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What & Who is Óðinn?!
Today we're going to have a look at Odin. What and who is he? The king of the Gods, Frigg's husband, Baldur's father, etc. Fine, but what if we actually take a look at the Odin myth that best defines Odin? Namely Hávamál. And in particular, stanza 138 to 139, where he hangs himself in the sacred tree, falls down and picks up the runes. Let's do that first of all and see if we can, from these stanzas, understand better who and what Odin is.
From Hávamál, stanza 138:
We can bury ourselves in questions like these and dig deep into the absurd. Or we can realise that this poem is not about an old one eyed god who hangs himself in a tree. It's a symbol with a deeper meaning. Yes, we need to think symbols out. What is it Odin symbolizes in our mythology? If he's not some old one eyed god riding across on an eight legged horse, then what is it he symbolizes? In fact, we need to realize that everything in the myths are symbols. Not just the names, gods and places, trees and Ettins(?) and whatever. Everything is a symbol with a deeper meaning. And not least, everything is there for a reason. Odin, the tree of life, 9 days to spare. Not eating, not drinking from a horn, falling, picking up the secrets. Everything means something... else. Everything symbolizes something else.
Thankfully, out forebears made that very clear to us. Because if the myths don't mean something else, if they don't have a hidden meaning, then, well, they make no sense. They show us the impossible so that we shall understand that there is something else here. Or do you really think that they made these impossible stories that we are supposed to believe in and take literally? Wagons pulled by goats flying across the sky. Hammers that return to your hand when you throw it. God's transforming into mares and giving birth to an eight legged horse that can fly. Really? If you believe that this is what our mythology tells us and that this is what our forebears believed in, then I have some news for you. It doesn't. They didn't. So let us find out what these symbols mean.
The name Odin translates as "mind", "thought" and "excited state of mind". It can also mean "mad", "wild", "furious" and "eager". But its meaning is mainly, and first of all, "mind". The tree he hangs himself in is not a real tree, but the placenta. It looks like a tree though, and it gives life. Odin is the father of the gods. And he attaches himself to the tree of life with a spear, that is, to the placenta with the umbilical cord. The nine nights are the nine solar months of pregnancy. Naturally, he does not eat anything there, whilst in the womb of the mother. He does not, does not drink from any horns whilst there either. He gets all his nourishment via the umbilical cord. Odin is the ancestral mind that is being reincarnated. He Is the sum of all the forebears, the father of all the gods, in one symbol. Given to Odin. Myself, given to myself. His mind is poured into this new physical body, the child, the fetus from the tree of life, as it is created in the womb of the mother.
From Völuspá, stanza 28:
Okay, I guess it's time to translate the name Mimir for you. It means "reminiscence", which, of course, is defined as the act or process of recalling past experience, events, etc. At all(?) he was reincarnating. But to recall past lives and to become himself again, himself given to himself, he needs to connect to the tree of life that we also know as Mimi's head. His learning process starts in the womb of a mother. And he learns from the placenta. Funnily enough, that is exactly what happens too. The placenta is instrumental in activating genes in the fetus. In giving it life. In creating the child. Like an architect for a building. No matter the amount of materials you have at your hand. No architect - no functional building.
And then finally, Odin is born. I looked down and picked up the secrets. Took them and screamed yet again. I fell from there. He picked up the runes, that it would be secrets, before he fell. Because they represent what he learned from Mimir based on previous lives. He falls again because he was reborn. Odin returns to life. He reincarnates. And he's not some old one eyed god riding an eight legged horse that can fly through the air. He is the sum of your forebears. He is you. He is your mind.
You still don't know enough or what?
Today we're going to have a look at Odin. What and who is he? The king of the Gods, Frigg's husband, Baldur's father, etc. Fine, but what if we actually take a look at the Odin myth that best defines Odin? Namely Hávamál. And in particular, stanza 138 to 139, where he hangs himself in the sacred tree, falls down and picks up the runes. Let's do that first of all and see if we can, from these stanzas, understand better who and what Odin is.
From Hávamál, stanza 138:
I trow I hung on the windy TreeAnd stanza 139:
nights all nine,
with spear wounded and given to Odin,
myself given to myself
in that tree that nobody knows
of what roots it rises(?)
