Aesir - Vanir - Yggdrasill

Part I., cont.

Aesir

The word “Aes” or “As” comes from the Old Norse word “Áss”, the plural being “Aesir”, which further comes from the Norse word “ans” (which comes from the Germanic “ansuz”), which means mouth or river’s mouth, breath, a source of divine primordial callings. When the Ancient Germans listened to the river’s soft murmur and studied the vortices in the water they listened to ans; the speech of the gods. There are clear parallels to the Etruscan aisos (gods) and the Latin ara – which due to sound-shift rules was earlier pronounced asa or ansa – which signified the first of a shrine formed by a tree trunk. In the same way that the letter “N” fell away from proto-Norse “anst” (Old Norse “ást”, meaning love) and “gans” (Old Norse gás, meaning goose), the “N” disappeared from ans and turned it to áss. The theorie e.g. of Snorri Sturluson that the gods were from Asia (the western part of what is now Turkey) and for that reason were called gods or Aesir (asamenn, i.e. “Asian men”) is thus an obvious error. The classically trained Snorri wanted to connect his own ancestors as much as possible with the glorious Troy from the Asian part of ancient Greece.

The Aesir are twelve: Oðinn, Þórr, Baldr, Týr, Bragi, Heimdallr, Höðr, Víðarr, Váli, Ullir, Forseti and Loki. Freyr and Njörðr are regarded as part of the Vanir. Of the gods’ horses there is to say that Oðinn’s is called Sleipnir (glider, runner), and it has eight legs. Heimdall’s horse is called Gullintoppr. The other horses are named Glaðr (happy, ready), Gyllir (gilde), Glaer or Gler (glistening), Skeiðbrímir (the fast runner), Silfrintopp (silver top), Sinir (wiry), Gísl or Gils (beam or jet), Falhófnir (palehoof) and Léttfeti (light ax-blade). Freyr rode Blóðughófi (bloody hoof). Baldr’s horse was burned at the stake with him, and Þórr has no horse. He goes on foot or rides using broken ones. The others ride through the air on their horses.

The Aesir-goddesses are Frigg, Sága, Eir, Gefjon, Fulla, Sjöfn, Lofn, Varr, Vör, Sýn, Hlín, Snotra, Þrúðr, Gná and Sól. Other goddesses are Bil, Njórunn (Njörunn), Nanna, Hnoss, Gersemi, Rindr, Rán, Freyja and Sigyn.

The gods’ homes are as follows: Þórr’s Þrúðheimr; Ullir’s Ýdalir; Freyr’s Alfheimr; Váli’s Valaskjálfr; Sága’s Søkkvabekkr; Óðinn’s Glaðsheimr with Valhöll (Valhalla), Þjazi’s Þrymheimr, where Skaði now lives; Baldr’s Breiðablik; Heimdall’s Himinbjörg; Freyja’s Folkvangr; Forseti’s Glitnir; Njörðr’s Nóatun; Víðar’s Landviði. Óðinn lives with Frigg in Glaðsheimr, with the Valkyries and Einherjar in Valhöll and with Sága in Søkkvabekkr.

The Aesir are the world’s creators (“shapers”). They are the life’s breath, which permeates and enlivens all the dead nature and seeks to shape it according to its will.  They gathered daily to consult each other on the world’s fate. They are given human character and conduct, but all in the higher and nobler form; they are more beautiful, stronger, wiser, they see and hear better and go faster.

They are called Bönd (band) because they bind or tie everything together, Díar (men) and Jólner (derived from Jolly, July). They are binded together with tendencies and are in life inseparable. The term “god” comes from they fact that they are “good”. 

