God Mimir – the primordial, the immortal, of Jotun nature; operational memory and accumulation of information from all the Nine Worlds that stays in the fountain of Urd. Vanir and Aesir.
God Mimir
The god Mimir appears in Norse mythology around the time of the first Aesir-Vanir war as one of the hostages exchanged between the warring parties as a sign of truce. Mimir was one of the gods who went to Vanaheimr in exchange for the gods Njord, Freyr, and Freya, who in turn went to Asgard. As hostages, Mimir and Honir were highly respected, and just like the Vanir in Asgard, they had a certain amount of freedom, and the Vanir themselves considered their opinions when making important decisions. That’s how it was at first.
However, as the “Ynglinga saga” tells us, after a while the Vanir noticed that the second hostage, Aesir Honir, was behaving rather strangely in Mimir’s absence. The strange thing was that he was unable to make any decision on his own, refusing to give his personal opinion every time, saying: “Let others decide”. And then the strange part begins: Mimir was killed by the Vanir. Why Mimir? Why him?
Killing a hostage without justification is a terrible offense. In response, the Aesir had the right to kill some (or even all) of the Vanir hostages, but they did not do so. The Vanir, in turn, having treated the visiting Aesir initially kindly, must have had good reason to jeopardize the fragile and difficult peace between the two systems by killing an accepted hostage. Obviously, Mimir posed an undoubted threat to the Vanir world, since the Vanir’s anger was directed at him, while Honir, as it turned out, did not pose such a threat to them. Let’s try to figure this out.
The name of the god Mímir is close to such a concept as “memory”. His origin is as ancient as the origin of all creator gods: Odin, Tyr, Thor, Heimdall, etc. He is the primordial, the immortal and personifies the primary function of any system – memorization and accumulation of information. Here the familiar Jotun nature is realized, and it is no coincidence that Mimir’s final stay is in the fountain of Urd. Mimir is an operational memory that has primary access to the collected database of all the nine worlds.
Hönir represents the speed of information processing, the way of its reproduction. It is logical that in the absence of memory-Mimir it will be difficult to reproduce anything. The god Hönir is the processor of the system, the mechanism of its selection and manifestation. He is eloquent and impetuous when there is a request for information and there is something to choose from.
The Vanir recognized Mimir as useless. They had no complaints about Hönir . This is strange from a human point of view, but we will try to look at such an assessment through the eyes of the Vanir. Mimir, who had direct access to information about all nine worlds, about the past that was, could really give sound advice based on the best experience. The experience of others. And for that reason, he was completely unsuited to the Vanir. Hönir was a quick study, he could immediately find a reflection of a decision made in any of the nine worlds.
But Hönir’s ability to react quickly to changing circumstances was just what the Vanir needed. Since the Aesir had linked the worlds into a system, the other worlds had changed rapidly. As a reflection of the other eight worlds, possessing both Vanir and Aesir natures, humans were the first to react to change, to initiate change, sometimes with little regard for the place they lived in or for those who created and guarded it. With the acquisition of Hönir, the Vanir had a tool to react quickly to such changes, but Mimir, who knew exactly how to do things “wisely”, knew how “everything was before” and could hardly find any information about what had just appeared. This is the problem for the Vanir – there is no information about new things that did not exist in the past in Mimir’s memory, no experience of solving problems associated with the appearance of new and unpredictable elements. The Vanir don’t need “by mind”, the Vanir need “by nature.” That’s why they killed Mimir – they killed the database that contained instructions that were harmful or useless to the gods of nature. These instructions did not include free choice and did not offer to take into account the changes that are happening now and are likely to happen tomorrow. By contrast, Hönir’s formula of “let others decide” obviously presupposed such a choice. Hönir gave the Vanir the freedom of personal choice, while Mimir didn’t. If the Vanir had not killed Mimir, if they had allowed Mimir to introduce alien information into the world of Vanaheimr, to introduce viral algorithms of existence, they would soon have ceased to be what they had always been and would have changed their nature.
Additional Information:
- Ad Libitum Department
- Forum “MAGIC UNITED”: Runes as a magic system
- Runes Department. Runes And Gods.
Literary Sources:
- God Kvasir
- A warrior needs victory rather than comfort – this is what the runes teach us
- When a warrior betrays himself (From the lecture about the rune Sowilo)
Videos:
- The North Tradition. Magic and Runes.
- Knowledge in the Menshikova School – Norse Gods.
- The Norse Tradition In The History of Magic
- Runes: What are they?
- Troth and Seidr. Norse Magic and Runes.
- Runic formula for protection “Thor’s Hammer”. Mjolnir.
Books: