The Elder Voluspa
And thus it was before that first aeon, when stood only the great Irminsul, Allpillar, of Skyfather Teiwaz, and about it swirled only the Ginnungagap, its great expanse; for all else in the cosmos was not yet to be. Neither the land nor the sea, nor sky, nor depths, not even time herself; the void was all, save the pillar, and the pillar all, save the void, and thus it was in the begining, before time. From this immemorial begining, order was yet to be imposed upon the terrrible void, but lo, already, there had arisen three great roots to the pillar.

And these roots were to find firmament, and gather onto themselves all manner and means of athem. The first was height Urthra, the second Verthrandi, and from these first arose the third, Skouldth; and they were to weave the very fabric of the universe, like a tapestry, but not yet.

And there was a loud booming cry, the wantlust of becoming, and this first sound, Orgalmer, set in motion the roots, the eldritch Norns. As these great three Norns awoke, so did that column, in the East, was worldly Erdtha from the West washed over Aegir, in the South burned bright Logi, and in the North wind-swept Kari. And these were the first beings of the multiverse They gave rise to all that followed, the etins and gods, Dis and Alf, and between them the children of Ask and Embla.

Kari opened her eyes and from their brilliance the Irminsul first was seen, Teiwazfader. And he placed a son named Buri deep in the ice of Nifelheim as it was comming to be; sprung forth from Hvergelmir, daughter of Aegir and first wave bourne of the seas. Buri and Greta had begotten one named Tiw, and he was the flyjja-sprig of his Great Grandfather and the brightest star in the heavens.

The mighty Logi spit fire upon the Sky and the twins Tiazzi and Surt came forth, and together they begat Muspellheim. Their daughter Zeisa took with Teiwaz to beget Groa, whose fire burns bright in the Northern Skies.

Njord washed down about the pillar, and his child Aegir had taken Ran, and begat the Nine Waves, who in turn, mothered Heimdall, from them spring all manner of sea-wight and maid. From their waves the Ice of Nifelheim formed.

Amongst the earth-wights Ertha was first, and she had a daughter named Fulla who's sister is Frigga. And from her line all twelve handmaids spring, eldest is Frejya, and first of the Dis bourne of the Earth. They are the Mothers and Antecessors of all nine tribes.
From this Past becomming arose the race of Etins too, the twin , Ymir, who was to beget Augelmir and Bergelmir...and so too, he was placed in the ice, though much later in the formation of Nifelheim.

At the top of this World Tree perched the Eagle, eyes of the Brilliant and Glorious God, and he surveyed the work of the three Wyrd Sisters. Even as They grew up from the bottom, so too did He grow down to the firmament from the Sky. As it happened above, so too below it came to be.

These creatures at the root, who were together height the Nornir, the weavers of the life of the Nine Worlds yet to be, Measurers, and Keepers of Time, marked this the beginning, and so it was.

Thus did the first three worlds came to be, the land of Fire and that of Ice, and the force of order between them, called Gladsheim. There those Elder Watchers met and held counsel, there the plans for the Nine Worlds were laid, and there, all-doom sealed.

Ginnungagap
From the Voluspa section of the Norse-Icelandic Poetic Edda:

Of old was the age, when Ymir lived;
Sea nor cool waves, nor sand there were;
Earth had not been, nor heaven above,
But a yawning gap, and grass nowhere.

Ginnungagap is the abysmal gap of origin which forms the border between (ie, at once separates and joins) the northern ice and the southern fire. It is out of this gap through the action of the giants and gods that the world is born - middle earth (Miðgarð).

As with the Greeks, the mystery lies in the joint of what belongs below (ice, north, night, giants) with what belongs above (fire, south, day, gods). It is the nature of human being, the creatures of Miðgarð, to be subject to this mystery and to the care and anxiety which follow from its difficult complexity.

The Fall Through Ginnungagap
by Amon Amarth

Once I was - Now I am no more
A burst of flames threw me into oblivion
The life I knew - Seems distant and unreal
A fading dream, a memory I can't recall

Am I real - I can no longer tell
A notion tells me I still exist
Infinite dark - Through this void I float
Resting, waiting for the day

When I will live again
Eons pass or maybe I just blinked
Deeper into this hell I sink
Falling through Ginnungagap

I'm pulled towards an unseen gate
I seem to hear my name being called
I float towards these cries of fate
Faster than - the speed of light

I am falling through universe
Stars flash by - Before my eyes
The time has come to return
Out of the dark - Into the light

Back into life I am cast

By my side - A demon army rides
We ride to reclaim that once we lost
Eons have passed, I'm back from the dead
Victory lies ahead

Ginuap As Goddess

I imagine ...

She walks among us. Still The Void, yet she thinks herself into being and travels from her home between fire and ice. Nothing becomes Something and She is bright and awesome.

She is a sister to chat with about troubles. She is the Hag who does not turn the other cheek. She is the Grandmother who gives advice. She is the caring Mother who offers comfort, yet encourages independence. She is the Queen, overflowing with power and willing to direct it wisely. She is the child, innocent and filled with joy.

