SLEIPNIR

“[He who] steps on treacherous ground.”

Sleipnir is the finest of any steeds, the best horse of the Æsir (Grímnismál 44.79), and better “than any other horse in Jǫtunheimr, (Skáldskaparmál 17.20).

Óðinn ́s steed is grey, has eight feet, is swifter than the wind when he gallops over the sea, and the product of Svaðilfari and Loki ́s sexual frolicking. Though it may be reading too much into detail, it is interesting to note that Sleipnir is foaled from the trickster Loki, who is a male god transformed into a mare, and often associated with evil, while Svaðilfari is a hard-working, well-meaning stallion, who had only good intentions. Furthermore, Sleipnir ́s dapple-grey coat colour is a mix of black and white, or light and dark, mirroring the many ways in which a horse could represent both good and bad and light and dark.

A strong case can be made for Sleipnir as the iconic symbol of the horse ́s shamanistic role as a medium between the living and dead worlds.

Depictions of Sleipnir found on the 8th century Gotland stones show him with sailing ships and potential images of Valkyries (Lindqvist 1941-2: II, 15-17) – all three of which are associated with some sort of transport for the deceased (Dubois 1999:151-3).

Most depictions on these stones and also golden bracteates found by archeologists show a rider mounted on Sleipnir, and this could be a dead man riding to Valhǫll, but is more likely Óðinn himself, riding as the leader of the dead (Simek 1993:243-4). An important distinction I would like to draw is the difference between Sleipnir ́s role as a means of transport for the dead, and Sleipnir ́s role as a means of communication with the other world.

A closer look at Óðinn ́s eight-legged horse could strengthen the hypothesis that horses played a major role transcending worlds to the afterlife. Sleipnir means ́slippery one ́, and may be a reference to the ways this horse could slide easily between worlds and down to the underworld (Price 2002:101).

However, did Sleipnir or other mythological horses play a role in transporting the deceased to the afterlife?

The burning ship of Baldr ́s funeral pyre is referred to as ́sea-Sleipnir, ́ and is pushed out to sea to transport the beautiful god to the next life (Húsdrápa 10-11), but Baldr ́s horse is also burned on the pyre, so which transport agent is the one entrusted to carry Baldr to the afterlife?