Slow Havamal: 140

[kylec]

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.

We also get an alternative version of how Odin acquired the mead of inspiration, Oderir. In this case, it seems to refer to both the mead and the vessel it’s poured from, and rather than stealing it from giants and making a dramatic escape, he wins it fair and square. How?

That’s the most interesting question of the verse. The previous weeks led me to believe I would hear Odin recite all the things he won from his sacrifice hanging on the tree. But in this verse, he clearly states the spells, at least, came from Bolthor’s son, and the mead may or my not have been earned by the same act. It could be that his initiation rite leads to subsequent experiences in which he gains wisdom—experiences which he could not have had otherwise.

It also occurs to me that his scream and fall may initiate a series of trials, lives, or some other cycle that he must still complete to gain his fruits. They aren’t simply handed over by the armload once he has proven himself. Rather, he shows himself skilled-enough to then undergo the kind of life in which his wisdom ripens through particular encounters.

I could just be projecting my own understanding of initiations onto the poem, but of course it tracks. We don’t get out diplomas and promptly collect our high-paying salary, house, and spouse on the way out of the building. We merely make ourselves eligible to achieve certain things through further action. My guess is that we can’t fathom what kind of ordeal Odin went through, but by some brutal sacrifice he “leveled-up” and was off to the races, which still have to be run.