Working For A Better Life (valkyrieofodin) wrote in northern_trad, @ 2008-07-13 10:21:00 |
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Current mood: | contemplative |
Idunna
There is actually a fair amount of information on Idunna, The Prose Edda XXVI: tells us, "One is called Bragi: he is renowned for wisdom and most of all for fluency of speech and skill with words.... “His wife is Idunn: she guards in her chest of ash those apples which the gods must taste whensoever they grow old; and then they all become young, and so it shall be even unto the Weird of the Gods." Then said Gangleri: "A very great thing, methinks, the gods entrust to the watchfulness and good faith of Idunn." Then said Hárr, laughing loudly: "'T was near being desperate once; I may be able to tell thee of it, but now thou shalt first hear more of the names of the Æsir.”
Prose Edda Skaldskaparmal
I. A certain man was named Ægir, or Hlér. He dwelt on the island which is now called Hlér's Isle, [2] and was deeply versed in black magic. He took his way to Ásgard, but the Æsir had foreknowledge of his journey; he was received with good cheer, and yet many things were done by deceit, with eye-illusions. And at evening, when it was time for drinking, Odin had swords brought into the hall, so bright that light radiated from them: and other illumination was not used while they sat at drinking. The n the Æsir came in to their banquet, and in the high-seats sat them down those twelve Æsir who were appointed to be judges; these were their names: Thor, Njördr, Freyr, Týr, Heimdallr, Bragi, Vídarr, Váli, Ullr, Hœnir, Forseti, Loki; and in like manner the Ásynjur: Frigg, Freyja, Gefjun, Idunn, Gerdr, Sigyn, Fulla, Nanna. It seemed glorious to Ægir to look about him in the hall: the wainscottings there were all hung with fair shields; there was also stinging mead, copiously quaffed. The man seated next to Ægir was Bragi, and they took part together in drinking and in converse: Bragi told Ægir of many things which had come to pass among the Æsir.
He began the story at the point where three of the Æsir, Odin and Loki and Hœnir, departed from home and were wandering over mountains and wastes, and food was hard to find. But when they came down into a certain dale, they saw a herd of oxen, took one ox, and set about cooking it. Now when they thought that it must be cooked, they broke up the fire, and it was not cooked. After a while had passed, they having scattered the fire a second time, and it was not cooked, they took counsel together, asking each other what it might mean. Then they heard a voice speaking in the oak up above them, declaring that he who sat there confessed he had caused the lack of virtue in the fire. They looked thither, and there sat an eagle; and it was no small one. Then the eagle said: "If ye are willing to give me my fill of the ox, then it will cook in the fire." They assented to this. Then he let himself float down from the tree and alighted by the fire, and forthwith at the very first took unto himself the two hams of the ox, and both shoulders. Then Loki was angered, snatched up a great pole, brandished it with all his strength, and drove it at the eagle's body. The eagle plunged violently at the blow and flew up, so that the pole was fast to the eagle's back, and Loki's hands to the other end of the pole. The eagle flew at such a height that Loki's feet down below knocked against stones and rock-heaps and trees, and he thought his arms would be torn from his shoulders. He cried aloud, entreating the eagle urgently for peace; but the eagle declared that Loki should never be loosed, unless he would give him his oath to induce Idunn to come out of Ásgard with her apples. Loki assented, and being straightway loosed, went to his companions; nor for that time are any more things reported concerning their journey, until they had come home.
But at the appointed time Loki lured Idunn out of Ásgard into a certain wood, saying that he had found such apples as would seem to her of great virtue, and prayed that she would have her apples with her and compare them with these. Then Thjazi the giant came there in his eagle's plumage and took Idunn and flew away with her, off into Thrymheimr to his abode
But the Æsir became straitened at the disappearance of Idunn, and speedily they became hoary and old. Then those, Æsir took counsel together, and each asked the other what had last been known of Idunn; and the last that had been seen was that she had gone out of Ásgard with Loki. Thereupon Loki was seized and brought to the Thing, and was threatened with death, or tortures; when he had become well frightened, he declared that he would seek after Idunn in Jötunheim, if Freyja would lend him the hawk's plumage which she possessed. And when he got the hawk's plumage, he flew north into Jötunheim, and came on a certain day to the home of Thjazi the giant. Thjazi had rowed out to sea, but Idunn was at home alone: Loki turned her into the shape of a nut and grasped her in his claws and flew his utmost.
Now when Thjazi came home and missed Idunn, he took his eagle's plumage and flew after Loki, making a mighty rush of sound with his wings in his flight. But when the Æsir saw how the hawk flew with the nut, and where the eagle was flying, they went out below Ásgard and bore burdens of plane-shavings thither. As soon as the hawk flew into the citadel, he swooped down close by the castle-wall; then the Æsir struck fire to the plane-shavings. But the eagle could not stop himself when he missed the hawk: the feathers of the eagle caught fire, and straightway his flight ceased. Then the Æsir were near at hand and slew Thjazi the giant within the Gate of the Æsir, and that slaying is exceeding famous.
