Óðinn Allfather?

[Ulf]

I've posted this on other forums but no one ever gives an opinion. Maybe I could get some here. :) I've had it on my computer for years now, collecting dust.
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Wodan/Óðinn : Germanic Allfather ?
Thorunn

Special thanks go to Dr. Stephan Grundy for his help and advice during the early part of writing this piece.

This piece, although started in 1997, has only just been finished and been published in the Yule '99 edition of 'Thunder'.

This is be a piece examining the oft-taken view that Óðinn is the 'All-Father' of the Northern gods, the ultimate authority within the Northern pantheon, the ruler of Asgard and therefore (even if it is never explicitly stated as such), effectively a ruler over all the other gods. It should be noted that this will not be a general work about Óðinn, considering his various facets, and I have no intention of arguing against the fact that Óðinn was one of the major gods of the North or that he was very important to various folk in the North. All I intend to do is to examine the various evidence for and against what could be called this 'peak-of-the-Northern-hierarchy' viewpoint of him.

Although worshipped in different time periods and different geographical zones, the following gods are generally considered to be basically the same god as the Scandinavian Óðinn: the Old High German Uuodan and the Anglo-Saxon/Frisian Wodan/Woden.(1) In Primitive Norse, before 700 CE, Óðinn would have had a 'w' at the front. It is in Old Norse that W is dropped before O or U before the other vowels. Whether there was ever a uniform and unchanging image or attributes of this god is questionable but the evidence used will come from information about Uuodan, Wodan/Woden and Óðinn.

The evidence used by those who espouse this view basically comes from the man to whom we owe much of our knowledge of the lore of the North - Snorri Sturluson, the twelfth century Icelandic writer. The following quotations, supporting this 'peak-of-the-Northern-hierarchy' viewpoint, are from Gylfaginning in the Prose Edda by Snorri and the edition used here being a translation by Faulkes (Everyman's 1987 issue)

1. 'Óðinn is the highest and most ancient of the Æsir. He rules all things, and mighty though the other gods are, yet they all submit to him like children to their father.... Óðinn is called All-father, for he is father of all the gods' - 19-20 on page 21.
2. 'High said .... they had three sons. One was called Óðinn, the second Vili, the third Ve. It is my belief that this Óðinn and his brothers must be the rulers of heaven and earth' - 5-7 on page 11.
3. After a description of creating earth and mankind : 'And this is why he can be called All-father, that he is the father of all the gods and of men and of everything that has been brought into being by him and his power, the earth was his daughter and his wife. Out of her he begot the first of his sons, that is Asa-Thor' - 8-10 on page 13.
4. 'Then spoke Gangleri: 'What did All-Father do then, when Asgard was built ?' High spoke 'In the beginning he established rulers and bade them decide with him the destinies of men and be in charge of the government of the city. This was ... Idavoll ... their first act to build the temple that their thrones stand in, twelve in addition to the throne that belongs to All-Father .... This place is called Gladsheim'' - 14 on pages 15 to 16.

This might all seem quite conclusive and it may seem perverse to argue against the information that these lines give but Snorri was not writing as an historian but an artist (poet) - he was not writing about the old heathen myths to ensure an accurate record of the ancient beliefs.(2) Apart from considering whether any of the other literary and historical evidence supports or refutes this line, there is the contrary evidence from Snorri himself to consider.

One important element in this viewpoint is Óðinn as Allfather. According to quote number 3 above, the 'All-Father' title is because 'he is the father of all the gods' but Andy Orchard refers to Snorri expanding Óðinn's role so he is the father of the Æsir and including a full range of Snorri's writings in the Prose Edda itself we find that -

Bragi: Not Óðinn's son in the skaldic tradition3.

Forseti: Is the son of Balder - Gylafaginning 27-34.

Frigg: Listed in the Skaldskaparmal - where all the things they can be called are listed.but NOT as 'daughter of Óðinn'.

Heimdall: Not Óðinn's son in the skaldic tradition3

Hel: The daughter of Loki - Gylafaginning 27-34.

Höd: Not Óðinn's son in the skaldic tradition3.

Hoenir: Is refered to as Óðinn's table companion, not his son, in Skaldskaparmal 8-16 and can be inferred as his brother from the Eddic lay, the Voluspá (v.18).

Iðun: Listed in the Skaldskaparmal but NOT as 'daughter of Óðinn'.

Loki: The son of Farbauti and Laufrey - Skaldskaparmal 8-16.

Magni & Modi: Are the sons of Thor - Gylafaginning 52-3.

Sif: Listed in the Skaldskaparmal but NOT as 'daughter of Óðinn'.

Skaði: Her father is the giant Thiassi - Gylafaginning 21-23.

Týr: Snorri's Edda calls him 'Óðinn's son' but the poetic lay, the Hymiskviða, records a different myth : that Týr was the son of the giant Hymir.4 Orchard also notes that he was not Óðinn's son originally in the skaldic tradition.

Ullr: Not Óðinn's son - even in Skaldskaparmal 8-16.

Vanir: Not called the 'sons of Óðinn'. Neither the gods (Njörð and Freyr) or the goddess (Freyja) is ever called kin or child of Óðinn: see Gylafaginning 21-25 together with the Skaldskaparmal 5-8 and 18-22. Yet all are included within the Æsir, Njorð is referred to as the 'Third Ás', Freyr is the 'most glorious of the Æsir' and Freyja is the 'most glorious of the Ásyniur'.

Vidar: Not Óðinn's son in the skaldic tradition3.

Another source of high medieval Icelandic material about the Northern gods is the collection of mythological and heroic poetry which, although only extant in a document dated to a 1270 edition, is one of the sources for Snorri's Prose Edda: this is the Poetic Edda.

There is only one reference to Óðinn as All-Father, by the older Old Norse term Alfodr, in the Poetic Edda itself and that is in Grimnismal and even then Patricia Terry5 noted that Boer identified that particular verse as being part of a number of interpolations and actually omitted it from her translation. The other names for Óðinn which are listed in Grimnismal, as being his names among the gods, are:

* Óski: 'Wished for"

* Ómi: 'Boomer'

* Jafnhár: 'Just-As-High' (note: not more High or Highest!)

* Biflindi: 'Shield-Shaker'

* Gondlir: 'Wand-Wielder'

* Harbarð: 'Grey-beard'

None of these are a "father or chief of the gods" style title. Simek has suggested that the term alfoðr is possibly a medieval translation of the Latin title for the christian god: omnipater. The only other Poetic Edda reference to 'All-Father' I personally have found is in Terry's English translation of Vafþrúðnismál but that particular term then appears as 'Father of the Slain' in Hollander's translation whilst both Auden & Taylor and Larrington have it as 'father-of-men' which is aldafoðr and not alfoðr.

However, if the 'Allfather' is in deed not simply a Northern version of an incoming classical, christian god title as Simek suggests, another clue to its' origin maybe Snorri himself - for Snorri talks of the earl's poet Arnor 'who gives Óðinn the name All-Father'.6

In considering whether Óðinn was universally seen as a ruler of the gods, it is also interesting to note that:

A) When Óðinn was being compared with the classical gods, from the Roman historian Tacitus to Ælfric and Wulfstan in late Anglo-Saxon England, Óðinn's image or 'functions' suggested to these writers (who were contemporary with heathen times) that he should be compared with the god of communication and psychopomp - Mercury - and not a Sky Father or ruler of the gods such as Jupiter. The name of the Anglo-Saxon day commemorating Wodan/Óðinn is Mercury's day (Dies Mercurii) and not Thursday (Joves Dies).
B) It is not Óðinn who is cognate with the other Indo-European known Father of gods - it is Týr. The older Germanic form of Týr's name, Tiwaz, is related to the Greek god Zeus and the Roman god Jupiter (who was originally Dyaus Pitar). These are the names which are derived from dieus (Indo-European word for god).7
C) The basic synonym for a god is not Óðinn but Týr - e.g. Cargo-Tyr is Óðinn and Chariot-Tyr is Þórr.8

Further contemporary evidence in heathen times that Óðinn was not universally considered, even in late Viking times, to be a heathen All-Father or Ruler of Gods comes from looking at the description of the heathen temple at Uppsala in Sweden given by Adam of Bremen in the late eleventh century. Here it was Þórr who was in the central position because Thor 'presides in the sky....Woden, that is furor, is a war god'.9 Later description in this account reinforces this image as it says 'Woden is depicted in arms as our people customarily depicted Mercury. Like Jupiter, Thor is seen with a scepter'.10

Also the name of the god known as Freyr (or Lord), in Viking times, is related to the Latin primus or 'foremost'.11 In Lokasenna the god Týr, in replying to Loki about a snipe about Freyr, says 'Freyr is the best among blessed hosts / here in the garth of the gods'.12 This image would not be congruent with another universal chief god.

In Ynglinga Saga Asgard is called Odin's realm but then the gods are historical figures here and the mythological areas real land. The Óðinnic bias of the surviving version of the Ynglinga Saga can be seen for in Cassells dictionary, on page 124, there is another quote from the Ynglinga Saga which says Óðinn had the boat Skiðblaðnir (unlike even Snorri's Prose Edda which records a myth of the creation of six great treasures of the gods of whom the major three - Þórr, Óðinn and Freyr - each had two treasures with Skiðblaðnir being one of Freyr's treasures).

Óðinn is associated with kingship amongst the human Germanic tribes but this cannot then be simply applied to the divine pantheon for Freyr too was associated with kingship (in Sweden). The nature of kingship within heathen Germanic societies itself shows why Woden was a likely god of kings (if not king of gods): 'Woden was an appropriate progenitor for rulers who were essentially war-leaders because he was a god of battle'.13 The changing nature of Óðinn's role is hinted at in Richard North comment that 'there is no other West Germanic evidence for Woden's role in tribal genealogy, nor any Scandinavian evidence for Óðinn's genealogical role before the period of Anglo-Saxon influence on Norway'.

