to the Norns; semi-divine female entities who weave the fates of gods and men. Some Viking-age women practised a kind of shamanic, divinatory magic relating to the threads of fate which was called seiðr - a word which originally referred to a kind of thread like those used in spinning. Odin himself had to learn this magic from a goddess. The theme of the threads of fate is frequently invoked throughout the film with shots of spinning whorls and woollen threads as well as a Norn-like witch played by the Icelandic post-punk popstar Björk. While Shakespeare’s Hamlet agonises over the question of his own being and is thereby delayed from the righteous action of vengeance, Eggers’ Amleth remains almost constantly focused on his vendetta, and when he tries to turn from this path, the threads of fate pull him back to his inevitable end. 

The second Odinic initiation scene occurs when Amleth has become a man with enormous trapezius muscles (row-maxing will do that), employed as a slaver in the kingdom of the Rus in Ukraine. He and a group of men all wearing the skins of wolves are led by a horned priest (Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson) in a shamanistic ritual which culminates in the men howling and snarling like wolves possessed by Odinic frenzy. Neil Price, Professor of Archaeology and Ancient History at Uppsala University, who was an advisor for the film, is likely to have guided Eggers in respect to this well-crafted scene. The priest wears a headdress with horns which terminate in bird heads and this motif is recorded on dozens of Germanic artefacts from Anglo-Saxon England and Scandinavia all of which are thought to pertain to a cult of Odin, with the birds representing that god’s two ravens. See my video on the subject for more on this. Several depictions also show the horned man dancing with spears and one such depiction from Sweden shows the dancer next to a man in a wolf skin. Thus the priest in this scene struts rhythmically around a ritual fire brandishing two spears in one hand. Kris Kershaw identified this wolf cult, known in Norse as the Úlfhéðnar, as a continuation of a prehistoric Indo-European tradition she called the Männerbünde, in which young men would leave their homelands and live as wolves in raiding parties, preying upon foreign cultures they encountered.

This is immediately followed by a testosteronous, adrenaline pumping sequence depicting the wolf men raiding a Slavic town for slaves. The town’s defenders launch a spear at Amleth who catches it in mid air and returns it in one impressively fluid movement. This seemingly impossible manoeuvre is taken directly from the medieval Icelandic story of Njáls saga in which the Viking hero Gunnar catches a spear and throws it straight back into his enemy. So even the action choreography has benefited from consulting historical sources!

After the raid Amleth receives advice from the Slavic witch Björk who sets him back on his fated path of revenge, stowing away on a slave shipment to Iceland. This part was a bit strange, since Russian slaves are unlikely to have been sent further west than Sweden because Icelanders were able to acquire slaves more locally from Scotland and Ireland.

Next Olga and Amleth live as slaves on a remote Icelandic farm owned by his uncle and Mother who don’t recognise him. This part of the film bears rather a close resemblance to 'When the Raven Flies' (1984), an Icelandic Western about an Irish slave who, having been taken to Iceland by Vikings, seeks revenge on his masters who murdered his parents. Although perhaps partially derivative, there is an innovative and enigmatic sequence when Amleth is led by a supernatural guide in the shape of an Arctic fox to a cave in which he finds a priest of Odin who Bjork had called "the ancient one" - the god Odin was also known as Forni which means ‘the ancient one’ and this wizard is a priest of the god Odin which means to an extent he also is Odin just as the horned spear dancer was in the other scene. The wizard, like Shakespeare’s gravedigger in Hamlet, shows Amleth the disembodied head of the court jester he loved so well as a boy. "Alas poor Yorick" is shortened to "poor Heimir". But this is not merely a skull like Yorick’s, rather the priest has preserved the head with magic, just as Odin preserved the severed head of Mimir so that it could recite to him the esoteric wisdom of Hell. Now we leave Elizabethan courts, descending into the misty realm of telluric pagan esotericism. We hear Defoe’s voice speak from beyond the grave telling Amleth how the sword was forged by dwarves from the bones of a Jötunn. Then the priest tells Amleth to enter a barrow at night to retrieve a legendary sword, ᛞᚱᚼᚢᚷᛦ Draugr the Night blade, with which he shall avenge his father. Heimir, like Mimir, serves as a prophet in death, but in fact he had been a prophet even in life too, for at the start of the film he makes lewd insinuations about Amleth’s Mother the Queen (Nicole Kidman) and her intentions toward her brother in law. A grave warning disguised as bawdy humour.

