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and so called the All-Father, and their chieften. His hall is Valholl, located in Gladsheim, the fifth hall
mentioned in Grimnismal. He is far too complex to cover in any depth here, except for a few key
mythical points.
As alluded to in this poem, Oðinn is a soverreign god. His is the chief among the Aesir, and the
patron of royalty. He selects who dies in battle, with the aid of his valkyries, and the their souls
become part of his heavenly army which will fight Fenrir, the wolf, at the end of the world. He is also
called the cargo-god and seems to have inherited some third-functionality.
The Old Norwegian Rune Rhyme states:
(Estuary) is the way of most journeys;
But the sheath is (that way for) swords.
Arguably, this points again to Oðinn in his aspect of the cargo-god (ON Farmatyr). Oðinn is, also,
associated particularly with the sword although he does not wield one in battle. The sword was
symbolic more of sovereignty than might in the Volsung saga presumably because it carried with it
the weight of its previous economic implications.
In contrast to the swords of the Greeks and Romans, the Celts invented a technology for making
swords which was quickly coppied by other peoples of northern Europe called "pattern welding."
While this technique could be used to make swords and other weapons of vastly superior quality to
the homogenous iron weapons of the Mediterranean, the process was also far more costly; it could
take a smith a month or more to make a single sword, so only the soverreign could afford them.
The Germanic peoples quickly adopted this technology, and when the Goths swept through Europe
and brought an end to the Western Roman Empire, they also brought with them pattern-welding
technology and the connection of the sword with sovereignty. In fact the use of the sword in knighting
and coronation rituals probably owes much to the Germanic peoples, either Gothic, Franks, or Norse.6
For example, a sword is given to Sigmund by Oðinn, and as long as is in one piece, Sigmund has
vicory, but when Oðinn breaks Sigmund s sword, the tide of battle turns on him and he is defeated.
The fragments are reforged for his son Sigurd and are instrumental in the slaying of Fafnir, the dragon.
Also note that Freyr s doom in Ragnarok is sealed when he gives his sword up as dowery in order to
marry Gerd.
The unifying theme of the stanza (involving the estuary and the sheath) is that patience and cau-
tion are generally necessary. Just as one does not go boldly sailing into the open sea, so too does one
keep the personal sovereign power available but unused unless it is clear that it is necessary.
While the surface meaning of the sheath and sword metaphore may incline one to conclude that
the Rune Poem is warning one to generally leave one s sword sheathed, there is deeper, more mythic
element as well. Oðinn gives Sigmund the sword by thrusting it into a tree and stating that any who
could pull it free could have it (certainly related to the Arthurian sword and stone story).7 If we accept
that the tree represents a metaphore for human existance and the sword for sovereign power, then
the sword remains sheathed in the tree in most people. It is only in the greatest and most soverreign
that are able to unsheath the sword and apply its power.
6
See Edge and Paddock, pages 24-26. They attribute the rise in symbolic status of the sword in Europes s Middle ages to
the Viking invasions, but I reject this theory on the grounds that the Goths and Franks were in a greater position to influence
the symbol set of Europe. Furthermore, the rise of knighthood occurred first in lands with strong Gothic or Frankish influence.
7
For a more thurrough discussion of this story, see the discussion on the Elhaz rune below (section 5.8.
48 CHAPTER 4. THE FIRST AETT: THE AETT OF CREATION
The Old English Rune Poem presents yet another angle on this rune:
(God) is the chieftain8 of all speech,
the mainstay of wisdom and comfort to the wise,
and for every noble warrior9 hope and happiness.
Here, communcation and wisdom are mentioned. In several places Havamal connects these two
concepts. However, both concepts are inherently connected with the OE god Woden and his ON
cognate, Oðinn. In fact the name Oðinn means "Master of Oðr," and Oðr can be translates as "frenzy,"
but also as "song" or "inspiration."10 Watkins goes on to translate the Germanic Woðanaz ( -> Oðinn)
as "One who Incarnates Shamanic Wisdom," being decended from the Indo-European root *uet.
As for the title Ansuz, it is one of the few rune names associated with the Elder Futhark which is
actually found in inscriptions. Polomé derives the name from terms meaning "Holder of the Reins"
which places it in an interesting place with regard to the Raiðo stave that follows it. If this is to be
derived from such meaning, then it is worth addressing a fairly common Indo-European theme which
occurs in various mystically oriented writings from Plato to the Bagavad Gita: the soul as a chariot.11.
Plato, in his dialog Phaedrus, describes the soul as a chariot drawn by two horses representing
the good and bad sides of our nature. The charioteer s job is to learn how to control the bad horse
and encourage the good horse. In the Bagavad Gita, the horses are the senses and are to be restrained
via asceticism. In both cases, it is the ruling principle in the self which must constrain and properly
channel the primordial aspects of oneself through discipline and some detachment, and by extension
self-mastery. I suspect that the Norse would have seen the horses as representing primal emotional
hungers and drives that must be kept in balance with other aspects of oneself. The Old English poem
The Wanderer mentioned in Chapter 2 of this book appears to allude to this idea in the passage:
No weary companion might Wyrd withstand,
nor untamed heart bring help
For this, those eager for justice oft
the dreariness in their breast bind fast.
One must address address the presense of so clear a sovereign figure in the middle of the first aett
if we are adopt the thesis that these aettir correspond to the three functions. The answer is actually
somewhat simple. The Runes of the First Aett represent not only productive principles but the very
process of creation. Oðinn is the god that sacrifices Ymir and creates the world in the first act of sover-
reignty, and that the result of this action was the production of the world as we know it. One should
note how the three preceeding runes have both primordial and production-oriented aspects while the
following runes in the first Aett center much more heavily around the production and wealth theme
that the Indo-Europeans tended to ascribe to this rank. Lastly, one should note that this theme of the
sovereign transforming the primal into the productive is also found commonly in Old Irish mythol-
ogy and in the Rig Veda as well in many guises including the War of the Functions.12 Oðin s presence
here serves to transform and create the producing Aett from the primordial wilderness. This in itself
is at once sovereign and production-oriented.
Yet this rune has distinct significance in itself. It refers not only to the sovereign divine power
that the sword represents, but also to the faculties of inspiration and speech which were given to
8
Might also be translated "source"
9
The Old English word used here might be a form of eorl ("Earl") though others have suggested that it might be distinct
and related to the "Eruli" (PGmc Erilaz).
10
Watkins, Calvert How to Kill a Dragon p118. Watkins links this word to "Shamanic Wisdom."
11
Note that most tarot decks adopt the description of the chariot from Plato
12
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