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Odin na Côrte do Rei Geirrod (Conto Folclórico Nórdico Sugerido)

Havia, outrora, dois irmãos, filhos do rei Hrauding. O mais velho chamava-se Agnar e tinha dez anos de idade, enquanto o outro tinha oito anos e se chamava Geirrod. Certa feita, ambos haviam saído para pescar, com a autorização do pai, mas como o vento estivesse muito forte, acabaram por se perder e sua embarcação foi parar numa distante ilha.

- E agora, Agnar? - disse o frágil Geirrod, tentando manter a embarcação acima das águas junto com o irmão.

Mas todos os seus esforços resultaram inúteis: depois de dois ou três arremessos mais violentos, a frágil embarcação desfez-se nos penedos que recortavam a ilha. Agnar e Geirrod puderam dar-se por muito felizes por ter escapado com vida do terrível naufrágio.

Nem bem chegaram às areias da praia, mais mortos do que vivos, foram recolhidos por um pescador e sua mulher. Como o inverno recém tivesse começado - e fosse, conseqüentemente, época de muitos temporais, o que lhes impossibilitava o retorno à sua pátria -, Agnar e Geirrod viram-se obrigados a permanecer na ilha na companhia do casal.

O pescador e sua mulher mostraram-se muito amáveis com os dois jovens, mas, desde logo, ficou claro que ele tinha uma especial predileção por Geirrod, enquanto ela não disfarçava uma maior afeição por Agnar. Embora isto, viveram Iodos em paz e harmonia durante todo o período em que permaneceram na ilha até que a primavera deu os seus primeiros sinais.

- Agnar, meu irmão - disse o caçula Geirrod -, acho que chegou a época de voltar para a casa de nosso pai.

- Estou de acordo - respondeu o outro. - Vamos pedir aos nossos protetores que nos ajudem a construir uma nova embarcação.

E assim se fez. O pescador e sua esposa não se furtaram a ajudá-los, embora sentissem um aperto no coração por ter que se separar, tão cedo, daqueles dois jovens, que já lhes pareciam, de certa maneira, seus próprios filhos.

Agnar e Geirrod partiram, afinal, num belo dia de sol. Antes de embarcar, foram se despedir dos seus benfeitores e o pescador aproveitou para murmurar algo ao ouvido de Geirrod. Uma vez embarcados, tomaram com segurança o rumo de casa, enquanto que Odin e Frigga - pois não eram outros o pescador e sua mulher, senão, as duas principais divindades nórdicas, que ali estavam a passeio - começaram a debater entre si sobre qual dos irmãos seria o mais justo e correto.

- Não resta a menor dúvida que Agnar tem o coração mais puro - disse Frigga, convicta de suas palavras. - Somente a sua obtusa teimosia poderia levá-lo a pensar o contrário.

- Asneiras! - disse Odin, abanando a cabeça com desdém. - Qualquer idiota pode ver, perfeitamente, que o jovem Geirrod é, infinitamente, melhor que o irmão.

E a esta discussão entregaram-se com tanto gosto, que, em breve, já estavam a um passo de se engalfinhar. Odin decidiu, então, retornar para Asgard antes que o tempo fechasse de uma vez.

Mas lá foi pior, pois Frigga, que se julgava uma deusa muito virtuosa - e por isto mesmo muito rabugenta - retomou a discussão no ponto em que parará.

- Agnar é que é o tal! - corneteava ela o dia inteiro no ouvido do marido, que se fazia de desentendido. - Geirrod não é de nada! Viva Agnar! Viva Agnar!

Não restava dúvida alguma de que ela queria uma boa briga: em casa, no conforto do lar, enxergando todos os seus objetos e conhecendo o ambiente com a palma da mão, Frigga estava em seu território. Odin não tardou a perder a

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paciência e saiu em defesa de Geirrod e nesta chateação ficaram os dois por muito tempo, atazanando a paciência dos demais deuses com os gritos da luta conjugai.

Enquanto isto, em alto-mar, e já perto da costa onde ficava seu reino, os dois irmãos não viam a hora de desembarcar.

- Finalmente, caro Geirrod, estamos quase em casa! - gritava Agnar, sem conter a euforia.

Geirrod, no entanto, tinha o olhar voltado para a praia. Seus olhos vasculhavam a costa inteira para se certificar de que ninguém os enxergava.

- O que houve? - disse Agnar, intrigado com o mutismo do irmão.

- Nada, nada... - disse o outro, procurando disfarçar. - Estou tentando avistar algum conhecido na beira da praia.

O barco aproximou-se da costa. Geirrod pediu, então, que Agnar fosse buscar algo no fundo da embarcação e, tão logo este lhe deu as costas, golpeou-o com um pesado bastão.

- Pronto, agora fique quietinho aí!... - disse ele, com um sorriso perverso.

Tomando do remo, ele aproximou a embarcação da praia, desembarcou num pulo e devolveu às águas o barco, o qual, engolfado rapidamente numa corrente marinha, foi levado para bem longe do reino. Geirrod tinha certeza que o irmão pereceria de fome e sede antes de chegar a qualquer lugar habitado.

- Adeus, importuno! - disse Geirrod, abanando para a embarcação. - A partir de agora, o herdeiro da coroa passa a ser eu!

Geirrod apresentou-se no mesmo dia diante do pai, o velho e quase decrépito rei Hrauding, e lhe contou a história à sua maneira, repetindo-a tal como ocorrera, mudando apenas o final.

- Oh, papai...! - disse ele, engasgando fingidamente. - Não sei como lhe diga...! O seu adorado Agnar morreu em alto-mar e nossos olhos nunca mais o avistarão!

O adorado Agnar, entretanto, fora parar muitos dias depois, com as roupas em tiras e virado em um esqueleto semi-morto, numa ilha habitada por gigantes, onde ficaria ainda por muitos anos até se restabelecer da ferida provocada pelo traiçoeiro golpe, bem como das seqüelas da inanição.

Mas tudo isto deveria servir, pelo menos, para resolver, de uma vez, a pendenga em Asgard: o canalha era mesmo Geirrod.

***

Infelizmente, não serviu: a partir daí mesmo é que a discussão pegou fogo na morada dos deuses. Odin, sem querer dar o braço a torcer - mesmo após o ato abominável perpetrado pelo seu favorito -, teimava, como um pai cego pelo amor, em declarar o perverso Geirrod melhor que o irmão Frigga, a seu turno, possuída pela ira e repleta de argumentos, investia contra o esposo como uma valquíria enfurecida.

- Vai teimar ainda, depois de tudo o que seu queridinho fez? - disse ela, com as mãos na cintura. - Então, ficou cego dos dois olhos de uma vez...!

- Geirrod é que é o tal - só dizia o deus, sem encontrar outro argumento.

Os anos passaram e Odin resolveu recorrer ao deboche, uma vez que Frigga não cessava de tripudiá-lo. Um dia, então, estando sentado em seu trono mágico, de onde podia avistar tudo o que se passava em qualquer parte do universo, chamou sua irritante esposa.

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- Está vendo os dois? - disse ele, com uma indisfarçada nota de presunção na voz. - Geirrod é, hoje, um rei em seu país; já seu protegido não passa do afilhadinho efeminado de uma giganta qualquer numa ilha perdida no fim do mundo!

Não adiantava Frigga retorquir que Geirrod era um patife e que adquirira sua posição à custa de um odioso crime: ela bem sabia que um passado vil se dilui, facilmente, diante de um presente magnífico. Geirrod era agora um rei inconteste, sólido em seu trono, tal como Odin no seu - e, para a ralé mundana, era isto o que contava.Então Frigga, cuja virtude neurastênica a tornava extremamente hábil na invenção de tormentos e castigos, decidiu fazer com que seu obtuso esposo provasse um pouco da perversidade de seu protegido. "Infelizmente, somente desta maneira dolorosa meu pobre esposo chegará a reconhecer a verdade...!", pensou Frigga, sentindo-se tão nobre e piedosa que chegou a converter a pena fingida que sentia por seu marido numa pena sincera por si mesma.

- Seu queridinho é tão mesquinho e egoísta - disse Frigga - que tem o péssimo hábito de torturar os próprios hóspedes, desde que não lhe caiam no agrado!

Odin enfureceu-se de verdade desta vez.

- Oh, mulher vil e caluniosa...! - disse Odin, expelindo, involuntariamente, alguns perdigotos divinos pela boca. - De onde tirou tal disparate?

- Todos sabem disto naquela corte infame! - retrucou Frigga, triunfante. - Só você, o grande patusco, é que desconhece o fato!

Odin fez, então, o que sua esposa já esperava que fizesse: prontificou-se a ir até a corte do seu protegido para provar que aquilo era uma calúnia baixa.

- Desta vez, você desceu demais e eu vou lhe provar isto!... - disse o deus, erguendo-se num ímpeto e indo logo buscar na estrebaria o seu magnífico cavalo, Sleipnir - aquele de oito patas, que era o mais veloz do universo e tudo o mais.

- Espere, leve, ao menos, um agasalho para não apanhar um resfriado na viagem - disse Frigga, demonstrando um súbito resquício de afeto, que chegou a embaraçar, por alguns instantes, o seu irado esposo. Enquanto Frigga esteve ausente - um bom tempo -, Odin chegou mesmo a sentir por ela um resquício de ternura.

