November 3, 2024 • 18 mins
What if Odin is more than the wise, guiding figure we've come to know? Prepare to uncover the layers of a god who defies simple categorization. On this episode of Old Gods and New Pagans, I, Matt Holloway, invite you to explore the untamed and complex nature of Odin beyond the pop culture portrayals. From his name, which is rooted in "fury" or "frenzy," to his unsettling sacrifices for wisdom, including the loss of an eye at Mimir's Well, Odin's story is one of relentless pursuit and profound contradictions. We journey through his controversial use of Seiðr magic, traditionally taboo for men, revealing his unyielding quest for power and knowledge that challenges conventional narratives.
As we navigate the complexities of deities, we emphasize the necessity of acknowledging both their virtues and flaws. Even gods possess multifaceted personalities, not unlike humans. By examining Odin's obsession with war and his thirst for wisdom, we discuss the importance of embracing these contradictions. His willingness to share wisdom, despite his darker traits, offers a more nuanced understanding of his character. Join us in this exploration of the enigmatic Odin, where we challenge the simplified depictions and celebrate the rich, layered stories of mythology.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, welcome to Old Gods and New Pagans.
I'm your host, matt Holloway,and today we're talking about
everyone's favorite one-eyedwanderer no, not Nick Fury.
We're diving into Odin and,trust me, marvel doesn't tell
you the half of it.
Before we get started, I needto give you folks a bit of a
content warning.
This episode containsdiscussions of violence, sexual
(00:24):
assault, sacrifice andmanipulation.
We're going to look at thehistorical record honestly,
which means dealing with somepretty dark stuff.
If you need to skip this one, Icompletely understand.
Come back next week and we'lltalk about something a little
bit more lighthearted.
Still with us.
(00:57):
Alright, let's dive in.
When most people think of Odinthese days, they typically
picture Anthony Hopkins in afancy eyepatch, as some kind of
wise old grandfather figure whorules over Asgard.
In short, odin is the Allfatherand that image is partially
(01:17):
correct.
But the title comes with somepretty heavy baggage.
Let's start with some of thebasics, because even those are
kind of wild.
Our guy Odin went by many namesWodan, woden, odin and, fun
fact, that's actually where weget Wednesday from.
(01:39):
It's Woden's Day.
But here's somethinginteresting His name actually
comes from a different meaning.
It's believed to have come fromthe word like fury or frenzy,
which, as we go through this,you kind of understand where
that comes from.
But think about that for asecond.
(01:59):
His name means frenzy.
His name means frenzy thesupposedly wise father god is
named after being in a violentrage.
That should tell you somethingabout who we're dealing with
here Before we go any further.
My personal beliefs I try toseparate from the podcast, but
(02:25):
the way I look at Odin and theway I look at the Aesir versus
Vanir, the Jotun and all thedifferent tribes of the Norse
gods is that you know, the Aesirthat Odin really is a part of,
we're like trying to conquer thechaotic forces of nature, like
there was human nature andcivilization and things like
that, whereas Odin, you know,represents his frenzy or fury,
he also represented wisdom andknowledge beyond that.
(02:47):
So while the Aesir wereconquering that primal forces of
nature, I feel that Odin wasalso trying to conquer that
within himself with arepresentation.
Take that as you will.
That's just the way I'veperceived it and the way I
interpret it.
You know some of these oldstories, but just keep that in
mind.
So one thing that you know somesymbolism that's always
(03:11):
connected with Odin would kindof just like hit it real quick
and get it out of the way.
He has this two ravens thatusually sit on his shoulder or
nearby.
Those ravens are called Huginnand Muninn, or Thought and
Memory.
They're Odin's kind of eyes inthe world, flying out each day
to bring him news of what'shappening in the Nine Realms.
But speaking of eyes, thatbrings us to our first, really
(03:36):
kind of odd story.
Picture this You're standing atthe base of Yggdrasil, the
World Tree, a big, great treethat connects all nine realms,
and before you is Mimir's Wellcontaining all the wisdom in the
universe.
But there's a catch the Well'sGuardian won't let you drink
(03:57):
unless you give up somethingprecious.
