The riddle of Odin's ravens

Odin had two ravens named Huginn (Old Norse “thought”) and Muninn (Old Norse “mind”). Every day, Odin would send them out at dawn, and the birds would fly all over the world before returning at dinner-time. They would then tell Odin everything they saw and heard. It is said that this is the reason why one of Odin's names was “raven-god” (hrafnaguð). 

In the Poetic Edda sonnet Grímnismál, the god Odin (camouflaged as Grímnir) tells Agnarr, the young son of King Geirröðr a very strange thing about his two ravens. I include here four different translations of the stanza in question so that you can get better feeling for what Odin is saying. 

1797 Amos Simon Cottle in Icelandic Poetry “The Song of Grimnir”

Hugo, in azure fields of air,
And Mumin too each day appear:
I fear lest Hugo safe return,
But more for Mumin inly mourn.

1851 C.P. in The Yale Magazine, Vol. 16 “The Song of Grimner”

Huginn and Muninn, over the fields of earth 
Fly daily; fear creepeth upon my soul, 
Of Huginn, lest he come not faithfully; 
But of Muninu I have greater fear than this.


1866 Benjamin Thorpe in Edda Sæmundar Hinns Frôða “The Lay of Grimnir” 1883 Gudbrand Vigfusson in Corpus Poeticum Boreale “The Sayings of the Hooded One”
 
Hugin and Munin
fly each day
over the spacious earth.
I fear for Hugin,
that he come not back,
yet more anxious am I for Munin.

1883 Gudbrand Vigfusson in Corpus Poeticum Boreale “The Sayings of the Hooded One”

Thought and Mind [his two Ravens] fly every day over the mighty earth
I fear for Thought lest he never come back, but I am still more fearful about Mind. . . .

Scholars have been wondering for a long time about the meaning of the above verses. 

John Lindow relates Odin's ability to send his "thought" (Huginn) and "mind" (Muninn) to the trance-state journey of shamans. Lindow says the Grímnismál stanza where Odin worries about the return of Huginn and Muninn "would be consistent with the danger that the shaman faces on the trance-state journey."

Rudolf Simek is critical of the approach, stating that "attempts have been made to interpret Odin's ravens as a personification of the god's intellectual powers, but this can only be assumed from the names Huginn and Muninn themselves which were unlikely to have been invented much before the 9th or 10th centuries" yet that the two ravens, as Odin's companions, appear to derive from much earlier times. 

Anthony Winterbourne connects Huginn and Muninn to the Norse concepts of the fylgja—a concept with three characteristics; shape-shifting abilities, good fortune, and the guardian spirit—and the hamingja—the ghostly double of a person that may appear in the form of an animal. 

Bernd Heinrich theorizes that Huginn and Muninn, along with Odin and his wolves Geri and Freki, reflect a symbiosis observed in the natural world among ravens, wolves, and humans on the hunt. He proposed that the Odin myth was a metaphor that playfully and poetically encapsulates ancient knowledge of our prehistoric past as hunters in association with two allies to produce a powerful hunting alliance. It would reflect a past that we have long forgotten and whose meaning has been obscured and badly frayed as we abandoned our hunting cultures to become herders and agriculturists.

I believe that the above stanza is a riddle, a koan, which was used for teaching the novices about the difference between Thought and Mind. The fact that Odin has two ravens called thought and mind is already very significant. Most people equate thought, thinking, the thought machine and mind. But interestingly mystics all over the world, since the beginning of time have been trying to tell us that the truth is exactly the opposite. Thought, thinking, thought machine and mind are two different things independent of each other. Odin is trying to tell us the same. 

Many books were written on the subject of dualism of Thought and Mind. Basically anything ever written about meditation, mindfulness and achieving enlightenment actually tries to explain the relationship between the Thought and Mind. In my opinion one of the best was written by the guy called Eckhart Tolle. The book is called "The Power Of Now". This is not a religious book. This is a practical guide to understanding the relationship between Thought and Mind.

But how are we to understand Odin's worry that his ravens will not return. John Lindow is partially correct when he relates Odin's ability to send his "thought" (Huginn) and "mind" (Muninn) to the trance-state journey of shamans. Only the Muninn's flight is a metaphor for the meditative process. Huginn's flight is a metaphor for the thought process. Lindow says the Grímnismál stanza where Odin worries about the return of Huginn and Muninn "would be consistent with the danger that the shaman faces on the trance-state journey." But actually I believe that Odin is not worried. It is a riddle. He is opposite from worried. He is hoping that the ravens will not return. 

