From owner-asatru@home.ease.lsoft.com Sun Mar 1 21:31:06 1998 Received: (from mail@localhost) by ratatosk.squirrel.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) id VAA25650 for ; Sun, 1 Mar 1998 21:31:05 -0800 (PST) Received: from mango-backup.dc.lsoft.com(206.241.13.21) by ratatosk.squirrel.com via MultiNet SMTP Gateway (V1.3) id sma025648; Sun Mar 1 21:30:39 1998 Received: from home (206.241.12.8) by mango.ease.lsoft.com (LSMTP for Windows NT v1.1a) with SMTP id <5.746CD640@mango.ease.lsoft.com>; Mon, 2 Mar 1998 0:30:51 -0500 Received: from HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM by HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 1.8c) with spool id 10538112 for ASATRU@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM; Mon, 2 Mar 1998 00:31:06 -0500 Received: from magicnet.magicnet.net (204.96.116.9) by home.ease.lsoft.com (LSMTP for Windows NT v1.1a) with SMTP id <10.7CC05650@home.ease.lsoft.com>; Mon, 2 Mar 1998 0:31:06 -0500 Received: from default (pm53-08.magicnet.net [208.6.200.112]) by magicnet.magicnet.net (8.8.6/8.8.6) with ESMTP id AAA08679; Mon, 2 Mar 1998 00:30:30 -0500 (EST) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Priority: 3 X-Mailer: Microsoft Internet Mail 4.70.1162 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: <199803020530.AAA08679@magicnet.magicnet.net> Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 00:27:27 -0500 Reply-To: The Asatru List Sender: The Asatru List From: William Reaves Subject: Weaving Fate among the stars Comments: To: asatru-l@eskimo.com, oldnorsenet@hum.gu.se To: ASATRU@home.ease.lsoft.com Status: RO Content-Length: 13695 Lines: 262 Here is an example of Rydberg's explanation of a poetic expression found in Fjolsvinsmal 30, regarding: Urd: Spinning Fate Among the Stars Mimir and the Norns are closely associated. In a previous posting (Use of the Name Narvi, 1 of 2), I demonstrated that the name Narvi is an epithet of Mimir and that the expressions "nipt Nera" and "nipt Njörva" always refer to Urd or her sisters as kinswomen of one Neri-Narvi, the father of Nat. In light of this, it can be demonstrated that the poems suggest that Urd was imagined to weave the destinies of mankind among the stars--thus leading to the common conception that men's destiny are linked to the stars. Two passages from the Elder Edda suggest this. They are Fjolsvinsmal 30 and Helgakvida Hundingsbana I, 2-4. In Fjolsvinsmal the situation is this: Svipdag approaches Asgard's gate and engages Fjölsviðr (Odin; cp. Grimnismal 47). Through a series of questions and answers, we learn that the gate will only be open to the one who can obtain a sword, "laevateinn," a most dangerous weapon which can bring down the gold-glittering cock that sits in the open air at the top of "Mimir's Tree" (Yggdrassil). Strophe 32 tells us that "long has (the hall) trembled on the point of the sword." Thru a series of comparisons, we discover that this is the sword made my Volund, one of the Sons of Ivaldi, who feels most gravely insulted by the judgement of the gods on his work. From the discussion in Fjolsvinsmal, we learn that the sword is kept by Sinmara (the Sinew-maimer; cp. Nidhad's queen in Volundarkviða who orders Volund's hamstrings cut). Since the gates of the castle open to Svipdag and Fjölviðr's wolf-hounds, Geri and Gifr, lick his hands at the end of the poem, it is apparent that he has obtained this sword. Some brief comparisons will serve to illustrate the validity of this interpretation, which is important to the understanding of Fjolsvinsmal 30: In Volundarkviða, Volund forges a sword and a "lind-ring" which is taken from him by Nidhad (Nidi= the Subterranean). To do this, Nidhad and his family fare from the 'holt" (str. 16). Nidhad's queen orders Volund hamstrung and the smith is bound. Some quick examples regarding the sword and the ring will illustrate the probablity that Nidhad in Volundarkviða is Mimir. In Vafthrudnirsmal, Mimir's domain is referred to as Mimis "holt" as is Nidhad's home in Volundarkviða. Within Saxo's Balder Myth, (DH, Book 3) we find an episode in which the hero Hotharus ( a possible confounding of Odr and Hodr) obtains a sword and a bracelet from "the satyr" Mimingus (i.e. Mimir). The sword is attended by victory, and the ring insures its owner wealth. Hotharus uses this sword against the gods. Volund's sword and ring have the same properties. The sword is made hard and keen by Volund's "cunning". He is a wise "alf" and