#muspelheim — Public Fediverse posts

Ameland #muspelheim

Yes, youre looking at Hell aka the Inferno with your own two eyes. That's where Saturn is, where the Faroer islands are.
#inferno #muspelheim #hexagon #frisianwoodlands #magnafrisia #faroerislands

Leeuwarden's big secret is the train to Hell... They fly them in at the military airbase and they take a train to the Inferno in dimension four; the ghost train via Dokkum.
It's like the Hogwarts express. #ghosttrain #railroadtohell #militaryairbaseleeuwarden #hexagon #infernotrain #frisianwoodlands #magnafrisia #muspelheim #ameland

The sky is full of Aurora from Barad-dhûr.
#auroraborealis #baraddhûr #muspelheim #solaris #aurora

Leeuwarden is ripe for the taking if only the Church of Satan would swoop in and remove the Westenra syndicate and turn it into a Saturnian Valhalla of high adept Satanism.
Westenra syndicate is our adversary.

#shagrath #nergal #churchofsatan #elzibar #leeuwarden #muspelheim #inleaguewithsatan #metality #metalityheads

So you're saying they heard my Orc mating call all the way in Barad-dhûr; I was calling out for my beloved Melkor.
#muspelheim #ameland #calloftheorc #wifeofmelkor #queenshelob

Am I the wife of Melkor or am I the wife of Nibiru??? #melkor #morgoth #nibiru #perseus #garmr #seth #vladtepes #azog #dracula #muspelheim #niflheim

Sometimes they have me confused with Elizabeth Windsor...

but I am the incarnation of Elizabeth vonBathory of Angbad and Barad-dhûr. #elizabethvonbathory #vonbathory #muspelheim #angbad #baraddhûr #witchkingofangbad #queenshelob #metalityheads #metality #blackdog #churchofsatan #nazgûl #magnafrisia #hludana #hlvdana #feydrautha #j43147 #sleipnir #sol #andromeda #vanhelsing #vonstenekes

The Ghosttrain from Leeuwarden via Ameland to the Saturn Hexagon is like the ferryman...

It's so slow it should be near Stiens by now if you know how to find satellite camera footage or drone footage viewed through Hoffman lenses...

It has Epstein-grade passengers on it this time... straight to Hell..

#muspelheim #saturnhexagon #deathtrain #railroadtohell #leeuwardentrainstation #dokkum #ameland #dimensionfour #hoffmanlenses #ghosttrain #deathtrain #epstein #demmink #ferryman

There really is a train from Leeuwarden via Stiens and Dokkum straight to the Saturn Hexagon and should be currently visible in dimension 4 on satellite or drone images wearing Hoffman lenses.

#hoffmanlenses #frisianwoodlands #railroadtohell #ghosttrain #epstein #caligula #yaldabaoth #ghislainemaxwell #satellite #droneimages #saturn #hexagon #muspelheim

Bladibladibla I'm the real vonBathory because I know Demmink aka Epstein and Yaldabaoth are in a ghosttrain to Muspelheim from Leeuwarden; the end. #vonbathory #epstein #yaldabaoth #demmink #deathtrain #ghosttrain #railroadtohell #leeuwarden #muspelheim #metalityheads

But I wasn't asked for my "one thing" livelihood until 2 years ago; I want a dark aesthetic quantum Megacruise like Angbad..
Not Disneyworld but Muspelheimworld
with a CBGBs

#quatummechanics #quantumphysics #quantumtechnology #megacruise #livelihood #onethingyouwant #muspelheimworld #mordorworld #christmasland #balmoral #magnafrisia #vonbathory #disneyworld #DarkAesthetic #angbad #minasmorgul #baraddhûr #muspelheim #saturnalia #cbgbomfug

Don't ever think the quantum Megacruise; Magna Frisia will not be a Man-O-War for the Antimalum.

#muspelheimworld #mordorworld #manowar #decepticon #quantummegacruise #quantummechanics #quantumphysics #megacruise #magnafrisia #antimalum #warvessel #darthmaul #pennywise #muspelheim #vonbathory

Allegedly there's a Ghosttrain from Leeuwarden to Muspelheim which uses time dilation to make the journey endless...
It's the railroad to Hell for all diseased Muspelheim Gods and Goddesses of Poughkeepsie model qualities in dimension 4.
#ghosstrain #leeuwarden #muspelheim #railroadtohell #dimension4 #magnafrisia #frisianwoodlands #poughkeepsiemodels #mokilok #yaldabaoth #caligula #mordor

Zwarte Haan is the literal end of the firmament.
#zwartehaan #magnafrisia #firmament #solaris #arcticsun #woodlandstriangle #frisianwoodlands #endoftheworld #muspelheim #baraddhûr #spacetimefabric #auroraborealis #arcticsun #fryslân

#frisianwoodlands #magnafrisia #solaris #muspelheim #realtime #croatoan #spacetimefabric #firmament #arcticcircle #arcticsun #arctic #fryslân #wartenfryslân #auroraborealis #aurora #baraddhûr #northenlights #woodlandstriangle

Solaris. #solaris #frisianwoodlands #muspelheim

Who wants Churros when Oliebollen have Muspelheim properties?

#oliebollenkraam #oliebollen #koeksisters #saturnalia #muspelheim #oaljekoeken #muspelheimproperties #wacken #metalityheads #metality #blackdog #spicynoodle #oliebol #wackenopenair

Tobias Forge has Muspelheim connections himself? I suspect the Mouth of Sauron would but we have Pennywise and Darth Maul running the show.
#antimalum #muspelheim #mouthofsauron #tobiasforge

Vanaheim? Hmm 🤔 where's the Vanaheim border? The Frisian Woodlands borders Niflheim, Muspelheim and the Free State of Valhalla. We know Danheim is the land of Stardust.
#vanaheim #danheim #frisianwoodlands #muspelheim #stardust

Muspelheim apples.
I cannot free the faerie from the apple; Muspelheim trees are just particularly nasty.

#malum #feariecorpses #dimensionfour #hoffmanlenses #orchard #saturnalia #muspelheim #frisianwoodlands

Yes I believe I might be eating a Malum again; it makes my hauntings cringe.

I think it's to do with faerie corpses, a Malum swallowed a faerie and the cadaver is rotting.
#malum #faeries #muspelheim #frisianwoodlands

Do you even have a Saturnian apple orchard in the village? #muspelheim #mordor #vanaheim #orchard

I'm not a Byzantine; Dark blue is our recently patentet leprosy.
Gothmog Saturnian Leprosy; dark blue on the fingers is Muspelheim Azog Leprosy.
It's for the soldiers of Yaldabaoth and Caligula and the Poughkeepsie models.
#darkbluefingers #darkblue #leprosy #muspelheim #gothmog #antimalum #poughkeepsie #yaldabaoth

familycrest straight from Muspelheim. #oneringtorulethemall #muspelheim #vonbathory #familycrest #vanstenekes #vonstenekes #witchkingofangbad #shelob #elizabethvonbathory #feydrautha #caraxes

But you know you are not the Witch King of Angbad and the imposter would also know they are not the real Witch King of Angbad but I know that I am the real incarnation of the Witch King of Angbad.

#witchkingofangbad #hludana #elizabethvonbathory #sleipnir #sol #feydrautha #caraxes #spicynoodle #incarnate #shelob #astaroth #muspelheim #nazgûl #intheflesh #churchofsatan #poughkeepsie #babyreindeer #imposter

My friend Esther was a Vavavoom from Muspelheim?? Vavavoom!