We never see the lips of the head move, and as with all the supernatural sequences in the film, Eggers leaves open the possibility that these phenomena are only depictions of what the characters imagine or dream they are seeing. This ambiguity regarding supernatural elements is also present in The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019) and permits a more nuanced reading of the text. It is employed again in the following scene when Amleth, beneath the light of the full moon, breaks into a barrow containing a boat burial in order to obtain his fated sword. We see again how faithfully the film adheres to historical accuracy, since the corpse of the great man in the barrow can be dated to the pre-Viking Vendel era based on his shield mounts and the domed mounts of his sword sheath. This is implausible since Iceland was not yet colonised by Norsemen in the Vendel era. There are, however, many stories of men retrieving ancient swords from barrows such as the poem Hervararkviða in which a woman climbs into her father’s barrow to retrieve an ancient family sword called Tyrfing from his ghost. The corpse Amleth encounters is sat upright on a throne, which in Norse lore is a sure sign that he will come back to life as a zombie/ghost which the Vikings called a draugr (confusingly the sword he retrieves from the draugr is called Draugr). Sure enough an intense fight scene between Amleth and the Vendel-era draugr ensues, ending with Amleth shoving its decapitated head between its buttocks - not merely gratuitous Hollywood filth for this too is attested in Grettir's saga. After the battle it cuts back to Amleth standing before the seated corpse as though nothing had happened. Was it all a dream? This may seem an insufferable cliche but here too there is a similar historical precedent to justify it. Barrows were associated with strange dream visions in many cultures. In the Icelandic Flateyjarbók, a Viking named Thorsteinn sleeps on a barrow and dreams of the ghost buried within who reveals to him that there is magic gold inside. When he awakes he discovers there is. So even if Amleth only dreamed that he fought the draugr, that doesn’t mean it didn’t really happen. Exactly the sort of supernatural ambiguity we should expect from Eggers.

Going back to the previous scene with the priest of Odin, though brilliant, it takes liberties with historical accuracy. The grizzled priest wears a sleeveless dress with two so-called tortoise brooches (I call them booby brooches) - typical women’s attire for the Viking age. We know from clear examples in texts like Njals saga and Gautreks saga that it was utterly unacceptable for a man to wear a woman’s garment. Even offering a man a slightly feminine garment would be justification for him to kill you. The idea that Odin or his priests cross-dressed is the theory of Neil Price, but it is strongly opposed by other experts such as Jens Peter-Schjødt. There is no source which proves these priests or Odin himself wore the garments of women for magical purposes, rather the theory depends on Price’s interpretation of Lokasenna in which the wicked god Loki, who is himself severely guilty of transgressing gender roles, accuses Odin of practising magic on the island of Samsø in the same way women usually do, and that he was in the form of a (male) sorcerer (vitki). Loki thinks this is ragr "perverted" but there is no mention of cross-dressing. He is referring to seiðr which was associated with weaving/spinning (a female gendered activity) and the Norns who control fate. Odin does actually cross-dress in another story, but only as a disguise so he can rape a woman. The other problem with the priest’s attire in this scene is that he wears a headdress with some tree bark bearing a magical Icelandic symbol known as ægishjálmur - this is a Christian symbol dated no earlier than the 17th century yet the film is set in the late 9th century. It has nothing to do with Odin.

Later in the story we learn that Amleth’s regicidal uncle Fjölnir (Claes Bang) is a devotee of the god Freyr, disparagingly referred to by Amleth as a “god of erections.” The form of ritual devotion depicted draws in part from the same source in which Amleth’s story was originally preserved; Saxo’s Gesta Danorum. Saxo wrote that the hero Starkaðr considered the cult of Freyr in Uppsala to be unmanly due to the associated dances and clattering of bells. Fjölnir doesn’t dance but he does ring bells before the idol of Freyr, and along with his ill-gotten wife, and a priestess, veils his head in the presence of the god. There is no evidence that Germanic pagans such as the Vikings were veiled during rituals, but this practice is perennial among many pagan cultures including the Romans, who even required that the Emperor himself, along with other officiants, would veil his head (capite velato) during a public sacrifice to the gods. This representation of pagan piety was in stark contrast to the orgiastic wolf ritual for Odin depicted earlier, however the priestess of Odin in the first initiation scene at the temple in Iceland is also wearing a ritual white robe and veil. In an interview Eggers reveals that the decision to include the robes arose when he questioned Neil Price about how sacrificers would prevent their clothes being covered in blood, and Price replied that he had never had to think about this in this way before. Fjölnir's devotion to Freyr is also demonstrated through his horse sacrifices at two points in the film offered as part of funeral rituals. This is well established in the archaeological record and is something I attribute specifically to the cult of Freyr in my dissertation.

