THE EDDAS - Woodharrow

1 THE EDDAS :THE KEYS TO THEMYSTERIES OF THE NORTHByJAMES ALLEN CHISHOLMiiiList of Hin SkammaVSPV oluspavTable of ContentsList of AbbreviationsiiiTable of ContentsvIntroductionviiVolume I: The Elder Edda1 The Spae of the Volva3 The Words of Har16 Lay of Vafthruthnir41 Lay of Grimnir51 Lay of Skirnir63 Lay of Harbarth71 Lay of Hymir81 The Flyting of Loki87 Lay of Thrym99 Lay of Alvis105 The Dreams of Baldr111 Lay of Rig115 The Shorter Spae of the Volva123 Lay of Hyndla127 Lay of SvipdagThe Galder of Groa133 Lay of Fjolsvith135 Volume II: Keys to Practical Application143 Chapter 1: Runic Keys to Eddic Myth145 Chapter 2: Working with Holy Wights, Natural forces, and their Holy Names163 Chapter 3: Spring Drama and Eddic Myth175 Chapter 4: Magical Initiation and Faring Forth into Ettinhome183 Appendix A: Thinking About the Hail Rune189 Appendix B: Pronunciation of Old Norse195 Glossary199 Bibliography201 Illustrations205viiIntroductionThis is a practical manual of self-transformation. It takes the form of a working edition of the mythologicalpoems of the ancient Norse Poetic Edda for modern pagans who practice the magic and religion of the poems of the Poetic Edda form the most complete and authentic body of surviving pre-Christian Germanicreligious and magical lore.

2 The mythological poems of the Elder Edda hold the keys to the understanding andpractice of the pre-Christian religion of the Germanic peoples. This book enables the reader to fathom themysteries of the Eddic poems so that the elder Troth of the Gods of Europe may again be rightly hailed in holygroves, and the hidden wisdom of the rune-masters rediscovered. This book is especially practical for those whowish follow the authentic pre-Christian religion and magic of the English and other Teutonic new translation of the mythological poems of the Edda is the main component of this work. The religiouscontent is revealed with accuracy and clarity. Earlier renditions have been artful paraphrases by scholars whovalued the poems as literary monuments, but disregarded the religious and mythic content as the nonsensical butamusing folklore of a more primitive world. None of them ever imagined that their audiences would includepractitioners of the Eddic religion. The inaccuracies of such translations have led many modern pagans is the truest translation for purposes of understanding the religious content of the Poetic original Old Norse text is included in its entirety on the facing pages of the English version so that the readercan easily compare the two.

3 Notes to each poem, a glossary of religious terminology, in depth discussions, andillustrations are included to illuminate and help in the exploration of the deeper levels of the religious andmagical content. These also to provide the keys by which this understanding may be applied in ritual blessingsto the Gods and in magical poems of the Poetic Edda were probably compiled by Saemundr Sigfusson in the 12th century in of the poems can be dated with any certainty, but it is clear that many of the heroic poems go back to thelore of the 6th and 7th centuries. It is generally believed that none of the poems were actually composed in theirpresent form before the 9th the rune-magicians, poetry was a powerful form of magic. The EDDAS hold the wisdom of the Erulian Rune-Magicians, and many of these poems may be fathomed to incredible depths and heights, by those who know howto ask. This book is about asking. These poems provide sufficient material for an accurate reconstruction andrevivification of the Odian religious and magical philosophies.

4 These poems hold spells, invocations, and lorefrom which rituals, sacred dramas, and initiatory rites can be reconstructed or authentically created, as well asthe keys to understanding the soul and the nine worlds of Yggdrasil - the world tree of the ancient North. Manyof the keys are provided also for unlocking the secrets of mysteries of the cults of Thor, Tyr and the Vanir, thoughmuch of this lore is filtered through an Odian Eddic poems are spells, in which the mysteries of the old lore are encoded by word, rhythm, alliteration,idea, and rune. The words of a given stanza are not juxtaposed merely because the resulting rhythms and wordplays are pleasing, but because of there are deep magical resonances among such words. The impact of thesemagical stanzas perhaps may not be registered consciously, but the magic of Eddic lines reaches far below theshallow waters of mundane conscious understanding into the depths of the collective unconscious, into therealms where our souls mingle with the realms of the Gods.

5 The power of the Eddic verses can be used forinvocations and magical operations. It is the task of the modern elders (priests) and vitkis (magicians) to gain aconscious knowledge of the meanings and powers of these combinations of word, meter and rune. The stanzasof the Eddic poems hold the secrets of our Gods. It is the task of this book to provide the modern seeker with thekeys to understanding deeper levels of meaning and to encode these into modern English for fashioning invoca-tions to the Gods and for shaping powerful poetic staves in you are unraveling the mysteries of the Eddic poems, keep in mind that there are three basic levels ofmeaning associated with these myths. The first level is that of the narrative itself. From this we find out what ourGods are like and what they stand for. Fundamental truths of the northern social order are reflected in the deedsof the Gods and heroes. The myths tell of basic virtues, of right and honorable conduct, of heroism, and ofcriminal and dishonorable second level of meaning may be termed the natural.

