Óðinn and the dísir

Folke Ström

Source:​​ ​Fertility cult and sacred kingship in the North, ​Chapter 3.

Summarised and translated by Maria Kvilhaug from the work of the renowned Swedish scholar
Folke Ström`s work: ​Diser, nornor, valkyrjor – Fruktbarhetskult och sakralt kungadöme i
Norden,​ Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm 195​4

The Great Dís, the seiðr and Óðinn [Odin]

Previously we discussed the cult of the Dísir [“goddesses” – female powers of all kinds
worshipped as a collective in the pagan era]and their characteristics as archaic deities of fertility
with close connections to the male fertility god Freyr. [Translator`s note: I think that the term
“fertility deities” is too readily applied to female divinities here. To call them “fertility deities” is
in my opinion misleading, but it was the traditional term back in the 1950s despite the fact that
Ström actually understood them as operating in the realms of fate, death, protection and
intelligence. This shows how a false but deeply set stereotype can overrule all other insights.]
This [connection between Freyr and the Dísir] is most clear in the conservative Eastern Swedish
area, where the great Dís who led the the collective of Dísir, the fertility goddess [sigh], steps out
of obscurity and into the realm of sacred kingship.

The religious pattern [​hieros gamos – sacred marriage of the King with the Goddess] here seems
to fall into the same categories of the great cultures of the Orient and that we are dealing with a
prehistoric fertility religion in the North that has more or less exactly the same structure as those
in more southern areas [evidence of the Sacred Marriage in Scandinavia is well established from
the Bronze Age when this religious pattern was common in the Middle East and Southern
Europe].

In the Western parts of the North [Norway, Iceland, West-Sweden] the Dísir appear to be more
connected with Odin towards the last phases of the Pagan era, and a competition between Odin
and Freyr for popularity is visible in certain sagas (Viga-Glums saga). In the great cultic centre
of Uppsala, Odin has towards the end of the Pagan era achieved a rank on the level of Freyr [who
for long had been the most important god in Sweden]. During the Viking Age, Odin stands out as
the god of the hanging ritual, but seems to have belonged to the archaic cult of the Great
Goddess before that. According to Wessen the cult of Odin penetrated the North from the South
at a relatively late stage, but there are some weaknesses about this theory. In his nature, Odin
seems related to the Indian Rudra and the Greek Dionysus – especially the ecstatic feature in the
Dionysus – cult has several counterparts in the cult of Odin (seidr) and the Odin mythology.

Otto Höfler, on the other hand, argued that the Odin figure emerged in Germanic men`s societies
connected to their deified leaders, and the ecstatic elements of such a leader-worshipping
movement. Any real proof for the existence of Germanic men`s societies have, however, never
been presented.

What is certain is that ecstatic movements were connected to the Odin-cult, but they have
nothing to do with men`s societies – on the contrary all the evidence point to strong female
elements in the cult of Odin. In reality there is an almost identical structure and
phenomenological connection between the Odin-cult and the Dionysus-cult [the members of the
mystery-cult of Dionysus were exclusively women, known later as the “bacchae”. Men were
admitted entry to the cult at a very late stage when the cult of Dionysus had blended in with the
Mysteries of the goddess Demeter at Eleusis].

The most important characteristics of the Odin-cult is the seidr. Only females could perform this
art with honor, male practitioners were considered unmanly and perverted [Translator`s note:
However, they existed, and I believe, as does the archaeologist Britt Solli (2000) that the
condemnation of the male sorcerers in the written material is a result of Christian influence at a
late stage. If male sorcerers really were that unpopular in the Pagan era, there would not have
been so many of them, and some in important positions such as Atli and Sinfiötli in the Poetic
Edda, who are both “castrated” sorcerers (like Odin himself is called Ialkr – the Castrate) who
have a high position at court, or the male sorcerers who were buried as females with all due
honors. They may have been seen as unmanly, but there was not necessarily dishonor in that
from a Pagan point of view. ]. Women were responsible for the practice of seidr. To the degree it
was practiced by men, which was not uncommon, it was seen as a testimony to a feminine trait in
him [that is true]. Because of this I (Folke Ström) believe that the art of seidr originally emerged
as a female practice.

