A pair of ravens in Scandinavian mythology that fly around the world of Midgard and inform the god Odin about what is happening. In Old Norse, Huginn means "thinking" and Muninn means "remembering" (or "thought" and "memory", respectively). 
Ravens are mentioned in such literary monuments of Scandinavia of the 13th century as the Elder and Younger Edda, the Circle of the Earth, the Third grammatical treatise of Olav Thordarson, as well as in skaldic poetry.
In these writings, Hugin and Munin are described as ravens serving Odin, who perch on his shoulders and supply him with information. The Circle of the Earth tells how Odin endowed the ravens with speech. The role of Hugin and Munin as messengers of the supreme ace is connected with the tradition of shamanic practices and with the general symbolism of the Germanic peoples, depicting the raven as a source of hidden knowledge. 
Odin’s companions are the crows Hugin and Munin (“thinking” and “remembering”) and the wolves Geri and Freki (“greedy” and “gluttonous”), his mount is the eight-legged horse Sleipnir (Sleipnir, “sliding”). In Valhalla, Odin and his squad are served by the Valkyries - virgins who determine the fate of warriors on the battlefield, choosing heroes for Valhalla. Odin's weapon is the spear Gungnir, which never misses its target and kills anyone it hits to death. Odin's ship is the Skidblaðnir (Skíðblaðnir, "made of thin planks"), the fastest ship in the world, accommodating any number of warriors, which, however, can be folded and hidden in a pocket if necessary.
Hugin and Munin are only the personification of the mental powers of Odin. In honor of these ravens, the Swedes named two DC-3 transporters converted for reconnaissance at the expense of the Pentagon, spying on Soviet air defense systems in the interests of NATO and Sweden. In honor of Hugin, a Swedish reconnaissance aircraft based on the Douglas DC-3 transport was named, which was shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 fighter during the Cold War after violating Soviet airspace in 1952.
Odin the Allfather had two ravens, Hugin and Munin. They flew over all the worlds and every day returned to Asgard to tell Odin about everything they saw and heard. One day the day passed and the ravens did not return. Then Odin, standing on the tower of Hlidskjalf, said to himself:
I'm scared for Hugin
For Munin and even more so,
Where are my prophetic birds?
Another day passed, and the ravens came and sat on Odin's shoulders. Then the All-Father went to the Council Hall near the golden-leaved grove of Glasir and began to listen to the revelations of Hugin and Munin.
They spoke to him only of bad omens and omens. The Allfather did not reveal to the inhabitants of Asgard what the ravens told him. But Frigga, his mistress, saw in the eyes of her husband a harbinger and an omen of future troubles.
And when he spoke of these troubles, Frigga said:
Don't try to prevent what is about to happen. Let us go to the sacred Norns at the Well of Urd, and see if the ill omens and omens disappear when you look into their eyes.
And so Odin and the gods left Asgard and went to the source of Urd, where under the huge root of Yggdrasil, protecting a pair of marvelous swans, three norns sat. Odin, and Tyr, the great warrior, and Baldr, the most beautiful and most precious of all gods, and Thor with his hammer, set out on their journey.
The rainbow bridge led from Asgard, the city of the gods, to Midgard, the world of people. But another rainbow bridge, even more wonderful and trembling, led from Asgard to that root of Yggdrasil, under which the waters of the Urd spring splashed. This rainbow bridge was rarely seen by people. And where the ends of the two rainbows joined, stood the golden-toothed Heimdall, the guardian of the gods, the guardian of the path to the source of Urd.
- Open the gates, Heimdall, - the Allfather addressed him, - open the gates, for today the gods will visit the sacred Norns.
Without a word, Heimdall opened the gate wide, revealing a bridge brighter and more shaky than any rainbow seen from the ground. Then Odin, and Tyr, and Baldr stepped on it. Thor followed them, but before his foot could land on the bridge, Heimdall put a hand on his shoulder.
“You cannot go this way, Thor,” said Heimdall.
- What? Will you, Heimdall, stop me? Thor screamed.
“Yes, because I am the guardian of the path to the Norns,” Heimdall answered. - You're too heavy with your hammer. The bridge I guard will break under you, Thor the Hammer.
“Still, I will go to the Norns with Odin and my brethren,” said Thor.
