The roots of Wodan's name are Proto-Germanic *Wodanaz, which can mean "Furious/Violent", "Mad" or "Inspirational". Wodan is all this and more: his existence is a wild wod (approx. - spirit / inspiration / rage) that rushes through the mind and body to manifest itself in skaldic inspiration, the roar of the storm, and the foamy madness of the berserker warriors.
Of all the gods/goddesses, Wodan is the one who is best known to us, for his gifts to skalds and saga-tellers in ancient days were repaid. He is the getter, keeper, and giver of honey, “stirring the wod” (note - Old Norse- Odhroerir- setting the spirit in motion, the name of the cauldron where the honey of poetry was stored), which he shares with those people whom he wants to bless in order to they could speak and write with a songlike skill akin to his own. Like all gods/goddesses, he is multifaceted, with more of his names and manifestations preserved than any of the other deities. He is the god of battle and kingship, as the leader of the Wild Hunt, he instills fear in the German lands, but the peasants leave their last sheaf so that Wodan and his horde of spirits make their fields fertile. He is the father of many human children and a traitor to his chosen heroes, he sits in majesty over the worlds on his throne of Hlidskjalf, and wanders the worlds in the guise of an old vagabond. While all gods/goddesses have their own magic, he is best known as a rune-mining sorcerer and father of the songs of the galdr.
Wodan most often appears as a tall, one-eyed man with a long gray beard, wrapped in a dark blue (more precisely blue-black, English blue-black) cloak with a wide-brimmed hat or hood pulled over his face. The Völsunga saga describes him as barefoot and wearing canvas pants. (note - “The Völsunga Saga”, ch. 3) Sometimes Wodan is also seen in full armor, with chain mail, a helmet, with a shield and a spear (however, not with a sword). Everything related to his sacred attributes tells us about his essence. The dark blue cloak that Wodan wears is the color of death and the undead, a shade our predecessors called Hel-blue, Hel-blue. In the Icelandic sagas, a man wore a blue cloak when he was ready to kill, and Tidrek's Saga tells us that wearing this color was a sign of "a cold heart and a gloomy nature." It is also the color of the endless depths of the night sky - the realm of divine wisdom - and its ability to hide and show itself at its own choice. Such is the role of the hat or hood: both the face of Wodan and what he sees with the eye lying in the source of Mimir are always half hidden from humanity, its dark side is equally combined with its brilliance. In addition, he appears differently at different times, some of the faithful saw both of his eyes in their meditations, and some images are believed to be his, for example, mask faces on the back of some Vendil era crow fibulae, also have two eyes.
Although Snorri Sturluson, familiar with the dual models of both Christianity and classical mythology, painstakingly portrays Odin as the head of the pantheon (and the majestic ruler of Asgard), the surviving evidence shows that this god was not loved by most people. Unlike the elements “Tyr” or “Freyr”, “Odin” was rarely used as part of a human name: there is only one later mention of a woman named Odhinndis in the 10th century on a Swedish runestone from Vestmanland (Vestmanland) and a relatively rare Danish the name Odhinnkaur (means either “Odin's Lock” - in this case, probably, the cult name associated with the mention long hair king or other person associated with the sacred - or "given to Odin"). The latter name survived into the Christian period, as was the name of at least two bishops of royal blood. “Odinophobia” is not uncommon even today, and for good reason. Many call on him to help in this or that matter, and praise him as the benevolent teacher and shaman that he is in some of his aspects, but those who do so without complete devotion to him must be very careful. Of all the gods/goddesses, Wodan seems to be the most quick to demand retribution for his gifts, and he often takes much more than he would like to be given. One of these cases is the story of how the mother of King Vikara called on Odin to help brew beer. God helped her, asking in return for what is "between her belt and her." Wondering why he wanted her dress, she agreed - only later learning that she was pregnant, and that it was about her unborn son, who, at the request of Odin, was dedicated to him, and later, sacrificed to him.
Wodan can deceive those who deal with him, but he is often merciless with those who are truly devoted to him and love him more than anything. He is a formidable god, a fomenter of strife, and as many sagas show (and probably most visibly - the Völsunga Saga), he is well known for testing his chosen ones, up to their death. In Icelandic literature, his heroes are usually of the type known as "dark heroes" - dangerous, restless, irritable people of great strength and difficult disposition, such as Starkad or Egil Skallagrimsson. Wodan himself rarely appears as a god of social order, if not the opposite of it. His favorite dynasty, the Völsungs, included outlaws, werewolves, brother-sister incest; he himself speaks of himself in “Speech of the High One”, 110 - “Odin swore an oath on the ring; is not an oath insidious? He obtained the drink by trickery from Sutthung Gunnlöd on the mountain.” (quoted in the translation of A. Korsun). Of all the gods, Wodan seems to be the one who visits Midgard most often and who causes the greatest fear of people, especially on a large scale. He forges his chosen ones hard and brings them to death in due time - not because he enjoys their torment, but because he is constantly gathering strength for the Final Battle, Ragnarok, so that a new world can be born after the death of the old one. He himself once underwent many great trials in order to gain the wisdom that would make this possible: he hung for nine nights, pierced to gain runes, gave his eye to the source of Mimir as payment for a sip of water from it.
Despite this, Wodan is not always obscure in business or heart. One of his names, Oski, from the word for “wish” (probably an Anglo-Saxon name Wusc-frea, “Wish-Fro”?), shows him favorably assisting desires. He often appears to give advice and help to his chosen ones, like Sigurd Völsung and Hrolf Kraki, for example. In a lighter mood, he came to King Heidrek in the form of a person familiar to him and challenged the king to a contest in riddles, he also appeared to Olaf inn Digri (Olav the Fat, also known as “St. Olaf”) as an old storyteller who offered a blessing ( note - apparently, we are talking about the episode with sacrificial / horse meat), which the Christian king rejected, trying to throw a prayer book at the god. "The Song of Harbard" depicts him acting out Thor when he appears unrecognized to another god as an old ferryman who introduces himself: "I am called Harbard, I rarely hide my name" ((note - translation from English) and this is said by god, with over a hundred famous names!) and teases his son until Thor is ready to grab his hammer.
