Norse mythology hints at Odinic cults, with Odin being worshipped through a combination of ecstatic and seemingly shamanistic rituals. From the eddic poem The Sayings of the High One ( Hávamál ), he is said to have hanged himself in a sacrificial ritual on a tree. Barely surviving this ordeal, Odin gains arcane knowledge, including the use of runes, the ancient Scandinavian alphabet sometimes used for magical purposes. In the poem, Odin chants : I know that I hungon the wind-swept treeall nine nightswith spear was I woundedand given to Odin,myself to me,on that tree which no one knowsfrom which roots it grows.Bread I was not given, no drink from the horn,downwards I glared;up I pulled the runes,screaming I took them,from there I fell back again.- excerpt from Jesse L. Byock's Introduction and Notes, of Sturluson's Prose Edda. The Prose Edda