Havamal 2 Test Your Might On The Floor
(Odin visits the Giants by Jason Rhineville)
Gefendr heilir! Gestr er inn kominn,
hvar skal sitja sjá?
Mjök er bráðr sá er á bröndum skal
síns um freista frama.
Hail to the Generous! A guest has come
Where shall they sit?
Swift should he be who brandishes revenge,
Who tests his luck by the fire.
Gefendr - a giver (plural), a generous person
Heilir - greeting meaning “wholeness” and “haleness”
Gestr - a guest
Er - who
Inn - in
Kominn - has come
Hvar - where
skál- shall
Sitja - to sit
Sjá - to see
Mjök - much, greatly
er - verb (to be)
bráðr - sudden, hasty
sá - this / that
Er - who
á - at
Bröndum - brands (fire)
Skal - greeting, shall
síns - seek revenge, seek battle
um - about concerning
freista - to attempt, to try, to tempt
Frama. - to further, to distinguish oneself
The first time I read the translation of the Poetic Edda by James Chisholm, I fell in love with his word choice for “á bröndum skal síns um freista frama” as “test his luck by the fire”. The word Bröndum is where we get the word brandish or brand. This could insinuate brandishing a weapon or a torch, but either way, one’s intent is illuminated by such action, The phrase “friesta frama” can be directly translated as “trying to distinguish oneself” and I think this deals directly with how we build our Hamingja, either through revenge or brave deeds. One must be wise when engaging with others for revenge. As the previous verse in the Havamal states, one must see with the eyes of the mind and the eyes of the spirit to make sure not only who is an enemy, but what kind of skills that enemy has. In the Saga of Hrolf Kraki, when Svipdag entered the Hrolf’s Hall, he knew immediately that Svipdag was a formidable warrior. He had cunning sight and could gage well the nature of a man.
We also see the phrase “friesta frama” used in the Vafþrúðnismál as the Giant Vafþrúðner questions Odinn (in disguise as Gagnráðr) with his riddles.
“Seg þú mér, Gagnráðr, alls þú á gólfi vill þíns um freista frama,”
“Tell me Gagnrath, since you want to test your might from the floor”
While the verse in the Havamal alludes to testing one’s luck by seeking revenge or combat, the combat in the Vafþrúðnismál was all of the mind, where Vafþrúðner tests Odinn’s knowledge of the cosmos. With the two cases, we see that testing one’s luck can be a physical as well as a mental test. Again, this is connected to being able to gage the strengths and motivations of one’s company.
Understanding the nature of those around you takes a lot of practice and also takes knowing oneself. In my Rune studies, working with the Rune KENAZ or The Torch rune, is a very powerful magical tool to help illuminate one’s own inner darkness. There are many things we wish to avoid about ourselves. It’s quite easy to distract ourselves with the way others’ are an not work on strengthening our own weaknesses. Sometimes our own weaknesses might be overly obsessing about the weaknesses of others! When Kenaz reveals such a weakness, we can choose to sit in meditation and face that part of us. That weakness can be mastered by making decisions to face them persistently and diligently. If you have a weakness about obsessing with others, you can practice “non-action” and not engaging with those people or events. If you have a weakness with gossiping or complaining about others, you can try to refrain from that and change how you speak to others. Each weakness can be faced and slowly turned into a strength.
Our growth is fully in our hands and the level of growth is the level of commitment we are willing to work on ourselves.
So I challenge you, Dear Reader, do you have what it takes to test your might by the fire? Can you face yourself and those things in you which hold you back?
We are in the height of the Summer Solstice tide, and now is a good time to seek the Runes of fire and illumination. Now is a good time for us to illuminate all the things inside us that we have been running from.
