Gnipa (Icelandic, Scandinavian) Peak; in Norse mythology, the gnipa-hollow is the cave that gives entrance to the underworld or world of the dead governed by Hel, Loki's daughter. The hound of Hel, Garm, howls in the hollow before Ragnarok.

(See also: Gnayam, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Mjotudr (Icelandic) [from mjot measure + udr out of, exhausting]

In Norse mythology, the dying phase of a Tree of Life, the second half of its existence when the energies are retreating from the material back toward the spiritual realm. Applies to any world tree, large or small.

See also MJOTVIDR

(See also: Mjotudr, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Menglad (Icelandic, Scandinavian) [from men jewel + glad happy]

She who is happy in possession of a jewel; in Norse mythology, a kenning for Freya, the goddess corresponding to Aphrodite and Venus in Greek and Roman myths. She is not merely the goddess of love and beauty, but the spiritual intelligence of the human race. The jewel on her breast, Brisingamen, is humanity on earth.

(See also: Menglad, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Mistletoe, Mistilteinn (Icelandic) [from mistil + teinn twig]

A parasitic plant held in high esteem among the Druids and Anglo-Saxon peoples as well as the Norse. The Druids are said to have used it as a medicinal herb. In Norse mythology it is instrumental in bringing about the death of Balder (the sun god) at the instigation of Loki, through the agency of Hoder, the blind god of darkness and ignorance.

The "death" of the sun god at the winter solstice marks the nadir of the cycle of the year before the rejuvenation of spring. One meaning of the story in the Edda is the inevitable withdrawal of the guiding gods from association with the early races of mankind, to enable humanity to become independent and to seek and find its own way back to its divine source.

(See also: Mistletoe, Mistilteinn, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Hermod (Icelandic) (from her host, army + mod might, courage)

A son of Odin in Norse mythology, equivalent to Hermes or Mercury, messenger of the gods. Best known for his memorable journey to the kingdom of Hel on behalf of the gods, when he was sent to entreat the queen of death to give up the sun god Balder whose death at the hands of his blind brother Hoder had been brought about by Loki (in some versions Odin himself undertakes the errand).

(See also: Hermod, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ifing (Icelandic, Scandinavian) (from if, ef doubt)

In Norse mythology, a wide, ever-flowing river which runs between Asgard (court of the gods) and Jotunheim (home of the giants where the worlds of the living are formed). This river never freezes over to form an ice-bridge which might be traversed by the unworthy, but all human souls must eventually cross the river Doubt and also the river Time (Tund) in order to gain the realm of the gods.

(See also: Ifing, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Angerboda (Icelandic) (from anger sorrow, regret + boda bode)

In Norse mythology, the boder of regret is a giantess, wife of Loki; it is suggestive that the giantess wife (matter aspect) of Loki (human mind) should have produced the three offspring Hel (death), Iormungandr (the Midgard serpent or equator), and Fenris (the wolf who is to devour the sun when its life cycle is over).

(See also: Angerboda, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Farbauti (Icelandic) (from far travel, ship + bauti to beat, chase)

In Norse mythology, a giant, father of Loki, whose mother is variously named Lofo (leafy isle, earth) or Nal (needle). Farbauti represents the wind that beats or chases the ship of life and may allegorically be connected with the manifestation of living things. This in turn produced the human intelligence (Loki).

(See also: Farbauti, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Hermod (Icelandic) (from her host, army + mod might, courage)

A son of Odin in Norse mythology, equivalent to Hermes or Mercury, messenger of the gods. Best known for his memorable journey to the kingdom of Hel on behalf of the gods, when he was sent to entreat the queen of death to give up the sun god Balder whose death at the hands of his blind brother Hoder had been brought about by Loki (in some versions Odin himself undertakes the errand).

(See also: Hermetic Chain, Great Chain of Being, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Dvalin (Icelandic) (from dvala delay; or Swed dvala coma)

A dwarf in ancient Norse mythology, the comatose or entranced human nature corresponding to the lesser elements of character; not entirely animal but not completely evolved as a human being, he accurately describes the imperfect, growing, and changing human self. Together with the skilled intelligence of Loki, Dvalin created appropriate gifts for the gods Odin, Thor, and Frey.

See also DWARFS

(See also: Dvalin, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Skrymir (Icelandic, Scandinavian) A Norse giant, also called Utgarda-Loki (Loki of the outermost court), representing the worlds of illusion (matter) in which the gods (consciousnesses) are misled. A well known tale relates how Thor, Loki, and Thor's servant Tjalfi are subjected to a number of "eye-shines" (illusions) and ignominiously outperformed by the giants in a series of contests, all by means of deceptive appearances.

In Norse mythology giants represent ages of manifest existence and each giant exhibits traits belonging to his particular eon. The giantesses who are his daughters represent lesser cycles of time within his longer age. Thurses are the gross, inert aspects of the elements which serve as vehicles for the imbodiments of conscious energies in worlds. They are represented as evil in most myths because their nature is opposed to the dynamism of the gods. Hence the gods and thurses or giants are constantly at war.

