Hello friends how are you? My name is Arith Härger and today I'm going to talk about-
The Cult of Odin
now, for the sake of understanding I will pronounce Odin
and I think everyone will understand
also I will divide this video into three parts
first I will talk about Odin historically, his introduction in the old societies and the meaning of his name
then some of Odin's aspects as a god of war, nobility and shamanism
focusing on certain characteristics
and finally, on the third part, I will talk about the cult of Odin
I think the last part is the one you will like the most, so much blood and sacrifices
there's a lot to talk about so let's get started
Odin is one of the most complex deities of the Norse pantheon
perhaps because his cult was spread throughout so many different social and religious realities
that this deity ended up being introduced in every pre-Christian religious cult of Scandinavia
and absorbed the functions of other gods
but first things first
Odin is the ruler of this tribe of the gods called Aesir
he is a God that often goes into journeys wandering throughout nine cosmic worlds
seeking for knowledge in a relentless self-interested pursuit for wisdom
and because he is a God so committed to obtain wisdom he doesn't care how he obtains it
so he's often depicted as a God with no regards for values, justice, law, fairness, respect
and even the safety and well-being of others
if he has to ruin lives or even kill for wisdom he will do it
he is a God associated with war and death, the God associated with nobility, poetry, wisdom, spellcraft-
sorcery, magic in general and much like Loki, Odin is also a master of disguise
and trickery and shape-shifting
he is a God associated with so much stuff and
often things that contradict themselves and have no connection
that we often wonder how is it possible for one single deity to embody all of these qualities
and fields of expertise I've just mentioned, all at once?
well, he was a God worshipped for many centuries all over Scandinavia and continental Europe
mostly Central Europe
so it's normal that this deity took the "job" of other local deities
when he was introduced into local cults
and to better understand this let's take a look at what his name means
Wodan is the elder form of the name of this deity associated with several shamanic functions
he's associated with the dead and those who are slain
he appears as a wild rider at the head of an otherworldly pursuit - leader of the Wild Hunt
and also a God associated with storms and strong winds
the name Wodan comes from the old High German "wuot" - "insane"
from "wods" - angry, obsessed
Old English "wod" - raving
"wod" also means sound, voice, poetry, and "odr" – poetry
and in modern German, "Wut", meaning anger, rage, fury, wrath
so the concept of his older name is associated with madness, obsession and ecstatic frenzy
but the name Wodan has other variations
such as Wode, Wotan, Woide, Wods, Wuotes and so on
apparently all linked to either shamanic trance
or the brain condition necessary to enter in a trance state, through madness, insanity
now, the Germanic Wodan is not like the Norse Odin - the chief of the gods
the Continental God leads the wild hunt
a terrific ghostly cavalcade of spirits, elves, some deities and the dead
Wodan is a God of rage and ecstasy,
a God who made warriors enter in a state of madness while in battle
turning his chosen warriors into wolves or bears
and as such he became a favorite and most important god among many warlike tribes
these tribes invaded Scandinavia
as conquerors they installed their order
and their God became the chief deity, king of the gods and the father of all
and just like this, Odin was introduced into Scandinavia and a new God was born there - Odin
now, before Odin, Fricco, or Freyr was one of the most popular and highly worshipped deities in Scandinavia
especially in Sweden
he was the chief god of the old Swedes
before the invading tribes introduced the cult of Wodan
in the process Wodan lost the W and became Odin
while Freyr lost much of his importance and became a minor farmers' God
while the nobility worshipped and sacrificed to Odin
in Scandinavia we see Odin with many names, many titles, such as Hertýr, god of the army
Valgautr, god of the battle-slain, Hrafnagud, Raven God
Grimnir, masked one, Báleygr, flame eye, and so on
a variety of names meaning completely different things
and others which we still don't know the meaning
it's a long long list
which shows us that many independent local gods were integrated in the cult of Odin
Odin remained with many of his old continental characteristics
along with new characteristics from Scandinavia
and through time he still remained so important in the Scandinavian societies
that even during medieval times he continued to be associated with other things
according to the social reality of each period in history-
he became associated with more stuff
for instance, in continental Europe he was associated with the dead and the spirits
but to the Germanic tribes there was no concept of a warrior heaven,
a place in the afterlife solely for warriors is a concept that few European cultures had
only some Celtic-Iberian tribes and the Erulians had this concept
Valhalla was something new introduced in this cult
to the Germanic tribes there was no need to have a heroic death in the battlefield
another example-
in Iceland during medieval times Odin became associated with magic, spell-work, sorcery, even seidr
we must not forget that in the old Scandinavian pagan societies Seidr was seen as the province of women
and it was not honorable not even manly for a man to practice Seidr
men who practice seidr were considered effeminate and it was an insult
they were called "Ergi" - unmanly, effeminate
but all of a sudden Odin becomes associated with such practices - a male god
he gains prominent effeminate qualities that would have brought unspeakable shame to any ancient Norse warrior
well, in medieval Iceland this was no longer a social problem
and since Christianity didn't let people practice magic
people needed a patron god of magic
and thus Odin being the most famous deity of the old gods, he also became associated with sorcery, witchcraft
