Hail to the Day by Arthur Rackham

3,876 words

1. Introduction: Wisdom Speaking

In our last installment, we discussed Sigurd’s meeting with the Valkyrie Brynhild, and how their encounter recapitulates, on a higher level, the dualities found in the story of the dragon slaying. When Sigurd rides through the fire to meet the Valkyrie he is going within his own solar, masculine being to reach the lunar feminine.

Brynhild is Sigurd’s fylgja—both a “higher” part of himself and a guardian spirit that can be passed on to later generations. We also made the case for the connection between the fylgjur and the Valkyries. Brynhild is both the fylgja of Sigurd and of the Volsung clan itself. Having achieved the supreme act of heroism in slaying the dragon, Sigurd now meets with the spirit of the Volsung clan, who is the keeper of occult secrets. What he will gain from her is wisdom—and magical power.

In this essay, we will explore the runelore Brynhild imparts to Sigurd. He says he has been told of her wisdom and wants to put it “to the test.”^[1] By this he means that he will, in effect, challenge Brynhild to teach him what she knows. “Give me good advice on great things,” he says.[2] Her answer is curious. She says, “You are better able to do that,” but offers to teach him of runes or “of other matters pertaining to everything.”[3] In the following chapter, Sigurd tells Brynhild that there has never been a wiser woman than she. The Valkyrie responds, however, by telling him that he too possesses “wisdom” (vitrleikr).

Brynhild says these things to Sigurd not in order to flatter him, but because they are true. Sigurd has acquired wisdom and will acquire more through Brynhild. As we noted in part nineteen, Regin taught him runelore and other matters (possibly a runelore specific to the dwarfs). Sigurd learned the future from Gripir. From Odin he acquired battle knowledge. From Fafnir he learned of the Norns and of Ragnarok (of fate, and of what is fated to be). From Fafnir’s blood Sigurd gained knowledge of the language of birds, while the birds themselves taught him prudence. Brynhild will complete his education.

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In Sigrdrifumal, after the Valkyrie awakens, she fills a horn with mead and then offers Sigurd a minnisveig. Literally, this means “memory drink.” We are not certain what this was. In Hyndluljóð (The Lay of Hyndla), preserved in Flateyjarbók, Freyja asks a giantess to provide her lover, Óttarr, with a “memory-ale” (minnisöl) to help him retain some crucial information. In Göngu-Hrólfs saga, a dwarf uses a minnisveig to restore a woman’s memory. One commentator believes that Sigerdrifa gives Sigurd the minnisveig to help him retain what she will teach him.[4] (The minnisveig is not mentioned in the Volsung Saga.)

It is possible, of course, that the drink is a “memory drink” just in the sense that it is to be drunk in memory of the gods—whom Brynhild will shortly invoke. However, the text seems to draw a clear distinction between the drink Brynhild pours for herself and the one she gives to Sigurd. The text literally says that “She took a hornful of mead and gave him a memory drink” (Hon tók þá horn fullt mjaðar ok gaf honum minnisveig). Indeed, while Brynhild’s drink is mead, Sigurd’s is beer, as we shall soon see. Only one is termed a minnisveig, therefore it seems unlikely that the purpose of the memory drink is simply to memorialize the gods. The minnisveig is specially prepared for Sigurd and has a special function.

In any case, after offering him the drink, in Sigrdrifumal the Valkyrie utters these justly celebrated lines:

She said: “Hail to the day!
Hail the sons of day!
Hail to night and her sister!
Look on the two of us here
with friendly eyes,
and give us victory.

“Hail the gods [æsir]!
Hail the goddesses [ásynjur]!
Hail the hospitable earth!
Give the two of us
eloquent speech, and wisdom –
and healing hands, while we live.”[5]

These words have been taken to be the record of an actual “prayer,” and have been adopted by contemporary neo-heathens, who often incorporate them into a morning ritual. We have no independent confirmation that this exact prayer was used in rituals. It may be entirely original to Sigrdrifumal. However, the poem makes clear that Sigerdrifa utters these words in a ritual context. After all, she takes up a hornful of mead before uttering them and offers Sigurd a drink as well so that they can hail the day together. It is highly plausible that prayers similar to this were in wide use, hailing the gods and goddesses, the night, the day and the earth, and calling for them to bestow good things on those invoking them. It is one of the few examples in the lore that seems to depict an actual religious ritual.

