Three Sources of Wisdom

It is precisely the great Power of the Jotuns that, in turn, serves as a source of Wisdom for gods and humans.

The three giants – Mimir, Bølthorn, and Suttung are implicated in Odin’s acquisition of wisdom. Yet none of them merely shared their wisdom, as, for example, Vafthrudnir (“Strong in Entangling”) told Odin about the structure of the Worlds; rather each performed a kind of Initiation, bestowing Wisdom not in words but as Insight, Inspiration.

Mimir, the Lord and otherworldly being of the Source of Wisdom that springs from a root of Yggdrasil, allowed Odin to drink from the spring in exchange for an eye in that spring.

The obvious meaning of this event as an exchange, as a sacrifice, operates on several levels. On the one hand, to gain something one must give something up. On the other hand, to acquire vision of the hidden, one must pay less attention to the obvious. On a third level, Odin’s divine eye, kept in the Source of Wisdom, enables Mimir — who belongs to the Ancient Ones — to partake in the creative principle, the transformation carried out by the younger gods — the Aesir.

Bølthorn, Odin’s grandfather, takes part in the Acquisition of the Runes, which likewise follows a sacrifice:

«I know, I hung
in the branches on the wind
nine long nights,
pierced by a spear,
consecrated to Odin,
a sacrifice to myself,
on that tree,
whose roots are hidden
in unknowing depths.
No one fed me,
no one gave me to drink,
I looked upon the earth,
I lifted up the runes,
weeping I lifted them up —
and from the tree I fell.
Nine songs I learned
from the son of Bølthorn,
Bestla’s father,
I tasted the mead
most splendid,
that is poured into Odrerir.»

Thus it is Bølthorn who acts as initiator, not only participating in the Acquisition of the Runes but also supplementing that intuitive, prophetic knowledge with formal knowledge — the “nine songs,” that is, the knowledge of the Nine Worlds.

Finally, Suttung, the giant who possessed the mead of Poetry — though not by his own will, but in the course of confrontation — gives that source of wisdom and Inspiration to Odin.

This initiation is a theft of wisdom, for Wisdom must be fought for, not only by sacrificing (Odin laboured nine long nights, hoping to obtain the Mead), but also by devising means, often complex and cunning, for the acquisition of power and wisdom.

Thus we see that Wisdom is bestowed by three Powers — Help (Bølthorn), Obstruction (Suttung), and Indifference (Mimir). All these Powers belong to Jotunheim, to primordial, unformed, elemental wisdom. And from a practical point of view it is important to understand that any acquisition of wisdom follows Odin’s way, the path of engagement with the Three Hierophants, who represent the Three Spheres of Being.

In this sense it is necessary to remember that, according to the Norse Myth, the very ensemble of worlds, the cosmos itself, also originates from three sources:

The Source of existence (Hvergelmir, personified in the figure of Ymir — the source of all substantiality, the very substance of the worlds),

The Source of wisdom (Mimisbrunnr, personified in the figure of Mimir — the origin of knowledge or information), and

The Source of order (or of fate, the Source of Urd, of which, evidently, Bølthorn is the personification).

While the currents represent mobility and energy, Suttung, evidently, represents the cosmic inertia — that is, the need to exert effort to advance and develop within it.