Pagan Teutonic Magic and Medicine - Odin's 9 RUNE Twig Lay

Upplands Runinskrift 871 - (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Odin's Lay of the Nine Twig Runes 

(Used by the Vikings)

There is a big difference between Native Teutonic Magic and the Magic that came North from the Mediterranean Countries.

The Pagans believed that the four causes of disease are (1) The flying Venoms; (2) The Evil Ones; (3) The Worm as a cause of Disease; and (4) the Power of the Elves and especially "Elf-Shot."

Not only did the Northern peoples know of these causes, but they are also found in the ancient Indian Vedas.

The Lay of the the Nine Twigs,(Runes) of Odin tell us how Odin was at war against the "Worm" serpent. He cut it into nine fragments. From each fragment, a disease arose. These were: Death dealing diseases.

The Norse god Odin on his horse Sleipnir
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is a native charm for protection against these diseases.

"Balder and Odin

Fared into the wood

There was Balder's Foal

His foot wrenched.

Then charmed Odin

As well he knew how,

As for the bone wrench

So for the blood wrench;

"Bone to bone,

Blood to blood,

Limb to limb,

As if they be glued."

Jacob Grimm demonstrated how this charm showed up in Norwegian, Swedish, Scottish and Danish Folklore.

It has also been rendered in Gaelic and in the Sanskrit Artharua Veda. Symbolically the "Nine Twigs" are Odin's Runes, which he cast for magical charms.

A little bough from a fruit bearing tree was cut into nine slips. Each distinguished with a certain mark (Rune.)

Odin's nine (Runic) twigs of Fate determine the lot of the sick man.

"Augury and Divination by Lot", wrote Tacitus (c55 - c120) of the Germanic tribes. "No people practice more diligently." he wrote.

There is an old saying, "Where there is smoke there is fire."

What happened to this wonderful "Narrative Charm" of Odin? A charm that was known about and written about, not only in Northern Europe and Scandinavia but also in Rome and the Vedic Eastern countries?

Have we buried ourselves so deeply in Materialism and technology, that we have no need for the magic of our ancestor

Ragnar Storyteller (AKA Ellis Peterson)  Directory: EzineArticles

---

---