What do you do?
Well, if you're Odin, youstraight out, pluck out your eye
, toss it in, splash, uh.
There goes.
Depth perception, odin.
Good job, bro.
Uh.
But hey, infinite wisdom, right.
Except here's the thing thiswasn't really the noble
(04:19):
sacrifice that we've come tointerpret this as.
This was really just Odin beingOdin, odin being obsessed with
gaining knowledge at any cost,and this was one of his extreme
examples, but it probably wasn'this most extreme example.
Let me read you something fromthe Havamal and then we'll kind
(04:41):
of go into it a little bit andthese are supposedly Odin's own
words when he went looking formore knowledge.
I know that I hung on a windytree nine long nights, wounded
with a spear dedicated to Odinmyself to myself on that tree of
(05:01):
which no man knows.
Yeah, you heard that right.
He hung himself from Yggdrasilfor nine days and nights,
wounded with his own spear, justto learn the secrets of the
runes.
And while he was up there, hewasn't just hanging around Sorry
(05:23):
, couldn't resist that one.
I like little puns.
He was practicing Seyther, aform of magic that was
considered shameful for menbecause it was considered a
woman's magic, that even thegods got mocked for using it.
Think about that, even in asociety that celebrated
(05:44):
masculine violence, there werestill forms of power considered
too transgressive for men totouch.
But Odin, he, didn't care aboutthose taboos, he wanted power
in all its forms.
Again, he was obsessed withpower, knowledge and wisdom.
So we look at that story wherehe hung himself on that tree to
(06:07):
gain knowledge.
So the norns would write inrunes on the tree like
predicting the future, fate youknow past, present, future and
like, um, well, just fate.
They were writing outeveryone's essentially life
stories.
And Odin wanted that knowledgefor himself.
So he sacrificed himself tohimself on that tree and we kind
(06:31):
of get a little parallel withJesus sacrificing himself to
himself, you know, in a similarway, but to gain the knowledge
of those runes.
And yes, he did pass those onto the people of Midgard, but at
its core he wanted thatknowledge for himself.
Moving on, let's talk aboutsomething that Odin, you know he
(06:53):
was ashamed of using the savemagic, but there was something
he was not ashamed of, somethinghe was really dedicated to, and
that was war.
Again, he was not just the godof wisdom and knowledge, but he
was also a god of war, becausethis is where things get kind of
interesting, and by interestingI mean a little disturbing.
Okay, so this might upset someof the Valhalla bros out there,
(07:18):
but you know, valhalla, theawesome warrior heaven, where
brave fighters go to feast andfight.
Yeah, well, that's not entirelyaccurate On the surface.
Sure, that's what happens, butthat idea is essentially
something kind of like militarypropaganda in its own way.
(07:38):
Odin wasn't just collectingwarriors because he was honored
by their bravery, he was reallybuilding an army for Ragnarok, a
war he already knew, accordingto prophecy, that he was already
going to lose.
So let that sink in.
He's convincing people to diegloriously in battle just so
(07:58):
that they can join his army fora war he knows is doomed.
And then you think about withinValhalla it's just feasting and
fighting and you get to bebrave and courageous and
warriors and stuff.
But the reality of it is theywould fight to the death to get
better at killing each other andthe whole purpose of the feast
(08:21):
was to give them more strengthand to revitalize them so that
they could fight once more anddie again and over and over,
every single day until Ragnarok,just so that these warriors
could get better at killing anddying.
Think about that and then we cango into more of like, out of
(08:44):
Valhalla before Valhalla, intolike, the earthly followers, and
these were commonly calledberserkers.
These weren't just toughwarriors, these were people who
worked themselves into such afrenzy Remember Odin's name,
meaning fury or frenzy.
They would work themselves intosuch a frenzy that they would
do things like bite theirshields, bite other people, howl
(09:07):
like animals, charge intobattle completely naked or
wearing the skins of bears orwolves or other animals.
They believe that they werefilled with, say, odin's spirit
to give them that frenzy.
And given what we know of Odin.