The dream sequences featuring a Wagnerian valkyrie (Ineta Sliuzaite) are also worth a mention. The mounted woman is adorned with an ahistorical helmet embellished with what appears to be a swan, presumably in reference to the association of valkyrja with the swan maidens of Germanic folklore. People have asked me why she is wearing braces - she isn’t - those are meant to be filed marks on her teeth- a peculiar practice which is attested in the archeological record.

The film is not without its flaws. I was unconvinced by the Slavic love-interest’s accent, fluctuating between faux Norse (all the characters use this ill-advised 'Allo 'Allo technique) and faux Russian, and the Slavic slaves in Iceland felt like a shoehorned incongruence. However, the touching theme of a man driven purely by hatred and revenge who finds salvation in a woman’s love, although cliche, is timeless. It speaks of an eternal truth contrasting the masculine with the feminine and I always prefer what is eternal to what is merely novel. Fans of Kentaro Miura’s Berserk will recognise the hyper masculine, ultra violent medieval wolf-man raised in gore and hate, driven by an obsessive thirst for vengeance tempered only by moments of tenderness in the embrace of the one person he loves. There is even a touching post-coital halcyonic respite in the woods when Amleth and Olga are allowed a moment of peace - a little too similar to Guts and Casca to be coincidental maybe? 

I consider this to be the best Viking film ever made and I expect it will be remembered as such for some time. But while I had hoped this would mark the long awaited end of the biker Viking-age aesthetic which has so permeated popular culture over the last decade, its tawdry mark can still be detected. Not so much in the costumes, but more in regards to the colour palette and score - the former consists of the rather familiar Hollywood medieval drabness with which historical dramas consistently deny the era’s vibrance. The score, while competently composed by Robin Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough, and effective in keeping the adrenaline pumping while the blood flows across the screen, will date the film since it owes much to the recently invented percussion driven fusion of neo-folk, world-music and martial-industrial that has become the stereotypical “le Viking music” of our time. Widely perceived as authentic because it uses medieval instruments, the combination of far flung elements such as didgeridoos, Siberian drums and Mongolian throat singing would have been as unfamiliar to Vikings as it was to anyone before the likes of Hagalaz Runedance and Wardruna invented it some 20 years ago. 

These are, however, minor quibbles with an expertly crafted film which is well cast, with actors pulling off some phenomenal performances (Nicole Kidman deserves particular praise for her role as the detestable Queen Gudrún). Eggers is certainly among the greatest filmmakers of his generation and regardless of how well The Northman performs at the box office, I don’t need to put on a dress to prophesy that it will be remembered as a cult classic of cinema history. 

- Tom Rowsell, April 2022

Good Walls for Bad Neighbours: The Meaning of Asgard's Walls

Holy holes: Passing through and looking through

 

Passing through rituals involving holes in stones and trees are widespread in Europe and beyond and are related to rituals that involve looking through a hole to see spirits. In this video we look at the passing through rituals associated with megalithic structures in Britain and Ireland, and the arboreal passing through rituals associated with oak and ash trees all over Europe, known as träddragning in Nordic countries. We also look at the related customs of looking through holes among the Sami and the Welsh, the Odinic ritual of looking through an arm akimbo as described in the Viking saga of King Hrólfr Kraki, and at the hagstone or adderstone tradition from Britain and the associated magical practices. 

Animations by Castor and Bollux animation: 

Will  

Eliot  

Efa 

Additional art by: 

Thomas Cormack - Elf blot 

 Christian Sloan Hall - Odin 

Graman Folcwald - Anglo-Saxon burial 

Christopher Steininger - Odin

Sources:

Camden, W., ‘Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland’ (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610) Copyright 2004 by Dana F. Sutton. 