"Ora, gostei disto...!", pensou ele, com uma certa umidade no olhar. "Ela ainda preocupa-se comigo, afinal!" E chegou a dar graças a si mesmo por não lê-la chamado de Frigga frígida, ofensa medonha que só usava em último caso, por saber que nada a deixava mais enlouquecida.

Dali a muito tempo, ela retornou com a pele de urso predileta de Odin, dizendo:

- Pronto, vá lá e veja você mesmo com quem está lidando!

***

Odin chegou à noite à corte de Geirrod, incógnito, sob o nome falso de (irimnir.

- Deixem-me passar, lacaios! - disse ele, ao chegar ao portão do palácio tio novo rei, pois não fazia muito tempo que o velho havia morrido e o tratante assumido o seu lugar.

O que ele não sabia, no entanto, é que Frigga havia ordenado a um de seus mensageiros que fosse na frente levar um recado ao perverso rei (daí a demora em lhe trazer a pele de urso). Este recado dizia simplesmente:

"Magnífico rei: um canalha e traidor da pior espécie, que atende pelo nome de Grimnir, aproxima-se de sua morada para lhe trazer a desgraça e o infortúnio; se ainda quiser ter o pescoço em cima dos ombros no alvorecer do próximo

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dia, trate logo de aprisioná-lo e metêlo nos tormentos, assim que ele ousar pôr os pés no mesmo chão que seus divinos pés abençoam. "

Ass.: "Uma Amiga."

Odin foi recebido de maneira um tanto desleixada pelo rei, o qual estava mais deitado do que sentado em seu trono ordinário (pois aquele reino era, na verdade, bem miserável, comparado a outras cortes, infinitamente, mais ricas e brilhantes).

Um serviçal vil e careca, que parecia se regozijar, imensamente, com sua subalternidade, acabara de ler ao tirano o conteúdo do bilhete. As palavras sussurradas pelo verme calvo pareciam ter-lhe deliciado ao extremo, pois, logo em seguida, as duas tiras secas dos seus lábios se arreganharam num sorriso torpe.

- Ah! É você, então, o ilustre estrangeiro! - disse ele, escorregando mais um pouco no seu troninho de pau, pintado com uma casquinha de ouro tão fina que a unha poderia descascá-la.

Odin olhou para o alto, pois sabia que de algum lugar sua esposa o observava.

"Ilustre estrangeiro...!", pensou ele, com a vitória na mão. "Aí está, linguaruda", acrescentou, esquecendo o fiapo de ternura e assumindo, outra vez, a postura cruel do vencedor.

O estrondo de um escudo que caíra ao se desprender de uma das paredes encardidas, entretanto, atroou todo o recinto, dissolvendo o seu pequenino triunfo.

- Oh, o escudo magnífico de meu bisavô! - exclamou Geirrod, irado. -Quem foi o imbecil que o deixou cair?

Fora o Tempo, o imbecil que deixara o velho escudo cair, mas já outro imbecil - o lacaio da cabeça pelada - arremessara-se a ele sem perder um segundo.

- Aqui está, realíssima alteza!... - disse o serviçal, cuja careca estava es-carlate pela expectativa de uma recompensazinha.

- Idiota! - exclamou o tirano. - Deixou que ele amassasse!

De fato, o escudo maravilhoso - o melhor e mais rico objeto do palácio inteiro - depois da queda, virará uma bacia velha e amassada. Na verdade, o metal do qual fora feito era tão ordinário que o ferrão de uma abelha poderia atravessá-lo de lado a lado.

Mas logo as atenções estavam voltadas, novamente, para o visitante.

- O seu nome...! - disse Geirrod a Odin, com secura na voz. - As coisas começavam a dar para trás e isto era o bastante para ele mandar às favas o verniz que recobria, mal e porcamente, a sua péssima educação.

- Grimnir é meu nome! - disse Odin, com altivez.

- Levem-no imediatamente! - bradou o rei. - E já sabem para onde!

Por que Geirrod usara daquele tom?, pensava Odin, desconfiando um pouco da fidalguia do seu anfitrião. Mas, quando os guardas agarraram-no pelos braços e o levaram de arrasto para dentro do palácio, Odin ficou mais branco que um coelho enterrado na neve. O deus foi lançado na mais fétida das masmorras, e ali esteve trancafiado a noite inteira até que, ao alvorecer, dois guardas vieram e o levaram, coberto de algemas e correntes até a presença do rei.

Quando chegou ao salão, viu que havia duas fogueiras armadas.

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- Coloquem-no entre as duas fogueiras! - disse o rei, que estava com uma perna por cima da guarda do trono, como quem estivesse prestes a assistir a um espetáculo muito divertido. - Agora você ficará aí nos próximos oito dias, até confessar quais são seus nefandos propósitos!

Odin estava envolto num manto escuro de propriedades mágicas e, graças a ele, pôde suportar os primeiros dias daquela bárbara prova, o que lhe deu ânimo para inventar desculpas para o comportamento monstruoso de seu anfitrião.

- Afinal, está um frio dos diabos, mesmo!... - disse, mais para que sua esposa Frigga escutasse do que para si mesmo.

Mas, no quarto dia o suplício tornou-se a tal ponto insuportável que Odin teve de admitir, finalmente, que estava diante de um tremendo canalha.

- Muito bem, Frigga, você venceu! - exclamava ele, em meio às labaredas.

O manto de Odin tinha esquentado tanto que já aderira à sua pele, causando-lhe indizíveis dores. No oitavo dia, entretanto, o filho de Geirrod - que linha o mesmo nome de seu infeliz tio, Agnar, e também o seu bom coração - sentiu pena do hóspede maltratado e lhe levou um chifre repleto de hidromel.

Um pouco refeito dos seus padecimentos, Odin chegou à conclusão dique já era hora de acabar com sua teimosia.

- Muito bem, tirano maldito! - disse o deus, liberte-me já! Caso contrário será punido com a morte!

- Enlouqueceu de vez! - disse o rei, ainda mais deliciado.

Então Odin começou a entoar as suas runas mágicas e as cadeias foram caindo uma a uma a seus pés, ao mesmo tempo em que as duas fogueiras se extinguiam diante dos olhos do rei.

Liberto, o deus supremo pôs-se em pé, pronto para a desforra. Geirrod, aterrado, ergueu-se lambem, mas ao ver que seu inimigo avançava sobre ele, tomou de sua espada. Porém, ao descer de seu trono mambembe, meteu o pé num furo do tapete vermelho e caiu de cara na ponta da espada, morrendo no mesmo instante.

Agnar, o filho de Geirrod, sucedeu ao pai no trono e a primeira medida que tomou foi mandar trazer do exílio o seu tio, de modo que ambos viveram felizes para sempre naquele pobre, porém, decente reino.

Conto e lenda extraída do livro "As melhores histórias da mitologia nórdica" de A. S. Franchini / Carmen Seganfredo.

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Germanic Gods

WODAN (ODIN)

The highest and most supreme deity, universally worshipped among all Germanic

tribes, was called Wuotan in Old High German, Odin in Norse. According to pagan

conception, Wodan is the ruler of the world, wise and skilled in arts, the all-powerful

and all-pervading god, ordainer of wars and battles, on whom at the same time

depends the fertility of the soil. He carries a spear or staff and is the all-seeing eye of

the sun. He stands at the head of all dynasties of kings. His name is indelibly

imprinted on many places. In language the "Wodan span" describes a portion of the

hand. Ravens and wolves, which before all other animals were associated by our

people with his name, scent his victorious approach. Because he simultaneously

appears as the god of poetry, of measure, of apportioning, of boundary, of dice, so

can talents, treasures, arts, be regarded as emanating from him.

Wodan looks down to earth through a window from his

dwelling in the sky, which is completely in accord with

the old Norse idea. Wodan has a throne named

Hlidskjalf, sitting upon which he can look over the

entire world and can hear everything which takes

place among men. When Loki wished to conceal

himself, Wodan spied out his hiding-place from this

seat. Sometimes Frigga, Wodan's wife, is also

conceived as sitting near him, then she too enjoys the

same prospect. Pagan perception makes the divine

quality of seeing through everything dependent on the placing or adjustment of the

chair and just as this quality leaves the god when he does not sit upon it, so can

others, as soon as they take the chair, participate in the power. This was the case

when Freyr spied the beautiful Gerd away down in Jotunheim. The word hlidscialf

seems to mean literally door-bench, from hlid and skialf. This idea of a seat in

heaven, from which god looks down to earth, is still not extinguished among our

people.

Hlidskjalf

"There is a great dwelling called Valaskjalf, owned by Odin, which the gods built and roofed with pure silver. It is there in this hall that Hlidskjalf is to be found, the high seat as it is called; and whenever the All-Father sits on this

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throne he can see over the entire world" (Deluding of Gylfi 16).

In the eyes of our forefathers, victory was the foremost and highest of all gifts.

However, they regarded Wodan not only as awarder of victory; he was also

conceived by them generally as the god by whose favor man has to expect every

other distinction, in whose hands all higher goods are held.

Just as the souls of slain warriors arrive in Indra's heaven, so the victory-granting

god of our forefathers takes up heroes fallen in battle into his company, into his

army, into his heavenly dwelling. Probably it was the belief of all gods and noble men

that they would be allowed after their death into closer fellowship with the deity.

Valhall (Valhalla) and Valkyrja (Valkyries) are closely related with the idea of wish

and of choice. Therefore dying means, and even according to Christian view, to go to

God, to return to God. In the North, to journey to Odin, to be a guest of Odin, or to

visit Odin meant nothing other but dying and was synonymous with journeying to

Valhalla, being a guest in Valhalla. But among Christians curses developed from this:

Go to Odin! Here is shown the reversal of the good-natured being with whom one

wishes to abide, into an evil one whose abode inculcates fear and terror.

