Poetic Edda Voluspá Discussion I:III-V

Voluspá Discussion I:III-V

In earliest times did Ymir live:

was nor sea nor land nor salty waves,

neither earth was there nor upper heaven,

but a gaping nothing, and green things nowhere.

We begin to see a reflection of the physical environment and how natural cycles play in to the mythology. In the far Northern areas of Scandinavia the winters are long, cold, and dark. One can imagine this as the inspiration for a creation myth which begins in a cold void inhabited only by a giant known as Ymir (Roarer), the first of a race of frost giants.

Was the land then lifted aloft by Bur's sons

who made Mithgarth, the matchless earth;

shone from the south the sun on dry land,

on the ground then grew the greensward soft.

As the spring progresses the land, Midgard, is created by Odin, the Alfather (inspiration), and his brothers Vili (will) and Vé (spiritual pervasiveness in the world), bringing the stirrings fo life from the long winter, and finally the sun bringing warmth from the south.

From the south the sun, by the side of the moon,

heaved his right hand over heaven's rim;

the sun knew not what seat he had,

the stars knew not what stead they held,

the moon knew not what might she had.

Finally, Julius Hoffory (1855 - 1897), has suggested that this fifth stanza might describe a point in early summer when the northern lights (the sun's right hand) are visible, and all of the lights of the sky seem confused as to their proper place in the heavens. At this point the sun and the moon, and I assume the stars as well though I've never seen it myself, can be seen in the sky at the same time.

One could also look at these stanzas in a somewhat more esoteric form as a progression of consciousness and enlightenment. The un-evolved mind lives in an instinctual state. There is no concept of good or evil, just instinct. An intellectual and spiritual void. Take a few minutes to look around you throughout the day, and you'll see that there are a surprising number of people who have not grown much beyond this point. As one grows and learns and becomes more aware a new world and a new reality becomes known. Rather than living and interacting with the world in purely reactive terms, one begins to learn to interact with, and influence, the world and their reality. At the same time, however, one also becomes confused and unsure of one's place in this new world. Order and reason are there, but the indisciplined mind is unable, or at best, barely able, to comprehend.
It is also interesting to note some little bits of trivia. In Norse mythology the sun, who gives us the name for Sunday, is male. The moon, after whom Monday is named, is female.