Maybe it's true, maybe theywere filled with Odin's spirit.
(09:27):
Some archaeological evidencesuggests that maybe it was
hallucinogenic or othernarcotic-induced frenzies that
they had.
Or it could have all just beenpsychological, just hyping
themselves up like a pep rallybefore a big game sort of deal.
But a little more extreme thanthat.
(09:48):
We do have archaeologicalevidence of these warrior cults,
for lack of a better term.
They've found rings inscribedwith Odin's name, spear points
in ritual sites, and they'veeven found some evidence of
ritual human sacrifices to Odin.
These are rare, few and farbetween, but they have shown or
(10:14):
they found, like in the templeof Uppsala, males of each
species.
Nine males representing Odin'snine days of sacrifice,
including humans, were hanged inOdin's honor.
And yeah, that number ninekeeps coming up in a lot of
these stories.
The nine realms, nine nights onthe tree, nine sacrifices.
(10:35):
It's sort of an associationwith Odin.
Now, something that most modernretellings kind of gloss over or
skip over in stories of Odin isOdin as the great manipulator.
This guy had more disguisesthan a master spy.
(10:56):
To be just realistic, he'd showup as either an old wanderer
which was his favorite a fairyman, a warrior, whatever he
needed to do to just get what hewanted.
And really there's only a fewthings of what he wanted, and it
was knowledge, power and wisdom.
(11:17):
He even dressed as a woman togain the knowledge of save magic
from Freya and kind of trickedher into teaching him save.
Then we have the story of Rinda.
Odin wanted a son who wouldavenge Baldur's death.
When Rinda refused his advances, he didn't take no for an
(11:41):
answer.
He used magic to make her sick,then disguised himself as a
healer woman to get close to her, and I think you can guess
where this story goes.
The medieval sources treat thisas just another example of
Odin's cunning.
Today we have other words forit and we won't go into that
(12:04):
just for triggering's sake forsome people, but just know that
he was a manipulator and hewould do anything to get what he
wanted, and what he wanted wasa son at that time.
The same pattern shows up inthe story of Billings' daughter,
where he uses deception andmagic to try to seduce a woman
(12:25):
who has rejected him more thanonce.
These aren't just stories aboutGod's love affairs.
They're stories about power,about consent and about the ways
powerful figures do abuse theirauthority.
But here's another kicker aboutOdin.
He knows how it all ends,thanks to his wisdom.
(12:50):
He knows about Ragnarok.
He knows he'll be swallowed byFenrir the wolf.
He knows that the gods willfall.
And what does he do with thisknowledge?
He keeps playing his games.
He keeps collecting hiswarriors, he keeps manipulating
and scheming and sacrificing,All for a future he knows he
(13:16):
cannot change.
So what do we make of all thisin the modern world?
Well, first off, we need toacknowledge that our main
sources, the Eddas and Sagas,were written down possibly even
centuries after these storieswere originally told, so they
may have altered some details.
Archaeological evidence backsup a lot of what has been told
(13:38):
of these Odinistic cults andtheir practices, but the truth
is we don't know 100% of thesestories and their meanings, just
because things do get lost intime, like an ancient version of
the game Telephone, where youwhisper in somebody's ear
something and it goes around theroom and by the time it comes
back it's altered in some way.
And I believe a lot of thesestories were done that same way
(14:01):
or taught through a lens.
And especially when you'retranslating from one language to
another, some words might notfit exactly, so they'll use a
different word and then when itgets translated again that word
might change a little bit, butto the core of it all the themes
are still there in thesestories and it does paint Odin
in this, not an all lightpicture and not an all dark
(14:23):
picture, but really shades ofgray.
He has some light and dark tohim, so it makes sense to
understand him in that sense.
And then we jump into modernpop culture because, wow, did
Marvel clean him up?
Good, they sure did Not.
(14:45):
That I blame them.
It's kind of hard to make afamily-friendly movie about a
god who practices sex magic andcollects warriors for
essentially what amounts to asuicide mission.
Wagner didn't really helpeither turning Odin into this
noble, tragic figure in hisoperas.
