{"id":451,"date":"2026-02-07T15:35:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T15:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earthspirittarot.com\/wyrd\/?p=451"},"modified":"2026-02-07T15:35:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T15:35:44","slug":"the-norse-creation-story-how-the-worlds-took-shape-from-ice-fire-and-a-giants-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthspirittarot.com\/wyrd\/2026\/02\/07\/the-norse-creation-story-how-the-worlds-took-shape-from-ice-fire-and-a-giants-body\/","title":{"rendered":"The Norse Creation Story: How the Worlds Took Shape From Ice, Fire, and a Giant\u2019s Body"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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When you hear someone mention ‘the Norse creation story,’ what you\u2019re really getting is a myth layered like winter clothes: old poems tucked into later manuscripts, and a prose version carefully gathered by a Christian Icelander who loved the old tales and couldn\u2019t help but sort them out.
That doesn\u2019t make the story any less true in spirit. It just means we\u2019re piecing things together from sources, not reading from a single holy book. And really, the Norse cosmos was never meant to be tidy or polished. It\u2019s wild, physical, and very much alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where The Story Comes From<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our primary medieval Icelandic sources are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Poetic Edda<\/strong> (manuscripts written down in the 1200s, preserving older oral poetry). The most crucial creation poem is V\u00f6lusp\u00e1<\/strong> (\u201cThe Seeress\u2019s Prophecy\u201d), which gives a cosmic overview from beginning to end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prose Edda<\/strong> by Snorri Sturluson<\/strong> (early 1200s), especially Gylfaginning<\/strong> (\u201cThe Beguiling of Gylfi\u201d), which gives the most continuous \u201cstory version\u201d via a clever frame narrative.
Snorri also includes a Prologue that explains the gods as heroic humans from Troy \u2014 a medieval strategy called euhemerism (basically: \u201cthese aren\u2019t literal gods, don\u2019t panic, Church!\u201d).
So, we read Snorri with appreciation and awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Before the World: Ginnungagap and the Two Extremes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the beginning, there isn\u2019t \u201clight.\u201d There\u2019s Ginnungagap<\/strong> \u2014 a yawning emptiness \u2014 and on either side of it, two primal realities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Niflheim:<\/strong> cold, mist, ice, rime, the deep freeze of beginnings.
M\u00faspell<\/strong> (often given as M\u00faspellsheimr \/ Muspelheim): heat, flame, sparks, the wild burn of becoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creation kicks off when opposites collide. Heat stretches out to meet frost, ice starts to drip, and in that crackling tension, life stirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re looking for a modern metaphor, forget perfect paradise. This is more like: something bursts into being because wild forces crash together and change each other. It\u2019s the Norse take on the Big Bang\u2014messy, loud, and full of potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Detail That Often Gets Skipped: \u00c9liv\u00e1gar, Hvergelmir, and \u201ceitr\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Snorri throws in a handful of details that most modern retellings skip, but they\u2019re worth keeping\u2014because they make the myth feel properly Norse: physical, strange, and just a little bit dangerous.
In Gylfaginning<\/strong>, the cold side isn\u2019t passive. From a primal source called Hvergelmir<\/strong> (often placed in\/near Niflheim) flow rivers called the \u00c9liv\u00e1gar<\/strong>. These rivers carry a primal substance that Snorri describes as eitr<\/strong> (often translated as venom\/poison). As the rivers move away from their source, the eitr hardens into rime and ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the warmth from M\u00faspell<\/strong> reaches the rime.
