The Golden Age
The gods had ordered the age. They played in the yard with their golden pieces and were happy. Then one day, the holy youths went to their courts and counseled among themselves how to create the multitudes of dwarves, from the bloody sea and blue legs from Ymir’s body. They thus formed many human beings with human brains, and many dwarves of earth, which had lived as worms in Ymir’s body, but had to continue living under the earth though they now had new form.
Thereafter they, the dwarves, made many valuable things, pliers and all sorts of tools. They were happy and lacked nothing; all they had was of gold.
Then came to them three powerful maidens from Jötunnheimr. They were called Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld, which provided the law of necessity, the law of development. Three powerful and benevolent Aesir then went to a beach, and found two pieces of wood on the ground that looked like them in form. They had neither spirit or mind, fluid or movement, or good colors. Oðinn gave them spirit and life, Lóðurr gave them wit and movement and Hoenir gave them fluid and and good colors, sight, speech, hearing and appearance. They called them Ask and Embla.
Allfather’s leaders went to the consulted with him about the fate of mankind and the ruler-ship of the castle Ásgarðr. They met in Iðavöllr which lays in the mid of the gods’ home. That was their first work to build a house where they seats could stand; twelve seats in addition to the forefront which Allfather had – it is the oldest and largest house ever built in the world, and it is clad in gold. We call it Glaðsheimr. They built another that was a hall, that women were to own, and that was very beautiful. That house is called Vingólf.
Vílir and Véi are only the like-emanations of Oðinn, as Lóðurr and Hoenir the same; they are different sides of the same divine power, respectively being spirit, mind and soul. Vílir is the Eros of the Greeks, which is only a transformation of Zeus, and Véi as Eros is an Axerios – a holy Eros.
In addition, it should be noted that Lóðurr is the calm, gentle, unseen flame throughout human veins, the forerunner to Loki. When he later becomes the earthly devouring fire, he appears as Loki – Oðinn’s foster-brother from the old times. Both are sensuous, but Lóðurr is the sensual force which in its fount produces and develops life while Loki is the unruly sensuality that corrupts and destroys it. When Hoenir, the material body, leaves Oðinn he becomes dumb. Loki is wicked.
Giants
Life is only a battle between the beings that emerge within the worlds in which they congregate. The spiritual force seeks to penetrate and master the physical, but it meets resistance everywhere. The Aesir who rule over heaven and earth combine with the Vanir which rule over the sea. Jötner (Giants) fight against Aesir and Vanir, the elves join the Vanir and the Aesir, and the dwarves join the giants… but they work in the Aesir’s service. That is the fight between the Aesir and the Jötner, which is vital.
When we differentiate between the Rimtusser (rime-giants) and Jötner (giants), it is because the first is of Ymir’s seed, and rose from the sea. The Jötner are of Bergelmir’s seed, and are creatures of the earth.
We say that the giants are either grimly ugly or violently beautiful. This is the fact that the forces of nature in motion can be quite beautiful – until they it us, even with deadly force. A volcano which spurts lava can be beautiful from a distance, but for those who stand too close it is only uncomfortable. The northern lights are beautiful to look at, but to be up there within it is hardly a beautiful experience; it is cold and miserable up there. A whirlwind looks great from a distance, its course not so great.
They are commonly associated with stone, both in their homes, weapons, and often themselves being of stone, and they indeed turn to stone as well when the sunlight reaches them – which referrs to their living forms dying, that the subconscious form dies in its form when it becomes aware: when it comes to the light. None is richer than them, with all their mineral and metallic veins in them, gold and precious stones. They can, however, be refined with love, by the devoted craftsman or smith who works the coarse clumps with iron, gold and precious stones.
The Jötner’s nature is the old nature, the contained wisdom, for the elements of all creatures lay in them. It is the wind, the untamed, unordered nature, which is not permeated by the higher spirit’s activity; the dark and apathetic and hostile nature that is not free of struggle to be tamed, and which opposes everything which makes the sky calm and the earth habitable.
The Jötner are also the big, the dangerous and wild seas, where storms howl; the clamorous and foaming waterfalls, the cold and destructive mountain river, the disruptive storms.
The Gods can either kill the Giants and use their remains to convey nature’s fertile development, of they can polish them by uniting with them, or marry them as they say.
Þórr crushes Hrúgnir, the barren mountains, Oðinn kills Sökkmímir and marries Rindr, Njörðr with Skadi, Freyr with Gerðr, etc. Furthermore, they appear to be the best interest of our soul, and then like the dim and unconscious, as in the case where Brynhildr are in a conversation with Helreið Brynhild reserved for their misdeeds, as she tries to defend herself.
Mímir is a key figure in the Jötner’s ranks. He is the guardian of the source which lays under the root of Yggdrasil which extends into Jötunnheimr, which goes back to the Rime-Giant family, the sea’s origin and source. Mímir himself is the ultimate ocean. Hodmímir is the preserver of the depths’ tax. The ancient Germans listened to his advice through studying the whirls and eddies in rivers and lakes, and listened to the murmur of the flowing water. Ölvaldi is another water-giant rich in gold. His three sons – Þjazi, Iði and Gangr – share the inheritance from him between them. They measured gold with mouthfulls; all should take a mouthful each and of the same amount and number. The gold is hidden everywhere in water, in the sea’s bosom and in the running river. All three names are names for the wind and the thundering waterfalls they create in the mountains and hills with the rain they bring. Þjazi’s daughter, Skaði, is the wild mountain river that slides out into the calm and soothing ocean, Njörðr.