Concerning the peculiarities of the shape and outward appearance of the god, as

these are imprinted on the Norse myths, I have discovered few remaining traces with

us in Germany. Odin is one-eyed, wears a wide-brimmed-hat and broad cloak. When

he desired to drink from Mimir's well, he had to leave one eye as a pledge.

Norse myth provides Odin with a wonderful

spear named Gungnir, which would compare

with the lance or sword of Mars, not the staff

of Mercury. This spear he lends the hero for

victory. The god of victory is given two wolves

and two ravens which as warlike, courageous

animals follow the battle and throw

themselves on the corpses of the fallen. The

wolves were called Geri and Freki and Hans

Sachs drolly relates in a verse that God the

Lord has chosen wolves for hunting dogs, that

they are his animals. The two ravens are

called Hugin and Munin, from Hugr and Munr

("thought" and "memory"). They are wise and

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clever, sit on the shoulders of Odin and speak into his ear everything which they see

and hear. Wolf and raven were also sacred to the Greek Apollo. The Gospels

represent the Holy Ghost as a dove which during baptism flies down to Christ and

hovers in the air above him. Is this a pagan memory? [Image: Odin carving runes on

his spear; illustration by F. Von Stassen (1914). To learn the secret of the runes Odin

hung himself on the World-Tree, Yggdrasil.]

Odin's Self-Sacrifice on Yggdrasil

I know I hung on the wind-swept tree nine full nightswounded by a spear and dedicated to Odin,

myself to myself,on that tree of which none knows from where the roots come.

They did not comfort me with the loaf nor with the drinking horn:I looked down below me and groaning took the runes up

and fell back down thereafter.

Havamal 138-139

In the shape of a bearded old man Wodan appears like a water spirit or water god

and to do justice to the Latin name Neptune, which some older writers use of him.

Wodan's rule over the water as over the wind explains how he walks on the waves

and approaches through the air in a storm. Odin provides ships with a favorable

sailing wind (oskabir).

Our antique stories tell of Odin's wanderings, of his wagon, trackway and

companions. We know that even in remotest antiquity the seven stars which form the

Bear in the northern sky were conceived as a four-wheeled wagon whose shaft

consists of three stars inclined downwards. This constellation may in pagan times

have borne the complete name of Wodan's wagon, after the supreme god of heaven.

In some districts, the great open highway of heaven -- to which people long attached

a peculiar sense of sacredness, and perhaps allowed this to eclipse the older fancy of

a "milky way" -- was possibly also called Wodan's Way or Wodan's Street.

Of greater significance appear the names of certain mountains which were sacred to

the worship of the god in pagan days. Not far from the holy oak in Hesse which

Boniface cut down, lay a Wodansberg. Other names are Gudensberg, Gotanesberg.

Of the Hessian Gudensberg the story goes that King Charles lies imprisoned in it,

that he there won a victory over the Saxons, and opened a well in the wood for his

thirsting army, but he will yet come forth of the mountain, he and his host, at the

appointed time.

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These names, which describe the wagon and mountain of the old god, are found

principally in Lower Germany where paganism long asserted itself, and a remarkable

practice of Lower Saxon folk during corn harvest alludes to this. It is the custom to

leave a bushel of grain standing on the field for Wodan to give his horse. According

to the Edda, Odin rides the best of all horses, Sleipnir, to whom eight legs are

attributed; Sleipnis verdr (food) is a poetic name for hay. Other legends speak of a

tall white horse by which the god of victory was to be recognized in battles. Besides

the gift of drink for Odin, a gift of grain was often left for Odin's horse.

Ninth-century picture stone from the island of Gotland, Sweden: A valkyrie with a drinking-horn greets Odin as he arrives at Valhalla astride Sleipnir,

his eight-legged horse, on which he will fight at Ragnarok.

The generosity of antiquity shines from such customs. Man does not wish to take

possession of everything for himself, of all that has grown for him. He gratefully

leaves a part back for the gods, who will in future also protect his crops. Greed

increased, when the offerings ceased. Ears of corn are set apart and offered here to

Wodan, as elsewhere to kind

spirits and elves, e.g., to the brownies of Scotland.

Wodan is, as far as it is possible to piece together an idea of his nature from

fragments of the old beliefs, the most spirited god of our antiquity. Among all other

gods he shines forth. All heroes and royal families trace back their ancestry to him.

Among his sons are several divinely celebrated -- especially Baldur and Saxnot

appear as his sons.

But the high place which the Germans allot to their Wodan leads to yet another

observation. Monotheism is something so necessary and essential that almost all

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pagans, consciously or unconsciously, proceed accordingly from recognizing among

the bright throng of their gods, a highest deity who bears within himself the qualities

of all the others so that the latter are only to be regarded as emanations from him,

his rejuvenation and renewal. This explains how separate qualities come to be

attributed now to this, now to that particular god, and why one or another of them,

according to different peoples, comes to be invested with the highest power. Thus

Wodan resembles Hermes and Mercury; on his own he stands higher than both.

Conversely the German Donar (Thunor, Thorr) is a weaker Zeus or Jupiter. What was

added to the one, must be taken away from the other. Ziu (Tiw, Tyr), however, hardly

does more than administer one of Wotan's offices, yet he is identical in name with the

first and highest god of the Greeks and Romans. The Greek Hermes is youthful, the

German Wodan fatherly, in their conception. Ziu and Fro (Freyr) are mere offshoots

of Wodan and thus all manifestations of the gods meet and intermingle.

Throughout paganism trilogies appear of the principal gods which I have arranged

below according to the third, fourth and fifth day of the week: Tuesday (Ziu's day),

Wednesday (Wodan's day) and Thursday (Thor's day).

Latin Mars Mercurius JupiterGreek Ares Hermes ZeusKeltic Hesus Teutates Taranis

Old H.G. Ziu Wuotan DonarOld Norse Tyr Odinn Thor

Slavic Svantevit Radigast PerunIndian Shiva Brahman Vishnu

This is the power that is warlike, creative and thunderous (fertilizing the earth).

DONAR (THOR): THE THUNDER GOD

The god ruling over clouds and sky, announcing himself through rolling thunder and

flashes of lightning, whose bolt flies through the air and strikes the earth, was

described in our ancient speech with the word Donar itself, OS Thunar, AS Thunor,

ON Thorr. Thor is imagined as driving, since the rolling of thunder resembles a

heavy wagon passing by. His wagon is drawn by two he-goats. Other gods have their

wagons too, especially Odin and Freyr, but Thor is distinctively thought of as the god

who drives. Thor is never seen as riding like Wodan nor is he provided with a horse.

He either drives or he goes on foot. It is expressly said that he walks to hold court, to

pass judgement. He is never represented in a wild host or in company with women.

Although his son and yielding to him in degree of influence, Donar again appears to

11

resemble Wodan as an older god worshipped before the latter, enthroned in forests,

on mountain tops, hurling the ancient stone weapon and lightning bolt.

Thunder, lightning and rain, among all natural phenomena, are regarded as his

actions. Thunder, in particular, is attributed to an angry and punitive god. Donar also

resembles Wodan in his capacity for anger.

Donar purifies the weather and sends down fruitful rain. The oak is sacred to Donar

and his hammer measures land, just as later does Wodan's staff. He attacks giants

more often than he fights in battles at the head of heroes or reflects upon the art of

war.

His name persists in popular curses, Wodan's only in protestations. In the figure of

Rotbart (Barbarossa) Donar could also be imagined as waiting within a mountain. All

heroes ascend to Wodan's heaven, ordinary folk return to Donar. Compared with the

noble, fine Wodan, Donar reveals something about himself which is boorish,

peasantlike, uncouth. He seems a very old deity, displaced in course of time by

another closely-related but more all-embracing god, although not everywhere pushed

into the background.

We can trace mountain names in Germany with complete certainty to the worship of

this native god. Universally known is the Donnersberg in the Rhine Palatinate, on the

border of the old state of Falkenstein, between Worms, Kaiserslautern and

Kreuznach. Another, Thuneresberg, is in Westphalia, on the Diemel, not far from

Warburg. In the Middle Ages a great popular court was still held there, linked to the

sacredness of the place. On the Knüllberg in Hessen is found a Donnerkaute, in

Bernerland a Donnerbühel. In Scandinavia also there is no lack of mountains and

rocks bearing Thor's name.

As the fertility of the land depends on thunderstorms and rains, thunder gods such as

Zeus appear as the oldest divinities of agricultural nations, to whose bounty they

look for the thriving of their cornfields and fruits. Adam of Bremen too attributes

thunder and lightning to Thor expressly in connection with dominion over weather

and fruits: "Thor, inquiunt, praesidet in aëre, qui tonitrua et fulmina, ventos

imbresque, serena et fruges gubernat," "Thor, they say, rules in the air, governing

the thunder and lightning, the winds and rains, fair weather and crops." Here then

the worship of Thor coincides with that of Wotan, to whom likewise the reapers paid

homage, as on the other hand Thor as well as Odin guides the events of war and

receives his share of the spoils. To the Norse mind Thor's victories and struggles

with the giants have put in the shade his peaceful office, the rule over weather and

12

harvest. Nevertheless to Wodan's mightiest son, whose mother is Earth herself

[Jorth], we must, if only for his lineage's sake, allow a direct relation to agriculture.

