| The Icelandic or Norse poetry and mythology exist in an ancient group of poems collectively known as “The Edda.” The Edda consists of the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda. Both of them date from the 13th century AD. The Edda relates poems about the mythology of the goddesses and gods of Medieval Iceland. The following excerpt deals with the several key components of the mushroom mythos. We have giants who give bread, a tree with roots in mold, a horn of plenty, a holy tree, a pledge from the father which is a mighty stream, Odin’s eye, Mimir’s well, and finally, mead is mentioned: The Edda Vol. 1 - Lays of the Gods Voluspo - (1) Hearing I ask | from the holy races, From Heimdall's sons, | both high and low; Thou wilt, Valfather, | that well I relate Old tales I remember | of men long ago. (2) I remember yet | the giants of yore, Who gave me bread | in the days gone by; Nine worlds I knew, | the nine in the tree With mighty roots | beneath the mold. (27) I know of the horn | of Heimdall, hidden Under the high-reaching | holy tree; On it there pours | from Valfather's pledge A mighty stream: | would you know yet more? (28) Alone I sat | when the Old One sought me, The terror of gods, | and gazed in mine eyes: "What hast thou to ask? | why comest thou hither? Othin, I know | where thine eye is hidden." (29) I know where Othin's | eye is hidden, Deep in the wide-famed | well of Mimir; Mead from the pledge | of Othin each mom Does Mimir drink: | would you know yet more? (40) The giantess old | in Ironwood sat, In the east, and bore | the brood of Fenrir; Among these one | in monster's guise Was soon to steal | the sun from the sky. (41) There feeds he full | on the flesh of the dead, And the home of the gods | he reddens with gore; Dark grows the sun, | and in summer soon Come mighty storms: | would you know yet more? (4) Odin’s eye is hidden in the well of Mimir, The pledge is a mead, The mead pledge is drunk from the horn, a giantess in ironwood, think Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, steal sun from the sky as trees do, decay is occurring which breeds mold and fungus. The following quotation is from Irish Parallels to the Myth of Odin’s Eye by John Carey, 1993: “Nuts and one-handedness are, however, also connected with the emergence of a spring in the life of Melorus, and one-eyedness and magical knowledge are of course associated in the legend of Mimir's well: when we consider the instances in Irish literature of one-eyedness, one-handedness and one-footedness occurring in magical and supernatural contexts, |
and the pervasiveness of the conception of inspiration as a drink (Indo-Iranian soma and haoma, Kvasir's mead in Norse, the cauldron of knowledge in the later Welsh legend of Taliesin and the Irish treatise called ‘The Cauldron of Poesy’), it seems reasonable to suggest that these elements all belong to a single complex of ideas, in the semi-personified water of knowledge, associated with hazel-nuts and salmon, springs from a source identified with an eye and becomes a river identified with a single arm or leg.” If John Carey doesn’t know about the mushroom, then he’s one step away from the donkey, with blindfold on and tail in hand. The Beltane Bride The name of Ireland evolved from the name Eire, which itself was derived from the goddess Eriu, one of the triple goddesses: Eriu, Banba, and Fotla. Ireland was called the “island of Banba of the women.” (6) Sacred Temples were always located near streams and sources of pure fresh, and often healing waters. The goddess association with waters is pronounced in the names of these healing springs. One such location is Brug na Boinne, where Newgrange is located, in the Boyne Valley. (7) The oldest form of this name is Boand, the goddess from whom the river took its name, Boann (Modern Sp. Boinn). (8) The goddess Boann was also associated with the cow. Boann's name is linked to old Irish Goddess Bo Find meaning “woman of white cows” or “shining cow.” (9) The majority of rivers throughout Europe are named after various goddesses. The goddess Abnoba gave her name to the River Avon in Bristol, the goddesses Life and Sinnann gave their names to the Irish rivers Liffey and the Shannon, (10) and the goddess Brigit gave her name to the rivers Brigit, Braint, and Brent in Ireland, Wales, and England. (11) (5) Great Cosmic Mother, p. 180 (6) Serpent and the Goddess, p. 26 (7) Cf. Kuno Meyer, "Mitteilungen aus irischen Handschriften Die funfzehn Namen des Boyne," ZCP 8 (1910):105-6. For Newgrange itself, see Michael J. O'Kelly and Claire O'Kelly, Newgrange, Archaeology, Art and Legend (London, Thames and Hudson, 1982 (8) See the Dindshenchas, the "place-name" lore of ancient Ireland, an invaluable resource to ancient Irish culture that must, however, be used critically. The story of Boand, is from the Rennes Dindshenchas, no. 19 (9) Irish Mythological Cycle and Celtic Mythology, 1903, Page 157; http://www.ancientpages.com/2018/06/09/boann-the-goddess-who-gave-life-to-the-river-boyne-in-celtic-mythology/ (10) Ren Dind, nos. 12, 59 (11) Serpent and the Goddess, p. 26; Religion of the Ancient Celts, 1911, p. 43; Anne Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain (New York, Columbia Univ. Press, 1967), p. 20-21; Carl J.S. Martsrander, "Celtic River-Names and River-Goddesses," Norsk Tiddsskr for Sprogvidenskap 7 (1934): 344-46; Cf. also E.C. Quiggin, "Some Celtic River Names," Philological Society Transactions (1911-14): 99-100; D.O. Cathasaigh, "The Cult of Brigid: A Study of Pagan-Christian Syncretism, in Mother Worship, ed. James J. Preston (Chapel Hill, N.C., Univ. N.C. Press, 1982), p. 78 |