Let us look more closely at what the Valkyrie says. Both day (dagr) and night (nótt) are personified here and elsewhere in the lore. Vafthrusthnismal 12 mentions the horse Skinfaxi drawing the day over men below.[6] Vafthrusthnismal 25 tells us

Delling is the name
of the father of the day,
and the night is Norvi’s daughter.[7]

Snorri (in Gylfaginning) has this to say:

[High replies:] “Norfi or Narfi was the name of a giant who lived in Giantland. He had a daughter called Night. She was black and dark in accordance with her ancestry. She was married to a person called Naglfari. Their son was called Aud. Next she was married to someone called Annar. Their daughter was called Jörð [Earth]. Her last husband was Delling, he was of the race of the Æsir. Their son was Day. He was bright and beautiful in accordance with his father’s nature. Then All-father took Night and her son Day and gave them two horses and two chariots and set them up in the sky so that they have to ride around the earth every twenty-four hours. Night rides in front on the horse called Hrimfaxi, and every morning he bedews the earth with the drips from his bit. Day’s horse is called Skinfaxi [shining-mane], and light is shed over all the sky and sea from his mane.”[8]

So, Day is the child of Night. Day is also the sister of Jörð, but it is important to note that the “earth” referred to by the Valkyrie is fold (a poetic term meaning land or field) not Jörð. Little is known about the other figures mentioned by Snorri. Day, the sons of day (about whom we know nothing), Night and her sister (or daughter; ON nift or nipt could mean either) are asked to look on the Valkyrie and Sigurd favorably and to give them victory. Why victory? Probably because there is something that they must overcome; something that must be won. Is it wisdom?

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The gods, the goddesses (ásynjur, a female member of the Aesir), and hospitable earth (again, fold) are asked to give wisdom, and also eloquent speech and healing hands. These are closely tied together. In particular, there was a close association in the minds of the ancients between eloquence and wisdom. The early modern philosopher Giambattista Vico echoed this when he stated in On the Study Methods of Our Time (1708-09) that “eloquence is wisdom speaking” (la sapienza che parla). There is a belief here that genuine eloquence cannot be “faked” in order to express falsehoods; that in genuine eloquence wisdom shines through.

It is highly plausible that the Germanic peoples held a view similar to this, given their emphasis upon poetics. “Healing hands” are to the realm of action what eloquence is to the realm of speech: an expression of the ability to work the good in life. Hands that heal are informed by wisdom. Significantly, the Valkyrie teaches Sigurd no curses, but some of the spells (specifically, those concerning speech-runes and ale-runes) seem rather amoral in their intent.

The “Hail to the Day” does not appear in the Volsung Saga, but the sagaman quotes a number of other passages from Sigrdrifumal. Indeed, after Brynhild gives Sigurd beer, the entire rest of the chapter consists in quotations from Sigrdrifumal. However, the sagaman omits some passages from the poem and changes others, which may be significant. Unless indicated otherwise, all the passages quoted in this essay are from both the saga and Sigrdrifumal.

Brynhild says:

Beer [bjór] I bring you,
warrior,
blended with power
and fame.
Filled with spells
and healing staves [líknstafa],
with good magic [galdra],
with runes of joy.[9]

Blended is blandinn, the past participle of blanda, “to blend.” This term can also mean “to have sexual intercourse with.” “Runes of joy” is gamanruna. Gaman can also refer to sexual pleasure. There is thus a possible sexual subtext to the passage. While gamanruna appears in Sigrdrifumal, in the saga the word is gamanræðna, “joyful speeches.” Líknstafa, healing staves, certainly refers to rune staves. This is a cup full of runes and magic. Note that in Sigrdrifumal the Valkyrie literally refers to Sigurd as brynþings apaldr, “apple-tree of battle,” a kenning for warrior. This may have been a traditional kenning, but we cannot help but think here of the apple tree that stood at the center of Volsung’s hall, and of the magic apple through which Volsung himself was conceived.

