Norse Mythology

1. Norse Mythology

2. What is Norse mythology? • Before the Norse, and other Germanic peoples, were converted to Christianity during the Middle Ages, they had their own highly sophisticated and complex indigenous religion. Norse mythology is one expression of this religion. • It included the veneration of deities such as Odin, Thor, Freya, and Loki.

3. Norse mythology was for the heathen Germanic peoples what the stories in the Bible are to Christians : grand narratives that give life meaning and that help people to make sense of the world.

4. Who were the Vikings? • The Vikings were seafaring warriors, raiders, and explorers from modern-day Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland who ventured throughout much of the world during the Viking Age (roughly 793-1000 CE). They traveled as far east as Constantinople and as far west as North America in search of riches to plunder and fertile lands in which to settle. They spoke the Old Norse language, wrote in runes, and practiced their ancestral religion.

5. The Vikings are an important part of the study of the indigenous mythology and religion of the Germanic peoples because the vast majority of what we know about these topics comes from Scandinavian and Icelandic poems, treatises, and sagas that were written during or relatively soon after the Viking Age.

6. Gods and Creatures • Norse mythology is populated by a fascinating variety of beings. For the pre-Christian Norse and other Germanic peoples, humans were far from the only intelligent or conscious life forms in the world. • Every animal, plant, rock, river, lake, and other element of what we today would call the “natural world” had its particular animating spirit. • The world was also filled with countless beings who were strictly invisible.

7. The Aesir gods and goddessesare the main tribe of deities. They live in the celestial fortress, Asgard, and maintain the order of the cosmos. • Among them are: • Odin, the wisest and most magically powerful of the gods; • Thor, the fiery-tempered defender of Asgard • Loki, the cunning trickster • Baldur the youthful and universally popular • Frigg, the loving sorceress • Heimdall, the ever-vigilant watchman • Tyr, the upholder of law and justice • Idun, the keeper of the apples of perpetual youth • Bragi, the court poet

8. The Vanir gods and goddessesare the second tribe of deities. • They tend to be more associated with the “natural world” than the Aesir. • Among them are: • Freya, the most popular goddess among the heathen Norse • Freyr, Njord, and Nerthus, the keepers and bringers of peace and wealth.

9. The giants, more properly called the “devourers,” are the chaotic spirits of night, darkness, winter, and death, who are often the enemies of the Aesir. • Among them are: • Hel, the ruler of the underworld; • the huntress Skadi; • Aegir and Ran, the rulers of the sea; • Ymir, the first being in the Norse creation narrative; • Fenrir, the wolf who consumes Odin during Ragnarok; • Jormungand, the sea serpent who encircles the land mass where humanity lives; • Nidhogg, the snake who gnaws at the roots of the world-tree • Yggdrasil; and Surt, whose flaming sword burns the world during Ragnarok.

10. The elves, light, beautiful, demigod-like beings. • The dwarves, master craftspeople who live underground. • The land spirits, the animating spirits of a particular locality. • Human ancestors, the worship of whom was an integral part of the pre-Christian Germanic religion.

11. The valkyries, female helping spirits of Odin who influenced the outcome of battles and bore some of the dead back to Valhalla. • Ask and Embla, the first two humans to be created and the archetypes of masculinity and femininity. • The Norns, three extremely wise and powerful women who have more influence over the course of destiny than any other beings. • Others of Odin’s helping spirits, including the eight-legged horse Sleipnir and the ravens Hugin and Munin.

12. ragnarok • Ragnarok describes is a cyclical end of the world, after which follows a new creation, which will in turn be followed by another Ragnarok, and so on throughout eternity. In other words, creation and destruction are points at opposite ends of a circle, not points at opposite ends of a straight line. • With this understanding, we can grasp the meaning of the play on words in the name “Ragnarok,” as was mentioned in the opening paragraph of this article. This cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth for which Norse mythology provides an archetype occurs at every scale of existence: the cycle of the seasons, of day and night, of the phases of the moon, of the life of any organism, and of the flourishing of life between mass extinctions.