Towards the Baldur Myth - Germanic Mythology

2.
NATURE’S SWORN OATH. HEALING CHARMS.
Gylfaginning and the poem ―Baldur‟s Dreams‖ report that when Baldur dreamed
grave dreams which indicated that his life was threatened, the gods sought to keep these
dreams from being fulfilled by taking oaths from all beings, all natural things, and all
diseases not to harm Baldur. However, they neglected to take an oath from a sapling
called mistletoe and Loki used it, via Hödur, to cause Baldur‘s death. Hödur shot the
mistletoe, crafted into an arrow, at Baldur, who he believed was invulnerable to all
projectiles, cuts, and blows, and Baldur died from the wound.
The idea that one can swear or obligate all elements, all beings, and all diseases
not to harm a person one wants to protect is Proto-Indo-European and found again in
Vedic literature. I refer to the excerpt from Atharvaveda that A. Ludwig cites in ―Die
Mantralitteratur,‖ 30 consisting of prayers and incantations for this purpose.
The Proto-Indo-European concepts about the plant kingdom and its relationship to
the gods deserve special attention, since mistletoe belongs to this kingdom. According to
these concepts, plants have sentient life and can consequently be plighted with oaths.
They form five principalities governed by the soma plant. Atharvaveda V, 4, 18 ff. says
that all plants were once commanded to assemble by the gods, when it became of the
highest importance for them to take measures against the demon-world‘s arts. At this
meeting, it was decided that Apamarga (Achyranthes aspera, compare Zimmer
Altindisches Leben p. 66) 31 with its backward-growing flowers would be the protector
against bad dreams, curses and black arts. 32 According to the gods‘ decision, a second
herb, Arundhati, which is a parasitic plant like mistletoe, would be the protector against
wounds caused by blows, spears or arrows. 33 To stop the evil powers that avail
themselves of herbs in battle against them, the gods send out numerous spies into the
kingdom of plants. Rigveda VII, 61, 3: ―O Mitra and Varuna, you great-gifted, from the
wide world, from the high heavens, you have put out spies, even among the plant families
you have spies that travel everywhere and watch and do not close their eyes.‖ 34
30
Alfred Ludwig (1832-1912) Mantralitteratur und das Alte Indien als ein Leitung zur Übersetzung des
Rigveda, Prague, 1878.
31
Heinrich Zimmer, Altindisches Leben: Die Culture der Vedischen Arier nach dem Samhita Dargestellt,
Berlin, 1879.
32 Hymns of the Atharva-veda, translated by Maurice Bloomfield; Sacred Books of the East, Volume 42,
1897. Speaking of Apâmârga, Atharvaveda IV, 17, 2 says: ―Her, the unfailingly victorious one, that wards
off curses, that is powerful and defensive; (her and) all the plants have I assembled, intending that she shall
save us from this (trouble)!‖ [Rydberg‘s reference to V, 4, 18 appears to be an error].
33
Athararveda IV, 5: 3. ―Every tree thou dost climb, like a wench lusting after a man. 'Victorious,' 'firmly
founded,' 'saving,' verily, is thy name.‖ 4. ―The wound that has been inflicted by the club, by the arrow, or
by fire, of that thou art the cure: do thou cure this person here!‖ 5. ―Upon the noble plaksha-tree (ficus
infectoria) thou growest up, upon the asvattha (ficus religiosa), the khadira (acacia catechu), and the dhava
(grislea tomentosa); (thou growest up) upon the noble nyagrodha (ficus indica, banyan-tree), and the parna
(butea frondosa). Come thou to us, O arundhatî!‖ 6. ―O gold-coloured, lovely, sun-coloured, most
handsome (plant), mayest thou come to the fracture, O cure! 'Cure,' verily, is thy name!‖
34 Rydberg follows Ludvig's translation, "auch in die geschlechter der planzen"; Griffith has ―in fields and
houses ‖ and Geldner (1951) "in Pflanzen und Ansiedelungen" (in plants and settlements).