Now begins Brynhild’s teaching of runelore. The following topics are discussed in the saga:

1. Victory-runes (Sigrúnar)
2. Wave-runes (Brimrúnar)
3. Speech runes (Málrúnar)
4. Ale-runes (Ölrúnar; or: beer-runes)
5. Birth-runes (Bjargrúnar; or: life-saving runes, aid-runes)
6. Limb-runes (Limrúnar; or: branch-runes)
7. Mind-runes (Hugrúnar)

In Sigrdrifumal the same topics are discussed, but the order is different:

1. Victory-runes
2. Ale-runes
3. Birth-runes
4. Wave-runes
5. Limb-runes
6. Speech-runes
7. Mind-runes

In both texts, victory-runes are first and mind-runes are last.

There are other “courses of runic instruction” mentioned in the lore. Earlier in the saga, of course, we are told that Regin teaches Sigurd runes, but no details of the instruction are mentioned. Given the clearly magical nature of Brynhild’s teaching, it may be that Regin merely taught Sigurd how to write in runes. In Rigsthula 34, Rig teaches runes to the boy named Lord, and the suggestion is that this is a magical instruction. The youngest son of Lord is called King, and we are told that he “learned runes, runes of fate and runes of destiny, he learned spells to save lives and dull blades, to calm storms” (Rigsthula, 41).[10]

We are also told that, like Sigurd, King learned “the language of birds.” And he learned further spells “to put out fires, to calm sorrows and induce sleep” (Rigsthula, 42). In Havamal, of course, Odin relates how he won the runes and then lists a number of spells. Comparing what is given in Havamal to the teaching of Brynhild, there is little crossover. Like Brynhild, Odin in Havamal speaks of spells concerned with healing, victory, and aiding ships at sea, but it is not clear that these are runic spells. In what follows I will take each of the Valkyrie’s seven spells in turn.

2. The Rune Spells

Here is Brynhild’s teaching concerning victory-runes:

Victory-runes you must know
if wise you would be.
On sword-guard carve [rísta] them,
on hilt-sockets,
on hilt’s iron grip,
and twice say Tyr’s name.[11]

From the term sigrúnar some might expect that what is being referred to here is the rune Sowilo which is often referred to today as the “sig rune.” But this designation is an innovation of Guido von List’s modern Armanen system. In fact, what is meant by “victory-runes” is probably the Tiwaz or Tyr rune, and, of course, the god’s name is mentioned in the passage. Snorri has this to say about Tyr:

There is also an As called Tyr. He is the bravest and most valiant, and he has great power over victory in battles. It is good for men of action to pray to him. There is a saying that a man is ty-valiant who surpasses other men and does not hesitate. He was so clever that a man who is clever is said to be ty-wise.[12]

It thus makes perfect sense that one would appeal to Tyr for victory. Brynhild advises Sigurd to carve these runes on several parts of the sword and, as the passage states, pronounce Tyr’s name twice.

Wave-runes are her next topic:

Wave-runes you must make [gera]
to watch over with care
your sailed steeds in swimming.
On prow carve them,
place them on steering oar,
and burn [leggja eld [13]] them also on oars.
No blue wave shall fall,
nor breaker steep,
but you’ll return safe from the sea.[14]

We can shed some light on this spell by comparing this passage to one in Havamal:

I know a ninth spell;
if the need arises
for me to save a ship upon the sea,
I can calm the wind
upon the waves
and soothe the sea to sleep.[15]

The idea in both cases is that the spell is intended to calm the sea. However, as in most of the Valkyrie’s teaching, the specific rune or runes are not mentioned. One might conjecture that it is Laguz. In Proto-Germanic, *laguz means water, liquid, wetness, or sea (derived forms include Old Norse lögr, meaning lake, sea, or water). In this context, “The Old English Rune Poem” is interesting in what it has to say about Lagu (Laguz):

[Water] is to people
seemingly unending
if they should venture out
on an unsteady ship
and the sea waves
frighten them very much,
and the brine-stallion
does not heed its bridle.[16]

However, it is pure conjecture that Brynhild is referring to the Laguz rune. She continues:

Speech-runes you must know,
to be spared, if you wish
repayment of grief rendered.
Wind [vindr] them about,
weave [vefr] them around,
set them all together,
there at the Thing
where throngs shall come,
all to full session faring.[17]

Speech-runes are intended to protect against the hateful speech of a man whom one has harmed. The Thing, as my readers may know, was a public assembly that functioned as a parliament and a court where disputes could be resolved. Since the spell instructs Sigurd to place the runes at the site of the Thing, it is likely that the intention is to protect one against defamation—or, more generally, harmful speech—spoken in the assembly of freemen. What is interesting is that it does not specifically protect one against lies, but against the ill-will of a man one has somehow wronged. As is typical of the Valkyrie’s speech, specific runes are not named, nor is it clear how they should be “wound” and “woven.” The general idea, however, is that they should be put all around the site of the Thing.