There are no actual myths described by Snorri, or in the poetic lays, which show the other gods being subservient or, as Snorri claimed in quotation number 1, deferring to him like children. A few examples are :

* When the giant builds the walls of Asgard and is close to taking Freyja, the sun and the moon, it is Loki who has to extract the gods from this problem.
* When Loki causes trouble in Lokasenna, Óðinn cannot (and does not appear to be expected to) exercise authority to shut him up and they have to use the might of Thor to shut his mouth. When the giant Hrungnir chases Óðinn into Asgard, after he has boasted about how good his horse is, the giant is shown hospitality. But when Hrungnir then gets drunk, abusive and threatening, Thor has to be called to get rid of Hrungnir - suggesting no-one else could.

At the end of this myth Thor gives Hrungnir's horse, Gullfaxi, to his son Magni for removing the giant's leg from his neck after a duel. This gift annoys Óðinn and he grumbles about this but there is no indication that he then got the horse - if Thor had owed a chief's allegiance to Óðinn this would not have been recounted so light-heartedly.
* It is Heimdall, rather than Óðinn, who suggests a solution when Mjollnir is stolen.
* A medieval Viking story, King Gautrek14, includes the gods deciding the warrior Starkad's fate. Óðinn is shown as being unable to simply champion Starkad and demand a good fate for him but enters into a duel of twisting wyrd with Thor: there being alternative blessings (from Óðinn) and curses (from Thor) which are all declared to be part of his fate by the gods.

The only surviving story where Óðinn 'orders' a deity to do what he wants is not only late ( in Sorla Thattr in Flateyjarbók c1400CE), but even then it is a 'hostage demand' and not an order derived from Óðinn's personal authority: Óðinn gets Loki to steal Freyja's Brisingamen (necklace) for him then Óðinn uses this necklace (which Freyja wants back) to get her to get two kings to wage war and use her magic to resuscitate those who die so they can carry on fighting.

It should be noted that there was never a single belief system with the Norse/Germanic tribes throughout history. Hilda Davidson has said 'We know that there was considerable variety among the religions of the different German tribes, who had no universal faith or church'15 and Bill Griffiths wrote 'For the Germanic 'gods'......were likely to be relatively local, limited in potential, and connected with a particular need or role, not distinguished by status in some fixed pantheon that assisted and reflected a self-perpetuating and wide-ruling state system'16 and Mundal talked of Snorri who '... arranges the gods and goddesses into a patriarchal family with Óðinn as its head, whereas other sources - especially the toponymic material - suggest quite different order of precedence'.17 This diversity can be seen in that even in the scanty surviving material there are different versions of stories available: such as that of Aurvandil's toe in the Scandinavian sources.

Looking to an earlier period, in the 'Germania' which was written in approximately 98c.e., Tacitus described the different belief systems prevalent within the Germanic tribes at that time:

* Section 2 tells of an 'earth-born god called Tuisto', of his sons 'Mannus' and then of Mannus's three sons who gave their names to certain tribes: the Ingaevones (p.f. Ing), the Herminones and the Istaevones.
* Section 40 notes that for the Reudigni, Aviones, Anglii (possibly the Angles who partly created England centuries later), Varini, Eudoses, Suarines and Nuitones tribes there was a common worship of 'Nerthus, or Mother Earth'.
* Section 43 describes the 'Alci' who were worshipped by the Narharvali tribe - gods who were young men and brothers.
* Section 45 notes that the Aestii tribe worshipped 'the Mother of the gods'.
* Section 9 deals with 'Mercury', 'Mars' and 'Hercules' and discusses their sacrifices. These Romanised versions of Germanic gods are generally agreed to be Uuodan, Tiwaz (later Týr) and Donar (later Þórr) respectively. This section includes the phrase 'deorum maxime Mercurium colunt' or "Above all other gods they worship Mercury". It should be noted that this Latin phrase is almost exactly the same as Caesar's phrase about Mercury being worshipped by the Gauls in 54BCE and Caesar had borrowed the phrase from Herodotus about the Thracian princes, although the Thracians also claimed descent from the god.18 Even if the phrase was not simply borrowed to embellish his account of Germanic worship, I cannot say for certain whether this phrase simply indicates that Uuodan (Mercury) was worshipped more in a numerical sense, that he was more important amongst this set of gods for the tribes who worshipped them or whether Tacitus has inferred a greater importance from the fact that human sacrifices were only offered to him (although this practise would fit in with what is known of Óðinn in later Scandinavia) and this phrase from section 9 of 'The Germania' still does not actually make any reference to an all-father image of the god.

Thus the earliest written account of the native Germanic religions does not indicate at any point that there was any kind of universal 'divine hierarchy' or 'All-father' known to the Germanic tribes.In quotation number three there is a suggestion of for Óðinn as the originator of all things. However there is conflicting evidence in the motif of Óðinn as a grandson or descendant that can be found :

* In Snorri's prologue, when giving the euhemerised accounts of the gods as ancient humans, he does not list Óðinn as the first of the Æsir dynasty. Thor is identified as the son of the 'high king Priam of Troy'19 and Woden or Odin is listed as one of Thor's descendants - not as his father.

* Óðinn is not the original progenitor in all the royal pedigrees in which he appears.
* · One of Óðinn's by-names is 'Third'20 - not only does this title not tie in with the image of a highest god but there is an interesting point to this title under the Dumezilian view of a tripartite Indo-European society/mythology which I will now touch on.

Georges Dumézil was a writer whose theories still carry great influence. His writings on correlations he saw between a hypothetical early pan-Germanic pantheon and an hypothetical proto-Indo-European [P-I-E] tripartite society and mythological structure he proposed from comparative studies he undertook have had a profound impact. These theories are not universally accepted, especially in their totality, but they have still had a great influence on people's perception of how mythological structures should be seen and, in particular for the purposes of this essay, he placed Óðinn in the first 'function' or that of the Sovereign/Priestly class. This has encouraged those who would speak of Óðinn as the King of gods. I do not intend to go into all the arguments against this theory - one example of the contra evidence being that none of the Germanic gods, for whom we can reconstruct P-I-E names, are included in the system proposed for they have names which are personified natural phenomena.21 It can be seen though that certain assumptions were taken about Óðinn within Dumézil's work which almost suggests a circular logic at work - is his acceptance of Snorri's assertion of Óðinn's all-powerful sovereignty over the gods then colouring his reconstructions of P-I-E mythology? A few examples of this are:

* Egil Skallagrimson's invocation of the gods, which starts with Óðinn (very likely as Óðinn would be his patron - Egil being a poet) is quoted within Dumézil's work but used with a quote talking of the "all-powerful Odin" even though Egil's quote does not add that adjective.22 Dumézil does not choose to mention the Icelandic Thing oath which starts with Njord and Freyr.
* Dumézil talks of Freyja taking the "other half" of the dead23 whereas even Snorri Sturluson says "... she gets half the slain, and the other half Odin...."24. * Dumézil talks of the historicizing narratives listing Óðinn as the first king25 whereas Snorri lists a Munon or Mennon as the first king with Thor as his son and Óðinn appearing as an ancestor of Thor (as discussed above).26 Even if you accept the proposed tripartite scheme, there are indicators that his role as war god or warrior can be supported by these comparative studies.

One of the myths used in considering the Indo-European structure is a myth of the first warrior - who is called 'Third'27 - and as we have seen above this is one of the names that Óðinn was known by. Another indication of his warrior role within such a scheme is the Dumézil proposed archetype of the warrior being "something of an outsider, an untrustworthy fellow"28 - Óðinn is notably untrustworthy29. Even Dumézil himself talks of the number of ties between Odin and battles or warriors.30 The first class, or 'function, is supposed to have an important priestly role, connected with sacrifice, according to the comparative studies but Óðinn is connected with magic not priestly functions. It is the Vanir who were declared priests and priestess to the Æsir. In fact, apart from Óðinn, I have not seen a comparative 'sovereign' who has such a specifically magical image even though Dumézil mentions a binding function of one figure. Also Lincoln has compared Óðinn (as shown in his role of Harbarð) to the P-I-E ferryman between the worlds (such as that of the living and the dead) and his "hell hounds", Geri and Freki, are further evidence of a primal, and original, part of his role beingst amongst the dead.

A distinctive theme often seen in connection with Óðinn is his continuing search, a wandering, after wisdom - this would not be necessary for the creator of all things. He hangs on the world tree as a sacrifice for nine nights for secret wisdom and, as a consequence, wins the runes. Interestingly the runes are described in the Hávámal as being 'made by mighty gods, known to holy hosts and dyed deep red by Óthin'.31 Óðinn has a special role with the runes but he was not seen as their omnipotent source. He is also described as calling up a dead volva for knowledge, such as at the beginning of the Voluspá and also in Baldr's Draumar for information of Balder's fate. He famously sacrifices an eye to gain wisdom from Mimir's well. At the beginning of Vafþrúðnismál, where he goes to clash wits with the giant Vafthrudnir, the first thing that Óðinn does is to ask for Frigg's advice or rede. One notable characteristic of Óðinn is his ravens: which the Norse sources describe as being sent out to collect knowledge and their very names mean "memory" and "thought".

The image given in quotation number 4, on the first page of this article, is that of Óðinn delegating power and that the gods then sat to decide matters but in Voluspá it describes the gods sitting in council - not seeking it from Óðinn:

'Then all the Powers Went to the thrones of fate
the sacrosanct gods and considered this:
....... gave names.......
............... to reckon up the years
......................
until three gods, strong and loving.....'32

There is no mention of Óðinn being the source of such power or delegating it down first as Gylfaginning suggests. When he, together with Hoenir and Lodur, step forward there is no indication in the poem that somehow they are higher in status than the company of gods they were with.

When it comes to the creation of mankind there is also conflicting evidence for in the eddic lay Rigsthula it is Heimdall who is father of the classes of men and in the Voluspá (or 'prophecy of the seeress') too the phrase used is "Heimdall's children" when calling on mankind suggesting there was a slightly different emphasis to the creation myth extant which Snorri ignored or even a totally different myth. The christian slant of Snorri's telling of creation in Gylfaginning, 3-4, can be seen in his description: "He made heaven and earth and the skies and everything....But his greatest work is that he made man and gave him a soul that shall live and never perish.............men who are righteous shall live and dwell with him .. in ... Gimle or Vingolf, but wicked men go to Hel".

