[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]

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

[jprussell]

That certainly strikes me as a valid interpretation, and indeed, I think is the "baseline" that gives a lot of the rest of it its charge. On the other hand, another take might be that the first shape change is into a snake, associated with cthonic death and rebirth. Going underground might be getting buried, or going to the underworld. Having sex with an underground female figure might be a symbolic representation of death, the precious liquid is something only available "out of this life," and transforming into the eagle is escaping from the usual fate of the dead to something else.

[k_a_nitz]

I also like to think of stories of Odin from the point of view of him being a representation of learning, and especially that of learning as gaining through sacrificing a part of yourself (whether that be literal or just time and effort). So for instance:

The change to a snake is representing stepping out of your skin and going beyond the everyday concerns of this life.
Going underground is digging down to the underlying principles.
The female figure down there is sophia (the norns?) - knowledge as a lover.
Sex with her is the striving for enlightenment.
The precious liquid is the gained insights (links to the well).
The giant who changes shape is the past self resisting the change that the insights bring.
The eagle because you must take the knowledge further to escape your past self's limitations.

[jprussell]

Wonderful! I think there's a lot of good food for meditation there. Incidentally, one of the "formulae" that Kvilhaug has spent a lot of time on is "The Maiden with the Mead," where the pattern is "Male Being overcomes challenges to meet with Female Being to get Precious Drink." Almost every version is somehow associated with knowledge/wisdom, so you're not alone in seeing that particular link for stories like this.

[(Anonymous)]

There are also some alchemical themes here, in that there is a fixed, or salt form, for the serpent, and a flying or sulfur form for the eagle. Odin starts out as fixed, undergoes the change after uniting with the female principle, and then gains the ability to "fly" afterwards. Thinking about the themes in The Seed of Yggdrasil, where women are the inner motivating principle within solid things, this makes sense of what is going on.

I also agree that the book is an editors nightmare. Argh.

[jprussell]

Ah, that's really cool. I don't know enough about alchemy (yet) to pick up on such things. Thanks much for pointing it out.

[(Anonymous)]

I would even argue that the themes go further, given that we can actually find the same motif echoed in the Tree. At the top is the Jotun eagle, while at the bottom is Nidhogg, and so there is something here in Odin's activity that repeats this relationship wherein the activity of these beings becomes reconciled. Is the mead the very sap of the Tree? I wonder.

[jprussell]

Hmmm! Now, that's an interesting speculation. It is sometimes called Mimameiðr, "Memory Tree," so I think you might be on to something.

[k_a_nitz]

Which may suggest that the tree is a static representation of an initiation?

[jprussell]

Huh, I hadn't considered that. That feels like some pretty good meditation fodder, right there. Off the top of my head, if the Tree is a representation of the world, and if the point of living in the world is the initiation of the higher Self, that makes some good sense.