But the real Odin of the mythsis way more complex and way more
(15:11):
disturbing.
Modern pagans have various waysof dealing with Odin's
complexity.
Some focus on hiswisdom-seeking aspects, seeing
the problematic parts as lateradditions.
Others engage with him as achallenging but important
teacher, and some choose not towork with him at all, which,
(15:34):
given what we've covered today,is completely understandable for
a lot of people.
The thing about Odin is that heshows us something important
about power and wisdom,sometimes the pursuit of
knowledge comes with a heavyprice.
Sometimes leaders aren't goodpeople, even if they are
effective, and sometimes thegods themselves can be both
(15:55):
fascinating and frightening.
That brings us to the end oftoday's journey into the dark
and complex world of Othin.
Next week we'll be lighteningthings up a little bit.
We may look at something in alittle bit more natural sense
(16:19):
and the roles without giving toomuch information, and the roles
of modern practices and how youcan kind of go with that.
If you've enjoyed this episode,please, supporting the channel,
check us out online.
I will be creating a Discordserver soon to go along with
(16:40):
this, to open up for somediscussions and maybe even a
Patreon.
Um, let me know what you wouldlike to hear.
Um, maybe even some exclusivecontent.
Uh, full notes, because a lotof the information that are
right up for these episodesdoesn't actually make it into
(17:01):
the episode.
Because I want to try to keepthese episodes definitely below
30 minutes.
I kind of aim for the 15 to 20minute mark on a lot of this.
So some of my notes don't makeit in.
Maybe I'll start posting thefull notes of everything I
research for these episodes sothat I can give you a little bit
more information.
If you're interested inlearning more, I'll put some
(17:24):
works down in the show notes,including, like the Poetic Edda
Snorri's Prose Edda other workson Germanic religions and just a
few other writings that kind ofmention Odin and kind of give
you a little bit more insight oneverything that's going here.
Until next time, just remember,the gods are not simple.
(17:46):
They're not these glorifiedbeings not all benevolent.
They're just like people.
They have multiple aspects totheir personality.
They have many facets to whothey are and keep that in mind.
Don't completely shut one deitydown just because they have
some aspects of the personalitythat you may not like, because
(18:09):
there are other aspects to thepersonality that are very good.
Like we talked about a lot ofthe bad with Odin, but he valued
wisdom and knowledge above allelse and he shared that wisdom
and knowledge.
So that's definitely a goodthing to think about when you
consider Odin as a god.
I just ask everyone to staycurious, just like Odin, keep
(18:35):
researching and try not to loseany eyes in the pursuit of
wisdom.
Hey there, welcome to Old Gods and New Pagans.
I'm your host, matt Holloway,and today we're talking about
everyone's favorite one-eyedwanderer no, not Nick Fury.
We're diving into Odin and,trust me, marvel doesn't tell
you the half of it.
Before we get started, I needto give you folks a bit of a
content warning.
This episode containsdiscussions of violence, sexual
(00:24):
assault, sacrifice andmanipulation.
We're going to look at thehistorical record honestly,
which means dealing with somepretty dark stuff.
If you need to skip this one, Icompletely understand.
Come back next week and we'lltalk about something a little
bit more lighthearted.
Still with us.
(00:57):
Alright, let's dive in.
When most people think of Odinthese days, they typically
picture Anthony Hopkins in afancy eyepatch, as some kind of
wise old grandfather figure whorules over Asgard.
In short, odin is the Allfatherand that image is partially
(01:17):
correct.
But the title comes with somepretty heavy baggage.
Let's start with some of thebasics, because even those are
kind of wild.
Our guy Odin went by many namesWodan, woden, odin and, fun
fact, that's actually where weget Wednesday from.
(01:39):
It's Woden's Day.
But here's somethinginteresting His name actually
comes from a different meaning.
It's believed to have come fromthe word like fury or frenzy,
which, as we go through this,you kind of understand where
that comes from.
But think about that for asecond.
(01:59):
His name means frenzy.
His name means frenzy thesupposedly wise father god is
named after being in a violentrage.