[Psychonaut]

Two comments:

1). Even if we accept Óðinn as the Allfather, it appears that this "office" was not always his. We're almost positive that Týr held this position prior to Óðinn, and there's a good chance that Ullr held it prior to Týr.

2). To me, Óðinn's guis as Allfather owes more to his functions as a demiurge, when he and his two brothers (who might be hypostatic facades of Óðinn himself) shaped the worlds from Ymir's corpse than it does to an genealogy. Rather than being the lineal father of the Gods, he's the "father" of the ordered cosmos.

[Lyfing]

This all makes me think of Chapter IX of Our Troth..it's a little long but here it is..


Tiw and Zisa
(Týr, *Tiwaz, Tius; Tisa, *Týa, *Tiwon)

Although the tales of our folk speak little of Tiw, his name and what few things we do know of him hint that he held a great place in early times. Now, many are finding themselves touched by this god (and even his less-known womanly counterpart, Zisa), and seek to bring his ur-old worship back to life again and call his might forth to brighten the Middle-Garth. Among these folk stands William Bainbridge, who tells of his chosen god (and goddess) in this work, "Týr and Zisa".

The Eddic Týr may seem to some, at first blush, a relatively simple and straightforward deity; Zisa, on the other hand, appears not at all. A deeper investigation into Týr's nature and character, though, shows a complexity arising, not only out of the vastly different sources of knowledge of him, but also out of the seeming differences, even incompatibilities, in the pictures one derives from the various references. What, among all the different personalities that could emerge, is the central reality that is Týr? Is Týr the transcendent Sky Father, the cold and rational orderer, co-ruler with Óðinn, the stern but fair judge, the patron of Þing and hólmganga, or the brave and stoic warrior who sacrifices himself for the well-being of the folk. Each person who attempts to come to grips with Týr must answer this question for him- or herself, and yet one suspects that the core truths of this god and his even more obscure consort (or womanly aspect? - KHG) must remain something of a mystery - in the best and most sacred sense of the word - even to those who most honour them, as befits two of the most ancient of our deities. In seeking mysteries, however, we take them into ourselves and become one with them. It may then be that the characters of Týr and Zisa will reveal themselves more fully through the words and deeds of us who find in this pair a holy path imbedded in our own souls, and an essential aspect of the wholeness that is the Northern faith.
The earliest appearance of the god we know as Týr appears to have been as the great sky god of the Indo-Europeans. This we surmise from the apparent derivation of the names for many of the sky gods in Indo-European peoples - examples include Dyaus in the Rig Veda, Zeus for the Greeks, Jupiter or Jove among the Romans, Sius in the ancient Hittite pantheon, and perhaps Zîu, Zîo, Tîuz, or Tîwaz in the original language of the Teutons - from a single source, and the similarity in function displayed by these deities. His name originally may have meant "shining", or simply "light". For the Germanic peoples, as with others, the name was also a generic word for "god", a circumstance that continued even into Eddic times. From this, and from the position of this god in other Indo-European cultures, we believe that the Sky Father was also the chief of the gods, and probably honoured together with the Earth Mother. He appears to have been ancient, and thus, imperfectly understood, when the Indian Vedas were composed; Indra, the "king of the gods", was considered in some sense his offspring, and Varuna, as the "creator and sustainer of the world", is considered to have inherited those functions from Dyaus. According to early Vedic thought,
The Sky is the Father and, with the Earth, the origin of everything. All the gods, Sun, Moon, Wind, Rain, Lightning, Dawn, and the rest, are children of the Sky. Dyaus covers the Earth and fertilizes her with his seed, that is, with rain.
One consequence of Týr's origin is that, unlike Óðinn and despite his appearance at times as a cold and implacable god of struggle, Týr has not been viewed as embodying both light and darkness within his nature, but has remained for those who follow his path preeminently a god of light.
As might be expected, the Tiwaz of Heathen theology had undergone great changes between the time the Indo-Europeans began to split into separate peoples and the late Heathen period in Northern Europe, which furnishes us with most of our data on ancient Germanic religion. Nevertheless, a few circumstances indicate that at least some element of Týr's identity as the overarching god of the heavens persisted down to that time. First, there is the phenomenon of the sacred column of the Saxons, Irminsul. It is thought that the name of this column is related to the name Hermiones, which, according to Tacitus, was one of the earliest tribal names among the Germans. The Irminsul is said to have represented the "column of the universe upholding all things". While it is difficult to say when the tradition of the Irminsul began, it is a fascinating coincidence that, between approximately 170 and 240 C.E., there appeared in Northern Gaul several "Jupiter columns", on which Jupiter was sometimes represented mounted and holding a thunderbolt, and around which the images of the four seasons, the days of the week, or various other deities appeared. Certainly, it strikes one as at least somewhat plausible that the depiction in Northern Gaul of the Roman sky god on a column may have influenced the later use among a Germanic tribe of the column to honour the ancient Germanic sky god (showing, by the way, that at least some Germans understood who their sky god was, even if the Romans insisted on equating him erroneously with Mars). Another indication that for some, Týr retained at least the spiritual authority of the ancient Sky Father is the description of him, in the Old Icelandic Rune Poem, as "the ruler of the temple".
A second connection between the Germanic Týr and his ancient function as sky god is his identification with the pole star, Polaris. This is clearly stated in the "Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem":
(Tir) is a star, it keeps faith well
with athelings, always on its course,
over the mists of night it never fails.
Combining the idea of a "world column" with the pole star, one arrives not only at a principle linking heaven with earth, but also an ordering principle around which the heavens and the earth are organized and revolve. Whether the old Saxons and their English descendants actually made this connection or thought of Týr in such terms remains, unfortunately, a matter of conjecture.
Finally, it appears that in the most ancient times, Týr was honoured primarily on mountains and in forests. If Týr were, as many have assumed, primarily a war god and a god of the political and juridical structures, one would not expect to find his holy places in natural and somewhat inaccessible settings, but rather, mainly in towns or near places of military significance. That an ancient Teuton would have to climb a mountain - that is, to place him- or herself between earth and sky - to honour Týr completely indicates that Týr, like so many of the Heathen gods and goddesses, retained a vital connection for the old Germanics with the natural force in which he was first perceived, and never became entirely "socialized".
In his extensive account of German society, the most comprehensive such survey of Roman times, Cornelius Tacitus made prominent mention of three deities, to whom he ascribed the Roman names Mercury, Hercules, and Mars. It is generally assumed that these names correspond to Óðinn, Þórr, and Týr, and later Roman usage in Britain decisively confirms the identification of Týr with "Mars". This tendency to regard Týr as a god of war has continued, for some, down to the present day, and there is ample ground for it. It seems to have been common to engrave a "Týr rune" on implements of war, presumably so that they would not fail their wielder in battle. This custom was expressly sanctioned in the Sigrdrífumál of the Poetic Edda:
Learn victory runes if thou victory wantest,
and have them on thy sword's hilt -
on thy sword's hilt some, on thy sword's guard some,
and call twice upon Týr.
In the Prose Edda, Óðinn, in the guise of Hár, "The High One", describes Týr in terms quite consistent with his apparent function as bringer of victory in war:
There is a god called Týr. He is the boldest and most courageous, and has power over victory in battle; it is good for brave men to invoke him. It is a proverbial saying that he who surpasses others and does not waver is "Týr-valiant". He is also so well-informed that a very knowledgeable man is said to be "Týr-wise".
The Saxons' progenitor deity, again decisively identified with Tiwaz, is thought to have been one Saxnot, or later in England, Seaxneat, the divine ancestor of the royal house of Essex. The name means something like "Sword Companion".
In modern times, this tradition regarding Týr was carried on in the ritual manual of the Ásatrú Free Assembly:
Tyr, in his many guises, is the original Indo-European sky god. Long before the Viking Age, though, he had been demoted to a lesser, but still important status. Tyr is a war god, and his virtues are those of bravery, sacrifice, and devotion to justice.