In the guise of a woman, she walks the world taller than most, wider than most. She takes her space. She is a Giant Maid, draped in a cloak deep as the blue sky right before it turns to black. Her hair is thick flaxen gold and falls to her knees; her warm, kind eyes are violet.

She is strong beyond measure yet gentle to all with good hearts. All creation adores her, drawn to her like a lover. Cats, wolverines, blue jays, raccoons and crows are called to her side.

She comes to teach women, but also herself ... Life learning from life. She opens the door to intuition, to calling power up and through ourselves, stirring our creativity. Reminding us of the Gap, Womb, Void that she is. How to draw strength in every aspect of our lives.

To those with hearts free of malice, She is loyal, wise and loving. She is abundant, fertile with creation. She knows we've all chosen our individual journeys before this life and blesses us in both happiness and sorrow. We are invited to borrow her energy; but we're only drawing on the conduit of Life within us.

Author Unknown ... to read and think on ...



ginnungagap
the holy gap
a wonder
we can not replace the all-pervading silence
with a god
gods are worldly ~ ginnungagap is not
actions are in the world ~ the gap does not take part
it is not the creator
yet without it
nothing in the created world can exist



Open up the inner space and enter. The treasure is there -- in here not out there.

This little great book, Óðsmál, is a clever depute into the understanding of the ancient wisdom of our revered heathen ancestors. We can call their wisdom the profound knowledge contained in heathenry, or paganry, ethnic religion, folk traditions, or ásatrú (asatru), or Frey-cult, or shaman, or we can call it the wisdom of the ancient Norse, the eternal tradition, or the theosophy in the sacred texts of edda.

Whatever one prefers to name it, this little chatters give insight into the essence of pure spirituality and great science contained in the much misunderstood -- and sometimes deliberately misinterpreted -- edda of the North, heathenry of the spiritual heritage of Norse folk. We shall have to start by understanding ginnungagap. Once we master that intellectually, we will be able to unfold the veil that gently covers the eternal Truth. But Truth can not be perceived intellectually only. That is where the trouble begins for the profane mind. Nature is a veil, created matter hides Reality, ginnungagap, out of sight.

But never worry. It is not a heathen way of life to worry, anyway. The so-called mystic is easy to understand, and easy to find, once we have this simple guide to tell us what mystic is all about.

So we start with the gap. Everything starts from the gap and without it nothing can be. The name that modern science has for the mystical part or the universe, or for the All-pervasive Universal Spirit, is The Unified Field. We can find It wherever we look for It, but It can not be seen with our worldly eyes. Neither can It be registered with contraptions that extend our worldly sight and other senses. Nor can It be detected with data-collecting device or any kind of measuring instruments. That is because in The Field - perfect silence is, perfect stillness prevails.

But The Unified Field is real all the same. The Unified Field is Reality, while the matter part of the world is not stable at all. The Unified Field is eternal whereas the matter-world is partial and ever changing. The Unified Field is integrating while worldly phenomena decompose as a part of perpetual natural cycles.

Change.

In the relative world there is duality, good-bad, creating-decomposing, gods-eotens, love-hate, etc. In The Field there is only that harmonized oneness. Can The Field be the real thing? We can not see it anywhere. Can the material part be mirages only? We can grasp matter and thoughts, but we can not grasp the concept of ginnungagap.

It is All Possibilities, it is Silence, it is Knowledge. Not a "thing" but Reality. Unbounded and is Eternity. It has no attributes, yet we are It. If we can follow this explanation, this seemingly lofty and irrational speculation, not explaining anything we can let it go. We are in The Universal Spirit. We are It.

And we can say that It is everywhere, omnipresent, omniscient. Everything created has its basis in It, and depends on It. All worldly things and phenomena. It is he space inside atoms, inside quarks, inside every, however tiny, material bit. Behind any faintest vibration that we can perceive of, It is. Even inside our feelings and inside the music we compose. It is the huge emptiness inside all, which modern science tells us about. But It is not Nothingness at all in spite of It being infinite silence. It is The Great Void that is swelling with creativity and potential.

It is the Origin of the whole universe.

There are no substantial bonds or links between ginnungagap and the created bits and peaces and vibrations. It is completely detached from Its creation. Should the flickering vision of the material world cease within the Great Void the universe would crumble down, just as easily as a thought goes away in our mind.

Just as thoughts come and go all the time, without any regret on our behalf, actually, so are the phenomena in the world only contemporary thoughts to the Great Void, the gap ginnunga. Human thoughts are worldly stuff. Within them is the Great Void, The Universal Spirit, The Unified Field. It, the ginnungagap, is the origin of our human thoughts as well as It is to be found inside everything else in this our beautiful mirage that we name world. We have to stop and think here, as this is the most vital part to understand if we want to understand the essence of heathenry, the mystic of unworldly Reality, pure spirituality. It is a good thing to understand The Unified Field of science. And when we want to learn how to gain the powerful infusion from ginnungagap we should realize that that is exactly the same thing.