He clears up the atmosphere, he sends fertilizing showers, and his sacred tree

supplies the nutritious acorn. Thor's minni [remembrance drink] was drunk to the

prosperity of cornfields.

Like Zeus and Jupiter the German thunder god was also portrayed as wearing a long

beard. In the old Norse sagas he appears everywhere as red-bearded, which must be

related to the fiery phenomenon of lightning in the air. If he is angry, he blows in his

red beard and thunder resounds. Men in need of help call on Donar's red beard.

There is often talk of his divine anger. The red beard of the Thunderer is not

forgotten in curses of a later, Christian time. Even today the North Frisians exclaim:

Diis ruadhiiret donner regiir! = "This is red-haired thunder's work!").

Just as the thunder god is given red hair and a wagon, so he is also given the

thunderbolt as a weapon or "missile" in present day language.

According to popular belief, when the lightning flashes from a cloud a black bolt

simultaneously flies down to earth, embedding itself as deep as the highest church

tower. Whenever there is renewed thunder, it begins to rise towards the surface.

After seven years it is again to be found on the earth. Every house in which it is kept

is safe from storm damage and as soon as a storm approaches, it begins to sweat.

Such stones are also called thunder axes, thunderstones, thunder hammers,

Albdonar, Alpgeschosse (from the Elbe), ray stones, devil's fingers. Stone hammers

and stone measures found in pagan graves also bear the same name.

Norse mythology provides Thor with a wonderful

hammer called Mjollnir in the Edda, which he hurls

against the giants. It has the quality of returning by

itself into the hand of the god after throwing. As this

hammer flies through the air, the giants know it. Its

throwing is preceded by thunder and lightning. Skilled

dwarfs have forged it. The hammer of the god was held

to be a sacred tool. Just as it knocked hostile giants to

the ground, so it hallowed the sealing of marriage

bonds and made sacred land and boundaries like the

sign of the cross with Christians. The flash of lightning

was held in the Middle Ages to be the lucky

consecrating omen of an enterprise. The hammer is the

primeval, simple tool essential for almost all handwork,

13

which is used symbolically with many trades. To denote boundaries the Hamarsmark

is hammered in, a cross provided with hooks. Later, crossed oaks were often used as

a boundary, called Mälbaume ("marking trees") (in the Sachsenspiegel). [Image:

M.E. Winge's "Thor and the Giants" (1890). Alone among the gods, Thor never rides

a horse, but either travels on foot or rides in his goat-drawn chariot, as depicted

here.]

Just as Christ, through his death, overpowered the monstrous serpent, so Thor

triumphed over the Midgardworm or Midgard serpent, the snake that encircles the

world. The similarity of the sign of the cross and of the hammer makes it possible

that the newly converted Germans imagined Christ to be the god of thunder and

provider of rain. In fact, the earliest troubadour still calls Christ the Lord of thunder.

According to the Edda, Thor's thunder wagon is drawn by rams. A half-concealed

relationship may exist between them and another mythical "weather" creature which

is imagined to be a goat or horse but always as a wagon-pulling beast. It is

significant that the Devil, the modern representative of the thunder god, is also

attributed with the creation of goats and rams, and Ziu like Thor lays aside and picks

up the bones of goats which have been eaten, so that he can bring them back to life

again. According to the belief of Swiss shepherds the goat has something devilish

about it, a creation of the Devil. In fact, goats feet are held to be diabolical and are

not eaten. In Carinthia, cattle killed by lightning are regarded as hallowed by God.

No one, not even the poorest, dares eat them.

Thor was regarded after Odin as being the mightiest and strongest of all the gods:

the Edda represents him as Odin's son. Usually Thor is named at the same time as

Odin, sometimes before him, and perhaps he was feared even more than Odin.

An unmistakable relic of the worship of the thunder-god is the special observance of

Thursday, which was not extinguished among the people till quite recent times and

was revealed in early traditions of the Middle Ages. On Thursday evening there must

be no sawing or cutting of wood.

If we compare Thor with Wodan, then the latter is more mentally alive and loftier,

whereas the former has the advantage of a rough, sensual strength. Prayers, oaths

and curses preserved his memory more often and longer than any other god, but only

a part of the Greek Zeus is incorporated in Thor. Clearly both gods have shared in

the power which is also fitting to Zeus. However, Wodan is represented as Donar's

(Thor's) father and superior to him, just as the father is more powerful than the son.

14

ZIU (TYR): THE WAR GOD

If Wodan and Donar can be regarded as lofty gods of heaven, then Ziu or Tius may be

regarded as even more so since his name directly expresses the idea of the sky, while

Wodan signifies the air, Donar the storm. Just as Wodan directs victories, so Ziu

reveals himself as the actual war god, Saxnot as the sword god, Donar as hammer

god, Wodan as spear god. Like Wodan, Ziu also seems to roar down from the sky as a

storm.

The old Nordic name Tysdagr (Tuesday) coincides to that of the Eddic god Tyr.

Represented in the Edda as Odin's son but in the song of Hymir as son of the giant

Hymir and his mistress, he seems subordinate to the former in power and

importance. But he also completely accords with him, insofar as both direct battle

and war and the glory of victory emanates from one as from the other. Primeval

times attributed all glory to the warlike; indeed along with Wodan and Ziu it had

need of a third war god, Hadu. The subtler differences in the cult are now concealed

from us. Undoubtedly, mountains were hallowed to Ziu as to Wodan and Donar. It

will only remain uncertain which god, whether Wodan or Ziu, is meant by a

particular name.

Ziu is brave and eager for battle like Ares, granting abundance of fame, but also

cruel and bloodthirsty; he raves and rages like Zeus and Wodan. He pleases ravens

and wolves who follow him on the battlefield, although these creatures again must be

assigned more to Wodan. Battle songs were certainly also composed in Ziu's honor,

possibly warlike dances were held, to which I link the still existing and widespread

custom of the ceremonial sword-dance which was completely proper to the god of

the sword. Besides a sword the war god is appropriately given a helmet. The Edda

does not emphasize the war sword, it makes no mention of Saxnot from whom the

Saxons took the name Schwengenoss (sword comrade) because they carried the

stone sword or placed the god at the head of their tribe.

The Edda represents Tyr as one-handed because the wolf in whose

jaws he had placed his right hand as a pledge, tore it off at the

elbow. I prefer to accept the appropriate explanation by

Wackernagel: Tyr appeared one-handed because he would only

grant victory to one of the combatants, in the same way that Hadu,

another god of fortune in war, or Pluto and Fortune with the

Greeks and Romans, are represented as sightless because they

blindly distribute their gifts. Since victory was held to be the

greatest fortune, the god of fortune is provided in full degree with

15

the most striking qualities of fortune in general, namely partiality and changeability.

[Image: Ziu/Tyr, Germanic god of war, descendant of the old Indo-European sky-god.

His name is etymologically related to Greek Zeus, Latin Jupiter, and Indo-Aryan

Dyaus, which indicates that he must have played a much more prominent role in the

earliest Germanic religion. His right hand was bitten off by the monstrous wolf

Fenrir, into whose mouth he had placed it as a pledge of cosmic security, when the

wolf, destined to devour the sun and the moon, allowed himself to be bound in the

net that will hold him fast till Ragnarok.]

Tyr and Fenrir

There is a god called Tyr. He is the boldest and most courageous and has power over victory in battle; it is good for brave men to invoke him. It is a

proverbial saying that he who surpasses others and does not waver is "Tyr-valiant." He is also so well informed that a very knowledgeable man is said to

be "Tyr-wise." Here is one proof of his daring. When the gods tried to persuade the wolf Fenrir to allow the fetter Gleipnir to be placed on him, he

did not believe that they would free him until they put Tyr's hand in his mouth as a pledge. Then, when the Aesir would not loose him, he bit off the

hand at the place now known as the "wolf-joint." So Tyr is one-handed and he is not called a peace-maker.

Snorri Sturluson, Deluding of Gylfi 25.

Tyr is described as Odin's son. His mother, whose name is unknown to us but whose

beauty is alluded to in the adjective allgullin (all golden), was a giant's daughter who

bore to Odin his immortal son.

Frô (FREYR) AND NIRDU (NJORD)

The next god in power and fame in old Nordic belief is

Freyr; with the Swedes he seems even to have occupied

the third place. His name ["Lord"] of itself proclaims

how widely his worship prevailed among the other

German tribes, a name sacred enough to be given to the

Supreme Being even in Christian times. The original

meaning of Freyr, Frauja, Frô, seems to be: the happy,

gladdening, beneficent holy lord, which could be a

reference to a worldly ruler as well as to a deity. [Image:

ithyphallic Frô/Freyr, god of fertility, an eleventh-

century Swedish figurine.]

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Frô's godhead seems to hold a middle place between the notion of the supreme lord

and that of a being who brings about love and fruitfulness. He has Wodan's creative

quality, but performs no deeds of war; horse and sword he gives away, when

consumed with longing for the fair Gerd, as is sung in one of the most glorious lays of

the Edda. Snorri says, rain and sunshine are in the gift of Freyr; he is invoked for

fertility of the soil and for peace. The Swedes revered him as one of their chief gods,

and Adam of Bremen says that at the temple of Uppsala his statue stood by those of

Thor and Wodan. Adam calls him Fricco, which is precisely parallel to the frequent

confusion of the two goddesses Freya and Frigg. But he paints him as a god of peace

and love: "Tertius est Fricco, pacem voluptatemque largiens mortalibus, cujus etiam

simulachrum fingunt ingenti priapo; si nuptiae celebrandae sunt, (sacrificia offerunt)

Fricconi," "The third god is Fricco, who bestows peace and pleasure to mortals and

whose likeness they fashion with an immense phallus; if marriages are to be

celebrated, they offer sacrifices to Fricco."

