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The
intuitive and ferocious wolf Fenrir
Loki, the
God of trickery and
mischief married the
giantess
Angrboða (anguish) secretly at
Jötunheim, who bore him
three awe-inspiring
children;
Fenrir,
Hel and
Jörmungandr. The
existence of the three was kept secret for as
long as possible, however the
creatures grew so
large that they could no longer remain confined
in the secret cave which was their
dwelling and
sanctuary.
Odin became aware
of them and feared them lest they should
invade
Asgard and
destroy the Gods, so he journeyed to
Jötunheim, flung
Hel into the depths of
Niflheim, instructing that she could
rule over
the nine worlds of the
netherworld.
Jörmungandr
was cast into the sea, where he grew to such
large proportions that he encircled the Earth
and
caught his own tail.
Fenrir was taken
back to Asgard where
Odin hoped he could
tame
the wolf and make him
gentle and
amicable,
however none of the Gods wanted the pleasure of
going near the beast as he was
gigantic in size,
with large, sharp
salivating fangs. None dare go
near him except for
Tyr, the
God of war.
Seeing that
Fenrir
was daily increasing in strength,
size and
fierceness, the Gods
deliberated on how they may
deal with this tricky situation. They did not
want to slay him as that would
shatter the peace
accord with the Giants, so they decided to
bind
the magnificent creature.
Keeping this
purpose in mind, they obtained a
strong chain
named Laeding to
bind around the wolf.
Fenrir
agreed and once the chain was in place, he
waited until the Gods moved away and then with a
mighty effort,
burst the chain into a
thousand
pieces. The Gods concealed their disappointment
by praising Fenrir of his
mighty strength. They
next produced a much stronger
fetter named
Droma
which was also placed around the neck of
Fenrir,
however this bond was also
burst by the powerful
wolverine.
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'Twice did the Aesir strive to bind,
Twice did they fetters powerless find;
Iron or brass of no avail,
Naught, save through magic, could prevail.'
Valhalla (J.C. Jones) |
The
Gods knowing
that no ordinary cord could secure
Fenrir, bade
Frey’s servant,
Skírnir to
journey into
Svartálfaheim and
find a cord which could
hold
the gigantic wolf. Skírnir made the
perilous
journey into the
Underdark,
a place of wonder and
dangerous beauty.
The
Dark elves,
hunters and
magicians of the foreboding
Underdark using
magical arts, manufactured a
slender cord called
Gleipnir which was made from
six ingredients; the
sound of a cat’s footsteps,
a woman’s beard,
the roots of a mountain,
the
sinews of the bear, the voice of fishes and
the
spittle of birds. They handed it to
Skírnir and
promised that it could not be broken and
the
more it was strained the stronger it became.
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'Gleipnir, at last,
By Dark Elves cast,
In Svartálfaheim,
with strong spells wrought,
To Odin was by Skírnir brought:
As soft as silk, as light as air,
Yet still of magic power most rare.'
Valhalla (J.C. Jones) |
Skírnir
journeyed
back to Asgard and
presented the cord to the
Gods who immediately asked
Fenrir to accompany
them to the island of
Lyngvi, in the middle of
Lake Amsvartnir, so they could
marvel at his
strength yet again.
Fenrir however
was
no ordinary wolf and had the
sense of foresight
and intuition. He
sensed the magic of the cord
and asked if one of the Gods as a
sign of good
faith could place his hand inside his jaws and
made the Gods
promise that
no magical arts be
used against him.
All except
Tyr
drew back in dismay, who
came forth and
placed
his hand in Fenrir’s mouth. When
Gleipnir was
fastened around the wolf’s neck,
Fenrir realised
that he was caught fast and
bit of Tyr’s hand in
anger and
frustration.
Tyr was forced to
use his maimed right arm as his shield and
wield
his sword with his left. As the
God of War had
tremendous dexterity and
endurance, he had
no
problems dispatching his enemies as before.
The
Gods drew the
end of the fetter Gelgia through the
rock
Gioll
and fastened it to the
boulder
Thviti which was
sunk deep into the ground. To
silence
Fenrir, a
sword was placed between his jaws, which made
the proud beast
bleed. The
valiant blood formed
a stream which created the great river,
Von.
At
Ragnarök it is
foretold that
Odin will be
hunted and
slain by
Fenrir, the
beast and
teacher within.
The magnificent flow and
elegance of Aquila
Aquila, the
magnificent eagle from
Greek myth is also known
as the
Thunderbird, who
retrieves the
thunderbolts of
Zeus after they are
thrown by
the Olympian Father of Gods.
The
radiant flying
form is honoured in the heavens above in the
splendour of the
constellation Aquila. The
eagle
has always symbolized the
flight of
intellect
and intuition,
streaking across the plains of
the inner realms, lighting the
fires of passion
and desire, the
joyous moments of
reason and
insight.
Aquila was asked
by Zeus to punish
Prometheus after he had
stolen
fire from the Gods and
given this flaming gift
to humankind. Zeus knew that there was the
terrible danger of humanity destroying
themselves using the
magical flames.
Zeus had
Prometheus
bound to a rock in the
depths of the
Caucasus mountains and had
Aquila come each day
to eat out the Titan’s liver. The next day the
liver would grow back and the
pecking would
begin anew. This serves as a
warning to humanity
to treat the sacred fire with
divinity and
grace.
Zeus also had
Aquila bring
Ganymede, the son of
King Tros of
Troy to
Mount Olympus, to
serve as the cup
bearer to the
Olympian Gods. The
cup bearer is
the representation of
Aquarius, the
water
carrier and therefore the constellation
Aquila
is closely related to the heavenly starlit form
of night.
When
Hercules
saves Prometheus,
Aquila was
defeated by an
arrow poisoned with the
blood of the
hydra,
which Hercules had
slain in his
previous labour
assigned to him. For his fondness and
faithful
gratitude to his beloved eagle,
Zeus placed his
divine memory into the
starlit tapestry of
cosmic harmony.
The
enlightening
stories of both
Fenrir and
Aquila
teach us that
through adversity comes
great wisdom. It is the
challenges we accept and
conquer which
make us
who we are and add strength to our
Great Being.
The Journey of the Beholder becomes more
rich
when there is a true path set before the
flow of
the rhythm. Grasp it tight and hold on for the
ride!
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