That is what heathenry is all about in its purest form. Science does not call it mystic. Scientists call it plainly modern science. A fully understandable and explicable (explainable) "thing", that is no "thing" at all, only the very origin of all things. But I must repeat: All thoughts, good and bad, are worldly. We can learn all these concepts intellectually. We see that. But, as our thoughts belong to the physical world only, we have to leave them there, where they belong, if we want to transcend and emerge into ginnungagap.

In that realm of pure knowledge there is infinite silence and our thoughts can not, because of their very nature, their worldly nature, go there. The sphere of Reality can be lived within only. Within and beyond the worldly sphere where our thoughts belong. At each time only a small part of humanity has reached a state of consciousness where understanding is possible.

What is the purpose of life?

The purpose of life is the expansion of happiness

It is enjoying the evolutionary path towards perfection

Understanding by taking one step at a time is the best way. The gradual easy steps are most promising. There is no over-night revelation to pray for, as expectations and eagerness might lead to thoughts only. Thoughts are worldly, and thoughts draw our attention to the world. We find the gap inbetween thoughts.

Heathens in the North name the All-pervasive Spirit (the Unified Field) "ginnungagap". Gap (pronounced: gaab) means: an enormously huge empty space. Ginn means: very sacred, very holy, entirely pure. Ginna (verb) has another meaning: To deceive, mislead, trick, lure.

This is our first joke and puzzle to learn. The double meaning of the concepts used, is a part of the game. Get used to that tricky way of teaching about the mystical. The mythology of the Norse is full of smilies and enigmas. The fun and tricks are a part of the very message. The deception bears a message in itself. We better take that frolic into account from the very beginning. Concepts of a double meaning and of multiple levels are used all the time to convey the messages. These slippery concepts are piquant spices in the Norse game of seeking Truth within man.

A bad thing to happen to a man is to believe, unless it is only the certain notion that we are the gap. That is the only believing that promotes evolution.

Heathens do not believe in institutions. They believe there is might found within, believe that everything comes from the gap. Belief is an all-worldly trap. To have found the "only right" something is actually our blindness. But this must not have us stop looking for the peace within.

The first riddle:

What is super-sacred (ginnhelgt), an all-pervasive void, is everywhere, was before the first trace of matter, before Ymir. It contains all potentials, is a deception, is nowhere when you look for it. It is here especially when you are not looking. It is everywhere, but cannot be seen by worldly eyes. It is within us - it's within me and within you - within that stone over there and our human thoughts. It is bigger than the biggest, smaller than the smallest. Most importantly, without it there is no universe; the world would simply tumble and vanish in a puff of irrationality if it was not for it.

So what is it?

We are looking for it because we do know that it exists. Our quest is to understand.

This leads us seemingly nowhere, but living a life is the game itself, the game of life. First we fill our heads with questions, then we are told that thinking is what we have to get rid of in order to understand.

The Unified Field (The Universal Spirit) is pure knowledge. It is The Universal Consciousness. Our human consciousness is thereof. This Field is the real essence in us. It is Brahman of the Veda. The Great Sacred Eternal Oneness in here. Our divine essence.

So, if we are going to find it, we look within ourselves. But our thoughts can not take us there. We need to leave them in the relative world where they belong. Only our divine part, our individual consciousness, goes on, inwards, beyond, and emerges into the Universal Consciousness, The Unified Field, ginnungagap.

The nature of the mind is to think. Thoughts are so natural to the human mind, that we can not just tell the mind to stop thinking. Transcending the world of matter comes naturally to us, because seeking rest and tranquility in our very essence. Therefore natural and easy. Strain spoils, expectations spoil. "Curiously spying down" the Hávamál calls it.

But too much thinking ruins the whole game.

However inbetween our thoughts that come and go there is a gap. That is The Gap, ginnungagap. But as soon as we try to detect the gap intellectually, we have lost it to an all-worldly thought about the sacred gap. That is not the gap itself, only a worldly thought.

Therefore it is recommended to do "thoughtless" research in consciousness:

An easy technique to transcend, TM®, can be learned. The process is delicate, without strain, easy, suits the busy modern man. It is the best therapy against stress of the world. There are TM-centers in many towns all over the world. 20 minutes twice a day is all we need. It is fun to leave our thoughts effortlessly.

The mind, nor even a thought can enter, only our self. But we take advantage of the nature of the mind to seek happiness and bliss. Because the Great Silence has a greater charm than the amusing worldly thoughts, the mind naturally tends to seek "home" to ginnungagap. We learn to understand how it works and enjoy it easily.

The nature of the mind is to think (worldly thoughts of our worldly mind) and we do not fight that, but our innermost essence is The Great Silence, so it is very natural to us to reach It, luring the mind to seek bliss, and that is what we do by charming the mind to rest, still fully awake, and it becomes infused by the eternal power.