Skrymir and other giants exemplify also the gigantic forebears of our human race who inhabited the earth when forms were not yet coarse and weighty. Every mythic history contains references to giants: "in nearly every mythology -- which after all is ancient history -- the giants play an important part. In the old Norse mythology, the giants, Skrymir and his brethren, against whom the sons of the gods fought, were potent factors in the histories of deities and men" (SD 2:754).

(See also: Skrymir, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Volsung, Volsungar (Icelandic, Scandinavian) [from volsi phallus + unge child]

In Norse mythology, an early race of humanity, the first to reproduce by sexual means, remote descendants of the Niflungar (children of the mist), who represent humanity before the globe had condensed from the primordial nebula. The tale of Sigurd the Volsung is one of the classic stories in the younger or prose Edda.

(See also: Volsung, Volsungar, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Vala, Volva (Swedish, Icelandic) [possibly cognate with Greek sibylla]

In Norse mythology, the wise sibyl who instructs Allfather Odin in "the origin, life, and end of worlds." She represents the record of all the cosmic past, which is consulted by Odin, the divine consciousness-energy, as told in Voluspa, the principal lay of the poetic or elder Edda.

(See also: Vala, Volva, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Zio (Germanic) The ancient Germanic sword god or war god, corresponding to Tyr in Norse mythology. He was called Tivisco by Tacitus, who describes him as a hidden god, held in such reverence by the Swabians that no one could enter the sacred grove of the Semnones, a prominent tribe of the Swabians, without being bound with a chain. The earth goddess Nerthus was regarded as his wife.

(See also: Zio, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Hel or Hela (Scandianvian Norse). The Goddess-Queen of the Land of the Dead; the inscrutable and direful Being who reigns over the depths of Helheim and Nifelheim. In the earlier mythology, Hel was the earth-goddess, the good and beneficent mother, nourisher of the weary and the hungry. But in the later Skalds she became the female Pluto, the dark Queen of the Kingdom of Shades, she who brought death into this world, and sorrow afterwards.

(See also: Hel, Hela, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Thurse (Icelandic) [possibly related to Danish tosse fool]

Giant; the difference between the giant and the thurse, as these terms are used in Norse mythology, is subtle. From the tales it would appear that giant is used most often to indicate the passage of a long time (cf Greek aeon), whereas the thurse aspect is accentuated to show the senselessness of matter uninspired by the gods.

(See also: Thurse, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Sif (Icelandic) [plural sifjar affinity, kinship]

Thor's wife in Norse mythology; the singular form occurs only in the proper name of the goddess whose golden hair is the harvest, pride and joy of all the gods. Sif is guardian of the sanctity of marriage and the ancient law which forbade the union of any couple more closely related than through the fifth generation.

One tale relates how Sif's hair was stolen by Loki who, with the aid of the dwarf Dvalin, was able to restore it.

(See also: Sif, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Skuld (Icelandic) A debt, due; the third of the three norns who determine the fate of heroes in Norse mythology and who parallel the Greek Moirai. Skuld represents the future or unexpended karma, that which is due and owing. Her sister norns are named Urd (origin) and Verdandi (becoming). Skuld is said to be created by her two sisters: by the causes set in motion in the past (Urd) and the decisions and actions taken in the present (Verdandi). Hence she is the inevitable consequence of what has gone before.

(See also: Skuld, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Midgard, Midgardr (Icelandic) [from mid middle + gardr court]

In Norse mythology, the central world where humanity lives. It is surrounded by the waters of space where is coiled Iormungandr, the Midgard serpent, one of Loki's three dread offspring.

It represents the equator, the plane of the ecliptic, or even the Milky Way, depending on the context. Midgards-veorr (the holy one of Midgard) is Thor, defender of the human world against the giants.

(See also: Midgard, Midgardr, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Njord (Icelandic) A Norse deity, corresponding to Saturn of other mythologies and to Cronos (time). Njord is the father of Frey (the earth god), and Freyja (goddess of Venus, patroness of earth's humanities); he is the patron of commerce and traffic, of agriculture and fishery. His home (globe) is named Noatun (ships' harbor).

Of Njord is told a legend like that of Moses: as an infant he was set adrift on a sheaf of wheat and surrounded with his father's weapons; under the name Sceaf he landed on the earth and became the instructor of humanity in the skills of agriculture and the arts.

(See also: Njord, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Jotunheim (Icelandic, Scandinavian) (from jotunn giant + heimar home, land)

In Norse mythology, the home of the giants, one of the nine worlds of the Eddas, described as beyond the ocean which surrounds Midgard, and separated from the home of the gods (Asgard) by Ifing -- the river which never freezes over. Jotunheim stands for the material spheres of life visited by the gods who gain the "mead" of wisdom by embodying in worlds. Such a sphere is the earth and so also are the other planets and celestial bodies, though of varying evolutionary status.

(See also: Jotunheim, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)