so recapitulating the mainland Wodan was an important deity
but not a patriarchal chief of the gods such as the Scandinavian Odin
he changed from a storm God - Wode - to a God of ecstasy and rage - Wodan
to a God of rulers and warriors - Odin
and kept on changing and I dare say that he will change again
to assume a form that fits in our time and our present realities
after this introduction let's take a look at some of Odin's fields of expertise
and I'll try to be brief on that
as a God of War he encourages the process of war
he inspires people to do war, he needs people to do war
because that's how he obtains warriors for his personal army
dying gloriously in battle is the only way to go to Odin in the literal sources
however, he isn't a God that concerns himself with every warrior
only those who he deems to be worthy, he will help and bestow his blessings to them
mainly legendary heroes
people that stand out and become really good at killing and in the arts of war
but he also maintains a close connection with shamanic-warriors such as berserkers
warriors who combine fighting techniques with spiritual practices
achieving a state of ecstasy
but focused solely on the cult of Odin
which also includes working with animal totems mainly bears and wolves
which are the animals associated with Odin
and as I have told you, the remnants of the Continental characteristics of this deity
as a God of War he isn't like Týr, concerned with the war itself
the reasons behind the conflict or even the rules, honor and the deeds involved
in terms of war Odin is concerned with the chaotic battle-frenzy
that very force, essence, state of mind achieved through the madness of battle through violent acts
uncontrollable rage and fury bring out the beast in us
as a god associated with sovereignty and nobility he is the divine archetype of a ruler
as I've told you before since he was the main god of the invading Germanic tribes
he became the god associated with power
this is an interesting aspect because, for instance-
when Christianity came along the first to be converted were the rulers
chieftains, kings, and emperors, the high power of the society
while the people from rural areas, the countryside, practically forgotten by such high powers
continued to be pagans
this is exactly what happened in ancient Scandinavia-
the high powers adopted Odin as the main god, chief of all the gods, the Alfather
while in rural areas people maintained their older gods
such as Freyr, which became associated with agriculture because of that
so even in the ancient pagan societies pagans adopted another sort of paganism
while in the countryside people remained more pagan than pagans
The Norse society, much like many ancient societies, was socially and politically divided into three groups:
rulers, warriors and farmers
so the gods were also divided into these three groups
and Odin being the god of nobility obviously he was set on the top of this hierarchical society
so he became the king of the gods
Odin in Scandinavia became linked to the nobility
and as such he became the legendary founder of numerous royal lines
and the Scandinavians tried to pass this into their mythologies
introducing Odin as the creator of the first humans
along with his two brothers, or these three characters being three different aspects of the same deity
as a God associated with wisdom and shamanism it's quite interesting
the wisdom aspect is one of the things that differentiates him from being the all-powerful-god
you see, many people nowadays see Odin almost as the only God that matters
many people in Ásatrú practice Odinism
focusing only on this God almost to the point of turning polytheism into a monotheistic religion
but what happens in a monastic religion is that the only existing God is the all-knowing and all-powerful
while Odin shows us that he himself has limitations
that's the beauty of polytheism
the gods much like us, in their own individuality, have limits
and that's why Odin is always seeking for knowledge to overcome his limitations on every field
obsessed with obtaining wisdom because he's restless when a problem comes along and he has no power
he sets out in a relentless and ruthless quest for more wisdom, more knowledge, more power
and whoever stands in his way he immediately takes them out of the game
and well, most of the knowledge he gains is usually of a magical sort
and of course as you know he sacrificed an eye for wisdom
and at a certain point he sacrificed himself, hanging on a tree and stabbing himself with his own spear
to achieve the knowledge of the runes
an old reminder of ancient shamanic practices and techniques of inducing an altered state of consciousness
through a violent ordeal, through a near-death experience
in terms of shamanism along with the goddess Freyja,
he is one of the two greatest practitioners of shamanism amongst the gods
he learned this art from Freyja herself
which reminds us of the social stigma of only women were allowed to practice Seidr
a form of shamanism in the ancient Scandinavian societies
and in many accounts we have hints of Odin's shamanic journeys especially when he uses his eight-legged horse Sleipnir
an eight-legged horse is a typical symbol of northern Eurasian shamanism
also when we deal with shamanism, almost every time-
we will come across shamans who are accompanied with familiar spirits
not just animals and land spirits but other beings
Odin is always closely associated with wolves and Ravens
animals who are his companions all the time
and also other spiritual entities associated with him such as the Valkyries
and as I've said before, I have already talked about shamanic warriors-
which was the type of shamanism socially acceptable for man in Germanic societies
as a God of poetry-
in the Ynglinga Saga for instance, Odin is celebrated as the inventor of poetry - skaldskapr
and also experienced in Galdr or Galdar, spells, incantations
and of course, and also, the master of runes
Odin is a master of poems and he grants his gift to others he deems to be worthy
and the story of how he became the master of speech, and mind that this is closely associated with Galdr-
