by Hrafn Áttarsson, presented by William P. Reaves (writing as Asvinr)

This post preserves two voices in conversation: the theogony of Hrafn Áttarsson, an Icelandic Asatruar who does not own a computer — his ideas communicated through Reaves — and Reaves' own extended commentary working out the implications. The core insight is a distinction between two branches of the Vanir: the Terrestrial Vanir (Njord, Frigg-Nerthus-Jörð, Freyr, Freyja — gods of earth, ocean, and generation) and the Celestial Vanir (Sol, Mani, Dag-Heimdall, the Elves as the starry host — gods of the turning sky). Posted to alt.religion.asatru in June 2007, this represents a specimen of serious cosmological reconstruction from within a living heathen community — practitioners working from the lore toward coherent theology, not scholarship toward historical reconstruction.

For Reaves, Hrafn's framework illuminates several persistent mysteries: why the Vanir could hold their own against the Aesir in the first divine war (they control the regular operations of the cosmos — sun, moon, day, sea — while the Aesir control its irregular powers), and how Heimdall relates to Dag. The identification of Heimdall with Day is elaborated at length: both ride a shining-maned horse, both have many eyes, both are associated with light and elves, Skáldskaparmál names Sol's husband as Glenr (the Radiant), and Rydberg identifies Glenr with Heimdall. Reaves concludes that Heimdall and Sol, children of the same father Lodurr, married as siblings in the Vanir manner — which explains Heimdall being called both Áss and Vanr in Þrýmskviða.

The Genealogies of the Gods

by Hrafn Áttarsson

There are two primal, autonomous creatures: YMIR and AUÐUMLA, representing the two opposites: COLD and HEAT. They are the ancestors of all living creatures. Ymir may be represented as a WHITE (ICE, male) BULL, Auðumla as a RED (FIRE, female) COW. They were positioned at extreme ends of the primal world, Ymir in the NORTH, Auðumla in the SOUTH.

1.a With the help of his two feet, Ymir begat a son named Hrímgrímrir, or Þrúðgelmir. He was a monstrous multi-headed creature, and like his father white and cold as ice. From him all the Rime-Giants are descended. His son, likewise created without a giantess's company, was named Bergelmir, or Hrímnir. Next, Ymir ejected his semen into his left armpit. This resulted in the birth of three sisters of giant kind: Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld, the three Norns of Fate. Finally, Ymir thrust his phallus into his right armpit, and from this were born twin giants: Mímir and Bestla. Mímir's first act of procreation resulted in the birth of a daughter, who was called NÓTT (Night). His second act resulted in the birth of seven sons, who are known as DVERGAR (Dwarves).

1.b Auðumla licked the salty rocks of the primordial matter, and a human shape gradually came into being. This giant was named Búri, and was of divine nature. He sucked the milk from Auðumla's udder and was filled with the creative force contained therein. A son named Borr was born to him as a result.

2. Borr and Bestla were the first living creatures who were able to mate. They had three sons: Hœnir (Vé), Lóðurr (Vili), and Óðinn, who were destined to become the ancestors of a new type of being. Óðinn was the ancestor of the Aesir; Hœnir and Lóðurr were ancestors of the Vanir. The three brothers may be represented as the Setting Sun (Hœnir), the Rising Sun (Lóðurr), and the Sun in the Zenith (Óðinn).

3.a Hœnir (Fjörgynr) was the eldest of the three brothers. He may be represented as the WHITE STORK of the WEST. His nature is that of WATER mixed with EARTH, and as such he is known as "Mud-King." Hœnir mated with Nótt, who bore him twins: NJÖRÐR and FRIGG (Nerthus, Jörð). Njörðr and Frigg mated as well, and again twins were born: FREYR and FREYJA. This family is that of the TERRESTRIAL VANIR. They are concerned with things "below" — the earth and the ocean, all living creatures, vegetation, sex, and birth. Their home is in Vanaheim in the West.