Tyr, then, is a model for those who follow the path of the duty-bound warrior, responsible for the welfare of others.
The "demotion" spoken of is nowhere so clear as in the "Hymiskviða" of the Poetic Edda, where Týr serves as little more than a straight man for Þórr.
There are, however, difficulties in regarding Týr's perceived function of "war god" as an essential element in his character. First and most obviously, Týr was originally a chief deity, in an age and land wherein a people not adept at warfare had little chance of long-term survival. Under such circumstances, any deity would by necessity have become a "war god", since victory in war was one of the crucial items the deity would be expected to deliver. For example, there can be little doubt that Freyr also sometimes functioned as a "war god", for all that he is also a god of peace and plenty (see "Fro Ing"). Another problem is that none of our sources for Týric mythos show the supposed war god actually making or participating in war. Certainly, Óðinn, and Óðinnic human protagonists, are depicted in such activities, and indeed, one of the reasons Óðinn is believed to have supplanted Týr as chief god is his ability, as "chooser of the slain", better to produce victory by producing more slain among the opposing side. But the extant sources fail to show either Týr or Týric military heroes in battle. And in the one Eddic tale to show Týr in any detail, he is shown as binding violence, not unleashing it.
A third consideration is that in other Indo-European cultures, the true counterpart of Týr is not especially associated with war. In the Indian pantheon, neither Dyaus, nor Mitra (after Dumézil), nor Varuna (as inheritor of the role of Sky Father) were viewed as specifically war gods. Zeus and Jupiter, though rulers and thus capable of overcoming their foes, were accompanied in their pantheons by deities for whom war was a specialty, Ares or Apollo or Mars, respectively. Only if one identifies Dyaus with Mitra, and then follows him to Persia where he becomes Mithra, does one approach a war god, and by the time of that transformation, the Teutonic branch of the Indo-Europeans would long have parted company with the Indo-Iranian branch. Assuming, as from the standpoint of Ásatrú we probably ought to, that a god is more than a social function, and retains his essential character regardless of what people at any given time may happen to think about him, it is difficult to support with comparative material anything more than the view that Týr probably functioned more or less as a "war god" for a period because the Northern peoples needed him to.
Finally, war is not terribly compatible with the other roles Týr has performed in society. As Sky Father, Týr's function is quintessentially creative, not destructive; as noted above, he tends to be viewed as a god of light, and certainly cannot supportably be regarded as a "death-god", as can Óðinn. In making fertile the Earth through his seed, in the form of rain, Tiwaz is generally considered to be taking part in a marriage, not a rape. And as Þing god, Týr's function was to manage conflict and direct it into channels that are not destructive of the community, not to stir up conflict for its own sake, again, as Óðinn has been known to do. Thus, although Týr can certainly be, as McNallen wrote, the true patron of the self-sacrificing warrior fighting for the common good, he is not fundamentally a god of slaughter, nor does he call especially to those whose path involves physical violence. One must look, then, far past the battlefield to glimpse his true nature.
Týr is also referred to as the Northern god of justice. This term can be enormously misleading. "Justice" comes from a Latin source, and expresses a fundamentally Mediterranean concept. The word seems to imply that there is a set of abstract, universal principles against which empirical phenomena can be rationally measured to arrive at a "just" result, and also implies the existence of a judge - an impartial, disinterested, and all-powerful party who adjudicates disputes based upon the previously mentioned abstract principles of justice. A third component of a system of "justice" has in practice been a set of comprehensible, codified laws promulgated by an absolute, but definitely human, "authority". The old Teutonic system of punishing wrongdoing and resolving conflict, by contrast, was local rather than universal, based itself on precedent, rather than a rationalistic derivation of a result from abstract principles, often utilized an assembly acting as jury rather than a judge, and relied on principles of conduct that were viewed as having divine origin and as being the property of the local folk, rather than on the edicts and decrees of political authorities. Thus, the lore gives us no indication that Týr was a judge, or that he decreed laws for the people to follow. Forseti, as an arbitrator, came closest to a judge, and Heimdallr was the one who ordered society and put people in their proper places (as described in the Eddic poem Rígsþula). Týr simply established a framework for managing the struggles and conflicts inherent in any community such that the community, rather than being torn apart, emerged stronger. To call Týr, therefore, a god of right, after the German Recht, would come nearer to the truth, although perhaps the most accurate term would be Þing god, after the institution with which Týr was most closely identified in later Heathen times.
The Romans clearly knew of the connection between the Teutonic "war god" and the judicial function in society; Tacitus reported that:
Capital punishment, imprisonment, even flogging, are allowed to none but the priests, and are not inflicted merely as punishments or on the commanders' orders, but as it were in obedience to the god whom the Germans believe to be present on the field of battle.
Since Tacitus later mentions that capital cases are tried in the assembly, the link between Týr and the Þing is inescapable. This connection was also recognized by the Frisians in Britain who crafted two Latin inscriptions found at Hadrian's Wall referring to "Mars Thingsus". While this is not the place to examine in detail the remarkable institution of the Þing, it would probably be fair to describe it, at its most sedate, as a jury trial with audience participation, and at its most raucous, as the pursuit of open warfare by other means. In its judicial aspect, it, and Týr, are also associated with trial-by-combat, or the hólmganga. Particularly in the Icelandic sources, the picture clearly emerges of a forum guided to a large extent by what were regarded as the ancient laws of the locality (as enunciated by the Þingspeaker or Lawspeaker?), but in which the support of powerful factions for one side or another unquestionably affected the outcome, and the lone, unpopular litigant stood a drastically reduced likelihood of success.
Two cultural phenomena in Britain hint strongly at the persistence of the connection between Týr and the political and judicial systems. The first is a symbol known as the "broad arrow", appearing as a rather truncated Týr rune, that was used to signify the legal profession, government property, and the military. The second is the mediæval fair, discussed at some length by Nigel Pennick in his work, Games of the Gods (pp. 129-60). Pennick links these fairs to locations identified through their names either with the Þing or with Týr, and discusses how their layout, according to a "sacred grid", implies a connection with a metaphysical/religious concept of divine and cosmic ordering of the universe. The fairs also featured a pole in the center (Irminsul?) on which was hoisted a glove (Týr's severed hand?). Overshadowing these in importance, however, are the institutions of the adversarial and jury-based (as opposed to the investigative and judge-based) system of justice, and Anglo-Saxon common law. These are virtually unique in the world today to English-speaking countries, and can only have their roots in the Heathen concept of law, and in the Þing.
Týr's connection with the Þing has led Georges Dumézil, by a somewhat torturous path, to conclude that Óðinn and Týr represent two aspects of the social function of sovereignty, the "first function" in his tripartite socio-theology. In Dumézil's view, Týr represents the rational, social, and "light" aspect, and Óðinn represents the magical, inspired, and "dark" aspect. The author is decidedly not a Dumézilian, and hence will leave a comprehensive discussion of Dumézil's theories to someone more sympathetic to them. An important, and apparently sound, basis for them is de Vries' opinion that the "war god" aspect of Týr is not fundamental, and arises largely from the almost warlike character of the Teutonic judicial system (and indeed, on the tendency of the Teutons to regard war, as well as lots, as a sort of judgement by the gods and hence, judicial in nature). More troubling is Dumézil's view that Germanic law, as represented by the Þing, expresses a corrupted and "pessimistic" view of law:
At the very least theology describes a divine Order where all is not perfect, either, but where a Mitra or a Fides keep watch as guarantors and shine as models of true law. Even if polytheistic gods cannot be impeccable, they should at least, to fulfill their role, have one of them speak for and respond to man's conscience, early awakened, surely already well awakened and mature, among the Indo-Europeans. But Tyr can do that no longer. The Germanic peoples and their ancestors were no worse than those Indo-European peoples who fell upon the Mediterranean, Iran, or the Indus. But their theology of sovereignty, and especially their god of Law, by conforming to the human example, was cut off from the role of protestation against custom which is one of the great services rendered by religion. This lowering of the sovereign "ceiling" condemned the world - the entire world of gods and men, to being no more than what they are, since mediocrity there no longer results from accidental imperfections, but from essential limits.
One with a more sympathetic view of Germanic religion would note that the function of a native or folk religion is generally to support and strengthen the folk, not imbue it with guilt for not living up to artificial standards of behavior. One might also find it peculiar that Dumézil should consider those gods admirable who encourage wishful thinking, and mediocre who teach self-sacrifice for the common good. Still, if Týr and we are condemned to being no more than we are, that is nonetheless preferable to being what we are not.
Another weakness of the theory is that important aspects of Northern theology must be distorted in order to make it fit. To conclude that Týr has abandoned his "proper" function, Dumézil suggests as a "possibility" that Týr, despite the obvious derivation of his name, really has no connection with the ancient sky god, uses that lever to speculate that Týr "might have" coexisted with Óðinn, and then assumes not only that they must have coexisted, but that they must have been counterparts representing two aspects of the "sovereign function", since such a nice model of this division of labour exists in Vedic lore surrounding Mitra and Varuna, and since some very rough correspondences seem to exist in Celtic religion and in some relatively minor figures in Roman myth and pseudo-history. However, the Irminsul speaks of Týr's continuing link with the sky and the universe beyond it, and the whole of Teutonic mythology fails to show an instance of Týr in cooperation or interdependence with Óðinn, or any indication of a clear, recognised division of labour between them.
Dumézil does derive important support from Saxo Grammaticus' story of Óðinn's temporary replacement:
Thus, Odin, wounded by the double trespass of his wife... took to an exile overflowing with noble shame, imagining so to wipe off the slur of his ignominy. When he had retired, one Mit-othin, who was famous for his juggling tricks, was likewise quickened, as though by inspiration from on high, to seize the opportunity of feigning to be a god; and, wrapping the minds of the barbarians in fresh darkness, he led them by the renown of his jugglings to pay holy observance to his name. He said that the wrath of the gods could never be appeased nor the outrage to their deity expiated by mixed and indiscriminate sacrifices, and therefore forbade that prayers for this end should be put up without distinction, appointing to each of those above his especial drink-offering. But when Odin was returning, he cast away all help of jugglings, went to Finland to hide himself, and was there attacked and slain by the inhabitants.
Presumably, upon his return, Óðinn reinstated collective sacrifice. Dumézil proclaims this "undoubtedly an ancient myth", and identifies Mit-othyn, or Mithothyn, with Týr on the strength of the name's similarity with the word mjötuðinn, meaning "the judge-leader". Then, relying on Julius Caesar's description of Germanic society as communal, and in a rather jarring intrusion of modern economic theory into ancient society, Dumézil associates Óðinn with totalitarian communism, and Týr with classical liberalism and private property. Saxo's source may indeed have been an ancient myth, and could conceivably have had to do with Óðinn's replacement of Týr as chief of the gods. Caesar, however, is notoriously unreliable, having described the whole of Germanic religion as worship of tangible things such as the sun, the moon, and fire, while Tacitus, a mere century and a half later, found any number of deities being honoured, some in ways that continued in use up to the christian suppression. From Tacitus on, Teutonic society does not appear particularly communistic, nor Óðinn especially hostile towards private property or, for that matter, individual freedom.
Theories such as Dumézil's, of course, are advanced with the idea that certain predispositions and patterns recur in a grouping of people, in this case Indo-Europeans, and these shape people's religious perceptions and thus, their mythology. From the standpoint of psychology, comparative religion, or, for that matter, political economy, this approach can provide useful insights. From the standpoint of theology, however, and assuming that one accepts the possibility that a god actually exists and has a definable character apart from his social function, one cannot respect the integrity of the available sources regarding Týr as a Germanic deity and conclude that he is simply a rational and social counterpart to the divinely-mad and other-worldly Óðinn. Neither Týr nor Óðinn can be comprehensively defined in terms of one another and the roles they play in human society, or even human psychology; given the cosmic scope of both their natures, we would be presumptuous in believing we can comprehensively define them at all. As believers in the folk-religion we are studying, we seek after mysteries that expand the scope of our gods and our understanding of them, not reductionist theories that reduce them to manageable and socially productive "functions".
The single tale in the lore unquestionably about Týr, and expressing his nature so clearly that it could not be transferred to Óðinn after the latter ascended to the throne of Ásgarðr, describes the binding of Fenrir, the wolf son of Loki and the giantess Angrboða. Because the auguries told the gods to expect great harm from Fenrir and his siblings, the gods "brought the wolf up at home, and only Týr had the courage to go up to it and give it food". As the wolf grew great and strong, the Æsir sought to find a fetter strong enough to bind him. After three failed attempts, they obtained from Svartálfheimr a magical fetter, and went with the wolf to an island in a lake. When they suggested, however, that Fenrir allow himself to be bound, he balked, even though the gods promised to set him free if he could not break the bonds:
The wolf said: "If you bind me so that I can't get free, then you will sneak away so that it will be a long time before I get any help from you. I don't want to have that ribbon put on me. But rather than be accused of cowardice by you, let one of you place his hand in my mouth as a pledge that this is done in good faith." Each of the gods looked at the other then and thought that they were in a fix, and not one of them would stretch forth his hand, until Týr put out his right hand and laid it in the wolf's mouth. Now when the wolf began to struggle against it, the band tightened, and the more fiercely he struggled the firmer it got. They all laughed except Týr: he lost his hand.
From this tale, Týr is known above all as the god of self-sacrifice for the common good. The story's other implications, though, are not so easily discerned. The spectacle of the Þing god, often called the "god of justice", swearing a false oath has troubled many. Even disregarding that the word "oath" was not mentioned, however, one must remember that all the gods made the promise, and Týr alone redeemed his honour by paying the pledge-price. Beyond this legalism is also the fact that all knew that Fenrir must be bound if the earthly and cosmic order of things was to be maintained, but only Týr was capable of putting the universal need above his personal welfare; and who better to perceive the greater need and the relative unimportance of his own appendage than the god of earthly and cosmic order, Tiwaz, Sky Father?
But the real mystery embodied in this story lies only partially in Týr's act, which is readily comprehensible in human terms. Týr's relationship with the wolf adds a far deeper and more complex aspect to the myth. Whether Fenrir represents cosmic chaos and destruction, as some theorize, or violence and greed, which Týr also in some sense bound in the Þing, the striking element of the story is that Týr seemed actually to have been friends with the wolf. Whatever it was about Fenrir that so terrified the other gods seems almost to have struck a chord in Týr. A mere god of law and order would not have reacted in that way. Only a god fully cognizant of the necessary part that chaos and destruction play in the cosmos, and in his own nature, would have fed that chaos and destruction, knowing that it must bring the end of all the god himself works to preserve. Although Týr plays a decisive part - the decisive part - in binding the destructive forces that threaten the worlds, he nonetheless does so from a viewpoint that acknowledges and respects those forces, and that identifies with the totality of being and of Wyrd, rather than his own role in Wyrd's working out. Týr is thus the warrior, the constant star impassively recording the warrior's deed, and the universal axis of being and destiny that joins the two and gives them meaning, Irminsul. In Týr's defining act, the warrior, the master of struggle presiding over the great Þing of life, and the universal, boundless, and transcendent sky become one, and we see more clearly than in a thousand etymologies the essentail unity among the multitude of faces Tiwaz has chosen to show the Indo-European peoples over the millennia.
The discerning reader will have noted by this time that practically nothing has been said about Zisa. This is because, however sparse our sources of knowledge are about Týr, they are infinitely sparser as to Zisa. Discussing Teutonic religion, Tacitus tells us:
Some of the Suebi sacrifice also to Isis. I do not know the origin or explanation of this foreign cult; but the goddess' emblem, being made in the form of a light warship, itself proves that her worship came in from abroad.
Jacob Grimm, our principal source for information on Zisa, makes the eminently plausible connection between Isa and Zisa, or Cisa, and links both with mediæval Latin references from around the 11th century to the patroness of Augsburg, Germany, once a home of the Suebi, who also honoured Tiwaz. September 28th seems to have been the Feast of Cisa, in fortuitous juxtiposition with Michaelmas the following day; the archangel Michael's character does appear to manifest some similarities with that of Tiwaz. Cisa seems to have borne at least some relationship with the harvest.
Such is the nature of our hard knowledge; what we do with it is largely up to us. Some have seen Zisa as a female counterpart to Týr, out of theological necessity, and because Loki taunts Týr with cuckoldry in the "Lokasenna". Some support is given to this view by the discovery of the Raum-Trollhättan bracteate. This bracteate has often been seen as Týr because it shows a figure with one hand in the mouth of a beast. However, the hairstyle and the skirt are characteristically female, as are the clearly defined nipples or breasts: knowing of the existence of a goddess whose name is the womanly form of Týr, it is hard to interpret this piece as showing anything else. On the other hand, the picture emerging from both Tacitus and Grimm is not that of a Mrs. Warrior, a Lady Justice, or even a Queen of the Sky. Far from representing evidence of foreign origin, the ship is extremely ancient in Northern religion, and carries connotations both of early goddess worship and of death and the journey to the other world (see "Bronze Age", "Njörðr and Nerthus", and "Soul, Death, and Rebirth"). One might even be forgiven for noticing as perhaps more than a coincidence that the goddess Nerthus, although described by Tacitus as Mother Earth, has her holy place on an island in the sea, on which was found a secluded lake. Nerthus, much in the manner of Freyr in a later age, was carried about the precinct in a chariot pulled by cows, and during her procession, weapons were put up and the peace was kept as sacred. If one tends, as some do, to see in the original Sky Father Týr's most essential nature, one would also tend to seek in Zisa echoes of his earliest and only known consort, the Earth Mother, a figure in fact quite like Nerthus; and if Tiwaz incorporates within himself the blinding light of creation, then his consort would have included within herself the darker mysteries of death and the transformation within, represented since earliest times by a ship. But such thoughts at present are no more than speculation, and time must determine whether a truth is contained within them that will emerge in the minds and workings of those on a Týric path.
In modern times, Týr has attracted his share of folks who accord him especial honour. For the most part, these Týrians share many common traits derived from their patron, such as a certain reserve, a tendency to place more emphasis on thought and reason than on emotion and ecstatic experience, a deep concern for fairness to others and for insuring that the consequences of their own acts promote the common good, and most fundamental, an uncommon capacity for seeing past their personal viewpoints and interests, and acting on behalf of the community, the faith, and Wyrd itself, to bring into being what the Norns have woven for us in the most beneficial manner possible.
As Týr has many aspects, however, so those attracted to him often differ substantially in their view of Týr, and in the way they express their acceptance of him as a paradigm for their own lives. As the old A.F.A. ritual book shows, there are some who place the image of self-sacrificing warrior at the center of their concept of Týr, regarding his other facets as secondary or too far in the past to matter. While the path of a Týric warrior doubtless has much in common with other "warrior paths", such as discipline, self-testing, and, most often, training in some form of martial arts, a Týric warrior tradition would offer a stark contrast to, say, an Óðinnic one. Few Týrians emphasize magical practice much, nor would they find the berserker rage much to their taste. Other differences would exist with practices inspired by Þórr or Heimdallr, both of whom have served as models for warrior paths. A Týric warrior, for example, may incline more than most to enquire carefully into the philosophical and moral underpinnings of a cause, and the motives of its advocates, before committing to defend it.
Several Týrians see the god's path as one of service to the community and to justice. One such person summarizes this approach succinctly:
In basic terms, Týrian spirituality involves always trying to do what is right, what is fair, what is just, and what is honest, with special stress on service to, and protection of, the community, both the Ásatrú community and the general community in which one lives.
While it is difficult to find fault with this description, and most Týrians seem to adhere to it as best they can regardless of their personal ideologies, the discussion above of Týr as Þing god provides a somewhat different model, and one perhaps closer to the concepts of the old Heathen Teutons. As the Þing, and the ancient law that informed it, sought to harness the conflict and hostility in ways that strengthened and unified the community, accorded a certain dignity and respect to both winners and losers, celebrated the folk's traditions and heritage, and permitted the folk to arrive at a result that it felt and considered fundamentally right, so a modern Týrian might step into the fray, not to mediate and bring peace, but to sharpen, define, and elevate a conflict, to make it possible for both sides to retain their own dignity and honour while recognizing those of their opponents, and to strengthen the contestants and the community by encouraging better solutions and a deeper sense of responsibility. Such a Týrian would not be "called a peace-maker", but might nonetheless bring the community greater benefits than what many think of as peace. Binding the wolf, after all, was not intended to make him tame.
But yet another path calls to those who seek Týr, not on the battlefield or in the assemblies and courts, but in the crystal clarity of dawn in the high mountains, between Earth and Sky. This path has long seemed lost in the mists of ancient history and pre-history, and it yet glimmered only faintly when the Vedas were composed. It is somewhat like the path whose perceived absence in Northern religion Dumézil so lamented, but it is not the same. It is not, as Dumézil thought it should be, a path that opposes or judges the folk for not living up to an intellectual's ideals. Rather, it is a way that does justice to the complexity of the multiverse, which far surpasses the capacity of our theological vocabulary, and yet it remains firmly rooted in the land, and in the community. This way is akin to Irminsul. At its top is the blinding light and pure being of sky and sun. Its base is enveloped and supported by earth, mother of all. And from its axis radiates the sense of natural order, relation, and meaningfulness that allows one, whether in the stillness of contemplation, the flash of intuition, or the immediacy of action, to grasp and become one with the dynamic and sometimes chaotic flow of life that surrounds one, and to find the place in that flow from which one may realize one's highest ørlög. This way of Tiwaz does not sacrifice the self to the Self, as Óðinn taught; having seen the transitory nature of any self, it seeks rather to express the ever-transforming Truth of being and becoming, life and spirit. But part of that expression is to nourish the chaos and destruction at the core of transformation, and part of it is to pledge one's strength, honour, and life to nourish the Truth and spirit at the core of the folk. And another part is to seek once again the loving and peaceful embrace of Zisa, as storm-driven rain seeks the fertile field.
A pantheon is often thought of as a sort of bureaucracy, in which each member has his or her desk, or "function", where specific requests can be addressed if one only has an adequate directory. I do not believe this to be accurate, because I do not believe that gods and goddesses are functions. Certainly, it does appear that if those scholars who have studied the Indo-European and other religions have taught us anything, it is that the deities people honour are not always who and what the people imagine them to be; that is, the pronouncements of folk religion are not always to be taken literally at face value. On the other hand, the theologian is not accorded the scholar's luxury of assuming that nothing happens in religion other than what takes place in people's heads. Thus, a people may ascribe characteristics or functions to a deity that are not inherent to the deity, and that the deity later discards at the earliest opportunity. Further, although the Teutonic peoples are unquestionably Indo-Europeans, not all of their deities can be derived from and comprehended within an Indo-European context; some have uniquely Teutonic characteristics, which is to say that some have helped shape the Northern peoples in ways one does not find elsewhere. Consequently, some of the native Indo-European gods who found themselves in this new, Teutonic pantheon expressed their characters in new and different ways. One assumes that this was intentional. And of course, the origin of peoples does not necessarily tell us anything of the origin of gods.
With this as a preface, I would suggest that, over the centuries and millennia, as the Northern peoples emerged, various beings whom we think of as deities found in those peoples a fitting medium for their creative activities, and the Teutons responded by inviting those gods and goddesses into their hearts and minds. Many of these gods were more ancient than the Germanic peoples, and some, including Týr, were honoured by many other peoples as well. But all in some way committed themselves to us. For Týr, the moment of commitment came when Ásgarðr and Miðgarðr hung in the balance, when even All-Father Óðinn despaired of accomplishing what was needed to insure a future for Ásgarðr and the folk to whom he had extended his protection, and when Tiwaz, already ancient enough to have been forgotten by peoples of whom the Teutons knew little or nothing, stretched forth his hand as pledge to Ásgarðr and to us that his friend, the devouring Wolf, would not, until the end of the age, keep us from knowing and living our Wyrd together.
Týr has kept his pledge to us, and now some of us, a tiny part of the last folk still to honour him of all the peoples he has befriended, extend our own hands and offer pledges of our own. I believe that it is not too late to restore the ancient and sacred bond between us, and I know that some of us are working to that end now; may the work succeed. May Zisa once more bring peace and renewal to the tortured Earth and to the folk, and may she guide us to the mysteries we need to inform and empower her restored rites. And let Týr, Sky Father, help us to erect the new Irminsul joining heavens, earth, and folk, and celebrating the victory, not of arms over an enemy, but of our true spirit and destiny over the centuries of falsehood and forgetfulness we have survived. Such, then, is my view of the Týric path, which we now claim because it is ours by nature, and because it is ours by Right!