no doubt skilled in magic, and any work from his hands would be endowed with magic properties. It is forged for the purpose of revenging a wrong done to him, which is not yet avenged my the poem's end (str. 28). When Nidhad comes to the smithy, he is astonished to see so many rings, as "there was no gold on Grani's way." But of all the 700 "lind-rings," Nidhad takes only one, and Volund immediately notices it missing. These statements indicate that it too was a "wealth-producing" ring akin to Draupnir. Nidhad gives the ring to his daughter and keeps the sword for himself. Fjölsvinsmal emphasizes "Mimir's Tree," devoting several passages to it, it also speaks of a most dangerous sword, which threatens heaven itself and the inhabitants of the castle, and even possibly mentions the ring in it's reference to Sinmara as "eiri örglasis," which might mean "the dis of the shinging arm-ring" as Bugge suggests. <> Regarding the investigation at hand, regarding Urd's weaving, Fjolsvinsmal says that to relieve the anquish of "the ash-colored giantess" Sinmara and obtain the weapon she holds, one must: "Liòsan liá skaltu i lúðr bera þann-es liggr i Viðofnis völum Sinmöto at selja" (From Vigfusson's rendition in CPB) Literally: The Luminious Sickle shall-you bear to Ludr, that lies in Vidofnir's "staffs" and to Sinmara give" In looking for examples of this verse in translation. I have to admit I was amazed at the general lack of translation of this poem. Vigfusson, Larrington, and Terry, all avoid translating this poem. Neckel/Kuhn do not even provide the Old Norse text of it. Hollander and Thorpe who do render this poem in English disagree on this passage: Thorpe: "The bright sickle that lies in Vidofnir's wings thou in a bag shalt bear and to Sinmara give" Hollander: "The shining feather then shalt thou pluck which from Vithofnir's start thou must steal ere sullen Sinmara will sell it to thee" The word I am primarily concerned with here is "völum" (pl. of völr) Neckel/Kuhn define the word "völr" as "stab," staff. Clearsby/Vigfusson as "round staff." Thus its meaning is not in question. With this in mind, Viktor Rydberg says in the second volume of his work Undersökingar i Germanisk Mythologi, pg 356 forward: <> "The first question which arises is whether we can find some mythological basis for Nidhad's kinswoman's (Sinmara's) deep sorrow. Volundarkviða informs us that Nidhad's daughter Beadohild (Böðvildr) fell into Volund's arms in an unconscious state and thus bore him a son. The son is the famous saga-hero Vidiga (Wittich). One learns further that so long as Sinmara lacks the luminous sickle that she feels an anquish "that cannot be eased" and that the cock Vidofnir himself feeling her, the "black one's" distress, sighs (str. 24). This characterizes compassion on the part of Vidofnir with the sorrow of the sword-guardian, Sinmara, and consequently is an indication that Vidofnir relieves it with the luminous sickle found between his "staffs" which comes into Sinmara's possession through Svipdag. Without it, Svipdag, of course, cannot complete his errand. Finally, we understand why Svipdag in particular is chosen by Urd to acquire Volund's "laevateinn" as before the birth of Volund's son, he has, as the son of Volund's brother, the closest right of inheritance to the sword, and due to his position as an enemy of the gods. <> Consequently, before Svipdag obtains "laeviteinn," the state of affairs is this: <> After the death of the elf-prince Volund, his brother's son Svipdag arises to take revenge on Volund's enemies for Volund's death, before Beadohild bears his son. Before Svipdag can complete his revenge, Beadohild either bears or is about to bear the child. Beadohild and her mother (Sinmara, Nidhad's queen) are anxious about the fate of Volund's son, who even before birth is an enemy of the gods. In weaving Vidiga's coming life, the norns are prepared to cut the red thread of revenge, and this can only be done in one way, namely, that Svipdag brings the luminous sickle to Sinmara. What is meant by this "luminous sickle" and how can it alone change Vidiga's fate so that he escapes the obligation of blood-revenge, in which he would oppose the order of the world and certainly die in doing so? Undoubtedly, the sickle is to sever something; and this can be nothing other than the red thread of revenge that Urd weaves in Vidiga's life. Vidofnir, who sits "gold-glittering" up in the Tree and among whose "staffs" the