Builders, Heroes, Primal Gods – The Giants in the Germanic and Norse Traditions

written and copyrighted by Týra Alrune Sahsnotasvriunt

In Germanic and Norse cosmology not Gods came first but Giants. Out of them the multiverse was made, they are at the core essence of everything existent; the primal forces of nature, that – despite being bound to the law and order of the world tree – remain raw and in some ways forever untamed, unbound, evolution unleashed.
That most of mankind and most Germanic Pagans view these forces as “hostile” comes as no surprise, how tiny and insignificant are they in comparison, how powerless and envious.
Just as the Gods created the multiverse by murder thus the majority of mankind copies their actions, intruding, invading and destroying nature and the order of it by any means possible. To conquer and rule these ancient forces is their goal.
Yet once nature retaliates and puts mankind in its place, then the cry is waxen great, to speak in biblical terms.
“Enemies of the Gods”, “world destroyers”, “dumb”, “underdeveloped” “evil”, thus have the Giants been reviled.
All because mankind and Gods are not at the core of their concerns and are but a fraction of it, another wheel in the machinery of life, no more – or less – important than an ant.
Of course neither is all of mankind out to uproot the order of nature nor are all Giants the same. So let us take a look at how versatile these beings, these Primal Gods, truly are.

The murder of Ymir

Etymology

In Old Norse they are called Jotonn, (Swedish Jotun (sg), Jötnar (pl)), the Anglo-Saxons knew them as Eoten and (German) Saxons as Etan or Etin. All of these words are related to the word “to eat” or “hungry” and this is indeed one of the main attributes of the Giants. They are always boundlessly hungry, just like life itself, metaphorically speaking.
Another term for Giant is Thurse, Old Norse þurs (Strength).
The German word “Riese” or Old High German risi or riso, originally wrisi, wriso means the same thing, “strong” or “powerful”. Nowadays the German word “riesig” means “huge”, “gargantuan” though.
The word Hiune (German: Hühne) was first used in Middle High German. It is believed to point to the intermixture between some of the Germanic tribes with the “barbarian Giant-like Huns”, but there is no definitive proof for this assumption.

Runes

Thurisaz is the rune of the incredible strength of the Thursen-Giants. It is also associated with brutish Thunar, slayer of the Thursen and Jöten.

Uruz is the aurochs rune, the rune of the cosmic (“Allmother”) cow Audhumla. It also represents the power of creation and regeneration. For those that equate Audhumla with the Dark Mother figure (Angerboda etc.) Uruz also plays an important role.

Kenaz, the “fire rune” is mostly associated with Loki, sometimes with King Surt or the Giants of Muspili in particular.

In modern times further attempts were made to assign runes to particular Gods and Giants.
For example Hagalaz or Isa are sometimes thought to be Hel’s rune(s), however others believe that Isa is solely Angerboda’s rune and Hagalaz in combination with Thurisaz representative of Ragnarök.

Laguz is linked with Ran or Aegir (and I assume would have to be representative of the Undines and all other “water beings” or beings linked to water, which begs the question whether the Idisen to whom many a pond and lake was dedicated are included in this equation.)

Rökkatrúr believe the Futhorc rune Ac to represent Angerboda, likewise some Rökkatrúr believe that Tiwaz (original chief God Týr’s rune) is a link to the Fenriswolf.

And there are many more examples.
Whatever one may think of reinterpreting and changing a system as ancient and well thought out as the runes everyone must decide for themselves, though.

The Natures and Responsibilities of the Giants

There are Wind-, Weather-, Water-, Mountain-, Forest-, Frost- and Fire Giants and several more.
What all of them have in common is that they “stand as tall as trees and hills”, are usually even-natured unless provoked and keep to themselves and their own kind most of the time.
Plenty of Giant Gods have been described as especially handsome and proportionate.
They do not appear to fit the prejudice of being monstrous, barbarian dim-witted creatures. –

The Thurse Thrym is described as combing his horses’ manes and tending to his dogs with special care.
Gerd is so beautiful that she conquered Wanen God Frey’s heart at first sight.
Thjazi’s daughter Skadi is just as lovely, a skilled and disciplined huntress. She even marries into the Asen line.
Loki’s wit is beyond comparison. If not for him the Asen Gods would not have their most valued weapons and treasures.
Mimir is especially wise, his name translates to “The Pondering”.
Fenja and Menja cannot only see all of the worlds’ past but see the future as well.
And Aegir, Loki’s brother, is a generous host; his feasts are infamous and visited by both giants and Gods alike. He keeps the peace with Thunar even after he calls the Lord of the Sea a slave and inferior to the Asen, insulting Aegir’s hospitability.

