Nordic Wiccan: Odin

Odin (Óðinn, Woden, Godan), of the Aesir: Father of all the Gods and of men. The God of magick, ecstasy, poetry, and man’s consciousness of inner divinity; He brings knowledge, wisdom, ideas and inspiration to help Mankind. He is both the shaper of Wyrd (fate) and the bender of Orlog (destiny) showing the interconnected nature of all actions. He is married to Frigg and father to Baldur and Hod. Although he has many lovers and many more children.

It is he who makes men mad, possessed of driving rage, and also the “madness” perceived of the warrior in battle, the seer in trance, the poet’s creativity. It is also he who sacrifices an eye at the well of Mimir to gain inner wisdom, and later hangs himself upon Yggdrasil to gain the knowledge and power of the Runes. He can travel to any realm within the nine Nordic worlds. He is pictured wearing a floppy hat and a blue-grey cloak and is accompanied by two ravens, Hugginn (thought) and Munin (memory) who daily fly over the world reporting all that has happened.

He pops up in everything from the Ancient Saga of the Volsungs to Modern Neil Gaiman's American Gods. He was typically accompanied by a pack of wolves and ravens and rode on an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir. He can be appealed to for leadership, city hall, war, divination, professors, luck, poetry, travel, and wisdom. Odin can also be honored by making a donation or volunteering to a veteran's organization or a college.

And this is just a snippet of what can be found in, 'Who Are Your Divine Friends?'.

Correspondences:

Altar: on a cloth place a horn of mead, an evergreen branch, and a set of runes laid out in concentric circles

Color: black, orange, red, dark blue, grey

Day: Wednesday

Incense: dragon’s blood, pine, sandalwood

Offerings: mead, do something in a leadership position especially if it is difficult

Plant: beech, ferns, maidenhair, mandrake, marjoram, polypody, valerian, yew

Pronunciation: 'Oh-din' (Odin)

Rulership: the arts, civilization, fate, healing, horses, initiation, magic, wild hunt, ships, wisdom

Runes: Ansuz, Dagaz, Ehwaz, Ingwaz, Jera, Lagaz, Othala, Wunjo

Stone: agate, carnelian, gold, jet, onyx, tin

Symbol: blue cloak & floppy hat, eagle, raven, wolf, spear, air

God of Mystery
Tune:"Bound for the Promised Land"

I sing the God who never rests
From finding hidden lore,
And for all the riddles that he guessed
He's ever seeking more.

Chorus:
I follow the God of mystery,
Of memory and thought;
Oh, won't you come and join with me,
To seek what he has sought?

Through labor, trickery and charms
He won the poets' brew,
And breaking free from Gunnlod's arms
From Suttung fast he flew.

Chorus

A knowledge contest entered he
And pledged his life as bet;
His last question was a mystery,
Vafthrudnir lost his head.

Chorus

To drink from wisdom's water, he
Feared not the price to pay,
The wonders of nine worlds to see,
He gave one eye away.

Chorus

Nine nights upon the tree of woe
Triumphant over pain,
To grasp the runes, he looked below
And fell to earth again.

Chorus

The High One wanders far and wide,
He seeks by night and day,
He calls his children to his side
To walk upon his way.

Chorus
Chorus

~ Michaela Macha

Odin is my Guardian

Odin is my guardian, I shall not fear
He maketh me stand tall on green battlefields
He leadeth me into bloody conflict
He restoreth my pride;
He leadeth me in the paths of wisdom for His name's sake
Yea, though I walk through the gates of Hel,
I will fear no evil, for He is with me,
Thy shield and spear comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in Valhalla;
I sit with my brothers in arms; my horn runneth over.
Surely battle and strife shall follow me all of my days;
and I will dwell in the halls of Valhalla forever !

~ Glenn Bergen

I met a man

I met a man
upon a road
brimmed hat hid his face
old and grey
curiously spry
a twinkle in the left eye

I met a man
we talked for hours
of war and peace
politics and law
of curious lore
and times before

I met a man
cloaked in grey
he reminded me
of gods and heroes
giants and beasts
halls filled with feasts

I met a man
carrying a staff
carved with unknown
letters -- perhaps runes
when closely I peer
it's actually a spear

I met a man
who spoke of magic
a price of lore
paid willingly
for new skills
himself he'd kill'd

I met a man
and walk with him still

~ Matt Ottercat

From Asgard to Midgard

From Asgard to Midgard I wander,
My one eye sees clear my way
My dark ravens herald before me,
To rally the souls of the Brave.

~ Matthias Wilson

Odin

Sitting out
The wind howling around me
The leaves falling in death
I remember Odin
He calls many
Yet few can stand
His terrible presence
With one eye in the well
And one turned toward you
He consumes you
Like the fires of Ragnarok
That he strives to hold back
Of those who encounter Odin
None remain unscathed
Yet all are transformed
All are reborn
Odin I hear you!
Odin I feel you!
Tree-swinger
Spear-shaker
Mead winner
Lore master
Rune rister
Fate twister
Odin
Hear me!
Odin
See me!
Odin my friend
Deal well with me!

~ Jeff Wolf

Odin Chant

A whispering wind whistles in through the window,
a God-wind gusts in through the door!
The Wanderer´s wonder is whirling around you,
each moment the magic is more.

~ Diana L Paxson

The Havamal explains that our truest friends are those who do what is in our best interest, even if it’s not what we want to do. In stanza 124, Odin reiterates how worthy friends say what needs to be said, rather than merely saying what we want to hear. "The truest friends can tell each other their whole mind. Anything is better than to be faithless: no true friend says only what we want to hear." Both sides should benefit equally from the others support. We should be willing to make sacrifices for our friends, to help them in their hour of need. Odin tells us that by doing this, we make ourselves worthy of friends who will stand by us even in tumultuous times.

Odin gets half of the dead warriors and brings them to Valhalla so that they would fight alongside the Gods; in an attempt to strengthen and save the Gods in the final battle Ragnarok. On the day of the final battle, Odin will be killed by the wolf Fenrir.

Today, his modern influence can be found in art, music, and more. In the book American Gods, Mr. Wednesday (Odin) is the Old Norse God of knowledge and wisdom, aspects which he uses to his advantage as a confidence artist. The comic book character Odin was created in 1962 by Stan Lee. And the appearance of J. R. R. Tolkien's wizard Gandalf was influenced by Odin, and commentators have compared the character to Odin in his 'Wanderer' guise.