Odin Waiting for Hugin and Munin

Odin waits for Hugin and Munin, and hopes they come back this time.

In Norse mythology, Odin had two ravens - Hugin (“Thought”) and Munin (“Mind”, “Memory”,  depending on the translation). Every day before breakfast, Odin would set his Ravens to fly across the World, to return and bring him all of the news.

Hugin and Munin fly each day
over the spacious earth.
I fear for Hugin, that he come not back,
yet more anxious am I for Munin.

- from Benjamin Thorpe’s translation of the Poetic Edda

But what if…one day you send your thoughts and memories out into the world…but they don’t fly back to you?

Is that what dementia is?

Sources:

I also talked about this subject in a previous post, but thought I’d revisit it.

The poem fragment is from the Poetic Edda, as translated and reported on these sites:

• Norse Mythology for Smart People

• Wikipedia entry for Huginn and Muninn

Any misinterpretations and mistakes are, of course, my own.