- the power to persuade through words of the incantation -
well the story is quite interesting because he obtained the Mead of Poetry
and in Old Norse the name of this mead was "Odroerir" closely associated with the word Odr
which not only is one of Odin's names but also the very word connected to ecstasy, fury, inspiration
this Mead of Poetry might be an old reference to an intoxicating drink-
which helped to alter the state of consciousness to achieve ecstasy, inspiration and obtain knowledge
in terms of being a god associated with the dead he is a divine figure who guides those who have just died
and go to the underworld
and this aspect might be older than his aspect of being a God of War
as I've told you Valhalla was a later concept and unknown in continental Europe
which was later introduced meant to motivate warriors into suicidal fighting rages
Odin continued to be associated with the dead-
even during medieval and modern periods in Scandinavian history
quite possibly an old characteristic of this God because he was already associated with death and the dead-
before the cult was introduced in Scandinavia
and we also have notes of him communicating with the dead, raising the dead
so he seems to have been a powerful necromancer
now let's talk about the cult of Odin
or the perception we have of it in the archeological findings and the study of the written sources
the cult of Odin in the North involved sacrifices, mostly in times of war
and the victims were always humans, either volunteers or prisoners
this doesn't mean that animals weren't also sacrificed, they were
but humans were always sacrificed to Odin while animals were sacrificed occasionally
or were mostly used as sacrifices to other deities
however, I must add
the number of examples we have of human sacrifices to Odin are small
I mean, there are a lot of examples-
but they seem small compared to the span of time during which Odin was considered the major deity
but anyway-
in all the examples we have of sacrifices to Odin they are always human sacrifices
let me give you at least four examples:
King Vikar, in order to win against a neighbouring enemy-
a priest of Odin was sent out into the forest to seek the answer from Odin
through divination and in a vision, Odin tells the priest that he requires a man out of their company
in exchange for his blessing to ensure victory
Odin chooses King Vikar himself and instructs how he is to be sent to him-
hanged and stabbed
King Vikar was hanged and stabbed and thus he was given to Odin
this sacrifice ensured King Vikar's army victory
although he wasn't around to celebrate it
Aun, King of Sweden
sacrificed one of his 10 sons every few years to have long life granted by Odin
he lived long indeed because out of those ten he sacrificed nine
during the reign of Ólafr Trételgi-
there was a famine and people attributed that to the lack of sacrifice made by Ólafr
they burned him in his house
and offered the sacrifice to Odin so they could have plenty
sure enough the famine was over
King Haraldr was also a king plagued with a famine during his reign
through divination it was found that the famine could be stopped by the sacrifice of the noblest youth in the land
the son of a noble was required
Angantýr son of Heidrekr
now this one is interesting because-
Angantýr is very similar to Hangatýr, which is one of Odin's names, meaning God of the Hanged
anyway Heidrekr refused to give away that son
so he gave his other son Halfdan
and to compensate the fact of not giving the one Odin required
he also gave all the host in Halfdan's command, as a sacrifice
the temples were covered with the blood of the ones who were sacrificed
as you can see by these four examples it always involved the sacrifice of humans-
and from the nobility, since Odin was worshipped by the nobility
being a God associated with this social class
also, Odin didn't want a nobody to be sacrificed to him,
he chose those from nobility which he required
and indeed in archeological findings and in the comprehension we have of the ancient Scandinavian beliefs
we see that only warriors who died in battle and Nobles were allowed to go into Valhalla
in addition to sacrifices of this sort there were three great annual sacrifices in ancient Scandinavia
at the approach of winter - a sacrifice for plenty
at midwinter - for increase of the crops
and at the beginning of summer - a sacrifice for victory - "sigrblot"
quite possibly these three sacrifices were made to the three major gods of Scandinavia at that time
the sacrifice for- for Plenty was to God Freyr
the sacrifice for increase of crops to Thor and the sacrifice for victory to Odin
because of the constant references to him as the god of victory and sacrifices
and vows were made to Odin for victory in times of war
there were also sacrifices in great scale every nine years at Uppsala
at which sacrifices of men and various animals were offered
these sacrifices took place about the spring equinox coinciding with the annual sacrifice for victory
both men and animals were hanged in the grove close to the temple
of the animals hanged, most were not edible ones such as dogs, horses and hawks
nine male animals hanged with humans
of course speaking of edible animals in Scandinavia
horse meat was also consumed but it's quite different
edible animals were sacrificed to Freyr
while Odin required nobler animals, animals that were used by the nobility
and were to be taken with the sacrificed people into Valhalla to serve them there
hence dogs for hunting, horses to ride
and hawks for hunting but also as animals linked to activities performed by the nobility
several cases of hanging occurred in the cycle of stories involving criminals
it was customary to sacrifice prisoners to Odin on the battlefield
however, the sacrifices at Uppsala were sacred
so most likely the sacrificed ones were of noble birth and no criminals
neither prisoners nor slaves were sacrificed there
but in the battlefields or any other place when victory was needed,
criminals were sacrificed to Odin
you might be asking if hanged people were really just sacrifices for Odin
maybe it was for other deities?