Aegir, the “barnteitr”

Whereas certain criteria must be met to be allowed into Wal’s hall, Hel is welcoming to all, no matter how they met their end.
Eggdher is the giant’s watchman, a thorough and meticulous Thurs who is sitting atop a mountain watching for intruders or playing his flute.
Suttung is also known as “Fjalar the Wise”.
Jord/Fjörgyn/Fitjung/Hlödyn is the embodiment of the earth. Is she not all-wise and by being welcoming to all all-loving in her own way?
Wafthrudnir (mighty riddler) is known for his boundless wisdom. The only question he can in fact not answer is what Wotan whispered into Balder’s ear on the latter’s deathbed.
Sunna (sun) and Dag (day) light our days and Mani (moon) and Nott (night) our nights; we have their parents Nör, Mundilfari (world-turner) and Delling to thank for their existence.
Other attributes of the Giant Gods are fjólkunnig and hundvíss (knowledgeable), froþe (smart), ámáttegr (almighty), trolltrygg (faithful as a Giant) meaning faithful till death, something that holds especially true for Sigyn who remained by bound Loki’s side for aeons.

Statue of Fenja and Menja in Odense/Denmark, ~1967

So where does the idea originate that they are dim-witted, underdeveloped and inferior to the Asen and Wanen Gods?
For once the Giants are often known to be barnteitr, happy as children, a term especially attributed to Aegir.
This term at least implies a certain kind of emotional simplicity; as knowledgeable and intelligent as many of them are, they have no interest in the complications that Gods and humans have created for themselves and the rest of the multiverse, be they of emotional or another nature.
Nature itself is rather “simple”; there are few grey areas. Nature’s laws are black and white, they are impartial to a large degree and do not place the well-being and survival of mankind, which is grandiose enough to deem itself special, first.
A good example for this would be Brünhild’s Helvegr (“ride to Hel” in the Elder Edda) on which she is halted by an unnamed Giantess (most likely Modgud). The Giantess speaks:

Modgud, the Giantess that initially refuses to let Brünhild pass

“Depart! You shall not pass though
My tall gates of towering stone:
It befits a wife to wind yarn,
Not to know another’s husband.”

It takes Brünhild a while to explain to the Giantess that she was tricked by evil men and that Siegfried is her true husband, that she belongs with him in death as she would have in life. She did not break any oaths (on her own accord), she did not violate the laws of nature hence. Such treachery, betrayal and cunning is apparently completely unknown to the otherwise rather knowledgeable Giantess, who is not unfamiliar with Brünhild and her fate save for the manmade trials and tribulations.
I often hear people say they wished they could live a simpler life, return or reconnect with nature, far away from the rest of society and its complex systems, only then would they be happy.
This is basically the “Giant life”. To return to nature means to absolutely and unquestioningly submit yourself to the primal and unchangeable forces of life.

In addition to the wise and witty Giants there are indeed those who are not just emotionally but intellectually simpler.
They don’t expect to be cheated and betrayed as they so often are in lore, folk and fairy tales either; they are true to their word, upright and honest and have no ulterior motives hence it is easy to make a fool of them, because they keep repeating their “mistake” of being honest and having no ulterior motives. For a while at least…until they catch on and unleash their terrible (though justified) wrath upon men, the earth and Gods alike.
To call these Giants dumb and insensitive is unjust though. They are the natural urges, the subconscious powers embodied. They, too, play an important role in the cycle of life, even if an uncomfortable one that is harder to comprehend oftentimes.

Their names already speak volumes:

We have Surt (dark), Syrpa (dirty colored), Lodin (shaggy) and Skinnnefja (fur nosed), Hrimgrimnir (frost-grim); all of who might just fit the common criteria for beauty a little less than the Giants mentioned in the second paragraph.
Jarnhaus (iron head), Hardhaus (hard head) and Skalli (skull) sound like stubborn but possibly also quite steady fellows.
A tad more intimidating sounding names are Hardgreip (hard grip), Wolvesmage (wolf stomach – voracious) Hrungnir (constantly hungry one), Hástígi (fast runner).
Many of these Giants are described as multi-headed creatures with dysmorphic proportions and some are alleged to have multiple extremities.
Scholars assume that these originally non-Germanic Giant beliefs may have been influenced by extended contacts with the Orient.

The unruliness and chaotic raw power of these type of Giants is not only displayed in their names but their features also. It is as though the power within is too large for them, fighting to break free again, misshaped their bodies in the process.
These are the Giants, often Thurses, who are responsible for floods, tornadoes, avalanches, tsunamis and other natural disasters. It includes Surt, King of Muspelheim, who longs to burn the world to the ground with his sword of fire. He sits on his throne biding his time until Ragnarök.

King Surt

They all are the cleaning agents of nature, dangerous and sometimes deadly. Hostile? In a way, yet only if you consider death the enemy of life rather than a part of the everlasting cycle.
Personally I have no desire to leave this mortal coil just yet, but I would prefer dying in a natural disaster rather than being shot dead by a thug out to get the 20 Euros in my purse. Fact is mankind is much more hostile towards mankind than nature could ever be.
Nature does everything for a reason whereas mankind acts on whims and trends according to their “Zeitgeist” most of the time.

The Worlds of the Giants plus Utangard and Ginnungagap

The first two worlds were Muspelheim and Nifelheim, realm of ice – Hel’s domain.
On top of these two there is Jötunheim, home to Giants of all tribes. Jötunheim is surrounded by the mountain range Grjótúnagard, where King Thrym and his Thursen folk reside.
Not only are the Giants found in all of the above mentioned realms but also in Midgard (and most likely all other remaining worlds), where they live in boulders, trees, in mountains, in the ocean and deep inside the earth. Again: they are what everything in the multiverse is made of, there is no way of locking them in or out of a world. Their power transcends everything.