That\u2019s the chemistry set of creation: ice, melt, frost, heat\u2014and something like venom, hardening into the bones of reality. This detail matters, because it frames the Norse cosmos as something born out of raw, messy processes\u2014not a clean ‘let there be…’ moment. Reality here forms the way a storm does: pressure, temperature, movement, reaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The First Beings: Ymir and Au\u00f0humla<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Out of the mingling meltwater and rime, Ymir<\/strong> emerges, the primordial j\u00f6tunn\u2014the first giant, ancestor of all his kind, raw and ancient as the world itself. At this stage, the line between ‘person’ and ‘landscape’ is blurry. Ymir is a living fact of existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with him comes Au\u00f0humla<\/strong>, the cosmic cow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This part of the myth is gloriously strange and earthy. Au\u00f0humla feeds Ymir with her milk. While she\u2019s at it, she\u2019s busy licking salty rime-stones, and with each lick, something stirs beneath the ice\u2014until B\u00fari<\/strong>, ancestor of the gods, is revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B\u00fari emerges from the rime\u2014not created out of nothing, but revealed, as if the world itself had secrets waiting just beneath the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a huge mythic idea: the divine isn\u2019t dropped in from outside, but revealed from within the world\u2019s own substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B\u00fari fathers Borr<\/strong>, and Borr fathers Odin, Vili, and V\u00e9<\/strong> \u2014 the three brothers who will take what is wild and unfinished and turn it into a world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Creation Through Transformation: the Slaying of Ymir<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s where everything turns. Odin and his brothers kill Ymir. This is the part where a lot of people go ‘oof,’ because we\u2019re used to creation being gentle, clean, and morally straightforward. The Norse version? Not so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the myth is telling you something about how the universe really works:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Order doesn\u2019t appear by itself.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Chaos doesn\u2019t politely organise itself.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Making a world takes a turning, a cutting, a radical act of transformation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    In the myth, Ymir\u2019s blood floods the world, drowning most of the giants (though a few survive, because the story always leaves a thread). It\u2019s a cosmic rebalancing: the old, wild state is overturned so something new can take shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You don\u2019t have to read this as ‘violence is holy.’ Many Heathens see it as a mythic truth about reality: life is made from what came before, and transformation always comes with a price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    The Cosmos is a Body: Building the World From Ymir<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Snorri gives us the most detailed cosmic anatomy, and it\u2019s the part that sticks with people because it\u2019s so striking:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is the iconic moment\u2014the part where the Norse universe gets visceral, and the myth steps right into the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Odin, Vili, and V\u00e9 shape the world from Ymir\u2019s corpse:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Flesh becomes the earth.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Blood becomes sea and waters.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Bones become mountains.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Teeth \/ shattered bone become stones and boulders.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Skull becomes the sky.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • (Often included in the wider tradition: brains become clouds; sparks become stars)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      This is the ‘anthropomorphic universe’ in action: the world isn\u2019t a dead stage set. It\u2019s made from living substance. The cosmos is kin to the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      It\u2019s a reminder that many modern Heathens feel in their bones: we aren\u2019t separate from the world. We\u2019re made of it, and it\u2019s made of the same deep material as us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      The Missing Midgard Detail: Eyebrows as the Boundary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      A lot of people list \u201cearth\/sea\/mountains\/sky\u201d and move on. But one of the most telling details is this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Midgard is described as a fortification made from Ymir\u2019s eyebrows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      It\u2019s not just ‘humans live on earth.’ Humans live inside an enclosure. Midgard is literally a ‘middle yard’\u2014a bounded space where human life can exist with at least a little protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This flows right into one of the big Norse worldview themes: the tension between what\u2019s inside the fence and what\u2019s out beyond it\u2014the difference between the hearth-world and the wild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      If you want to connect it to modern Heathen language without getting preachy: this is where \u201cfrith\u201d starts to feel like a cosmic principle, not just a social one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      Ordering Time: Sun, Moon, Night, Day \u2014 and the first \u201cmeasuring\u201d of reality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      The gods don\u2019t just shape land\u2014they set the rhythm. In this mythic world, time isn\u2019t just a clock ticking away. It\u2019s a force that needs to be nudged into motion. The sun and moon are set on their paths, and the great cycles start to turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      That\u2019s what separates chaos from cosmos: a world with rhythm, seasons, and pattern you can live by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Most people mention the sun and moon being put on their paths (S\u00f3l<\/strong> and M\u00e1ni<\/strong>). But Snorri adds another lovely layer: Night (N\u00f3tt)<\/strong> and Day (Dagr)<\/strong> are personified beings set into motion, riding across the sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This is such a Norse move: time isn\u2019t just an idea. Time is alive. Time is a power, a presence.
      So creation isn\u2019t just ‘stuff exists.’ It\u2019s ‘stuff exists in rhythm.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      Midgard: the enclosure that makes human life possible<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      Even with a world in place, boundaries are still needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      A huge theme in Norse thought is the difference between what\u2019s inside the fence and what\u2019s outside it \u2014 a worldview that scholars often describe with the Old Norse terms innangar\u00f0r<\/strong> (\u201cwithin the enclosure\u201d) and \u00fatangar\u00f0r<\/strong> (\u201cbeyond the enclosure\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      So Midgard\u2014the Middle Enclosure\u2014isn\u2019t just ‘earth.’ It\u2019s the safe space where humans can actually live: with frith, law, community, and the warmth of a hearth at the centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      And outside that fence? All the forces that test and threaten what\u2019s inside: wilderness, giants, the open sea, winter, and everything unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      Ask and Embla: how humans enter the story.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      This is one of my favourite moments\u2014it\u2019s small and close after all the cosmic thunder.
