Foldamal: Words of the World

First, there was fire to the south and ice to the north. In the middle, there was nothing. The two forces, natural poles of each other, were imbalanced in their own right and harmonious when equivalent in presence. After an amount of time that is beyond the comprehension of stone, the warmth of the southern fire began to reach the world of ice in the north. Like a cosmic spring, the northern ice gently began to soften. At last, a singular stream of ice melts separated from the north, being flung across the nothing into the flames of the south. Like a hungry wolf devouring its prey, the flames reached out to receive the drop. As it did so, the two reacted to bloom an enormous plume of steam and vapor. Opposite of the melted ice drop, this vapor was pulled back towards the north, as the cold sought the warm and the warm sought the cold. These forces continued to rebound back and forth for just shy of an eternity until the flames of the south were not so high, and the ice of the north not so dense.

As the melt continued, cosmic rivers began to flow into the nothing, the Ginnungagap (space, abyss, void), branching from the north as ice-melt to the south reincarnating as a vapor that returned to the north to melt more ice. In the middle, the nothing, the warm vapor coming from the south interacted with the cold rivers flowing from the north, in another attempt of the polar powers to associate. They did in fact associate, and this time they created a product that was neither North nor South, but a separate entity. It was fire and it was ice, it was alive, and it had a name: Ymir.

First came Ymir who was of the two poles but was not fire or ice, neither man nor woman, and neither almighty nor powerless. Ymir is often discussed as taking a human or jotnar in form and, while this simplifies the discussion of their downfall and creation of the world in allegory, they are much greater than to be bound by such a simple form. They were hunger personified; the state of need embodied. Soon, their need would be met with a cosmic providence; Audhumla.

Second came Audhumla, who was of the two poles in the same way as Ymir but, as with fire and ice, Audhumla was the ice to Ymir’s fire. The great entity Ymir was the cosmic pull of need, where Audhumla became the cosmic provider. [It is commonly attested that these four powers stand as the cardinal directions of the cosmos: Ice of the North, Fire of the South, Ymir’s Hunger to the East, and Audhumla’s Fulfillment to the West. In fire and ice, we see the potential energy of matter with fire and the raw, unacted matter that is ice. From these, the ordinal directions can also be deduced. Northwest, or Ice and Audhumla, could represent fertile lands, forests, or even the ocean, as it is both raw potential and fulfilling of sustenance. Northeast, or Ice and Ymir, could represent lava, fire, or ice, as all hunger while providing potential for others as a raw material. Southwest, or Fire and Audhumla, could represent rain, death, and fauna as all act upon another’s energy while providing a product needed by others. Southeast, or Fire and Ymir, could represent more conceptual ideas than anything physical, such as hunger, lust, or anger, as they are both the power behind the action and the need for something. All that humanity sees can be placed and dissected upon the spectrum that are these cardinal and ordinal powers, along with every minute degree between them. These matters are speculative, though, as the cosmos is a concept beyond the grasp in understanding or words wielded by humanity.]

From the Northwest came Buri, the father, and producer. Existing alongside Ymir, Buri brought forth a son, Borr. It was at this moment that the jotun Bestla came to the nothing. Now, Bestla, daughter of Bolþorn, Buri, his son Borr, and Ymir all existed together while the jotnar existed elsewhere. Before long, Borr married Bestla and the couple produced three sons: Odin, Vili, and Ve. As Odin, Vili, and Ve grew, they lived among the great Ymir. They saw his grandeur, his power, and his potential; they saw this and they watched the great one keep it all to themselves. Upon reaching maturity, the three brothers agreed that the great one was no longer justified in its existence, having grown too greedy, lazy, and withholding from the others in existence. The decision was made: Ymir must die.

The brothers approached in the night, as Ymir slumbered. Together, they struck and strangled the primordial being. Ymir’s blood flooded from its core, flowing far, drowning almost all of the Jotnar. Next, the brothers tore Ymir apart, fashioning the realm of our ancestors, Midgard, of the primordial’s cosmic parts. From Ymir’s bones, the brothers three broke in the mountains. From Ymir’s hair, the brothers three groomed the trees. From its eyebrows, the very land you stand upon now. Through this process, the great one’s blood emptied to form our seas. From Ymir’s brain, they lofted clouds, and their skull the heavens. All that was Ymir rested upon and was connected by the great tree, Yggdrasil. A tree of allegory, Yggdrasil needed no soil to root or sunshine for photosynthesis, it grew but not necessarily in the vertical direction, as the cosmos has no ‘up’ or ‘down’ for which the tree should right itself upon. It is simply the means by which all worlds join and by which beings can travel upon between realms. Yggdrasil, the great tree, holds together the different worlds of reality.

In the commotion and struggle of Ymir’s murder, a piece broke off of both Muspelheimr and Nifelheimr. The two began to encircle Yggdrasil, pacing each other on opposite ends of their orbit. The piece of Muspelheimr was named Sol (Sun), the bringer of light and day. The piece of Nifelheimr was named Mani (Moon) and was the bringer of rest and respite. Both were pulled by chariots through the sky until the end of days.

Upon the plains of Idavoll (Idhe=Diligent, Vollr=Field or Plain), was built the realm of Asgard, the domain of the æsir tribe of the gods. Having built the great Asgard of Idavoll, Odin set out upon Yggdrasil to discover the worlds.

First on his journey was Agard’s neighboring Jotunheimr, home of the Jotnar, a race of beings of greater affinity than that of humanity, but equally as brutal and savage. Gifted in the ways of runic and seidr magic, a Jotunn is a powerful being of whom many married with the gods. Many wars would be fought between the æsir and the Jotun, with many more skirmishes that followed in the defense of Midgard against Jotunn trespassers. Here he observed from a distance, their various tribes and abilities.

