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Davidson says that while the creature may vary, the horse is fairly common "in the lands where horses are in general use, and Sleipnir's ability to bear the god through the air is typical of the shaman's steed" and cites an example from a study of shamanism by Mircea Eliade of an eight-legged foal from a story of a Buryat shaman.
Sleipnir is “the shamanic horse par excellence,” [1] just as Odin is the shamanic god par excellence. Sleipnir was born when the god Loki shape-shifted into a mare and became pregnant by the stallion of a giant , as is recounted in the tale of The Fortification of Asgard .
Nov 23, 2020 · Scholars therefore interpret Sleipnir as another example of an archetype that can be seen across the Indo-European world. One historian went so far as to say that horses with extra limbs are virtually ubiquitous in cultures that have an equestrian tradition. Sleipnir is a shamanic totem animal.
- Horses in Norse Belief
- Sleipnir’S Eight Legs
- Magical Birth
- Odin’s Race
- Death of Baldr
- Ragnarök
- Conclusion
In Scandinavian culture, the stallion replaced the bull as the symbol of virility and power, but horses generally were understood as possessing supernatural abilities that placed them in communion with the gods and spirits. There was no clergy in Norse religious practice, but there was the figure of the völva (seeress), a woman who received message...
Sleipnir is first mentioned by name in 10th-century Eddic poetry which was among the sources used by the Icelandic historian and mythographer Snorri Sturluson (l. 1179-1241) for the Prose Edda, a unified narrative of Norse myths written in the 13th century. The eight-legged horse as a shamanic symbol of transformation, however, predates Sleipnir’s ...
Sleipnir is also mentioned in the various works that make up the Poetic Edda, notably Baldrs Draumar (“Baldur’s Dreams”) when Odin rides him to the realm of Hel to ask the spirit of a witch what his son’s dreams portend. His origin story comes from the Prose Edda in the tale of the construction of the walls of Asgard and Valhalla. After the gods ha...
Odin took Sleipnir as his own, as chief of the gods, and rode him throughout the Nine Realms on his various journeys. One day, he rides in Jotunheim and encounters the giant Hrungnir who admires Sleipnir. Odin boasts that his horse is the best to be found anywhere, and Hrungnir is annoyed, claiming that his own horse, Gullfaxi ("Golden Mane") is be...
Sleipnir is also featured in one of the most famous pieces from North mythology, the tale of the death of Baldr. Baldr was the son of Odin and his wife Frigg and was considered the most beautiful, the kindest, and wisest of the gods. In the poem Baldrs Draumar from the Poetic Edda, Baldr begins having nightmares of some impending doom. Odin mounts ...
Ragnarök had been foretold by the Norns – the Fateswhose visions could not be altered – and was the end of the Nine Realms and many of those who lived in them. It was the final great battle between the forces of chaos and those of order and would be heralded by Sleipnir’s half-brother, Fenrir, the great wolf. First would come a breakdown in human r...
Sleipnir is never depicted simply as Odin’s horse but rather as his companion who shares in adventures. His death with Odin in the last great battle echoes not only their relationship but also the way a Scandinavian or Icelandic audience would have understood horses: as liminal beings able to bridge the space between the land of the living and that...
- Joshua J. Mark
Sep 25, 2023 · However, Sleipnir is also one of the most emblematic symbols of shamanism and magic in Norse mythology. According to the English folklorist Hilda Ellis Davidson, the eight-legged horse of Odin is the typical steed of the shaman as when shamans themselves often travel to the underworld or to distant worlds, that travel is usually represented as riding on some bird or animal.
May 12, 2024 · Symbolic Significance: Beyond transportation for Odin, Sleipnir represents the shamanic journeys and wisdom-seeking of his master, bridging earthly and spiritual realms. Mythological Adventures : Participates in critical events like the race against the giant Hrungnir’s horse Gullfaxi, and plays a role in the narratives leading up to Ragnarök.
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Dec 28, 2022 · The upper portion contains an engraving of a woman offering a drinking horn to a rider on a large, gray eight-legged horse. One interpretation is that the rider is Odin and the horse Sleipnir. However, some analysts believe the rider is a dead Einheri that Sleipnir is carrying to Valhalla, and so the woman could be a Valkyrie.