#vavavoom #frisianwoodlands #grimm #wartenfryslân #muspelheim #witchkingofangbad #lilibeth #elizabethvonbathroy #shelob #feydrautha #valdablack #pennywise #darthmaul #antimalum

Vladimir is being slaughtered as we speak?? Good that's what you get for mating with humans and refusal of soulmate collection; but put him back in 3D at some point; I already have an Azog brother in 4D (maybe he's in 2D) in my garden...

#vladimirtepes #snuff #bestiality #cjmccreery #yaldabaoth #caligula #sodom #frisianwoodlands #wartenfryslân #magnafrisia #azog #muspelheim

Muspelheim red stringbush? in dimension four growing in my garden? I have it growing in my garden? You have to put it in your eyes to make your world more lively.... people be lookin like they have red stringy tentacles coming out of their sockets

#dimensionfour #zombieplant #muspelheim #gardening #anemone

I saw Yaldabaoth in Pennywise's office... doctor Pennywise the psychiatrist? or a Lord of the Manor? It was a secretspaceprogram ambulance helicopter that took Yaldabaoth from Epona nuclear powerplant Bergum to Muspelheim....

#yaldabaoth #pennywise #muspelheim #centralebergum

Maybe I did quote Lord of the Rings.... but the hint was I am straight from Lord of the Rings.
The way is shut, only the true heir of Isildur may enter.. 🤭
#muspelheim #witchkingofangmar #saturnalia #hexagon

#31DaysofHaunting #AncientSky #Folklore #FolkloreSky #NorseFolklore #VikingVolklore #ScandinavianFolklore #Mythology #MythologySky #NorseMythology #VikingMythology #ScandinavianMythology #Norse #NorseSky #Vikings #VikingSky #Scandinavia #ScandinaviaSky #Muspelheim #Niflheim

#31DaysofHaunting #AncientSky #Folklore #FolkloreSky #NorseFolklore #VikingVolklore #ScandinavianFolklore #Mythology #MythologySky #NorseMythology #VikingMythology #ScandinavianMythology #Norse #NorseSky #Vikings #VikingSky #Scandinavia #ScandinaviaSky #Muspelheim #Niflheim

My name is Muspelheim. Names are given. #muspelheim

Dude that thing is not Minas Morgul... that thing with the green beacon of Northern lights was always Barad-dûr and that's a Mandela effect. When there's a Mandela effect something's wrong.
#mandelaeffect #muspelheim #minasmorgulmyass

How did I get myself in this kind of trouble? I was a Saturn, Hexagonian Kikimora aka Arachne sold as a slave to the Nazis on the Moon. #gomjabbar #muspelheim
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVXoS3mEcl_/?igsh=MXBranRsYzI1NTk2cg==

Ofcourse Shelob and Feyd Rautha are inspired fictional characters, but that's what I was... #silmarillion #muspelheim #mephisto #tolkien

It might have to become Hell on Earth first, how you remove the virus from the new free state of Valhalla is yours... How to ensure Hell on Earth remains temporary? Never touch anyone with uv-light in their head, that's just the contract, what you do to a uv-light entity becomes permanent and implemented by force; Hexagonian Matrix mindcontrol. They did it to the lights. #muspelheim #mordor #hexagon

One can only imagine from observation. #muspelheim #mordor #hexagon
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DT6c59QiJDs/?igsh=MWo4eXUzdXB2cTJsaA==

One can only imagine from observation. #muspelheim #mordor #hexagon
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DT8NaSZigmH/?igsh=YmlsNTFmeXQ4MGps

A death by Shelob was a kindness, Shelob would put them in a dream and set their souls free as opposed to a fate far worse by the hands of the Orcs of Mordor #muspelheim #sistersofmercy

Hodor has the same astrology as Samwise Gamgee... but remember the land of Ashai is Mordor aka Muspelheim. Hodor and Brandon Stark are in Midgard crossing the border into Niflheim.
#saturnalia #saturnastrology #scriptedtimelines #lordoftherings #muspelheim #niflheim #middleearth #midgard #westeros #odinism #luciferiandoctrine

The Night King could be from Niflheim, Saturn... the frozen land. The Night King retracted. Remember Ashai is Muspelheim aka the Saturn Hexagon aka Mordor.
#saturnalia #niflheim #gameofthrones #muspelheim

After Game of Thrones there doesn't seem to be much left of Westeros... It would've created an opportunity for the land of Ashai aka the Saturn Hexagon to swoop in. Remember the red priestess from Ashai has to die in this foreign country, but who does she really serve, the Lord of light or is it Sauron. Looking into the firey eye? Is her necklace like the ring of power forged in Mordor? The real Saturn lies just beyond the North pole ice wall.
#gameofthrones #lordoftherings #mordor #muspelheim

I came from the land of Ashai.... Mordor.
The Hexagon swallowed Westeros.
#saturnalia #gameofthrones #muspelheim #landofashai

This thing in the sky is what I suspect Saturn's Moon... like we have a satellite Moon... Saturn continent borders Scandinavia. Compare to the size of our Moon, if you can see this that's how close Hell is. The Hexagon aka Muspelheim is Hell.
#muspelheim

Muspelheim; you have to add Muspelheim to the narrative, it is the Saturn Hexagon also known as Mordor and it's right behind the North Pole ice wall... the size of our maps are not based on reality; Fryslân is a far larger country than the map of the Netherlands would suggest and is alot closer to the North Pole too... they gave us winding roads and time dilation. #magnafrisia #muspelheim #saturnians

Frisians have Saturnian blood... the land beyond the ice wall. It was the Icelandic genocide migration. They incarnated us in our own bloodlines.. Saturnian bloodlines. The Hexagon is closer to Fryslân than South Africa. #muspelheim #mordor

Did you know from where I'm at Africa is further away than Saturn? What we see in the sky is Saturn's Moon. The Hexagon is Mordor aka Muspelheim.
#landbeyondtheicewall #muspelheim #hexagonian

I am talking about real people... we were just in Lord of the Rings. And I'm the fucking incarnation of Queen Shelob.
#muspelheim #saturnalia #shelob #lordoftherings

You may want to fact check but Queen Shelob of Muspelheim wasn't set free, she went to Ironsky academy. #ironsky #muspelheim #shelob

I'm a Goddess of war... I came from Saturn. #muspelheim

Yes Azog the Defiler is one of those poopkings... Orcs are his offspring... He destroyed his own soulmate on account of loving his own poop, it meant the final days of Arachne. #azogthedefiler #genesis #shelob #muspelheim #arachne

Yes I know Dune and Lord of the Rings are "fantasy" but what you don't know is many times it's about real people currently in this world... therefore Epstein aka Demmink is Desmond Hart. And I'm Shelob. And Tobias Forge is the mouth of Sauron. We all incarnated in the human flesh mmmkayyy.
#muspelheim
#lotr #dune #lordoftherings #shelob

I'm a Sister of Mercy.. that's what the Kikimora were collectively doing along the edge of Mordor aka the Saturn Hexagon. #shelob #kikimora #arachne #mordor #muspelheim #hexagonian #sistersofmercy

Maybe you should request your own incarnation history...
My Saturn Arachne name was Shelob
My Mephisto Sphinx name was Satanicus
Over the course of 29 Billion years, two universal wars I was only 5 things or so...
#shelob #muspelheim #mephisto #satanicus

Yup I just threw in a new word... so many languages, so many different names for the same thing. Muspelheim.
#muspelheim #mordor #hexagon

Understanding the Symbols

Every religion and culture has an iconography which is uniquely it’s own, and among the Germanic tribal diaspora and heathen beliefs we see this too. Common symbols found in conjunction with this religion in modernity are the Valknut, Mjolnir, Irminsul, magical staves (known as a galderstav, such as the Ægishjálmur & Vegvisir), Sunwheels (including solar crosses and the misappropriated swastika), etc. But what do they mean, and what are their true historical origins?