Now Skadi, the daughter of the giant Thjazi, took helm and birnie and all weapons of war and proceeded to Ásgard, to avenge her father. The Æsir, however, offered her reconciliation and atonement: the first article was that she should choose for herself a husband from among the Æsir and choose by the feet only, seeing no more of him. Then she saw the feet of one man, passing fair, and said: "I choose this one: in Baldr little can be loathly." But that was Njördr of Nóatún. She had this article also in her bond of reconciliation: that the Æsir must do a thing she thought they would not be able to accomplish: to make her laugh. Then Loki did this: he tied a cord to the beard of a goat, the other end being about his own genitals, and each gave way in turn, and each of the two screeched loudly; then Loki let himself fall onto Skadi's knee, and she laughed. Thereupon reconciliation was made with her on the part of the Æsir. It is so said, that Odin did this by way of atonement to Skadi: he took Thjazi's eyes and cast them up into the heavens, and made of them two stars.
The final reference we have in lore to Idunna is in the Poetic Edda. In the Lokasenna, Loki pays each of the AEsir and the Ásynjur who are at the feast some form attention with a negative slant to it. When Bragi, who is Idunna's husband is given the brunt of Loki's tongue She tries to defend Him and this is the form of Their exchange:
Ithun spake:
16. "Well, prithee, Bragi, | his kinship weigh,
Since chosen as wish-son he was;
And speak not to Loki | such words of spite
Here within Ægir's hall."
Loki spake:
17. "Be silent, Ithun! | thou art, I say,
Of women most lustful in love,
Since thou thy washed-bright | arms didst wind
About thy brother's slayer."
Ithun spake:
18. "To Loki I speak not | with spiteful words
Here within Ægir's hall;
And Bragi I calm, | who is hot with beer,
For I wish not that fierce they should fight."
One of the Kennings for her husband Bragi from Skaldskaparmal is: X. "How should one periphrase Bragi? By calling him Husband of Idunn, First Maker of Poetry, and the Long-bearded God (after his name, a man who has a great beard is called Beard-Bragi) and Son of Odin.
Among the Kennings for Loki is listed XVI. “Thief of the Giants, of the Goat, of Brísinga-men, and of Idunn's Apples
Direct Kennings for Idunna Are: XXII. "How should Idunn be periphrased? Thus: by calling her Wife of Bragi, and Keeper of the Apples; and the apples should be called Age-Elixir of the Æsir. Idunn is also called Spoil of the Giant Thjazi, according to the tale that has been told before, how he took her away from the Æsir. Thjódólfr of Hvin composed verses after that tale in the Haustlöng:
Here we see Idunna not only as a goddess of mild temper and kind ways but also as a one fierce to protect those whom She loves. We have no direct evidence of a brother, or name for Him if at one time He existed. There does not appear to be a single kenning to Him. Though there are many kennings that relate specifically to Idunna Herself… In fact, it might be said that here is some very significant evidence that She was a deity of some importance in and of itself. To have this many kennings that relate to Her, gives weight to the idea that She was well loved and in the consciousness of the people. Even though we don’t have a name for the brother who is referred to in Lokasenna, it does give us pause, there is no reason to believe that He did not exist, and this gives us reason to believe that Idunna was a Vanic Deity; The custom of being partnered at any time in a romantic way with one’s sibling is known among the Vanir as being somewhat common from what we have seen of Njord and Nerthus as well as Frey and Freyja. Especially as She does not in any manner try to deny the charge. She simply moves on and says that She does not speak with spiteful words and wishes to avoid any form of direct confrontation. Here we see that though She is quick to defend those whom She loves there is a point to which She will concede that peace and frith are better than another outbreak of warfare particularly when it is only words that are being wielded. It is a rather common characteristic of the Vanir to be both mild and fierce at the same time. They tend to be very good at picking the battles which They fight.
Idunna is a Goddess with no other to compare to Her. We have little in the way of stories that survive about the individual Goddesses; there has been a lot of bantering about as to why this is, were they less important than the Gods? Were their cults aggressively stamped out as Christianity became the dominant religion? Honestly it is never going to be something that we will be able to answer. The ideal is that yes, we feel their cults were aggressively sought out for eradication by Christian priests who were threatened by their lore and in fact their very existence. We do have tantalizing bits and pieces here and there which show to us, that the need for a strong female essence was seen by our ancestors. Idunna represented the fact that even the Gods and Goddesses of Asgard needed to regenerate and pull from within, their inner child, that they needed an external source to stimulate this action, and that with the passage of time there was the potential for stagnation leading to a process which allowed for aging; Many of the female deities, have this sense about them, in that wherever Freyja went the land replenished itself, and when She left it, the land became fallow and retreated into a period of mourning, but we also see that this affected nature and not her peers, that the ability to regenerate that which was around Her was limited to a certain sphere of existence. And this is what makes each deity important in their own right, why Idunna becomes such a focus for us, because She affects the individual rather than the environment. It appears that the Vanic Deities had a great deal of the responsibility for this function as a whole; regeneration was their specialty in a sense. Whether it was the turning of the seasons or the regeneration of consciousness and the body itself.
