Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year. And the sun will be making his return. With Christmas near, I think about birth and rebirth. And I'm also considering one-eyed Norse gods and eight-legged horses. This is why I love myths. So many wonderful images to describe what's happening around us, even as I write this.

The Texas Liberal writes about the above image. The Nordic God Odin had a hand in killing the Frost Giant Ymir. The picture is of Odin riding his horse who was named Sleipnir. Both Odin and Sleipnir seem to be doing well in the picture. Killing a frost giant is also a reminder that with the Winter Solstice now behind us, the days will be getting longer. That is good news. Before you realize, it will be spring and summer.

Sleipnir (Norse, "gliding one") is the legendary eight-legged horse belonging to Odin, the Father-God of the Norse pantheon. Sleipnir carries Odin between the world of the Gods and the world of matter. The eight legs symbolize the directions of the compass, and Sleipnir's ability to travel through land and air.

The eight legs of Sleipnir are probably symbolic of the eight spokes solar wheel, and probably relate to an earlier form of Odin as a sun-god. There is some evidence that Odin himself was at one time anthropomorphized as a horse; Sleipnir's ability to travel instantaneously associates him with sunlight.

Sleipnir is also said by some to be the shamanic horse that can be used to travel to various consciousness levels. The horse was the swiftest on earth, and could bear Odin over sea, through the air, and to and from the land of the dead. According to Sigrdrífumál in the Poetic Edda, Sleipnir has runes carved on his teeth.

In the norse mythology Odin is the god of war, poetry, knowledge, and wisdom. From Wikipedia, Odin is an ambivalent deity. Old Norse (Viking Age) connotations of Odin lie with "poetry, inspiration" as well as with "fury, madness and the wanderer." Odin sacrificed his eye (which eye he sacrificed is unclear) at Mímir's spring in order to gain the Wisdom of Ages. Odin gives to worthy poets the mead of inspiration, made by the dwarfs, from the vessel Óð-rœrir.[1]

Odin and his horse are associated with The Wild Hunt. I'll leave it to you to learn more about that if you wish, but from this image you can imagine how some folks used to (and may still) think about thunder.

Odin also hung himself from Yggdrassil, the World Tree, in his quest for the knowledge of life and death. (Sound familiar to anyone?) He has two pet wolves too. With whom I suppose he kicks some serious butt.

Happy Winter Solstice. I can almost feel the rising sun warming my face.