The Poetic Edda: Hovamol · 13 of 16 · tr. Henry Adams Bellows
Section 1m
I ween that I hung | on the windy tree, Hung there for nights full nine; With the spear I was wounded, | and offered I was To Othin, myself to myself, On the tree that none | may ever know What root beneath it runs.
[138.
In the manuscript this stanza comes at the end of the entire poem, following stanza 165.
Most recent editors have followed Müllenhoff in shifting it to this position, as it appears to conclude the passage introduced by the somewhat similar stanza 111.
139.
With this stanza begins the most confusing part of the Hovamol : the group of eight stanzas leading up to the Ljothatal, or list of charms.
Certain paper manuscripts have before this stanza a title: "Othin's Tale of the Runes." Apparently stanzas 139, 140 and 142 are fragments of an account of how Othin obtained the runes; 141 is erroneously inserted from some version of the magic mead story (cf.
stanzas 104-110); and stanzas 143, 144, 145, and 146 are from miscellaneous sources, all, however, dealing with the general subject of runes.
With stanza 147 a clearly continuous passage begins once more.
The windy tree : the ash Yggdrasil (literally "the Horse of Othin," so called be cause of this story), on which Othin, in order to win the magic runes, hanged himself as an offering to himself, and wounded himself with his own spear.
Lines 5 and 6 have presumably been borrowed from Svipdagsmol , 30.] p.
61 140.
None made me happy | with loaf or horn, And there below I looked; I took up the runes, | shrieking I took them, And forthwith back I fell.
141.
Nine mighty songs | I got from the son Of Bolthorn, Bestla's father; And a drink I got | of the goodly mead Poured out from Othrörir.
142.
Then began I to thrive, | and wisdom to get, I grew and well I was; Each word led me on | to another word, Each deed to another deed.
143.
Runes shalt thou find, | and fateful signs, That the king of singers colored, And the mighty gods have made; [141.
This stanza, interrupting as it does the account of Othin's winning the runes, appears to be an interpolation.
The meaning of the stanza is most obscure.
Bolthorn was Othin's grandfather, and Bestla his mother.
We do not know the name of the uncle here mentioned, but it has been suggested that this son of Bolthorn was Mimir (cf.
Voluspo , 27 and note, and 47 and note).
In any case, the nine magic songs which he learned from his uncle seem to have enabled him to win the magic mead (cf.
stanzas 104-110).
Concerning Othrörir , here used as the name of the vessel containing the mead, cf.
stanza 107 and note.
143.
This and the following stanza belong together, and in many editions appear as a single stanza.
They presumably come from some lost poem on the authorship of the runes.
Lines 2 and 3 follow line 4 in the manuscript; the transposition was suggested by Bugge.
The king of singers : Othin.
The magic signs (runes) were commonly carved in wood, then colored red.] p.
62 Full strong the signs, | full mighty the signs That the ruler of gods doth write.
144.
Othin for the gods, | Dain for the elves, And Dvalin for the dwarfs, Alsvith for giants | and all mankind, And some myself I wrote.
145.
The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.
The World Tree is treated as a living entity with roots and agency within the cosmic structure.
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
Odin is depicted with human physicality and actions, such as hanging, being wounded, drinking mead, and writing. [quarantine-w3: anthropomorphism x norse — see rellm data/quarantine/dossiers.jsonl]
Ecstatic irrational rapture — Plato's mania, Bruno's furore — by which the soul transcends ordinary reason and attains direct contact with divine reality; madness reframed as higher knowledge.
The acquisition of runes is described as 'shrieking I took them', implying an ecstatic or rapturous state.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The runes are presented as esoteric knowledge ('Othin's Tale of the Runes') reserved for those who undergo the ordeal. [quarantine-w4: hidden_sayings x norse — see rellm data/quarantine/dossiers.jsonl]
Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
The statement 'offered I was To Othin, myself to myself' presents a paradoxical self-offering. [quarantine-w4: paradox_as_teaching x norse — see rellm data/quarantine/dossiers.jsonl]
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
Runes are described as signs written by gods that carry ontological power and influence fate. [quarantine-w4: sacred_names x norse — see rellm data/quarantine/dossiers.jsonl]
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
Odin engages in a ritual act of self-sacrifice (hanging, spear wound) to directly access divine power and knowledge.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
Runes are depicted as 'fateful signs' and 'mighty signs' that grant wisdom and alter reality, aligning with the definition's inclusion of Norse galdr.
A vertical structure connecting cosmic levels — a tree, pillar, mountain, or ladder linking heaven, earth, and underworld around which the cosmos is organised. Yggdrasil binding the Nine Worlds in Norse cosmology, the Kalevala's Sampo as world-pillar, the Mayan ceiba, the Vedic Aśvattha, the shamanic central tree of Eliade's analyses. Cosmic-structural in character: distinct from sefirot_tree (a kabbalistic emanation diagram) and emanation_hierarchy (an ontological cascade); world_tree_axis is the cosmos's spine rather than the divine's outflow.
The passage explicitly centers on Yggdrasil ('the windy tree'), described as a cosmic structure with unknown roots that connects levels of existence.