"But not this way, Thor," Heimdall repeated. - I will not allow the bridge to collapse under your weight and the weight of your hammer. Leave me your hammer if you're going to go here.
- No no! Thor recoiled. “I will trust no one with the hammer that protects Asgard, and nothing will prevent me from going with Odin and my brethren.
“There is another way to the spring of Urd,” said Heimdall. - Do you see these two wide swirling rivers - Kermt and Ermt? Can you ford them? They are cold and their fumes are suffocating, but they will lead you to the well of Urd where the three sacred norns sit.
Thor looked at the two wide, seething rivers. Their waters were cold, and the fumes were suffocating. And yet, crossing them, he will be able to carry a hammer on his shoulder, which he does not dare to entrust to anyone. He stepped into the steaming river that washed over the base of the rainbow bridge, and with a hammer on his shoulder, he began to make his way to another river.
Odin, Tyr, and Baldr were already at the spring of Urd when Thor emerged from the seething river, wet and out of breath, but still with his hammer on his shoulder. Tyr, straight and handsome, leaned on his sword, which was all covered with magical runes. Balder stood with his head bowed and with a smile on his lips, enchanted by the quiet song of two wonderful swans, and beside him stood One All-Father, in his blue cloak, bordered by golden stars, without an eagle-helmet on his head and without a spear in his hands.
Three Norns - Urd, Verdandi and Skuld - sat at the source, which flowed from the hollow of the huge root of Yggdrasil. Urd was a gray-haired old woman, Verdandi was a young beauty, and Skuld was almost impossible to see, because she was sitting behind her sisters and her hair fell over her face. Urd, Verdandi and Skuld saw the whole past, the whole present and the whole future. The Allfather looked into their eyes, even into the eyes of Skuld. For a long, long time he looked at the norns with divine eyes, while others listened to the song of the swans and the rustle of the leaves of Yggdrasil falling into the spring of Urd.
And in the eyes of the Norns, the Allfather saw with his own eyes the omens and portents that Hugin and Munin had told him about. And then Frigt, Sif and Nanna, the wives of Odin, Thor and Baldr, crossed the rainbow bridge. Frigga looked at the Norns, then she turned her gaze, full of love and sorrow, to Baldr, her son, and, stepping back, laid her hand on Nanna's head.
The Allfather tore his gaze away from the norns and turned to Frigga, his royal consort.
- I must leave Asgard for a while, wife of Odin, - he said.
"Yes," said Frigga. - Much needs to be done in Midgard, the world of people.
- I will turn my knowledge into wisdom, - continued Odin, - so that what will inevitably happen, if possible, turns out for the better.
“You must go to Mimir's Spring,” Frigga said.
“I will go to the source of Mimir,” said Odin.
"Go, my husband," said Frigga.
They again crossed the rainbow bridge, more wonderful and more shaky than that which people see from the earth. Everyone returned over the rainbow bridge, the Ases and Asini, Odin and Frigga, Balder and Nanna, Tyr with his sword, and Siv next to Tyr. As for Thor, with the hammer Mjollnir on his shoulder, he again wandered through the boiling rivers Kermt and Ermt.
Little Hnos, the youngest of the inhabitants of Asgard, stood next to Heimdall, guardian of the gods and guardian of the bridge leading to the spring of Urd, when Odin the All-Father and his royal consort Frigga, with bowed heads, emerged from the huge gate. And she heard Odin say:
- Tomorrow I will become Vegtam the Wanderer, wandering along the roads of Midgard and Jotunheim.
Ravens of Odin are characters of German-Scandinavian mythology and companions of the supreme god of this mythology - Odin, about which you can read in the "Elder Edda" and "Younger Edda" (collections of ancient Slavic songs about gods and heroes, recorded in the middle of the 13th century, unique cultural and art monuments).
Odin - the main Scandinavian god
In some sources, Odin is also called Wotan (although in general Odin has more than two dozen names and nicknames in the Elder Edda), but the essence does not change - this is the main god according to the German-Scandinavian mythology, the father of the Ases (the main group of Scandinavian gods), god of war and victory, husband Frigg (according to mythology, a seer, goddess of love, marriage and childbearing). The ancient Romans identified Odin with Mercury and Hermes, and the Slavs with Veles.