Then there is the story, harmonizing with this, though related from the Christian

point of view and to the heathen god's detriment, of Freyr's statue being carried

around the country in a wagon in the manner of a king. The people flock to meet the

car, and bring their offerings; then the weather clears up and men look for a fruitful

year. Live animals were presented, particularly oxen, which seems to explain why

Freyr is reckoned among the poetic names for an ox; in like manner, horses were

consecrated to him, such a one was called Freyfaxi and accounted holy; and human

victims fell to him in Sweden.

As a fertility god he is a friendly, kindly deity, in contrast to the two gods previously

mentioned and to Wodan's one side, for as god of wishes, Wodan also seems amiable

and creative like Frô.

Freyr's beloved, afterwards his wife, was named Gerd. She came from the race of

giants but is nevertheless included among the female Aesir. The Edda describes her

beauty in a charming story: when Freyr looked down from heaven, he saw her enter

a house and close the door, and then air and water sparkled from the radiance of her

arms. His courtship of her was difficult and was only made successful by the skill of

his loyal servant Skirnir.

Freyr possessed a boar, Gullinbursti, whose golden bristles lit up night like day, ran

with the speed of a horse and pulled the god's wagon. His sacred, golden-bristled

boar was celebrated on helmet insignia, in baking and at festive banquets. Therefore

in Freyr's cult boars are used as expiatory offerings. The Swedish folk bake cakes in

the shape of a boar on Yule Eve. Even our Christmas cake is referred to as the back

17

of the Yule boar. Gullborst is the name of a plant which is also called Eberwurz

(boar's root).

The Edda provides Freyr with a magnificent sword which swings of its own accord

against the race of giants. The fact that he gave it away in distress later caused his

destruction and is regarded as the cause of his death when at the time of Ragnarok

he had to fight with Surtr and lacked his good sword. The dwarfs had made a

wonderful ship, Skithblathnir, which could fold up like a cloth for glittering Freyr,

the benevolent son of Njord.

German mythology would know little about Njord, had not Tacitus fortunately

mentioned details of a goddess, Nerthus, whose identity with the god is evident.

Njord, who rules over the sea, appears much celebrated, admittedly chiefly by

peoples who lived on the seaboard. According to the Edda he rules over wind, sea

and fire. He longs to be away from the mountains of the interior and down by the

cool shore amidst the song of the swans. A water plant, the spongia marina, bears

the name Niardar vöttr, "Njord's glove", which was elsewhere certainly transferred

to Freya or Mary.

BALDUR: THE BRIGHT GOD

Baldur, Balder, or Palter is a god of light according to

his entire nature, a pure innocent, almost feminine god.

His heavenly home is called Breitablick, Broad Glitter,

which could be a reference to the Milky Way. In order to

avert danger from the beloved god, Frigga took oaths

from water, fire, earth, stones, plants, beasts, worms,

indeed from all personified sicknesses, that they would

spare him. A sole plant, the mistletoe, had not taken the

oath because it was too young. A bough of it killed

Baldur. [Image: "Baldur" by E. Fogelberg (1840).]

All creatures -- men, animals, plants, stones -- weep for

the dead Baldur. The Edda describes how the pure,

innocent god, struck down by blind Hödr at Loki's

instigation with mistletoe, must journey, wept over by all, down to the underworld,

with nothing able to fetch him back, while Nanna, his beloved wife, follows him to

death.

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The myth of Baldur, one of the most beautiful and spiritual of the Edda, has

fortunately been passed down to us by another, divergent version. There is no more

apt example of the pervasiveness of the myth of the gods. The song about Baldur's

foal, preserved in the Merseburg Fragment as one of the earliest poems of our

national antiquity, relates the following:

When Phol (Baldur) and Wodan once rode to the forest, Baldur's foal sprained its foot

and at once the greatest concern of the heavenly Gods was shown to set it to rights

again. But neither Sindgung and Sunna, nor Frua and Fulla, were able to do it; only

Wodan, skilled in magic, could conjure the foot, bone to bone, blood to blood, limb to

limb, so that it was healed.

This entire event is as little known in the Edda as in other old Norse sagas. However,

what was known even before the 10th century, is a pagan saying in Thuringia that

has retained its essential content in conjuration formulae which are still alive among

Scottish and Danish country folk, except that what the pagans believed of Balder and

Wodan is applied to Jesus.

I have been successful in tracing the content of the Merseburg Charm about Baldur's

foal to an earlier magical formula and as a result to prove irrefutably the relationship

just asserted for this. What, however, is particularly remarkable is that it makes its

appearance in a very remote region in Scandinavia. Jesus, so it runs, traveled to the

heath, where the foal he was riding broke a leg; whereupon Jesus dismounted and

healed it by putting sinew on sinew, bone to bone, flesh to flesh, binding it with

leaves so that it would remain in the same place.

Two formulas, the old Thuringian and the Norse, the latter in the 10th, the former

circulated only in the 18th century, have certainly the same foundation: a myth about

the pagan Baldur. Jesus may have been substituted here both for Wodan, the god

who was successful in magic, as well as for Baldur, whose foal suffered injury. I

incline to the last opinion, because in fact Christ was known to Northlanders as hviti

Kristr -- "the White Christ" -- and Baldur also as hviti as, the White God, from his

radiant glittering color -- indeed, even other similarities between Christ and Baldur,

the purest, most spotless god of the pagans, have been emphasized.

No effort is needed to lend deeper meaning to this simply represented fable. As soon

as the Sun god's horse is lamed and he is forced to interrupt his course, everyone is

in danger and nothing is more expedient to the kindly deities, than to overcome this

speedily. To undertake healing and magical conjurations was a woman's business;

19

therefore here also four goddesses attempt magic, although vainly. Only Wodan, the

supreme head of all the gods, is successful in providing a solution.

As far as can be seen, a god with the unfamiliar name of Phol was honored by the

Thuringians and Bavarians, i.e. according to ancient nomenclature the Hermunduri

and Markomanni. However, alongside this name they also seem to have given him

other names, Paltar and Balder, while among Saxons and Westphalians, Baldag,

Bældæg, was used and the Anglo-Saxon bealdor ["prince, lord"] passed into a

common noun. The time of Midsummer was sacred to Baldur, and John seems to

have taken his place among Christians.

Among the Aesir, the Edda introduces Forseti, a son of Baldur and Nanna, who like

his father dwells in a glittering hall built of gold and silver called Glitnir and, as with

Baldur himself, is called the wisest, gentlest god and the one most gifted with speech

whose utterance is irrevocable. He is said to be the wisest judge among gods and

men, he settles all affairs under dispute. Forseti is linked with the Frisian god Fosite

who loved islands and was worshipped on Helgoland. Both provide us with

widespread evidence of the worship of Baldur.

HEIMDALL: THE GUARDIAN OF THE HEAVENLY BRIDGE

Besides the gods dealt with above who can be proved

beyond any doubt as worshipped by all or most

German tribes, the Norse mythology includes a

succession of others whose traces are either more

difficult follow or have completely vanished. Heimdall

is, like Baldur, a kindly god of light, guarding the

rainbow bridge to heaven (Bifrost) and living in

Himinbjörg, the mountain of heaven. Other features

are almost fabulous: he is said to have been the son

of nine mothers, to need less sleep than a bird, to see

a hundred miles into the distance by night as by day,

and to hear the trees growing on the earth, the wool

on the back of a sheep. [Image: Heimdall, watchman

of the gods.]

His horse is called Gulltoppr ("golden crop") and he himself has golden teeth. As

sentinel and keeper of the gods Heimdall blows a loud horn (Gjallarhorn) which is

kept under a sacred tree. He seems to have ruled during the creation of the world

and of men and to have played a higher role than was afterwards allotted to him. Just

20

as war was superintended by Ziu along with Wodan, fertility by Frô, so may creative

power also have been shared between Odin and Heimdall.

A song of suggestive design in the Edda [viz. Rigsthula] makes the first arrangement

of mankind in classes proceed from the same Heimdall, who traverses the world

under the name of Rig.

LOKI: THE INSTIGATOR OF MISFORTUNE AND THE GOD OF FIRE

The three brothers Hlêr, Logi, Kari on the whole

seem to represent water, fire and air as elements.

Now a striking narrative in the Prose Edda places

Logi ["flame, fire"] by the side of Loki, a being from

the giant province beside a kinsman and companion

of the gods. This is no mere play upon words; the

two really signify the same thing from different

points of view, Logi the natural force of fire, and

Loki, with a shifting of the sound, a shifting of the

sense. From the burly fire-giant Logi has developed

a crafty, seductive evil-doer. Both can be compared

to the Greek Prometheus and Hephaestus.

Loki, as punishment for his misdeeds, is laid in

chains, like Prometheus who gave men fire, and from

which he will be freed at the end of the world. One

of Loki's children, Fenrir, pursues the moon in wolf's

shape and threatens to swallow it. Eclipses of sun

and moon were terrifying to many pagan peoples. The gradual darkening over of the

glittering sphere seemed to be that moment of time when the yawning gullet of the

wolf threatened to swallow the moon and they believed that aid was given to the

latter by uttering loud cries. [Image: "Loki and Hod" by C. Qvarnstrom (c. 1890).

