#davidson

Is the figure death. Leading Ray on. Scramm mentioned that maybe the walk had just begun when he set out to die. Did most see something like this? The ones given a chance to keep walking?

Does the figure represent the people he met. The ones that pushed him forward and kept him moving, keeping him moving. In that way is the figure life, because without it, without one more thing he would stop.

Does he run towards death or run towards life. He doesn't even know.

We'll scrape our shoes on the stars and hang upside down from the moon.

Currently Reading: A Guide to Regency Dress by Hilary Davidson

Norse-Viking Symbols & Meanings

A symbol is an image or object which represents an abstract concept, often having to do with one's religious beliefs. Every civilization, from the most ancient to the present, has made use of symbols to make the abstract concrete and visible and to provide assurance that a higher power was interested in, and sympathetic towards, the struggles of human beings.

The symbols used in Norse mythology had to do not only with supernatural entities but also with the challenges of everyday life and the mystery of what awaited after death. Some of these symbols can definitely be dated to the Viking Age (c. 790 - c. 1100 CE) but were no doubt in use much earlier. Other symbols seem to have developed later (between c. 1100 - c. 1300) after Christianity had established itself in Scandinavia.

There were many powerful symbols from the Norse-Viking period ranging from the wolf (for protection), to the horse (protection in travel), the troll cross (an amulet that protected one from trolls), the image of the Vegvisir ('way guide', a late Icelandic symbol which helped one find one's way) and the Web of Wyrd (web of fate), as well as the runes which were thought to evoke mystical powers. Generally, however, ten symbols were the most popular; these appear most often in stories, images, and as amulets:

Yggdrasil – the World Tree

The Valknut – Odin's Knot

The Swastika/Sun-Wheel

The Aegishjalmur – Helm of Awe

Mjolnir – Thor's Hammer

The Sventhorn – Sleep Thorn

Gungnir – Odin's Spear

The Ship

Huginn and Muninn – Odin's Ravens

The Triskelion – Odin's Horns

These symbols sometimes are found in the form of amulets (such as Thor's hammer), sometimes in depictions of the afterlife (as with the ship) and often in images concerning the journey of life (the swastika/sun-wheel and ship). In whatever context they appear, it is clear they were considered important evocations of powerful supernatural elements.

The Norse religion was non-exclusive and so it is common to find Christian symbols such as the cross paired with a popular pagan symbol such as Thor's hammer. Jesus Christ was initially considered just another god one could count on for protection and direction in life and remained so until Christianity became the dominant faith and the old beliefs died out.

Yggdrasil

The image of the World Tree appears in the mythology of many ancient cultures as a symbol of connection between all things and the cyclical nature of life: nothing ever finally dies, everything is constantly in a state of unending – and natural – transformation. According to scholar H. R. Ellis Davidson, Yggdrasil is "one of the most powerful symbols in Norse mythology, said to stand at the centre of the worlds of gods and men" (Myths and Symbols, 23). The nine realms of existence – all the seen and unseen worlds – were nestled in its roots including Jotunheim, the giants' realm, where Mimir's Well of Wisdom lay.

Although there remains much debate on the issue, it is generally agreed that Yggdrasil was an ash tree and that its name means "Odin's Horse" as in the tree to which the highest god's horse is bound but could also mean "tree of terror" as it is the tree on which Odin hung when he sacrificed himself to himself in his quest for wisdom (Simek, 375). The death-dragon Nidhoggr gnaws at the tree's roots while the eagle of discord nests in its upper branches and a squirrel named Ratatoskr runs up the trunk and back down delivering messages between the two. The dragon, eagle, and squirrel are all symbols of change as not even Yggdrasil will last forever. In the final battle of Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods and end of the world, Yggdrasil will be destroyed along with everything else but will be reborn afterwards in a new world.