Wodan is more than "a little like to drink." The "Speech of Grimnir", 20 tells us that he lives on wine alone, and in "Speech of the High One" he tells, perhaps with some regret, about the three cauldrons of mead of poetry he drank: "I was drunk, I was overdrunk, in the house wise Fyalar ”(approx. - translation from English). Ursula Dronke even argues in her article “Ominnis hegri” that ritualistic excessive drinking, to the point of nausea, was a solitary act that did or did not make one feel more pleasurable. the next morning of young thanes who were trying to win something like the “Drink-and-Puke Prize in memory of Egil Skallagrimsson”… Wodan’s adventures with women are also well known: not only is he the progenitor of many dynasties with human women, but he also seduces jotun maidens, such as Gunnlöd, and has at least three lovers in Asgard - Friya, Frov and Skadi. In "Speech of the Tall One" he boasts of his spells to help win the favor of women, and in "The Song of Harbard" he contrasts his many exploits in the bedroom with Thor's tales of fighting the Thursae.
Among other things, Wodan is the teacher of all beings in the worlds. “The speeches of Sigridriva” tell how he scraped off the runes into “sacred honey” and sent them all over the paths, so that “the Ases have one, the elves have others, the wise vans, the sons of men” (translated by A. Korsun). The skald Tdolf from Hvinir called him hapta snytrir - “making the gods wise” (approx. - lit. wiser of the Shackles (= gods)) in “Haustlöng” (approx. - shield drape), and also makes Wodan for people. Although this is by no means the rule, and has become less common in the last few years than when Trot developed, many of the faithful, whose lives are devoted to learning and teaching, find their way to Wodan.
Wodan is also called Farmatyr, "God of Cargo". This name can be read in several ways, perhaps like Mercury (to whom he corresponds in the interpretatio Romana (Roman interpretation), he also played the role of the god of trade. This may be a reference to the booty-laden Viking ships whose raids Odin blessed, it could also be about his return from Jotunheim "loaded" with honey that set the spirit in motion, or it could be related to his role as a carrier of the dead, as shown in the passage "On Death Sinfjotli ". In modern practice, however, it is believed that Wodan as Farmatur is a god suitable for conversion when it is necessary to find things that are difficult to find - not only rare or unpublished books, but also ritual objects of all kinds.
The original appearance of Odin was the appearance of the god of death: not the guardian of the kingdom of Hel, but the Chooser of the Dead, leading souls from world to world, and carrying the power and wisdom of the dead from the dark kingdoms to the bright lands above them. The rune *ansuz (Ac) is most closely associated with Wodan, the Old Norse runic poem specifically mentions that the rune names this god. The word *ansuz could first refer to the dead ancestors, whose power still helped the living, according to Jordanes, the Goths called the spirits of the ancestors by the word "anses", which the Christian chronicler interpreted as "semi-gods". As the leader of the undead and the leader of the Wild Hunt, Wodan has been known throughout the Germanic lands since ancient times - perhaps from ancient times. Although there are no Northern myths about the Hunt, the name of the Huntsman is known as Wodan or Oden (or the ancient form Wod) from Scandinavia to Sweden. The rushing power of the dead over the deserted winter fields lifts up all the powers that were consumed by the earth at the end of the harvest season: the last sheaf is left for them, so that their blessing would make the lands fertile again.
As the god who enters the realm of death and brings power back, Wodan becomes the god of magic and the skaldic arts (which, in itself, are part of galdr magic): they are from the lands of the dead that teach ascension and where the wod rages. As the Eddic poem "Speech of the High One" relates, he received the runes in a shamanistic death-initiation. Hanged and pierced at the same time, swinging on the Gallows Tree between the worlds, Wodan plunged dead in search of the twenty-four patterns that lay at the roots of the worlds - the forms and sounds of the power with which all things were created. As a magician, he calls the dead onward to receive knowledge from them and hear their wisdom of their predictions.
As one who travels between the worlds of life and death, Wodan becomes a king and an ancestor god, for the power of a king in Scandinavia and Saxon England was linked to the burial mounds of his progenitors, on which the ruler expounded his thoughts and laws, and to the sacred wisdom of those who rested in them. Wodan was the progenitor of many lineages, especially in Anglo-Saxon England, where almost all royal genealogies traced back to him, and he was (along with Fro Ing, as discussed below) the one who helps start a conversation between the king lying under the mound and the ruler who sits on top of it.
During the Iron Age, when the migration of the Germanic peoples took place, the role of Wodan as the god of battles increased, in this role he was chosen as the patron of many Germanic tribes, such as the Lombards, the Alamanns and the Cherusci. From late northern sources and mentions of the classical period, it follows that the place of Wodan as the god of battles and, accordingly, the patron of the tribe was associated not with his strength as a warrior, but with his role as the Chooser of the Killed: the god who determines the losses was, of course, also the one who controlled the outcome of the battle and therefore Valfedr (Valfodhr, Father of the Fallen) became Sigfedr (Sigfodhdhr, Father of Victory). In late northern sources, such as the "Styrbjorn Strand" (approx. "Strand about Styrbjorn the Swedish hero"), the army was given to Odin by throwing a spear over him with the words "One owns all of you!" (note - “official translation”: Eirik the Victorious launches a spear into the army of Styrbjorn with the words “I give you all to Odin!”). Numerous hoards of weapons and the number of prisoners and sacrifices in the Iron Age also testify to such a dedication: every survivor of the battle on the losing side was already marked as belonging to a god.
