The Poetic Edda, Voluspa (st. 3)

                                                      Translated by Lee M. Hollander

A significant component of the Northern European Mysteries is the understanding of dynamic balance and flux that dwells at the heart of the creation myth. From the inception of the known universe, the nine worlds, and all whom dwell in these realms, we see a constant dynamic rhythm and dance of polarized opposites that create a spiraling vortex of shifting contrasts. What is remarkable is that these apparent contrary states create a holistic whole in the totemic symbol of the nine worlds and the world-tree, Yggdrasil.

The creation story of the universe/multiverse is an elegant and deceptively simple one, yet contains deep poetic wisdom and just as many revelatory truths pertaining to our own lives here in Midgard.

We begin at the beginning, naturally...

The void, Ginnungagap, is the all expansive possibility of existence, a magickally charged space yearning for activation. Flanking this undiluted "all potential" is Niflheim, a watery world of mist and ice streams infused with yeast-venom. On the opposite pole is Muspelheim, a world of fire and heat exhaling sparks and streaking embers. The inherent oppositional, yet life producing potentiality of these two extremes meet at a harmonious point in Ginnungagap where the heat infused air activates the ice-yeast and forms the first living beings. 

Before we go further, it should be noted that I am writing this creation myth in "the now" as if, and indeed, it is occurring at this very moment in the realm of true potential that exists in every living sentient being. We all contain and harbor this triple helix of two energy extremes and the middle ground or tenuous balancing point where positive results can be brought forth from the union of two opposing raw elemental forces. These ultimate opposites remain abstractions until they are introduced to one another to create dynamism and action.

Niflheim can be viewed through the alchemical lens of a coagula or coagulant being comprised of both Ice and Venom. Snake venom has since ancient times been recognized as a medicine that closes, congeals and binds. These are all qualities of freezing cold states and ice as well. The yeast that lies dormant in this static suspension awaits heat to activate it's potential to become living food.

Muspelheim, being Niflheim's polar opposite, is a solve or solvent, in that it dissolves and opens through indefinite expansion. Fire, being the active element that represents this, loosens and breaks down its fuel as it consumes it. Energy is generated...

In a sense, the macrocosmic/microcosmic alchemical harmony betwixt the purest oppositional elemental states gives birth to existence itself!

 

Perhaps it matters not whom is born/formed first; Ymir (The Roarer) or Audhumla, the cosmic bovine. Both are vast primordial beings. Audhumla is laden with milk that flows from her udders and gives nourishment to Ymir, the first proto-life progenitor who is a hermaphrodite. This alone is mythic food for thought.

 

Balance...

Ymir, whose name equates them with sound/mantra/galdr, engenders offspring unconsciously from their body's sweat, and so the first sexually polarized beings are born, this race is called Jotun-Thurs. These beings are usually adversarial and antagonistic towards harmonious states due to their raw primal strength and wild, chaotic 'ur' origins. Yet, they are also responsible for co-mingling their life essences with other, 'younger' beings. Because of their great age and non-evolving existence they oftentimes harbor wisdom and memories of primal states of the multiverse's creation.

Audhumla, the primal mother, nourishes herself on the yeast that lies embedded in the massive blocks of icy salt that she licks. In doing so, she forms/frees an androgynous entity named Buri, described in the Eddas as having an attractive human form. Buri then asexually engenders a son named Bor. Bestla, a Jotun-Thurs woman becomes Bor's wife and their union produces the divine triad Odhinn-Vili-Ve, the architects of Midgard and the co-creators of what we understand to be human beings.

It should be noted that there is no 'creator' or divine hand at work in the initial formation of the triad Niflheim, Muspelheim and Ginnungagap. In fact, this triad represents the Always; a primal, separate condition devoid of even divine god forms. This is, after all, the state prior to "existence" itself where even divinity would be hard pressed to find shelter. The flavor is alien to terrestrial life. A chaotic and inhospitable seething cauldron that indeed still contains some semblance of structure because of its polarity. It is this thread of structure that allows the newly born divine triad of Odhinn-Vili-Ve to instill conscious order in this undifferentiated maelstrom of potentials...

We will next examine how Yggdrasil, Midgard and the Nine Worlds were wrought from the birth of a young, chaotic and raw potential multiverse.