Vanir

Of the Vanir much is already told. The name comes from Vanr (Norwegian vann), which means Water. Therein lies the contradiction between the Aesir and Vanir; the first are the gods of the heavens and solid matter, the others of water. The Aesir went to war with the Vanir. The battle ended in that they gave each other hostages; the Vanir got Hoenir and Mímir, while the Aesir got Freyr and Freyja and their father, Njörðr. Hoenir was made Chief among the Vanir, but it was Mímir – whose vision was great – who ruled through his advice. When Mímir wasn’t round, they told Hoenir that the others had great provisions, and the Vanir understood that he wasn’t a good leader, although he could see really well. The Vanir felt tricked by the Aesir, and for revenge they cut off the head of Mímir and sent it to Óðinn. He smeared the head with herbs to it wouldn’t rot and got life into it again using spells. It awoke and could talk to him, and was able to give him counsel. They started a new war, which ended with the Aesir’s victory. Óðinn decided that they would unite forces and all the Aesir and Vanir had to spit into a cup. From the spit he created Kvasir. Both Aesir and Vanir were afterwards called Aesir (“gods”); all should be equal.

While Njörðr lived in Vanaheimr he begat children with his sister, Njerð, who gave birth to Freyr and Freyja. They were also however spiritual activities, namely Freyr as the sun god and Freyja as the moon god. When we further describe the Aesir and Vanir it may be mentioned that the Aesir describe the thoughts, while the Vanir describe the emotions in man. The Aesir are fully conscious, clear, fixed ideas, the Vanir of moving and volatile emotions.

Yggdrasill

Another important part of the world is Yggdrasill, the World Tree, the Holy Ash. From it comes the dew that falls in valleys. Over it is scooped aur (coarse, iron-rich sand). Evergreens stand on Iðavöllr over Urð’s source. Its three roots stretch out, and under the one that stretches into Jötunnheimr is Mímir’s source – where Gínungagap once was. Under the second one which stretches into Helheimr is Hel’s source underneath the third one, in Ásgarðr, is Urð’s source.

In the Ash’s branches sits an eagle, and between its eyes a hawk named Veðrfölnir. A squirrel, Ratatoskr, runs constantly and steadily up and down between the eagle and the serpent Níðhöggr that gnaws at the root that ends in Níflheimr. The squirrel calculates things, discovers and finds things, and brings it to the eagle and to the worm. There are four dear near the tree that gnaw bent-necked on the protruding branches, or that run around on the tree’s branches and eat the leaves. They are called Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór.

In Hvergelmir with Níðhöggr are so many worms that no one has time to count them before their death; Góinn and Móinn who are Grafvitnir’s sons, Grábakr and Grafvölluðr, Ófnir og Sváfnir, and many more that are all constantly struggling in the tree branches. Yggdrasill has greater hardships than men do; a deer gnawing from above, on the sides of the rotting tree and beneath it gnaw the worm Níðhöggr and the other worms.

It is the largest and the best tree, which extends beyond the world and up to heaven. In Hvergelmir is where the primal is hidden. In Mímir’s well are cunning and wits hidden; Mímir is very wise and helps himself to some daily water from the well. He uses the Gjallarhorn as a drinking horn. In Urðarbrunnr is the spirit hidden. From this well take the Norns daily water which they pour over Yggdrasill, to keep it alive. The water in this well is so sacred, that everything that comes into contact with it become all white. Two swans swim in the well and from them descend all other swans. The water that falls from the tree are called honeydrops, and they nourish the bones.

Around the tree collect the gods when they go to council. Iðunn fell down from the tree to the underworld once, and Heimdallr was assigned to go get her.

The tree is the natural gathering place for spiritual activities. It was here that our [Norway’s] forefathers sacrificed to the gods, and next to the springs and rivers was a tree-way portal to the world of the gods. Óðinn even hung himself in the tree, in order to learn about the otherside (hence the name Yggdrasill, meaning Ygg’s horse. Yggr is a name for Óðinn), and in addition, I can show this was the Irminsûl of the Saxons.

Yggdrasill is an image of the brain. Its roots extend to the primal well, the subconscious well and the spiritual well. The eagle is at the highest strata, while the hawk takes care of the lower strata. The deer dwell on earth and the worms underneath. The birds are the thought which can leave the brain, and the deer the external forces that are struggling within it. Worms are the countless electrical signals in the brain, which the nerves – the squirrel – pick up and bring to their place. That Yggdrasill, the brain, has bigger problems than people know is the obvious fact that the brain breaks down the most throughout life, with mindless alchohol use, addition of chemical substances, physical battles and more. Also the brain is damaged from within. It wears itself out, with all its electrical activity. Life pours through water (the blood) across it from life’s well (the heart), to delay its decay and keep it alive. The branches reach out across the world because everything relates to the brain. Without the brain, we percieve nothing.

