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What I find immediately most compelling about Freya Aswynn's translation of the Voluspa is that the first few stanzas are mysteriously missing from any other translation I have come across. This prologue, for so it seems to be, identifies the speaker as a magic user and lists what appears to be credentials for her in that guise. She tells us of her renown, not only to human agencies, but also among the Aesir. The seeress' power, it seems comes from knowing Odin and from receiving his gifts of jewelry and wisdom. She knows where his eye is hidden, and where Heimdal's horn is also hidden. Both are power objects to the gods. The eye of Odin represents in this case the power of clairvoyance (as we know Odin sees all from his throne) granted to the seer, while the Gjallerhorn represents the power of clairaudience (as Heimdal not only hears the hair growing on the backs of sheep, but is able to warn the Aesir of the impending doom of Ragnarok). From these proclamations we are led to trust the word of the Seer as truth, for her knowledge comes directly from the Aesir themselves. The final catch phrase of the stanza "well would you know more?" not only implies that the Seer's wisdom is vast but also echoes a challenge to defy her knowledge, or to test her. A challenge which, it is probable, would be dangerous to make.
The next stanza begins the Voluspa proper, or rather, the section most often quoted by translators. It begins with a call for silence, identifying her audience as the many peoples of Midgard. Heimdal's excursion as Rig shows us that all people are descendants of the same gods, or rather that the DNA of the gods has made its way into every social class through interbreeding with divine beings. The Seer tells us that Odin is asking her to relate tales to us from as far back as she can remember. As the tone of the tale related suggests that all of history is being here explained, we can assume that not only the span of human history is explained, but also that she is digging back into her own memory to the earliest things that were there contained, i.e.) the first gleanings of childhood. It is no surprise in that context that we come across references to 'giants who fed me in former days'. Who are these giants? A moment of reflection in honesty gives us a vision of our own parents hovering over our crib: nameless masses of google-eyed drooling idiocy poking and fawning over us with their faux baby-talk giving us food when we cry and changing our diapers. These ancestral beginnings are also related to the open endless void of Gunningagap, which can be correlated with the primal whirling of Kether in the KBLH or the 'Alaya Vijnana' of Buddhism. In this place, things are devoid of form, quality or even differentiation. There are no 'things' as it were. No objects, thoughts, or images, but only the open endlessness of the void. Bur's sons are then depicted as being responsible for the creation of Midgard. They are the creative forces in nature manifesting a conception of the world around the developing child whose eyes have just seen the forms surrounding them. There follows a state of confusion, where the elements of the world represented by the planets, stars and sun are in the sky, but have no idea what their proper place is. By relating this process to similarities in the Qabalistic tradition, we see things moving through the primary triurnal from Kether through the creative forces of Chokmah (where Bur's sons give the primal energy of the void impetus towards creation) and into form in Binah. At this stage, there is still no order to the movements of these planets (that will come in Chesed) and the planets are depicted as being in a state of chaos. This is also reflected in the Taoist tradition as the movement of primal energy out of the state of Wuji (void) into the primary duality of Yang and Yin (force and form respectively).
There is a council depicted in the stage of ordering the universe. It seems that the ancient Nordic Peoples in their practice of Althing were able to conceive of a reality governed by consensus rather than the divine ordination common to systems influenced by middle-eastern hierchical thought where one central being dictated what was to happen to all the rest of creation the same way that the pharaoh dictated the laws of the land to his servants. The gods can be thought of as superior to humanity, but from another point of view, all of creation in this sense takes into consideration the input from every quarter. This implies egalitarianism despite the cultural tendency to think of the Allfather as being chief. This point of view implies a partnership based relationship with the divine rather than one of servitude. From that point of view, the gods are not superior, but rather relate to another sphere of influence than does humanity, and both need each other in order for the universal law to be properly enacted.
The Aesir build their temple on Idavoll. Idavoll is significant for two reasons, one is from its name, and the other due to its surviving Ragnarok. Lindow translated Idavoll as "shining field", "shimmering field", "eternal field", or "field of pursuits [of the gods]". The fact that this field can be present even when all the rest of the universe is destroyed puts it in a place of importance. That coupled with the fact that the Aesir build their homes there before and after Ragnarok suggest that it may be a metaphor for some basic ever-present aspect of mind. Building a temple there implies that a sense of reverence has entered the consciousness of the world-being. Pair that knowledge with the thought that the gods are next shown building forges, making tools and playing games and we get an image of the child moving from the self-centered toddler stage of development, into a more adult stage of learning skills and trades.