Campbell, J. G., ‘Witchcraft & second sight in the Highlands & islands of Scotland’ (1902). Davies, J. C., ‘Folk-lore of West and mid-Wales’ (1911). 

Evans, George E., ‘The Pattern Under the Plough’ (1966). 

Guðmundsson, H., ‘Handan hafsins’ Háskólaútgáfan (2012). 

Hand, Wayland D. “‘Passing Through’: Folk Medical Magic and Symbolism.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 112, no. 6, 1968, pp. 379–402. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/985938. 

Kuusela, T., 'He met his own funeral procession': The Year walk-ritual in Swedish folk tradition. Chapter in: "Folk Belief and Traditions of the Supernatural". Edited by Tommy Kuusela & Giuseppe Maiello. Beewolf Press 2016. Pp. 58-91. 

Saxo Grammaticus. Gesta Danorum: the History of the Danes I, ed. Karsten Friis-Jensen, and trans. Peter Fisher (Oxford, 2014), book 2, ch. 7, pp. 138–39. 

Marwick, E. (1975) The Stone of Odin. In Robertson, J. D. M. (1991) An Orkney Anthology: The Selected Works of Ernest Walker Marwick (Vol 1). Scottish Academic Press: Edinburgh. 

McDowall, Sue ‘PASSING THROUGH & UNDER: A RITUAL HEALING IN ENGLAND’ Folklore Thursday blog. 

National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin. https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5009137/4990205/5100637 https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5009301/5005811/5133480 https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4922361/4874175 https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5009277/5003835/5131790 

Ryan, Derek ‘Hag Stones, are they an example of authentic Irish folklore or a neo-pagan import?’ The Tipperary antiquarian blog (2019) 

Rydving, Hakan. (2010). The 'Bear Ceremonial' and Bear Rituals among the Khanty and the Sami. Temenos. 46. 31-52. 10.33356/temenos.6940. 

Skott, F., ‘Passing Through as Healing and Crime’ (2014). 

Thoms, William J. “Divination by the Blade-Bone.” The Folk-Lore Record, vol. 1, 1878, pp. 176–179. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1252358.

Odin's Indo-European horse-healing magic spell

Interview with Ian Read of Fire + Ice

 

Germanic pagan Ian Read is best known for his neofolk project 'Fire + Ice' which “takes the purity and philosophy of early music and melds it into a message redolent with powerful seeds of honour, truth, loyalty and the bond of true friendship.” Ian is also Drihten (lord) and Rune-Master in the Rune-Gild, an initiatory school devoted to the esoteric and exoteric study of the Germanic runes.

Learn more on his blog: https://runa-eormensyl.com/

Odin and the Horned Spear-Dancer

Viking and Anglo-Saxon artwork often includes a man with bird shaped horns. This mysterious figure is known as the horned man or the weapon dancer. The motif shows up in various different contexts and over a huge geographic range and timeframe - from early Anglo-Saxon England to Viking age Russia. It is commonly associated with the cult of the Nordic god Odin or the Anglo-Saxon god Woden and with extraordinary shamanic rituals as I shall explain in this video.

Sources:

• Mortimer, Paul, 'What Colour a God's Eyes' (2018)
  
• Oehrl, Sigmund, 'Horned ship-guide – an unnoticed picture stone fragment from Stora Valle, Gotland' (2016)
  
• Oehrl, Sigmund, 'DOCUMENTING AND INTERPRETING THE PICTURE STONES OF GOTLAND' (2017)

Artwork

The following paintings of the horned spear dancer are by Hungerstein.

Jive Book Review: Odin's Wife (Frigg and Jord)

Is Odin's wife Frigg the same as his lover Jord the Earth goddess? William P. Reaves thinks they are the same figure and that her cult survived in to recent times among German peasants who called her Frau Holda. I will briefly review his book on the subject here.

Podcast: Interview with Ralph Harrison of the Odinist Fellowship

This Podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, Player FM and all good podcasting apps and platforms.

