The Rudolf Steiner Archive

33. The Old Norse Myths of the Gods

[ 1 ] There is nothing in the field of mythology that simultaneously leads as deeply into theosophical thought as Norse mythology. If the European can immerse himself in it, he can find his way from there and penetrate ever deeper into the esoteric realms. An understanding of these sagas of Norse mythology can only be attained at advanced stages of one’s outlook on life. The Norse myths were essentially the subject matter of the Norse mysteries. A distinction is made between Western European and Northern European mysteries. In Scandinavia and Russia, there were the Drotten mysteries; in England and the West, the Druidic mysteries. Both sets of mysteries have disappeared. “Druid” means “oak.” The priest or sage in the Nordic world was called “the oak.”

[ 2 ] The replacement of the Norse pantheon is conveyed to us in a beautiful mystery. In Boniface’s felling of the oak tree, we witness Christianity’s struggle against the druidic mystery. The fundamental character of the Norse mysteries is a tragic one. There is something tragic about all the myths of Central Europe and the North. The Twilight of the Gods depicts the downfall of the Norse pantheon. After their downfall, a new sun god—a new Baldur—is to assert himself. In the other, non-Norse mysteries, there is always a note of hope and confidence.

[ 3 ] What was foreshadowed in the mysteries was to be fulfilled. The Apocalypse foretells a future in which Christianity is to be fulfilled. In Norse mythology, something else had been foretold. There, the downfall of the Norse gods was experienced through Christianity. From this perspective, one must understand the new mystery as it unfolds through the four stages.

[ 4 ] The first stage is that of the first Nordic subrace of the fifth root race. In Central Europe, Christianity spread during the fifth subrace of the fifth root race. This was preceded by four subraces. The mystery of the four subraces lies in the fact that they point to how Christianity, in the fifth subrace, was to replace what had gone before.

[ 5 ] We now go back to a dark past, to the first subrace of the fifth root race on Nordic soil. At that time, the Drotten initiations took place in the North. In primitive temples—which were half nature, half structure—a sacred tent was erected, within which two deities were depicted as ruling the world: Hu and Ceridwen. Hu is Osiris, Ceridwen is Isis, and man is Horus. People were initiated into three degrees: first, the [Eubaten]; second, the bards; third, the druids. Those initiated into the three degrees underwent a transformation, so that through the awakening of their higher abilities, they became the god Baldur. The initiate had to say to himself: “You must become the resurrected Baldur, who was killed by the god Loki.” Then he was served the initiation mead and given the initiation ring. The mead corresponds to the Indian Soma drink.

[ 6 ] During the Nordic initiation, the initiate was first taught about the evolution of the Earth and the conditions that existed on earlier planets. On Earth, we are to learn until we transcend the possibility of error. Our lives will then transform into a kind of rhythm centered solely on the clearest spiritual activity.

[ 7 ] Logical thinking emerged only gradually through a process of development. Later, a universal human sense of morality will develop, just as logical thinking has now.

[ 8 ] What is error on one planet is illness on the next. What remains error on Earth today will be illness on the next planet, to the same extent that the beings capable of error have remained underdeveloped. We would not have the harmonious organism we have today if this harmony had not emerged from the chaos of the Moon. We owe the marvelous organization of our bodies to the Moon’s evolution. Whatever remains as disease in our time is a remnant from the Moon, where it existed as error. This is what did not reach completion during the Moon’s evolution. That was the view held by the Druidic mysteries. For what had remained behind, a plant was regarded as the descendant of the Moon’s development. Our plants grow out of the mineral earth. The entire Moon was a living being. The plants developed on this living being. There was no actual mineral kingdom there, but only a kingdom of stone plants as well as an animal kingdom, which lies right in the middle between today’s plant and animal kingdoms.

[ 9 ] Mistletoe was the symbol of what remained from the Moon. It draws its nourishment from living things. It is the symbol of all entities and products that hold back and harm the Earth. The lord who still ruled the Earth from the Moon—that is Loki, who brought to Earth what should have undergone its proper phase of development on the Moon.

[ 10 ] Baldur is the god of the sun, the bringer of all life, and the source of the sun’s active powers. Loki is his inevitable adversary. Baldur was tormented by terrible dreams that were later to come true. All creatures swear an oath not to harm Baldur, except for the mistletoe; no one can kill him, except for the harmful forces in the Earth’s evolution. That is why Hödur throws the mistletoe at Baldur. Hödur is the blind, mechanical necessity that must make use of what has been left behind in order to overcome Baldur. That was one part of the mystery. The other part was that the blind, mechanical necessity was overcome by the harmony brought about through the Christ experience. In Christ, a new Baldur must rise.