Lastly there is Utgard or Utangard, the “outer limits” of Germanic cosmology, home of King Utgard-Loki and more wild Thursen folk.
To make this very clear, Utgard is traditionally not one of the nine worlds, it is considered an Otherrealm by most Germanic and Norse Pagans.
Thursatrú acknowledges eleven worlds of which Utgard and also Ginnungagap are a part. Ginnungagap is the empty space, the great divide, nothingness, in which everything comes undone and is re-assembled before returning to order; the runes for example.
Whether it is a world but rather a state is debatable though I presume.
The same holds true for Utgard. It is not part of the order of the multiverse, something that becomes evident in the traits of its Giants. They appear not to have any of the trolltryggd in them that are innate in their world tree-cousins and are sly and often deceitful too.
Whilst the Yggdrasilian Giants still carry in them the original (Gnostic or primal divine) spark of a state of being before order, they too were forced into shape.
They are known to be able to shape shift in most (or possibly all) cases, but are still bound to the cycle and its order while residing in the multiverse.
Let it be noted that they willingly remain in it as it is made clear throughout the Eddas and other lore that Yggdrasilians and Utgardians can very well cross over into each other’s realities.

Utgardians are free of the cycle and its laws in their realm, but are they free in ours? – Skrymir, who has a run-in with Thunar at the outskirts of Midgard, is often equated with Utgard-Loki. While Thunar is traveling to Utgard, a Giant named Skrymir joins him.
We know that Thunar regularly journeys to Jötunheim to slaughter Giants with his hammer Mjölnir. Never has it been mentioned that Mjölnir did not fulfill its purpose.
Yet when Thunar attempts to murder Skrymir in his sleep three nights in a row he fails. Skrymir’s only comments in the mornings are that he wonders whether a tree leaf, acorn or bird refuse accidentally landed on his face at night, as he is noticing a slight itch on it.
The Utgardians appear to possess greater strength (and slyness) even in our realm.
In their own outer limits they can take shape if they want to, as they did when Thunar and Loki fared to visit them, but they don’t appear to remain in one form for long or only take it on in order to trick the Yggdrasilians visiting Utgard.
The “great Thunderer” Thunar was completely powerless against the Utgardian Thursen. His strength and knowledge was no match for the forces of boundless freedom, formlessness and chaos.
This is why I would view both Ginnungagap as well as Utgard as completely separate from the tree, with qualities and goals that run diametrically opposed to ours.
There is no reason for enmity though; different realities can indeed co-exist without (much) interference and especially without warfare after all.

Utgard-Loki

The Price and Reward of Reintegrating into the Circle

The Eddas, folk tales and later (christianized) German fairy tales are filled with accounts of Giants as great builders, fine constructionists but also brutish simpletons with either rather basic needs or demands beyond human perception.
The story of Blast whose terms of building the walls of Asgard the Gods pretend to agree to, while really plotting to murder him, was already told in https://paganmeltingpot.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/holy-horse-horses-in-the-germanic-and-other-polytheist-traditions/.
Usually these kinds of stories are rather similarly constructed. The Giant agrees to do as he was asked by God or mortal and in return demands the home owner, his virginal daughter or in the case of Blast, the Wanen Goddess Freija as payment.
If we look at this as a metaphor, the meaning could not get much more obvious than this. This is the harsher (sounding) version of three times three.
If you invoke the primal, all-powerful forces of nature you better be prepared to pay the price to keep the balance intact.
Living in accordance with the natural laws, giving yourself to these ancient forces will bring you unimagined knowledge. – But you will lose your metaphorical “virginity”, basically your innocence and ignorance, in the process. There is no turning back. And this is not an easy road to walk.

Grimm’s fairy tale “Das tapfere Schneiderlein”

The trolltrygga – ever-loyal – Giants never breech their contract in lore. They neither lie nor deceive, yet they are merciless in their demands and in their conduct, that much is true.
In the Grimm’s fairy tale Das tapfere Schneiderlein (The brave Tailor) the tailor has a run-in with a Giant who invites him to compete with him. Whilst the Giant plays fairly, the tailor cheats his vis-á-vis in order to win.
Needless to say the tailor is the “hero” in this story, alas, what moral of the story this is supposed to teach us I am not quite sure, but it remains a popular fairy tale nonetheless.