The Spirit – Óðinn – hung itself in the brain for nine days and nine nights. It had to connect with the Thought  in order to learn the secrets (runes) from the other side. It could set itself into matters belonging to death without linking to anything that dies. ].  Spirit is eternal. Nine is the number that contains everything, and it teaches everything about both the positive and negative of death – to get a little break from life sometimes.

This image is also connected with the creation of the Aryan race, in Atlantis, where humans had a part in spitirual life. The fourth, Atlantean race was always aware; from cradle to grave. But they could not think for themselves. They could not create something for themselves. They were mechanical and acted only on instinct. The fifth, Aryan race learned to think for themselves, how to create and improvise, and with these newly acquired powers they managed to defeat the fourth race, which went to war against them when they discovered that the new breed was a threat to their existence. The price of these new forces [abilities] was that they were addicted to sleep without full awareness. Only in sleep is the Aryan race capable of receiving impulses from the gods, from the spirit. Man must live a dual life; on in the waking state, and one during sleep.

An important part of this picture is that Óðinn impaled himself with his spear before he hung himself on the World Tree. This is symbolic that he connected to the Thought’s power, the ability of conscious thought and the sharp mind, toward the brain when he was a spirit attaching himself to the World Tree. For this reason, it is said that the first conflict occurred when Óðinn threw his spear over the enemy crowd; it was the new breed’s ability to improvise and think for itself that triggered the conflict.

Óðinn travelled to Jötunnheimr, to its outer edge. There he met Mímir who guarded wisdom’s well. He asked to drink the water in the well, but wasn’t allowed to until he gave one eye in exchange. Evidence in part is that the eye can be seen in the water after it has surfaced into the sea, as it looks up – as a reflection of the moon. The significance here is that only when people are asleep, Óðinn’s eye – the sun – has fallen into the sea, the human part of the spirit. Wisdom can only be made used of when man is awake, but acquires the spirit’s wisdom when he sleeps. Knowledge is processed by the spirit. When they say that Mímir drinks from the well with Gjallarhorn, it means when the sun reflects on the sea forming a picture of a horn on the surface, the drinking Mímir. The sky and the sea notify each other’s wisdom in this way.

Another tree is called Mímameiðr. It can not be damaged by either wood or iron, and a rooster, Viðófnir, sits at the top. It spreads its branches over all countries and it is a symbol of the sea, spreading its waters over the world.

(continued in PART I., The Norns - Fylgja and Hamingja - Dísir)

The Golden Age - Giants - Spirits

Part I., cont.

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)

Ginungagap - Heavenly Bodies - The Doctrine of the Elements

PART I: EXCERPTS OF GERMANIC MYTHOLOGY

Gínungagap

In the beginning there was nothing. Only a bottomless, resting space. There were no stars, no earth or heaven, only all and nothing, only Gínungagap.

Above was Niflheimr, the dormant divine thought. Below was Múspellsheimr, the dormant divine womb. Central among them was Gínungagap. So awoke the universe after a fire. From the middle of Niflheimr flowed twelve streams from a well, Hvergelmir, the lung of the universe that breathes rhythmically and which governs the universe’s breathing. They poured over the edge into Gínungagap, where they froze to ice. Thus, one edge of Gínungagap became covered with ice and cold, snow and moisture. The names of the twelve rivers are Svöl (the cold), Gunnþrá (conflicting desire), Form (shape, figure and image), Fimbul (big, powerful), Thule (voice, cantation), Slíðr (fowl, sorry and sword rattling), Hríðr (thunder-tide, shower and storm), Sylgr (supple, slurp, swallowing [of fire] and drink), Ýlgr (of ýlugr, of YLE, meaning honking), Víð (forest, wood), Leiptr (skin, leather, shiny) and Gjöll (bouncing, swelling).

In Múspellsheimr, flames stood up and splashed sparks over the edge down into Gínungagap. No one can walk in Múspellsheimr who does not belong there. Surtr sits with flaming (burning) sword at the world's end (border) toward the land breeze. In the middle of Gínungagap was it mild and quiet.

