A Question For The Asatruar Here

[Gaura]

I seem to recall somewhere in my reading that there is something akin to Jesus's supposed quote of "I am the Way the Truth and the Light" somewhere in the Eddas, attributed to Odin. Is this true and if so, can you provide me with the actual quote (Icelantic and or English) and the reference of where it is in the Eddas? Also if there are any other "Bible quotes" that have analogues in the Eddas, could you point those out as well?

[Astreja]

Doesn't sound familiar, but I'll do a quick run through the Eddas and see what pops up. For starters, though, Odin's ordeal on the "windy tree" (Hávamál 138-139) is somewhat analogous to the crucifixion.

[Thurisaz]

There are definitely some parallels between Poetic Edda and the babble, which isn't surprising if you keep in mind that the sagas weren't written down until well after contact between jebus cult and the Asatruar of old had been established. After all, at first there was a time of peaceful coexistence in a number of places (molds for a cross and a Mjolnir have been found in the same block in an ancient smithy). It's easily conceivable that some of the jebus myth found its way into the sagas back then, before the cultists got pissy because "we" didn't want to abandon the High Gods of our ancestors.

 

As for that specific "I'm the way" line, I'm not aware of that. I'd have to look it up too, and the Edda is a voluminous work. My guess is, however, that it should be found in the Havamal, if anywhere at all.

 

Oh, as a sidenote, take this as another example:

 

38. A hall I saw, | far from the sun,

On Nastrond it stands, | and the doors face north,

Venom drops | through the smoke-vent down,

For around the walls | do serpents wind.

 

39. I saw there wading | through rivers wild

Treacherous men | and murderers too,

And workers of ill | with the wives of men;

There Nithhogg sucked | the blood of the slain,

And the wolf tore men; | would you know yet more?

 

This part of the Voluspa is the only group of verses in the whole Poetic Edda where something similar to the jebus cult's Hell™ is mentioned. It seems a bit out of place there if you read the whole thing. These two stanzas are, if you ask me, a clear-cut candidate for cultist stuff absorbed into the sagas...

[Gaura]

Well, Thurisaz, at least it sounds like a more entertaining read than the Babble. Then again, I swear there is a poetic talent that runs through both ancient and modern Paganism that doesn't seem to exist in the same way in Christianity. Churches tend to name themselves in very predictable manners, after a local geographical feature, after a saint, stuff like that. Or they try to advertise the change believers say they fell, like "new life Church". Wiccan covens have some very poetically beautiful names, "Flying Horse Heath", "Shadows Grove", "Smoking Winds" stuff like that, and I've hears Asatruar and Druid groups with great names too.

 

Anyhow, thanks for the research, may it go quickly for you.

 

Astreja, where specifically in the Eddas does Odin hang on the World Tree (Yggdrasil, right?) I'd love to have that reference as well.

 

And yes, I'm up to something. Let's just say that I'm looking to an edge over some local Christians.

[Astreja]

The verses in question are stanzas 138-139 of Hávamál. Here is an Icelandic version with my own rough translation in brackets. Rather than going for a poetic interpretation I went for an essentially word-for-word translation to capture the flow of the original language. (Disclaimer: I am a native English speaker and not at all fluent in Icelandic or old Norse, but am working towards that end.)

 

138:

Veit eg að eg hékk (Know I that I hung)

vindgameiði á (the windy gallows-tree upon)

nætur allar níu, (nights in all nine)

geiri undaður (spear-wounded)

og gefinn Óðni, (and given to Odin)

sjálfur sjálfum mér, (self to self mine)

á þeim meiði (of this tree)

er manngi veit (no one knows)

hvers af rótum renn. (from what place its roots run)

 

139:

Við hleifi mig sældu (With bread to aid me)

né við horni-gi. (not, nor with drinking horn)

Nýsta eg niður, (Looked I down)

nam eg upp rúnar, (seized I up the runes,)

æpandi nam, (crying out, seized them)

féll eg aftur þaðan. (fell I from there)

[Gaura]

Sweet, Astreja. Wow. Thanks!!

[Thurisaz]

...Wiccan covens have some very poetically beautiful names, "Flying Horse Heath", "Shadows Grove", "Smoking Winds" stuff like that, and I've hears Asatruar and Druid groups with great names too.

 

Heh, the German Asatruar association that I joined some year ago bear the name "Eldaring", which quite literally (in ancient parlor) means "ring of hearth-fires"...

 

...it should be obvious that we want to communicate the community feeling among us. It's a shame that we can't meet every week