Next, Brynhild teaches Sigurd ale-runes, which turns out to be a rather complex matter:

Ale-runes you must know,
lest another’s wife
betray trust if you trust her.
On the horn you must carve them,
on hand’s back too,
and mark on nail Need [Nauð].[18]

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Whereas ale-runes are the fourth topic discussed in the saga, in Sigrdrifumal ale-runes are the second, after victory-runes. This is the only place in the Valkyrie’s speech (either here or in Sigrdrifumal) where a rune is explicitly named. Here it is Nauð (Need), or in reconstructed Proto-Germanic, Nauðiz. The point of the spell may be to keep a woman with whom one has had an affair from revealing it—presumably to her husband. It is useful to know that while nauð meant “need” or “necessity,” it could also mean “compulsion” or “force.” Therefore, this looks like it could be a binding spell.

The same verb (rísta) is used here, as before, to indicate that the runes must be carved on a drinking horn. Perhaps a drink is to be offered to the woman who is the object of the spell. These runes are also to be carved on the back of the hand. Again, it is not clear what runes are meant, but the reference is clearly plural. As to the Nauð rune, we are told specifically that it is to be marked on the fingernail. Perhaps what is meant is on a fingernail of the same hand on which the runes are carved—and perhaps this is the same hand that proffers the drinking horn to the woman. We are not told that the N rune is to be carved on the nail. Rather, the text literally tells us to “mark” (merkja) the rune on the nail, whatever this may mean.

The passage about ale-runes is followed by this one:

The cup you must bless
against bane to guard,
cast leek into the drink.
Then this I promise,
that poisoned mead
will not fall to your fate.[19]

If this stanza is read as a continuation of the preceding, then a very different reading of the ale-rune spell is possible. It may be the case that the intention of the spell is to protect a man against poisoned ale (or mead) served to him by a treacherous woman whom he had trusted.[20] This was, after all, the manner of Sinfjotli’s death. The hero was served a poisoned drink by the treacherous Borghild.

Later in the saga, Queen Grimhild will serve Sigurd a cursed drink that causes him to forget Brynhild. This is not literally poisonous, but the spell Brynhild teaches Sigurd might have enabled him to avoid this trap (if he had suspected Grimhild’s intentions). Interestingly, the drink Grimhild serves him seems to be the diametrical opposite of the minnisveig or “memory drink” served him by Brynhild. As we discussed, the purpose of this drink may be to strengthen Sigurd’s memory.

We cannot leave the topic of ale-runes without saying something about ale itself and alu. *Alu is a reconstructed Proto-Germanic term from which our word “ale” (beer) derives. Old Norse öl (or ǫl) derives from it as well. Alu appears in many Elder Futhark inscriptions from Iron Age Scandinavia. It either appears alone or with other words or combinations of runes. The word is thought to have had a magical significance. Edgar Polomé connects alu to Hittite *alwanza– (alwanzatar: “witchcraft, magic, spell”; alwanza: “to bewitch”).[21] As Stephen Flowers (a student of Polomé) notes, “the common root meaning of the term would have been ecstasy [in the sense of magical or mystical ecstasy].”

A bracteate bearing the inscription alu in upper left, read right to left.

The term came to be transferred “to the drink which brings ecstasy, the cultic drink”—i.e., ale, and probably also mead.[22] Certainly, Brynhild serves Sigurd a cup of ale filled with magic; a minnisveig no doubt intended to bring about an altered state of consciousness. We may also note that in the spell, we are told that “leek” is to be dropped into the drink. The Old Norse for “leek” is laukr, which can also refer to garlic, and is derived from Proto-Germanic *laukaz. Like alu, laukaz is also found in some inscriptions, including bracteates (where it sometimes accompanies alu), and is also thought to have a magical significance. We should also note the connection to the rune Laguz, as Laukaz has also been put forward as the Proto-Germanic name of the rune.

