The Wild Hunt: The Aegis of Óðinn
The Wild Hunt is well known among Ásatrúar. The army of the dead, the Einherjar, led by Óðinn upon the fall storms when the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. Tales of armies of the dead stretch across time from its undoubted Indo-European origin, to the troops in ancient India of the Maruts led by Rudra, to the Mesnie Hellequin of the Middle Ages, and even in more modern times, Tolkein draws upon this lore for the dead men of Dunharrow.
Over the centuries, there have been many names for this ghostly troop, and even more tales; the Furious Army, the Wild Army, along with the Wild Hunt and the Mesnie Hellequin. This is one of the more recent terms for this procession of spirits that roamed the European countryside. In France, it came to mean people who assembled to commit acts contrary to good character, but that probably just meant there was a whiff of paganism.
Originally the Wild Hunt was associated with the coming of Autumn and the thinning of the veil, but in the 13th and 14th centuries, and with the predominancy of Christianity, it was said the host came in troubled times to rouse the fighting spirit.
One of the first to see the connection between the leader of the Wild Hunt and Óðinn was Jacob Grimm. He studied the Furious Army and the Wild Army of the regions to the east of the Rhine, and in their leader, he saw a form of Óðinn that had been downgraded by Christianity to the rank of a ghostly figure.
People have also seen other gods as the leader of the Wild Hunt, but they do not hold up. One is Þórr, because of the storms always associated with the coming of the Furious Army. But this connection is misplaced, due to that the storm is not associated with the leader, but with the troop of the dead. There is a long association with the dead and storms. In Switzerland, people still say “the Turscht is on the hunt" or “it is as if the Turscht was hunting” when a strong autumn wind blows or a heavy winter rages. In the Thun region, the passage of the Furious Army is accompanied by a great rumbling, and when the Waldhooli blows his horn, the weather is going to turn foul.
Another god associated with the Wild Hunt is Freyr, but this connection is even more tenuous than Þórr. With a painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder called Melancholy from 1532 depicting a Furious Army lead by a figure on a wild boar and the pig being one of the most often cited ghost animals, the connection falls apart when you realize the rider of the boar in the painting was a woman with a spear.
Of the animals associated with the Wild Hunt, none is more prominent than the horse. The Infernal Throng often consists of warriors and horsemen, and as the god of war and the owner of Sleipnir, Óðinn is right at home in this context. The horse’s role as psychopomp is well attested and ancient. Sleipnir literally carries Óðinn to Helheimr and back. His function as the master of Jöl, through his knowledge of necromancy and other magical practices, solidifies his role at the head of the Furious Army.
In closing, I'll note how Otto Hofler, like Grimm, proposed “the priority of the ecstatic worship over mythic legend is the reflection of secret German ecstatic cults” and the reflection of the rites binding warriors within a brotherhood, placed beneath the ægis of Óðinn.
So, whether it’s another winter or turbulent times, when you hear the horn on the wind, the Furious Army is moving, and our Folk are roused to meet the challenges ahead.
Hail Óðinn!
Goði Lane Ashby
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