Wodan was by no means the only god of the Vikings, not even for those who went to explore or conquer new lands for themselves in the south. But his presence was undeniably palpable among them. The Raven Banner was born in Denmark in 878, as described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: "a battle banner... which they called Raven." Ecomium Emmae Reginae (approx. - “Eulogy (or Praise) to Queen Emma”) tells that the Danes had a flag of white silk, in the center of which a raven showed the time for wars. According to the Orkney Saga, Jarl Sigurd of Orkney had a banner with a raven (woven by his mother), which gave victory to the one before whom it was carried, but death to the one who carried it - probably as a sign of sacrifice to Odin. Turville-Petre believes that this god was the personal patron of many kings of Norway, such as Harald Harfagri (Hrald the Fair-Haired) or Eirik Blodoks (Eirik the Bloody Ax). Although there are few references to the cult of Odin in Iceland, where Thor and Freyr were favorite deities, Odin was not unknown here. His veneration in these parts, however, seems to have been limited to a few individuals - skalds like Egil Skallagrimsson and wayward adventurers like Viga-Glum - who not only suited him by nature, but also came from families that had a tradition of veneration. Odin. And even in such families, dedication to Odin was by no means a rule: Egil's brother and uncle, both bearing the name Thorolf, did not share the wisdom or gloomy disposition of the Odinists in the family, Kveldulf Skalla-Grim and Egil.
Although Wodan is the god of battle, it is difficult to see him fighting in person. He chooses the slain, but rarely actually kills them, his decision is enough to determine their fate. As a sign of this, it can be seen that he does not carry a sword: although he gives swords and other weapons to his heroes, and appears to wear armor and a helmet, his only weapon is the spear Gungnir ("The Shaker"). The spear is a sign of his power, used for consecration - but not in the same way as the Hammer of Thor. Consecration by the Hammer is a blessing, consecration by the spear of fate, whoever sends him flying, is destruction in Midgard so that Wodan can receive the consecrated in his own chambers. Although in most drawings Gungnir is depicted as a melee spear, all references to its use, or more specifically to the Wodanic use of any spear, tell us that it is a throwing spear. Many spearheads with runic inscriptions from the Migration Period are also very narrow at the handle, which indicates that they were used more for throwing than at close range. The same is true of the spear shaft from Kragehul (Kragehul, Denmark, 5th century), the inscription on which is disputed, but seems to refer to the ritual initiation of its victims.
Wodan is known as the ruler of Valhalla - the Chamber of the Slain, where the chosen Einherjar (einherjar - "lone/only warriors") fight by day and feast every night in preparation for Ragnarok. Although Snorri presents Valhalla as the Northern Heaven, accessible only to the chosen ones who are killed in battle, in contrast to Hel, where all who meet a different end go, this view seems to be late, the development of belief in Valhalla is discussed further in the chapter “Soul, Death and Rebirth” .
Inseparable from the belief in Valhalla is the belief in the Valkyries (walcyriges, valkyrjur) - women who choose the dead for Wodan and bring drink to the god and heroes in Valhalla. In the early Asatru, the word "Valkyrie" (approx. there is the beginning of the modern revival of paganism) was used to refer to a woman who offered a drinking horn during a ritual, it was also an honorific strong woman or, otherwise, a technical spiritual term for a beautiful feminine essence that protects, teaches and inspires the higher part of the soul. The Valkyries will be discussed further in the "Beings" section, but here it is enough to say that reading about their being, which is best confirmed by ancient sources, one can conclude that they, apparently, are parts of Wodan's self, sent into the distance in a feminine form. . The god himself is called Valkyosandi (Valkjosandi, approx. - Sending Valkyries), the male reflection of the feminine Valkyries, and the names of the Valkyries - Göndul (Gondul, probably associated with gandr - “magic staff or wand”) is a mirror image of Odin's heiti Gondlir (Gondlir). The names of the valkyries Herfjotur (Herfjotur, battle chains) and Hlokk (Hlokk, fetters) seem to have come from Wodan's ability to impose battle chains, Skogul (Skogul, Screaming) may be associated with Odin's heiti Vidhhrimnir (Vidhhrimnir, one who shouts against / shouting the opposite )). Valkyries often act as messengers of Wodan and, as reflected in Wagner, personify his will. The “Speech of Hakon” by Eyvind the Skald Destroyer depicts Odin sending Gendul and Skögul to choose Hakon the Good in battle and bring him back to Valhalla, in the “Völsunga Saga” God sends a Valkyrie with a fertility apple for one of his heroes (note - ch. 1, to Rerir son of Sigi).
Wodan's best-known animals are ravens and wolves, described in northern literature as feeding on "Ygg barley" - the bodies of those killed in battle. His two crows, Hugin, "Immersed in thought/Thinking" or "Daring/Courageous") and Munin (Munin, "Remembering/Attentive" or "Wishing"), fly around every day, bringing him news from all worlds. The names of ravens are often incorrectly translated as "Thought" and "Memory", but in reality they are adjectives. Our predecessors believed that seeing two flying ravens in front of them was a sign of Wodan's great favor, especially before a battle. When Jarl Hladira Hakon, forcibly baptized, managed to free himself and made his way home, “he made a great sacrifice. Then two crows flew in and began to croak loudly. The jarl decides that it means that Odin accepted the sacrifice and will help him in battle. ”(“The Circle of the Earth”, “The Saga of Olaf the Son of Tryggvi”, section 2, translated by M.I. Steblin-Kamensky). The raven is also associated with Wodan through its relationship to the gallows, as follows: “It is impossible… to determine unequivocally whether the raven first became associated with Odin as the bird of the gallows or the bird of battle, the Germanic practice of sacrifice by hanging prisoners after battle could in practice distinguish between the two meaningless raven food sources” (Grundy, “The Raven in the Cult of Odhinn” – unpublished dissertation section).