sickle is found is, as many mythologists have assumed, a symbol of the starry sky. Vidofnir means the "wide-open." <> Round staffs are used to this day by Icelandic weavers to wind their string or thread around. As Vidofnir is a symbol of the "glittering" starry heavens, these round objects must symbolize the stars and the luminous sickle that is found among them, a symbol of the cresent moon. This image assumes that one conceived of the norns as stretching the threads of men's lives through the heavens and likewise among the stars--- the "völum" on which they wind the threads and between which they span. There is no lack of hints in the Old Norse literature that the norns who twist, wind, unwind, and stretch the threads of life, here as in Greece, are furnished for this purpose with common household implements. Consequently, they too possess "völum," and that these winding staffs are the stars. Similarily, in the first few strophes of Helgikvida Hundingsbana I, one finds that it is nighttime when the stars are up, that the norns come to wind the threads of fate; they put the warp's web into order and fasten it "under" the hall of the moon (und mánsal miðjan festu). The First Lay of Helgi Hundingscide (Thorpe Translation): 2. In the mansion it was night: the Norns came, who should the prince's life determine. They him decreed a prince most famed to be, and of leaders accounted best. 3. With all their might they span the fatal threads (örlogþáttu), when that (he) burghs should overthrow in Bralund. They stretched out the golden cord, and beneath the middle of the moon's mansion fixed it. 4. East and west they hid the ends, where the prince had lands between; toward the north Neri's sister cast a chain, which she bade last forever. Why "under" the hall of the moon? Probably because the course of the cresent moon through the sky could sever the hold of the threads. If such a quality were ascribed to the cresent moon, it is clear why Sinmara desires to possess it, and through its use lift her anxiety. Sinmara is the mother of Nat (Njorvi-Neri's daughter) and the night dises who fare everyday through the heavens. Beadohild herself is certainly a night dis. Since Nidhad's queen needs the sickle, consequently it is to sever the thread of revenge stretched for Vidiga beneath the hall of the moon. However, this means that Volund's brother's son (Svipdag) must assume the obligation. In Saxo (Book 3) and Romund Greipsson's saga, one learns that it is the moon god and "ward of the atmosphere," whom Saxo calls Gevarus (Ge= atmosphere, var =ward) and in Romund's saga Mani Karl that helps a hero take possession of the myth's greatest sword, described in such a way that no doubt can remain that Volund's sword is meant. ....It bears notice that Vidofnir was distressed over Sinmara's sorrow and that the castle where Menglad (Freyja) lives has "long trembled on the point of the sword." <> Thus it follows that the residents of the castle (the Asgardians) do not consider themselves or the order of the world safe, eventhough the enemy-smith has been robbed of his weapon, and although Sinmara keeps it in something called "the sea-requiring vessel with nine njarðar-locks" (str. 26 "i segjárnskeri liggr hann hjá Sinmöru, ok halda njarðarlásar niu"). So long as she keeps the sword, they are not secure, for a mother's love might prevail and in a decisive moment extend to Vidiga, his father's weapon in order to do battle with the gods. Their anxiety cannot be assuaged until Svipdag with "laevateinn" comes within Asgard's wall. With the "sea-requiring vessel with the nine njarðar-locks," I believe is meant the world-tree with the world-wells down in the underworld, where the meeting between Sinmara and Svipdag took place. <> The nine "njarðar-locks" I believe refer to the world-tree's 9 annual rings which correspond to the "njú iviði" reported in Voluspa 2. The word "iviði" has a double-meaning, and one meaning does not stand in the way of the other. In one of its meanings, the word can stand in analogy to "inn-viðr," inside something wooden. The memory of a mythic sword kept for safe-keeping stuck in a tree has preserved itself in the Volsungasaga. End quote William Reaves, March 1998 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send w/o quotes "SIGNOFF ASATRU" to LISTSERV@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM If you have questions, write to: ASATRU-REQUEST@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM