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The Symbol of The Serpent

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Aphrodite
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« on: February 02, 2007, 09:31:39 am »

From Boreasi:

Aphro, quote;
"The serpent signifies ancient wisdom. Attempts by Chistianity to make it a demonic creature were merely an attempt to stamp out all pagan symbols and wisdom, among them, Poseidon's trident, turned into the pitchfork of the devil and woman, earlier seen as the equal of man, then turned into the vessel for which all earthly sin entered the world."

A very spot on conclusion - and great links!

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Jormungand

Thor fighting the sea serpent, Henry Fuseli, 1788.In Norse mythology, the sea serpent Jormungand was the middle child of Loki and the giantess Angerboda. In Thorsdrapa, Faðir lögseims, (trans. father of the sea thread), i.e. the father of Jormungand, is used as a direct kenning for Loki.

Loki was forbidden by Odin to mate with Angerboda (also Angraboda, Angrboda- "Herald of Sorrow"), as it was prophesised that the offspring of their union would overthrow the gods. When Loki went ahead and did it anyway, the Aesir kidnapped the three children,Fenrir, Hel and Jormugand. They tossed Jormugand into the Ocean, the endless waters that encircled Midgard. Jormungand grew so big that he was able to surround the Earth and grasp his own tail (see Ouroboros).

Jormugand's arch enemy is the god Thor. There are three known myths detailing their encounters. In one, Thor encounters the serpent disguised as a colossal cat by the giant king Utgard-Loki. As one of the tasks set by Utgard-Loki, Thor must lift the cat, and though he is unable to lift such a monstrous creature as Jormugand, he comes so close that when the deception is revealed by Utgard-Loki it is still an impressive feat.

Their next encounter came when Thor went fishing with the giant Hymir. The two did not get on, and when Hymir refused to privide Thor with bait, Thor struck the head off Hymir's largest ox, Himinhriod ('Heaven Springer') to use. They rowed to a point where Hymir often sat and caught flat fish, and he drew up two whales. Thor demanded to go farther, and so they did. Hymir told Thor that the part they were at was unsafe, because of the Midgard serpent, but Thor ignored him, and to Hymir's horror they rowed out further.

Thor then prepared a strong line and a large hook, and Jormugand bit. Thor pulled the serpent up; the two faced off, Jormugand dribbling poison and blood. Hymir went pale with fear, and as Thor grabbed his hammer to kill the serpent, cut the line, leaving the serpent to sink beneath the waves.

Their last meeting will come at Ragnarok, when Jormungard will drag himself from the Ocean and poison the skies with the deadly poison eitr. Jomungard will kill many warriors with his poison, including Thor, the thunder god, who with his dying breath will at last finish off the Serpent.

According to another folktale, whenever fishermen, sea explorers or Viking raiding parties encountered the Serpent, Thor would come along to fight the great snake. It is possible that this particular myth arose because of thunderstorms at sea (the Norsemen believed that thunderstorms were caused by Thor riding across the sky in his goat-pulled chariot), where the ocean's waves ripped at ships like they were a gigantic snake. Ancient Norsemen spent a considerable amount of their time at sea, so many of their myths and legends revolve around such matters.

Jormungand is also sometimes referred to as the Midgard Serpent (Miðgarðsormur)or the World Serpent.

Alternate spellings:

Jormagund
Jormugand
Jormangund
Jormungandr

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jormungand

Eitr is a fictional substance in Norse mythology. This liquid substance is the origin of all living things, the first giant Ymir was conceived from eitr. The substance is supposed to be very poisonous and is also produced by Jormungand (the Midgard serpent) and other serpents.

In Vafþrúðnismál Odin asks Vafþruðner about the origin of Ymir and the giant answers:

Ór Élivagom
stukkoo eitrdropar,
svá óx, unz varð ór iötunn;
þar órar ættir
kómu allar saman,
því er þat æ allt til atalt.
Rough translation:

From Éliwaves
Eitrdrops splashed
that grew into a giant
who begat all families
from which all [giants] come
that is why we are easily angered

Influence
The word eitr exist in most Nordic languages (all derived from the Old Norse language) in Danish edder, in Swedish etter, in German Eiter (lit. pus),in Old Saxon ĕttar, in Old English ăttor. The meaning of the word is very broad: poisonous, evil, bad, angry, sinister etc. The word is used in common Scandinavian folklore as a synonym for snake poison. The last line of the stanza in Vafþrúðnismál where Vafþruðner says "that is why we are easily angered", is a word-play with the meaning of the word eitr, as it also means anger/angry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eitr
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