Forseti (Fosite, Foseti) the just God, the Law-Giver, the Settler of Strife, and the Best of Judges.
According to Snorri, Forseti is the son of Balder and Nanna, and his hall in the heavens is called Glitnir (“Glittering”). It is said to be the best place of judgment for gods and men; everyone who comes to him with sakarvandræ›i, “difficulties with cases,” leaves with their cases resolved (Gylfaginning 32). Snorri quotes Grímnismál 15, where it said that “Glitnir is the tenth (hall), it is supported with gold, and thatched with silver as well; and there Forseti dwells most of the day and settles all cases.” His name is usually interpreted as “presiding one,” cognate with OE foresittan “to preside over” and probably modern German Vorsitz, “chairmanship” (de Vries, Altnordisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, p. 139), although Stephen Schwartz interprets it as “bridge-builder” for reasons discussed below.
He does not appear often or do specific deeds in Scandinavian myths, and most of our evidence for his worship comes from Frisia, discussed below. But the place name Forsetlund, in Østfold in eastern Norway (from Old Norse Forsetalundr, “Forseti’s grove”) hints that he was honored in at least a few regions of Scandinavia, where his worship may have been introduced at a relatively late date (Schwartz, Poetry and Law, p. 19; Brink, “How Uniform was Norse Religion?,” p. 122). Forseti is not mentioned in Old English texts, but since there were some Frisians invading England along with the Angles and Saxons, he may have been known in England, and some Anglo-Saxon Heathens today call him *Forseta or *Foresitta.
The Frisian Legend of Forseti
The only surviving myths where Forseti is active come from Frisia, where he is thought to have been the chief deity. According to the story “Van da tweer Koningen, Kaerl ende Radbod” (“Of the two kings, Charles [Martel] and Radbod”; Richthofen, Friesische Rechtsquellen, vol 1, pp. 439-440), when the Frankish king Charles conquered Frisia, he demanded that the Frisians reveal their laws to him, so that he could judge them. The twelve Foerspreken (fore-speakers) stall him twice, but finally are forced to admit that they cannot reveal their laws, and Charles punishes them by setting them adrift in a rudderless ship.
Suddenly a thirteenth man appears in the stern. (An attempt to Christianize the tale is made at this point, comparing the twelve Foerspreken and their mysterious guide to Jesus and the twelve apostles.) The thirteenth man carries an axe, which he uses as a rudder to steer them; in some versions of the story, the axe is golden. When they reach land, he throws the axe, which slices off a piece of turf and makes a new spring burst forth at a site called Axenthoue, “axemound.”
The party walks from shore to the spring along a path called Eeswey, “way of the gods / Æsir,” and the twelve Foerspreken learn the law from the thirteenth man as they sit around the spring. Schwartz interprets the Foerspreken to be gods, corresponding to the Æsir. The thirteenth man is not actually named, but an episode in Alcuin’s Vita sancti Willibrordi 10-11 (transl. Talbot, pp. 199-200) strongly suggests that he is Forseti. In the early 700s, the English missionary Willibrord and his companions were driven by a storm onto an island called Fositeland, near the border between Denmark and Frisia.
The island and everything on it were sacred to Fosite: no one could disturb the animals, and anyone who drew water from the holy spring had to maintain silence. Willibrord slaughtered some of the island’s cattle for food and baptized three men in the spring. King Radbod captured the party and drew lots every day to decide who would die, but Willibrord’s company mostly escaped death and returned to the Franks.
The island setting with a sacred spring matches the legend of the Foerspreken. Forseti’s holy spring itself may have been a place of capital punishment; the Vita Wulframi, an account of a different missionary to the Frisians, states that drowning was a legal means of execution among them. Incidentally, a third missionary to the Frisians, Liudger, visited Fositeland again in the year 790, destroyed the temple to Fosite, and built a church on the site (Nijdam and Knottnerus, “Redbad,”pp. 89-90)
Schwartz associates the spring with the Well of Wyrd, where the Æsir have their judgment stead according to the Eddas. He notes that the Æsir have to cross water to reach the Well—Thor must wade, but the other Æsir can ride, according to Grímnismál 29. He comments that “Both Frisian and Scandinavian accounts indicate that law is acquired by crossing over water. . . both the Frisian legend of the thirteenth god and Snorri’s description of [the gods] crossing Bifrǫst indicate that a supernatural means is necessary to traverse water” (Poetry and Law, p. 23). In this light, he derives the name Forseti / Fosite from Proto-Indo-European *pont-seti, “bridge-setter” (p. 24).
