Vé is the second of the brothers of Odin, and his name refers to a holy shrine or hallowed temple place. Vé, like his brother Vili, was largely put aside in favor of Odin, and thus little is known about him. It is known that the three brothers, together, slew Ymir the great mountain-frost-giant, and built several of the Nine Worlds (including Asgard) out of his various body parts. In his book Shadow Gods and Black Fire, Andrew Gyll suggests that Vé is now allied with the Rökkr and the Jotnar.

The three brothers worked as a team for a time, until Odin became the All-Father of Asgard. It is said that while he went on his nine years of wandering for wisdom, his two brothers moved in with his wife Frigga. This may reflect ancient pre-Christian Norse customs of hospitality, of a wife giving her bed to her husband’s brothers out of respect and kindness. However, a later version of the story says that when Odin returned, he threw them out.

During the flood that resulted from Ymir’s murder and the great flow of his blood, they stumbled upon a pair of driftwood logs on the beach, and decided to bring them to life. Odin breathed life into them, Vili gave them the ability to think and the sense of touch, and Ve gave them speech, the ability to express emotions with their faces and bodies, and the senses of sight and hearing. (The brothers then abandoned Ask and Embla, the proto-human couple, but a passing boat of fleeing giants led by Bergelmir found them before they drowned and set them in a tree to survive.)

Those who work with Vé have said that they do it as part of the triplicity of Odin/Vili/ Vé. He is the God who makes sacred; before Sif was there, he hallowed the open spaces around the standing stones, the outside temples, the sacred groves. This is the power that the Romans called numen – the spiritual power residing in the outside world in sacred objects. He is the god who helps people to sense the Gods, to get better spiritual signal clarity, to be aware of Spirit. He also gives the gift of sight and hearing, as well as speech, and so can be prayed to for these things when they are dysfunctional. He can be propitiated for the ability to better express one’s self with face and body, and to understand these subtle cues in others. To make an offering to him, offer him food and drink.

Photo at top of this section by Malene Thyssen.

• The Three Brothers by Andrew Gyll
• Creation by Sarenth Odinsson