Odin's wolves are called Geri (Geri) and Freki (Freki), both names mean "Greedy / Gluttonous". In their description of Valhalla, "Grimnir's Speech", 20 tells us. that “Geri and Freki are fed by the warlike Father Rathey; but he himself tastes only wine, shining with armor” (translated by A. Korsun). In Northern and Anglo-Saxon poetry, "feeding the wolves" was a common term for killing a man, but here the image of the great chief feeding the dogs in his chambers is double, showing Wodan as the brilliant ruler of the House of the Gods and as the dark ruler of the battlefield strewn with bodies. The wolves showcase the ferocious side of Wodan's fighting power. His warriors were berserkers and werewolves, often referred to as ulfhedhnar (wolf skin) because of their use of wolf skins to move into a given state of mind, into this wod. The most famous image of such a warrior is on one of the matrices for making overlays for a helmet from Thorslund (Torslund, approx. a place on the island of Öland, Sweden, bronze matrices date back to the 7th century), which depicts a man in a wolf's skin holding a spear in front of a one-eyed armed a dancer who wears a helmet with horns ending in bird heads. Similar figures also appear on sword scabbard plates from Gutenstein (Lower Austria) and in a tomb from Kungsangen (Kungsangen, Sweden c.800).
In addition to ravens and wolves, Wodan also has an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir (Sleipnir, “Sliding”), on which he travels through the worlds. The horse is depicted on the Gotland carved stones Ardre VIII (Ardre VIII) and Alskog Tjängvide I (Alskog Tjängvide I). There has been much speculation about the meaning of Sleipnir's legs. The simplest reason is that the eight legs on the runestones were a way of showing the horse's speed, and only later became a specific feature of Odin's horse. However, in Myth and Religion of the North, Turville-Petre tells us that “visions foreshadowing death, often appearing on gray ... (and) mutilated horses with different number feet are commonly known as a portent of evil.” (p. 57). H.R. Ellis-Davidson (H.R. Ellis-Davidson) claims that there is a possible connection between the eight-legged Sleipnir and the funeral procession with 4 people carrying the coffin, she also mentions an Asian shaman and her eight-legged horse (“Gods and myths of Northern Europe”, pp.142-143(Gods and Myths of Northern Europe)). Eight legs of Sleipnir can also be a reflection of the eight worlds surrounding Midgard.
Wodan appears in person as a snake and an eagle, assuming both forms while searching for the honey of poetry, his two heiti (heiti, name substitutions), Ofnir (Ofnir) and Svafnir (Svafnir) were also on the list of snake names that gnaw at the roots of the World Tree.
In earlier days, the cult of Wodan especially included human sacrifice. Although he was not the only deity to whom human lives were given, it was more accepted in his cult. This practice, of course, cannot be continued. However, there was another way of "human sacrifice": dedicating one's own life to Wodan, the initiate is thus known as feigr (the doomed one) - ready and willing to live or die equally for the god. Sigmund Völsung said this best of all, after Odin appeared and broke the sword that he had once given to the hero. When the wife of Sigmund Hjördis found him wounded on the field, she asked if he could be helped, he replied: “Many are alive when there is little hope; but luck (heill) left me, so I don’t want to be treated. Odin does not want me to draw my sword again, now that I have broken it. I fought as long as he desired it.” (note - quoted from the English version). An emblem called a valknut, consisting of three intertwined triangles, is strongly associated with Wodanic sacrifice and/or death in battle, at least in this context it appears on carved Gotland stones.
Although there is still academic debate about what this sign might have meant in earlier times, pagans today believe that the Valknut is the sign of those who give themselves to Wodan and should only be worn by those who wish to fall at his choice. The Old Norse reconstructed form *valknutr - "knot of the slain" - is based on the modern Norwegian name valknut for an embroidered or woven pattern.
One has two brothers with whom he created the world, their names are Willi (Vili) and Ve (Ve) (prose Edda) or Hoenir (Hoenir) and Lodur (Lodhurr) (“Divination of the Völva”). Hoenir appears as Wodan's brother in other myths, for example, as one of the hostages given to the Vanir, Lodur is often interpreted as Loki, in connection with myths in which Odin, Hoenir and Loki travel the worlds together. Vili and Vé mean "Will" and "Holiness", they are often seen as hypostases of Odin himself. De Vries pointed out that in traditional Germanic genealogies the younger generation has three alliterative names, and therefore the Odhin-Vili-Ve triad takes us back to the Proto-Northern (Primitive Norse, approx. - aka Proto-Scandinavian, Proto- Nordic, Ancient Nordic, Old Scandinavian and Proto-North Germanic), before losing the initial "W" before the "o" and replacing the "w" with a "v", which is one indication of the transition from Proto-Northern to Old Norse (Old Norse) (Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte II, p. 281).
Sacred sites dedicated to Wodan in antiquity included mountains, fields, lakes, streams, and finally swamps and graves. He himself is often represented as the god of the wind, especially the storm wind, but the water aspect is equally inherent in him: in the story of the death of Sinfjötli. He is the one who rules the ship of the dead in dark waters, and the Song of Harbard also shows him as the ferryman.
Stones that can be associated with this god today are meteorites and lapis lazuli. Since ash was used for spear shafts, it seems to be Wodan's tree, yew is also seen as its tree due to its close association with magic (especially runic magic) and death. Mentions of the 19th century. fly agaric (red fly agaric) is spoken of as a product of the foam dripping from Sleipnir's lips, but it seems to be a product of German romanticism. It is also highly doubtful that red fly agarics or any other psychotropic substance would be used to induce the berserker state, although fly agarics have a long history of being used in shamanism. (Note: Amanita muscaria is poisonous if not cooked properly - don't try this at home). European Mandrake (not to be confused with American Mandrake or Podophila (May-Apple)) can also be considered suitable for working with Wodan, as well as hawthorn (hawthorn) and wormwood (chernobyl, mugwort).