Ralph Harrison has been an Odinist for 40 years. He is the Director of the Odinist Fellowship, the UK’s only registered charity for the indigenous faith of the English people. They acquired a 16th century chapel in Newark which was consecrated on Midsummer's Day 2014 as the first heathen Temple in England for well over a thousand years. You can donate to the charity or the temple using the links below. Ralph and I had a nice chat about the Heathen religion, its rise in popularity in recent years due to the success of TV programs like Vikings, and also the dangers the faith faces from new age influences like Wicca and naturalism.

Contact the Odinist Fellowship

 Email  OF website 

Address:
ODINIST FELLOWSHIP,
B.M. EDDA,
LONDON WC1N 3XX.

Newark Temple website
Newark Temple Facebook page

Horse-healing magic from the steppes

I have long known of the second Merseberg charm, one of two which constitute the only surviving pagan verses in Old High German. As with most Germanic pagan things, we only have it by chance; a cleric at an abbey happened to put it in a liturgical book in the 10th century. We can be sure the charm, a cure for an injured horse, dates to many centuries earlier because it actually invokes seven pagan gods.

Phol ende uuodan uuorun zi holza.
du uuart demo balderes uolon sin uuoz birenkit.
thu biguol en sinthgunt, sunna era suister;
thu biguol en friia, uolla era suister;
thu biguol en uuodan, so he uuola conda:
sose benrenki, sose bluotrenki, sose lidirenki:
ben zi bena, bluot si bluoda,

lid zi geliden, sose gelimida sin!
Phol and Wodan were riding to the woods,
and the foot of Balder's foal was sprained
So Sinthgunt, Sunna's sister, conjured it;
and Frija, Volla's sister, conjured it;
and Wodan conjured it, as well he could:
Like bone-sprain, so blood-sprain, so joint-sprain:
Bone to bone, blood to blood, joints to joints, so may they be glued

Later I discovered that this charm, written in Christian times, did not merely date to the days of Germanic paganism, but far further back. The evidence is in in Book IV/12 of the Atharva-Veda, compiled in India between 1200 BC - 1000 BC.

Rohan! art thou, causing to heal (rohanî), the broken bone thou causest to heal (rohanî): cause this here to heal(rohaya), O arundhatî!

That bone of thine which, injured and burst, exists in thy person, Dhâtar shall kindly knit together again, joint with joint!

Thy marrow shall unite with marrow, and thy joint (unite) with joint; the part of thy flesh that has fallen off, and thy bone shall grow together again!

Thy marrow shall be joined together with marrow, thy skin grow together with skin! Thy blood, thy bone shall grow, thy flesh grow together with flesh!

Fit together hair with hair, and fit together skin with skin! Thy blood, thy bone shall grow: what is cut join thou together, O plant!

Do thou here rise up, go forth, run forth, (as) a chariot with sound wheels, firm feloe, and strong nave; stand upright firmly!

If he has been injured by falling into a pit, or if a stone was cast and hurt him, may he (Dhâtar, the fashioner) fit him together, joint to joint, as the wagoner (Ribhu) the parts of a chariot!

I do not think for a moment that the Germanic charm is derived from the Vedic source. I find it far more likely both derive from a charm belonging to the Yamnaya culture on the Neolithic Eastern European steppes which was originally for horses, as in the case of the Merseberg charm, and that it was adapted in India for human use. It has been established that Yamnaya were late Proto-Indo-European speakers and are responsible for the modern domestic horse, so they were of course the first to develop magic for the aid of horses, and this would have spread with the horses, religion and Indo-European languages.

Today I was made aware of another cognate for the charm; this time from Ireland, an account contributed by a school child in county Cork in 1938.

There was an old woman named Layng that lived near this school and she had cure of the sprain. These are the words of the charm. "Our Lord God went a hunting through moors and through mountains. His foals foot wrested, he sat down and blessed it, saying from bone to bone, from flesh to flesh every sinew in its own place." She used rub the sprain very much while saying these words and she would say the Lords Prayer." She was a protestand. She left the charm to some men around this place. Some of the old people had charms for stopping blood, toothache, rash, St. Anthony's fire, choking and one very old man heard a charm for making rats come out of their holes and cut their necks with a razor.

Now, the fact she was a Protestant, and that as far as I am aware Layng is a name of Scottish origin, brought to Ireland by Scottish immigrants, makes me hesitant to ascribe this to an ancient Irish tradition. I consider three possible explanations.