The Valknut

The Valknut, is one of the most traditional symbols associated in the community today with the Norse God Odin. Since ancient times this symbol has been used throughout the reach of the Germanic tribes in Europe. The symbol shows up in the grave goods on a bedpost and in a tapestry from the Oseburg Ship Burial (Norway), Anglo-Saxon cremation urns, and then the Tängelgarda Stone and Stora Hammer stones (tied to a depiction of human sacrifice) found in Gotland, Sweden. There was also a recent discovery of it on coins in Ribe, Denmark.

The term valknut is a modern invention (to describe an ancient symbol whose name did not survive to us), deriving from the combination of two Old Norse words: ‘valr’ (slain warriors) and ‘knut’ (knot). There are two kinds of valknuts, the unicursal, which is one continuous ribbon knotted upon itself, and the triple version which is made by entwining three separate triangles.

Some wonder if the symbol might be the hrungnishjarta (Hrungnir’s heart), which is attested in Skáldskaparmál. In the story we are told the jotun (giant) Hrungnir had a stone-hard heart with three sharp pointed corners. But we’re not sure.

The valknut is used today as a symbol first and foremost of Odinic worship by those who honor the Norse God Odin, who is also known as the All-Father, the God of Poetry, the God of Warriors, a God of the Dead, the God of Magic and Runes, the God of Wisdom, a God of Ecstasy, etc. The symbol is also sometimes used in modern times as a generalized symbol of faith for those who honor the Aesir, the ancient Gods of the Germanic & Scandinavian peoples, such as Heathens, Germanic Pagans, Northern Tradition Pagans, Anglo-Saxon Reconstructionists, Asatru, Odinists, etc.

While we may not know exactly what this symbol represented to ancient peoples, the symbol seems to show up next to engraved figures we think may be Odin or tie to Odinic symbolism often times either on artifacts from the grave, or depicting death or even human sacrifice. This is why some scholars theorize the valknut symbol may specifically tie to funerary customs in its historical context.

In modern times the prevailing theories are that the cumulative sum of all three triangles’ sides (nine) represent the nine nights that Odin hung on the World Tree Yggdrasil. The World Tree, Yggdrassil, in turn connects to all nine worlds (Midgard, Musplelheim, Niflheim, Asgard, Vanaheim, Jotunheim, Swartalfheim, Alfheim, and Helheim) of this tradition’s cosmology.

Respected scholar Hilda Ellis Davidson sees the valknut as associated with Odin’s abilitily to bind and unbind. She writes in her Gods and Myths of Northern Europe: “Odin had the power to lay bonds upon the mind, so that men became helpless in battle, and he could also loosen the tensions of fear and strain by his gifts of battle-madness, intoxication, and inspiration.”

Yet others see it as a symbol of the dead. One of Odin’s role does seem to be as a psychopomp for the dead, and it could very specifically tie to some funerary practice or custom, or perhaps some afterlife belief. Some think it may more specifically tie to the battle-slain, and/or of those humans slayed in blood sacrifice to Odin. This later possible interpretation is why some in the community say wearing or having this symbol tattooed is like saying “insert spear here” as it’s essentially a big bull’s eye target painted on you for death or ill-luck, or divine attention from Odin to be brought to bear. Others in the community see this superstition regarding the image as silly.

We have only one instance of the symbol used on jewelry in antiquity, in the Nene River Ring (found in England). It’s an odd occurrence as well in the archaeological record, as the ring features two bezels with engraved designs. One is the valknut, the other may be a celtic motif with a cross in the middle. Because of the frequency of occurrence of the valknut symbol in connection to death scholars are hesitant to state that this was commonly worn. There are speculative theories it may have been a memorial ring, or was used as like a memento mori.

Others see it as being symbolically similar to both the triskele, as well as the triple horn symbol found on the Snoldelev Stone in Denmark. Whatever the original, historical meaning of this symbol, the modern day community associates it as a symbol of Odin, and via it’s connection as a symbol of our religious path as well. Both it and mjolnir (the Thor’s Hammer) are our most well recognized symbols used today.

Mjölnir

Probably one of the most popular symbols of our faith, if not the most popular symbol, is the mjolnir – Thor’s hammer. In the lore, especially among the Eddas, we find many stories of Thor using the hammer in the defense of the Gods and people, killing the enemies of Asgard with his mighty hammer.

We’ve been finding jewelry in the archaeological record for many, many years which we long suspected and theorized were Thor’s hammers, and for decades modern Heathens have been wearing their hammers in honor of Thor as such. A more than 1000 year old pendant was found in 2014 from Købelev (in modern Denmark), which proved that this long held supposition was in fact accurate. The pendant bears an inscription that when translated states “this is a hammer”. Perhaps it’s unpoetic, but it is at least clear.

There are many runestones found in Denmark and Sweden, bearing both a depiction of mjolnir but also an inscription entreating Thor to hallow or protect. In the archaeological record, it’s one of the few symbols we do clearly see worn as pendants and necklaces by the ancient peoples. In fact during the period of conversion, it appears ancient jeweler’s were hedging their bets, there’s at least one example of the same mold holding both the ability to make crosses, as well as cast hammers. Some scholars theorize that the seeming popularity of such jewelry was in direct defiance or as a defensive response to the wearing of crosses by Christians during the tumultuous time of conversion. In fact the majority of such evidence of mjolnir necklace and pendants comes from lands that during the time the archaeological artifact dates to were in contention with Christianity. As such it may be possible that mjolnir’s were not widely worn until the ancient peoples had the ever-encroaching Christianity to contend with.

Etymologicaly, the word connects back to Icelandic verbs for crushing and grinding. In addition to this, there are two other theories with other possible connotations of meaning as well. It may root to the theorized Proto-Indo-European root word mele, which gives us the Latin maleus and the Slavic molot which mean hammer.  Or it may root to the Russian word molniya and the Welsh word mellt, both words can be translated as lightning. Since Thor is associated with Thunder and lightning this connection would make as much since as the other connections from the mythological standpoint of our lore.

Today, as then, the symbol is worn by us heathens as a symbol not only of Thor, and a symbol that invokes Thor’s protection, but also as a symbol of our faith when we are surrounded by other faiths. This is the ONLY symbol we know for a fact was worn as an expression of religious faith in antiquity from the Northern Tradition umbrella (those cultures with a common worship of *Wodanaz/Woden/Odin).

The hammer may be a late cultic item to Thor, we have possible evidence of a possible precursor. We know the Romans via interpretatio Romana, likened the Germanic Gods, to the Gods they were familiar with from the Roman pantheon. Sometimes Thor was spoken of as Hercules. (Hercules, while originating from the Greek, had an incredibly popular cultus among Romans). Hercules had a club, Herkuleskeule, as a cultic symbol, we see similar iconography appear in Anglo-Saxon England during the migration era, which we’ve taken to calling Donar’s Club or Donarkeule. Joachim Werner explores this in his article “Herkuleskeulen und Donar-Amulett” in Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz. Over time the clubs phase out, possibly in favor of the mjolnir, or Thor’s hammer so popular during the Viking Age.