In another Grimm’s fairy tale, Von einem jungen Riesen (Of a Young Giant) a human boy the size of a thumb is adopted by a Giant who feeds him of his own breast milk. 7 years later, when the boy is as tall as his stepfather, the Giant takes him to the forest and asks him to uproot a group of trees. The boy completes the task after some struggle.
Dissatisfied, the Giant takes home the boy again and feeds him for another 7 years until he asks him once more to uproot a group of trees. This continues once more until the boy has become a Giant himself. He returns home to his birth parents. Yet they are terrified of his height and strength and send him away.
In the course of the fairy tale it is emphasized that the once human boy is not just a Giant physically but he has become a Giant emotionally as well.
He finds employment on a farm, but instead of asking for food, shelter or money as payment he asks to strike his employer three times.
Interestingly the farmer agrees to this demand because he does not believe the Giant will complete the chores he assigned him on time. A big mistake.
On payday the farmer attempts to talk the Giant out of the agreed three strikes.
Enraged, the Giant hits his employer so hard he is cast out of sight, far beyond the horizon. The Giant then turns to the farmer’s wife and tells her she will have to pay the rest of her husband’s debt. The terrified woman begs for mercy; in vain.

In this story we find another universal law. That energy set in motion will have to discharge somewhere. This is the impartial, seemingly “careless” and merciless side of the Giants (or basically nature itself) mentioned earlier.
Likewise, in the Bible it is written that God will haunt and persecute the children and their children’s children of those breaking the covenant. This is the same principle. This is part of a person’s orlog (family fate) or as the Bible calls it, “original sin”.

Of course not all interactions with Giants demand a hard price to pay. There are also those tales of great reward and friendship between humans and Giants in which their strength is praised but also their meekness and goodness of the heart are emphasized.
In those tales Giants literally cry a river when witnessing the death of small forest animals and give them a worthy burial.
They are the protectors of the forests, tending to wounded animals and nursing them back to health, helping pregnant animals deliver their young, or they uproot dead trees and craft from them nice winter homes for rabbits, birds and other small or larger animals.
Some Forest Giants seek shelter on farms during especially stormy, icy winter nights. Come spring they grant the farmers their protection from spring floods and tend to their fields, granting them a good harvest.

That the forces of nature are always both gentle and cruel, raw and merciful, steady and turbulent is emphasized in the marriage between Aegir and Ran. Aegir interacts friendlily with the Gods and grants good speed to every ship of mortals that he encounters.
His wife Ran (greedy robber) is the exact opposite. The sea witch in the fairy tale “The Little Mermaid” is based on her and like the original she collects unlucky souls and offers unholy contracts.
Ran herself sinks ships and forces sailors to live in her dark, wet, chilly hall. Neither Gods nor men interest her much if they don’t do as she pleases. The sea is both friend and foe to humans and especially seafarers.

Ran

 Animal Giants

The most popular animal Giants are probably the Fenriswolf and Jörmungand, the Midgard Serpent. Fenris’ only crime was to grow swiftly in size and be insanely hungry at all times, gladly devouring everything the Asen Gods presented him with.
A great appetite is not exactly unusual for Giants, yet fearing young Fenris’ great strength and that they might be overthrown, the Asen Gods tricked and bound him.
In the process they betrayed and dismembered one of their own, Týr, who had given his word to Fenris that he would not be harmed.

Hel, Fenris and Jörmungand

Jörmungand (from Old Norse jormun = Mighty and gandr = staff/wand) is sometimes described as curling around Midgard after he was thrown so carelessly into the sea by the Asen Gods.
Neither is Jörmungand’s sex mentioned nor are there any accounts about it other than a short notion that Thunar will slay the great serpent during Ragnarök and that he is known to go and stir it, poking, prodding and beating at it without much success – and most importantly – without point nor apparent reason.
Jörmungand could easily plague if not annihilate Midgard if it is large enough to curl around it. However, it doesn’t cause much trouble other than stir the sea at times and feed off careless sailors. Only when provoked by Thunar does Jörmungand display its true might.
(Although it might be concluded that – Jörmungand aside – generally minimizing the giant population as Thunar regularly does or “keeping the forces of unbound evolution in check” is a way of ensuring at least some form of stability and keeping the powers in “balance” for now.)

Jörmungand, the “Mighty Staff”

In order to trick Jörmungand into thinking that it was just another sea serpent gliding through the waters rather than a boat full of mortals, the Vikings’ figurehead was a serpent head.
It is interesting that save for Loki’s only humanoid daughter with Angerboda, Hel, all of his children are bound in some form or another. Jörmungand is basically being “bound” around the countries of this earth and forced to eat its own tail.
Fenrir is bound by magically crafted rope.
Nari and Narfi are not bound but their intestines are used to bind Loki after Balder’s death.
Obviously, the binding of all these above-mentioned Giants was not very conductive to the survival of the Asen in the very end, but maybe they knew this and their story is not the Greek tragedy it appears to be at first sight. If they are the “Gods of consciousness” they will most likely be aware that a multiverse created the way it was would end (or keep repeating itself) in the same way.

Ironwood

There are also the wolves of Ironwood, Angerboda’s other children. She nurses and prepares them until it is time for the end battle.
Her wolverine sons Skoll (greedy) and Hati (hateful) roam the skies, hunting Sunna, the sun, and Mani, the moon. For now we will have to thank them for chasing after the two, for Sunna and Mani had been too vain and lazy to shine their lights upon Gods, Giants, wights and men. If not for Loki who unleashed Skoll and Hati on them, we would all sit in eternal darkness now.
Skoll is so gargantuan that he will swallow Sunna whole, come Ragnarök. Luckily “Elf Candle” as she is also known, bore a child before her death, who will illuminate the New World.