1. That this is of West-Germanic origin, like the Merseberg charm, and was brought to Scotland by Anglo-Saxons. 
2. That this is a North Germanic cognate brought to Scotland by Vikings. 
3. This is a Scots-Celtic cognate charm from the same Indo-European root as the Germanic and Vedic ones.

The woman invoked "Our Lord God" which is not only a common epithet of the Christian God, but also a name for Odin. I am not aware of a Celtic god who is invoked by this name. There are at least 10 more examples of charms in recorded Irish folklore which follow the same formula.

There is also an example from Sweden written down in 1860 which may be a Northern cognate if it is not derived from the West Germanic one.

Dåve red över vattubro,
Så kom han in i Tive skog;
Hästen snava mot en rot
och vrickade sin ena fot.
Gångande kom Oden:
- Jag skall bota dig för vred,
kött i kött, ben i ben,
jag skall sätta led mot led,
och din fot skall aldrig sveda eller värka mer

Dåve rode over Vattubro, then he came into Tive woods; the horse tripped on a root and sprained one of his feet. Odin came walking: I will cure you for sprain, meat to meat, bone to bone, I will put joint to joint, and your foot shall never sting or hurt again. 

And another from 19th century Sweden which invokes the goddesses:

Fylla red utför berget, hästen vred sin vänstra fot, så mötte hon Freja. – Jag skall bota din häst. Ur vred, ur skred, i led! Jag skall bota dig för stockvred, stenvred, gångvred, ont ur kött, gott i kött, ont ur ben, gott i ben, gott för ont, led för led, aldri mer skall du få vred! Fylla rode down the hill, the horse sprained its left foot, then she met Freja. I will cure your horse. Out sprain, out fall, in joint! I will heal you from log sprain, stone sprain, walk sprain bad out of flesh, good into flesh bad out of bone, good into bone good for bad, joint for joint, never again shall you have sprain! 

In 2013 I read one of my poems in a cafe in London. As you can hear, it was very much influenced by this magic charm...

Arya Akasha and the Nordic-Vedic alliance

Odin on the Moors - Ancient pagan structures of Dartmoor

Shakin' Stevens as Odinic Archetype in "Merry Christmas Everyone" Music Video

In the music video for “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Welsh rock ‘n’ roll singer Shakin Stevens we see a clear example of the dormant Jungian Odinic archetype manifesting in popular culture. It begins with a towheaded Anglo-Saxon youth boarding an aeroplane and flying to Hyperborea aka Tomteland near Mora in Darlarna county, Sweden. Tomte land is translated by the “elves” who greet him as “Santa world” however this is only partly true. Jultomte is the Swedish translation of Santa Claus, but neither Santa Claus nor Father Christmas (yes, they were once separate things) were part of Nordic culture until recently. A Tomte or nisse is nowadays seen as a cute elf like thing, but, like elves themselves, are an echo of a forgotten cult of the ancestors. Tomte were associated with midwinter and with ancestors who first claimed and cleared the land, often ancient farmers. Another name for Tomte is the haugkall or haugebonde, from the Old Norse haugr meaning a barrow – so we see a clear Indo-European connection to the worship of ancestral spirits at mounds.

Tomteland aka Valhalla

After disembarking from a bus, the metaphorical vehicle to the Hyperborean land of the ancestors, we see that the youth is now accompanied by an Odinic figure in a grey coat, perhaps an echo of Odin’s other name Hárbarðr “grey beard”. After a shot panning across the frosted lakes and snowy pine forests of the Nordic landscape, the shot fades to the man himself, the Odinic spirit made flesh to communicate the divine poetry, Shakin Stevens. The English child is a symbol of the Nordic soul, and his journey to Hyperborea is that of the aristocratic soul to the afterlife, which is guided by the psychopomp, Odin, over the rainbow bridge, Bifröst. Shakin’ Stevens is clearly a psychopomp who is guiding the souls, hence his prefix “Shakin”, for Bifröst is consistently referred to in Norse poetry as a bridge which “trembles”, thus Shakin’ Stevens “shakes” or “trembles” with the path to the beyond.