We also know that we have examples of syncretized Romano-Germanic deities from the archaeological record such as Hercules Magusanus, whom Rudolf Simek has suggested may connect with the Proto-Germanic *Þunraz (who we suspect to be an earlier iteration of Thor). In a depiction of the deity from a votive altar found in Bonn, we clearly see the deity holding a club. There’s another surviving statue to him from Empel, depicting his hand held up clearly meant to be holding something, though the ‘something’ is missing. We suspect it was a club. We have several inscriptions to him across various sites.

This may also tie into a new theory from Helen Gittos and Thomas Morcom that the Cerne Abbas Chalk Giant may be Hercules, erected by Saxons to muster against invading Danish forces as published in the their article The Cerne Giant in Its Early Medieval Context in the January 2024 issue of the journal Speculum.

Irminsul

The Irminsul is a historical item known in antiquity (but whose symbolic iconography has not survived into the present day). Additionally, this was a communal symbol of some size, and unlike mjolnir we have no reason to believe it was ever worn. Instead it appears to be a communal symbol, or perhaps a God Pole (idol of a God) erected in honor of the Gods.

The Irminsul, in the Old Saxon language means mighty pillar, and it may connect to a possible god of the Saxon tribe by the name of Irmin as well. The existence of Irmin is at best a supposition and is by no means absolute based on surviving historical sources, but there are modern polytheists who do worship and honor him. Some scholars who do accept the possibility of this god, think Irmin could potentially be another name for Odin. Since there are theories that the Irminsul may be a symbolic representation of Yggdrasil, this theory would indeed make sense within the cosmological framework and obvious connection between Odin and Yggdrasil. Yet still other scholars propose that perhaps Irmin is an aspect of the God Tyr. Others look to Tacitus’ Germania and mentions of the “Pillars of Hercules”  and see associations with Thor. What does Hercules have to do with anything? Well you have to understand that the Romans were fond of likening other cultures to their own, this is known as interpretatio Romana. Romans were known to sometimes identify the Germanic Thor with their Hercules (who while Greek in origin, enjoyed continued cultus among the Romans). Regardless of the fact which God this symbol may have been intimately connected with or not… the fact remains it was indeed a symbol of their religion and by extent tribal identity.

Archaeological and written accounts of these mighty pillars seem to be relegated solely to Germania. In the 8th Century document, the Royal Frankish Annals, we learn that during the Saxon War campaign Charlemagne repeatedly orders the destruction of the Irminsul.  Destroying it would strike a mighty blow because it was an iconic symbol of the might of their gods and the power of their culture. From the description provided in this record and taking into account modern geography, scholars believe that this holy site would be located in the Teutoburg Forest near Obermarsberg, Germany. By Church tradition, a stone pillar was dug up in this area in the 9th Century and moved to the Hildesheim Cathedral. This particular Cathedral, and others in Germany,  would commemorate Charlemagne’s victory and destruction of the Irminsul during the fourth Sunday of the Catholic Lent season. Poles would be erected with a separate cone or pyramid shaped box atop them that the youths were encouraged to knock down.

In the 9th Century document, De Miraculis sancti Alexandri, we are provided with another written account of the Irminsul where it is described as an erected wooden pillar worshipped outdoors. There are of course other accounts as well, but their relevancy and description leaves a lot to be desired.

While there’s no firm proof of such a connection, I personally believe that the tradition of the “May Pole” which is a heavily Germanic custom to begin with, is indeed connected to the Irminsul by means of a shared umbrella tradition. If we look to accounts involving Thor’s Oak, the holy groves of the Gods as described in Adam of Bremen and in passing in Tacitus’ Germania it all appears to be of enough sameness to derive from a similar tradition.  While the Irminsul appears to be confined in occurrence to Germania, we do have in Norse derived sources references to God poles and nithling poles. These may be a related cousin-like custom as well, ultimately all deriving from the same source. To this end in the 1990s a German town imagined their own version of an Irminsul, a pole with a solar cross atop it.

So what exactly does an Irminsul look like? The simple answer is we don’t know. Some think it was simply a pole, perhaps with an idol carved upon it or placed onto it. Others envision it like a ‘T’ shaped pole where the top is depicted with decorative branches. This later symbol is more commonly used today based on the controversial Externsteine relief, which Wilhelm Teudt, a member of the Nazi Party, decided to use. On the relief he interpreted what looks like an ornate chair, as being a toppled pole with branches. Scholars feel that this was NOT a representation of the Irminsul.

Regardless of what the Irminsul may or may not look like, symbols are ultimately what we make of them. Some modern day polytheists avoid the symbol (at least the Teudt created version from the Externsteine relief) because of its Nazi party origins, others tend to see it as a great universal symbol and either ignore its origins or of ignorant of the controversy. To those that embrace and use the symbol, to them it represents the coming together of those within heathenry to worship our Gods. They do tend to think of this great and mighty pillar as a representation of Yggdrasil, and therefore the symbol through which we are connected to the 9 worlds of our cosmology.

Ægishjálmur

While our religion is at its heart an agriculturally derived religion, there was without a doubt focuses on military cultuses, and aspects of military life that also comprised the pre-Christian lives of ancient Heathens. Afterall, a culture needed both food to sustain it as well as the ability to defend itself (or for some to also wage war against others).

The Ægishjálmur or Helm of Awe (aka The Helm of Terror) refers to an item attested to in the sagas of yesteryear. While its translated name might suggest that it’s speaking about an actual physical helm or helmet made of sturdy stuff… it’s earliest written account refers to a magical charm on animal skins used as a head wrapping, and later in the texts as something more akin to a helmet we think of with military armor. It’d be centuries after conversion with these written accounts before we have any sort of iconography attached to the concept.  

Throughout the lore (oldest extant records are mostly coming post the Viking Age) there are instances of magical charms used to affect the sight. In Eyrbyggja saga, Katla (a skilled seidhkonna) casts a form of magic upon her son Odd to hide him from his pursuers. Each time the men search the house, instead of seeing him they see some other object instead. Believing a trick is at play, or that ‘they have had a goatskin waved round our heads’ they bring in another magic worker, who puts a sealskin over Katla’s head to negate her magic making Odd visible. We see this again in both Reykdoela saga and Njals saga, where goatskins are wrapped around the head for magical purposes.

By the time we begin to see the helm of awe mentioned as a physical helmet in the lore and history of this evolving culture, we see it most predominantly used in Medieval European manuscripts that can be as much as 300 years later than earlier manuscripts that only speak of types of magic used to trick the sight. It is for this reason that I personally believe that contemporary writers of the time in conjunction with milieu common in other types of Medieval Literature (like various stories in the Arthurian mythos, including Chretien’s stories which were written in the 12th Century), were focusing on knightly warfare and were elaborating upon older stories and adjusting the meaning to suit their poetic license. In the Völsunga saga (13th Century manuscript), Fafnir taunts our hero Sigurd that he has used the Ægishjálmur. After Sigurd later kills both Fafnir and Reginn, among the loot he acquires the famed helm. Another 14th Century source, the Sorla þáttr also speaks of the Ægishjálmur, warning that Ivar should NOT look into Hogni’s face because he wore the helm of awe.

