The Masks of Odin, by Elsa-Brita Titchenell

[Lyfing]

The Masks of Odin, even though it's a Theosophical text I think it was worth a read, can be found here..

Those who successfully complete this course, of all human enterprises the most demanding, when known, are universally revered as saviors and redeemers for they are the "perfect" who have nothing more to learn in the schoolroom of earth, yet return to help and teach those who lag behind them on the evolutionary ladder. The sagas which relate the trials of the initiant are the most popular and best known of all stories and legends, even in exoteric literature, though seldom recognized as such. In these adventure stories the hero must first become totally fearless for himself; he must wrest from the "dragon" of wisdom the secrets of "birdsong": this means he must know at first hand the structure and functions of the universe; he must be willing to sacrifice all personal ambition, even his own soul's success, to an all-encompassing concern for the welfare of the whole. One who succeeds in attaining such selfless universality becomes a coworker with the gods, a beneficent force powerfully impelling the evolvement of the world in which he is a component.

The fabled home of the Edda's elect, where the heroes go after being killed in battle, is Valhalla (val choice or death + hall hall). Popularized chiefly by the Wagner operas, Valhalla is one of the best known but least understood of the Norse allegories. It has become superciliously regarded as a humorous parody of heaven where rough-and-tumble Vikings go to carouse. Brought to this realm of the warrior god Odin by Valkyries, they are regaled with pork and mead each night, and each morning return to the fray only to be slain all over again. Valhalla is protected by many barriers: it is surrounded by a moat, Tund, wherein a werewolf, Tjodvitner, fishes for men. Its gate is secured by magic, and on the door of the hall a wolf hangs transfixed, surmounted by a blood-dripping eagle. In addition it is guarded by Odin's two wolfhounds. To understand the significance of all this we must define the terms used.

Each of the barriers to the Hall of the Elect is symbolic of some weakness that must be conquered. The warrior who would cross the river of time (Tund) and the river of doubt (Ifing) must maintain unwavering purpose and self-direction if he is not to be swept away by the turbulent currents of temporal existence. He must evade the bestial cravings of his animal nature (the lures of Tjodvitner) if he is to gain the other shore. Many scriptures use the allegory of a river. Buddhism, for example, speaks of four stages of progress, beginning with those who have entered the stream, and ending with those who have successfully reached the other shore. All nature is said to rejoice when an aspirant gains his goal.

Next, the candidate seeking Valhalla must overcome the hounds Gere (greed) and Freke (gluttony): he must avoid desire, even the desire for the wisdom he is seeking, if he is to obtain it. To find the secret of the magic gate, he must have strength of aspiration, purity of motive, and inflexible resolve. The wolf and the eagle must be vanquished and transfixed over the entrance to the hall to guard against their intrusion. This means conquering the bestial nature (the wolf), and pride (the eagle) -- self-seeking in any guise which, like Proteus of the Greeks, arises in ever new forms to challenge those who approach the realm of the gods. All weapons of offense and of defense must be relinquished and transformed into the constructive materials that form the sacred fane. The walls of Valhalla are built of the warriors' spears, the roof is of their shields. Within the hall even protective armor is discarded: "the benches are strewn with byrnies" (Grimnismal 9).

Later,
-Lyfing

[Lyfing]

Theosophy seems sometimes like comparative mythology. I find the way she writes sounds like Joseph Campbell, because she’s always talking about The Hero’s Journey and putting it in a Norse context ( of some sort ).

Titchenell, Elsa-Brita

Associate Editor of*Sunrise*from October 1989, Elsa-Brita Titchenell passed away on February 10, 2002. Born in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1915, she spent her youth in Sweden, Shanghai, and England. In 1939 she joined The Theosophical Society in Shanghai, where she spent World War II working for the Swedish Consulate, afterwards receiving a Knighthood from Belgium for her assistance to residents interned by the Japanese. Her keen intellect, artistic talents, literary ability, and good humor made her a valued staff member of the TS International Headquarters, where she spent most of the years since coming to the US in 1948. She is the author of*The Masks of Odin: Wisdom of the Ancient Norse, the children's book*Once Round the Sun, and scores of articles for*Sunrise.