Nidhögg with messenger squirrel Ratatösk

The Storm and Weather Giant Hräsvelg (corpse-eater) is sitting atop the world tree, causing both storm as well as gentle breeze when flapping his wings.
The serpent (dragon) Nidhögg (low cowerer) curls around the base of the Yggdrasil, chewing at its roots. Nidhögg and Hräsvelg do not grow tired of throwing insults back and forth at each other. Alas they are so far away from each other on the tree that the squirrel Ratatösk keeps running back and forth between them, delivering their snarky messages.

Eight-legged Sleipnir is the size of a regular horse, yet since both his parents are the newly-called “Rökkr”-Giants (a term I’m not opposed to but that should be mentioned is not historical) what else would he be? He is well-liked by Germanic and Norse Pagans while his siblings are usually condemned and hated. Yet…it is Sleipnir that carries Wotan towards his death, his brother Fenrir will devour that once foreign and most likely originally Eastern/Slavic God.

All these animal Giants appear not to be able to change shape. The Giants born into humanoid shape are often described as transforming into animals though.
Loki regularly turns into a fox.
Thjazi transforms into a Giant eagle.
Fafnir on the other hand used to be human and later changed himself into the grisly dragon that Siegfried slew.
Grendel might just be a kind of Giant, he is described as a strange blend between animal and human.
Is it supposed to tell us something that the animal Giants cannot change shape? Do they possess less power? Or are they more primal and hence powerful in turn, more Giant-like in nature because they are all instinct without complicated thoughts confusing them?
All of the above mentioned play a pivotal role in Ragnarök, without them the cycle could not be ended, a new cycle could not be begun.

Storm Jotun

Historical and Modern Giant Cult

Ich paut dir Fasolt, dass du das wetter verfirst mir und meinen nachpauren ân schaden.
(“I beg you, Fasolt, that you grant me good weather and keep harm from my neighbors and me”).
Thus goes an ancient German prayer to Storm- and Weather Giant Fasolt.
To say that there are no traces of a historical Giant cult or of Giant veneration is not completely correct hence. There are – admittedly scarce – traces in the fairy tales and in classical lore as mentioned before. One other example is the prayer of Thorvald Holbark to Surt (!) in Landnamabók.
Save for the above weather blessing and a few vardulokkur and galdralát as sung in Seid rituals – such as the Buslabaen – there are however few testimonies that Giants were called upon. Which is not to say that they could not have existed, a lot got lost in the course of christianization after all.
One German(ic) incantation to stop heavy bleedings addresses “Tumbo” (unfeeling, silent, the name of a Stone Giant). It speaks of how Tumbo is sitting in a mountain with a child in his arms. The Giant is being flattered by calling him “holy” and then asked to close the wound.
Whether this charm or prayer was tied to the rock formation of a specific location that looked like a Giant holding a child cannot be determined anymore.
It’s possible that just like the German Horse Blessing there are forgotten allegories or metaphors we just cannot decipher anymore nowadays.

Even if there had never been a historical Giant cult, who says they cannot or should not be venerated? They have truly remained trolltrygg and have kept this world alive and still in relative balance despite what we have done and continue to do to it. For this alone they deserve the utmost respect that they were so long denied.

Their path is one of selflessness. They know of their personal futures, of their fates, and yet they accept it, working towards the next great leap in evolution (Ragnarök) without fear or regret. Nature itself cannot die. Nothing can. There is no death, only transformation.
The Asen are fighting so that there will be something left after our world has been burned, that is their role and they fulfill it just as dutifully. They are the stabilizing forces, without the giants they would represent stagnation. Without the Asen the giants would be “Utangardian”, unpredictable and most likely utterly dangerous.

If you praise the Asen and the Wanen, blot to the Alben, toast the dwarves, bow to the Idisen and give a nightly thanks to your Fylgja, yes, even give an acknowledging nod to Hel around the time of the second Idisenblot, do not be a hypocrite and shun or ignore those forces this world was made of and still essentially consists of. Hail the Giants!

Thjazi of Thrymheim, a Frostgiant in the Norse and Germanic traditions

written and copyrighted by Týra Alrune Sahsnotasvriunt, June 2014

Thjazi (Thiassi, Tjazi, Thaffi) is one of the Norse Frostjötnar (frost-giants). His father is Alvaldi (“almighty”), his brothers Idhi (“the hard-working one”) and Gangr (“gait”), his mother is unknown. When Alvaldi died he left all his gold to his three sons. They divided it by each taking a mouthful so as to divide it equally. This is why the Eddic description “the speech of Thjazi, Idhi and Gangr” is a metaphor for gold itself.
Like most Jötnar Thjazi, who resides in Thrymheim, was a shape-shifter, and it was in the shape of a giant eagle that he made his first appearace in the Eddas. When Loki, Hönir and Wotan were traveling they got hungry and decided to cook one of the oxen they saw grazing on a meadow. As they began wondering why the oven did not warm they heard a voice from one of the trees above. It was Thjazi, who admitted he was prohibiting the oven from warming, but if they would share the oxen’s meat with them, he would gladly heat it up for them. They agreed. Yet when Thjazi went for the best and thickest shares of the meat Loki struck him with this staff so hard it clung to his side. Thjazi escaped high into the air, dragging both staff and Loki with him. Loki begged for mercy and Thjazi made him a peace offering. If he would bring him Iduna and her apples, he would spare Loki’s life.