Loki tricks the blind god Hod into killing Baldur with a dart of mistletoe.]

This breaking loose of the wolf and the future release of Loki from his bonds, who at

the time of Ragnarok will fight and overcome the gods, coincides strikingly with the

release of Prometheus by whom Zeus is to be overthrown. Prometheus is chained to

rocks by Hephaestus, like Loki in similar manner by Logi, son of the giant Fornjotr.

Loki and Angrboda

21

A half-burnt heart which he had found --it was a woman's -- ate wanton Loki;

with child he grew from the guileful woman.Thence are on earth all ogres sprung.

Short Seeress' Prophecy 14

Loki was beautiful in appearance but evil of mind. His father, a giant, was called

Farbauti, his mother's names were Laufey and Nal, slim and supple. By his wife,

Sigyn, Loki had Nari or Narvi, and three children with a giantess, Angrbotha: the

wolf Fenrir, the serpent Jormungandr and Hel, a daughter with whose name the

personal concept vanished and was dissolved in the local idea of Hellia, underworld

and place of punishment. Loki is said to be the terminator and destroyer of all things,

in contrast to Heimdall, the beginner and originator.

NERTHUS: MOTHER EARTH

In almost all tongues earth is female in gender and, in

contrast to the father sky surrounding her, regarded as the

mother who gives birth, who brings forth fruits. Nowhere is

her maternal quality expressed purer and simpler than in

the oldest information which we possess in the Germania of

Tacitus about the goddess Nerthus. Writes Tacitus: "The

German peoples as a whole honor Nerthus, who is Mother

Earth, and believe that she mixes in human affairs and

comes journeying in a wagon among her people. On an

island in the sea lies an inviolate wood sacred to her; her

wagon stands there, veiled with a cloth, and only a single priest may approach it. The

latter knows when the goddess appears in the wagon. Two she-oxen pull it away and

the priest devoutly follows. Wherever she condescends to come and accept

hospitality, there are days of rejoicing and weddings, no war is fought, no weapon

reached for, every iron object is locked away. Only peace and calm are then known

and desired. This lasts until the goddess has sojourned long enough among humans

and the priest leads her back again into her sanctuary. Cover and goddess are

washed in a remote lake. But the servants who perform are afterwards swallowed by

the lake. A secret terror and sacred uncertainty are therefore always spread over

this, which only those who die immediately afterwards witness." [Image: Earth

Mother Nerthus on her chariot/wagon.]

22

This beautiful tale of Mother Earth agrees with what is contained in reports about

the cult of a deity to whom peace and fertility were attributed. In Sweden it was

Freyr, son of Njord, whose curtained car passed through the land in Spring, with the

people all praying and holding feasts.

The alternation of male and female deities sheds a welcome light here on why spells

and rhymes used with Wodan as harvest god are actually transferred in other Lower

German districts to a goddess. When the cottagers, we are told, are mowing rye, they

leave a few stalks standing, tie flowers among them, and when they have finished

work, assemble around the clump left standing, grasp the ears of rye, and shout

three times over:

Lady Gaue, keep your fodder

on the wagon this year,

on the wheelbarrow next year!

Whereas Wodan had better fodder promised him for the next year, here Lady Gaue

seems to be told of a future reduction in the gifts brought. In both cases I see the

reserve of Christians about retaining the pagan offering. The old gods must, at least

according to the words, now stand in low and ill repute.

In the district about Hameln, the custom prevailed that if a reaper during binding

passed over a sheaf or otherwise left something standing in the field, the others

mockingly called out to him: "Shall Lady Gaue have that?"

The widespread worship of the productive, nourishing earth also occasioned a

variety of names among our forefathers, in the same way as the divine service of

Gaia and her daughter Rhea mingled with that of Ceres and Cybele. The similarity

between the cult of Nerthus and that of the Phrygian mother of the gods, Cybele,

seems to me worth noting. Lucretius describes the peregrination of the magna deûm

mater [great mother of the gods] in her lion-drawn car through the lands of the

earth:

Adorned with a turreted crown, the image of the divine mother is carried through

wide lands with awe-inspiring effect ... When first borne in procession through great

cities she silently enriches mortals with a wordless blessing; they strew all her path

with brass and silver presenting her with bounteous alms, and scatter over her a

snow-shower of roses, overshadowing the Mother and her retinue of attendants.

(Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, 597-641)

23

Ammianus Marcellinus, XXIII, 3: "There [at Callinicum in Mesopotamia], on the

twenty-seventh of March, the day on which at Rome the annual procession in honor

of the Mother of the Gods takes place, and the carriage in which her image is carried

is washed, as it is said, in the waters of the Almo, he [Emperor Julian] celebrated the

usual rites in the ancient fashion."

Nerthus is likewise, after she has been driven around the land, bathed in the sacred

lake on her wagon, and I find it recorded that the Indian Bhavani, Shiva's wife, is

also driven around on her festival day and bathed by the Brahmans in a secret lake.

Rügen or Fehmarn have been held to be the islands of the sea mentioned by Tacitus.

In the middle of Rügen [an island in the Baltic sea] there is still a lake called the

Black Lake or Burgsee (Herthasee) about which a legend circulates. In olden times

the Devil was worshipped there, keeping a maiden in his service who, when he had

grown tired of her, was drowned in the Black Lake. However bad the distortion, this

will have sprung from the ritual reported by Tacitus, who says that when the goddess

had finished her dealings with humans, she vanished in the lake together with her

servants.

FRIGGA AND FREYA

Germanic goddesses, travelling around and visiting houses, are chiefly thought of as

mothers of the gods from whom the human race learned the affairs and arts of the

household as well as of farming: spinning, weaving, sowing and harvesting. These

labors bring peace and calm into the land and the memory of this persists in

delightful traditions even more firmly than in wars and battles, which most

goddesses, like women generally, avoid. But as some goddesses also take kindly to

war, so do gods on the other hand favor peace and agriculture; and there arises an

interchange of names or offices between the sexes.

Among the goddesses of the Norse religous system, of whom unequivocal traces are

forthcoming in the rest of Teutondom, we first encounter Frigga, Odin's wife, and

Freya, sister of the god Freyr, a pair easy to confound and often confounded because

of the their similar names. The forms and even the meanings of the two names

border closely on one another. Freya means the gay, joyful, dear, gracious goddess.

Frigga, Wodan's wife, signifies the free, beautiful and amiable one. With the former

is connected the general concept of Frau (woman, lady), with the latter that of fri

(wife, mistress).

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Frigga, as wife of the highest god, has rank before all other goddesses. She knows

the destinies of men, is consulted by Odin, administers oaths; she superintends

marriages and is entreated by the childless.

In some parts of northern England, in Yorkshire, especially Hallamshire, popular

customs show remnants of the worship of Frigga. In the neighbourhood of Dent, at

certain seasons of the year, especially autumn, the country folk hold a procession

and perform old dances, one called the giant's dance: the leading giant they name

Woden, and his wife Frigga, the principal action of the play consisting in two swords

being swung and clashed together about the neck of a boy without hurting him.

The distinct trace of the goddess in lower Saxony is worth noting where she is called

Fru Freke by the people and appears in the roles which we allot to Frau Holle. Then

in Westphalia, legend may derive the name of the old convent Freckenhorst,

Frickenhorst, from a shepherd Frickio, to whom a light appeared in the night on the

spot where the church was to be built; the name really points to a sacred hurst or

grove of Frecka fem., or of Fricko masc., whose site Christianty was perhaps eager to

appropriate.

A constellation of the heavens, Orion's belt, is called Fraggiar rockr after the highest

goddess. But the constellation also means Mariarock, Marirock in Danish because

Christians applied the old name to Mary the heavenly mother.

Freya, from whose name comes the sixth day of the week, is after, or alongside

Frigga the most honored goddess, indeed her cult seems to have been even more

widespread and important. She was married to a man called Odr, not a god, at least

not included among the Aesir, but who forsook her and whom she, shedding tears,

sought all over the world among alien peoples. Freya's tears were golden, gold is

called after them, she herself is gratfagr, beautiful in weeping. In children's tales,

pearls and flowers are shed with tears or laughter. But according to the oldest

evidence, Freya appears warlike. She drives to the battlefield on a wagon drawn by

two cats, just as Thor drives with two goats, and she shares with Odin in the slain.

She is called supreme head of all Valkyries. As a consequence it seems a remarkable

similarity that in legend from Christian times, besides Wodan, Holda or Berchta also

take up unbaptized, dying children into their host, i.e., as pagan goddesses they take

the souls of pagans.

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Freya in her cat-drawn chariot; N.J.O. Blummer (1852).

Freya's dwelling is called Folkvangr, Folkwang, the fields on which hosts of the

(dead?) folk gather. This possibly resembles St. Gertrud, whose minne is drunk for

the souls of the departed; with Gertrud the souls of the dead are given hospitality the

first night. Freya's hall is called Sessrymir, roomy in seats, taking up hosts of people.

Dying women believe they come into her company after death. Thorgerd in Egils

saga refuses earthly nourishment; she thinks to feast with Freya soon in the afterlife:

"I have not had supper, and I will have none till I am with Freya". Yet love-songs

please her too, and lovers do well to call upon her. Because the cat is sacred to her,

as the wolf to Wodan, perhaps explains to us why this animal is regarded as the

associate of night-hags and witches and is called Donneraas, Wetteraas (thunder

carrion). If a bride goes to her wedding in good weather, then it is remarked: "She

has fed the cat well," i.e. not offended the animal of the goddess of love.

