VI
Then Gathered together the gods for counsel,
to holy hosts, and held converse;
to night and new moon their names they gave,
the morning named, and midday also,
forenoon and evening, to order the year.
The Gods & Goddesses, who at this point have not yet been discussed, come together and create order in the sense of linear time. The world already exists, created as we've already seen, by The Allfather, Odin, and his two brothers who may actually be additional aspects of the same individual. Later we'll get details of the rather gruesome details of the actual creation. As we progress through this discussion we will see actions that will likely make one wonder why Odin holds his position in Asgard. He is often a quite dangerous and untrustworthy figure. This stanza has a hint of an explanation. We've seen, and repeated, that Odin is the creator of the nine worlds. We'll see it and repeat it again. Here, in this stanza, we see quite clearly that he is the only creator. While the other Gods and Goddesses bring order to the universe, bring their influence to the lives of mankind, they are not creators. They are Gods and Goddesses of order. In a sense this stanza also gives us one of the aspects of Odin's power. He is a God of creation, but also unordered chaos, but not a random chaos. More, a chaos with purpose, one that if studied, and the purpose understood, can be ordered.
VII
On Itha Plain met the mighty gods;
shrines and temples they timbered high,
they founded forges to fashion gold,
tongs they did shape and tools they made;
I'm not really sure what to make of the first two lines of stanza 7. The Gods and Goddesses come together and build shrines and temples, but why? There are no people yet to worship them, so I suppose we are left with three possibilities. One, we are seeing a reference to the Gods giving worship to their ancestors, or unknown higher Gods. I believe this to be unlikely. Two, we are seeing a display of arrogance and power as the Gods raise temples and shrines to themselves, again I believe this to be unlikely due to the Norse idea of gift giving and worship which will be discussed at a later point. Or three, I suppose it may simply be the way the author chose to describe the Gods creating their halls in Asgard. With the next two lines this third seems to fit, although the homes of the Gods are not generally referred to as temples. In any case, the Gods go on to create tools and forges to work things of gold.
VIII
Payed at draughts in the garth: right glad they were,
nor aught lacked they of lustrous gold-
till maidens three from the thurses came,
awful in might, from etin-home.
For a time the Gods lived peacefully, without worry, until the Norns, three sisters (Urdhr, that which has happened, the past; Verdhandi, that which is happening, the present; Skuld, that which has yet to be, the possible future) who fill the role of the fates in Norse mythology, bringing with them the awesome and terrible power of their knowledge. Exactly what happens next is not known. The next eight stanzas have been lost at some point during the last 800 or so years. As a side note, I would like to mention that I have seen versions of the Voluspá online that fill in the next eight stanzas with stanzas that occur at a later point in the Poetic Edda. There exists a footnote in at least one version of the Edda translation that hypothesizes that this other set of stanzas, which doesn't make much sense, may possibly fit in at this point. I personally disagree due to the fact that these inserted stanzas don't actually make any sense when considered with the tale in the Voluspá.
Based on the next known stanzas, however, it seems clear that the eventual fate of the Gods was revealed to them. They were likely shown the battle of Ragnarok in which they would battle an army comprised, in part, by Loki, kin of Gods and Etins, and his offspring. Month the army of the Gods are men. As men have not yet been created, the creator Gods, Odin, Hœnir (previously referred to as Vili) and Lothir (previously refered to as Vé), leave Asgard, the home of the Æsir, and journey to the uninhabited Midgard.
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