Ancient Runes
Lesson 5 Fourth Yrs.
Welcome class to your fifth lesson for fourth yrs in Ancient Runes
Heimdall's Aett
Heimdall is sometimes thought of as a god of silence, which might seem like priestly meditation to some. I belived he, in conjunction with Loki, forms a special descriiption of the world. Loki is the bound giant whose fingers eat away at coastlines.
Loki is a shapeshifter, as dunes change shape. He steals, as erosion steals topsoil or land. yet he brings the god their greates treasures (usually of gold), as erosion reveals alluvial gold or other items.
Heimdall is the watcher against this. He is associated with goats because they live on the cliffs identified with him. He is identified with sea cliffs becasue they are seen as Heimdall watching for Loki's arrival. His horn is the waves crashing against the surf, the sound heard throughout the nin worlds.
He is associated with the land, in that Heimdall refers to the land just as do the names Vanaheim and Svartalfheim. Similarly, Freyja is called Merdall, which is the sea equivalent of Heimdall. But Heimdall himself was born of the sea, as land is often thought (correctly, geologically speaking) to be born of the sea.
In essence, Heimdall is a warrior. Ever-watchful, he struggles against overwhelming odds, showing unending courage in his watchfulness.
His aett begins with hoel. It is winter, ice and the season of cold. In this we again have the dichotomy of Loki and Heimdall.
Winter is a season in which people spend long months indoors. The second rune is nyd, necessity. Long periods of enforced rest, even boredom, can lead on past the obvious. The usual mechanisms of personality break down and the individual reaches for something inside him or herself. He or she finds sources of power beyone his or her dreams.
When such things occur, and they do occur in several societies, they are described in terms of combat or in relation to a warrior. It is interesting to note here that Freyja's aett starts with safety and move to danger, while Heimdall's aett starts with danger and moves to its resolution.
The next two runes of Heimdall seem to repeat the relationship of the first two: isa (spear or ice) and ger (the year, especially the harvest). Naturally Isa (as ice) parallels hoel, and ger (harvest with the implication of winter stores) parallels nyd.
If so, this implies the application of the power of nyd, in turn made necessary by hoel. Defense of the food stores against the enemy, human or natural, is part of this. But there is another dichotomy represented here.
Isa is the barren time of winter. Ger is the fruitruiness of the harvest. In this the warrior reaches into his or her lowermost depths to find the wellspring of personal strength, a strength which exists almost by natural law.
The runes go through boredom and find necessity. They go rough barrenness and fun fruitfulness. One would expect a third such division, yet the next two runes do not provide it.
Both eoh and poerdh deal with restriction. Eoh is natural restriction and might be compared to the literal meaning of the latin prohibit, which means "for life". Poerdh is the funeral mound and its entrance. It is death not in the mold or rad, a crossable state, but it is death as a warrior finds it--an impenetrable barrier; a final limit.
The las two runes are also similar indirection, but on different scales. That is, eolh is protection while sighel is the sun, salvation and protection.
Restriction is matched with protection and death is matched with salvation. In this poerdh is not an absolute barrier; any breach of that barrier exists only through a higher power, signal, as the sun, transcends death. It is not the warrior who digs permanently deeper into him or herself to eventually overcome even death; for this he or she requires outside aid. With that in mind, we turn to the thir aettir.
Questions:
1) Heimdall is thought of as the god of what?
2) Who is a shapeshifter?
3) What is Heimdall the watcher against?
4) Freyja is called _____________ which is the equivalent of what?
5) What does Loki bring the gods?
6) Freyja's aett starts with what, while Heimdall's aett starts with what?
7) The runes go through what?
8) Which two runes deal with restriction?
9) What are the last two runes of the Heimdall aett?
10) What are their meanings?
Bonus Question: Heimdall was born of what?
Don't forget the first student to send in the correct answer to the bonus question gets an extra 10 pts. for their house.
Assignments will be due on: November 6th.
Please send your assignments to Professor Parson. Please click on the sig pic below
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