While we have textual mentions to the Ægishjálmur, our first surviving occurrence of it as an actual symbol doesn’t occur until it begins to crop up as a magical stave in a number of grimoires. The grimoires were penned down (depending on the manuscript) between 1600 and the late 19th Century. Similar to my theory about the cultural milieu of late Medieval Christian Europe changing the Ægishjálmur from an animal skin head wrapping, to a helmet associated with military armor, scholars theorize that the magical staves in the grimoires arose out of a cultural milieu influenced by continental European customs during the Renaissance (and perhaps some of the customs arising from the English Monastaries of the 14th century). We find the Ægishjálmur appearing as a magical stave specifically in grimoires such as the Galdrakver, Galdrastafir, Galdrabok, etc.

It’s important to note that across the width and breadth of grimoires, we have a variety of magical staves identified as the Helm of Awe, some seem similar to one another, and others appear radically different. Ræveðis at galdrastafir.org referenced the various grimoires and then made web friendly downloadable images to use of the Ægishjálmur variations. The gallery below shows you the known variations.

At it’s core the Ægishjálmur is a charm for protection, sometimes as a means to make you invisible, sometimes as a means to seemingly make you impervious to attacks, or as a terror tactic (making you seem scarier than you are). Today many heathens may opt to use this sigil as a protective charm to ward a house, or as a tattoo on their body to both represent their heathen beliefs and for protection as well. I’ve even heard of currently serving soldiers in our armed forces, who have made the mark on the inside of their helmets. While today there are some pagans and polytheists who may use the symbol not only for protection but sometimes also as a symbol of faith, it’s important to realize in the historical sense this symbol never seems to have been used as a symbol of religious expression, and the earliest iconography as a symbol only dates to around the 1600s. The symbol quite simply comes to us centuries after conversion, which is why some heathens think it’s bunk and won’t use it at all.

Vegvisir

The term Vegvísir means in Icelandic ‘guidepost’ and is sometimes colloquially called today a Runic or Viking Compass. Its etymology roots to two Icelandic words: vegur (way, road, path) and vísir (guide, path). It is a magical symbol (not a religious one) of navigation and may (though this is highly speculative) be connected with actual compasses. The symbol is one of the Icelandic magical staves, and it appears in some historical sources (centuries after conversion): the Huld manuscript (dated around 1880) and the Icelandic Galdrabok grimoire circa 1600s (which was a summation by several different authors of various folk magic and spells known to them at the time). Scholars theorize that the magical staves (including Vegvísir, and Ægishjálmur) arose out of a cultural milieu influenced by continental European customs during the Renaissance.

The Huld manuscript in particular was penned during a time when many folklorists like Jacob Grimm (of the Brothers Grimm) were going out into the rural countryside, trying to pen the old stories, songs and history down before it was lost. With folk tradition it’s hard to say how long something has been used in an area, but even with the very late appearing Huld manuscript we see suggestive evidence that it may contain old folk practice (though syncretized through the centuries via the varying cultural and religious influences that had occurred in the area). Another symbol, the aforementioned Ægishjálmur, not only appears in this manuscript, but it is also mentioned in various sagas, post the Viking Age. This suggests a possibility that the concept of the vegvisir symbol (if not these iterations of such) may be older than their earliest known appearances in the grimoires. Like the Ægishjálmur, there are several documented variations (all come centuries after conversion) of the vegvisir. Ræveðis at galdrastafir.org referenced the various grimoires and then made web friendly downloadable images to use of the vegvisir variations. The gallery below shows you some of the identified variations.

We know from the Galdrabok that the symbol would be inscribed in blood on the forehead of the person using the charm so that they will not become lost, and therefore could find their way.

I’ve heard that some folks more familiar with the nuances of navigation have studied the (more common variant) Vegvisir symbol and determined that what appears to be a bunch of weird shapes and squiggles, appear to correspond to methods of navigational measurement. At least it’s quite easy to see the generalized directional markings of North, North East, East, South East, South, South West, West, and North West. This is one of the reasons that some erroneously name this symbol as a “Viking Compass”, even though the earliest document of the symbol comes to us centuries after the end of the Viking Age. They want to connect the Vegvisir magical symbol with an actual navigational compass.

We do have two examples of a navigational Viking Sun Compass in our known archaeological record. While the items from the archaeological record don’t look like the magical Vegvisir symbol. The archaeological sun compass has 32 marks, this quite clearly ties to the 32 point marine compass used in modern times. The 32 points are comprised of the main cardinal points, the intercardinal points, the half points, and the quarter points. The first ‘Viking’ compass was discovered in Greenland (1947), and the second was discovered in Poland (2000). Both date to around 1000, which is late in the Viking Age—the time of contention and conversion between the indigenous religion and the encroaching Christianity.

Based on the seafaring accounts found in the sagas, we learn in Hrafn’s Saga that the Vikings navigated by using a ‘sunstone’. When we combine this knowledge with the actual archaeological relics… we discover an effective means of navigation. Scientists/scholars today theorize that the ‘sunstones’ mentioned in the sagas was most likely stones native to the territories of the Vikings (such as cordierite and optical calcite), which had polarizing effects. This meant that even on a cloudy or foggy day, that if they could just get a bit of a patch of clear sky at the appropriate zenith… the light would reflect through these stones when set against the compass and show the way.

Famously today Icelandic songstress Bjork has the symbol tattooed on her arm. Though it’s important to note that to my knowledge the symbol is a part of her cultural heritage, and NOT used with any religious shout out to paganism/heathenry. As she told Rolling Stones Magazine in 1995 about the vegvisir tattoo: “it’s so I don’t get lost.”

This symbol is a magical charm, and not a religious symbol. This symbol comes to us centuries after conversion. It’s only really in recent decades that we begin to see it used within the modern pagan and heathen communities, but in the last 10 years it has begun to start showing up and becoming far more widespread. Some people wear an amulet of it, some opt to have it tattooed upon them, they may get a keychain fob of it, put a decal on their car, put a patch of it on their backpack, all so they can always find their way home. Others find it a bunch of late appearing poppycock and completely unrelated to our religious tradition.

Sunwheels (Solar Crosses & Swastikas)

From ancient sources going back thousands of years, we have two types of sunwheels present in the archaeological record. The first is known as a solar cross, which is a circle bisected by a horizontal, and a vertical line arranged in the shape of a cross. The other incorporates the sowilo rune (which literally means ‘sun’) and may be known as a fylfot or swastika (which infamously was misappropriated by the Nazi party in World War II). Variations of this later type of sunwheel can incorporate a varying number of sowilo runes (two or more) into its symmetrical design.

This symbol is clearly connected to the Goddess Sunna, she whose chariot draws the sun in it’s path across the sky. Sunna (or Sol) is described in our tradition as the Goddess who in her chariot drawn by horses guides the sun in its track, as her brother Mani similarly drives the moon coursing through the sky. We have no actual depiction in the archaeological record of Sunna herself, the closest we come is the Trundholm sun chariot (1400 BCE) from the Nordic Bronze Age (1700 BCE – 500 BCE) found in Denmark (Odsherred), which depicts the sun (not the Goddess) being pulled by a horse drawn chariot, and the wheels of the chariot are clearly in the form of solar crosses, or sunwheels.

One side of the sun disc has a bunch of swirls, and it has been suggested by scholar Klavs Randsborg, that mathematically the swirls seem to correspond to synodic months, so it may be a type of calendar. The Trundholm Sun Chariot is also not an outlier in the archaeological record, for we’ve found other related seeming objects. At Jægersborg Hegn (also in Denmark) we found a remnant of a similar sun disc, the National Museum of Denmark posits an intriguing question with it, could it have been a part of a sun chariot like the one found in Trundholm too?