      The gods find two tree trunks on the shore and shape the first humans: Ask and Embla<\/strong> (often interpreted as ash and elm, though the exact identification is debated).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      They don\u2019t just shape bodies\u2014they hand out the gifts that make us human: breath, spirit, awareness, senses, speech, and appearance. The details shift from source to source, but the heart of it stays the same:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Humans are not an afterthought. We are part of the cosmic architecture \u2014 placed into Midgard as living participants in the ordered world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The \u201ctwo traditions\u201d people miss<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This is one of the most common \u201cwait, are we missing something?\u201d moments:
      In Snorri, the gifting is often tied to Odin, Vili, and V\u00e9<\/strong>.
      In V\u00f6lusp\u00e1, the trio is Odin, H\u0153nir, and L\u00f3\u00f0urr<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Same mythic job, different names preserved.
      Different tellings, different names for the gift-givers\u2014but both agree: humans are made human by a bundle of divine gifts, not just breath but consciousness and social personhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      And if you\u2019re tempted to compare this to Adam and Eve, the mood here is completely different. This isn\u2019t ‘made perfect, then broken.’ It\u2019s ‘shaped, gifted, set down, and expected to live in a world that\u2019s always wrestling with chaos.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      Ask and Embla vs. Adam and Eve: Same \u201cfirst humans\u201d slot, but totally different mythic vibes.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      It\u2019s tempting to line up Ask and Embla with Adam and Eve\u2014they\u2019re both the first humans, right at the world\u2019s beginning. But the Norse story is different enough that the comparison actually throws its uniqueness into sharp relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Humans are crafted from the world, not placed over it<\/strong>
      Ask and Embla are shaped from trees\u2014literally drawn from the living material of the world. That detail matters. It makes humans feel like kin to the land, not rulers dropped in from above. This isn\u2019t a story where humanity is handed dominion over a finished creation; it\u2019s one where we\u2019re made from the same stuff as the world and set inside its boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Personhood arrives through multiple gifts<\/strong>
      In the Norse sources, being human isn\u2019t just ‘alive.’ It\u2019s layered: breath or spirit, mind, senses, speech, appearance\u2014the details shift depending on the telling, but the point holds. Humanness is a bundle of gifts. That difference is subtle but powerful. Personhood arrives in pieces\u2014not just ‘body plus one breath.’ (And it\u2019s worth noting the sources preserve different gift-giver names: Snorri leans toward Odin\u2013Vili\u2013V\u00e9, while V\u00f6lusp\u00e1 names Odin\u2013H\u0153nir\u2013L\u00f3\u00f0urr. Same function, different preserved tradition.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      There\u2019s no \u201cFall\u201d as the engine of human suffering<\/strong>
      The Adam and Eve story is often structured around a moral rupture: a forbidden act that breaks an original harmony, and suffering becomes a consequence of that break. The Ask and Embla story doesn\u2019t hinge on a single moment of moral collapse. The Norse cosmos is already a place where chaos prowls at the edges, and order must be maintained. Human struggle isn\u2019t ‘you sinned once, now you\u2019re cursed.’ It\u2019s ‘you live in a world built from tension, and you have to find your way through it.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Boundaries are the point: Midgard as an enclosure<\/strong>
      In the Norse creation story, Midgard isn\u2019t just ‘where humans live.’ It\u2019s a defended enclosure\u2014a middle yard, a protected space set against whatever waits beyond. So human life isn\u2019t ‘paradise lost’\u2014it\u2019s ‘community and order held inside a boundary.’ That\u2019s a very different spiritual focus: hearth, frith, law, and right relationship become central, because they\u2019re what keep Midgard, well, Midgard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The myth is less about obedience, more about belonging and responsibility<\/strong>
      Many Genesis readings (not all, but many) emphasise obedience, transgression, and the moral consequences of disobedience. Ask and Embla sits in a worldview that\u2019s more about belonging inside the cosmic structure: you\u2019re made from the world, gifted into awareness, placed within boundaries, and expected to live well inside them\u2014not because you\u2019re ‘fallen,’ but because the cosmos is a living thing that can be strengthened or strained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In short: Adam and Eve is a story of moral rupture. Ask and Embla is a story of ensoulment, belonging, and being set down in a cosmos that\u2019s always negotiating with the wild beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n\n\n\n

      V\u00f6lusp\u00e1 vs Snorri: same myth, different camera angle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      V\u00f6lusp\u00e1 (Poetic Edda)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      V\u00f6lusp\u00e1 isn\u2019t a tidy narrative. It\u2019s a cosmic vision: the seeress remembers the beginning, names the powers, and moves through vast mythic time. Creation shows up as a series of awakenings\u2014void, shaping, ordering, the setting of celestial bodies\u2014and then the story just keeps rolling.
