Praise the Gods

Odin is known to be a traveler in disguise. Grimnismal 46-50, 54 gives a lengthy list of his various names in disguise. Although in Harbardsljoth 10 he tells Thor he seldom hides his name, but that is besides the point here. I must ask the same question as Thor in Harbardsljoth 11: “Why should you hide your name, unless you have disputes?”

Odin travels in disguise for many reasons: to gather intelligence or to observe events directly like in Grmnismal, to avoid his fate, to taunt and test Thor in Harbardsljoth (sometimes you need to use your wits rather than brute force), to seek knowledge, or to manipulate events. Even with all of his efforts, his fate remained fixed. The threads of the Norns have been woven and they cannot be undone.

We want to believe that we have control of things in our lives. The fact is, the only thing we can control is how we respond to what is going on around us. “Against our will we are born, against our will we live, and against our will, we shall die.” We didn’t have control when we dropped our coffee cup on the way out the door. No control when we didn’t hear the alarm clock and was late for work. No control when we were almost hit by a car that didn’t see us on the highway…or any number of scenarios that we face on a daily basis.

We all want to feel like we have a sense of control. Sometimes, like Odin, we go to great lengths trying to acquire it. But like fate, it remains fixed. So then, the question is: how do we respond to this lack of control? We can suffer by not accepting it, like Odin when he wandered all around the place in disguise to escape the inevitable. Or we can accept things as they are. That is our choice: accept it or don’t. Whatever we choose…well, that will be within our control, and so will the consequences of our actions.

-Raysdottir