A few years ago I was privileged to be able to visit the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen to see not only the Trundholm Sun Chariot in person, but also the museum’s vast collection of artifacts from both the Viking Age, but also the Nordic Bronze Age and it’s sun cultus items. I was struck by the gold offering bowls from the Mariesminde find. We also see somewhat similar gold bowls with swirls from Borgbjerg (near Sorø). They were gold bowls with sun swirls adorning them, several featured figurative horse head and neck handles. I was immediately reminded of Sunna and her chariot. We also have the Eberswalde Bowls from Brandenburg, Germany (though these did not have horse necked bowls).

The burial find of the Egtved Girl, shows a female figure with a belt that appears to be a sun disc, there is some speculation that she may have been a priestess of a sun cult. (We know in the last two years of her life she traveled extensively). In this case Klavs Randsborg also believes astronomically the annulus of the swirls on the sun disc of her belt also represented the progress of solar time. Also in the Boeslunde region there was a curious discovery of around 2000 gold wire spirals, each about an inch long. Flemming Kaul, a curator with the National Museum of Denmark theorizes it may have been part of religious regalia worn by someone serving in ritual roles like a priest.

The Nordic Bronze Age based on surviving evidence is very much characterized by a widespread Sun cultus, and golden colors usually from bronze objects. These Nordic Bronze Age (1700–500 BCE ) objects predate the time period we typically examine as Heathens: beginning with the Iron Age of 500 BCE as Germanic tribes were in contact with the Roman Empire, through the time of Germanic Migration (typically 375 – 568 CE, though some historians prefer a broader range of 300 – 800 CE). The Iron Age ends around 800 CE with the start of the Viking Age and the raid at Lindisfarne, and lasts until the Battle of Hastings in 1066 CE. But the Nordic Bronze Age is the directly preceding time period, the descendants of said people would have been among the Germanic tribes. As the myth syncs, it’s to my mind a reasonable assumption of continuous worship.

In the Germanic tradition, Sunna, is not only the Goddess that draws forth the Sun, but is linked with healing in the Second Merseburg Charm (aka Horse Cure Charm) as well. The Merseburg charms are the only examples of pre-Christian Germanic belief recorded in the Germanic language. The manuscript it appears in dates somewhere in the 9th or 10th Century. In the source, Baldr’s horse has been injured, and so the Gods and Goddesses present (Odin, Frig, Fulla, Sunna, & Sinthgunt) render healing aid to the horse.

Not only do we see in the Trundholm Sun Chariot the solar wheel shape, but the concept of wagons tied to holy items persists as well with the processional tradition. Wagon processionals that have sometimes been depicted, as with the Osebug Ship burial tapestry, with the other type of sunwheel: the swastika.

The swastika is a symbol sacred to many world religions, you’ll find it used among Buddhism, Hinduism (where it is found in the Rig Veda, adorning their temples and more), Jainism, Greco-Roman architecture and jewelry, and other Asian and Indo-European cultures and religions. Even found in archaeological records for some ancient cultures found in Northern Africa. Depictions of the swastika appear on various sundries including jewelry, runestones, swords and spears, cremation urns, etc. throughout Germania, Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon finds. The symbol has even cropped up closer to home for most Americans, in that it was a sacred symbol of several Native American tribes including the Navajo (Diné), Apache, and Hopi. One of the earliest examples dates to the paleolithic around 13,000 BCE, and has the symbol carved into a bird figurine made from mammoth ivory, which was last on display in a museum in the Ukraine (I’m not sure about it’s current status since Russia’s invasion).

How does one symbol seemingly appear globally? Well one theory posited is that it may have simply come from observation of the stars in the Northern Hemisphere. The North Star or Pole Star, also known as Polaris is visible year round from anywhere on earth North of the equator (assuming clear skies). The star (or the constellation it’s part of Ursa Minor) has been a key component for navigation by land and sea for multiple millennia. Near Polaris is the constellation of Ursa Major, written about by Ptolemy in 2nd Century CE. It’s main seven stars comprise what we call the Big Dipper today, and in other cultures was called the Plough, The Great Chariot, The Seven Seers (from the Hindu Sapta Rishi Mandal). As an aside, think of the Trundholm Sun Chariot and those solar cross wheels and now think of the name of some of these constellations: Chariot and Wagons have been found with solar cross wheels.

Like most cultures, the Germanic Tribes had their own star lore. One of the major constellations was the Wagon. We’re not precisely certain what stars it refers to, but the widely accepted supposition is it ties to these stars and thus the swastika symbol. Sometimes it’s called Thor’s wagon, but it is also called Odin’s Wagon in the Sigrdrífumál ( Reið Rôgnis or Rognir’s Wagon, Rognir is a heiti for Odin), and Odin’s Wagon is referenced in kennings plus later recorded folklore. (To learn more on Germanic star lore, check out Eysteinn’s Lexicon of Kennings Analytical Glossary, Grimm’s Teutonic Mythology, Cleasby & Vígfusson’s An Icelandic-English Dictionary).

The constellation of Ursa Major when viewed in the Northern Hemisphere seemingly throughout the course of the year rotates around the pole star (or the North Star known as Polaris). The sense of this rotation is like a pinwheel being blown slowly over the course of a year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hepzUgFhgis

It’s important to note that just as the earth has a daily rotation, and a yearly revolution around the sun, our solar system rotates within our galaxy, and our galaxy rotates as well. This means all the other heavenly bodies are in motion too. So over time constellations and their positions change. Also consider that constellations will appear differently based on where on earth you are viewing them from. Polaris today is the nearest and most visible pole star, but that wasn’t always the case. At one point the entire constellation of Ursa Minor or the Little Dipper (which Polaris is part of) was used for navigation instead. Ursa Minor in it’s dipper like appearance similarly rotates around that center pole. So the swastika symbol as it appears globally is believed to derive from Ursa Major (Big Dipper) or possibly Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper).

For many of us we forget just how prevalent the stars really are in the night sky. Most of us live in areas of high light pollution, meaning the city lights (business and home lighting, street lights, traffic lights, headlights and brakelights, etc.) drown out stars that otherwise would be viewable to the human eye. But in antiquity that wasn’t a problem, and even today you can still find dark skies (a light pollution map is handy for this) and see the milky way with your own eyes. Just remember the amazing photos you see of the Milky Way utilizes long exposure techniques, including some setups with gear specially mounted on rotators that counteract the spin of the earth to do super long exposures. Most modern cameras start to capture star trails after 8-10 seconds (it varies by the camera model’s specs, and the lens/telescope used). The human eye can never hope to capture near that effect. Major metropolitan cities rarely see a dozen or so stars, as you transition out into suburbia or smaller cities you may get a hundred or so stars. But truly dark sky sites can see more than 5,000 stars. So to ancient and even pre-historic man the stars would have been a major part of their experience on a near daily basis (weather permitting).

The word swastika derives from svastika a much older word from the Sanskrit language, which etymologically is comprised of words meaning both good and well-being, and thus the symbol can be interpreted to mean that it is a charm or blessing for good health. The Norse/Germanic Goddess Sunna, is tied to both drawing the sun in her chariot, but to healing as well. Since Heathenry sprung from an agriculturally focused society, they viewed the year as broken up into only two seasons: summer and winter. Winter was the time when food was scarce, when disease ran rampant and illness, malnutrition and the cold weather took lives. Summer was seen as a time of not only warmth, but a time where food was more abundantly available.