Next follows the process of socialization: that of meeting with others and becoming aware of the greater community around the developing being. This is first indicated by the arrival of three "Thurs maidens". Unfortunately nothing more is said about these maidens, aside from a side comment about their pride in their own strength, so it is difficult to know exactly what they may have represented to the ancients, though a runester would relate their title to the 'thurisaz' rune and think of them as either a threat or a protective force. The process continues through the creation of the dwarves, and here we see the skills of manual dexterity and creativity becoming primarily important. It is even suggested through the reference to "who of the dwarves should mould man by master craft" that there may be dwarves associated with different trades who could become teachers to child apprentices, giving them their place in later life once mastery of their craft has been accomplished. Of course we know that it was no dwarf who made mankind, but the sons of Bor, so in this I interpret another meaning of the word 'mould' than the creation of the species that may be read initially. If this is true, then the list of dwarves' names may indicate guild heads, but as there is not enough information to make a definite statement on the subject, I will leave it as an intuitive suggestion for someone with more knowledge to follow up, disprove, or create.
With the onset of pubescence we find the three sons of Bor returning to Midgard to breathe life into a pair of trees. Up to this point the universal child has been solitary, but now he is dual, for the purpose of finding joy in uniting, one may surmise. Ask and Embla, the ash and the elm are given three qualities by the gods. Breath, senses, blood and life fill the wood which we can imagine is then uprooted and begins to walk around. The fact that Yggdrasil, the world tree, is mentioned directly after this may have been indicative of a break in the dialogue, but may also indicate that the world tree and the two animate trees that become the proto-man and woman are to be correlated with the world tree. This fact is supported by the notion that the ash tree that becomes the first man is also of the same species as the world tree. We see in this the similarity between the world outside and the world within. "The microcosm is the macrocosm" as the old adage has it, or "as above, so below". In that we find that the nine worlds on Ygg's steed are both real places present in the world outside of ourselves, but are also states within each individual. Each one of us is a complete map of the entire cosmos, although we may walk in only one of the worlds at a time.
Nestled into the roots of the tree is the well of Urd. This is interesting as it seems to place the unfolding of fate in a location present within each individual. This is quite similar to the concept in Chinese medicine of the 'jing' which is a form of prenatal 'chi' or energy which determines, with other factors, the length of our lives, our overall constitution and the basic state of our physical inheritance. The three Norns are present at the well, each playing their own role in the unfolding of our lives. It goes beyond saying that the three Norns are common characters in almost every European pagan tradition, in different guises and under different nomenclature. They seem to relate to the unfolding of time as the moment changes. In each moment there are three aspects that seem immediately apparent: the moment itself, that which led to the moment, which is experienced as memory, and that which the moment is becoming, which may be little more than the projection of memory's patterns into the realms of apprehension or hope. The three of them determine the laws that rule over both men and gods. They are similar to the Buddhist concept of karma, in that all beings in the world of illusions are controlled and shaped by their decisions. Not only that, but also in that what we can experience of the world around us is inevitably shaped by the form of our unconscious projections. The Norns are the forces that shape those projections and so they control everything that we can perceive. This may not be as fatalistic a concept as immediately apparent, as one always has the choice to see through the illusion into the boundless light of the empty void. One of the thulur refers to the Norns as "those women who shape what must be". The word for shape here is "skapa" which contains a connotation of fatality, furthering the link between the Norns and the inevitable forces inherent in the story of the worlds.
There are three Norns, as we have stated above. Their names are Urd, Verdandi and Skuld. Urd is very close to the past tense of the verb "verda" ("to become"), changing the meaning to "became" or "occurred" depending on whether you consider processes to be nouns or verbs. The same word in Old English becomes "wyrd" which is defined as "the person, principle or agency by which events are determined" in its oldest rendition, though also contains the idea of 'outlandish' or 'otherworldly' in modern usage. This in itself refers to the uncanny action of the Norns in general, in the manner in which they cause things to be and the feeling of almost supernatural urgency that they bring on through realizing their influence. It is a feeling which can be taken as terror, or awe depending on one's proclivities and level of trust in the unknowable. Verdandi is the second Norn. Her name is directly cognate with the present tense of 'verda' and can be thought of as the unfolding of karma in the moment of presentation. She is perhaps the realest of the Norns, or at least the most present. The other two deal with the projections which act as scaffolding for her energy, while she deals directly with the form of illusion which can be touched. With this in mind, it is taken that Urd begets Verdandi, just as Verdandi begets Skuld. That is, what became turns into what has become which in turn will move on into Skuld's realm. 'Skuld' may be derived from the verb 'skulu' ('is to be' or 'will happen') placing her as both the ruler of what the mind sees when looking forward from the present moment, but also in the place of the ender of life, considering that the most inevitable event in any process is that what has undergone a beginning must also endure an ending. It is also of note that in Fafnismal, the dying Fafnir tells Sigurd that there are different Norns for the different races of beings. The gods have their Norns, the Elves theirs, and the Dwarves their own. It may also be true that the Jotuns have Jotun Norns, though that isn't mentioned in the literature.
