Thread: Huggin and Munnin

Hey, I was wondering if there is anyone around that knows enough about Norse mythology to answer a question I have about Odin's ravens.

Do they have respective (symbolic) shoulders (i.e. right and left) that they are attached to? That is to say, "thought" is on the right, "memory" is on the left (or vice verse).

Doubt there is any significance, but was thinking about raven tattoo(s) and it'd be nice to know.

Hope someone has an answer!

-1?J

Greetings ... I decided to join to give my two pence worth on this thread . Most of what I have to say is speculation on my part but may induce some ideas for you.


When I think of Huggin and Munnin I think of a potential comparison to the two entwined serpents on the staff of Mercury or Hermes ... the Caduceus.

The reason I say this is because Odin or Woden is represented as Wednesday (Woden's day) in our week day names which is also the day for Mercury (you can see this in the French name for that day - Mercredi - and likely other Latin-based languages).

There is some important symbolism not usually even noticed by everyone in our societies even though we all follow a specific sequence of the names of the days of the week (we take it for granted but miss that it contains hidden Hermetic symbolism). These seven day names are for the 5 naked-eye planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) and their respective gods-goddesses and two luminaries (Sun and Moon and their gods-goddesses). They also represent a specific sequence of the chakras (to use Indian terms). The specific characters and qualities of these gods-goddesses are hints about certain levels of consciousness (on a separate but related subject, one should also consider the Seven Seals in the Apocalypse as also relating to the chakras as well as the Seven rungs of the ladder in Mithraism, and the night journey of Mohammed through the seven levels of the Heavens).


The old Earth-centred model of he cosmos was as follows


top = Ouranus = Sky father god = Heavens

Saturn (crown chakra)
Jupiter
Mars
Sun
Venus
Mercury
Moon (lowest chakra)

below = Earth = Gaia = Earth Goddess (Ouranus was actually born from Gaia and then they were equals as a couple)


The Hermeticists and Alchemists had diagrams of the human form with these planets going up the body at the same spots as the Indian chakras. And so in this way, the characteristics of these gods-goddesses in mythology would be hints of the character of consciousness involved at these Chakras.

The first of the three main stages of Alchemy (Negredo ... blackening) had the sequence going up through these levels in the body in the order they are listed above. The third stage of Alchemy (Rubedo ... reddening) had a spiral sequence through these planet-labelled chakras in the body in the exact same order as we have the days of the week (starting with Sunday)

top

Saturday = Saturn
Friday = Frigga (Norse) = Venus
Thursday = Thor (Norse) = Jupiter
Wednesday = Woden, Odin (Norse) = Mercury (Hermes)
Tuesday = Tiwas, Tyr (Norse) = Mars
Monday = Moon
Sunday = Sun

bottom





Anyway, perhaps that's too much information but I think it is interesting how our sequence of the days of the week contain ancient symbolism of importance.

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Also regarding the subject of Odin and his ravens, I am reminded of a youtube lecture on Rosicrucianism where the speaker mentioned how the symbolism of the crucifixion of Christ was arranged in a similar way to the arrangement of the Sephirots of the Tree of Life of in Kabbalah. This arrangement has a central column of Sephirots (leading up to the crown and then upwards to what would essentially be enlightenment), a column of Sephirots on the left and one on the right. And so he said the two thieves traditionally shown also crucified with Christ represented either side of these columns of the Sephirots (with Christ being the middle pillar).


And so I can't help but propose a similarity of the above idea to the idea of Odin hanging himself on the world tree. Theoretically if Huggin and Munnin were each on a separate shoulder of his, they too could possibly represent something similar to the two side columns of the Sephirots of the Tree of Life in the Kabbalah (and likewise perhaps the two serpents entwined around the middle pillar of the Caduceus ... with the ball and wings indicating an ascension of consciousness upwards passed the crown chakra (so this would be nirvana, Moksha, Union with the Brahman, or possibly even the saying 'I and the Father are one'... cosmic consciousness as a popular phrase today)


Anyway, I have no proof of any purposeful relation to Odin, Huggin and Munnin as being similar to the centre and two side columns of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah or the Christ and two crucified thieves on either side of him at the Crucifixion (speaking symbolically ... regardless of the alleged historicity of this event) but the idea seems reasonable to speculate about.


Hope there are some ideas that may induce some more research. I havn't found much direct information about Huggin and Munnin but it could very well be that there is a specific order of which shoulder of Odin they perch on (just as the characteristics of the Sephirots are ordered specifically on the right and left side of the central column.