The reason why scholars are still wondering what the meaning of the above stanza is, is because they are not vikings. 

Ravens were used by Vikings to determine if there was a land ahead during their long voyages across the open sea. They carried ravens with them in cages. When they found themselves far away from the shore, and didn’t know which way to go, they would set a raven free. Raven would fly high in the air and then start flying in circles searching for land in the distance. Because ravens can't land on water, if the raven could not see a land, he would return to the ship. But if the raven saw land in the distance, it would fly straight for it. All the Vikings had to do is follow the raven. So raven acted as a guide, which guided Vikings through the unknown and uncharted waters to a safe haven. Which means that raven must be directly related to the idea of a guide, leader, just like Odin, Wodan whose name actually means Guide, Leader. You can read more about it in my post called "Odin the wandering deity".

As I said already it is very important that there are two ravens of Odin. Thought and Mind. They are two ravens which each of us can use to search for the way forward through the unknowable future. Most people only ever use Thought. This is because they are not even aware of the existence of the other raven, Mind because they think that Thought and Mind are one and the same. That mind is a sum of our thoughts, rather than a completely separate entity. This is a pity because all the mystics in the world throughout the history have been telling us that it is the mind, clear of all thought, the mind of no mind, which gives us the true vision, the true sight. The sight that reaches much further in space and time then our thoughts would ever be able to reach. And this is exactly what Odin is telling Agnarr. Odin says that although there is a possibility that thought might not return, he is more anxious about Mind not returning than thought. What this actually means is this:

It might be possible to use your thought to successfully guide you through life. This is symbolised  by Odin's fear that Hugin, Thought, might not come back. As I have already said, raven Thought would not come back only if it had found the way (Tao) through life which you can follow. But Odin says, that he is more worried about the Muninn, Mind, not returning. This means that Odin thinks that raven Mind, mind empty of thought, the opposite of thought, is more likely to find you the way (Tao) through life which you can follow. This is, I believe, the message Odin was trying to convey to Agnarr and everyone else.

And so, I believe, the riddle of Odin's ravens is solved. A fitting message from the God whose name means Guide, Leader. What do you think?

Odin the wandering deity

Odin is a prominently mentioned god throughout the recorded history of the Germanic peoples, from the Roman occupation of regions of Germania, through the tribal expansions of the Migration Period and the Viking Age. Odin continued into the modern period to be acknowledged in rural folklore in all Germanic regions. References to Odin appear in place names throughout regions historically inhabited by the ancient Germanic peoples, and the day of the week Wednesday bears his name in many Germanic languages.

The official etymology of the name of the old Norse theonym Óðinn (popularly anglicized as Odin) and its cognates, including Old English Wóden, Old Saxon Wōden, and Old High German Wuotan, says that it derives from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic theonym *wōđanaz. The masculine noun *wōđanaz developed from the Proto-Germanic adjective *wōđaz, related to Latin vātēs and Old Irish fáith, both meaning 'seer, prophet'. Adjectives stemming from *wōđaz include Gothic woþs 'possessed', Old Norse óðr, 'mad, frantic, furious', and Old English wód 'mad'.

The adjective *wōđaz (or *wōđō) was further substantivized, leading to Old Norse óðr 'mind, wit, soul, sense', Old English ellen-wód 'zeal', Middle Dutch woet 'madness', and Old High German wuot 'thrill, violent agitation'. Additionally the Old Norse noun æði 'rage, fury' and Old High German wuotī 'madness' derive from the feminine noun *wōđīn, from *wōđaz. The weak verb *wōđjanan, also derived from *wōđaz, gave rise to Old Norse æða 'to rage', Old English wédan 'to be mad, furious', Old Saxon wōdian 'to rage', and Old High German wuoten 'to be insane, to rage'.

But this etymology does not correspond to the role that Odin or Vodan seem to have originally had.

The earliest records of the Germanic peoples were recorded by the Romans, and in these works Odin is frequently referred to as the Roman god Mercury. The first clear example of this occurs in the Roman historian Tacitus's late 1st-century work Germania, where, writing about the religion of the Suebi (a confederation of Germanic peoples), he comments that "among the gods Mercury is the one they principally worship. In this instance, Tacitus refers to the god Odin as "Mercury"...