In the modern age, Tiw's colour is often seen as red, though it may also be a very light blue.
Some followers of Tiw think that the god's holy beast should be the wolf (which, together with its ferocity, is a beast with a highly developed social character, geared towards working within the common society of the pack). However, Jamey Hrolf-Martin argues well for seeing the dog (Gamlinginn suggests, specifically the Wolfhound, that noblest of all dogs) as the beast of Tiw, mentioning that "The next semi-major role Týr plays in myth is his battle with the helhound Garmr. The choice of Týr's doom-foe has caused some well-founded confusion, given the latent antagonism that exists between the lord of law and Fenrir, the wild wolf. Despite this, given the nature of the opponents faced by the other major gods at Ragnarök, I feel Týr's pairing with Garmr is ideal. Þórr faces the earthly wyrm, Óðinn faces the wild wolf, and keeping in context, Týr faces the trothful hound.
"Keeping in mind Garmr's role as guardian of the Helway, he serves a lawful purpose. Among men the hound/dog has come to be known as an ever loyal companion to man, and in Germany, the hound/dog was a sign...of the foundation of justice and the codification of law...Given this, one might draw the conclusion that the hound/dog is an animal sacred to Týr, much as the wolf is sacred to Óðinn (note the contrasting nature of both beasts and gods)". And what is a hound if not an even more socialized wolf?
The horse may also be associated with him: the English place-name "Tysoe" is paired with the red horse cut into the slope of Edge Hill.
Tiw's weapon may have been the spear in earliest times; there is some question as to whether the great spear-casting men of the Bronze Age rock-carvings represent *Tiwaz or *Woðanaz.

