The god Heimdall with the Gjallarhorn.
The gods of Asatru: Heimdall (Heimdallr)
Heimdallr (or Heimdall) is best known as the watcher of the rainbow bridge Bifröst, who wards it against the rock-giants. He needs less sleep than a bird; he can see a hundred leagues by night as well as by day, and hear the grass growing in the fields and wool on the sheep. As well as being a warder, he is also a giver of wise and cunning redes to the god/esses, as in the Eddic poem “Thrymskvidha” in which he suggests that Thórr be dressed in bridal linen and disguised as Freyja in order to regain the hammer Mjöllnir from the giant Thrym. He is also known as the highest-minded of the gods, and is able to see into the future as the Wans are. He owns the horn named Gjallarhorn, “The Resounding Horn,” which he shall blowto call the hosts of the gods together at the beginning of the Ragnarök battle.
Heimdallr (or Heimdall) is a fair and shining god, called the “white Ase”; his teeth are made of gold. His hall is called Himinbjörg, “Heaven- Mountain,” which reinforces the image of the eagle-like watcher from the heights.
In the myths, Heimdallr is best known as the foe of Loki, against whom he struggled in seal-shape to reclaim the Frowe's necklace Brísingamen; the two of them will slay each other at Ragnarök.
Some of what we know about this god is mysterious. As “Völuspá hin skamma” relates, he was born of nine mothers at the edge of the world; he was slain at least once, with a man's head, and for this reason, as Snorri says, “a sword is called Heimdallr’s head .. .” “Heimdalargaldr” speaks of this, and afterwards the head is called “measurer (or 'bane') of Heimdallr.” (Skáldskaparmál 16) Unfortunately, the poem “Heimdalargaldr,” “The Magical Song of Heimdallr,” where these things seem to have been explained in detail, has been lost to us. According to Völuspá, Heimdallr's “hljódh” is hidden at the roots of the World Tree, in the depths of Mímir's Well. Snorri interprets this word as meaning “horn,” implying that the Gjallarhorn is concealed there. However, “hljódh” is more normally used to mean “sound” or “hearing,” which invites a comparison with Wodan, who sees all that happens in the world from his high seat, Hlidhskjálf, and who left one eye in the depths of Mímir's Well; it may be that like Wodan, Heimdallr “sacrificed” half of his most important sense to the Well of Mímir, thus gaining the same wisdom – the awareness of the great realm of the “past,” or “that-which-is,” added to his awareness of all that takes place through the worlds.
Another aspect of Heimdallr's which points to a higher place than most of the myths show for him is his role in shaping and teaching the human race, as described in the Eddic “Rígsthula.” Heimdallr takes on the name Rígr (probably derived from the Irish word for “king”) and walks through the earth. First he stays with a couple called Ái (“Great-Grandfather”) and Edda (“Great-Grandmother”), begetting a son called Thrall, from whom the kindred of servants springs. Secondly, he stays with Afi (“Grandfather”) and Amma (“Grandmother”), begetting a son called Karl, first of the kindred of free farmers. Lastly, he stays with Fadhir and Modhir, “Father” and “Mother,” begetting a son called Jarl, “Earl.” When Jarl has grown to manhood, Rígr comes to him, teaching him runes and counseling him towards great deeds. Jarl's youngest son is named “Konr ungr,” “Kon the Young,” from which Norse folk etymology derived the title “Konungr,” “King.” This youth is able to strive magically against Rígr and win his grandfather's title for his own. Here, we see a process of successive evolution in which the god puts more might into the human race in each generation, till the youngest has become his own equal. The tale of the godly fathering of the tribes of humankind is one which goes back at least to Indo-European times; the identification of Heimdallr with this father was probably fairly well known among the Old Norse, because at the beginning of “Völuspá,” the völva starts her prophecy by saying, “Hear me, all you hallowed beings / both high and low of Heimdallr's kin.”
Rainbow Bridge which he wards; the link between the Ases' Garth and the realm of humans both in a spiritual and a physical/genetic sense, a two-way link by which the might of the god/esses is brought down to the Middle-Garth while those humans who receive it can in turn rise upwards to the level of the god/esses.
Heimdallr's holy beast is the ram; although no stories survive concerning this, the form “Heimdali” survives both in reference to the god himself and to the ram, which implies that either he took the form of a ram or else that it was associated with him as the cat is associated with the Frowe or the wolf with Wodan. Likewise, his by-name Hallinskídhi is also given as a poetic word for “ram.” The sheep was an important sacrificial beast among the Germanic peoples; its Old Norse name is related to the Gothic word for “sacri-fice,” and Ljósvetninga saga describes how a man, in claiming another man's share of the godhordh (priesthood), carried out the ritual of slaughtering a ram and reddening his hands in its blood as he spoke his claim. Snorri specifically says of Heimdallr, as he does not of the other gods, that he is “holy”; this also implies a special position for Heimdallr in ritual and religion. As mentioned above, Heimdallr also became a seal to fight with Loki, and has other ties with the water: he was nourished on “the ice-cold sea,” and the nine etin-maids who bore him “at edge of the earth” may well be the nine waves, the daughters of Ægir and Ran. At the same time, he is the warder of the holy and cleansing fires of Bifröst; his by-name “Vindler” (“Turner”) may also show that the need-fire was associated with him. His horse is called Gulltoppr (“Gold-Forelock”).
