Further Reflections on the Grim Reaper, Odin and Ankou

Ankou in La Roche-Maurice, Finistère, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 by Ifernyen. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankou The image has not been changed and the author does not endorse this blog.






This article should be read in conjunction with The Grim Reaper, an Aspect of Grimnir the Hooded One. There is very little serious reading matter on the subject of the Grim Reaper and this is why I urge my readers to study the aforementioned article for background information. What has inspired me to revisit this subject is the current plague that threatens both Europe and the rest of the world. Coronavirus brings in its wake the spectre of death. Italy is a prime example of this; there are nearly as many deaths from the virus as there are recoveries. Some people refer to Italy's 'aging population' to explain the high number of deaths from the virus but this explanation is not particularly convincing. 29.4% of the population in Italy is above 60 years of age but this is similar to other European countries such as  Germany (28%), Portugal (27.9%), France (25.7%), Spain (25.3%), the United Kingdom (25.3%) and Belgium (24.6%). These figures it should be noted date back to 2017.

I believe that the reason for the large number of deaths is to be found in the large number of cases of the virus. It is as simple as that. Once the figures get into the thousands in the United Kingdom one can expect to see a similar death toll. Forget the nonsense about the likelihood of just 1% dying. That is pure political propaganda and wishful thinking. What we are facing is a real plague which is only just starting and will be here well into next year.

Interestingly between November 2019 and January 2020 both my partner and myself received a series of strange and recurring dreams concerning death. I believe that this was a warning about the plague that was about to hit the world. Such dreams should not be ignored but be acted upon, taken as warnings. Such dreams are not necessarily premonitions of personal death but a warning to take care. At the very least I would expect all of my readers to avoid public places (regardless of your age), carry an anti-bacterial sanitiser, wear a face mask and gloves and do not use public transport. If you do not own a car or a motorcycle now is the time to invest in either a bicycle or push scooter or just use what the Gods gave you: your feet! Despite my bad knee I have been daily increasing the amount of walking that I do so that I avoid using the buses entirely. They are a breeding ground for disease at the best of times but especially for Coronavirus. Anyone within just short of 15ft of a diseased person may become infected by this virus on a bus and particles can remain airborne for 30 minutes.

In addition to taking these minimum precautions now is the time to set your final affairs in order and this includes writing a Will and getting it witnessed. Too many people die intestate without making their wishes and intentions known. Apart from these practical measures now is the time to invoke the Gods for their protection. Thunor is the deity that I would turn to first for this. Those of you who share our faith, wear your Thunor's Hammer and visualise Thunor's protection all around you, enclosing you in a sphere of red light.

As I mentioned in my earlier article there is a clear association between Odin as Grimnir and the Grim Reaper; both persons acted as psychopomps for the dead. There is also an association the ferryman Charon of Greek mythology and Odin appearing as Harbard the ferryman in the Lay of Harbard in the Elder Edda. Interestingly in the Netherlands and parts of Belgium the Grim Reaper is known as Magere Hain ('meager death') and Pietje de Dood ('Little Peter the death'). This concept is said to predate Christianity and thus older than the mediaeval image of the Grim Reaper. The origins of the mediaeval image of the robed, skeletal and scythe carrying Grim Reaper are obscure and whilst Odin as Grimnir feeds into this image it would of course be incorrect to argue that Odin is the sole source for the arising of this psychopomp. The image of the Grim Reaper that has come down to us makes His first appearance in 14th century Europe at the time of the Black Death (1347-1351) which like the Coronavirus originated in Asia and killed between 30-60% of the population of Europe. A figure from Cornish, Welsh and Breton legend, Ankou bears a remarkable similarity to the Grim Reaper. Like the mediaeval Grim Reaper He often appears as a skeleton, wearing a robe and carrying a scythe. The Ankou is said to be protect the graves of the dead and to also collect their souls. (See The Celtic Legend of the Beyond by Anatole le Braz.)  Sometimes like Odin He wears a large hat which covers His face and a  black robe. How far back Ankou can be traced is difficult to say as folklore is to a certain extent influenced by later cultural accretions. I will at some point do a separate study of Ankou.

However for the Germanic mind it is perfectly reasonable in my opinion to draw a clear association between Odin and the Grim Reaper. Likwise in the Celtic mind it is also reasonable to associate Ankou with the Grim Reaper. What is clear is that this image is firmly present in the Northern European collective psyche and may be traced back to pre-Christian Germanic and Celtic religion. His purpose is to assist us in the transition between life in midgard and those realms beyond this one. For this reason we should as I have said before welcome Him when the time comes for He is our guide.