That should tell you somethingabout who we're dealing with
here Before we go any further.
My personal beliefs I try toseparate from the podcast, but
(02:25):
the way I look at Odin and theway I look at the Aesir versus
Vanir, the Jotun and all thedifferent tribes of the Norse
gods is that you know, the Aesirthat Odin really is a part of,
we're like trying to conquer thechaotic forces of nature, like
there was human nature andcivilization and things like
that, whereas Odin, you know,represents his frenzy or fury,
he also represented wisdom andknowledge beyond that.
(02:47):
So while the Aesir wereconquering that primal forces of
nature, I feel that Odin wasalso trying to conquer that
within himself with arepresentation.
Take that as you will.
That's just the way I'veperceived it and the way I
interpret it.
You know some of these oldstories, but just keep that in
mind.
So one thing that you know somesymbolism that's always
(03:11):
connected with Odin would kindof just like hit it real quick
and get it out of the way.
He has this two ravens thatusually sit on his shoulder or
nearby.
Those ravens are called Huginnand Muninn, or Thought and
Memory.
They're Odin's kind of eyes inthe world, flying out each day
to bring him news of what'shappening in the Nine Realms.
But speaking of eyes, thatbrings us to our first, really
(03:36):
kind of odd story.
Picture this You're standing atthe base of Yggdrasil, the
World Tree, a big, great treethat connects all nine realms,
and before you is Mimir's Wellcontaining all the wisdom in the
universe.
But there's a catch the Well'sGuardian won't let you drink
(03:57):
unless you give up somethingprecious.
What do you do?
Well, if you're Odin, youstraight out, pluck out your eye
, toss it in, splash, uh.
There goes.
Depth perception, odin.
Good job, bro.
Uh.
But hey, infinite wisdom, right.
Except here's the thing thiswasn't really the noble
(04:19):
sacrifice that we've come tointerpret this as.
This was really just Odin beingOdin, odin being obsessed with
gaining knowledge at any cost,and this was one of his extreme
examples, but it probably wasn'this most extreme example.
Let me read you something fromthe Havamal and then we'll kind
(04:41):
of go into it a little bit andthese are supposedly Odin's own
words when he went looking formore knowledge.
I know that I hung on a windytree nine long nights, wounded
with a spear dedicated to Odinmyself to myself on that tree of
(05:01):
which no man knows.
Yeah, you heard that right.
He hung himself from Yggdrasilfor nine days and nights,
wounded with his own spear, justto learn the secrets of the
runes.
And while he was up there, hewasn't just hanging around Sorry
(05:23):
, couldn't resist that one.
I like little puns.
He was practicing Seyther, aform of magic that was
considered shameful for menbecause it was considered a
woman's magic, that even thegods got mocked for using it.
Think about that, even in asociety that celebrated
(05:44):
masculine violence, there werestill forms of power considered
too transgressive for men totouch.
But Odin, he, didn't care aboutthose taboos, he wanted power
in all its forms.
Again, he was obsessed withpower, knowledge and wisdom.
So we look at that story wherehe hung himself on that tree to
(06:07):
gain knowledge.
So the norns would write inrunes on the tree like
predicting the future, fate youknow past, present, future and
like, um, well, just fate.
They were writing outeveryone's essentially life
stories.
And Odin wanted that knowledgefor himself.
So he sacrificed himself tohimself on that tree and we kind
(06:31):
of get a little parallel withJesus sacrificing himself to
himself, you know, in a similarway, but to gain the knowledge
of those runes.
And yes, he did pass those onto the people of Midgard, but at
its core he wanted thatknowledge for himself.
Moving on, let's talk aboutsomething that Odin, you know he
(06:53):
was ashamed of using the savemagic, but there was something
he was not ashamed of, somethinghe was really dedicated to, and
that was war.
Again, he was not just the godof wisdom and knowledge, but he
was also a god of war, becausethis is where things get kind of
interesting, and by interestingI mean a little disturbing.
Okay, so this might upset someof the Valhalla bros out there,
(07:18):
but you know, valhalla, theawesome warrior heaven, where
brave fighters go to feast andfight.