Honoring his promise Loki lured Iduna out of Asgard, alleging that he had found even more miraculous and juicier apples than the ones she had. She should bring hers to compare them.
When eagle-shaped Thjazi kidnapped Iduna, the Gods began withering, growing old without Iduna’s magical apples of youth and strength.
When Loki was found out he borrowed Freyja’s falcon cloak and flew into Thrymheim and rescued Iduna. Thjazi, outraged, flew after him, but the Gods were already awaiting the Jotun.

They lit the walls and towers of Asgard on fire, burning Thjazi’s wings and killing him.
His daughter Skadi swore revenge and made her way to Asgard. Instead of avenging the murder of her father she settled with an Aesir husband (Njörd) and a “bag full of laughter” (which Loki provided). On top of that Wotan cast Thjazi’s eyes into the sky where they became stars, forever watching over the nine worlds. The formation Auguthjaza is the only Nordic star constellation ever mentioned in the Eddas, yet which constellation in the sky is referred to remains unknown.

On a side-note, in the Ring of the Nibelungs it is not Thjazi but Fafir and Fasolt who kidnap Iduna with a completely different background story as well. This as a small reminder that different Germanic countries have different mythologies, folk tales and lore which are all equally important and “true”.

Etymologically Thjazi might derive from Sanskrit Twast(i)r, one of the chief Gods in Hinduism. In one of the early myths Twastr steals the “divine drink” of the Gods. Later on in the Vedanta and other texts there was no mention of him in bird-form anymore though, yet he was often accompanied with the giant bird Garruda or the God Indra in bird-form.

Thursatrú – “Norse Satanism”

written and copyrighted by Týra Alrune Sahsnotasvriunt, 2014

The first response to my mentioning “Norse Satanism”, better known as Thursatrú, in a Norse group on facebook was complete and utter astonishment, followed by reluctance and ridicule at the various “trús” that have befallen us modern Norse followers.
Someone dared ask if there was such a thing as Alfatrú and Disatrú as well. Now, whilst I have no idea regarding the two latter, Thursatrú has existed prior to Vexior’s Gullveigarbók in disorganized form for at least around 15 years.
My religious studies brought me to be with a group of MLO Satanists  (MLO = Misantropisk Lucifer Orden or in translation from Swedish: Misanthropic Luciferian Order) at the cusp of this millennium. I was not a member of the MLO itself and even the members I personally knew blended different Satanic traditions together randomly.
A few in this commune desired to have a Chaos-Gnostic Satanism free of even the last trace of Christian influences.
They wanted to connect with Chaos in a more native way.

Attending “ecumenical” Pagan and Heathen meetings rather regularly, they were met with skepticism and the unwillingness to make room for them and their ideas, but they still took away a few of our ancestors’ practices and principles and eventually creating a new left-handed “trú” – Thursatrú, the belief in what they deemed anti-cosmic and chaotic Gods – the Thursar (a tribe of giants). The Jötnar (forces of evolution WITHIN the multiverse) were and still are looked at as enemies. Only destructive forces are venerated.

It would be false to say that this kind of “Norse Satanism” isn’t reactive, Satanism is always an anti-religion, from the literary kind to the Process Church to the Temple of Seth, Church of Satan to “youth Satanism” which usually has no philosophy in itself but devotes itself to vandalism.
In Thursatrú Odhinn – instead of YHWH for example – is viewed as the demiurge who out of the desire to rule and be above everything/everyone else created the universe, and rather violently too.

from Vexior’s Gullveigarbók

The early and disorganized brand of Thursatrú that I was allowed to look into drew from Crowley, Eschner and ceremonial magic (much like Wicca, but in a very different way of course).
It included pain- and fear-training, destruction of form and order any way possible and some really risky and sloppily performed rituals at least of the group I briefly joined. I would like to state that this hardly reflects what we know as Thursatrú today, religions grow, evolve or at least change, and so did this one apparently.

Thursatrúr these days often insist on not being called (Norse) Satanists, mainly due to the reluctance of labeling themselves anything to do with Christianity, but also because the term Satanism unfortunately has rather negative connotations. They prefer the term Chaos-Gnosticists or Anti-Cosmic Gnosticists.

MLO “pentagram” as used by Jon Nödveidt and Dissection on stage as well. The top is open so as to symbolize the possible escape from order and form back into the chaotic formless state everything once had.