According to the Edda, Freya owned a precious necklace. How she obtained the

jewel from dwarfs, how it was cunningly robbed from her by Loki, is recorded in an

original tale. When Freya snorts in rage, the necklace breaks off at her breast. When

Thor, to get his hammer back, dresses up in Freya's garments, he does not forget to

put on her famous necklace, Brisinga men ["necklace of the Brisings.]

Now this very trinket is evidently known to the Anglo-Saxon poet of Beowulf (line

1199); he names it Brosinga mene ["necklace of the Brosings"], without any allusion

to the goddess. I would read "Brîsinga mene," and derive the word in general from a

verb which is in MHG brîsen, breis (nodare, nodis constringere, Gr. kentein to

pierce), namely, it was a chain strung together of bored links. The jewel is so closely

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interwoven with the myth of Freya, that from its mention in Anglo-Saxon poetry we

may safely infer the familiarity of the Saxon race with the story itself.

The Creation of the Rainbow

Odin is the leader of the Aesir, the Aesir are the Norse Gods and Goddesses. His daughter is named Garde, the Goddess of colors. Garde’s friend is Symphonia, the Goddess of music. Garde was making a surprise present for her father’s birthday. She gathered the most beautiful colors and mixed them into a colorful paste. With these colors, she was going to sculpt an eight-legged steed; which was her fathers favorite animal. She was almost done, so she took It with her on a walk with Symphonia because she wanted to finish it with more ideas from outside treasures. It had rained the night before so everything was still all wet. Symphonia said to Garde, “I think music is better than colors, don’t you agree?” When Garde calmly refused to agree, Symphonia stubbornly yelled, “Well you think that do you?! Let me prove that music is better than plain old colors!” With that, she furiously took the mixture of colors from Garde hands and tried to throw it to the Earth. She wanted to spoil Garde’s reputation; so she would be hated. But Garde swiftly swooped down before it landed, quickly stopped it, and threw it up into the sky. It happed just after all the rain had fallen, so Garde called it a rainbow. As the Aesir were marveling over the beautiful rainbow, Symphonia skulked away. No one noticed Symphonia because they were so entranced. When Odin saw the gleaming lines of all the colors, his face turned red with pride for Garde. He loved it so much that he asked Garde to brighten the skies with those lovely colors after every gloomy rains fall. So now, after the dark rains fell, Garde always lit the heavens up with her pretty creation. But Symphonia and Garde were enemies from then on.

How Odin Lost his Eye, and Gained all the Wisdom in the World

One day Odin’s two brothers went missing. Odin looked everywhere, but had no luck finding them.. So Odin, took his horse and traveled to his friend Mimir. Mimir was a severed head of a God. His head was cut off during the war between Aesir and Vanir. Mimir was a good adviser and friend to the Aesir Gods. Mimir guarded over Mimir’s Well, the source of all wisdom in the world. When Odin came to Mimir he bagged for a drink from the Well to help him find his brothers. But Mimir refused because if he gave one person a drink, he would have to do the same for all the others who wanted one. Odin became irritated and mumbled to himself that he would do anything to get just a sip from the well, even sacrifice his own eye. “Deal!”, Said Mimir. Odin got a pale look of terror, he didn't really mean it. But he gouged out his eye anyway and dropped it into the Well. Ever since then Odin’s eye has been sitting at the bottom of the Well, looking out into the world. From that day on, Odin could see back and forward through time, and he knew everything that was worth knowing.

How the World was Created

In the beginning there was nothing but a black hole. From the North a cold wind was blowing. Then from the South a glowing heat came. In the black hole Ymer lived with his pet cow. Every day Ymer drank his hunger away with the cow’s milk. Once the

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Cow licked some salt that washed up by the ice and a Human was created. He was named Bure and all the Gods came from him. Bure’s grandchildren, Odin, Vile, and Ve, killed Ymer and from his body they created the world. From his flesh the earth was created, his bones became the mountains, his hair became the forests, his skull the sky was made, his brain became the clouds, and his blood became the Ocean. Odin then created the Winds by placing a giant in the shape of an eagle at the end of the world, where he would use his wings for all eternity.

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Preces e Bençãos do Odinismo Nota para os leitores em língua portuguesa:Apesar de colocarmos a tradução dos ritos em si logo abaixo daversão em inglês, recomendamos por diversos motivos theurgicosque seja recitado a versão em inglês. Quando fores tomar alguma refeição fora de casa (da cidade), levando comida e bebida, ou seja, fazer picnick ou algo assim, em particular nas montanhas, florestas, ou em uma praia, é apropriado fazer uma prece para a Mãe Terra (Jord) tanto antes como depois, qualquer um que lhe pareça mais apropriado. Então va para um pequeno arbusto e polvilhe umas pequenas porções de comida e borife algumas godas de bebida em sua base:

Hail Earth Mother of All!May your fields increase and flourish,Your forests grow and spread,And your waters run pure and free.Accept my offering, O Earth Mother.Bring forth that which is good, and sustainingFor every living thing.

Salve Oh Terra, Mãe de Todos!Possam teus campos aumentar e florecer,Tuas florestas crescerem e se espalharem,E que tuas aguas corram puras e livres.Aceite minhas oferendas, Oh Terra Mãe.Mantenha adiante o que é bom, e que provem sustentoPara cada coisa viva.

Se tu estás para adentrar em alguma situação particularmente perigosa ou estressante, alguém pode se sentir inclinado a proferir tais palavras:

Odin, far-wanderer, grant me wisdom,Courage, and victory.Friend Thor, grant me your strength.And both be with me.

Ódin, andarilho longínquo, conceda-me sabedoria,Coragem, e vitória.Amigo Thor, conceda-me tua força.E que ambos estejam comigo.

Se alguém deseja abençoar um amigo de partida, imposte tua mão diante dele/dela e profira tais palavras:

May Odin give you knowledge on your path,May Thor grant you strength and courage on your way,And may Loki give you laughter as you go.

Que Ódin de a ti conhecimento em tua senda,Possa Thor conceder-te força e coragem em teu caminho,E possa Loki conceder-te risos enquanto partes.

Se estais tão inclinado, diante da visão de uma bela mulher, um homem pode tocar os labios desta dama e proferir: The Lady Freya shines through you,May her blessing go with you, lovely one.

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A Lady Freyja brilha atravéz de ti,Que as bênçãos desta possam ir contigo, dama amável.

E claro, para as mulheres que estão vendo um homem bonitão...:The Lord Odin is within you,May his blessings be with you, O handsome one.

O Lorde Odin esta contigo,Que tuas bençãos estejam contigo, Oh lindo mancebo.

NOTA: Os deuses e deusas podem vir a ser mudados para melhor se encaichar com o que sentes ser mais apropriado na hora.

Quando uma criança de nossa gente nascer, alguem pode vir aabençoar ele/ela proferindo:

May great Thor protect youWith his strong arm and mighty hammer,May the good Mother HolleHold and comfort you,And may all blessings be upon you,Small and Holy one!

Que o poderoso Thor proteja a tiCom seu braço forte e poderoso martelo,Que a benevolente Mãe HolleSegure-a e a conforte,E que todas as bençãos estejam sobre ti,Pequeno e Sagrado ser!

Antes de cada refeição familiar, é apropriado proferir a seguinte prece:

Lord Odin and lady Freya,We give our greetings to thee.Please Bless this bounty set here before usAnd enjoy this good food with usAs we do enjoy it.Hail and love to Thee.ALL: Hail and love toThee..

Lorde Odhin e Lady Freyja,Nós damos nossos cumprimentos a vós.Por favor Abençoe esta farta refeição aqui diante de nósE aprecie esta boa comida conoscoAssim como nós a apreciaremos.Saldações e amor para Vós.TODOS: Saldações e amor para Vós..

Para rogar por Proteção contra os Thurses (como por exemplo, ladrões, assassinos e Perigosos e Intolerantes Kristãos Extremistas que a todo momento conspiram contra nós):

Heill Innun Rauða þórR

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Miklas Fianda Hvitakrists!!!(Nordico Arcaico - Preferencial para a prece)

Hail to The Red ThorRThe Mighty Enemy of Hvitakrist!!!

Salve o Thor VermelhoPoderoso Inimigo do Kristo Branco!!!

Para fazer um bom desejo a um amigo: May thou be feasting and drinkingIn Valhalla for a full nightBefore the Kristjan GodKnows that thou art dead.

May thou livest to be a hundred and ten.And may mine be the last voiceThat thou hearest.

Possa Tú estar a festejar e beberNo Valhalla por uma noite inteiraAntes mesmo que o Deus KristãoSequer saiba que tu estejas morto.

Possa Tu viver até teus Cento e Dez anos.E que possa a minha voz ser a ultimaQue tu escutar (em teus derradeiros momentos).NOTA: Esta bênção em particular tem uma linha pertinente ao Deus Cristão. Esta foi colocada na época em que a fé Cristã se espalhou pelo Norte. Os Odinistas da época se sentiram ameaçados por esses e acrescentaram esta linha em uma clara atitude de desafio contra o Cristianismo. Se de alguma forma, sentes que isto é incoerente com tuas crenças pessoais, então tudo o que tem a fazer é retirar esta linha dos versos da estrofe em questão..

