tradition

Norse tradition

Traditions

The religious and narrative world of pre-Christian Scandinavia, known mainly through later written sources.

Also known as Norse · Old Norse religion

Meetings in this tradition's context

Raven is sacred to Odin.
In Norse tradition Odin keeps two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, who fly the world and return with news. The bird is a working companion of that god, not a generic emblem of wisdom.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Odin is associated with Knowledge.
Snorri’s Odin sends Huginn (“thought”) and Muninn (“memory”) to gather news. The knowledge is reconnaissance, not a modern idea of inner wisdom.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Odin is associated with Death.
Snorri’s Odin receives the slain and is concerned with the dead of battle. That is a war-god’s economy of death, not a generic grim reaper.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Odin is associated with Tree.
Snorri describes the ash Yggdrasil as the world-tree among whose roots the gods hold court. Odin’s name is later tied to that tree; the pairing is Norse, not a universal axis.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Odin is associated with Prophecy.
Snorri’s frame includes questions about the world’s course and ending. Odin’s hunger for news is not the same as a Greek oracle’s seated answer.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Tree is associated with Three.
Snorri gives Yggdrasil three roots reaching toward different worlds. The three is a structural count in that prose, not the Greek Moirai.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Tree is associated with Underworld.
One of Yggdrasil’s roots, in Snorri, reaches toward the dead. The below is a Norse below.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Tree is associated with Death.
The world-tree stands over wells and the dead as Snorri arranges them. The tree is not itself a tomb.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Writing contains Rune.
Runes are one historical script. They are letters before they are later occult tokens.
from Anonymous (Eddic poems); Carolyne Larrington (translation) · Poetic Edda, medieval Icelandic compilation; Larrington trans. 1996/2014
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Rune is sacred to Odin.
Hávamál has Odin hanging and taking up runes. The knowledge is a costly counsel, not Thoth’s scribal office.
from Anonymous (Eddic poems); Carolyne Larrington (translation) · Poetic Edda, medieval Icelandic compilation; Larrington trans. 1996/2014
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Rune is associated with Knowledge.
In Old Norse a rún can be a secret or a piece of advice as well as a letter. The double job is the language’s, not a later occult alphabet.
from Anonymous (Eddic poems); Carolyne Larrington (translation) · Poetic Edda, medieval Icelandic compilation; Larrington trans. 1996/2014
associated with · partially sourced · documented
Memory is sacred to Odin.
Snorri names one of Odin’s ravens Muninn, Memory. The memory is a scout that might not return, not a modern psychology.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Memory is associated with Raven.
Huginn and Muninn are ravens with jobs in thought and memory. The bird is the vehicle of that Norse household, not a folk omen of death.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
associated with · sourced · documented
Memory is connected to Knowledge.
What is remembered can be used as knowledge. Forgetting is the risk Snorri’s Odin names when he worries Muninn might not come back.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Well is associated with Tree.
Snorri’s ash stands over wells. The pairing is that prose’s architecture, not a universal tree-and-spring.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Well is associated with Knowledge.
Snorri’s Mímisbrunnr is a well of wisdom won at a cost. The knowledge is a Norse drink, not a Hermetic treatise.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Odin is associated with Rune.
Hávamál has Odin take up runes. The knowledge-cost is a Norse poetic claim alongside Snorri’s ravens.
from Anonymous (Eddic poems); Carolyne Larrington (translation) · Poetic Edda, medieval Icelandic compilation; Larrington trans. 1996/2014
associated with · sourced · documented
Odin is associated with Memory.
Muninn is Memory in Snorri’s household of ravens. The memory is a scout.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
associated with · sourced · documented
Knowledge is connected to Memory.
What cannot be remembered cannot be used as knowledge. Snorri’s worry about Muninn is one local picture of that risk.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Three appears in Fate.
Snorri’s Gylfaginning names three Norns at Urðarbrunnr who allot fate. The triplicity is Norse mythic allotment, not Pausanias’s Greek cult report and not Yggdrasil’s three roots.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Gungnir is sacred to Odin.
Snorri’s Gylfaginning names Gungnir as Odin’s spear. A named weapon of that god in the prose, not Mjolnir, and not a generic staff.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Draupnir is sacred to Odin.
Snorri’s Gylfaginning names Draupnir as Odin’s dripping gold ring. A named ring of that god, not Andvaranaut, and not a generic ring.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
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Hliðskjálf is sacred to Odin.
Snorri’s Gylfaginning names Hliðskjálf as the high seat from which Odin looks over the worlds. A named seat of that god, not a generic throne, and not Valhalla as a hall-dump.
from Snorri Sturluson · Gylfaginning, c. 1220
sacred to · sourced · documented