Where the MLO worked with the Liber Azerate, Thursatrú’s main sourcebook is the already mentioned Gullveigarbók. It was written by Vexior who is also known as Shamaatae from Swedish Black Metal band Arckanum or simply under his birth name of Johan Lahger.
The insistence by several facebook-Odinists that it was Heathen author and left-handed dabbler Edred Thorsson/Stephen Flowers who wrote it is completely false.
Despite the Gullveigarbók (http://de.scribd.com/doc/58774173/Gullveigarbok-by-Vexior) the Prose or Poetic Edda is a large source of radically reinterpreted information they draw from.
Sagas and folk tales, such as this one (http://www.naturestory.com/Goodies/skollandhatia.html) also play a role. Vexior points to Swedish historian Viktor Rydberg’s “Studies in Germanic Mythology” (1886) who has been widely discredited due to acknowledging the darker aspects of Norse cosmology and offering alternate interpretations.

from Vexior’s Gullveigarbók

Ragnarök, the end of the Nine Worlds and the Cosmos in general, are central to Thursatrú beliefs, albeit in a different way than for Rökkatrúr. Rökkatrúr are inclusive in their beliefs and looking forward to “the New World” after Ragnarök. The end of the world is a metaphor for some, a big leap for others, the next step in evolution, the new cycle, fresh start, welcomed. Thursatrú’s goal is the formless (chaotic) state after utter desolation of the multiverse, the return to Ginnungagap, the “great nothingness”, because only then will (their) spirit roam freely, we will all be one great consciousness. The tale of the two humans Lif and Lifthrasis hiding out in a hollow tree to recreate the New World are Christian fiction to them.
The two religions are neither the same nor are they compatible in essence.

For those who believe that Thursatrú is not Heathen or is “evil”, consider that while our ancestors were rather simple people who had little time to deeply ponder philosophical questions but relied on folk tales, mouth-to-mouth propaganda, they were still open-minded enough to adopt new Gods into their pantheon (from Týr as the AllFather to foreign God Odhinn) and whose beliefs varied from tribe to tribe, being much less dogmatic and organized than nowadays.
Thursatrú might not be historical or a “reconstructive” religion, but it is a religion nonetheless. And it is on the fringe of Heathenry, whether Heathenry will like or acknowledge it or not.

from Vexior’s Gullveigarbók

On samfundetfornsed.se the member Garm wrote that, “[…] In the darkness there is all wisdom: Odin looked into the Underworld (author’s note: by hanging himself from the world tree for nine days) and from there he received the runes. From Loki he received Sleipnir who is also a Thurs. With Sleipnir’s help Odin can travel the Underworld to gain more knowledge.
Mimir is a Thurs and his well’s source is in the Underworld. Odin sacrificed one of his eyes for wisdom – and even this only with the closeness/interference of a Thurs. Odin is the wanderer who wakes the dead hence studying the darkness and the unknown. […]
And if you now look at this from a chaos-gnostic perspective – like an adept of darkness he will be devoured by the Fenriswolf at Ragnarök and this can be viewed as his entering so-called Chaos.”

This perspective is interesting, although not Gullveigarbók-Thursatrú since there Odin is viewed as a demiurge who will suffer the consequence of  his greed of wanting to rule all and be the “AllFather”, alpha God.
In other words, just like within Heathenry and Paganism there is no one way or set of beliefs within this path. In fact, it is less insistent upon dogma derived from reconstructionist attempts but a rather modern and intellectual path.

Thursatrú’s main (religious) practices are sorcery and meditation (called Setas). Vexior prompts to “Experiment and innovate, become eclectic and syncretic in your sorcerous practice; as long as you keep to elements which correspond to the Thursian Powers.”
This is interesting because while many of Vexior’s followers are not fond of eclecticism, here he basically states that there is a universality to “darkness” or chaotic, anti-cosmic powers. Later in his book he mentions Lilith and Ereshkigal, obviously Sumerian/Mesopotamian/Babylonian Goddesses and – nowadays – Judeo-Christian “devil” kind of types.

Chaos Star popular in chaos-gnosic spirituality, but also popular in Lokinism and Rökkatrú.

Thursatrúr usually will have one altar, called stallr, for weekly devotions and meditations as well as one outside in a remote area. On their stallr they’ll have an offering bowl inscribed with runes and bind-runes, hlaut – blood mainly drawn from themselves or any willing participant; a blót-knife, a cencer or bowl/cauldron to burn herbs and incense, an offering plate, black candles, talismans and fetishes as needed.
Talismans may vary from crows’ feet, bones and skulls or a sword representing Surtr the Fire Giant of Muspellheim etc…

Gods/Thurses acknowledged due to their hostility towards the corrupt tyrant Gods, the Aesir (Vanir and Jötnar) Gods and most or all of creation are amongst others: Gullveig, Nidhhöggr, Thjazi, the Thursatrú “AllFather” Ýmir (also called Aurgelmir), Surtr, Vafthrudnir, Fenrir, Jörmungandr and Hrimgerdr. They are  especially revered and rituals and meditations dedicated to them and what they stand for.

Without speaking for nor against Thursatrú I still have to remark that it is indeed a heavy flaw of much of modern Heathenry and especially those who call themselves “Ásatrúr” to mainly overlook all other worlds except Midgard and Asgard and deny the beings, Kings and Queens of the other seven realms the respect they deserve. Why is Odhinn called “the God of the Dead” when it is Queen Hel who reigns over Helheim, the Underworld? He is a self-proclaimed God of the Dead, a self-proclaimed AllFather who himself WAS created from out of the Chaos of Ginnungagap, related to the very Thurs – Ýmir – that he slew so viciously.