É apropriado, quando beber uma cerveja casual, dar uma saudação como"Hail Odin" (Salve Odin), ou "Odin Bless". (Benza Odin)Em Nordico Classico se pode falar "Oddhinn Blessadur"

Nota: A página original em inglês deste artigo foi achada em um site asatruar muito bom que estava em construção.Infelizmente, por motivos alheios ao meu conhecimento, esta não mais esta online e eu sequer tenho o endereço de E-mail dos Autores.Se estes estiverem online novamente, e alguém souber algo sobre suas novas locações, por favor, não deixe de mandar um correio electrónico para o Webmaster que vós fala.(E desculpem meu estilo 'pernóstico'... *risos*)

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Some Quotes to PonderProverbios a meditar

"Astout man's heart breaks bad luck"

"O coração do homem honrado quebra a má sorte"CervantesDon Quixote Pt.ii, ch10

"Fortis Fortuna Adjuvat"

"Fortune favor the brave"

"A Fortuna (O Destino) favorece aos bravos"Terence PhornioAct i, sc.4

"Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once."Willian ShakespeareJulius Caesar Act ii, sc2

"Virtues aren't nature accidents. Virtues are something that should be builted.""Virtudes não são acidentes da natureza. Virtudes são algo que se constroi"Toni Morrison (72) American She-Writter - 1993 C.E. Nobel Prize of Literacy

Escritora AmericanaPremio Nobel de Literatura - Ano 1993

"Don't be so hurry up to think in the tomorrow. Each day must be a benefit gifted by the Gods themselves."

"Não seja tão afoito em pensar no amanhã. Cada dia deve ser um beneficio presenteado pelos Deuses."Ernst Gunther - German Writer - (XI Century C.E.)Escritor Alemão (Século XI C.E.)

"...e Nós voltaremos aqui, para dizer a Nossos Inimigos, que pode até ser que eles tomem nossas vidas, mas eles JAMAIS deverão tentar tomar nossa LIBERDADE!!!

"...and we will come back here, to tell our Enemies, that they may even take our lives, but they should NEVER take our FREEDOM!!!"Willian Wallace - Scothland's BraveheartThe Hammer of the English

"We should prefer to die today as Heroes, than live tomorow as slaves""Preferiremos morrer hoje como Herois, do que viver amanha como escravos."King Otma - Legacy of Kain

"Do what you wish, but be ready for the consequences.""Faze o que tú queres, mas depois aguenta."Ricardo Aguiar

"Ásatrú é uma religião de AÇÃO, n&atildeo somente de Palavras."

"Ásatrú is a religion of ACTION, Not just words."

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Panreal

"...e estou à espera de que os animais e as florestas exijam a terra de volta; e estou à espera de que os amantes e os sofredores se deitem lado a lado para o novo nascimento do milagre"

"...and I am waiting for the animals and the forests demand the earth's back; and I am waiting for the sufferers and the lovers lay down side by side for the new birth of the miracle"Lawrence Ferlinghetti

"I do not mean to abandon the faith I have had, and my kinsmen before me. Nor shall I object to your belief in the God you prefer.""Eu não intento em abandonar a fé que eu tenho e meus afins (kinsmen) diante de mim. Nem irei fazer objeção a sua crença no Deus que você prefere."

-Queen Sigrith of Sweden, refusing to be baptised before marrying Norweigan king Olaf Tryggvason.-Rainha Sigriþ da Suecia, recusando a ser batizada antes de se casar com o rei Noruegues Olaf Tryggvason.

"Freedom is a Religious Issue""Liberdade é uma Conseqüencia Religiosa"Stephen A. McNallen

"The Gods rid with the Brave""Os Deuses cavalgam com os Bravos"Gunnsmith

"Honor the Gods,and THEY will honor you.""Honre os Deuses, e Eles o honrarão."Gunnsmith

"If you believe in Hell, you're probably already there. ""Se você acredita em inferno, você provavelmente ja esta em um."Lothar

"If evil though knowest, then proclaim it to all as evil. And make no friendship with foes. ""Se algo mal tu vieres a saber, então proclame isto a todos como mal. E não faça amizade com oponentes."-Havamal (Loddfafnismal section)

"Persistence is the twin sister of the excellence. One is the mother of quality, and the other is the mother of time."Persistencia é a irmã gêmea da excelência. Uma é a mãe da qualidade, a outra é a mãe do tempo.Marabel Morgan

"Unlike wicca, we asatruar don't hide us into the shadows, But Acts Proudly in the Daylight""Diferentemente da Wicca, nós asatruar não nos escondemos nas sombras, Mas Agimos Orgulhosamente na luz do dia"

Asa-Skald Bjorn Keith LauBy no means, this is a promotion of Intolerance towards the true Wicca. Wiccans just mustread the Wiccan Book of Law- Stanza 23De nenhum modo, isto é uma promoção de intolerância contra a verdadeira Wicca.Recomendo a estes apenas que leiam o verso 23 da Wiccan Book of Law

"A man without gods has a desert in his heart." "Um homem sem deuses tem um deserto em seu coração." Man får ta seden dit man kommer

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one must accept the custom wherever one comesÉ preciso respeitar as tradições e costumes locais, não importa aonde se vá.

An Old Swedish SayingUm Velho Proverbio Suéco

"In the eyes of gods, there are no chosen peoples and no master races." "Aos olhos dos deuses, não há povos escolhidos e nem raças mestras."

"Magic is the technology of gods." "Magia é a tecnologia dos deuses."

"...if you knew the secret of the runes, the knowledge would surprise and terrify." "...se você conhecer o segredo das runas, o conhecimento o surpreendera e o aterrorizará.

"Mysteries should not be explained - - they should be experienced. That is the way of Odin." "Mistérios não devem ser explicados - - Eles devem ser experienciados. Este é o caminho de Ódin.

“When the world is pregnant with lies, a secret long hidden will be revealed." "Quando o mundo esta prenhe com mentiras, um segredo a muito escondido será revelado."

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Um pouco sobre os Alfar: Elfos e AnõesFreyrÁlfar é uma raça de seres criada por Odin, Vili e Ve a partir do corpo de Ymir. São de dois tipos: os Ljósálfar (“Elfos da Luz”), que são brilhantes e belos como o Sol e os Dökkálfar (“Elfos Negros”), que são feios e de cor preta como piche.

Os Ljósálfar vivem em Álfheim (um dos Nove Mundos, que foi dado a Freyr quando caiu seu primeiro dente) e são governados pelo próprio Freyr. São descritos como seres belos e luminosos, ou ainda seres semi-divinos, mágicos, semelhantes à imagem literária das fadas ou das ninfas; Eles adoram a dança, o amanhecer e as florestas. Dois Álfar são famosos: Iduna, a guardiã das maças de ouro e Thjálfi (ou Thialfi), o criado de Thor, embora este, seja por vezes considerado humano.

O mitógrafo e historiador islandês Snorri Sturluson associava os Dökkálfar aos Dvergar, os Anões. Os Dökkálfar também são cohecidos como Svartálfar, e daí o nome de sua morada: Svartálfheim (outro dos Nove Mundos). E a eles esta associada a criatividade e o trabalho engenhoso dos metais, das forjas e da mineração.

O folclore da Escandinávia conta que existem outros tipos de Álfar: os Muntaelfen (“Elfos da Montanha”), os Landaelf (“Elfos dos Campos”), os Wateraelfen ou Saeaelfen (“Elfos das Águas”) e os Wuduaelfen (“Elfos das Florestas”). Outros seres com nome etimologicamente relacionados a "álfar" sugerem que a crença em elfos não se restringe aos escandinavos, abrangendo todas as tribos Germânicas. Posteriormente, no folclore escandinavo, os Álfar passaram a ter tamanho pequeno (e as vezes, asas), talvez por serem confundidos com tantos outros seres de mitologia semelhante.

A título de curiosidade, cito aqui os outros 7 mundos da mitologia Nórdica:

1) Musspell (ou Musspellheim) - Junto com Nilfheim era o Mundo de Fogo e Calor Primordial;

2) Nilfheim - Junto com Musspell era o Mundo de Frio e Névoa Primordial;

3) Asgard - Terra das Divindades Superiores, os Aesir, em contraste com Vanaheim;

4) Midgard - "Terra do Meio", o mundo dos Humanos;

5) Hel (ou Hellgardh) - Terra dos Mortos, repare que "Hel" é muito semelhante a "Hell", "Inferno" em inglês;

6) Jotunheim - Terra dos Gigantes, que na mitologia nórdica são chamados de "Jotuns";

7) Vanaheim - Terra das Divindades Inferiores, os Vanir, em constraste com Asgard;

August Malmström - "Alvalek" ("A Dança dos Elfos de Luz" - Clique para ampliar)

Fontes: "Dicionário de Mitologia Germânica", de Marcio Alessandro Moreira (formato em PDF - pode ser baixado nesta página, junto com outros textos mitológicos); "As Melhores Histórias da Mitologia Nórdica", de A. S. Franchini e Carmen Seganfredo. E os sites da wikipédia (link 1 e link 2) e de Rosane Volpatto.

Yggdrasil; a Árvore Eixo do Mundo, ao redor da qual se concentram os 9 Mundos da Mitologia Nórdica (Clique para ampliar).

(Para entender um pouco mais da mitologia nórdica, visite além dos sites das fontes, as páginas desse blog, marcadas como "Mitologia Nórdica") - Gostou do Blog? Comente! Divulgue! Peça! Volte! Leia mais! ;D