The Grim Reaper, an Aspect of Grimnir the Hooded One

For a number of months now I have contemplated writing an article on the 'Grim Reaper', a figure which has preoccupied my thoughts in recent years as I get older. Indeed I have struggled to get an article under way in the last couple of weeks until to my amazement I encountered this rather interesting post on the Inglinga blog: Wr.Alda & The Black Sun Wulf Ingessunu makes a connection between the Grim Reaper and Woden. For a long time now I have come to the belief that the Grim Reaper is a post-heathen manifestation of Woden in the Collective Unconscious of the Germanic peoples, especially in the Middle Ages when plagues were rife in Europe which owe their origins in part to the perpetuation of ignorance by the Christian Church. Wulf also makes the connection with the relatively unknown Saxon God, Krodo whose cult was centred in the Harz Mountains of north-central Germany, shared between the German lands of Lower Saxony and Thuringia. I have written about Krodo many times on my blogs. He provides new information about Krodo which supplements that which may be found on my blogs. I would encourage people to read his article in full.

What are the connections between the Grim Reaper and Woden? First of all both Woden and the Grim Reaper act as psychopomps for the dead. A psychopomp is an entity who acts as a spiritual guide for those who have recently died. In some cultures a psychopomp may take the form of an animal but in mediaeval Christianised Europe the most common form is that of the Grim Reaper. He takes the form of a man appearing in dark robes or a shroud with a skull face and carrying a scythe. Clearly the skull represents death. Th scythe is symbolic of the cutting down of the living in the form of crops to be reaped. The scythe also cuts the invisible chord that joins the physical body to its ethereal counterpart. When this cord is cut death ensues. In the same way when a baby is delivered its umbilical chord is cut and it begins a life independent from its mother's body. When the Grim Reaper comes for you there is no escaping that meeting and it would benefit us all that we prepare ourselves individually for that meeting which we can only do alone.

In the Eddas Odin and His messengers, the Valkyries have the function of being psychopomps. One example of Odin dealing out death to one of His followers and descendants is that of Sigmund, the father of Sigurd:

"But now whenas the battle had dured a while, there came a man into the fight clad in a blue cloak, and with a slouched hat on his head, one-eyed he was, [1] and bare a bill in his hand; and he came against Sigmund the King, and have up his bill against him, and as Sigmund smote fiercely with the sword it fell upon the bill and burst asunder in the midst: thenceforth the slaughter and dismay turned to his side, for the good-hap of King Sigmund had departed from him, and his men fell fast about him; naught did the king spare himself, but the rather cheered on his men; but even as the saw says, "No might 'gainst many", so was it now proven; and in this fight fell Sigmund the King, and King Eylimi, his father-in-law, in the fore-front of their battle, and therewith the more part of their folk." (Chapter 11, Volsunga Saga, translated by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson)

Woden reminds me of the ferryman in Greek mythology who ferries the souls of the newly deceased to Hades, the equivalent of the Norse Hel (not to be confused with the Christian concept of Hell). In the Eddas Odin on one occasion appears as a ferryman in the Harbardsljod in the Poetic Edda where He takes the name Harbard and engages in a flyting contest with Thor and naturally He wins the contest! Harbard has the meaning of 'grey beard' and Odin is always pictured in this way in the Eddas and Norse poetry. Whilst some scholars in the past have conjectured that Harbard may in fact be Loki (a view that occurred to me as well) Harbard is listed as one of the by-names of Odin in Grimnismal 47. Whilst Loki may be viewed in Jungian terms as the Shadow of Odin this article is not the place to explore that theory. Whilst Harbardsljod does not portray Odin as a psychopomp it is nevertheless important to point out that He occupied this role and it does have an association with death in Greek mythology.

Like Woden the Grim Reaper is often portrayed as wearing dark clothing whether this be a robe or a cloak. He is certainly a veiled figure, his face almost inscrutable until close up a skull is revealed, just as one of Odin's eyes cannot be seen as it has been placed in Mimir's well. One of the most compelling arguments for a comparison is that of the name itself: Grim. Grimr or Grimnir are by-names for Odin. Grimnismal 46 and 47 record this by-name and it has the meaning of 'the masked one' as does Grimnir (see Northern Mythology, Rudolf Simek). Odin is masked or hooded, His face not clearly visible. Often a floppy hat takes the place of a hood, all with the intention of masking Him.

It is believed that the earliest accounts of the Grim Reaper are from 14th century Europe when plagues started to decimate the population. By then Christianity had obtained an iron grip on most of northern Europe (apart from the Baltic lands) but Gods can never be truly repressed and will often manifest as Archetypes in the racial Collective Unconscious. I believe that this is what happened in the 14th century. Odin may have been largely forgotten by name but his image, His Archetype persisted. Indeed when certain aspects of the Self are repressed they reappear at times in the Shadow. Woden/Wodan/Odin was repressed in the Consciousness of the Germanic peoples so in my opinion His Shadow form reappeared a few hundred years later as the Grim Reaper in the Collective Unconscious. There are accounts in many cultures of the dying being visited by the non-living prior to death. Sometimes this is in the form of dead relatives as was the case with my maternal grandfather Hermann August Wilhelm Bock who died between 1932-1933. In that case his dead relatives took the place of the Grim Reaper psychopomp. However for those of us who do not fear death He will come I believe in His true form. Instead of fearing Him we should welcome Him as an old friend about to take us home.

The image at the head of this article is that of the 13th card of the Major Arcana of The Tarot, depicting death as a personality.