Contributors
From the second paragraph to the discussion of Tiw's colour, this chapter was written by William Bainbridge, Elder
Gamlinginn, Elder
Jamey Hrolf-Martin, from "Fenrir's Binder", Idunna V, ii, 19, For-Litha 1993, p. 37.

Later,
-Lyfing

[Baron Samedi]

Agreed with Psychonaut, Tyr/Tiwaz was our original Sky Father, and before him Dis Pater.

Odin simply filled a more important role with the Nordic viking raiders, and thus his dominance came to be due to the collective will and need of the people.

I personally think nowadays a lot of heathens just yell "hail Odin" without realizing just what they are saying, or the turkeys that get the "Valknut" tat over their heart and not realizing the gravity of the situation they may get themselves into.

Odin is great and terrible, darkness incarnate. Something to both fear and respect at the same time.

[YggsVinr]

I would say that its fairly well understood by academics in our age that Odin became the "All-father" most likely during the tail end of the migration period. Odin likely "usurped" Frey/Ing/Nerthus who, before Odin, was claimed as an ancestor by Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon kings. This theory is supported quite well in Richard North's Heathen Gods In English Literature among other works. It was during the migration period that the god of the war dead and the war-cult grew in importance due to circumstance and "usurped" the fertility cult of Frey/Ing/Nerthus. As the prominence of the war-cult grew, so did Odin's importance.

[Psychonaut]

It was during the migration period that the god of the war dead and the war-cult grew in importance due to circumstance and "usurped" the fertility cult of Frey/Ing/Nerthus.

It would make sense that Yngvi was probably the Allfather of the of the Swedes, but do you think his influence extended onto the Continent?

[YggsVinr]

It would make sense that Yngvi was probably the Allfather of the of the Swedes, but do you think his influence extended onto the Continent?

The prominence of the fertility cult was by no means restricted to Sweden (found in the rest of Scandinavia, as well), and did, indeed, extend into the Continent, particularly among the Suebians. There is clear evidence for that. The very earliest evidence we see of the prominence of the fertility cult in certain regions of the continent is in Germania wherein Tacitus writes: "Nec quincquam notabile in singulis, nisi quod in commune nerthum, id est terram matrem..." and also gives us an early account of Nerthus' wagon procession. Of course, Tacitus is always problematic. He claims that Mercury/Odin was worshiped most, however, his reasoning for this appears to be because of Odin being supposedly the only god to whom the tribes offered human sacrifice. There is no doubt that Odin was always prominent in the war-cult, but not necessarily among those outside it.

It is difficult to deduce who among the gods was considered the chief god, however, if we look at the Germanic kings and from whom they claimed to be descended, Ing seems to have come before Odin as the ancestor of kings, though the transition from Ing to Odin does appear to have occurred on the continent before reaching Scandinavia most likely due to the turbulence of the continental migration period.

[Psychonaut]

The prominence of the fertility cult was by no means restricted to Sweden (found in the rest of Scandinavia, as well), and did, indeed, extend into the Continent, particularly among the Suebians. There is clear evidence for that. The very earliest evidence we see of the prominence of the fertility cult in certain regions of the continent is in Germania wherein Tacitus writes: "Nec quincquam notabile in singulis, nisi quod in commune nerthum, id est terram matrem..." and also gives us an early account of Nerthus' wagon procession.

There's no doubt on my part of the prominence fertility cults amongst the Continental Germanics. What I'm not sure of is if there's any evidence that Yngvi-Freyr was viewed as the Allfather by them.

One of the reasons I think Týr, or at least a deity connected to him, held that spot on the Continent is the following passage from Tacitus (trans. Thomas Gordon):


In their old ballads (which amongst them are the only sort of registers and history) they celebrate Tuisto, a God sprung from the earth, and Mannus his son, as the fathers and founders of the nation. To Mannus they assign three sons, after whose names so many people are called; the Ingaevones, dwelling next the ocean; the Herminones, in the middle country; and all the rest, Instaevones.

Of Tuisto (or Tuisco), Wiki says:


The Germania manuscript corpus contains two primary variant readings of the name. The most frequently occurring, Tuisto, is commonly connected to the Proto-Germanic root *tvai- "two" and its derivative *tvis- "twice" or "doubled", thus giving Tuisto the meaning "double(-sexed)" or "hermaphrodite" (cf. German Zwitter). This led Jacob Grimm to suggest that Tuisto may have been a hermaphroditic being, which remains the most prevalent opinion among scholars. Further, this interpretation has led to the assumption of a possible connection between the Germanic Tuisto and Ymir of later Norse mythology (see below).

The second variant of the name, occurring originally in manuscript E, reads Tuisco. One proposed etymology for this variant reconstructs a Proto-Germanic *tiwisko and connects this with Proto-Germanic *Tiwaz, giving the meaning "son of Tiu". This interpretation would thus make Tuisco the son of the sky-god (Proto-Indo-European *Dyeus) and the earth-goddess.

[YggsVinr]

There's no doubt on my part of the prominence fertility cults amongst the Continental Germanics. What I'm not sure of is if there's any evidence that Yngvi-Freyr was viewed as the Allfather by them.

One of the reasons I think Týr, or at least a deity connected to him, held that spot on the Continent is the following passage from Tacitus (trans. Thomas Gordon):


I agree that there is evidence to suggest that Tuisto was at one point considered a sort of All-father, however, I think the role of All-father, or determining the title's initial occupant is a little difficult. If we agree that the transition between All-fathers went something like the following: Tuisto -> Nerthus/Ing/Frey -> Odin, then we agree that there various transfers of power, and that there is little to indicate whether or not there was any All-father before Tuisto. What is also interesting is that the duality/hermaphrodite nature of Tuisto is reflected in Nerthus, Ing, and Frey/Freya. Tuisto was also, as you pointed out, sprung from the earth, and appears to have some connection to the earth, fertility, and so on.