Mercury is a major Roman god, being one of the Dii Consentes within the ancient Roman pantheon. He is the patron god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence (and thus poetry), messages/communication (including divination), travellers, boundaries, luck, trickery and thieves; he is also the guide of souls to the underworld.

You could see how Mercury would be perfect deity for Vikings, the traders, the travellers and the thieves...

While I was discussing Radegast (Welcome guest) with one of my friends, he reminded me that one of Odins names was "far travelled guest"...

This is very interesting. 

In some dialects of South Slavic languages word "od" or "hod" means walk. "odi" or "hodi" means walks and "oditi" or "hoditi" means you walk, walking. "odi on" or "hodi on" means he walks, he who walks. Is odin = odi on = the one that walks, travels? It is Interesting that in Greek we have word ὁδός (hodós) which means threshold, road, path, way, journey, trip, expedition...The official etymology is that the Greek word comes form Proto-Indo-European *sodos. Cognates include Old Church Slavonic ходъ (xodŭ) and Sanskrit आसद् (āsad). I wander if the Greek word actually comes from South Slavic word "od, hod" meaning to walk...The word "odos" (path) would then be something you "od" walk on..."odaš, odiš" means you are walking, "oda si, odi si" means he is walking and "odao si" means you walked, both meaning travel, trip, expedition, journey...

Vodan is another name for Odin. In South Slavic languages word "vodi, voda" means leads, "vodi nas, voda nas" means he leads us and "vodi on, voda on" means he leads, leader...The word "vodja" means leader, "vodja naš" means our leader....Is Vodan = vodi + on = leads he = leader? 

This fits perfectly with the the Roman description of Odin, Vodan as the equivalent of Mercury, the traveller, messenger, guide...

But if this is true, why does Norse god have name whose etymology comes from Slavic languages? Is this just a coincidence? 

Serbian Historian from the 19th century, Miloš Milojević, claimed that Serbs and Danes were one and the same people. This is very interesting because the latest genetic evidence is showing us that Serbs and Croats have majority I2a1 and the Danes have majority I2a2 Y haplogroup. Basically they are the closest genetic cousins. You can see this clearly from these maps published on Eupedia:

I2a1

I2a2

We know that there was a lot of mixing between the western Slavs and Danes and that the most prominent Danish Viking dynasties descending from Harlad the blue tooth were of mixed Danish Slavic descent. Both Danes and western Slavs were renowned traders and pirates. The Book of Veles talks about western Slavs having the same customs as Germans. So it is entirely possible that Odin's name did come from the Slavic language. 

Another possibility is that Tacitus relied on a Slavic speaking informants who completely misinterpreted the word Vodan and Odin and understood them as the one who leads and the one who wanders. This could have lead to the erroneous linking of Odin, Vodan with Mercury...But this would put Slavic speaking people in Germania in the the first century AD...

A can of worm has been opened. Or more precisely reopened.

“Origin of the Anglo – Saxon race” is a book published in 1906 by Thomas William Shore, author of 'a history of Hampshire,' etc, Honorary secretary London and Middlesex archaeological society; honorary Organizing secretary of the Hampshire field club and Archaeological society. In it the author gives detailed analysis of the “Anglo Saxons”, and shows us that both Angles and Saxons were just terms used for complex federations of south Baltic Germanic, Norse and West Slavic tribes. He describes the late Iron Age and early medieval northern central Europe as a melting pot where future great nations of Franks, Angles, Saxons, Danes, Norse, Slavs, were being created from tribal federations of mixed Germanic and Slavic ethnic, linguistic and cultural origin.

This is what he thought about conflict of the Æsir and Vanir. This is just the excerpt, you can find the rest on my blog post "The origin of the Anglo Saxon race".

...The conflict of the Æsir and Vanir is a Northern myth, which, considered ethnologically, may be regarded as founded on the wars carried on between the Teutonic and Slavonic races. That between the Goths and Vandals was a war of this kind, and it resulted in peace and a lasting alliance. The myth of the conflict of the Æsir and Vanir also terminated in a lasting peace and the exchange of hostages between the contending races....

And this is where we need to look for the origin of Odin and his name....

And this is why I believe that Odin's name reopens a can of worms which was shut after the first world war, when the Slavs became the bad guys of Europe...

So what do you think?