3.b Lóðurr may be represented as the RED SWAN of the EAST. His nature is that of FIRE. He also mated with Nótt, who bore him three children: SÓL (Sun), MÁNI (Moon), and DAGR (Day, also known as HEIMDALLR). Sól and Máni mated, and their offspring were two daughters: SUNNA (the sun-maiden) and NANNA (the moon-maiden). Dagr (Heimdallr) and Sól also mated. Their descendants were a new clan of divine creatures known as ÁLFAR (Elves). They represent the STARS of the heavens and are the fairest of all creatures. This family is that of the CELESTIAL VANIR. They are concerned with things "above" — the revolution of the heavens and the counting of hours, months, seasons, and years. The Elves reside in Álfheimr in the East.

3.c Óðinn was destined to be the ancestor of the AESIR, the clan of guardian gods residing at the apex of the heavens. He may be represented as the GREY EAGLE of the CENTER. He married Njörðr's sister Frigg, who bore him three sons: BALDR, HÖÐR, ÞÓRR. He also fathered various other sons with giant maidens.

I should add that Hrafn, although he doesn't even own a computer, is delighted — in an absurd way I don't pretend to understand — that I'm presenting his ideas on the Internet. I've tried to explain the Internet to him, and he pretends to understand it, but I don't think he does. He seems to think of it as a gigantic spider-web cast upon the heavens by the three Norns. Don't ask me.

Commentary by William P. Reaves

I have been pouring over these theories for the last several days and cannot help but feel greatly enlightened. They just feel so right. It is as if a light has been shone on some of the obscurest parts of the lore. To tell you the truth, I'm amazed. To my knowledge, Rydberg never really does resolve the origin of the Elves or the Vanir. Basically, he said that since Óðinn is the father of the Aesir, and since there are two other divine clans (the Vanir and the Elves), logically Óðinn's brothers Hœnir and Lóðurr must have founded these clans. He is vague — at least in Undersökningar i Germanisk Mythologi — about which brother founded which clan. But he does state that Frigg is of the Vanir and that her father is Hœnir. Thus I came to the conclusion that Hœnir himself probably founded the Vanir, but this is problematic because Lóðurr too is associated with the Vanir. But seen as celestial beings who cross the sky from east to west, it seems fitting that the Vanir live in the west and the Elves in the east. Thus they would both naturally be associated in function, aiding the divinities of light in their journey across the sky.

I have always been troubled with the concept of the Vanir. Just who are these shadowy gods? Various scholars and authors have treated them in various ways. Many seem to depict them as some sort of unknown but populous race living in the west, yet I find it hard to accept that the ancient heathens would have allowed the clan of such noble gods as Njörðr and Freyr to remain shrouded in mystery. The very existence of a genealogy which may embrace both Jörð-Nerthus-Frigg and Njörðr-Auðr, prominent members of the Vanir, seems to speak against this. Hrafn's theory of the Celestial and Terrestrial Vanir embraces and seems best to explain this enigma. Not only does it identify the Vanir, but it also classifies all of the important "loose" divinities that seem to have escaped categorization in our mythology.

If Hrafn's theories regarding the Vanir are correct, it would explain how the Vanir were able to best such a powerful god-clan as the Aesir in battle. If the Vanir comprise the divinities that personify the earth (Jörð-Frigg), the sea (Njörðr), the moon (Máni), the sun (Sól), the daylight (Dagr-Heimdallr), and the revolution of the canopy of heaven itself (Lóðurr) — then truly, how could any one stand against such forces? If Hrafn is correct, the Vanir control the regular operations of the natural world, while the Aesir seem to control the irregular powers such as wind, rain, and lightning. Both are essential for the conditions of life, but certainly the Vanir wield more clout.

My main problem in accepting his theory fully was Hrafn's identification of Heimdallr and Dagr. I had come to believe that Dagr and Heimdallr were independent beings. But then I realized that Dagr is a shadowy figure — much like Jörð, who I am now convinced is actually Frigg, the same goddess that Tacitus called Nerthus. The sources do not shed much light on Dagr at all, but he is obviously related to the Elves. His father Dellingr is the "rosy-fingered dawn" whose light is seen in the sky just before his son appears on the horizon each morning.

I have known for some time that Heimdallr is probably a son of Óðinn's brother Lóðurr. I also knew that Sól and Máni were his children. I also knew that Sól was associated with the Elves. But I had never considered Heimdallr as being associated with them, and I certainly never thought of Heimdallr as equivalent to Dagr.