In the case of the transition between Ing/Frey and Odin, there is a clear "usurping" of one cult by another (the fertility cult by the war cult) as a result of the changes brought on by the migration period. However, in the case of Tuisto and Nerthus/Ing/Frey, one might question whether the blending of Nerthus/Ing/Frey (according to time period), all whom represent a similar concept or deity but with a change of form or name, might be extended to include Tuisto. I do realise that Tuisto is commonly associated with being a sky god, however, I would propose that he was more than simply a predecessor of the three fertility deities, but that he was an earlier manifestation of Nerthus/Ing/Frey. It would certainly make sense if we consider the Germanic pantheon from a cultic/functional perspective.

[Psychonaut]

I do realise that Tuisto is commonly associated with being a sky god, however, I would propose that he was more than simply a predecessor of the three fertility deities, but that he was an earlier manifestation of Nerthus/Ing/Frey. It would certainly make sense if we consider the Germanic pantheon from a cultic/functional perspective.

That's a tough thing so say, since we're still a bit unsure about the origins of his name. If Tuisco is indeed a variant of the Proto-Germanic *Tiwaz, then he would be "descended" from the Proto-Indo-European sky father *Dyēus. However, if the first etymology is correct, then I could definitely see him as a sort of hermaphrodidic Proto-Freyr/Frejya all rolled into one. Perhaps both etymologies are correct and Tuisto/Tuisco was a blending of both ideas.

[YggsVinr]

That's a tough thing so say, since we're still a bit unsure about the origins of his name. If Tuisco is indeed a variant of the Proto-Germanic *Tiwaz, then he would be "descended" from the Proto-Indo-European sky father *Dyēus. However, if the first etymology is correct, then I could definitely see him as a sort of hermaphrodidic Proto-Freyr/Frejya all rolled into one. Perhaps both etymologies are correct and Tuisto/Tuisco was a blending of both ideas.

I think that either etymological interpretation could support the notion of Tuisto as a fertility or earth god, as you suggested in your final statement. It would also make sense in the Germanic context, since there is strong evidence to suggest that Nerthus was also a hermaphrodite figure. Even so, I still think we can speak of the evolution of a specific fertility deity since Tuisto, under both etymologies, follows what we know of the later fertility deities. The claim of descent from Ing/Frey also suggests an All-father, and the transfer of the claim of descent from Ing/Frey to Odin follows the above mentioned transition. It would not be the first time that a deity has been referred to under more than one name or changed form over time.

[Psychonaut]

It would also make sense in the Germanic context, since there is strong evidence to suggest that Nerthus was also a hermaphrodite figure.

That's interesting; I've never heard that before.


The claim of descent from Ing/Frey also suggests an All-father, and the transfer of the claim of descent from Ing/Frey to Odin follows the above mentioned transition. It would not be the first time that a deity has been referred to under more than one name or changed form over time.

This is true. I suppose that at various times and places Seaxnēat and Gaut may have been seen as the Allfathers of the Saxons and Geats. It's very interesting to me that while Tuisco might've been the original Germanic Allfather, his three sons, Istaev, Irmin and Ingvae later became the Allfathers of their respective tribes.

[YggsVinr]

That's interesting; I've never heard that before.

I'll expand more on that point tomorrow. I want to be sure I don't miss anything while expanding upon it.



This is true. I suppose that at various times and places Seaxnēat and Gaut may have been seen as the Allfathers of the Saxons and Geats. It's very interesting to me that while Tuisco might've been the original Germanic Allfather, his three sons, Istaev, Irmin and Ingvae later became the Allfathers of their respective tribes.

Indeed, it is quite interesting and consequently complicates the matter further. When we sit here and speak of the Germanic All-father, we always need to consider local/tribal tradition and how it was considered contemporarily along side the ethnic/pan-Germanic tradition. If we consider the Germanic belief that one could "become" one's ancestor or that one could be reborn through one's descendants (I've always found it interesting how in the Germanic belief one could both "be" one's ancestor reborn as well as distinctly one's self. Then again, the whole concept of the "self" in the Germanic tradition is quite intriguing) the whole matter is a little easier to understand.

[YggsVinr]

Just thought I'd mention, been a bit busy the last few days so didn't get a chance to get my info together. Will post on the issue of Nerthus over the weekend.

[Ulf]

It would also make sense in the Germanic context, since there is strong evidence to suggest that Nerthus was also a hermaphrodite figure.

I'd be interested in any strong evidence you could provide.


"Nerthus" being the feminine, Latinized form of what Njörðr would have looked like around 100 CE. This has led to theories about the relation of the two, including that Njörðr may have once been a hermaphroditic deity or, generally considered more likely, that the name may indicate an otherwise unattested divine brother and sister pair such as the Vanir deities Freyja and Freyr. Connections have been proposed between the unnamed mother of Freyja and Freyr and the sister of Njörðr mentioned in Lokasenna and Nerthus.

The only god I consider ever being 'All-Father' is Odin. Tyr/Ziu to me is Sky-Father. While Tuisto, his son Mannus, and Mannus' three sons, Ingaevones, Herminones and Istaevones, seems to me to be the German version of Buri, his son Borr, and three sons, Odin, Vili and Ve.

Odin is not the father of all the gods, but was considered to often be the head of many noble lineages. He may be considered the father of all the nobility of the time.

Also, Odin was the one who created Midgard and the first man and woman. He was the father/creator of all Midgard and all peoples descended from Ask and Embla.

.02

[Lyfing]

I have been wondering about this as well..?? So, I looked around and found this…

The Vanir and the Gods/Goddesses of the Northern Tradition from a Pan-European Perspective

Robert L. Reid

Freya has sometimes been identified with Nerthus, who, according to Edred Thorsson ("Futhark"), was the original castrating and devouring Mother-consort of Ing (before Gerd). Nerthus had a wain drawn by cattle, which makes her comparable to Gefjon, a Danish hypostasis of Freya-Gefn, who ploughed out the Danish isle of Zealand (which contains Naerum = Niartharus = the sacred sanctuary of Nerthus) with a team of oxen (her sons), and there settled down at Lerje with Skjöld Odinsson (a hypostasis of Uller or Ing-Frea ?) - becoming the Clan Mother (Dis) of the Danish monarchy (from whom my own highland clan incidentally appears to be descended).

Gefjon was the patron of maidens who may not necessarily have been virgins, since Gefjon, like Freya, once sold her favours in return for a necklace. Premarital prostitution was once a sacred institution in the Mediterranean, which had trading links with Bronze Age Scandinavia. However, in the translation of Latin legends, her name was consistently used to translate that of the classical virgin huntress Diana. Though she is perhaps closer in nature to the great maternal 'Diana' (or 'Artemis') of the Ephesians.

At her great temple at Ephesus (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) she received offerings from all over the world including amber necklaces (like Freya's Brisingamen) from the Baltic. Her cult was the historical prototype of the cult of the deified aspect of the Christian Virgin Mary, as the Venusian 'Star of the Sea' (Mardoll) and the Theotokos or 'Mother of God'. (NB some consider the 'Maiden' Mary to have been a temple prostitute before the birth of Jesus, avatar of Attis). This 'Diana' was a manifestation of the Anatolian Magna Mater Cybele, goddess of the earth and sky, whose cult (like that of Freya-Nerthus in the north) dates back to the stone age. It is interesting that the sacred image of Cybele was ritually bathed once a year, as was that of Nerthus on her sacred isle. Also Cybele rides in a chariot drawn by felines (totems of her invert priests ?) as does the Norse goddess Freya(whose seið-men may have had cat fetches). Like the cognate near eastern goddess Inanna/ Ishtar/Astarte/Astoreth, she was also depicted riding on the back of a lion, just as the Roman Diana-Lucifera has been represented riding a horned, winged panther, and Freya was depicted in the Schleswiger Dom riding on the back of a Siberian tiger.

Freya the Queen of Heaven's cat drawn wain, known as 'The Lady's Wagon', gave its name in the north to Ursa Minor, and as the Old Norse word fres meant both bear and cat, this celestial 'little bear' could also be seen as Freya herself in cat form drawing the starry wheel of the heavens (and hence also the seasons and fates) around with her; for Polaris, the celestial axis is set in the point of her tail (really too long for a bear's tail). Also her rune in this aspect would be Raido ('riding' or 'wagon'), which corresponds to the Vedic Rta, the principle of dynamic regulation common to all the gods including Varuna (Odin), Mitra (Tyr) and their joint executives Indra (Thor) and Agni (Loki). The wheel she turns is shown in diagram 1. Rta animates and controls all things as the Vedic psychological uniting symbol, cognate with the Taoist Ying-Yang and the western Holy Grail - not to mention the New Age flying saucer (cf. Ezekiel's Merkaba vision). Freya, the celestial expansion or emanation of the manifold might of the Earth Mother (Nerthus-Fjorgyn), herself unites opposites within herself: for she is both the chief valkyrie battle maid and the Vanic love-goddess (Thanatos and Eros), helping with birth and also claiming half the battle slain dead, and ruling both the waxing and waning halves of the solar round of the year, which is symbolised by her golden Brisingamen, which the opposite creative and destructive powers of Heimdall and Loki fight to possess. Like her supreme totem animal, the cat, Freya is both tender and fierce, prolific and murderous, sensual and supernatural, earthy and otherworldly. (NB according to the Chaldean Oracles the ultimate symbol of the universal fiery Ether is the form of a Lion).

Cybele also unites opposites with herself since she was originally a hermaphrodite - the multiple breasts on her statue at Ephesus have been identified as bull's testicles. This is echoed in the theory that the Norse Nerthus originally possessed a hermaphroditic unity with her 'brother' Njord, and the theory that Mary was a self fertilising Vir-gyne or Andro-gyne = 'Man-Woman'.