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/...r/adex-t-z.htm

Here are a few more things that she has written..the rest can be found with the link above..

Man's Destiny in Myth
By Elsa-Brita Titchenell

Long, long ago, in the dim ages that elapsed before our history began, the members of the human race seem to have charted a singularly unanimous course. Every mythology descended from the oldest traditions echoes the same regard for nature as the garment of divine powers and for man as its replica, though each encapsules its cosmogony and instructions for living in a distinctive allegorical code. By comparing various systems we can recognize and partly decipher their symbology and the directives they give for the conduct of life, the pursuit of wisdom, and the growth of soul; without such decoding, many a fairy tale and opera based on the myths remains empty of significance, a cover without a book, a frame surrounding a blank canvas.

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/...-9/eu-ebt1.htm

Myths: Wells of Wisdom
By Elsa-Brita Titchenell

The old one adjusted the kaross that covered his shoulders and spoke: "Indaba, my children," he began, "listen well, . . ." while the Zulu audience waited breathless to hear the wisdom of the ages, tales of the world's beginning, of their own divine ancestry, and of the meaning of life. In distant Iceland, the skald intoned the ancient sagas, spoke of the prowess of warriors of old and of the ventures of the gods who rule the many regions of the universe. In China and Peru, in hot Sudan and icy Lapland, tales of the gods and heroes of mankind held their listeners entranced: tales that, on the surface, were merely fanciful yet spoke directly to the soul of their hearers, evoking in them a recognition of inner meaning, and awakening the slumbering echoes of understanding.
Myths are natural expressions of reality. They are not contrived or artificial, but reflections of eternal truth that transcends appearances. For illustration they draw on matters of common knowledge, on events which are familiar to their audience and their time. For this reason their message is always accessible to those who are alert and receptive. When you think about it, every material object -- even the universe itself -- represents a nonmaterial idea. It is a symbol of a truth. And the idea in turn represents an ideal, which again is but a veil or shadow of a consciousness. This is like saying that a visible organism -- a human being, for instance -- represents an invisible soul which expresses a still more ethereal spirit, which in turn is a spark of the eternal fire of life and consciousness. For this reason the properties of the natural world can be used to illustrate the properties of other worlds built of substances other than those we are familiar with. Because the world exists, there exists a primal wisdom which can in part explain it. It is the natural possession of the human soul and the inspiration of the human mind. And so we find in every continent on earth carvings, monuments, engravings, symbolic pictograms, statuary -- every kind of quasi-permanent record that can convey ideas and supply information on the most vital concerns of human life. What is most striking about them -- and even more about oral traditions from very remote times -- is that the ideas they contain are remarkably similar everywhere. However widely separated in time and place, however much they differ in language and cultural form, they all feature certain key thoughts which can be discerned within the symbology they use. These key ideas deal with the origin of life, the purpose of living, and the goal of evolution, particularly human evolution.

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/...-8/my-ebt1.htm

We Are the Godmakers
By Elsa-Brita Titchenell

The warriors of Odin are the forerunners who outstrip the slow course of human evolution into a higher kingdom of lives. The rest of us will in due course be able to assist in their heavy task, for we too are the godmakers, souls still seeking our "sleeping" Valkyrie in the depths of ourselves. When we find and "awaken" her, we shall be guided by her influence, our higher Self, in all our undertakings. We shall then become in truth the godmakers we potentially are.

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/...-4/eu-ebt2.htm

Mythology Today
By Elsa-Brita Titchenell

All this, too, the myths relate. One story tells how the innocents were ousted from Eden. Prometheus in Greece, Loki in the north, Quetzalcoatl of Mexico, and other heroes tell essentially the same tale of mankind's birth in innocence, growth through intelligence into arrogance, gradually maturing to intuitive wisdom, enabling us in due course to gain the status of junior gods with further prospects of unimaginable grandeur.

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/...8-9/ge-ebt.htm

Later,
-Lyfing