From Jottunheimr, Odin found Alfheimr, the land of the Elves. Also called Ljosalfheimr (home of the light elves), little is known about the elves, as they seldom left their realm or interacted with races beyond that their own. Understood to be semi-divine and inherently practiced in all magik, these elven people hold great power and little influence in our existence. It is thought that their existence predates all other species. Odin moved on.

Next, he found Svartalfheimr (home of the dark elves), also called Nidavellir (the dark fields), home of the dwarves. Here he met the Dwarven High Council, the great elders of the race, and the original members: Nordi, Vestri, Eitri, and Austri. A cave or cavern-dwelling race, the dwarves are expert craftspeople and would eventually become the sole source of artifacts for the gods. Jewelry, armor, and arms of the finest quality all come from the steady hands of Svartalfheimr. Having established positive relations with dwarves, Odin proceeded.

To the furthest reaches of the cosmic north, Odin found the still frigid, ruthless tundra of Nifelheimr. The land that half helped birth the universe was found to still be the ice of old, but now overhung by a gloomy mist (Nifl= mist [Icelandic], gloom [English]). Cold and void of company or any foreseeable wisdom, Odin sought Niflheimr’s contradiction, Muspelheimr.

Far Odin traveled across the furthest reaches of Yggdrasil, to witness Muspelheimr, the land of fire (Old Norse= Mund-Spilli, “world-destroyers”, “wreck of the world”). Here, in the fire, heat, and ash of the land, Odin met a fragment of Ymir’s soul that manifested within a jotunn. The being, named Suertr (Old Norse= Black or Swarthy One, English≈Soot), was the remnants of Ymir’s greed and hunger, now enraged by the damnation of existence experienced by perpetually burning alive. Heaving a mighty sword, lit with flame and spewing embers, Suertr made an oath to the great Odin:

Hail Havi, High One, Harbard,

Come Ragnarok, Come my flame,

Many march in malice, one mighty mælstrom,

Asgard burns by my blade,

All will end, all will end

This convenient, inevitable

Odin, not yet privy to the details of Ragnarok, offered an oath in return:

Frightless little flame,

Only time will tell, should your words be true,

Should we fight, no remorse will I show to you,

For fire is hungry indeed,

and often quenched by ways of its own greed,

I need not lift a finger, as our fate we cannot flee,

But you will know me much wiser,

and already stronger in will,

No god will fall on Ragnarok, this wisdom I have still

Enraged, Suertr conjured a firestorm, ushering Odin’s departure. He flew the fire, the ashen realm of Muspel, further along the branches of Yggdrasil, on the long journey to Helheimr.

The name of Helheimr prior to the realm receiving its namesake ruler, Hel, is either lost to time or never existed. Regardless, it is said to be the furthest realm from any of the other eight worlds on Yggdrasil by a great margin. Even the great Odin becomes weary on such a long trek. Few have glimpsed Helheim and returned to report their observations, not because of a great threat of peril from the region, moreover, the one-way nature that it receives its guests. While duller and less regal than Asgard, Helheimr has ample space to host the mortal beings of the universe in their afterlife. Odin, having seen enough, continued his venture.

Soon he came to Midgardr (Old Norse= Middle Enclosure) and witnessed the opportunity for life. He called, across the Bifrost, to his brothers, Vili and Ve. The three brothers walked the shores of a remote coastline, happening upon two logs of driftwood; smooth elm and burly ash, the flora of Asgard. The brothers sought to use the material as the basis upon which to create a new race, humanity. Upon the logs, Odin sparked spirit and life, Ve provided them with movement, and Vili gave them shape, speech, emotion, and their five senses. The first male, of ash, was named Ask. The first female, of elm, was named Embla. They were instructed by the three gods to populate in Midgard, as it was now their home and their realm. Satisfied, the brothers departed Midgard; Vili and Ve bound for home in Asgard, Odin to his final worldly destination.

Vanaheimr, the last of the realms upon Odin’s journey in the branches of Yggdrasil, was a thriving, lush wildland. Towering mountains, bountiful valleys, and dense forests boasted the greatest abundance of flora and fauna diversity in any of the nine worlds. Such a place was unnerving, however, as the way of the æsir is that of order and development. Here, there were no fences, no steads, and no structure to be found. Meandering along the outskirts of a forest, Odin witnessed a being manifest seemingly out of the foggy mist produced by the wood. The great woman met Odin’s eye, as she stood his equal in height. This grand stature was contradicted by the uncanny silence produced with each step she took as she approached him. Unseeable energy welled to her being as if she were a magnet of the life energy around her. Odin called out:

Who are you, woman of the mist?

What witchcraft, what knowledge do you carry?

I, Allfather, Havi, Woden,

Ygg, Harbard, Drottin (Lord),

Order your knee bent, and fealty sworn

The woman stopped her approach, spear held firmly upright in one hand. Her other hand rested at her side, the air around it cracking and sparking with low energy. Her voice breached the silence like a hum on a snow-covered field:

I am Freyja, Queen of the Vanir, Keeper of Vanaheimr,

Ymir’s power I wield, Seidr by our tongue,

Lady of the Wood, Goddess of Fields, Hostess of Folkvangr,

Gulltar (Golden-Tear), Vanadis (Dis [protective ghost/spirit, female) of the Vanir), Gef (Giver),

I do not kneel to an equal but offer a seat in my hall instead,

Wariness becomes me for your desire for power and wisdom,

My hospitality is yours, but seidr shall remain mine