![]() In Odin’s self-sacrifice he hung for nine nights on the windy tree ( Hávamál), there are nine worlds to Niflhel ( Vafþrúðnismál 43), Heimdallr was born to nine mothers ( Hyndluljóð 35), Freyr had to wait for nine nights for his marriage to Gerd ( Skírnismál 41), and eight nights (= nine days?) was the time of betrothal given also in the Þrymskviða. Documentation for the significance of the number nine is found in both myth and cult. …ine is the mythical number of the Germanic tribes. Philologist Rudolf Simek offers the following summary: While we don’t know what exactly the spiritual or magical significance of the number 9 was, it’s clear that this number had such a significance for the pre-Christian Germanic peoples. For example, Jotunheim overlaps with the physical wilderness, Hel with the grave (the literal “underworld” beneath the ground), and Asgard with the sky. With the exception of Midgard, these are all primarily invisible worlds, although they can at times become manifested in particular aspects of the visible world. Hel, the world of the eponymous goddess Hel and the dead Nidavellir/Svartalfheim, the world of the dwarves Vanaheim, the world of the Vanir tribe of gods and goddesses ![]() Based on the kinds of beings found in Norse mythology and the reference to their homelands in various literary sources, however, we can compile the following tentative reconstruction:Īsgard, the world of the Aesir tribe of gods and goddesses However, no source gives a list of exactly which worlds comprise the nine. The existence of “nine worlds” is mentioned in passing in one poem in the Poetic Edda. (Any and all modern images of the worlds arranged around Yggdrasil are by definition speculative and unverifiable.) They’re held in the branches and roots of the world-tree Yggdrasil, although none of the sources for our present knowledge of Norse mythology and religion describe exactly where in and around Yggdrasil they’re located. ![]() The Nine Worlds ( Old Norse Níu Heimar) are the homelands of the various types of beings found in the pre-Christian worldview of the Norse and other Germanic peoples.
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