The drink most associated with Wodan is mead, due to the obvious connection between mead and skaldic art. The mention of "wine" in "Grimnir's Speeches" could emphasize Wodan's status, since wine was a rare drink brought to Scandinavia from southern countries, in an article in "Skalk" (note - a Danish periodical specializing in history, archeology and culture) Christine Fell notes that this word could be used for any kind fermented fruit drink. Especially in poetic usage, it could be a reference to alcoholic beverages in general. Also in our time, it is found that akavit (akavit, approx. - a Scandinavian drink with a strength of approx. 40g, alcohol from grain or potatoes, infused with herbs) is a good drink for addressing Wodan.
Compiled by:
Freya Aswynn, Elder (English - Elder)
Stephan Grundy (summarized by Kveldulfr Gundarsson based on S. Grundy's doctoral dissertation, which was at the time of writing, The Cult of Odhinn: God of Death?)
Kveldulf Hagan Gundarsson, Warder of the Lore
Diana Paxson, Senior
And all the members of Troth who took part in the discussion of the topic "Eyes of Odin"
Tradis translation (Nadezhda Topchy)
Odin (or Wotan in Proto-Germanic) is considered the supreme god in Norse mythology. Being the son of Bor and Bestla, the grandson of Buri, he was the leader and father of all aces, a connoisseur of tales and runes, a sage and a shaman. At the same time, he patronized the military aristocracy, was the lord of the Valkyries and the god of war. Only he alone could infuriate the warriors during battles and battles, deprive them of their sense of fear and make them stop feeling pain. The very name Odin is translated as an obsession with military operations, shamanic ecstasy. The fact that Odin was elevated to the rank of the supreme god indicates what a paramount role war played in the life of the ancient Scandinavian people. Paradoxically, the god himself was not subject to martial ecstasy. He can rather be considered a sower of military disputes and actions.
Odin was also considered the god of magic and wisdom. And although he can be considered the instigator of all the wars of that time, accuse him of bloodthirstiness and deceit, do not forget that he was very educated. Therefore, inside him there was always a struggle between good and evil. 
The cult of the god Odin was at the peak of popularity among the Vikings in the 8th and 9th centuries. Pirates and sailors unquestioningly worshiped this god, so partial to battles and battles.
One often appeared to ordinary mortal people as a one-eyed old man wrapped in a blue cloak. His face was always hidden under a hood or under a wide-brimmed hat. God lost his eye, giving it to the owner of the source great wisdom Mimir. In return, he was allowed to take just one sip from this source. But this was not enough to get the magic runes. Odin had to chain himself to the world tree, thrusting his own spear into himself. After hanging on a tree for 9 days, he was able to comprehend the power of the runes and become a bearer of great wisdom. Armed with a spear, Odin always appeared accompanied by two wolves or two ravens. And it was bad for everyone who, forgetting about the laws of hospitality, pushed away from their home an ugly dwarf or a poor old man who wandered around the world. In this guise, being a master of disguise, Odin tested people by punishing the bad or helping the good win battles.
One was married to the goddess Frigga, who lived in Asgard. As a wife, she always sat next to him on the throne of Hlidskjalve. It was from there that the divine couple observed the events of the present and future in all nine worlds. Odin knew about everything that happened in these worlds thanks to the help of two raven brothers - Hulig (“thought”) and Munin (“memory”). Having circled all the worlds, the ravens returned to Odin, sat on his shoulders and whispered about everything they could learn. 
With the approach of the general death of the gods of the Old Norse pantheon and the disappearance of the whole world (Regnarök), which was supposed to happen after the last battle between the gods and chthonic monsters, the clairvoyant and wise Odin became more and more preoccupied. The harbinger of Regnarok was the death of one of the aesir - the god of spring and light Balder. The crow brothers whispered to the supreme deity that in the Vigrid Valley, where the last battle would take place, all people would die from the forces of chthonic monsters. And Odin himself will be swallowed by Fenrir, the offspring of the fire god Loki and the giantess Angrboda in the guise of a monstrous wolf. Odin did not have so much strength and power to prevent the impending catastrophe and his own death. However, he knew that Balder would be reborn and take his place in the new world that would emerge from the depths of the sea. This knowledge was his only consolation.
The ambiguous figure of Odin occupies one of the key places in a series of researchers argues that one way or another, the god Odin participates not only in every epochal incident, but also in most of the small everyday episodes of the ancient Viking epic: Odin adjusts events, is a participant in them, or has a direct or indirect help to the heroes, and often obstructs them.
The image of Odin is bright and colorful. The ancients endowed him with the features of an old man, but this does not make him weak and wretched, but, on the contrary, emphasizes his wisdom. The wisdom of Odin, as they say, was legendary. Even his characteristic external feature - one-eyedness - he owes to the desire to obtain secret knowledge: having voluntarily sacrificed his left eye, Odin was able to drink from Mimir's magical source of knowledge. An equally expressive feature is a wide-brimmed pointed hat or hood, half-shading the face, giving mystery to the whole look. Odin is accompanied by sacred companions: two scout crows, two guard dogs and the faithful seven-legged horse Sleipnir.
However, Odin, with all his appearance as a priest, is the patron saint of a warrior. It is curious that he was endowed with this function relatively late, and initially Thor was the sole leader of the Viking warriors. But with the growth of Odin's popularity, the number of his admirers who wanted to see wise god his patron.
The ancient warriors believed that the god Odin personally oversees every battle and personally escorts the heroically fallen to Valhalla - a special place in the Scandinavian paradise, where the brave always feast with the gods and ancestors. However, this belief is not unique, having parallels in many other pagan religions of the world of those warlike times. For example, in Rus', Perun was endowed with this function, and Perunitsa helped him collect the souls of fallen soldiers to be sent to Iriy.
