Mímir, or Mim, is a Norse god associated with wisdom.

At the end of the Æsir-Vanir War Mímir was beheaded. Odin preserved his head and carried it with him in order to hear Mímir’s wisdom and counsel. 

[Picture: Odin approaching Mímir beneath Yggdrasil.]

The Norns of Norse Mythology are female spirits that dictate the fate of men and gods alike.

Three chief norns are listed in the sagas, Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld, who dwell in Asgard close to Yggdrasil. However, the sagas also describe that additional norns come to each child when it is born and shape their future. The norns are described at least once as weaving “the web of fate”, and it is believed by some that the name “norn” comes from the verb “to twine”.

The idea of three women who weave fate is paralleled in Greek, Roman, and Slavic mythologies.

[Picture: Three norns seated beneath Yggdrasil. Ludwig Burger, 1882]

Hymir is a giant from Norse mythology who features in the eddic poems Hymiskvida and Gylfaginning. 

According to Hymiskvida, it is from Hymir that Thor obtains the great cauldron used by the Aesir to brew beer. Hymir and Thor also go on a fishing expedition during which Thor fishes up the Midgard Serpent using an ox head as bait. 

Hymir is also said to be the father of Tyr.

[Picture: Thor and Hymir fishing from an 18th century Icelandic manuscript.]

Berserks, or Berserkers, originated in Norse mythology. These were warriors who dressed in bear skins and were known for working themselves up into a frenzy before battle. They are also described in the sagas as being fantastically ugly.

Berserkers often went unarmored into battle, save the bear and wolf skins that so feared their enemies. From those skins and their ruthless fighting style they gained a reputation as shapeshifters. Berserkers were also closely associated with Odin, the Allfather, who was also reputed to have shapeshifting abilities and was equally fierce in battle.

It is possible that Berserkers were members of the cult of Odin, whose practices were secretive, but which is associated with rituals that involved the wearing of animal skins. Some theorize that the source of the famed “berserker rage” is the ingestion of mind altering substances, namely the Amanita muscaria mushroom. Other theories include mental illness and self-induced hysteria.

Sleipnir is listed as the best of horses, Odin’s eight-legged horse. Sleipnir is also the child of Loki, who transformed himself into a mare to distract the horse of the giant Har so that Har could not finish building the wall around Asgard.

The Æsir are the major pantheon of gods in Norse Mythology. This pantheon consists of Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldur, and Tyr, among others. A second pantheon of gods are the Vanir, whose ranks include Njord, Freyr, and Freyja. 

These two groups, sometimes interpreted as separate clans or representations of the societal classes of the time, did battle with the Æsir in the Æsir-Vanir war, after which the two pantheons combined into one. In many writings the term  Æsir is applied to all gods. 

Norse mythology’s picture of the afterlife separates the dead into two realms depending upon the manner of their death. The spirits of those who died valiantly in battle ascended to Valhalla, the great mead hall of the gods in Asgard. Those who died of old age or sickness spent their afterlife in Helheim, a realm within Niflheim ruled over by the goddess Hel, from whom the realm gets its name. Hel is also said to be a daughter of Loki.

[Picture: The goddess Hel accompanied by a hound.]

Frigg (Anglicized to Frigga) is said to be foremost amongst goddesses of the Norse pantheon. She is the wife of Odin and mother of Balder, as well as stepmother to Odin’s many other children. She can be considered a goddess of love, marriage, and childbirth.

She is largely depicted as a wife and mother, and her name means “love” or “beloved one”. Also from her comes the Norse name for the planet Venus “Frigg’s Star”, and Friday is “Frigg’s Day”.

Although listed separately by Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, the Norse goddesses Vár and Vör are believed by most scholars to be one and the same. Vár is the goddess of contracts and marriages, while Vör is said that she is so wise that nothing can be hidden from her.

A vǫlva or völva is a shamanic seeress in Norse mythology.

Völva were practitioners of shamanis, sorcery, and witchcraft. They were held in high esteem for their abilities and their wisdom. Even the gods came to the völva for fortune telling and council. The term völva means “wand carrier” or “staff carrier”, and they used magic wands or staffs to aid in their magic.

Völva also existed outside of mythology. In Viking society a völva was an elderly woman released from familial bonds who wandered the land and was summoned in times of crisis to provide wisdom and aid, but now without charging for these services.

While völva were highly respected, men who practiced sorcery or witchcraft were shunned and often tortured and murdered for their transgressions.

In Germanic paganism, the religion practiced in Viking Age Scandinavia, religious worship was most often held within sacred groves. Tree worship was very common.

The most famous of these was the Temple at Uppsala. Based on period accounts, the temple is thought to be the only religious center in Scandinavia to have included man-made structures and statues of the gods. However, archaeological surveys of the area remain inconclusive. The temple was destroyed in the 11th century, but three royal burial mounds still remain.

Midgard is one of the nine words from Norse Mythology, and the real of Humans.

The term literally means “middle enclosure”, but is sometimes translated as “middle-earth” in Old English. The world is generally depicted as being in the middle of Yggdrasil and surrounded by an impenetrable ocean. It is also connected to Asgard, the world of the gods, by the rainbow bridge Bifrost. 

In Norse mythology Asgard is the home of the gods ruled over by Odin and his wife Frigg. 

Asgard is one of nine worlds, and is the location of Valhalla. The world is surrounded by an incomplete wall said to have been built by one of the Hrimthurs (frost giant). It is also connected to Midgard, the human world, by Bifrost, the rainbow bridge. 

Norse mythology believed in nine worlds, all held together by the world tree Yggdrasil. Odin himself names Yggdrasil the “noblest of trees”. 

Yggdrasil is usually depicted as a huge ash tree with leaves that extend into the heavens and three roots delving into the lower worlds. The dragon Níðhöggr lives among its roots, an eagle among its branches, and four stags live around it’s base and eat the leaves. The tree is an important location in Norse mythology not only because of its central location in the universe and the creatures that live among it, but also because of many important events which occur there. 

Art by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

Icelandic Mjölnir pendant.