On the tree that none may ever know

    What root beneath it runs.

    Odin then recited the charms that He learned, and set down the formula for making appropriate sacrifices by providing a list of ritual acts including divination, blood offering, petitioning the Gods and making actual sacrifice. Although many modern Heathens look at this passage as esoteric lore solely concerned with the reading of runes for divination, many scholars, most notably, the German historian Rudolf Simek, believe it to be a complex list of ritual actions, one that specifically references sacrifice. Odin’s sacrifice permeates modern Heathen consciousness. It is one of the defining moments in the religion’s mythos.

    The use of pain as a spiritual tool is quite controversial in modern Heathenry. It is, however, part and parcel of Odin’s story. In his book Dark Moon Rising, Raven Kaldera notes that “cultures all over the world have explored ways to use the power of pain as a spiritual tool.” He references the Lakota sun dance and the Hindu Kavadi, and notes that “the technique of applied pain is probably older than that of psychoactive substances,” yet another Shamanic practice that Odin is associated with. Although Northern Tradition Shamanic practices are somewhat outside the scope of this book, the idea of sacrifice (whatever that might mean to the individual) to gain wisdom is deeply entrenched in the core cosmological ethos of northern religions. This has evolved within a small subsection of the modern Northern Tradition into the practice of ordeal work.

    Ordeal work refers to a body of practices used to bring about a deep catharsis for purposes such as self-growth, religious sacrifice, or a rite of passage. These practices quite often involve physical pain, and are usually done in a spiritual or at least a carefully crafted context. Practitioners maintain that when utilized