Heimdallr (or Heimdall) is best known as the watcher of the rainbow bridge Bifröst, who wards it against the rock-giants. He needs less sleep than a bird; he can see a hundred leagues by night as well as by day, and hear the grass growing in the fields and wool on the sheep. As well as being a warder, he is also a giver of wise and cunning redes to the god/esses, as in the Eddic poem “Thrymskvidha” in which he suggests that Thórr be dressed in bridal linen and disguised as Freyja in order to regain the hammer Mjöllnir from the giant Thrym. He is also known as the highest-minded of the gods, and is able to see into the future as the Wans are. He owns the horn named Gjallarhorn, “The Resounding Horn,” which he shall blowto call the hosts of the gods together at the beginning of the Ragnarök battle.
Heimdallr (or Heimdall) is a fair and shining god, called the “white Ase”; his teeth are made of gold. His hall is called Himinbjörg, “Heaven- Mountain,” which reinforces the image of the eagle-like watcher from the heights.
In the myths, Heimdallr is best known as the foe of Loki, against whom he struggled in seal-shape to reclaim the Frowe's necklace Brísingamen; the two of them will slay each other at Ragnarök.
Some of what we know about this god is mysterious. As “Völuspá hin skamma” relates, he was born of nine mothers at the edge of the world; he was slain at least once, with a man's head, and for this reason, as Snorri says, “a sword is called Heimdallr’s head .. .” “Heimdalargaldr” speaks of this, and afterwards the head is called “measurer (or 'bane') of Heimdallr.” (Skáldskaparmál 16) Unfortunately, the poem “Heimdalargaldr,” “The Magical Song of Heimdallr,” where these things seem to have been explained in detail, has been lost to us. According to Völuspá, Heimdallr's “hljódh” is hidden at the roots of the World Tree, in the depths of Mímir's Well. Snorri interprets this word as meaning “horn,” implying that the Gjallarhorn is concealed there. However, “hljódh” is more normally used to mean “sound” or “hearing,” which invites a comparison with Wodan, who sees all that happens in the world from his high seat, Hlidhskjálf, and who left one eye in the depths of Mímir's Well; it may be that like Wodan, Heimdallr “sacrificed” half of his most important sense to the Well of Mímir, thus gaining the same wisdom – the awareness of the great realm of the “past,” or “that-which-is,” added to his awareness of all that takes place through the worlds.
Another aspect of Heimdallr's which points to a higher place than most of the myths show for him is his role in shaping and teaching the human race, as described in the Eddic “Rígsthula.” Heimdallr takes on the name Rígr (probably derived from the Irish word for “king”) and walks through the earth. First he stays with a couple called Ái (“Great-Grandfather”) and Edda (“Great-Grandmother”), begetting a son called Thrall, from whom the kindred of servants springs. Secondly, he stays with Afi (“Grandfather”) and Amma (“Grandmother”), begetting a son called Karl, first of the kindred of free farmers. Lastly, he stays with Fadhir and Modhir, “Father” and “Mother,” begetting a son called Jarl, “Earl.” When Jarl has grown to manhood, Rígr comes to him, teaching him runes and counseling him towards great deeds. Jarl's youngest son is named “Konr ungr,” “Kon the Young,” from which Norse folk etymology derived the title “Konungr,” “King.” This youth is able to strive magically against Rígr and win his grandfather's title for his own. Here, we see a process of successive evolution in which the god puts more might into the human race in each generation, till the youngest has become his own equal. The tale of the godly fathering of the tribes of humankind is one which goes back at least to Indo-European times; the identification of Heimdallr with this father was probably fairly well known among the Old Norse, because at the beginning of “Völuspá,” the völva starts her prophecy by saying, “Hear me, all you hallowed beings / both high and low of Heimdallr's kin.”
Rainbow Bridge which he wards; the link between the Ases' Garth and the realm of humans both in a spiritual and a physical/genetic sense, a two-way link by which the might of the god/esses is brought down to the Middle-Garth while those humans who receive it can in turn rise upwards to the level of the god/esses.
Heimdallr's holy beast is the ram; although no stories survive concerning this, the form “Heimdali” survives both in reference to the god himself and to the ram, which implies that either he took the form of a ram or else that it was associated with him as the cat is associated with the Frowe or the wolf with Wodan. Likewise, his by-name Hallinskídhi is also given as a poetic word for “ram.” The sheep was an important sacrificial beast among the Germanic peoples; its Old Norse name is related to the Gothic word for “sacri-fice,” and Ljósvetninga saga describes how a man, in claiming another man's share of the godhordh (priesthood), carried out the ritual of slaughtering a ram and reddening his hands in its blood as he spoke his claim. Snorri specifically says of Heimdallr, as he does not of the other gods, that he is “holy”; this also implies a special position for Heimdallr in ritual and religion. As mentioned above, Heimdallr also became a seal to fight with Loki, and has other ties with the water: he was nourished on “the ice-cold sea,” and the nine etin-maids who bore him “at edge of the earth” may well be the nine waves, the daughters of Ægir and Ran. At the same time, he is the warder of the holy and cleansing fires of Bifröst; his by-name “Vindler” (“Turner”) may also show that the need-fire was associated with him. His horse is called Gulltoppr (“Gold-Forelock”).
(Excerpt from the Asatru/Heathen book Teutonic Religion by Kveldulf Gundarsson. Purchase an e-copy of the entire book Teutonic Religion by clicking the link.