Grimm’s Teutonic Mythology describes the traditional folk practices for Midsummer celebrations in the areas where the Norse Gods were once (and in some cases still are) honored is to set a sunwheel (or a wagon wheel) on fire. In some cases the wheel was simply lit locally and incorporated into the Midsummer bonfire. In other cases people trekked out into the countryside, found a hill, set the sunwheel on fire, and let it roll down the hill as they chased after it, people cheering as they watched it roll along it’s fiery way, as vegetation caught fire. Sometimes mini-fires were set in the fields, as a way of directly burning in offering the crops that the sun had helped to grow, or fragrant herbs were tossed into local bonfires instead.

It is possible, that just as Native American tribes would regularly set clearings on fire for the sake of agriculture and to lure bigger game to lush fields, that the selective burning on the fields may have also been conducted not only as an offering, but potentially to help the land so that future crops were more bountiful. As we learned after Mt. Saint Helen’s blew its top, fire is actually a healthy part of nature, as it can help fuel rapid growth and renew the land. This is why the Forestry Service has now abandoned their previous policy of total fire suppression in the fight against wildfires. Sometimes they will now let forests burn because it is healthier for the forest in the long run to do so.

While there’s no doubt both types of sunwheels–solar crosses and swastikas–connect to the Goddess Sunna (within Germanic forms of heathenry), some scholars including Hilda R. Ellis Davidson theorize that the swastika may be also connected to Thor, and therefore the symbol was a representation of Mjolnir. HRED supports this theory by looking to the neighboring tradition of the Finnish Sami. On the shaman drums, it wasn’t uncommon to see a depiction of a man holding either a hammer or axe, or a swastika symbol. This male figure is identified as the Lappish equivalent to Thor, their Thunder God Horagelles. The symbol is comprised of two or more sowilo (𐌔) runes, (the same side by side sowilo runes which resembled lightning bolts that were misappropriated by the Nazi SS). While this connection is less direct than with Sunna, it is to my mind a viable possible connection. Although I would posit a later appearing connection with Thor, and that the symbol was always closely associated with the Sun, and therefore Sunna.

Today, while many Heathens recognize both symbols, many Heathens tend to shy away from the use of the swastika symbol and instead use the solar cross symbol. This shyness with the swastika is firmly rooted in the atrocities performed by the Nazis in World War II. Today, the swastika tends to be far more associated with neo-Nazi and white supremacist hate groups. For this reason many of the Native American nations have chosen to avoid the use of this symbol in their own cultural crafts (many choosing to retire the symbol during the 1940s). Most Americans have forgotten it’s use in America prior to the rise of Nazism.

“Coca-Cola used it. Carlsberg used it on their beer bottles. The Boy Scouts adopted it and the Girls’ Club of America called their magazine Swastika. They would even send out swastika badges to their young readers as a prize for selling copies of the magazine,” he says. It was used by American military units during World War One and it could be seen on RAF planes as late as 1939. Most of these benign uses came to a halt in the 1930s as the Nazis rose to power in Germany.”

Mukti Jain Campion, BBC News

Today the symbol is banned in Germany except when used in historical context. Yet the symbol is still clearly used on both the Finnish Air Force insignia, as well as in connection with the office of the Finnish President. Of those modern Heathens who do use the symbol, many do so in the privacy of their own homes, or in subtle ways. There are some who do fully embrace the symbol trying to reclaim it and educate in the process, but they are a minority.

Our Existence is Found Between Chaos & Order

In the beginning, there was chaos, as characterized by the yawning void known as Ginnungagap. Flanking the void were the first two worlds: Niflheim in the north the ancient world of ice, and Muspelheim in the south the primordial world of fire. The two worlds brushed across one another, and the resulting clash of fire and ice (the very big bang of creation within the Norse cosmology) formed eitr, the waters of life and poison. Drops of these waters slowly coalesced together and formed the frost-cold Jotun (or giant) Ymir, the father of the Jotuns.

Meanwhile, the great divine cow Auðumbla, gave suckle to the Jotuns that had come from Ymir, even as she happily licked at a salty patch of ice she had found. As she licked the ice, thawing it with the heat of her tongue and body, a shape began to take form until Buri–ancestor of the Æsir (Norse Gods)–emerged. From his descendants would spring three brothers: Odin, Ville, and Ve who then set forth to kill Ymir as he slept.

Ymir’s death caused a vast flood as his blood rushed out that drowned most of his Jotun descendants, and became the waters of the oceans and seas of the world. From his carcass sprang up the Dwarves, like maggots appearing from his corpse. The three Æsic Gods who had killed him, then used his body to create the universe in Ginnungagap. His flesh became the land, his bones the mountains; his teeth were the rocks and pebbles. His hair became the grasses and plants that sprung forth from the land. His eyebrows became the very foundation for Midgard. His skull and brains became the skies and heavens. The gods then borrowed some of the sparks from the primordial world of fire Muspelheim, and used it to create the sun, moon and stars in those Heavens.

The yawning void, was no longer empty, but rather had been ordered into the foundation for the other worlds of Northern cosmology: worlds of dwarfs, Jotuns, Gods (The Æsir as well as the Vanir), Elfs, Humans, and the Dead. These worlds (Svartalfheim, Jotunheim, Asgard, Vanaheim, Alfheim, Midgard, and Helheim) joined with the ancient worlds of Muspelheim and Niflheim to form the nine worlds spoken of in Norse cosmology.

From Ymir’s hair emerged two trees, one ash and one elm. The Gods took these trees and created two people, Ask and Embla. Odin breathed life into them, Vili granted them intelligence, and Ve gave them their senses so they could see and hear. While man is here depicted as being created by the Gods, we also see that without Ymir mankind would not have existed either. Just as it took fire and ice to start the chain reaction that brought life into existence, we see in its progeny of Jotuns and the Æsir that both forces are needed again to create the ordered life that we now know.

Unlike the Bible where there is a clear chronological sense of creation and origin found in the story of Genesis, to figure out the Norse creation story it is necessary to extrapolate from multiple pieces of literature that sometimes contradict one another on some points. To read all the accounts of creation and cosmology to see what is different you would need to read the Völuspá, Grímnismál, Vafþrúðnismál, Gylfaginning, and Alvissmal. While these literary accounts can prove insightful, they are also flawed because Christian scholars penned most of them years after the conversion. While literary texts such as the eddas, sagas, and skaldic poetry help to comprise the lore in Norse tradition and become one of the touchstone sources for historical exploration of this ancient culture, these texts also generate far more questions than they do answers.

Why did the Æsir feel it was necessary to kill the Jotun Ymir in the first place? Does this mean that the Jotuns are considered to be forces of chaos, and therefore should be avoided at all costs because they are construed as the enemy? Yet, if that is true then why is it that even the slayers of Ymir—Odin, Vili and Ve, were in fact half Jotun through their mother Bestla. Even Odin’s son, the famed Jotun-slayer Thor was birthed from a Jotun mother, and He had a child with the female Jotun Járnsaxa. We see time and time again in these literary texts that the Gods and Goddesses are in many cases part Jotun, have no problem choosing a Jotun as a spouse or lover (as we see in the tale of the Vanic God Freyr and the Jotun Gerðr). Even in the listing of the Æsir, we find Loki, a well known Jotun counted. There is even surviving folk tradition in Norway, where food is given to the kitchen fire in offer to Loki, which may possibly originate from pre-Christian Jotun-worshipping practices related to Loki. The Völsa þáttr also has a possible account of Jotun-worship preserved within its text. Cumulatively, we have a rather large, over-whelming body of evidence pointing to the fact that the Jotuns are not in and of themselves a great enemy by default, or solely forces of chaos against the order the Gods supposedly represent. But exactly what is the nature of that divide between Gods and Jotuns? Can we determine where the boundaries of chaos and order may exist?

