Slow Havamal: 140

In verse 140, Odin says he learned nine spells from the son of Bolthor, Bestla’s father, and won a drink of mead poured from Oderir.

We’re entering a territory of the poem where I fear I may have little to offer, but I’m going to walk the whole road. Bolthor is Odin’s maternal grandfather, and so it’s an unnamed uncle who teaches Odin nine spells. Since nine is as sacred a number as they come in Norse mythology, I would read this as “a cycle or entire system of” spells. It may literally have also been nine, but I don’t think the number matters as much as the fact that he has acquired a complete vocabulary.( Read more... )