Slow Havamal: 163

In verse 163 Odin says he knows an eighteenth spell, but he will never teach it to a woman, except maybe his lover or his sister, because it’s better if only one person knows this, the final spell.

We don’t hear what the final spell is in this penultimate verse, and I’m not reading ahead, so it’s been a crazy week of anticipation for me waiting to hear the last verse of the poem. What Odin does share today is that whatever this spell is, he won’t teach it to a woman with very few exceptions. As the last two were love spells, it could be another that is too dangerous to share with the opposite sex. Or perhaps he mistrusts how women (but not men) will use the spell against him unless they are solidly in his camp. ( Read more... )