From the blood of the severed testicles of Cybele's androgynous avatar (Agdistis) there sprang a pomegranate tree which fertilised the mother of her sacred 'son-consort' Papa (Pope) Attis, who corresponds to Syrian Adonis and Mesopotamian Tammuz. The Norse equivalent of Attis is the symbolically emasculated goddess-lover Yngvi-Frey (Ing) who gave away his phallic sword and horse to win his beloved: though Frey's originally maternal 'castrating' beloved was replaced with an Etin maid (Gerd), and his mother-lover (Nerthus) became his sister Freya, who was then respectably married off to Odur/Odin. Like Cybele, Attis castrated himself (or she did it to him) as the model and spiritual father of Cybele's prophetic and sorcerous eunuch priests, and sacred passive-homosexual prostitutes, the Galli - who have been equated with the Corybantes and the Curetes of Rhea. (NB in the first few centuries of the Christian era the Galli's ritual castration was sometimes replaced with symbolic bull sacrifice, which may have been reflected in Freyic horse sacrifice in the north). sometimes replaced with symbolic bull sacrifice, which may have been reflected in Freyic horse sacrifice in the north). As Rhea (mother of the Olympian gods) the divine mother of Attis also turned her grandson Dionysus (Aegean equivalent of Odin as god of ecstasy) effeminate when she initiated him into the supposedly primal Phrygian mysteries. She even gave him her dress to wear, making him a priestly transvestite like the Galli of Cybele. It is implied that when Odin learned the primal shamanic mysteries of Seið-craft from the goddess Freya (a manifestation of his great grandmother, Audumla, dam of Buri) he also suffered the 'shame' of temporary sexual effeminization, indulging in periodic ergi - hence his by-name Jalk or 'gelding', and the report that he behaved as a female witch, or Seiðkona, at Sams Isle.

One theory holds that the original shamans were female shamankas, and that to assimilate their powers, upstart male would-be shamans had to impersonate their femininity. However, it may be that certain womanly types of homosexual men have always had a 'natural' affinity with female sorcerers ? There is also some evidence that the primal creative deities at the centre of all things were originally womanly or androgyne, like the Orphic hermaphroditic Eros-Phanes, an all powerful love-deity like Freya, and also the Gnostic Sophia-Barbelo-Cybele, sole parent of the Devilish Trickster Demiurge.

Freya's affinity with Gefjon and Nerthus links her to the bovine symbol of the primal All-Mother, who Egyptian name was Hathor. This Freya like cow-headed goddess of young women, love, music, dance and intoxication was herself identified with all the other goddesses. In one aspect Hathor was seen as the intoxicated and thus pacified form of the all devouring, terrible lioness-goddess Sekmet. Likewise Cybele first appeared as a terrible hermaphrodite monster (Agdistis) who had to be pacified with alcohol. In identity with the primal creatrix Neith, Hathor was said to be two-thirds male and one-third female, and hence an Androgyne like Cybele-Agdistis and Nerthus-Njord, whose primal form would be Audumla, the great cow mother of Etins and Gods (Æsir and Vanir) alike. She is herself also threefold as Freya, the (Vanic) maiden-whore and battle-maid; Frigg, the (quasi Aesic) mother-wife; and Heid/Angurboda, the (quasi Etinish) crone-witch - a reflection of the 'male' magical trinity of lover and battle-god Odin; father Heimdall; and shaman-trickster Loki.

It is also noteworthy that if this primal Mother and her initiated priestly functionary, or 'son', were originally both androgynes or transsexuals and womanly lovers of men (Gefjon was equated with the Cypriot, 'man eating', sacred prostitute goddess Aphrodite in "Stjórn"; and the Ing derived English word ingle meant young, passive homosexual) then the loving/erotic union between the two must have been in essential reality the mystical possession of the latter by the former following on from the latter's sex changing sacrifice of his outward masculinity ? In this process, the great goddess Freya-Nerthus -Gefjon is the archetype of the all potential Higher Self and transcendent cosmic consciousness which the devotee aims to become mystically merged with and to magically express or incarnate; and the effeminized gods: Frey (as expressed by his ergi-priests), Odin (as best expressed by his 'shadow' Loki) and perhaps even Thor (in his impersonation of Freya) are the models of the aspirant magician-priest in this Great Work.

Finally I would like to point out that my own sex changing and sorcerous patron god Loki (who vanically flies in Freya's hawk robe and who underwent a mock castration in place of Njord) may himself be seen as the fiery son of the Terra Mater/Nerthus, for his mother's name Laufey, 'the leafy (wooded) isle', is a kenning for Mother Earth, and may also refer to the cult site of Nerthus on an island grove. Laufey's alias Nal, 'needle', may suggest that her manifestations included the pine tree sacred to Cybele, and Loki is himself runically linked to Freya-Frigg's sacred birch tree in the Old Norwegian Rune Rhyme.

Loki's matronymic surname Laufeyarson may be of Aryan antiquity, for it is paralleled by that of the Vedic fire god Agni, who is likewise called garbhas vanam, 'fruit of the womb of the woods'. Jung etymologically linked Old Indian van, vana = 'wood' to Germanic words related to the rune Wunjo and possibly also to the name of the Vanir themselves. Note in Tacitus that the Vanic Earth god/dess was the parent of Tuisto = Teiwaz/Tyr, the original heavenly All Father before Odin the Sigtyr. Furthermore Fjorgyn/Jord, mother of Thor (alias Fjorgynn 'father' of Frigg), is also 'Mother Earth' (like Nerthus); and Indra, the Indian Thor, was sometimes said to be the twin of Agni (Loki). According to Snorri's Edda, the name of Thor's wife Sif (mother of Uller, wintry shadow of summery Frey, the other Alci/Hadding) is also an alias of Jord. So Loki's stealing (reaping) of Sif's corn gold hair is parallel to Plutarch's account of Horus snatching the magical head-dress of his mother Isis, as an act of divine, heroic rebellion. He had to atone to the Mother's frosty, Etinish 'shadow' (= Skadi) however by tying his testicles to the beard of a nanny-goat (Heidrun ? = Freya ?) and then playing a painful game of tug of war in order to warm the goddess into laughing fertility. The change in Skadi's character from wintry harshness to summery happiness is not permanent however. For when Loki is bound under the earth for his alleged part in the slaying of Balder, it is she who ties the venom dripping serpent above his face. This in turn enrages Loki and transforms him from a Puckish figure of fun into a destructive, chthonic force of volcano and earthquake. Also, when he breaks free at the Ragnarok, Loki will have his final revenge by setting ablaze the maternal cosmic tree of life, which contains all the worlds and their wights. But from another point of view this universal destruction can be seen as a loving work of renewal, for from the regenerated Yggdrasil will be born a new humanity, and to it's crown the fallen gods will at last return from Hel.

http://www.thorshof.org/wain5.htm

..........

Later,
-Lyfing

[YggsVinr]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you guys on this, I've been kind of busy lately so haven't had time to gather the evidence I would have liked but here goes.

The evidence begins with an interesting point about Nerthus' name brought up by a few historians and linguists, which is that Nerthus' suffix is masculine, not feminine. Nerþ-uz (like harjilaz, kungingaz etc.) would be a typically masculine ending. One might claim that the name was translated into Latin, however, the -us suffix in Latin is also a masculine ending (unless its being treated as an irregular, which is not likely).

However, Tacitus still writes that "Nerthum id est Terra Matrem".

So what's Tacitus talking about? Well, considering it wouldn't be the first time Tacitus translated or transfered a Germanic name into Latin, he calls Odin Mercury, after all. It is quite likely that Tacitus has once more made a blunder when it comes to the Germanic pantheon and equated Nerthus with Magna Mater/Cybele. But why would he equate a male deity with a female deity? Note that Lyfing's article brings up a good point, that Cybele was once viewed as a hermaphroditic figure, and if he was doing this would it not make sense to equate that with Nerthus, likewise hermaphroditic. But in Heathen Gods in Old English Literature, North writes that:

"Yet there are two reasons why Tacitus may not have based the details of Nerthus' wagon-tour on the ritual procession of Cybele or Magna Mater. First, writing 'Terra Mater' in ch. 40 of Germania, Tacitus does not give Magna Mater her proper name: the Roman Tellus or Terra Mater is known to have a ceremony different from the one which Tacitus here describes. Second, Tacitus must have had a Germanic sources for the name Nerthus, which is one of the only three divine names of ethnic origin in his Germania...So, although Terra Mater's wagon-tour resembles the procession of Cybele, Tacitus' use of an inappropriate Roman title in Terra Mater, and an ethnic form in Nerthus, indicates that the details of Nerthus' cult as he reports them are probably not Roman, but Germanic. If Tacitus heard details of a genuinely Germanic wagon-tour, he would have been inclined to perceive this tour as if it were the same as Cybele's procession in Rome. The consort of the Magna Mater (the Roman name for Cybele) was the castrated Attis, no longer a fertile male. So, being unfamiliar with the name Nerthus when he heard it, but thinking already of the single Cybele, Tacitus could have mistaken Terra Mater as his informant's attempt to give him an interpretatio Romana for Nerthus.

...

"The idea of a divine marriage between Nerthus and the Germanic Terra Mater is supported by some archaeological evidence. In his study on the bog-people of Jutland and further south, P.V. Glob noted pictures of an earth goddess and an increase in the number of female over male representations of the human figure in the late bronze-age burial deposits..."

There seems to be a great confusion of the genuine gender of Nerthus. The name is typically masculine yet Nerthus is still described by Tacitus as being an earth mother. So is Nerthus a hermaphrodite or did he undergo a change of gender? I still find the ambiguity of Nerthus' gender to be an indication of a splitting of gender, as in the case of Frey and Freya. North also mentions the marriage of Njörð and Skaði, and its interesting to think of that in the context of a Nerthus/earth mother (Jörð?) marriage.

So fact, no perhaps not, but strong evidence, that depends I suppose. All we have is theories either way, but I, personally, find most of the evidence points in the direction of a hermaphroditic figure or, at least, a splitting of genders, which would not be uncommon in the world of fertility deities.


Odin is not the father of all the gods, but was considered to often be the head of many noble lineages. He may be considered the father of all the nobility of the time.

Also, Odin was the one who created Midgard and the first man and woman. He was the father/creator of all Midgard and all peoples descended from Ask and Embla.

Remember that Odin was only the ancestor of kings in later times. In earlier times there is much evidence to suggest Ing/Frey held his place as ancestor of kings (most evidence for this among the Swedes, Danes, and Suebian tribes), and Seaxnet for the Saxons. Odin is, in my opinion, more accurately the "father" of the war-cult rather than the king himself.