The drops of substance of cold and frost from Élivágr ran into Gínungagap and solidified and became hard, and waxed until it became a huge giant called Ymir. Formed by the cold and brought to life by the warmth of the sparks that flew from above to below, the conscious divine forces came into existence, the active manifestations of the universe’s energy. On the side of the giant Ymir – which by the rime-giants is called Aurgelmir, the head of solid substance and origin – became the cow Auðhumbla. From Auðhumbla’s teats flowed four rivers of milk that Ymir lived on. Ymir laid and muttered and moaned, mumbled and hooted. From his left armpit stepped out two beings, the two first Jötner (Giants). The whole time waxed new and grotesque creations from Ymir’s body. Disorder reigned.

Around them both were there large, salty, frost-laden stones. Auðhumbla lapped at the rocks. The first day that Auðhumbla lapped the rocks emerged a man’s hair, the next day a man’s head, and on the third day rose forth a great man. He is called Búri; he was beautiful, big and powerful. Auðhumbla was the twilight of the simple-minded universe – in that she made it diverse by the creation of Búri. She is the leer, the useless, empty dark ocean that disappears where live occurs, because it is no longer leer, empty and dark. Búri begat a son, Börr, who begot three sons with Bestla – daughter of Bölþorn. The three were called Óðinn, Vílir and Véi. Óðinn learned the nine great songs from the famous son of Bölþorn. Börr joined with the best of the wretched matter, which not even the gods could live without. That was the union between spirit and matter. The living matter that had to separate itself from the dead, in order to realize itself and then the whole world.

Börr’s sons – the first embodied laws of nature – decided to make uproar against the laying powers of chaos, against Ymir’s and his children’s disorder. Glazing whirlwinds were ordered, sparks from Múspellsheimr turned to stone and of Ymir’s meat were earth, other planets and planet orders created.  Of his frost-cold bones were the mountain ranges donned, and his head formed the sky. There sat the four dwarves to hold it up; one in each corner. The blood became the sea, some of which was put in a circle outside the ground - for most it would seem impossible to get across this ocean. Of the hair gods shaped forests, the eyebrows did make defense ‘round Miðgarðr and of his brains were donned the clouds in the heavens. Ymir’s offspring fell into the abyss, and only one power of chaos survived; Bergelmir – son of Þrúðgelmir – and his wife. He is the origin of the Jötun’s kin.

The salted cow Auðhumbla licking itself is a symbol of spiritual power, the spiritual nourishment that we know from the saying, “salt of the earth”. The cow itself is the first nourishing form. The salt and the cow together; the spirit and the nourishing form, and bring forth a boy related. The earth’s and the heaven’s formation is only a magnified picture of the Greeks’ “world egg”. That the celestial bodies arise from Múspellsheimer’s sparks corresponds to the Egyptian belief that Phtah – the first creation being – separated into individual, shiny, bright parts, that became the sun, moon and flaming stars. The great flood corresponds to the Sumerian myth of Xisuthros.

Heavenly Bodies

The heavenly bodies were the sparks from Múspellsheimr, which were loose around in and under the heavens. Gods shaped them not, but ordered them and their paths, and set them to inform heaven and earth. With this became night and day and counting of years became possible. It was not until the gods set the embers in the heavens that the grass came over the fields. The sun warmed and the fields became grown with all sorts of green herbs. Máni (moon) went first and Sól (sun) came after, both pulled over the heavens by horses.

Máni’s and Sól's father is called Mundilfæri, and the horses that slip Sól across the sky are called Árvakr and Alsviðr. Under their hooves have the gods hidden iron-coals. Between the sun and the earth is a shield, Svalinn - the shining god’s shield; mountain and sea would burn if it fell. Hugruner is carved on the shield, and on Árvak’s ear and Alsvið’s hoof.

Nátt (night) was born from Nörvi. Nátt was married to a man named Naglfari and she begot him a son named Uðr (Auðr). Later she gave to him Ánnarr (Ónarr) and begot with him a daughter, Jörð (earth). Finally Dellingr took her in marriage and they too begot a son, Dagr (day). Óðinn gave Nátt and Dagr two horses and two carriages, and placed them in the heavens, to ride over the heavens every day. Nátt rides first drawn by Hrímfaxi while Dagr comes after drawn by Skinfaxi.

