Since the giantesses are elementals, the only way Odin can know them is through physical union. He is a god of Mind, and the offspring of his unions with the forces of Nature are gods who become conscious embodiments of power. The best-known of these half-giant sons is Thor, the son of Jorð, or Earth. Odin rides the midnight sky, but Thor rules the stormclouds which bring or withhold rain from the Earth.

One of Thor's by-names is Bjorn, the bear, a name that is also given to Odin. The great Cave Bear was, arguably, first known object of worship among humankind, but the work of many scholars demonstrate the antiquity of the bear in many European cultures. I like to think of Odin courting Jordh in bear-shape, so that she took the form of a she-bear and bore her son as a bear-cub in the spring.

I think that was from a John West ad... The guy was after the fish the bear threw onto the bank.