Once I read Hrafn Áttarsson's theory, I began to look at it logically:

Dagr drives a jewelled chariot across the sky. He follows his mother Night and illuminates the world daily. The name Heimdallr itself can mean "the one who illuminates the world" (Simek's Dictionary). As Eysteinn noted, Heimdallr's father Lóðurr's association with fire fits well into this scheme. Notice too that Heimdallr and Loki are arch-enemies. This would preclude the conclusion that Óðinn's brother Lóðurr is identical with his blood-brother Loki. It would also explain Heimdallr and Loki's rivalry — sacred fire versus the destructive fire which accompanies lightning (Þórr).

As was stated, Night had three children by three fathers. Rydberg identified one of them (Annarr) as Óðinn's brother Hœnir, so logically another of them might be Óðinn's other brother, Lóðurr. According to Rydberg, Lóðurr is the keeper of the world-mill — the great mill at the bottom of the sea that grinds the bodies of the primeval giants into soil (cf. Ymir's name, Aurgelmir). As keeper of the mill, Lóðurr is responsible for the revolution of the heavens, since Ymir's skull sits atop the great world-mill and thus is seen to turn in the night sky. In this function he is called Mundilfari, he who keeps the mill-handle (the möndull) in motion. His children are the sun and the moon, and another child of his is Heimdallr, the "world-illuminator." Suggestive, no? Still, could Heimdallr be identical with Dagr as Hrafn states?

Born of the friction of the mill, Heimdallr is the pure, white fire. His nine mothers are the nine waves who turn the mill. He is the hvítrastr Áss, the whitest of the gods. Surely this is also true of Day — as an Elf, he is a god, and certainly he is a "white" god if not the whitest. Dagr's horse is called Skinfaxi, the shining mane, while Heimdallr rides Gulltoppr — Gold-top. Heimdallr sees everything for one hundred rasts in every direction, while Hávamál 82 says mörg eru Dags augu — the eyes of Day are many.

In Skáldskaparmál, Sól's husband is referred to as Glenr, which Egilsson in his Lexicon Poeticum defines as strálende, the Radiant, and which Rydberg identified with Heimdallr. Now while Rydberg does not come right out and say it, the marriage of Sól and Heimdallr must be an incestuous relationship, since both Heimdallr and Sól are the children of Lóðurr (as Rydberg states).

From Lokasenna we know that such marriages between brother and sister are allowed among the Vanir, but not among the Aesir. Now in Þrymskviða 15, Heimdallr is called both Áss and Vanr. From this we could conclude that Heimdallr, like Njörðr, married his own sister when he lived among the Vanir. This corresponds perfectly with Hrafn's theory that both Heimdallr and Sól are Celestial Vanir.

At the end of the poem Hrafnagaldr Óðins, Heimdallr is equated with a cock who announces daybreak, and like Heimdallr who sits atop the apex of the Bifröst bridge, we find the cock Gullinkambi high atop the world-tree. In the same poem, Heimdallr travels to the underworld to learn the fate of the world, and returns to the heavens to tell Óðinn. Dagr too travels through the underworld nightly and returns to the heavens each day. This does not prove that Heimdallr is identical to Dagr, but it certainly is suggestive.

— Wassail, William Reaves

Colophon

Theogony authored by Hrafn Áttarsson, an Icelandic Asatruar practitioner. Presented to alt.religion.asatru by William P. Reaves, writing as Asvinr, on 7 June 2007, with Reaves' extended commentary. Reaves' commentary draws on Viktor Rydberg's Undersökningar i Germanisk Mythologi and its identification of Lóðurr as keeper of the world-mill, on the Skáldskaparmál kenning Glenr (Sól's husband = Heimdallr), Þrymskviða 15 (Heimdallr called both Áss and Vanr), and Hávamál 82.

Reaves was among the most prolific scholarly contributors to alt.religion.asatru throughout the 2000s, compiling the Rydberg Index and authoring numerous scholarly essays preserved in this archive. His other archived contributions include "Mythic Chronology," "The Sons of Borr," "Thor and the Elves," "Heathen Elements in Beowulf," "Völuspá 36: The Giant Brimir," and "Anglo-Saxon Heathendom and Icelandic Ásatrú."

Original Message-ID: <[email protected]>

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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