Utterly Odinic

Next we see Shaky on a horse drawn sleigh, being pulled through the forest at night, like Odin who leads the wild hunt. At his side is a Nordic “elf” who drives the horses on through the darkness. The association of Odin and elves is attested in the skaldic poem Austrfararvísur, by the Norwegian skald Sigvatr Þórðarson who describes encountering a sacrifice to the elves in Sweden which one of the participants relates to their “fear of Odin” – thus Odin is appeased via a sacrifice to the elves, which was at that time a broad term, describing many supernatural entities, including the souls of noble ancestors.

The lyrics at this stage reveal Shaky’s desire to “find that girl underneath the mistletoe”. Those familiar with Norse mythology will be well aware that mistletoe is the one entity, living or dead, in the entire cosmos that did not swear to Frigg not to harm Baldr, son of Odin. This leads to a dart of mistletoe being used to kill Baldr and causing all of creation to weep with sorrow. Baldr’s death is described differently in Völuspá, Hákonarmál, Eriksmál, and in Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus, yet each hint at the resemblance between Baldr’s death and that of the noble souls of war dead, Einherjar, whose sacrifice on the field of war wins them a place in Valhalla. Loki does not weep for Baldr’s death because it would annul the sacrifice, for only Loki knows that Baldr’s death is a necessary sacrifice for the renewal of the world. The poet of Völuspá specifies that Baldr will return:

All horror will be mended, Baldr will come; The two of them Baldr and Hodr 

Will inhabit the victory settlements of Hroptr,

sanctuaries of choice-slaughter deities.

Thus the association of the death of Baldr with a human sacrifice “choice-slaughter” which is necessary for renewal can also be seen in the context of the midwinter sacrifice and appeasement of “slaughter deities” for renewal of the earth for the following year. Thus our Odinic guide’s lyrics refer to his desire for a human sacrifice, hinted at by reference to the mistletoe used in the sacrifice of Odin’s son Baldr.  

In the following verse he sings “Oh, I wish that Everyday was Christmas, What a nice way to spend the year” in a clear reference to the coming Fimbulvintr, a terrible winter which will last for three years and heralds the coming Ragnarök in which Odin will lead his army in battle against the forces of Chaos and trigger the death and renewal of the earth for the next cycle of time.

Next, in a workshop, the children (souls) are put to work creating toys, a clear metaphor for the einherjar training in Valhalla for the great battle of Ragnarök. They are guided now by Santa Claus, or as we say in Britain, Father Christmas, which is interesting because Jölföðr “Yule father” is one of the names of Odin, as is Jölnir “Yule figure”. Much has been written about the grey-bearded god’s resemblance to Santa Claus, but even if there is no direct historical link between them, the similarities can still be read from an esoteric perspective as a manifestation of the Odinic spirit, which Jung called an archetype, and which resides within the unconscious of all Northern Europeans. The metaphor of training for the final war is made explicit three minutes in to the video when Shaky and the children engage in a snowball fight. Shaky even throws a snowball at a snowman, which clearly represents Hrym who shall lead the opposing forces of the frost giants at Ragnarök This is followed by a tragic foreshadowing of Odin’s death at Ragnarök - Shaky is struck by a snowball and falls, representing Odin’s defeat by the wolf Fenrir who shall consume him.

Press F

After the training session, the souls of the dead return to the great hall to feast with Odin. Shaky is shown accompanied in his sleigh now by the Yule father himself, as it draws him to the great feasting hall. We are to assume it is as this point that the “girl beneath the mistletoe” is offered to Shaky but, sadly, this is not shown. 

Any arguments that this video merely depicts a pop star taking some children on a festive holiday are rendered totally invalid by the final sequence. Shaky, Yule father, his elves and the Nordic looking souls of the noble dead all leave the hall and brandish flaming torches as Shaky mounts the sleigh once more, and an elf drives it away into the dark forests of the Nordic night. The children and the Yule Father wave him goodbye and remain at the hall, for Shaky must return to Middle Earth to obtain more einherjar for the fateful war when he shall be no more, but the earth will be renewed by his son Vali the avenger, just as the earth is renewed each year with the cycle of the seasons and the coming of Spring.

looks like Xmas in 1930s Germany tbh

Hail the Yule Father! Hail Shakin’ Stevens! Very Indo-European!