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Odin was credited with the power to call the dead to ride in the "howling
host". He also was said to have the power to summon witches from the grave, both of which summonings evoked the powers
of magic, most especially the black arts. Supposedly, he could call on the dead for assistance in divination. Some stories that Sir Walter
Scott wrote were tales of horror and the supernatural. One of his poems is of a similar theme as the wild hunt or
howling host and is called The Wild Huntsman. One stanza in the poem makes it clear that this hunt is supernatural: "Still, still shall last the dreadful chase,
Till time itself shall have an end;
By day, they scour earth’s cavern’d space,
At midnight’s witching hour, ascend." http://www.litgothic.com/Texts/scott_wild_huntsmen.pdf The end of time in the context of the völur is probably Ragnorok. The witching hour was the theme in this poem
and in Scott's St. Swithin's Chair.
It would appear that Sir Walter Scott was well read on the history of Norse myth and, even more likely, that these legends
were still commonly known by the folk of his day.
Sir Walter Scott, The Wild Huntsmen aka The Chase
Odin claimed to have discovered 18 specific magic charms or spells
that were of great help to him in the age in which he lived. The 12th charm went like this:
"I know a twelfth:
If a tree bear
A man hanged in a halter,
I can carve and stain strong runes
That will cause the corpse
to speak,
Reply to whatever I ask."
The twelfth hour has long been known as the witching hour. That is when the questioning of a witch occurred in Swithin's
Chair. In the 12th Charm of Odin, a man recently dead by hanging could be forced to truthfully answer a question put
to him. In fact, many magical powers and properties were attributed to the body of a hanged man. A powerful wizard could obtain
answers from a corpse, but even some common people would attend hangings hoping to obtain bodily fluids, clothing, and
body parts from the hanged man.
The symbol of the hanged man is also found in the Tarot deck.
Strange Fruit song lyrics
Death Erection
St Swithin's Chair poem by Sir Walter Scott
The tradition of questioning
witches, putting them on trial, persisted in one form or another centuries after Odin was said to have questioned the Volva.
Sir Walter Scott wrote on this theme in the poem St. Swithin's Chair: "She mutter'd the spell of Swithin
bold,
When his naked foot traced the midnight wold,
When he stopp'd the Hag as she rode the night,
And bade her
descend, and her promise plight.
He that dare sit on St. Swithin's Chair,
When the Night-Hag wings the troubled
air,
Questions three, when he speaks the spell,
He may ask, and she must tell" The
questioner in St. Swithin's Chair was granted three questions, the answers to which he greatly wanted to know, much
as in some folk tales where one is granted three wishes or requests.
The Volva (plural völur), a "female" kind of soothsayer and shaman, was not just a fictional character made up by
Scott. The völur actually existed in pagan times and usually traveled from place to place on a wagon. They wore what was considered
fine clothing. Once their ceremony began, they would go into a trance and make predictions about the coming agricultural year,
answer personal questions and concerns of individuals on the farm they were visiting, and sometimes give advice on healing
sicknesses. Their powers were considered magical. In post-pagan times, They were considered witches.
Pennick's book Magical Alphabets, in a discussion about runes, says:
"The ceremonial method of casting runes is known as 'Raed Waen'. Literally, this means 'riding the wagon' that is,
placing oneself in the position of the diety on the sacred wagon from which all things, past, present and future, may be viewed"
(Pennick, 120).
He also says:
"The 22nd rune, representing the god Ing, is Ing or Ingwaz...In pagan times, on certain holy days, the image of Yngvi
was transported around his sacred enclosures in a consecrated wagon" (Pennick 101-102).
It seems the volva took the place of the god and was the embodiment of the 22nd rune while she made her predictions for
the coming harvest year. At the time of her death, she may have even been buried with her wagon (or chariot):
"The burial contents clearly points towards a religious cult, complete with a witch´s wand, tapestries showing hanging
sacrifice and cart processions, magical amulets and pouches filled with cannabis seeds, wagons and sledges of exquisite craftsmanship
suitable only for ceremonial use, countless artistic references to the world of the gods, to the dísir [female powers such
as norns, valkyrias and giantesses] and to the underworld, to the Sacred Marriage ritual and to the art of seiðr."
(http://freya.theladyofthelabyrinth.com/?page_id=258)
It may also be that she was a type of the harvest queen who, with the harvest king, presided over annual harvest festivals,
both of whom were often discussed in the context of riding a hay wagon.
This figure from Norse Mythology, the Volva, was considered
to have the power to foretell the future. In myth, Odin was more powerful than she and could cause her to rise from the dead
so that he could question her. He asked her questions about things with no answers or no known answers. She had no will of
her own when summoned by Odin and answered his questions under the binding magic of his spell.
Volva - Wiki
Wed to the Wand, the Volva, a Norse Witch
The Volva in Norse legend was not strictly an evil creature. She was
above all else a medium through which the otherworld and the supernatural could communicate with the world we call reality. When the Christian church began
to establish itself in Europe, the supernatural powers of the old religions and its figures such as Odin and the Volvas were
superseded by the mystical powers of the Church. However, the old religions did not disappear but rather took a back seat.
This transition brought about the fear and persecution of the old religion archetypes. Although the Church tried to stamp
out these pagan ideas, they were so deeply rooted in the minds of the populace that often the Church attached the names
of saints and Bible characters to the old gods and goddesses.