well, there are no other evidences of hanging people and offering them to other gods
hanged people were to Odin and Odin alone
for instance there were human sacrifices to Thor
but these appear to have been put to death by being felled with a club
yes, beat them to death with a club
Odin is constantly being associated with the gallows as we can see by some of his names
Galga Framr, burden of the gallows, galga gramr, galga valda,
Hanga Drottinn, Hangatýr, Hanga gud, Lord or god or the gallows of the hanged
it is possible that the slain victims to offer as a sacrifice to Odin-
were not criminals and/or slaves because when sacrificing to Odin people would-
automatically go to Valhalla and to go there they needed goods and animals of valor
that's why nobility was chosen
but of course once in a while criminals would be sacrificed but on another context
and slaves were often sacrificed with their masters
sacrificing slaves separately was most certainly as a- as offers to Thor
because it was to Thor's Hall that slaves would go to be servants in his home
also there are references of criminals being sacrificed alongside wolves and not dogs
dogs had a purpose
they were useful and were used in the afterlife by the nobility
so hanging wolves with criminals was a way to socially show that those hanged there were not nobles
and the people hanged couldn't use those animals in the in afterlife
and also wolves instead of dogs were sacrificed with criminals-
in order to disgrace the victims on their arrival to the other side
maybe so Odin might know that those cannot enter Valhalla
the sacrifices to Odin often involved hanging but there was also stabbing
although both at the same time was not common
or stabbing and hanging at the same time was the ritual in important sacrifices to Odin
but few are the accounts of both at the same time
although stabbing as a sacrifice to Odin was a reality
especially with a javelin
and we have many references in the myths such as Odin's weapon which a lot of people refer to as a spear
but it was a javelin
Odin throws his javelin over the army who is going to perish
Odin stabs himself with his javelin
and there are references of dying people and others with perfectly good health-
being marked with the javelin as a mark to be sent to the gods
so hanging might have come later
marking the victims with the javelin might have been a form of dedicating the victim to Odin before the sacrifice, which was hangin
both at the same time might have been the ordinary ceremony of sacrifice
in terms of funeral rites and I promise I'll be brief
because this video is already too long and I'm afraid I'm losing your interest
well, for instance, in the Ynglinga Saga-
we have references of funeral rites dedicated to Odin or how they should be conducted
in order to send the dead to Odin
burning the dead in a pyre along with their earthly possessions to take them into Valhalla
and also what the deceased during life buried in the earth
mostly treasures, which could also be included as earthly goods to be taken into the other side
the items thrown into the pyre included weapons, jewelry, animals and occasionally servants
the animals also included those owned by the deceased
there are accounts of horses being taken into the burial mound and sacrificed there and placed in the mount-
alongside their master
well I'm getting ahead of myself, I'm speaking about burial mounds because-
after the deceased was cremated the ashes were either thrown into the sea or buried down in the earth
and a mound was to be raised as a memorial to noblemen
and people who achieved any distinction during life, a "Bautasten" should be raised
a reference to a Scandinavian menhir
which probably gave birth to the rune-stones in memory of people who during life achieved something great
alright friends thank you so much for watching and I hope you have enjoyed this video
and I know it's a long video but when it comes to Odin there is always a lot to talk about
and I've tried to summarize as best as I could
any doubts, any questions you have please feel free to ask in the comments and I will answer as soon as I can
once again thank you so much for watching
see you on the next video and . . .
tack för idag! (Thank you for today!)
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