Havamal
Hávamál (The Words of the High One), (known also as "The Sayings of Har", or the "High Song of Odin"), a work of Old Norse poetry, is a source document for the study of Norse mythology, being a set of rules for wise living (and survival) purportedly written by Odin. It is both practical and metaphysical in content. The only extant source for this poem is contained within the Codex Regius. An early reference to the poem is by Eyvind the Plagiarist in Hakonarsmál, c. 960.
Hávamál consists of a number of poems, which shift in tone and tenor and narrative position.
Many modern proponents of Asatru place the Havamal at the centre of their religious beliefs.
Gestathattr
The first section ethics, correct action and codes of conduct. It is directed to the dwarf Loddfaffner, hence the name for this section, Lodfafnirsmál, who stands in the place of the reader (or, as was the case at the time, the listener).
Runatals
Odin talks of his self-sacrifice (to himself) in stanza 138, in the section known as Ljodatal, which is spectacularly metaphysical, deals with the transmission of knowledge, and the Odinic mysteries. It is essentially a list and a key to a sequenced number of runic charms. There are correspondences between this section and with the Sigrdrifumál, in which the Valkyrie, Sigrdrifa details a number of the runes at her command.
In the sixth charm, for example
- A sixth I know, lest any mean me harm:
- Write runes upon a sapling's roots
- Dispatch them to the author of the hate
- To taste what he has wrought
the sending of a root with runes carved on is well documented in Norse literature; it was, for example, the cause of death of Grettir the Strong.