The Volva was found in older literature too. Balder's Dream
is a fragment of text from a manuscript called the Harbarthsljoth which is catalogued under the title of Vegtamskvitha,
the Lay of Vegtam. It is not certain if the Volva in the poem
is the same voice as the speaker of the poem, but the poem suggests that the Volva has risin from the grave, having
been summoned by Odin. He tries to disguise himself by calling himself by another name, Vegtam the Wanderer. The
Volva predicts the death of balder and the fall of the gods. The
story of Odin raising the Volva is told in Baldrs Draumar or Balder's Dream:
1. Once were the gods | together met,
And the goddesses came
| and council held, And the far-famed ones | the truth would find,
Why baleful dreams | to Baldr had come. 2. Then Othin rose, | the enchanter old,
And the saddle he laid | on Sleipnir's
back;
Thence rode he down | to Niflhel deep,
And the hound he met | that came from hell. 3. Bloody he was | on his breast before,
At the father of magic | he howled from afar;
Forward
rode Othin, | the earth resounded
Till the house so high | of Hel he reached. 4. Then Othin rode | to the eastern door,
There, he knew well, | was the wise-woman's grave;
Magic he spoke
| and mighty charms,
Till spell-bound she rose, | and in death she spoke: 5. "What is the man, | to me unknown,
That has made me travel | the troublous road?
I was snowed on with snow,
| and smitten with rain,
And drenched with dew; | long was I dead." Othin spake:
6. "Vegtam my name, | I am Valtam's son;
Speak thou of hell, | for of heaven I know:
For
whom are the benches | bright with rings,
And the platforms gay | bedecked with gold?" The Wise-Woman spake:
7. "Here for Baldr | the mead is brewed,
The
shining drink, | and a shield lies o'er it;
But their hope is gone | from the mighty gods.
Unwilling I spake, | and
now would be still." Othin spake:
8.
"Wise-woman, cease not! | I seek from thee
All to know | that I fain would ask:
Who shall the bane | of Baldr become,
And
steal the life | from Othin's son?" The
Wise-Woman spake:
9. "Hoth thither bears | the far-famed branch,
He shall the bane | of Baldr become,
And steal
the life | from Othin's son.
Unwilling I spake, | and now would be still." Othin spake:
10. "Wise-woman, cease not! | I seek from thee
All to know
| that I fain would ask:
Who shall vengeance win | for the evil work,
Or bring to the flames | the slayer of Baldr?"
The Wise-Woman spake:
11. "Rind bears Vali | in Vestrsalir,
And
one night old | fights Othin's son; His hands he shall
wash not, | his hair he shall comb not,
Till the slayer of Baldr | he brings to the flames.
Unwilling I spake, | and
now would be still." Othin spake:
12.
"Wise-woman, cease not! | I seek from thee
All to know | that I fain would ask:
What maidens are they | who then shall
weep,
And toss to the sky | the yards of the sails?" The Wise-Woman spake:
13. "Vegtam thou art not, | as erstwhile I thought;
Othin thou art, | the enchanter
old." Othin spake:
"No wise-woman
art thou, | nor wisdom hast;
Of giants three | the mother art thou." The Wise-Woman spake:
14. "Home ride, Othin, | be ever proud;
For no one of
men | shall seek me more Till Loki wanders |
loose from his bonds,
And to the last strife | the destroyers come"
Odin Raises the Spirit of a Volva
The story of The Witch of Endor in the Bible has the main
components as the story of Odin raising the Volva from the grave. In The Witch of Endor, King Saul
is afraid of an upcoming battle and looks for a reliable prophet, but he cannot find one since the prophet Samuel
is dead. King Saul had previously banished all witches and spirit mediums from his kingdom, but
now he seeks out a woman who is said to possess great powers of prediction. She lives in Endor. King Saul disguises himself,
hoping that the Witch of Endor will not realize who he is and commands her to summon up the spirit of Samuel from the
grave. The witch is caught in a dilemma, because this act of witchcraft carries the death penalty, but if she does not obey
the king, she is also in trouble. Finally, she consents and conjures up what seems to be the ghost of the prophet Samuel for
King Saul who questions him about the future. The Ghost of Samuel predicts that Saul and his house will all die.
King Saul asks the Witch of Endor to raise the Ghost of Samuel.
Óðinn This god´s name actually means Spirit
Odinn's name means Thought and Spirit.
Rudyard Kipling's poem En-Dor adresses the subject of
the authenticity of the Witch of Endor: "“Behold there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at En-dor.”
I Samuel, xxviii. 7.The road to En-dor is easy to tread
For Mother or yearning Wife.
There,
it is sure, we shall meet our Dead
As they were even in life.
Earth has not dreamed of the blessing in store
For
desolate hearts on the road to En-dor.
Whispers shall comfort us out of the dark—
Hands—ah God!—that
we knew!
Visions and voices—look and hark!—
Shall prove that the tale is true,
And that those who have
passed to the further shore
May be hailed—at a price—on the road to En-dor.
But they are so deep in
their new eclipse
Nothing they say can reach,
Unless it be uttered by alien lips
And framed in a stranger’s
speech.
The son must send word to the mother that bore,
Through an hireling’s mouth. ’Tis the rule of En-dor.
And
not for nothing these gifts are shown
By such as delight our dead.
They must twitch and stiffen and slaver and groan
Ere
the eyes are set in the head,
And the voice from the belly begins. Therefore,
We pay them a wage where they ply at En-dor.
Even
so, we have need off faith
And patience to follow the clue.
Often, at first, what the dear one saith
Is babble, or
jest, or untrue.
(Lying spirits perplex us sore
Till our loves—and their lives—are well-known at En-dor
. . . .
Oh the road to En-dor is the oldest road
And
the craziest road of all!
Straight it runs to the Witch’s abode,
As it did in the days of Saul,
And nothing
has changed of the sorrow in store
For such as go down on the road to En-dor!"
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