Odhinn has mistakenly been described and accepted as “the wisest God of all”, although even the Eddas clearly renounce this assumption. In Vafthrudnismál Odhinn excitedly praises the giant Vafthrudnir’s wisdom and revelations to him. If Odhinn was the wisest of all, why would Vafthrudnir have anything new to reveal or teach to Odhinn at all?
Just like Christians believe that the fruit in the garden was an apple although the nature or name of the fruit has not been revealed in the Bible once, Heathens and Norse Pagans accept “truths” that are easily disproven by the Eddas, simply because they are popular beliefs as pushed by (Ásatrú) kindreds and global Heathen organizations.

The MLO heritage is still imminent in (some of) Thursatrú due to the fact that it acknowledges not nine, but eleven worlds. (The #11, along with 218 and a few others bears significant meaning in the MLO and in many occultist traditions 11 representing Lucifer/the adversary), and there are several other links and connections of course.
In Thursatrú you have Asgard, Vanaheim, Midgard, Ljusalfheim, Svartalfheim, Muspellheim, Niflheim, Helheim, Jotunheim just like in “traditional” Heathenry, but they are accompanied by Ginnungagap and Utgard.

What, some of you may wonder, is so special about Gullveig, that Vexior’s book is not entitled simply “Thursatrú” but Gullveigarbók?
It is common UPG (unverified personal gnosis) that Gullveig is the same as Angrboda. [footnote *1] As I wrote in my blog about Angrboda https://paganmeltingpot.wordpress.com/2014/02/15/angrboda-and-the-dark-mother-figure-across-the-cultures/) before she is not only the Rökkr/Thurs’ Loki’s wife/lover who bore him Hel (Queen of the Dead), Jörmungandr (Midgard Serpent) and Fenrir (the mighty giant wolf) but she is the “hag” or “witch” of Jarnvidhr, Ironwood, the place in which she prepares her offspring for the battle of Ragnarök. She is, in essence, the mother of Chaos, herself.

Religious holidays of Thursatrú:

Varblót
April 30.
The Spring Ritual is held on Walpurgis Night and is looked upon as the beginning of the Múspell-workings. The winter has ended and gives way to the heat/fire of summer.

Miðsumarblót

June 21.
The Summer Solstice Ritual is on Midsummer Night and is looked upon as the climax of the Múspell-workings, and should thereby have a grand ritual which includes the full Múspell-working.

Haustblót

October 31.
The Autumn Ritual is on Samhain Night and is looked upon as the beginning of the Nifl-workings.The summer has ended and the winter approaches.

Miðsvetrarblót

December 21.
Winter ends.

On a personal note the celebration of something as mundane as the seasons, especially “Yule” – or here: Midhsvetrarblót – comes as a genuine surprise. It is marked as the beginnig of the Nifl-workings, nifl being old Norse for “dark”.
Thursatrú isn’t shy of praising the quality of darkness and the adversarial or dark powers and Gods of course. But paying respect to the return of light/sun by honoring the dark/nifl is a twist of some sort. Does this light have Muspell qualities? Is this a metaphor for the burning of the worlds and the “darkness” that will follow? (Muspilli itself is another word for Ragnarök after all.) For some “regular” Heathens Yule marks the return of Sunna, sometimes the return of Baldr after Ragnarök, neither of which would bear significant meaning in Thursatrú.

Anyone having more insight on this – please use the contact form below or post a comment, thank you.
All in all, Thursatrú, as a chaos-gnostic/anti-cosmic religion seems to be anti-dualism most of all.
If we take that into account, neither revering darkness nor light makes much sense. “Chaos”, then, would be something else, something other than either dark or light, something beyond, something that cannot be grasped with limited human senses but only with the heart and soul, it is but an inkling;  something vague but grand to be hoped for, but maybe too vague to actually turn into an intellectual, philosophical or religious concept in a dual world as ours – ?

Footnotes:

[*1] My personal thoughts on the interpretation that Gullveig is the same as Angrboda are that this is a misconclusion.
Gullveig is a Rime-Thurs, a frost giantess, being “of ice”. She was burnt thrice and yet returned every time. Now, what happens if you burn ice? It melts, it vaporizes, it vanishes.
Loki on the other hand is known as a shape-shifter turning both into male as well as female form. As a fire-giant he would have an easy time escaping “death by fire” as fire would not harm him one bit.
As an agent of Ragnarök, would he not gain more by starting the Aesir-Vanir war in the guise of Gullveig?
Why would Angrboda, packmother, move away from her Ironwood abode where she is known to tend to her offspring to nurture and nourish them to make them strong for the end-of-the-world fight? In Ironwood, she is protected – iron being a ward against “evil” or adversary forces in Norse cosmology and the Aesir – at least in Thursatrú and partly Rökkatrú cosmology being the most evil of them all.