The Settler of Strife: Modern Worshippers on Forseti
Heathens who honor Forseti are developing their own understanding of him through reflection and experience. One of them, Rich Culver, shares his personal understanding in his article “The Stiller of Strife” (Idunna 54, pp. 25-26):
The dominant words which reflect the nature of Fosite/Forseti are Right, Need and Frith. When arguments or problems are brought to Him, the force which drives his decision is whether or not there is an element which is “in the right,” meaning that which conforms to the accepted standards of holiness and lawfulness. Second is the question of how much of what is being brought before the Axe-Wielder is Needful, as opposed to what is wanted. The final element is the question of how one’s judgement of a situation can best maintain frith, because ultimately that is what determines what will make the entity, whether a community or an individual, “whole” or Holy, the fundamental guide to doing what is Right.
As in the legend cited above, Forseti is best approached, on a personal level, in reverent silence. Only with a focused mind can one make his or her point in matters brought before the Presiding One.
Not known for being the most hands-on god among the Holy Ones, Fosite has high expectations, like the high-soaring hawk, for those who come to Him, trusting in their god-shaped abilities to see what is right and needful in the decisions they make for themselves. Worshipful silence and a repeated ritual drinking of water often clear the mind so that one can see the solution to the problem at hand. When the answer seems distant, He is warm and friendly with the aid He renders, but is exacting in prescribing how his advice should be followed. His rede, like the doom he deems in legal disputes, is intended to be rightful, needful and frithful. Not heeding it will unbalance those factors in the direction of their respective opposites. Having the discipline to do what is right is not only expected but is ultimately demanded.
On a community level, Forseti is concerned with maintaining the Frith, making him an important figure in rectifying situations within any group environment, be it a family, kindred or neighborhood.
Those who call on him in this way to deal with the problems of an inner-garth need to realize that the title of “Reconciler” which is often given Him does not really signify his main purpose. Although He is associated with reconciliation in heathenry today, the reality is that Forseti is most concerned with the three ideals of Right, Need, and Frith. These will be served; even if one of the parties does not agree, they will all be expected to obey.
His decision may require not only right words, but right action.
When the words do not hold and the individual deemed right is still being wronged, Forseti can, in the most dire Need, be the one who Presides over a duel as well, even though this outcome is usually associated with Tiw, and is not the first choice by any means. The author believes that the god holds the axe not only as a sign of authority, but as a means of enforcement. Indeed, Forseti’s function is much like Tiw’s but in an intra-community context, as opposed to the inter-community perspective of Tiw, addressing war and conflict. Where Tiw, as a “justice” god, was/is invoked in time of war between men from different groups, Fosite was/is called in times of conflict between men of the same group. The fact that He presides over arguments makes him an ideal source for help in debates as well.
As a god of frith and righteousness, Forseti also maintains a defensive stand for what is Holy. The penalty for the desecration of His spring and the slaughter of animals on His island was known to be death, as one of St. Willibrord’s retainers found out on their missionary trip to Friesland from England. As a warder of Holiness, his purpose is the perpetuation of the greater good, no matter how hard the burden may be to bear. The author has used an axe in times past to hallow an area in much the same way as many other heathens use a hammer.
Symbols and Worship of Forseti
Some modern Heathens have felt that Forseti’s colors are red and gold, and some associate the rune raidho (ᚱ) with him. The hawk is probably his holy animal, since forseti appears in the flulur (verse lists of poetic synonyms) as a poetic name for a hawk. Modern Heathens usually consider the axe to be Forseti’s sign. Straight pins with axe heads, carved in bone or cast in bronze, are fairly common dress accessories from Migration Age Frisia (Roes, Bone and Antler Objects, pp. 67-69, pl. LIV.1-11). Although we cannot be sure that they were specifically intended as holy tokens of Fosite, they do at least hint that the axe had symbolic importance to the Frisians. Similar axe-headed pins are also known from nearby sites in Scandinavia and the British Isles (e.g. Pedersen et al, “Dress Accessories,” pp. 283-284, fig. 6.105; Zeiten, “Amulets,” pp. 15-18, fig. 15). Pendants shaped like axe heads are also known from Viking Age sites, and these could conceivably have been tokens of Forseti. Richard Culver suggests that a ship is also one of Forseti’s signs, as well as pure water.
Forseti is also associated with precious metals. He bears a gold axe in some versions of the Frisian legend, and his home Glitnir is said to be studded with gold and thatched with silver in Grímnismál 15. This may be confirmed by the account of King Radbod’s failed baptism in the Vita Wulframi (Life of St. Wulfram). On the night before his baptism, Radbod has a dream in which his god (whom the Christian author presents as a devil) asks him not to convert, promising him an eternal home in a splendid golden hall if he stays true (quoted in Nijdam and Knottnerus, “Redbad,” pp. 90-92). This association with gold may reflect the widespread Germanic tradition of imposing monetary payments as legal penalties, such as wergild.