[ 11 ] There was a society of twelve great initiates. A thirteenth was their leader. At that time, he was not yet ahead of the other twelve. This initiate was called Sige or Sig. When he had reached a certain age, he was able to surrender his individuality to a higher individuality, to absorb a higher individuality into himself. This is one of the highest mysteries—in the case of Christ Jesus, the descent of the dove. Sig’s individuality was replaced by that of Odin or Wotan. This is the same being who had already lived as a great initiate during the time of the Atlanteans. During the downfall of the Atlantean race, what was then tropical Europe gradually became a cold, misty realm. The remnants of the Atlanteans emerge from the icy lands. The emergence of Wotan is depicted as follows: first, the ice masses are present. From them, that which comes over from the Atlantean world is saved. The cow Audhumbla licks the ice masses.

[ 12 ] Wotan passes through two incarnations, as Buri and Bör. Then he becomes Wotan on the basis of the chela-individuality of the chela Sig. Everything that was in the chela Sig becomes that which is associated with the name Sig. In the first sub-race, it is Wotan, opposed by Hönir or Wile and Loki or We.

[ 13 ] After he had incarnated, Wotan had to undergo a severe trial. For nine days, after being wounded in the side where the heart lies, he had to hang from the gallows. Then Mimir came and taught him the runic script—a foreshadowing of the Christ event. Then came his resurrection. This was the initiation of the first subrace of the fifth root race.

[ 14 ] In the Mystery, Wotan now depicted the very origin of humanity. First, our Earth came into being, but without minerals or plants. Everything was contained within a single great being—the giant Ymir. He was overcome by Wotan, Wile, and We. From him—the Adam Kadmon—the entire Earth came into being. From his skull, they fashioned the vault of heaven, and so on. He was the macrocosmic human. From him, the gods shaped the forms of the Earth. Dwarves, who live within the Earth, also emerged from the giant’s body.

[ 15 ] From the plant-people found by the three gods—from Ask and Embla, made of ash and elm—they fashioned physical human beings. The three gods constructed the physical bodies of human beings:

Wotan or Odin - Sthula sharira
Wile or Hönir - Linga sharira
We or Loki - Kama/Karana sharira

[ 16 ] Wotan-Odin gave spirit, Hönir-Wile gave life and order, Loki-We gave warmth and color, the Kama.

[ 17 ] This is how the gods constructed the human bodies. The dwarf is the little human being who is, in fact, the spiritual essence. This was the spark that came to fertilize humanity from the middle of the Lemurian era onward, a spark that will develop into Manas, Buddhi, and Atma. The human “I” must first take shape in the depths; otherwise, it would immediately be transformed into a rigid mineral by the sunlight.

[ 18 ] The initiation for the second subrace was as follows: Wotan is said to possess the wisdom potion, while the second subrace is to gradually evolve to the same stage. Wisdom is personified by the giant Suttung, who guards the potion of wisdom. The giant’s daughter is Gunnlöd. Wotan cannot reach the potion of wisdom. Therefore, he transforms himself into a serpent and enters Gunnlöd’s sanctuary. There he remains for three days. The serpent is the Self, endowed with wisdom.

[ 19 ] What happened in the Lemurian era is now repeating itself. The three gods find the dwarf Andwari in the form of a pike and an otter—the son of Hreidmar. The otter takes the form of a fish otter. He is slain by Loki. The father is to have Otter’s hide adorned with gold both inside and out. This signifies the permeation of the human being with the gold of wisdom. Previously, the Sthula sharira, Linga sharira, and Karana sharira had taken shape. Loki kills what once was on Earth—Otter—and brings wisdom, the gold, into it.

[ 20 ] In addition to the other gold, there was also a golden ring. Before entering our present stage of earthly evolution, human beings existed under entirely different conditions. At that time, they did not receive impressions through the gates of the senses. The ring symbolizes the confinement within sensory perceptions, which make the Self a distinct being—the Ring of the Nibelungs.

[ 21 ] In the third sub-race, Wotan and those who belonged to him were initiated once more. He had brought the Chalice of Wisdom into the abode of the gods. There, the potion of wisdom—or the Chalice of Wisdom—was guarded by Mimir. He possessed the wisdom that guided us forward. During the transition from the Lemurian race, human beings had only one eye, through which they were not yet cut off from the outside world. With it, they could perceive what was useful or harmful to them. When humanity became sealed off by the ring of sensuality, this eye receded. The gift they now received had to be purchased through a sacrifice. Wotan had to purchase this new gift by sacrificing his cyclopean eye—not one of his other two eyes.

[ 22 ] The Wölsungs and their descendants—Wotan, Sigmund, Sigurd, Siegfried—constitute the lineage of the Initiates within the fourth subrace. The final initiation takes place in Siegfried. He overcomes the dragon, that is, lower nature. He now becomes invulnerable to all that is base. He purifies himself through purification—catharsis—through the awareness of the Higher. He must pass through the fire of passion, purified by it. Through this, he wins Brunhilde. He remains vulnerable only at the spot where one wears the cross. It was said that the next initiate would not be vulnerable there.

[ 23 ] King Atli—Atlanti—emerges from the Atlantic era into the world of Old Norse mythology. He is the great Atlantic initiate. He yields only to the representative of the Christian initiate, the Pope.