[Main Blog Post] The Seed of Yggdrasill 1 - Introduction and the Books of Old

[jprussell]

This week, I take my first step in tackling Maria Kvilhaug's massive tome The Seed of Yggdrasill. As with some of her other work, it is a frustrating blend of genuinely wonderful insights and sloppy organization, but hopefully sharing my thoughts on them will help both of us get more out of it!

Comments

[k_a_nitz]

I have to say that some of the issues you raised around lack of editing sound very similar to those I encountered with The Three Little Sisters edition of Kweldulf Gundarsson's Teutonic Magic - which read like it had been scanned from a previous printed edition and not copy checked - and really put me off buying more from them.

[k_a_nitz]

Re: "Kvilhaug's interpretation is that these are initiatory tales, and that the sequence of tales shows a soul getting part of the way there, dying, reincarnating, and then getting further along each time, turning what can feel like a loosely-linked anthology into a coherent spiritually relevant cycle."
This would be a cool exercise for anyone wanting to write their own myth cycle - figuring out which lessons should be learnt in each 'life', and what order to put them in.

[k_a_nitz]

Funnily enough I just came across the word "euhemerization" in its German form yesterday in a translation I'm doing - completely new to me and so I needed to look it up!

[k_a_nitz]

Regarding: "So, if you wanted to take this approach to Odhinn winning the Mead of Poetry, you'd focus on how Odhinn changes shape, goes underground, meets a female figure, they have sex, he takes a precious liquid, and then changes shape to escape again, chased by a giant who has also changed shape. Now, clearly, the details of each of these steps likely have meaning (why does he change into a snake at first and an eagle at the end? Which female figure gives him what precious liquid?)"

My interpretation:
Odhinn changes shape = gets horny
goes underground = goes to woman's bedroom (dark chthonic place)
meets a female figure, they have sex = as it says
he takes a precious liquid = gets inspired as a result
then changes shape to escape again = no longer horny and does a runner
chased by a giant who has also changed shape = pregnant woman wanting commitment
why does he change into a snake at first = got horny
and an eagle at the end? = got inspired (mind soaring)
Which female figure gives him what precious liquid? = muse gives him inspiration

[k_a_nitz]

Re: "The other thing she does is to point out how her understanding is that the myths can be understood, enjoyed, and found meaningful at multiple levels, whether as magical tales, clues to religious ritual, or representations of deeper spiritual realities."

There is a whole cottage industry in academia around this idea for literature in general - the keyword to look for is intertextuality (my MA thesis was around intertextuality in a German novel). You could say the equivalent of kennings for Anglo-Saxon Christians would be references to phrases from the King James Bible or the Book of Common Prayer - if you pay attention when reading English novels from about 100 years ago or older you will often catch these (intertexts) and if you know the original context you may grasp the deeper meaning buried in the text.

[k_a_nitz]

Re: "As such, she raises the thought that all of that which is might be thought of as a story or a poem being told by Whatever or Whomever the creator might be."

This sounds very Christian to me for some reason - "what is written shall be" - though it also sounds very familiar.