Over and over in Aryan religions you see the pattern of a source of
spiritual wisdom for mankind, often appearing as a Sacred Drink, especially
mead. This is quite often the objective of a quest by mythical heroes or
gods. The Irish Salmon of Wisdom, the Norse Mead of Poetry, the Indo-Ayran
Soma ect. There is quite a lot to be said about this of course. It’s a very
interesting and deep subject. However I will focus here solely on the fact
that the “inspiration” gained from the drink is simultaneously and
interchangeably referred to as both a source of cosmic wisdom and a source
of poetic inspiration. I believe that these two things were seen as
intimately bound together.

Poetry, (and by extension music which is a whole other topic) in all Aryan
cultures was considered highly prestigious and holy. From the Bards, Skalds
and Rishis, to the great Homer. All of our sacred knowledge was passed down
in the form of poetry. The use of metre assured that the core of the myths
would not be altered and allowed for the monumental feat of preserving
myths almost identically for thousands of years with no written records. We
can tell that this was effective by looking at and comparing myths from
different cultures in the path of the Aryan migration. However there is
much more to the sanctity of poetry than its use as a method of oral
preservation of myths and history. The actual ability to compose poetry,
that is poetic inspiration, is the ability to see into the spirit of a
thing, to recognize nobility and ignobility, auspiciousness and
inauspiciousness, in ones surroundings. To apply metaphor and epithet
requires that you look, at least glance, at the inner essence of your
subject, it’s Platonic Form even.

-Raudhain