The Elder Edda has already been mentioned above, so it is in this source that you can find a kind of Viking moral code (it talks about fearlessness, restraint of anger, etc.), allegedly created by Odin. Also, according to this manuscript, when Odin was among people, he did not give his name and usually presented himself as a helpless old man and expected wise words and actions from his admirers.
Ravens of Odin Hugin and Munin
The crows of Odin Hugin and Munin (from Old Norse thought and memory, or thinking and remembering) according to the Elder and Younger Eddam, serving Odin and informing him about what is happening all over the world (in the Old Norse language, the world is Midgard). Why do the researchers of mythology believe that it was the ravens that Odin endowed with speech and took as assistants? Most likely due to the fact that in ancient times ravens were always displayed and presented as a source of secrets, mystical knowledge, and so on. Usually the crows Hugin and Munin are depicted on the shoulders of Odin.
Although not all researchers believe that Hugin and Munin are crows, at least the German historian and philologist Rudolf Simek argues that these are just the mental abilities of the father of aces.
Interestingly, the Swedes named after Hugin and Munin two transport aircraft converted to reconnaissance behind Soviet air defenses in their own interests and in the interests of NATO during the Cold War.
Commandments of Odin.
According to the Elder Edda (song of Grimnir's Speech), Odin, in addition to two wolves (Geri and Freka), has two ravens, whose names are Hugin and Munin. Their names, translated from Old Norse, mean "thinking" (Huginn) and "remembering" (Muninn). There is also an alternative translation of the names Hugin and Munin, according to this version, the crows of Odin are called "thought" and "memory".
Hugin and Munin are mentioned not only in the Elder and Younger Eddas, but also in many other medieval monuments of skaldic poetry. The authors of The Circle of the Earth (Snorri Sturluson) and The Third Grammatical Treatise (Olav Thordarson) also speak of Odin's ravens Hugin and Munin.
From the point of view of "functionality", the crows Hugin and Munin are rather interesting mythological images. In the song "Speech of Grimnir" Odin says that Hugin and Munin are located on his shoulders. Every morning the Allfather sends the birds to wander the Nine Worlds (not only Midgard), and every evening they return to tell the great ace about what is happening in the Universe. These are not messengers of the gods, as early scholars of Scandinavian myths believed. Ravens Hugin and Munin are not shown to people or etuns, they only observe, listen and remember, these are, figuratively speaking, Odin's personal "spies" who collect the necessary information for him.
The motive of people (or gods) communicating with birds is traditional for European occultism. At the same time, there is no mention of exactly how Odin listens to Hugin and Munin, probably the ravens speak the language of Ases (in the Circle of the Earth, Sturluson mentions that Odin himself taught his birds). This is quite logical, if we take into account the ancient, but erroneous myth that ravens live very long and can learn a lot in their lifetime. In fact, the Corvus corax species lives from 10 to 30 years in the wild, and in captivity - no more than 75-80. However, it has been experimentally confirmed that crows are indeed able to learn human speech, albeit at the level of a five-year-old child (the data of various studies differ on this). And given that the crows Hugin and Munin are of a "divine" origin, and serve Odin, a potentially immortal being, then it is likely that their lifespan (and, consequently, experience) is also unlimited.
Ravens of Odin - esoteric image
The crows of Odin Hugin and Munin are considered by many Scandinavian scholars as a deep, complex image of the northern shamanic tradition. In particular, the well-known folklorist John Lindow says that the journeys of Hugin and Munin are the essence of a metaphorical depiction of a shamanic journey, when a person enters a special transcendental state that can be classified as an ecstatic trance. At the same time, in the already mentioned song "Grimnir's Speech", Odin mentions that he is afraid for his ravens Hugin and Munin when he sends them to wander. Here Lindow sees a veiled warning: without proper preparation, the shaman may not return from the trance, forever "lost among the worlds", remaining in an altered state of perception, roughly speaking - he will simply go crazy.
The German philologist and historian Rudolf Simek says that the image of the ravens Hugin and Munin is a symbolic embodiment of the mental (mental) power of Odin. This is a direct indication that the lord of Asgard knows everything about everything, for he is so great and incomprehensible in his greatness. In this regard, the interpretation of the image of Hlidskjalf, the throne of Odin, which also allows you to see all corners of the Nine Worlds, is not clear.