      There\u2019s also a kind of post-creation ‘settling in’\u2014the gods establishing, building, crafting\u2014which gives you a sense of an early, ordered phase before the trouble starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Gylfaginning (Snorri)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Snorri gives you the clearest step-by-step ‘story version,’ but you\u2019re always reading it through a few filters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • a frame narrative (King Gylfi being \u201cbeguiled\u201d)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • a Christian-era author who often organises and systematises<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • a writer who is preserving old lore while also making it legible to a medieval audience<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        This is where scholars start waving flags about Christian influence\u2014not that Snorri made it all up, but that he may have tidied, rationalised, or shaped the way it\u2019s presented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        A useful way to hold both<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        A simple approach that keeps everyone sane:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • V\u00f6lusp\u00e1 = older poetic worldview, big mythic atmosphere<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Snorri = narrative clarity + extra details + a medieval lens<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          So you can lean on Snorri for the storyline, but let V\u00f6lusp\u00e1 give you the myth\u2019s ancient, haunted backbone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n\n\n\n

          The Nine Worlds: a map, a metaphor, and a living system<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
          \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

          Quick reality check: when people talk about ‘the Nine Worlds,’ it\u2019s easy to imagine the sources hand us a neat, labelled map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          They don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          The texts mention many worlds and realms, and ‘nine’ is clearly a powerful number\u2014but you won\u2019t find a single, tidy list anywhere. No fantasy atlas, just hints and patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Still, it\u2019s useful\u2014spiritually and symbolically\u2014to treat the Nine Worlds as states of being as much as places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          This is a modern way to organise patterns in the sources \u2014 a map for meaning, not a single medieval checklist:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          World<\/th>Symbolic Meaning<\/th>Elemental Association<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
          Asgard<\/strong><\/td>The realm of the Aesir; represents order, consciousness, and the \u201chigher self.\u201d<\/td>Sky \/ Celestial<\/td><\/tr>
          Midgard<\/strong><\/td>\u201cMiddle Yard\u201d; the physical realm of humanity, the balance point between extremes.<\/td>Earth \/ Material<\/td><\/tr>
          Helheim<\/strong><\/td>The realm of the dead; represents the subconscious, roots, and stillness.<\/td>Cold \/ Depth<\/td><\/tr>
          Jotunheim<\/strong><\/td>Realm of the Giants (J\u00f6tnar); represents wild nature and chaotic forces.<\/td>Rock \/ Wilderness<\/td><\/tr>
          Alfheim<\/strong><\/td>Realm of the Light Elves; represents inspiration, beauty, and intellect.<\/td>Light \/ Air<\/td><\/tr>
          Svartalfheim<\/strong><\/td>Realm of the Dwarves; represents craftsmanship, the ego, and material wealth.<\/td>Subterranean \/ Ore<\/td><\/tr>
          Vanaheim<\/strong><\/td>Realm of the Vanir; represents fertility, intuition, and the natural cycle.<\/td>Water \/ Growth<\/td><\/tr>
          Muspelheim<\/strong><\/td>Primordial Fire; represents destruction, creation, and raw energy.<\/td>Heat \/ Fire<\/td><\/tr>
          Niflheim<\/strong><\/td>Primordial Ice; represents stagnation, mist, and the beginning of matter.<\/td>Mist \/ Ice<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
          \n\n\n\n

          Vertical vs horizontal: what shape is the cosmos?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          Vertical model (the popular modern one): Asgard above, Midgard middle, Hel below.
