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Walpurgisnacht Invocation VII
Behold the Well of Mimir!
Here lies the severed head of the god of wisdom
Who would not speak what he knew,
And here great Odhinn, much lessened by his travels,
Came to seek out Mimir's wisdom.
He saw the severed head floating deep into the well,
And he asked Mimir to tell him all he knew,
The secrets of the underground,
The things unseen beneath the earth,
Beneath the surface thoughts of men,
Beneath his own surface.
And Mimir laughed, and asked what price
Great Odhinn would pay for this knowledge.
And Odhinn said that he would pay any price.
So Mimir asked for the price of one of his eyes,
That he who was trapped in the well
Might have vision in the upper world.
And Odhinn agreed, and gave one of his eyes
To Mimir in exchange for wisdom,
Although the bargain was hard, and painful.
Half-blind, he continued on his way,
But two ravens settled on his shoulders,
The gift of Mimir and the Norns,
Named Huginn and Muninn, Thought and Memory,
That he might have more eyes in the world
Who would tell him all that they saw.
And we honor Odhinn for his fourth sacrifice,
The giving up of worldly vision for greater sight.
From the "Pagan Book of Hours",
©
Order of the Horae