The sagas of the kings give the impression that the seidr-movement was an orgiastic mass
movement with collective cult-buildings (temples). During the Viking Age, things were
changing and we see that some people are critical towards it. We assume that the art of seidr
primarily belonged with the fertility cult [by that he means the cult of the female deities] and
with the Vanir, especially Freya. Nevertheless seidr is also closely connected to Odin. How do
we explain this?
Let us put forward the hypothesis that Odin is a hypostases of the Nordic fertility god and a
personification of this deity`s ecstatic and warlike aspects. There is a lot about Odin`s character
that is obscure, such as his apparently late entry in the Nordic history of religion, but if he is a
hypostases this is naturally explained.

Under the name Ódr, Odin is described as Freya`s first man. The name means “ecstatic frenzy”
and characterizes him as a personification of this side of the fertility goddess` companion. Freya
is called ​Óðs bedvina​ – “Ód`s bed-girlfriend” by the bard Einar Skulason in the year 1100 A.D.

Even with his proper name, Odin is closely associated with Freya in her aspect as a goddess of
death. Together they share the fallen warriors. But Odin is also connected to the winter goddess
Skadi, and there were many Norwegian lineages who considered themselves descendants of
Odin and Skadi, such as the Lade-clan in Norway who descended from Sæmund, son of Odin
and the ​Öndurdís​ (“the goddess of skiing “– Skadi).

An enlightening entry to the understanding of Odin is through his many nicknames. One
common name for Odin is Fjölnir, which is also clearly a traditional name for Freyr [the name
actually means “The One who is Many”, one of many a testimony to pantheist traditions in
Scandinavia]. Another name shared by Odin and Freyr is Thrór, meaning “Boar”, and
corresponding to Freya`s name Sýr (“Sow”). Odin is also called Sveigdhir, also a name of one of
the Ynglinga kings, descendants of Freyr, and this king goes to live in “Sökkmimir`s [Hidden
Memory]`s shiny halls”, where also Odin was said to have lived​[1]​. The name Sveigdhir is
derived from sveigr – “bending branch”, hinting to the hanging ritual.

Odin is also named as the husband of Earth, a fertility aspect, and he is called Vidhrir – “the
Wind”, although it is supposedly the Vanir god Njördr who rules the wind. Many of Odin`s
names associate with “horse” in one way or other, whereas the horse in fact was predominantly
central to the cult of Freyr. Both Odin and Freyr are called Atriði (“rider”).

We must conclude that Odin is closely associated with the cult of fertility. That he is also a god
of war is not inconsistent with this: the fertility god worldwide include a warlike element, this is
true about Freyr as it is true for his Oriental counterparts. One of Freyr`s important attributes is
the sword. Freyr is associated with battle in metaphors for war such as “Freys leikr” = “Freyr´s
sport” (=battle) and “Yngva thing”=Yng`s (=Freyr`s) parliament” (=battle).
Also Odin`s aspect as ancestral father to royal lineages seem to have been adapted from the older
fertility god. It is worthwhile to observe that in the conservative West-Sweden (the land of the
Svear), the royal lineages maintained the older name of the ancestral deity: Freyr.

An important element inherited from the fertility god is the intimate connection between Odin
and Freya, the Great Dís, and her following of dísir.

Just like his female counterpart, Odin is the bane of kings. But he is also identical to the
sacrificed kings, with Fjölnir, Sveigdhir and other members of the royal Ynglinga clan (they
were descendants of Freyr). Just like king Agni was hanged in sacrifice, so Odin hangs in the
cosmic tree.

[1]​ Grimnismál 50