God Odin also had a weapon - the charmed spear Gungnir, capable of striking the enemy without a miss. But, despite the honorary title of the patron of the troops, the presence of his own artifact weapons and a magical snow-white horse, Odin does not take part in battles, does not lead troops behind him. He acts as an inspirer, a keeper of military success, a conductor of lost souls. But he always looks after his own interests first of all: in the epic of the Scandinavians there are many examples of how Odin does not save the hero, but leads to certain death. This is explained simply - in anticipation of the day of Ragnarok, when the gods and heroes will have to clash in a fierce battle with cruel giants, the wise Odin gathers the best of the best under his wing to enter his heavenly army. This belief is in perfect agreement with the philosophy of the Viking warriors of that time that military luck is fickle, that death is not a tragedy, but one of the stages of the Path leading to the next life.
Helps Odin to cope with the duties of Frigga, his wife. Judging by ancient legends, Odin's family is rather big: in addition to Frigga, he has other, younger, wives and numerous children.
Odin, the god of the mythology of the ancient Scandinavians, has not only many names by which he was known to other European cultures of his time, but also many “twin brothers” in the cults of many other peoples. The Germans called him Wodan or Wotan. In mythology, Odin does not have an unambiguous double, but parallels can be drawn between him and Veles, Svarog, Perun. And a number of researchers find some similarities between him and the Indian Shivva.
Odin is the supreme god in German-Scandinavian mythology, a witch and a seer, a warrior and a sage, the father of gods and people, the creators of things. God Odin (in the German tradition - Wotan) also performed the functions of the god of war and (partially, along with Tyr) the god of victory. Modern researchers believe that Odin is the god of the military aristocracy in early medieval Scandinavia (whereas, for example, Thor is the god of warriors from lower classes).
In numerous skaldic sagas, Odin is often called the Father of the gods, the king of Asgard, the sorcerer of Asgard, the Father of the squads, the All-Father, the Greatest, the Highest. Kennings and heiti (artistic metaphorical devices widely used in Scandinavian poetry) of Odin are diverse and often their etymology is not entirely clear. Nevertheless, it is clear that Odin was one of the most significant and, by far, the most revered god of the Old Norse and early Germanic pantheon. At the same time, according to the Elder Edda, Odin often took the form of a wanderer in a wide-brimmed hat and a dark blue cloak, and wandered around different worlds (including Midgard, the world of mortals).
God Odin is the son of Bor (the first ace, who in turn was the son of the first man named Buri) and Byestla (a woman from the family of frost giants, who is called the mother of aces). Boer and Böstla also had other sons - Vili and Vyo. Together with Odin, they killed Ymir, an ancient frost giant who was the first living being in the universe. From the body of Ymir Odin, Vili and Vyo created the foreseeable world.
The Scandinavian god Odin had many legendary descendants, the most famous of which is Thor, the defender of Midgard, the god of thunder and storm. Thor was born from Odin and Jord (a Jotun woman, a sacred image of the earth among the ancient Scandinavians). From an eastern princess (who was also a jotun) named Rind, Odin had a son, Vali (the patron of the plant world), and from a giantess, Grid, a son, Vidar (the silent god of vengeance). The legendary guardian of Asgard, Heimdal (his other name is Rig) is also the son of the god Odin "and nine mothers." Another famous descendant of Odin is Tyr (one-armed god of courage and military prowess), born of a giantess (her name is unknown), who was the sister of Gymir, a giant from Niflheim, who often travels with the aesir in various Eddic sagas. At the same time, "officially" Odin's wife is Frigg (goddess of the hearth). This couple had three sons - Balder the Beautiful (Odin's favorite son), Hod (the blind god of fate) and Hermod ("messenger of the gods").
Names of Odin, their interpretation and origin
According to the songs of the Elder Edda, the god Odin had many names, which he repeatedly calls under various circumstances. It is important to note that this is an echo of the Old Norse tradition, which was as follows. The first name was given to a person at birth, but subsequently he could change it repeatedly. In particular, some names were given for military exploits, others for achievements in crafts. Also, in different regions, a person could be called by different names, and in this case he used a “non-original” name as a talisman. The Scandinavians believed that, knowing the name of a person, one could bring divination or illness on him. Therefore, if a person, having first arrived in a new place, was called by a new name, he thus defended himself.
In addition, the numerous names of Odin are the result of the already mentioned poetic devices, haties and kennings, in which the object is called not by its own name, but allegorically, indirectly, figuratively. The most famous names of Odin are Grimnir, Hroft, Gangleri, Harbard, Thror and Od. Od occupies a special place here, because in fact this is not the name of Odin, that was the name of his mortal incarnation, which Freya fell in love with (see the corresponding Eddic myth). Also in the Elder Edda, Odin says that in different places he is known as Aegira, Heryan, Hjalmberi, Tekki, Tridi, Tuda, Hara, Uda, Helblindi, Svidrir, Yalka, Fjolnira and so on. In total, there are 54 names of Odin in the Elder Edda. Each of these names has its own etymology, sometimes quite confusing, but often quite obvious. Most of the names of Odin indicate his characteristic features and outstanding features, many have a literal translation such as “belligerence”, “wisdom”, “cunning”, “one eye”, “hat pulled down”, “gray beard” (for more details, see “ Elder Edda” translated by A.I. Korsun with comments by M.I. Steblin-Kamensky). For example, the name Grimnir literally means "hiding behind a mask", Alfredr means "All-father", Ygg can be translated as "frightening", and Fjolnir means "shape-changing".
As for the origin of the original name of Odin (Wotan), this issue still retains its debatable status. For the first time the form Wodan (Wodan) appears in the Nordendorf fibula (VI-VII centuries). Possibly Wodan can be related to High German Wuotan, Old Swedish Othin and Old Icelandic Odhin. The most popular version says that all these forms originated from the Proto-Germanic words Wodanaz and Wodinaz, which can literally be translated as a turnover "in a rage." At the same time, there are two versions of the interpretation of the turnover, either “rage” in this case means “anger”, or indicates sexual arousal, unbridled desire (see the works of Renault-Krantz). As for the translations “seer” or “prophet” (which, in particular, can be found on Wikipedia), in reality this is a false statement that does not correspond to the truth.