Skoll was called the wolf that pursues Sól into the sea, Hati another wolf, the son of Hróðrsvitnir, that will run in front of heaven's bright bride - Máni. These wolves were born east of Miðgarðr in iron woods to a gyger (or jötunnkvinne – giantess) and are filled with all the human lives that die - the most powerful of all wolves is Mánagarmr who will even swallow Máni.

Mani took once two children from earth, Bil and Hjúki. They went away from the well Byrgir, and on their axles sowed the Soegr with stand Simul. Their father is called Viðfinnr. These children follow the moon.

The significance is that the people went away from the end and life in the barrier, by the wheat on a strip of land. So did they care for their old and sick, and their children by giving them wheat bread. Since it was in the moonlight the idea of ​​it came - when it is most needed at night when the suffering is greatest - it says that it was the craze that took away their reluctance, disorder and the need to prepare the final end that is no longer needing care, then they got plenty of food. Bil and Hjúka are Viðfinns children due to our ancestors' attention to the Sami's exceptionally primitive lifestyle, their low cultural level and their enormous poverty and hunger. I can refer here to De origine situ moribus ac populis Germanorum of Cornelius Tacitus from the year 98, just where this is commented upon.

Máni reigns for new (Hjúki) and old (Bil), as the beneficent powers created to year’s expense for the people. Where considered there were only two seasons, Winter - son of Vindsvalr, the wind cold - and Summer - the son of Svasaðr, the gentle. Spring and autumn are under them.

The myth of Hjúki and Bil shows that our forefathers knew about the moon’s influence on health. The evident difference between night and day are mentioned above, however also the moon’s size has great importance. We know all the myths and legends about wolves that go wild under the full moon. Furthermore we know that magic is to be practiced when it is full. During the new moon magic works poorly; for then is when Máni is eaten by wolves, and he loses his power. Magic also does not work under Sól, which explains why the rune stones with their magical formulae are always placed with the runes pointing down, so that Sól’s rays are not during the runes, and therewith tap them for power.

Basking one’s self in the Máni’s light can make one go mad. The reflected sunlight has a magic effect that for many faint souls can lead into madness. It is for this reason that only the morally superior – and thus the strong in soul – maidens should involve themselves with seið.

The wind that fares over us, and that we never see, comes from a jötunn, Hræsvelgr, that sits at the sky’s end at the north in the eagle’s home. From his wings comes the wind over all men.

The Doctrine of the Elements

The family’s progenitor is Fornjótr. He had three sons, Hlér (OEgir), Logi and Kári, the rulers of the sea, fire and wind. Logi was married to Glöð (glow) and had two daughters with her, Eysa (glowing ash) and Eimyrja (fiery soup). Hálogi (the high flame) had to earls under him, Vífill and Veseti, who courted his daughters, the first to Eimyrja, the other to Eysa, but when the fire-king rejected them, they kidnapped his daughters. Veseti settled on Borgundarhólmr (Bornholm) and had a son, Búi. Vífill sailed further east and settled on the island Vífilsey on the coast of Sweden, and had a son, Víkingr.

This is only a mystic foretelling that expresses the first use and cultivation of fire tens of thousands of years ago. Vífill is the holy trencher that the fire first attaches itself to, Veseti the secret holy place where embers are laid and focused. The son Búi is the first to take fixed residence, while Víkingr is indicative of the active lifestyle.

Kári had a great family, his son called Jökull or Frosti, the grandson named Snær. Again his son was named Þorri and the daughters Fonn, Drífa and Mjöll. Þorri had two sons, Norr and Górr, and a daughter Gói.

Gói disappeared and her brothers went out to hunt after her. Górr took the way to the sea, Norr the way to the land. Górr came to Denmark where he found his kinsfolk who descended from the old Hlér in Læsø. From there he travelled back up north. Norr went to the Fjord of Trondheim. After much travelling the two brothers met in Sogn, where Norr married a sister of Hrolf, who had married Gói. That was the event of the settlement of Norway. 

(continued in PART I., The Golden Age -  Giants - Spirits)