Yeah, well, that's not entirelyaccurate On the surface.
Sure, that's what happens, butthat idea is essentially
something kind of like militarypropaganda in its own way.
(07:38):
Odin wasn't just collectingwarriors because he was honored
by their bravery, he was reallybuilding an army for Ragnarok, a
war he already knew, accordingto prophecy, that he was already
going to lose.
So let that sink in.
He's convincing people to diegloriously in battle just so
(07:58):
that they can join his army fora war he knows is doomed.
And then you think about withinValhalla it's just feasting and
fighting and you get to bebrave and courageous and
warriors and stuff.
But the reality of it is theywould fight to the death to get
better at killing each other andthe whole purpose of the feast
(08:21):
was to give them more strengthand to revitalize them so that
they could fight once more anddie again and over and over,
every single day until Ragnarok,just so that these warriors
could get better at killing anddying.
Think about that and then we cango into more of like, out of
(08:44):
Valhalla before Valhalla, intolike, the earthly followers, and
these were commonly calledberserkers.
These weren't just toughwarriors, these were people who
worked themselves into such afrenzy Remember Odin's name,
meaning fury or frenzy.
They would work themselves intosuch a frenzy that they would
do things like bite theirshields, bite other people, howl
(09:07):
like animals, charge intobattle completely naked or
wearing the skins of bears orwolves or other animals.
They believe that they werefilled with, say, odin's spirit
to give them that frenzy.
And given what we know of Odin.
Maybe it's true, maybe theywere filled with Odin's spirit.
(09:27):
Some archaeological evidencesuggests that maybe it was
hallucinogenic or othernarcotic-induced frenzies that
they had.
Or it could have all just beenpsychological, just hyping
themselves up like a pep rallybefore a big game sort of deal.
But a little more extreme thanthat.
(09:48):
We do have archaeologicalevidence of these warrior cults,
for lack of a better term.
They've found rings inscribedwith Odin's name, spear points
in ritual sites, and they'veeven found some evidence of
ritual human sacrifices to Odin.
These are rare, few and farbetween, but they have shown or
(10:14):
they found, like in the templeof Uppsala, males of each
species.
Nine males representing Odin'snine days of sacrifice,
including humans, were hanged inOdin's honor.
And yeah, that number ninekeeps coming up in a lot of
these stories.
The nine realms, nine nights onthe tree, nine sacrifices.
(10:35):
It's sort of an associationwith Odin.
Now, something that most modernretellings kind of gloss over or
skip over in stories of Odin isOdin as the great manipulator.
This guy had more disguisesthan a master spy.
(10:56):
To be just realistic, he'd showup as either an old wanderer
which was his favorite a fairyman, a warrior, whatever he
needed to do to just get what hewanted.
And really there's only a fewthings of what he wanted, and it
was knowledge, power and wisdom.
(11:17):
He even dressed as a woman togain the knowledge of save magic
from Freya and kind of trickedher into teaching him save.
Then we have the story of Rinda.
Odin wanted a son who wouldavenge Baldur's death.
When Rinda refused his advances, he didn't take no for an
(11:41):
answer.
He used magic to make her sick,then disguised himself as a
healer woman to get close to her, and I think you can guess
where this story goes.
The medieval sources treat thisas just another example of
Odin's cunning.
Today we have other words forit and we won't go into that
(12:04):
just for triggering's sake forsome people, but just know that
he was a manipulator and hewould do anything to get what he
wanted, and what he wanted wasa son at that time.
The same pattern shows up inthe story of Billings' daughter,
where he uses deception andmagic to try to seduce a woman
(12:25):
who has rejected him more thanonce.
These aren't just stories aboutGod's love affairs.
They're stories about power,about consent and about the ways
powerful figures do abuse theirauthority.
But here's another kicker aboutOdin.
He knows how it all ends,thanks to his wisdom.
(12:50):
He knows about Ragnarok.
He knows he'll be swallowed byFenrir the wolf.
He knows that the gods willfall.
And what does he do with thisknowledge?
He keeps playing his games.