J. Dumézil believes that the name of the Scandinavian god Odin comes from the Old Norse form ôdhn, which corresponds to the Gothic word wôds (“violent”) and the German wut (“fury”). However, Dumézil in his works also mentions the Anglo-Saxon form wôth, which means “song” in translation, although in this case the meaning of the image can be multifaceted (for example, a song as a battle excitement). Many similar forms in other Indo-European languages also denote inspiration, rage, fury, strong love, passion.
Attributes and symbols of Odin
Strictly speaking, Odin does not have any special symbols that could uniquely identify him. Unless Valknut (literal translation from the Old Norse “knot of the fallen”), he is also the Heart of Hrungnir, a symbol of warriors who fell in battle and went to Asgard to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Allfather. Also often on the Web there is information that the symbol of Odin is Triskele. This is a false statement (see article on Triskele). Nevertheless, the Allfather has many characteristic attributes, in particular, these are special magical items, artifacts that only Odin himself owned.
The first such artifact is Gungnir, a spear that never misses, forged for Grimnir by the dark elves. Another famous attribute of Odin is the seven-legged horse Sleipnir, which moves faster than the wind, the son of Loki and the stallion Svadilfari. Odin also owns the magic ring Draupnir (his son Balder had it for some time). Often, the god Odin is credited with the possession of the legendary ship Skidbladnir (which can accommodate the entire army of Asgard, and itself can be folded to the size of a palm), but according to the "Younger Edda" this ship belongs to Freyr.
Odin is served by two monstrous wolves - Geri ("greedy") and Freki ("gluttonous"), and two immortal crows - Munin ("memory") and Hugin ("thought"). One All-Father is the lord of Asgard, the highest world of aces, his personal chambers are Valhalla, in which the valiantly fallen warriors feast. His personal squad - the best heavenly knights, who have no equal in battle, are called einheryas. They will march with Odin on the day of Ragnarok to fight Hel and her armies of the dead. In Ragnarok, Odin will fall in battle with Fenrir, but his son Vidar will avenge his father by slaying the infernal wolf.
Myths of Odin: source of wisdom, god of the hanged, lord of runes
The myth (“Elder Edda”, the song of the “High Speech”) is widely known about how the god Odin pierced himself with his own spear (Gungnir) and hung upside down for 9 nights (namely, nights, not days, as Wikipedia and many other network resources!) on the World Tree Yggdrasil. This great act of self-sacrifice allowed Odin to discover the wisdom of the runes. But it is important to note that in this part of the "Speech of the High One" Odin speaks of eighteen "songs of power" ("spells"), which are not necessarily associated with the runes he discovered. Therefore, we can talk here both about the traditional 24-run futhark of the all-Germanic runes (the so-called Elder Runes), and about the 18-run futhark of the Danish runes (about which Guido von List wrote, in particular).
K. Meadows mentions an interesting (no doubt later) myth about how exactly the god Odin gained knowledge of the runes. According to this myth, nine branches fell from Yggdrasil, forming an intricate chopped pattern (see the figure below). Having peered into this pattern, Odin saw hidden patterns in it and singled out 24 characters that gave rise to the entire group of runic alphabets of the European north. Odin gave the runes to people so that they could find out the will of the gods, the essence of what is happening around and the future.
Another famous myth from the "Younger Edda" by Snorri Sturluson tells how Odin gave his right eye to the giant Mimir, the keeper of the source of wisdom at the roots of the World Tree, in order to receive the gift of a seer. That is why Odin is very often called one-eyed in Eddic songs. Also in the "Saga of Olaf the Holy" a unique feature of Odin is mentioned - he never eats, he only tastes the "poetry honey" in Valhalla.
By the way, the "honey of poetry", the source of the creative power of people and aces, was also obtained by the god Odin. According to the Eddic legend, when the Æsir and the Vanir made peace after the "first war", they mixed their saliva and thus the dwarf Kvasir was born. But soon Kvasir was killed by other dwarfs, who mixed his blood with honey and thus received the famous "poetry honey", which later went to the giants as a ransom (this is how the dwarfs protected their people from the Turses). Odin entered the house of the giant Suttunga, who kept honey in his house in the rock, by drilling a hole in the wall and passing through it in the form of a snake. Then Grimnir seduced the giantess (daughter of Sutthung), who was guarding the honey, and in the form of an eagle carried it to Asgard. But on the way, he spilled some of the "poetry honey" (he carried it in his beak), and those of the people who managed to taste the honey became skalds. Also, Odin himself swallowed a little drink, and what he later emptied himself with, according to legend, was given as a gift to untalented poets.
Late German legends are known about how the god Wotan (Odin) on Sleipnir, surrounded by einheryas, sweeps over the battlefield, granting victory to the most worthy. In the Middle Ages, this poetic image was transformed into the famous "Wild Hunt", a warlike armada of the dead that appears above the earth (more often in a storm or snowstorm), as an omen of a great war.
Many late Norse sagas (in particular, the work of Thordason "The Third Grammatical Treatise") mention that Odin was revered as the god of the hanged. This is probably due to the fact that Odin was served by ravens, which are scavengers. Also here, the influence of Christian missionaries is obvious, who tried by all means to get rid of people's memory the image of the All-Father, attributing to him gloominess and all sorts of negative traits.
"Earthly" descendants of Odin and "Mr. Wednesday"
According to the works of Snorri Sturluson, Odin was a very real historical character who ruled over vast territories east of the Tanais (Don), had possessions "in the country of the Turks" and south of the Ural Mountains. Then Odin moved to Denmark, leaving the brothers Vili and Vyo to rule Asgard. He divided the "Country of the Saxons" between his sons: Vegdeg received the eastern lands, Baldr began to rule Westphalia, and Sigi became king in the lands of the Franks. Then Odin came to Jutland (which Snorri calls Reidgotland), leaving his son Skjold to rule there. He then reached Sweden, where he founded the legendary city of Sigtun.