Brynhild next turns to birth-runes (which is the third topic in Sigrdrifumal):

Birth-runes you must learn
for those laboring with child,
to deliver babe safe and sound.
On palms you must carve them,
clasp them round limbs,
and bid the dísir give aid.[23]

As the text makes very clear, this spell is intended to aid women in childbirth. Once more, no specific runes are mentioned, but, as in the ale-runes spell, we are told that they must be carved on the hand. As to how one is to “clasp” them around limbs (the verb here is spenna), this is not made clear. It may mean that after carving the runes on one’s palms, one clasps the limbs of the woman in labor. The most interesting thing about this passage is that we are instructed to call upon the dísir for help.

The dísir, as many of my readers know, are semi-divine female spirits. Their function and properties are complex and mysterious, and they often seem hard to distinguish from the fylgjur and Norns. Earlier in the saga, we are told that Sigmund was protected in battle by his spádísir. This word consists of two components: spá, which means “prophecy,” and dísir, the plural of dís. The context suggests that these are family spirits, equivalent to kynfylgjur. It makes perfect sense that protective female spirits would be appealed to in seeking to aid women in childbirth.

Now here is a further spell regarding healing or giving aid:

Limb-runes you must know
for treating the sick,
to see wisely to wounds.
Cut them on bark,
on the leaves of a tree
whose limb bends to the east.[24]

There seems to be a play here on the limbs of the tree and the limbs of a wounded man. Limb runes is limrúnar, from limr which can have the sense of the limb of a human being, or the branch of a tree. The last line refers to the tree’s limar or “limb.” Though this is a genitive singular, translators often render the last line as referring to a tree whose “limbs bend to the east.” We are told here to cut (again, rísta) the runes on the bark of the tree and on the barri. Most translators render this as “needles,” but it is extremely hard to imagine how runes could be carved on pine needles! What might be meant instead by barr is a small leaf.

We now come to the final runic topic taught by the Valkyrie: mind-runes. This is the most mysterious of all her spells—and we will find that it is, in a very real sense, a key to the whole. However, we will have to save this topic for our next installment, coming soon. . .

Notes

[1] Vǫlsunga Saga – The Saga of the Volsungs, trans. R.G. Finch (London: Thomas Nelson, 1965), 35. Henceforth “Finch.” I have frequently altered this translation to make it more literal.

[2] Finch, 35.

[3] Finch, 35.

[4] https://scancan.net/index.php/scancan/article/download/204/407

[5] The Poetic Edda, trans. Jackson Crawford (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2015), 253. Henceforth “Crawford, PE.” I have frequently altered this translation to make it more literal.

[6] Crawford, PE, 50. Crawford translates dag as “sun.”

[7] Crawford, PE, 53.

[8] Snorri Sturluson, Edda, trans. Anthony Faulkes (London: Everyman’s Library, 1995), 13-14. Henceforth “Faulkes.”

[9] Finch, 35-36. For the corresponding passage in the Poetic Edda, see Crawford, 37. Note that the Finch and Crawford translations differ significantly, though the sense is generally the same.

[10] Crawford, PE, 154.

[11] Finch, 36. The Old Norse terms for the parts of the sword in this passage are obscure and translators disagree about their meaning.

[12] Faulkes, 24-25.

[13] Literally, “lay fire” or “put fire.”

[14] Finch, 36.

[15] Crawford, PE, 45.

[16] Edred Thorsson, Runelore (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1987), 98.

[17] Finch, 36.

[18] Finch, 36-37.

[19] Finch, 37.

[20] This is suggested by Stephen Flowers, Runes and Magic (Smithville, TX: Runa-Raven, 2010; originally Ph.D. dissertation), 105-106.

[21] See Edgar Polomé, “Notes sur le vocabulaire du germanique 1. Runique alu,” La Nouvelle Clio 6 (1954): 49-55. This is discussed in Stephen Flowers, Runes and Magic, 38; see also Edred Thorsson, Alu (San Francisco, CA: Weiser Books, 2012), 9.

[22] Flowers, Runes and Magic, 38.

[23] Finch, 37.

[24] Finch, 37.