The God Odin
Odin (Woden, Wotan, Wodanaz) is a Norse deity associated with poetry, magic, and divination, and was a shapechanger and healer as well as being a god of war. Odin was also a deity of death, "the leader of souls," and was associated with the Wild Hunt. He is also credited with introducing the magical runes (the Elder Futhark) to the world. In old times, it was common to sacrifice a prisoner to Odin prior to or after a battle, as it was he who was believed to bring victory. Odin's mount is the Sleipnir, an eight legged horse, and he carries the severed head of the seer Mimir, which can tell the future. He and his valkyries ("battle maiden" angels of death) gathers the souls of brave warriors who fall in battle, who are to help him fight in the epic battles of Ragnarok (the world's end). His hall is the Valhalla, which is his domain in the afterlife. (The Norse mythology has several domains within the afterlife.) According to the Prose Edda (a collection of Norse verse), Odin was created the world (along with his brothers Ve and Vili) from the body of the frost giant Ymir that they subdued.
It is generally assumed that Odin is the Norse version of the Roman god Mercury. It is suppsoed that Odin rose to prominence during migratory periods in Norse history and gradually displaced the god Tyr as the head of the pantheon. Some argue that Tyr never held the same importance as Zeus, Jupiter, etc held in other cultures, and Odin was simply the highest ranked deity from the start. Others scholars claim that there was no real connection between Odin and Mercury, and Greek scholars simply assumed that the Germanic people were worshipping the same gods they recognized, but rather under different names. Odin is also associated with the Celtic god Lugus, and they share many similarities, such as being gods of intellectual pursuits, commanding magic and poetry, and share symbolism of ravens and separs; both are one-eyed. These could however be the products of the tribes inhabiting the borders of the Celtic and Germanic lands; over time, their gods could have merged and borrowed symbolism from one another, which they passed along to their own respective peoples. Some people even surmise that Odin was based on a real chieftain who achieved mythical status after many generations, but there is no evidence proving or disproving this claim, and probably never will be.
The goddess Freyja was adept at shamanism and she taught Odin some of her crafts. For this, Loki, a choatic being in the spirit of the Native American coyote, mocked Odin for practicing the "unmanly" shamanic arts. (Loki also mocked Odin for a number of other things, such as being inconsistent with his favors.) Men were supposed to be forthright and open in Norse society, and shamanism dealth with the shadows. However, Odin was reputed to be a "compulsive seeker of wisdom, consumed by his passion for knowledge." He sacrificed one of his eyes in order to drink from the waters of wisdom in a sacred well. He even sacrificed himself, piercing himself with his spear and hanging himself from the world tree (Yggdrasill), where he remained for nine days and nights. As a result, he learned magical songs and the runes. (Some people see this god-as-sacrifice archetype in the stories of the Buddha and Jesus, where the deity sacrifices himself to gain mystic knowledge. As he was a god associated with hanging, the Norse often sacrificed men (mostly slaves) to Odin every nine years by hanging them from trees. Several kings were also sacrificed to the deity after years of famine or loss in war. Sailors in dangerous situations would draw lots to sacrifice one of their own so that Odin might abate the winds. Additionally, sacrifices were also probably made to Odin in the beginning of summer, at festivals, for a bountiful summer. Pagan worship disappeared with the arrival of Christianity, beginning around the 6th century in England and Germany and around the 11th century in Scandinavia and Iceland.
Elements of the old deities and practices lingered in the folklore and place names of these areas. St. Michael replaced Odin in the minds of many Germans, and there are many chapels dedicated to him. Wotan remained as a demon leading the Wild Hunt. In England, Odin was explained away as an earthly king "mistaken" for a god; his legend persisted in a more subdued fashion. And the Norse scholar Snorri surmised that Odin was a ruler from Troy or Asia; some scholars today are open to the possibility that this might actually be a plausible theory.
Odin's name gave the name to Wednesday in many languages (Norweigen, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, English) but he was considered so important that in Germany missionaries changed his day to Mittwoch to exclude his mention; all of the other days were named after deities too, but his was the only one important enough to change. (In italic languages, mercredi, mercoledi, miercoles, etc are derived from his equal, Mercury.)
Odin is also still popularly mentioned today in culture. Wagner's operas featured Odin as a major character. His name also provided the root for "Od" - a hypothetical energy that permeates all living things, a rough western equivalent to the Asian concept of "chi". He is also considered to be essential to Asatru, which is modern day worship of the Norse spiritual beings.