No bread they gave me, nor drink from a horn.Now, many like to see this as some sort of heroic self sacrifice for deeper spiritual knowledge, the runes achieved through suffering and fasting. They like to think that the rune science came about this way. He picked them up from the ground when he finally fell from the tree. But why did he fall? Why did he hang there for nine nights? Why was he wounded with a spear? Why didn't he eat or drink from a horn? How could he survive nine nights without drinking? How could he even give himself to himself? What does that even mean? How could he pick up the rules before he fell? And why did he fall again? Had he fallen already? If so, why didn't he pick up the runes the first time he fell? When did he fall the first time? How many times has he fallen from that tree? And why isn't there anything about those other times in the myths?
I looked down, picked up the secrets,
took them and screamed yet again,
I fell from there.
We can bury ourselves in questions like these and dig deep into the absurd. Or we can realise that this poem is not about an old one eyed god who hangs himself in a tree. It's a symbol with a deeper meaning. Yes, we need to think symbols out. What is it Odin symbolizes in our mythology? If he's not some old one eyed god riding across on an eight legged horse, then what is it he symbolizes? In fact, we need to realize that everything in the myths are symbols. Not just the names, gods and places, trees and Ettins(?) and whatever. Everything is a symbol with a deeper meaning. And not least, everything is there for a reason. Odin, the tree of life, 9 days to spare. Not eating, not drinking from a horn, falling, picking up the secrets. Everything means something... else. Everything symbolizes something else.
Thankfully, out forebears made that very clear to us. Because if the myths don't mean something else, if they don't have a hidden meaning, then, well, they make no sense. They show us the impossible so that we shall understand that there is something else here. Or do you really think that they made these impossible stories that we are supposed to believe in and take literally? Wagons pulled by goats flying across the sky. Hammers that return to your hand when you throw it. God's transforming into mares and giving birth to an eight legged horse that can fly. Really? If you believe that this is what our mythology tells us and that this is what our forebears believed in, then I have some news for you. It doesn't. They didn't. So let us find out what these symbols mean.
The name Odin translates as "mind", "thought" and "excited state of mind". It can also mean "mad", "wild", "furious" and "eager". But its meaning is mainly, and first of all, "mind". The tree he hangs himself in is not a real tree, but the placenta. It looks like a tree though, and it gives life. Odin is the father of the gods. And he attaches himself to the tree of life with a spear, that is, to the placenta with the umbilical cord. The nine nights are the nine solar months of pregnancy. Naturally, he does not eat anything there, whilst in the womb of the mother. He does not, does not drink from any horns whilst there either. He gets all his nourishment via the umbilical cord. Odin is the ancestral mind that is being reincarnated. He Is the sum of all the forebears, the father of all the gods, in one symbol. Given to Odin. Myself, given to myself. His mind is poured into this new physical body, the child, the fetus from the tree of life, as it is created in the womb of the mother.
From Völuspá, stanza 28:
All I know, Odin, where your eye is hidden,But you have been told by the scholars that Odin has only one eye, right? Well, he does not, really. That is, of course, also a symbol for something else. His one eye in the well of Mimir, that he had to sacrifice for knowledge, is his belly button. When he is in the womb of a mother, it is connected to the umbilical cord. The spear, alias Mimir's well. That long well that connects him to the tree of life.
In the famous well of Mimir;
Every morning, Mimir med drinks
from the father of the chosen's pledge.
Do you still not know enough or what?
Okay, I guess it's time to translate the name Mimir for you. It means "reminiscence", which, of course, is defined as the act or process of recalling past experience, events, etc. At all(?) he was reincarnating. But to recall past lives and to become himself again, himself given to himself, he needs to connect to the tree of life that we also know as Mimi's head. His learning process starts in the womb of a mother. And he learns from the placenta. Funnily enough, that is exactly what happens too. The placenta is instrumental in activating genes in the fetus. In giving it life. In creating the child. Like an architect for a building. No matter the amount of materials you have at your hand. No architect - no functional building.
And then finally, Odin is born. I looked down and picked up the secrets. Took them and screamed yet again. I fell from there. He picked up the runes, that it would be secrets, before he fell. Because they represent what he learned from Mimir based on previous lives. He falls again because he was reborn. Odin returns to life. He reincarnates. And he's not some old one eyed god riding an eight legged horse that can fly through the air. He is the sum of your forebears. He is you. He is your mind.
You still don't know enough or what?