Slow Havamal: 152

[kylec]

In verse 152, Odin says he knows a seventh spell. If a huge fire consumes a hall full of people, no matter how bright it burns, he can still save those inside.

As with many of the spells so far, this one is effective at thwarting some harm that a man might reasonably expect to encounter. In this case, it’s a conflagration in a hall. I’m not sure if men can also use this spell, or if it’s something restricted to Odin, but we are beginning to see patterns in the kind of matters for which people might invoke Odin’s help. Jackson Crawford says to be careful about the Roman habit of assigning a “god of...” to Norse gods. There is no clear-cut ruler of thunder, fertility, war, and such. The Norse gods have rather complex personalities that defy easy categorization—you know, like the rest of us.

If there’s a way to get at who they are, it might be through Charles S. Peirce’s pragmatic maxim:

“Consider what effects, that might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our conception to have. Then, our conception of these effects is the whole of our conception of the object.”

If we take meaning from the use or function of a thing, then perhaps what he can know of the gods is how they noticeably intervene in our lives. If that’s the case, this laundry list of spells, often considered one of the duller sections of Havamal and admittedly hard for me to comment on, is one of the most valuable. The advice someone gives arguably means less than what they do, and here is a list of things that Odin does.

While he is certainly not so simple as to be the god of any one thing, or a neat class of things—not even those outlined in these spells—we see that he is quite active in intervening on behalf of those he favors when they’re in danger from a variety of sources. Not every god does that. The next time you find yourself in a burning building, don’t worry about who modern academics consider to be a god of fire. A man who doesn’t call himself a plumber might still unclog a drain, and Odin’s your friend in the face of fire and blade and bitter runes.