We might be able to if we broaden our approach from the mythical seeming texts about the gods and the Jotuns, and begin to dive more into the laws and cultural customs of the various peoples that worshipped the Æsic Gods, especially as we examine an ancient and complex concept known as frith.

Frith in a sense can be understood as the proper relationship that exists between three focuses of ancient life: a familial kinship (kin-frith), the connection between a lord or chieftain and those men under him (oath-frith), and also the connection between man and the numinous Holy Powers (as comprised by the Gods, ancestors, and other land spirits, etc.). Within the social structure of these three levels, certain expectations existed in terms of how people were to behave. These behaviors were understood and codified, in some cases by formal laws, in other cases through years and generations of acculturated-tradition. By behaving properly, you behaved frithfully, in a manner that both caused peace and tranquility to exist within your community, but also in a manner that insured you were protected and given sanctuary by the community and those who enforced the frith.

If your brother stole your favorite horse, you could take it to the elders of your kin to settle the matter. If a neighbor killed your brother, you could take it to the elders of your community. The sentences for breaking the frith included some form of financial penalty, outright execution, or outlawry. An outlaw was not only exiled, but his lands became forfeit and his possessions could be claimed or stolen without penalty as well. If members of the community found an outlaw after his (or her) sentence, anyone could then kill him/her without penalty or fear of reprisal. An outlaw wasn’t someone who acted in blatant disregard for the law, but rather an outlaw was an individual whom was no longer protected by the law. If an outlaw was exiled for a short sentence, after that passage of time they could return to the community who sentenced him, and re-enter the community once again having the rights of frith bestowed upon them. If however the sentence of exile was for the longer 20-year period, this was usually viewed as an exiled death sentence, due to the short life expectancy in antiquity. One of the most famous Vikings, Erik the Red was actually an outlaw sent into exile because he had committed murder. Since Erik could not stay in his community, he pulled up his roots and left to settle on Greenland. While he was NOT the first Viking to discover Greenland, he was the first to establish a permanent settlement there.

While frith may seem a bit of an antiquated concept, aspects of it have survived into the modern day in mainstream society. If you’ve ever heard a police officer referred to as a peacekeeper, that is because their duty is to protect and serve the community by maintaining the peaceful sanctuary that frithfully-behaving, law-abiding members of that community expect. We expect our police officers, like the frithguilds of yesteryear, to keep the peace and thus maintain the expected law and order of society.

Frith was so critically important because it became a vehicle of how order was established that supported the community’s continued existence. Frith was the means that the seeming chaos of life could be kept at bay. Just as frith was a concept we see among all the Æsic-worshipping peoples, large gatherings such as Things were common too.

One of our earliest written sources for a Thing appears in Tacitus’ Germania, but other related cultures also had Things. Some of the better-known sites are Norway’s Frosta and Gula, Sweden’s Uppsala and Skara, Denmark’s Viborg and Oresund, and Iceland’s Thingvellir. I think it’s important to step back and understand what a Thing was, and one of the most detailed accounts of a Thing gathering comes to us from Iceland’s annual gathering known as the Althing. The Althing was part judicial court (as it listened to and passed judgment on legal cases), part parliament (as it passed and made law), part economic summit or trade show (as trade agreements could be worked out), part religious ritual (as it began with a sacred ritual known as a blot where there was a blood sacrifice to the Gods), and it also acted as a debutante ball as families sought out advantageous marriage matches across all of Iceland.

The Icelandic sagas are full of stories concerning blood feuds, so any gathering, especially of such a vast complex of people, held the potential for great danger and violence to break out. Legal cases were being listened to and judged, and when lives hung in the balance it was quite understandable that passions were high. Additionally, the marriage market also represented the most dangerous thing that a young male could engage in (even apparently more dangerous than going to war). Anything that infringed on the reputation of a woman he might attempt to court could result in the wrath of her family clan going after him, OR the family could also go after him if they felt he was dragging out the courtship for too long. So not only do you have the heated passions from legal cases, and politics, but also the ingredients for disaster in the guise of the pheromones of the men and the women. So picture if you will this crazy tumult. It makes complete and utter sense that there would be strict customs in place about the use and bearing of weapons within the official designated site of the Althing, as well as an understanding of what was frithful behavior at the site, and where the boundaries of frith were set.

Boundaries were marked to designate the areas of frithful order, and outside of the boundaries there existed the potential of chaos. Sometimes this demarcation of boundaries (both physical territories, and relating to cultural boundaries as well) is described as the innangard (inner yard) and utangard (outer yard). To understand this concept, lets suppose that you are a homeowner, and have a fence around your property. Everything within that fence would be understood as your innangard. As the owner of the house, everything on your property you have control over, things like the color of your house, your choice of landscaping, how you decorate your house, and even personal customs like not eating outside of the kitchen. But outside of your fence… your level of control decreases. But rarely do people truly live as hermits, usually they live as members of a community, and they are also subject to the laws of their community. If water rationing was in effect in your community that dictated you could only water your lawn once a week, and you water yours daily, then you’d be breaking frith with your community because you would be jeopardizing the water supply for everyone. As you move away from your community and travel further away the control you have over things decreases.

As a rule humans like to have control, as it gives us a sense of both stability and security, and things being outside of our control can be somewhat scary. But the utangard, the outer yard that lies beyond the boundaries we have control over, can manifest in different ways. Sometimes we can find ways of navigating the utangard where we can interact peacefully with others, and sometimes it can be very dangerous. These boundaries are both physical territories, or can represent cultural identities. As a female pagan American, there are places in the world where I could be killed for not honoring the local religion and behaving, as my American self is accustomed too.

The Jotuns of the land of the giants, Jotunheim, can be understood as an example of what can be found in the utangard that exists beyond the innangard of Midgard (where humans dwell), and Asgard (where the Æsic and Vanic deities dwell). They are not beings solely of chaos, but rather they dwell in areas not easily controlled. In fact we see them described as living in areas that are the least hospitable to men, such as the mountain-Jotun Skadhi. Sometimes they are allies, and sometimes they may be enemies.

The very question about the role these Jotuns should, or should not have within our religion is found at the heart of one of the greatest ideological divides found within the Asatru community. For some, Jotuns should be regarded with a cautious and wary respect but not actively worshipped. For others they should be avoided at all costs. For another section of the community, the Jotuns simply represent natural forces, and by establishing a frithful relationship with them we establish a means for balance to exist between us and Them. There are yet others who make the distinction that those Jotuns who in Ragnarok do not take up arms against the Æsic deities are therefore allies of our Gods and thus are eligible for worship. But even in this case, the question arises just how accurate is the story of Ragnarok to the pre-Christian beliefs in the first place?

No matter how much attention may be paid to the ancient literature, or ancient customs of frith, and cultural concepts like the innangard and utangard, none of these items can tell us with any absolute guarantee how the ancient pre-Christian Æsic-worshipping people believed. At some point, it becomes a matter of personal interpretation which may be informed not only by one’s understanding of these sources, but also tempered with an openness to the experiential and the animistic forces around us. While these alternate interactions, or personal gnosises are a valid avenue of exploration, their acceptance within the modern community is just as controversial as the role of the Jotuns themselves. Even in this, humans seek control and order, and the potential wildness of direct interaction with these powers may just be too chaotic for some to handle.