The antagonizing contrast between the Jötner and the cultivation of man is expressed well in the myth of Jötunnpiken (Jötunn-Girl) who once marvellingly met a man who was plowing his field. She took his plow and oxen into her apron as sorts of curious toys home to her father, who immediately started to yell at her and ask her to take it scrambling back out again. The man would soon visit the Jötunn family. Without the plow and oxen, the field grew quickly. Nature takes it back into her grip.
Spirits
Though the giants are nature in its wild and tremendous form, the elves and the dwarves are nature’s gentle sides. Therefore the elves are allied with the Aesir and the dwarves act as their employees. They are nature’s forced advanced; the elves who work in the light and are therefore called Light Elves and the dwarves who work underground and are therefore called Dark Elves. The elves are self-acting forces, while the dwarves are only Aesir servants.
Elves live in Alfheimr and are light and beautiful. The Dark Evles live beneath the earth and are black as pitch. The sacrifices are to the elves of hills and openings in the forest, rivers and ponds.
Light Elves move to the other heaven, Andlángr – the lengthy working of the spiritual gift – to the third heaven, Víðbláinn – the spacious blue heaven – when the good people move to Gimlé – where man is good and without materialism’s depravity.
The dwarves are known to kidnap people in the cover of fog. Young girls who get lost in the fog have often been lost forever. Others are later found in the canyons and crevices in the ground. When one calls in between the mountains, they answer. Therefore the echo is called “dwarf speech”. Dwarves are the earth’s minerals and precious metals which become beautiful elves when they are brought to the light. Loki is associated with the dwarves because he is the flame that is needed in the processing of metals.
Ívaldr, Iðun's father, and Ívaldi - whose sons are called Dark Elves – are the same. Iðun’s rejuvenating fruit, Síf’s hair, Oðinn’s Gungnir and Frey’s Skíðblaðnir, are all elves’ fruits; fruits of the Light Elves, and the other things the fruits of the Dark Elves. Brokkr forges Freyr’s boar Gullinbrusti (with bristles of gold), Oðinn’s ring Draupnir (dropper) and Þórr’s hammer Mjöllnir (crusher). Dáinn and Nabbi made Freyja’s boar, and Fjalarr and Gjallarr who killed Kvasir made the mead of poetry.
There are three chief tribes among dwarves; Mótsögni’s, Durin’s and Dvalin’s. From Dvalin stems Lofarr, and from him again the progenitors Álfr and Ingi, both of which rose up from the depths as elves and were the source of the pair Freyja-Freyr (children of Njerð and Njörðr, which in turn are the children of Fjörgyn [Jörð, or Earth] and Fjörgynn. That is the origin of the Vanir.
The pairs Freyja-Freyr, Njerð- Njörðr, and Fjörgyn-Fjörgynn are different manifestations of the fruitfull aspects of our planet. That is because nature is female and male, divided into pairs of gods, rather than just one god of one sex. The first pair is the forest’s fertility gods and the gods of cultivated fields. The other pairs are the water’s fertility gods, the sea’s, the lake’s and the river’s. Swans are the elves who have taken on this beautiful form. These are the open soil’s fertility gods, of the pasture and meadow with wild grain, but also the fertility gods of the mountains.
If a man lays down to sleep by a river or lake in an ancient forest, on a summer evening, the elf-song and their lively harp-strokes can be heard by him. If the inexpressibly beautiful elven-girl, beautiful as a lily, white as snow, with an alluring and lovely voice, wants to associate with the man, then she will go with the sun’s rays into any opening in his house. There she will marry the man, and deliver children with him. She will disappear as suddenly as she came if she gets tired or wants to go back to her world.
The little elves with wings (bees, wasps, etc.) one shouldn’t touch. They can bring disease, or you could have a stroke. They shoot arrows with their bows, and those whom it hits become alvevill (crazy).
The elves dance in the moonlight, from sunset to the cock’s caw, in the meadows and hills, green groves and valleys. In the morning you can see their tracks in the dew on the ground. It’s dangerous to sleep in the kingdom of the elves if one has love in mind. You are seduced to the elven kingdom, and when you come out you have lost the sense of the world we humans live in.
It is also dangerous for cattle to graze where elves have spit upon the ground, but if you ask the elves nicely for permission you can let the cattle graze among the elven-king’s flowers, which are large and blue or white of color.
The elves are hollow in the back so they do not like being watched from behind. This is because the old dead trees in the forest, which are hollow, come alive at night and walk around. These trees we call Enter (Ents). If someone wants to steal wood from the forest, they break the arms and legs of the thief. You should kneel before the trees if you want to trap them and charge them as living beings. With a bowed head one should ask for permission to take something from the forest. The elves are the forest’s protective spirit that should be respected and treated with reverence.
Of other spirits (beings) it may be mentioned that the dwarf Alvíss (all knowing) has gone through all nine worlds and has learned to recognize all beings. There are good beings and wretched. Land-spirits monitors the land against enemies. Traveling “nidstang” means to travel on a pole with a horse head on. It will be directed against anyone, with the intention of chasing away their good protective spirits – whether they are human’s or land’s, or other spirits.
Of guardian spirits there are property spirits (which the Christians call a nisse) and those that follow each person as a spiritual servant. The hidden spirits are called huldrer, and others trolls – which are great, powerful and dangerous for those who walk in the woods. In the water there are found mermen and mermaids (sea maidens); they have a lower body like a fish. In lakes and rivers are Nixies (sprites), and by day some of them take the form of a white horse, but when the sun goes down they run back to their home again; to the source. The last spirit I should mention is the mara (mare). She bothers them who sleep, pulling onto them and riding on them. Hence the word “nightmare”.
(continued in PART I., Aesir - Vanir - Yggdrasil)
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