Also, Odin ruled Norway, and then left his son Saming to rule there. He appointed another of his sons, Yngwie (the ancestor of the famous Yngling family), as king of Sweden. At the same time, the semi-mythical image of Yngwie is closely connected with the god Freyr (see the article about Freyr). Later, Odin's grandson, Frodi, began to rule Denmark.
It is curious to mention the theory of Thor Heyerdahl, who believed that Odin's Asgard was the ancient city of Tanais in the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. According to Heyerdahl, Odin was forced to take his people north because of the pressure of the Romans at the beginning of our era. In the context of this theory, it is also worth recalling the statement of G.V. Vernadsky that the word "Ases", in all likelihood, comes from the name of the Slavic tribes of the Ases-Alans.
Lotte Hedeager believes that historically Odin did not exist, but his Eddic image was inspired by the Scandinavian skalds by the great Hun conqueror Attila. According to Hedeager, the real Atilla and the mythological Odin have much in common, although most researchers do not agree with this version, seeing the image of Atilla in another character of the Old Norse epic (Atli from the legend of Sigurd and Brynhild). There is also a theory that after the Christianization of the Scandinavian Peninsula, in an attempt to preserve the image of Odin, the local population embodied their ancient god in the form of Santa Claus. Of course, this is just a hypothesis.
In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that the ancient Germans called Wednesday "Odin's day." According to M. Eliade, they adopted the seven-day week from the Romans and began to call the days of the week after the names of the gods. Odin got Wednesday: Wuotanestac in Old High German, Woensdag in Dutch, Wednesday in Old English, and Odinnsdagr in Old Norse. Today, the original image of Odin, drawn by the artistic genius of N. Gaiman, who in his book American Gods calls Odin "Mr. Wednesday", is widely known.
Artist Arthur Rackham
Konstantin Vasiliev
Odin or Wotan, Wodan ("all-father", "warrior"), the supreme god of Scandinavian-Germanic mythology, the son of Bor and Bestla, the grandson of Storm. His cult was especially popular with the Vikings, and therefore the period of his heyday falls on the VIII and IX centuries. Sailors and pirates of the North worshiped 6ogy, who loves battles, and believed that in Valhalla, Odin's silver-roofed dwelling, this one-eyed god gathers an army of einherii, "valiantly fallen" warriors.
It seems that it was then that Odin supplanted Tyr, originally the sky god of Norse mythology. Tyr remained the "god of battle", and Odin took the military elite under his protection. Only he could bring the combatants into a state of violent rage during the battle, when they lost their sense of fear and pain. Odin's name means shamanistic ecstasy, an obsession similar to the fighting rage of the Irish hero Cuchulainn. The fact that it was Odin who took the place of the supreme god shows what an important role war played in the life of the northerners.
It should be noted, however, that the god himself was not subject to martial ecstasy; he was most likely a sower of war strife. In addition to power over the squads of mortals and "valiantly fallen", Odin was considered the god of magic and wisdom. As the oldest of the gods, he was revered by them as a father.
Howard David Johnson
Howard David Johnson
This god can be accused of deceit and bloodthirstiness, but we must not forget, for example, about his education. The internal struggle between good and evil in Odin is akin to the nature of the Hindu god Shiva, the great destroyer-creator of Indian mythology. Odin was often depicted as a one-eyed, gray-bearded old man in a blue cloak, whose face is hidden by a hood or wide-brimmed hat. God gave the eye to Mimir, the owner of the source of great wisdom, for just one sip from it. The remaining eye symbolized the sun, and the lost eye, the symbol of the moon, floated in Mimir's spring. In order to learn the secret of the dead and gain the gift of clairvoyance, Odin, pierced by his own spear, hung for nine days on the world tree Yggdrasil. Then, having quenched his thirst with sacred honey, he received from the giant Bulthorn, his maternal grandfather, magical runes - carriers of wisdom.
Odin had a wife, Frigga, who lived in Asgard. She rightfully sat next to her husband on the throne of Hlidskjalva, from where the divine couple could survey all nine worlds, observing the events of the present and future. Odin knew everything that happens in the nine worlds, and in this he was helped by the bottom of his brother-crow, Hugin ("thought") and Munin ("memory"). Having circled the worlds, the birds returned and, sitting on the shoulders of Odin, whispered about everything that they could find out.
Edward Burne-Jones, 1870
Ferdinand Leeke, 1890
One stood at the head of the Valkyries, the performers of his will on the battlefields. Once Brunhild, helping Sigmund, refused to obey Odin. As a punishment, Brunhild was to remain at the top of the hill until a mortal fell in love with her. Later, the god softened the punishment by surrounding Brunhild with a fiery ring, which the bravest of heroes could pass through. The sons of Odin were considered, among others, Thor, Baldr, Hed and Vali.
With the approach of Ragnarok, the wise and clairvoyant Odin became more and more preoccupied. If in Scandinavian mythology the universe is cleansed by the blood of the frost giant Ymir, since the divine brothers, Odin, Vili and Ve, having killed the giant, create the world from his body, then the battle of gods and monsters should be the finale of the existence of the world, and as a result - universal death. Ragnarök was foreshadowed by the death of Baldr. One was powerless to avert disaster. His only consolation was the knowledge that the resurrected Baldr would take his place in the new world, on the new earth that would rise from the depths of the sea. The growth in the number of squads assembled in Valhalla served as the key to successful preparations for Ragnarok, since the Einherjars were supposed to participate in this last battle in the Vigrid Valley. where all the people will die. Odin himself must be swallowed by the monstrous wolf Fenrir, the vile offspring of the fire god Loki and the giantess Angrboda.