The first war in the worlds is next referred to. The Vanir are brought into the picture at this point. Through the pubescent stage which began with the imbuing of life into the trees Ask and Embla, we come to the arrival of the gods of fertility. Gullveig's name can be translated as "gold-drink", or "gold-lust". Some have correlated Gullveig with Freya based upon her being well versed in seidcraft, but this is speculation, as seidcraft was the primary magical method of the Vanir, and we can surmise was common to all of them. Freya is associated with it in particular due to her having brought it to Asgard and having taught it to Odin, but that fact alone does not suggest that she was the only one who knew its secrets. Gullveig brings corruption to Asgard in the form of the gold-lust she is named for. To the Vanir, desire for riches must have been seen as a great virtue, as all things associated with wealth and harvest pertain to their realm. Perhaps by sending Gullveig to the Aesir, the Vanir were attempting to share something which to them was of great value. The reaction of the Aesir on the other hand can be understood, particularly in lieu of the passages from 'Havamal' pertaining to wealth and its contradictory nature. The most pertinent line of which relating to this reads:
Wealth is as swift as a winking eye.
Of friends, the falsest it is.
We also find similar attitudes reflected in the rune poems, where wealth is called 'a source of discord among kinsmen'. It is obvious from these examples that the attitude towards Gullveig's gift would be a negative one and the lust for gold seen as being a corruption of the virtues of a well ordered society of equals as the Aesir are seen to be. If a human being is given value based on their net worth, then the spirit of life is objectified and overlooked. It is impossible to assign a monetary value to something that is immeasurable. This is perhaps why the spirit is worthless to the materialist and priceless to the spiritualist. Monetary value depends on one's ability to quantify and to qualify, and as it is impossible to subject the invisible and the intangible to either. Lusting after things of monetary value becomes a direct corruptive force in dealing with the things of value to the spirit. This realization was profound enough to the Aesir to go to war over in a world that had not known war. On the individual level, it is as though at this point people are seen as taking sides between perceiving the world in terms of objectification or perceiving it in terms of its value numinosity (numinous-luminosity, i.e.) its ability to draw consciousness into the trans-personal).
Gullveig is burned thrice and is reborn thrice. The fires of suppression can not undo her, and in fact seem to make her stronger. At this point she is renamed as Heid and comes in the form of a witch-woman "well versed in seidcraft and a joy to all evil minded women". These attempts of the Aesir to suppress and destroy gold-lust have transformed her at this juncture into a magical being. It is as though by adding Aesiric force to the process it is made into something greater, though still too chaotic for the Aesir's ordered society. She lends her power to 'evil-minded women', giving an outlet for power to the subtle and suppressed (at least in later Viking society) feminine and passive-aggressive aspects of magic. Gold-lust becomes the power to transform ones station through subtle, magical means. To the macho Vikings who held open conflict as the height of virtue this must have seemed the apex of wickedness, like giving power to those too weak to stand up for themselves. If they are too weak to make an open stand, then they would have been thought of as too weak to wield power righteously. And so the first war in the world erupts over the control of matter by direct spiritual means, and the control of matter by passive-aggressive magical means.
Continued in part 2.
Matthew Risk is a Heathen writer, artist, and musician who lives in Vancouver, BC Canada. His work centers around the themes of Heathen Ritual, Nordic religion and culture, Rune lore, Traditional Oriental Medicine, Yoga, Tantra, Sensual Spirituality and Hermeticism. You can read his blog here: [http://magicritualsex.com]
footnotes to this article:
i- http://www.aswynn.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=85
ii-Norse Mythology, John Lindow, 2001, Oxford University Press 978-0-19-515382-8
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