6 This is the level at which the myths may be connectedto seasonal festivals. This is the level important to understanding the Vanic mysteries explored in chapter third level of meaning is the initiatory. Here the myths are considered in their connection to rituals ofinitiation, especially magical initiation. It is at this level that you can explore the mysteries that lay behind theapparent meanings. Here you may seek the magical applications of a poem. Keys to this level of understandingare provided in chapters - and in the notes to each poem. It is the third level with which this book is mostconcerned, for the EDDAS were composed by initiates into runic mysteries. Deeper linguistic and meta-linguisticlevels of meaning may be fathomed by those who work closely with the Old Norse main component of this book is a facing page translation. The translation was rendered as clearly and asaccurately as possible. For the sake of accuracy, it is sometimes necessary to use Old Norse words, or their OldEnglish equivalents in order to translate words that convey religious ideas are no longer found in English.

7 Thesewords are defined in the glossary and some are discussed in detail in the notes or chapters. I trust that the lostconcepts may be reintroduced into our culture with the reintroduction of these words. Notes are provided to eachchapter to allow brief elaboration of important words and ideas and explanations or translations of four chapters following the notes provide keys to understanding the lore and applying it in ritual and 1 tells how to transliterate the rune poems into the Viking Age runes for purposes of fathoming the runiccontent of the poems and the meta-linguistic content of the poems. This virtually enables the reader to discovera Teutonic Kabbalah . It tells how to create galder or magical runic songs based on Eddic stanzas, and also howcreate runic sigils based on these poems for 2 explains the uses of holy names in invocations and magic. Specifically, it tells how to use the holynames of the magical streams of numinous power associated with the natural elements and forces of the nineworlds.

8 In Midgard -the manifest universe- this is the stuff of which weather magic is made. It also tells how tounderstand these holy names as keys to the magical languages used by the wights of the nine worlds and to usethis language in ritual blessings to ettins, dwarves, and elves. The chapter contains a list of other sources for listsof names and deeds, of these wights as well as the rituals for blessings and magical operations in which thesewights are 3 tells how to recognize Spring Drama motifs in Eddic myths and how to adapt these myths to SpringDramas and festivals. Chapter 3 contains a spring drama based on the Lay of Svipdag that was performed at theblessing to Ostara in 1989 CE. This chapter also provides other keys to the natural interpretation of Eddic 4 discusses magical initiation in the EDDAS and faring forth into the outer worlds for such shamanic operations. This chapter discusses kinds of magic that may be performed in some of the outer worlds, andgeography of the outer book provides the fundamental tools by which the seeker may get a grip on the northern lore and by whichRune-Gild siblings may decode the Eddic poems.

9 These poems may be taken as a model of the divine order andused magically for self-transformation. By reading and internalizing these poems, the self goes from ignoranceof harmony with the divine order as the forms represented in the myths are realized in one s life. Reading andcontemplating these poems are magical acts in IThe Eddas3V lusp s bi ek allarhelgar kindir,meiri ok minnim gu at ek, Valf r,vel fyr teljaforn spj ll fira, au er fremst um man j tna r um borna, er for um mikf dda h f u man ek heima,n u vi jur,mj tvi m ranfyr mold ne r var alda, at er ekki var,vara sandr n s rn svalar unnir;j r fannsk van upphiminn,gap var ginnungaen gras r Burs synirbj um um ypptu, eir er Mi gar m ran sk pu;s l skein sunnan salar steina, var grund gr ingr num l varp sunnan,sinni m na,hendi inni h grium himinj ur;s l at n vissihvar hon sali tti,m ni at n vissihvat hann megins ttistj rnur at n vissuhvar r sta i gengu regin ll r kst la,ginnheil g go ,ok um at g ttusk;n tt ok ni jumn fn um g fu,morgin h tuok mi jan dag,undorn ok aftan, rum at sir I avelli, eir er h rg ok hofh timbru u.

10 Afla l g u,au sm u u,tangir sk puok t l ger t ni,teitir v ru,var eim vettergisvant r gulli,uns rj r kv mu ursa meyjar m ttkar mj k r J Spae of the bid a hearing from all holy wights,the greater and lesser of Heimdall s is your wish, Valfather, that I speakthe old spells of the world, the earliest I can recall the children of Ettins,who, in the days of yore, brought me to recall the nine worlds, the nine steads,of the Glorious Meting Wood, beneath the was in the earliest times that Ymir sand nor sea, nor cold waves, nor earthwere to be found. There was neither heaven above,nor grass anywhere, there was nothing but Bur s sons heaved up the shaped Midgard, the earth. The sunshone from the south on the stones of the stead,and green leeks grew from the the south the sun, companion of the moon,threw her right hand across the edge of the worldThe sun did not know what hall it stars did not know what stead they moon did not know what main it the Regin went to the doom chair,the Ginn Holy Gods mooted over gave names to night and the new moons,they named midday, mid afternoon,and early evening, to reckon the Aesir met on Ida they timbered hof and harrow,they founded forges and smithied,they shaped tongs and wrought played tables in the garth and were of them lacked gold, until three maidenscame from the Thurses.