He keeps collecting hiswarriors, he keeps manipulating
and scheming and sacrificing,All for a future he knows he
(13:16):
cannot change.
So what do we make of all thisin the modern world?
Well, first off, we need toacknowledge that our main
sources, the Eddas and Sagas,were written down possibly even
centuries after these storieswere originally told, so they
may have altered some details.
Archaeological evidence backsup a lot of what has been told
(13:38):
of these Odinistic cults andtheir practices, but the truth
is we don't know 100% of thesestories and their meanings, just
because things do get lost intime, like an ancient version of
the game Telephone, where youwhisper in somebody's ear
something and it goes around theroom and by the time it comes
back it's altered in some way.
And I believe a lot of thesestories were done that same way
(14:01):
or taught through a lens.
And especially when you'retranslating from one language to
another, some words might notfit exactly, so they'll use a
different word and then when itgets translated again that word
might change a little bit, butto the core of it all the themes
are still there in thesestories and it does paint Odin
in this, not an all lightpicture and not an all dark
(14:23):
picture, but really shades ofgray.
He has some light and dark tohim, so it makes sense to
understand him in that sense.
And then we jump into modernpop culture because, wow, did
Marvel clean him up?
Good, they sure did Not.
(14:45):
That I blame them.
It's kind of hard to make afamily-friendly movie about a
god who practices sex magic andcollects warriors for
essentially what amounts to asuicide mission.
Wagner didn't really helpeither turning Odin into this
noble, tragic figure in hisoperas.
But the real Odin of the mythsis way more complex and way more
(15:11):
disturbing.
Modern pagans have various waysof dealing with Odin's
complexity.
Some focus on hiswisdom-seeking aspects, seeing
the problematic parts as lateradditions.
Others engage with him as achallenging but important
teacher, and some choose not towork with him at all, which,
(15:34):
given what we've covered today,is completely understandable for
a lot of people.
The thing about Odin is that heshows us something important
about power and wisdom,sometimes the pursuit of
knowledge comes with a heavyprice.
Sometimes leaders aren't goodpeople, even if they are
effective, and sometimes thegods themselves can be both
(15:55):
fascinating and frightening.
That brings us to the end oftoday's journey into the dark
and complex world of Othin.
Next week we'll be lighteningthings up a little bit.
We may look at something in alittle bit more natural sense
(16:19):
and the roles without giving toomuch information, and the roles
of modern practices and how youcan kind of go with that.
If you've enjoyed this episode,please, supporting the channel,
check us out online.
I will be creating a Discordserver soon to go along with
(16:40):
this, to open up for somediscussions and maybe even a
Patreon.
Um, let me know what you wouldlike to hear.
Um, maybe even some exclusivecontent.
Uh, full notes, because a lotof the information that are
right up for these episodesdoesn't actually make it into
(17:01):
the episode.
Because I want to try to keepthese episodes definitely below
30 minutes.
I kind of aim for the 15 to 20minute mark on a lot of this.
So some of my notes don't makeit in.
Maybe I'll start posting thefull notes of everything I
research for these episodes sothat I can give you a little bit
more information.
If you're interested inlearning more, I'll put some
(17:24):
works down in the show notes,including, like the Poetic Edda
Snorri's Prose Edda other workson Germanic religions and just a
few other writings that kind ofmention Odin and kind of give
you a little bit more insight oneverything that's going here.
Until next time, just remember,the gods are not simple.
(17:46):
They're not these glorifiedbeings not all benevolent.
They're just like people.
They have multiple aspects totheir personality.
They have many facets to whothey are and keep that in mind.
Don't completely shut one deitydown just because they have
some aspects of the personalitythat you may not like, because
(18:09):
there are other aspects to thepersonality that are very good.
Like we talked about a lot ofthe bad with Odin, but he valued
wisdom and knowledge above allelse and he shared that wisdom
and knowledge.
So that's definitely a goodthing to think about when you
consider Odin as a god.
I just ask everyone to staycurious, just like Odin, keep
(18:35):
researching and try not to loseany eyes in the pursuit of
wisdom.
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