|
Poetry
Chaikhana
|
|
|
|
About Eldar Edda (Anonymous)Timeline ( - 1250) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Odin's Shaman Song (from Eldar Edda)
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I know I hung on the gust-beat gallows
nine full nights, gashed with a stake and given to fire-see, myself to myself, on that ash-tree of which none know from where the roots rise. They did not comfort me with bread nor with a drinking horn: I looked down, I took up the runes, shrieking their names I fell back from there. I got nine mighty songs from the famous son of Bolthorn, Bestla's father, and I got a drink of precious mead sprinkled as from the heart. Then I began to thrive and bear wisdom I grew and prospered; Each word drew another word from me, each deed drew another deed from me. Runes you will find, fateful signs that the king of singers coloured and the great gods have made, good strong staves good stout staves carved by a god-ruling spirit.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
There are several things that are fascinating to me about this poetic excerpt.
First, the Odin myth-story has several striking parallels with the Gospel stories of Christ. Here, Odin is crucified on a tree. No one offers him comfort and he is "gashed with a stake." He is hung for nine days, a tripling of the three days of Christ's entombment and journey in the realms of death. Through his suffering upon the tree, Odin receives several divine gifts, including wisdom and mastery of runes and words (or "the Word").
The Christian parallel goes even deeper if you think about it. For most of the time of Christ's ministry, he teaches in parables, stories with hidden inner meanings. Yet it is only after the sharing of the wine at the Last Supper and his death and resurrection that Christ deems his disciples ready for the unveiled teachings. It is only then that Christ speaks freely.
One other detail in particular stands out to me: Odin receives these divine gifts when he "got a drink of precious mead / sprinkled as from the heart." This falls very much in line with the metaphor that appears in poetry and sacred language throughout the world of a celestial drink that is experienced during deep union with the Divine, sometimes compared with sacred drunkenness.
This is not some clever game of words. The wine described is real. Though subtle, a flowing substance is experienced as tangible upon the palette, with a taste of ethereal sweetness that can be compared with wine or honey -- or, in this case, mead. There is a sensation of drinking and a warming of the heart ("sprinkled as from the heart"). The attention blissfully turns inward, the eyelids grow pleasantly heavy and the gaze may become unfocused. A giddy smile naturally blooms for no apparent reason. When the ecstasy comes on strongly, the body can tremble, sometimes the consciousness even leaves the body.
With these experiences, it not only makes sense for mystics to use the language of intoxication, observers sometimes mistake this state for actual drunkenness.
It is this "precious mead" itself that seems to bear the gift of wisdom and words, not the craft of words or oratory, but the ability to let truth pour unhindered from the deepest silence and translate that flow into words. This drink is the initiating substance that bestows the gift of prophecy and true poetry...
|
|
| Please support the Poetry Chaikhana, as well as the authors and publishers of sacred poetry, by purchasing some of the recommended books through the links on this site. Thank you! |
Ivan
M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright ©
2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or
publishers.
