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Cake day: July 1st, 2023

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  • Right, although this idea is somewhat challenged by the story of Sigurðr who is by all accounts the best, bravest, and most famous of all Norse heroes with exploits that include slaying a dragon and receiving personal assistance from Odin on multiple occasions. Sigurðr Is stabbed by his brother-in-law and is able to actually cut the guy in half before dying himself but is then attested as going to Hel in various ways but never to Valhǫll.

    It’s unclear why this is and I haven’t seen much discussion about it in scholarly discourse. There is, of course, lots of discussion about what Hel really is/means. But it may have been something implicit in the story that the ancient Norse would have inferred as being obvious. For example, maybe he lost favor with Odin by rescuing the Valkyrie Sigrdrífa from the sleep curse that Odin had placed upon her.

    This sort of an idea shows up in Sonatorrek, ostensibly written by Egill Skalagrimsson. In that poem, Egill is lamenting the loss of his son who drowned in a boating accident. In that context, Egill talks about this tragedy in terms of Odin having broken off friendship with him. As a result, Egill has decided to cease sacrificing to Odin, and the consequence is that he now has a vision of Hel standing on the headland waiting for him.



  • Nah this was a deliberately comedic scene in Gautreks Saga where members of a family keep sacrificing themselves for absurd reasons. There is some possibility that something like this could have happened in some parts of Norse society but there’s no evidence it was a requirement for entry into Valhalla (Old Norse Valhǫll).

    In fact, whereas the Prose Edda (a 13th-century narrative guide to understanding skaldic poetry) does claim that those who fall in battle end up in Valhǫll, and this is supported by evidence from pre-Christian poems such as Grímnismál, Norse mythological sources are actually littered with attestations of people dying in combat but not going to Valhǫll, as well as people dying outside of combat but still ending up in Valhǫll.

    One example of this is the character Sinfjǫtli from Vǫlsunga Saga. Sinfjǫtli is poisoned by his mother-in-law at a party, and his father Sigmundr carries his dead body down to the shore where a ferryman offers to take it across the water. Once the body is on the boat, it turns out the ferryman is Odin and he disappears with the body which is elsewhere confirmed to have ended up in Valhǫll in the poem Eiríksmál.

    Scholar Jens Peter Schjødt theorized in Pre-Christian Religions of the North that entry into Valhǫll is predicated on a person being dedicated to Odin, which is something a person could do for themselves ritualistically (there are references to marking oneself with a spear for Odin) or could also be done to you by an enemy who has set out to kill you and intends to “give” you to Odin as a way of showing his own dedication.







  • “My wife was recycling jars so I yelled at her because she wasn’t recycling the jars.”

    This obviously has nothing to do with recycling so we’re going to skip right over that weird red herring and cut to the real issue here.

    Your friends laugh at you because, in your context, your wife’s recycled jars make it look like you can’t afford to throw away money for random junk at the store whenever you want. In your context, a person must display their financial success in order to be respected by their peers, and any behavior that is likely to be exhibited by people who are not as wealthy (such as cleverly reusing materials) will be viewed by your friends as an indication that you are less wealthy than you want them to believe you are. This is a horrible social context to find yourself in, and the pressure it puts on you has caused you to “lose your sh*t” at the woman you love over some jars. Just stop and let that sink in for a moment.

    Now the question is, how did you end up in this headspace? Is this the general culture in your country? Is this the culture of your particular social circle? Is this a situation that exists only in your own mind? Whatever the case, it’s not a healthy way to live your life. You need to find a way to stop caring about how wealthy you look to others and focus on things that actually matter in life. Like your relationship with your wife, for example.