The god of the ravens, the god of the hanged...
Hugin and Munin are popular images in medieval poetry, the Scandinavian kennings “servant of Odin”, “traveler of the worlds”, “invisibly present” are known, and all these are metaphorical definitions of a raven. In this regard, Odin himself is often called the god of ravens. Perhaps that is why, in late medieval Scandinavian folklore, Odin became the god of the gallows, because ravens are scavengers, and they are always present where you can find rotting flesh.
With this feature of ravens, the image of Hugin and Munin acquires an original color and special significance for Scandinavian scholars. In the Third Grammatical Treatise, Tordason writes: “Crows flew up from the shoulders of Hnikar, Hugin to the hanged, Munin to the dead.” This point is very important, because many medieval texts say that people were often sacrificed to the lord of Asgard. Despite the fact that with a high degree of probability this is only a spectacular turn of phrase, the image turns out to be quite vivid and memorable, it again refers us to the gallows (after all, Odin himself hung upside down on Yggdrasil, like a hanged man, to “open” the runes) and ravens.
And here it is worth dispelling all sorts of myths regarding "sacrifices to Odin." In Sturluson's "Ynglinga Saga" it is mentioned that the Prince of Uppsala Aun "sacrificeed his eldest son to Odin". However, this phrase should not be taken literally. Modern folklorists believe that this episode says that Aun had to make his firstborn a priest of Odin. In essence, this is a sacrifice, because traditionally the eldest son should inherit the throne, but, being a priest, he cannot do this.
It is curious to note that the crows Hugin and Munin were so fond of the Scandinavians that during the Cold War the Swedes named reconnaissance probes after them. In 1952, the Hugin reconnaissance aircraft was shot down by a MiG-15 pilot, an important historical episode that theoretically could lead to the start of full-fledged military operations.
The names of Odin associated with the image of the ravens Hugin and Munin:
The owner of the ravens - Hrafnstýrandi;
Lord of the Ravens - Hrafnadróttinn;
Ace of Ravens - Hrafnáss;
Honoring Ravens - Hrafnblætr.
Traditionally, Hugin symbolizes thinking and Munin represents memory. However, we have reason to believe that munin is derived from munr and not from minni (memory). Many people like to translate munr as desire, but the fact is that there is actually no modern equivalent translation for the word munr. It personifies a collective image in which desire, will, passion and delight are concentrated. Munr is plans and ambitions, desires and hopes.
So while húg or hugr (thought) represents the more objective sane part of your mind, the munr part is useful. If you lose your munr, you will lose your drive, your desire. It seems to me that this is what happens to people who are too dependent on the so-called modern society, as a rule, we call it depression. But how is it believed that depression is not necessarily associated with our industrial society, because even our ancestors struggled with this ailment. In the Elder Edda (translated by Benjamin Thorpe into English) Odin says:
Hugin and Munin fly every day
Over the vast land.
I'm scared for Hugin that he won't come back,
And I'm even more worried about Munin.
Personally, I think that here Odin is alarmed by the possibility of being isolated from the world, which would be the result if Hugin did not return. However, Odin is more frightened by the sad and depressing news from the human world; news that would make him lose desire, passion and hope for a brighter future, so munr, Munin, will not return. Keep in mind that what we call Asatru and the Scandinavian way of life was under threat from the Christian horde - the Franks, long before the Scandinavian kings finally managed to subdue their own people, local democracy and return the old faith. So could this verse be talking about Odin's anxiety, who worries that people will forget him, and the Scandinavians and their Viking spirit will be tamed?
I like to think that we all have two invisible ravens sitting on our shoulders. And it is our duty to feed them well and take care of their health. If one of them is starving, he will fly away. This means that while we need to remain sensible and considerate in our life choices, we also need passion, desire, and dreams for the future. Hugin and Munin whisper in our ear, and we need to listen to both. There must be a balance. We cannot run towards everything that seems tempting to us, that would be to act without listening to Hugin. But we should not always choose the logical, safe and reasonable option, this would make Munin fly away.
We must live each day as if it were the last day of our lives, we must be aware that life is not endless. Realize your dreams before it's too late, but do it in such a way that both crows remain on your shoulders.
