ODIN
God Of War and Death
"I know I hung on that windswept tree,
Swung there for nine long nights,
Wounded by my own blade,
Bloodied for Odin,
Myself an offering to myself:
Bound to the tree
That no man knows
Whither the roots of it run.
None gave me bread,
None gave me drink.
Down to the deepest depths I peered
Until I spied the runes.
With a roaring cry I seized them up."The Havamal
Odin was known by the Anglo-saxons as Woden, and gave his name to Wednesday. He is known to be the leader of the gods.
It was Odin who discovered the runes, whilst hanging in yggdrasil, the world tree. He continualy searched for wisdom, often travelling to earth and raising the dead so he could speak to them and acquire their knowledge. One of his quests for knowledge left him with only one eye, this is the story:
Odin journeyed to the well of Mimir, knowing to drink from the well would result in much knowledge and wisdom. The well lay under the great root of Ygdrassil the world tree, and there next to it sat Mimir, the Guardian of the Well of Wisdom. Mimir, who had drunk every day from the Well of Wisdom, knew who it was that stood before him.
"Hail, Odin, Eldest of the Gods," he said.
Then Odin made reverence to Mimir, the wisest of the world's beings. "I would drink from your well, Mimir," he said.
"There is a price to be paid. All who have come here to drink have shrunk from paying that price. Will you, Eldest of the Gods, pay it?"
"I will not shrink from the price that has to be paid, Mimir," said Odin.
"Then drink," said Mimir. He filled up a great horn with water from the well and gave it to Odin.
Odin took the horn in both his hands and drank and drank. And as he drank all the future became clear to him. He saw all the sorrows and troubles that would fall upon Men and Gods. But he saw, too, why the sorrows and troubles had to fall, and he saw how they might be borne so that Gods and Men, by being noble in the days of sorrow and trouble, would leave in the world a force that one day, a day that was far off indeed, would destroy the evil that brought terror and sorrow and despair into the world.
Then when he had drunk out of the great horn that Mimir had given him, he asked Mimir what price he had to pay. "give me what thou valuest most," demanded
Mimir. Odin was silent, for most of all the world did he value his dear son, Baldur the Beautiful. But Mimir knew his thought and smiled.
"Baldur's time is not yet come; work hath he still to do, although the Nornir - fateful sisters - have cut short his thread of life."
"Ask then. I have said it shall be thine."said Odin
"Thy right eye."
Odin put his hand to his face and he plucked out his right eye. Terrible was the pain that Odin endured. But he made no groan nor moan. He bowed his head and put his cloak before his face, as Mimir took the eye and let it sink deep into the water of the Well of Wisdom. And there the Eye of Odin stayed, shining up through the water, a sign to all who came to that place of the price that the Father of the Gods had paid for his wisdom.