          Horizontal\/concentric model (often argued as closer to older world-feeling): Midgard at the centre; other realms reached by travelling outward \u2014 over sea, into wilderness, across boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          A lot of scholarship describes models using concentric \u201crings\u201d around the centre, with the world tree as the central axis and the enclosures defining reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          A very Norse way to put it isn\u2019t ‘up\/down, heaven\/hell,’ but more like:
          centre\/enclosure \/ beyond<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          That fits the Midgard-eyebrows detail perfectly, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n\n\n\n

          Archaeology: \u201csnapshots\u201d of worldview (not a Viking Bible)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          There\u2019s no Viking Age holy book, but we do have objects\u2014things you can hold in your hand\u2014that show how myth and worldview travelled through daily life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Gotland picture stones<\/strong>
          Gotland\u2019s picture stones (roughly AD 400\u20131100) depict mythic scenes and journeys\u2014proof that cosmology was depicted long before Snorri wrote a word. Even without labels, the fact that these stories were carved in stone tells you they were culturally real, not just literary invention. The Ardre image stones, dated roughly 8th\u201311th centuries, are often discussed in this context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          The Torslunda plates<\/strong>
          The Torslunda plates (bronze dies used to stamp helmet foils) are usually dated to around the Vendel Period and are famous for imagery that many scholars connect to Odin-cult themes \u2014 including an apparent one-eyed figure and ritual\/animal-costume elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Mj\u00f6lnir pendants as boundary symbols<\/strong>
          Archaeologically, roughly around a thousand Thor\u2019s hammer pendants have been recorded across the Nordic world and beyond, and they appear in graves, hoards, and settlements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Whatever else they were, these weren\u2019t just jewellery. They\u2019re bold, wearable shields of protection, identity, and devotion\u2014a little piece of Midgard\u2019s fence you wear right over your heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          The Oseberg \u201cBuddha bucket\u201d<\/strong>
          The Oseberg ship burial has a bucket with a handle ornament that gets called the ‘Buddha bucket’\u2014the figures sit cross-legged, which looks a lot like the lotus posture to modern eyes. Museums and write-ups are quick to point out that any real link to Buddhism is uncertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Still, it\u2019s a great example of just how global the Viking Age could get\u2014but it\u2019s best seen as interpretation, not hard evidence of borrowed beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          A Heathen takeaway: what the creation story teaches<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          For me, the Norse creation story isn\u2019t here to comfort you with perfection. It\u2019s here to lay out the kind of universe you\u2019re standing in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Life comes from tension (ice and fire, stillness and motion)
          Order is crafted (not inherited)
          Boundaries matter (Midgard is meaningful because it\u2019s enclosed)
          The world is alive (made from body, not from sterile matter)
          We belong here\u2014but belonging comes with responsibility: to keep frith, build right relationship, and hold the line against whatever tries to unravel it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          And maybe the most Heathen truth of all: creation isn\u2019t a one-and-done event. It\u2019s something we do again and again\u2014every time we keep frith, build community, hold the line against chaos, and make a world worth living in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

          Primary sources<\/strong>
          The Poetic Edda, especially V\u00f6lusp\u00e1. Translation: Carolyne Larrington (Oxford University Press).
          The Prose Edda (Snorri Sturluson), especially Gylfaginning. Translation\/edition: Anthony Faulkes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          On dating and oral tradition<\/strong>
          Sapp, Christopher D. \u201cDating the Old Norse Poetic Edda\u2026\u201d (scholarly discussion of dating debates). (journals.uchicago.edu)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Archaeology and iconography<\/strong>
          Gotland picture stones (general dating and overview); Ardre image stones (8th\u201311th centuries). (gotlandicpicturestones.se)
          Torslunda plates (Vendel Period helmet-plate dies; mythic\/ritual imagery). (Wikipedia)
          Mj\u00f6lnir pendants (archaeological record; distribution and approximate totals). (thehistoryblog.com)
          Oseberg ship burial: the so-called \u201cBuddha bucket\u201d handle ornament (nickname; caution about interpretation). (Wikipedia)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Cosmology models<\/strong>
          Scholarship overviews discussing horizontal\/concentric models in Old Norse cosmology and enclosure-thinking (innangar\u00f0r\/\u00fatangar\u00f0r). (germanicmythology.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n\n\n\n

          <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          When you hear someone mention ‘the Norse creation story,’ what you\u2019re really getting is a myth layered like winter clothes: old poems tucked into later manuscripts, and a prose version carefully gathered by a Christian Icelander who loved the old tales and couldn\u2019t help but sort them out.That doesn\u2019t make the story any less true […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-teachings-and-mythology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthspirittarot.com\/wyrd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthspirittarot.com\/wyrd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthspirittarot.com\/wyrd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthspirittarot.com\/wyrd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthspirittarot.com\/wyrd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/earthspirittarot.com\/wyrd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":459,"href":"https:\/\/earthspirittarot.com\/wyrd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions\/459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthspirittarot.com\/wyrd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthspirittarot.com\/wyrd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthspirittarot.com\/wyrd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}