Obviously, Idunna must interact with nature in order to tend to her trees, so that they will produce the apples which She offers to the AEsir and Ásynjur, and in a sense, She is out of sync with the rest of the world, the rest of Asgard, sequestered in her grove of apples. I often imagine Her, contentedly singing to Herself among the trees, as She dances among them, caressing the trees and bringing the sap up from the ground to run through the trees as if it were blood. I can almost see Her as the nurturing mother of the trees themselves. As they grow from saplings to stronger young trees and into their stronger bearing selves. I almost see the trees growing ladders into their very structures so that She can more easily climb them and pick the apples at the very highest branches. As her voice carries all over the grove. There is a kind of sense of symbiosis that is occurring between Her and the trees, and this is what is being passed on to the rest of the Gods in a sense. I don’t really see Her having much need of a great hall or house because the trees themselves would house Her and protect her from the elements as She protects them from anything bad, as far as predators or diseases. Her voice and song being the tool and the reward in a sense. It’s not a kind of agricultural farming but more a relationship. If She were more aware of the world outside her grove She would never become vulnerable to the ruse which Loki eventually uses to remove Her from her safe place to begin with. But She is not so unable to defend Herself that Thjazi is able to wrest the apples from Her. In all the time that Idunna is kept a prisoner by him, She is able to keep them sacrosanct. Keep them for the purpose to which She has designated them. And it seems that the Gods and Goddesses of Asgard care for Her genuinely. Though Loki eventually gives in to Thjazi desires, He has to be seriously put under duress in order to do so. It's not like they simply come to some kind of compact between the two of them. You can see a sense of guilt throughout the tale as He commits his act of betrayal.
Though Idunna has been betrayed once by Loki, still She is trusting of Him to release Her from the captivity to which He has brought Her. In my mind this shows that She is in a constant state of growth, and able to adapt beyond the past into the future. She is also able to keep the trusting child-within alive where most individuals who had been placed in such circumstances would become jaded and unable to see past the fear and anger of their captivity. She places Herself in His hands and is brought back to safety. There is a lesson here for all those who have been through trauma, if only they can allow themselves to internalize it. This is why I see Idunna not only as a goddess of youth, but of healing. Because through personal growth, through directed growth comes healing. Old wounds whether emotional or physical are healed.
I have found that Idunna has a great deal of impact on my world on an almost daily basis, and She has a great place within my Kindred. The reason behind this is that, I most often use non-alcoholic apple cider to do ritual with, because I am on a fair amount of medications for a pretty serious seizure disorder, as well as for bi-polar disorder. I believe that using a non-alcoholic drink that does not interact with my medication is an act of personal responsibility. Though there is a fair range of non-alcoholic beverages which I use, including goat’s milk and iced mint tea, cider, is one of my favorites because it calls to mind a direct connection to Idunna and all of benefits that She endows unto the AEsir and the Ásynjur. I also believe that the saying, "an apple a day keeps the dr. away," comes in some way shape or form from those who remembered the stories of Idunna and her apples.
It is not uncommon to associate particular runes with deities, some runes, though not many are named for specific deities. Idunna does not have such a rune named for her, but I most often associate Her with Jera, which is the rune of cycles, or more aptly the rune associated with the calendar year. In that She represents aging, or holding the effects of aging at bay, this rune in particular is in my opinion perfect to associate with Her. It shows that no matter what occurs on the surface, ultimately we all have to go through the experiences that life hands us, and it takes time for the apple to develop on the branch. Finding the seed at the core is an experience in itself. So, for all these reasons, as well as many more which are personal, I find this to be an apt rune to capture the sense of Idunna’s essence. I am sure that many individuals out there will find other runes through personal experience. Another rune which is very apt for representing Idunna is Gebo, which is the rune of generosity. It represents that giving must flow both ways or not at all. Though the story says that Idunna gives to the other deities, so that They may have youth and health, it does not state what is returned to Her. But we know that She would not stay inside her grove of trees all alone if there was not something that She got in return. Obviously, She is well loved, or They would not seek to rescue Her in such a manner, with Freyja loaning out her falcon cloak, and the entire community going to effort of setting the walls ablaze to protect Her and Loki upon Their approach.
I hope that in some way, I have given to you a sense of who Idunna is, and that you have found a sense of wonder in the simplest apple the next time you go to bite into it. Maybe it’s come from some of Idunna’s long lost seeds.
[1. Usually translated "Poetical Diction."
2. Now Læssø.]
[15. Adorner of benches: this epithet presumably implies that Bragi is not only slothful, but also effeminate, for a very similar word, "pride of the benches," means a bride.
16. Ithun: Bragi's wife; cf. note on introductory prose. The goddesses who, finding that their husbands are getting the worst of it, take up the cudgels with Loki, all find themselves confronted with undeniable facts in their own careers; cf. stanzas 26 (Frigg), 52 (Skathi) and 54 (Sif). Gefjun and Freyja are silenced in similar fashion. Wish-son: adopted son; Loki was the son of the giant Farbauti and the giantess Laufey, and hence was not of the race of the gods, but had been virtually adopted by Othin, who subsequently had good reason to regret it.]
[17. We do not even know who Ithun's brother was, much less who slew him.
Written by, Ayla Wolffe©2008