#yamnaya

Pix: For the Vanir-Aesir War & its results...

A. The comic book version - looks like another Marvel epic.

B. Freaky art & a definition of a volva seeress.

C. Reminds me of the Klingon pain stick ritual for 'celebrating' their children's 'graduating' to adulthood.

D. Spanish Vanaheim art piece.

Translated, the copy reads -

"Realm of the Vanir.

A land of vast greenery & beautiful with many mighty trees.

(Home of) the Gods of the sea, the land & of fertility - as Frey & Freya are.

The leader of these (lands or Gods) is Njord, father of the ocean & master of the seas."

E. Masterful picture of Njord, master of the sea.

F. Freyr, in an act that he'll later regret.

Much later...

G. Freyja, Seidr Goddess & warper of puny men's minds.

H. Techniques & tools for trances, protective songs, soul journeys; plus, retrieval, divination & etcetera - all in the Norse tradition.

It's a "historically based" modern hand book for contemporary 'mystics.'

I. Odin with Mimir's dead head.

J. Mimir, after being embalmed & resurrected back to life...

As a fount of knowledge.

Intro: So, we've seen how life began in an 'almost' void¹; the origins of Giants, Gods & the murder that created the world².

The 'Triple' Gods (Odin, Vili & Ve) built Asgard as a home for the Aesir³.

But, now, things get far more complicated, as conflict enters the divine scene...

Title: "The First War."

Text:

This was a conflict between two tribes of Gods - so, two pantheons⁴.

It was a war started due to the torture & attempted murder (three times!) of a stranger to Asgard.

And, it all ended in the creation of a new being!

To start, Heidth⁵, a wanderer, made her way to Asgard - where she plied her spells to eager Aesir.

This was the practice of Seidr⁶, a magical power that could change fortunes & more.

Odin either knew she was a 'threat'⁷ or realized sorcery was disregarding his laws about honor - as warriors tried to fulfill their own selfish desires.

Accounts vary...

So, Odin called her Gullveig, "Gold Lust" & accused her of stealing the precious belongings of the Aesir.

As punishment, Heidth was pierced thru with spears!

When that didn't kill her, Odin had her burned as a 'witch'⁸ - three times!!

But, she resurrected from her ashes every time!!!

After that, Heidr disappears from the tales - or, I didn't find her afterwards.

The Vanir, another pantheon, get pissed off that their Goddess was so badly treated.

Fear grew to hate & so, the First War begins. But, details on it are skimpy:

• Odin threw Gungnir, his spear, over the Vanir to start the first battle⁹.

• The Aesir used brute force & their weapons to cause destruction thru out Vanaheim.

• And the Vanir used their sorcery to turn the land against Asgard - even breaking thru the protective walls¹⁰ & battling thru the inner fields!

• We know the Vanir - Aesir War lasted for several years, with neither side winning a resounding success.

• Both sides tired of the unending battles &, finally, met to end all of the hostilities.

• A truce was ironed out, with both sides keeping hostages to secure the peace.

• The Aesir sent Hoenir the handsome & Mimir the wise to the Vanir.

• While the Vanir gave Njord (a sea God) & his two kids: Freyja (sorceress) & Freyr (King of the Light 'Elves').

• As further seals of peace, both pantheons spit into a magic cauldron - mixing their oaths together & so creating the composite being, Kvasir (God of Inspiration)!!

• And, 'tribute' was paid by allowing half of dead mortals to go to Freyja's hall¹¹, the other half to Odin's Valhalla.

The story continues, revealing the results of their efforts at peace:

• The Vanir made Hoenir a King but, he was pretty 'useless' without Mimir's sound advice. This made the Vanir feel like they've been cheated!

• So, they cut off Mimir's(!) head & sent it back to Asgard!! Luckily, Odin embalmed it with herbs (to preserve it) & used magic to resurrect the head. What remained of Mimir was placed at a well spring & served Odin as an advisor.

• Njord built Noatun, a port for ships; &, Freyr was either made King of Alfhheim or already ruled there... Both became priests & Diars (Gods).

• Freyja also became a priestess of sacrifices & introduced Seidr to Odin - who wore female clothing to do so!!

She would later have many sexual partners - including Odin.

• Kvasir, poetry itself, was sent to wander thru out Midgard, inspiring skalds (Norse poet/historians) & rulers with his witticisms - his story will be finished later...

Notes:

1. There were two worlds already formed!

Niflheim the frozen & Muspellheim the burning.

Their origin is never explained.

I posit they were survivals of an earlier Age of Existence, since the late Norse myths have resurrections at the end - no doubt due to Christian influences.

2. Ymir, the original Frost Giant, was murdered by the 'Triplets' & his body was torn apart to build Midgard.

3. They took all possible precautions to keep safe from the rightful revenge of Ymir's descendants - even Bifrost had a burning Red Color that helped defend Asgard.

4. If this is from a historical event, then it sounds like the absorption of an older fertility cult into a warrior centered culture.

So, the Aesir might represent the invasion of the Yamnaya pastoralists (from the Russian steppes) onto the Funnelbeaker agriculturalists of early Scandinavia!

There's very little DNA from Funnel- Beaker men in the mixed Corded Ware culture that followed.

Leading historians think that few of these men survived - perhaps only the male children.

But, the dark skinned female farmers that survived have DNA from the Fertile Crescent (mostly in modern Iraq)!!

This all seems to have resulted in the Aesir being worshipped by chiefs & royalty - while the Vanir were followed by the lower classes.

5. Heidth is just another version of Heidr.

The tale says she gains the new name of Heidr, "Bright, Shining or Glorious One."

So, she's 'nameless' before that.

But, she can bewitch minds & is called "a joy to wicked woman!"

Gasp!!

Slandered!

Gullveig/Heidr is thought to be another name for Freyja, as she's associated with gold, Seidr & is a female Vanir.

6. Seidr, "tied, tether, magic" was a form of shamanistic nature magic, with trance states, spirit journeys & the manipulation of fate - usually the power of the female Norns.

It seems to have involved tied strings & could be used to see the future, heal wounds & influence events.

7. Another version has Heimdall (the Watchman of the Gods) discover Vanaheim & Odin leads a large army there to conquer them.

Here, Odin sees Freyja as a threat due to her obvious skills in wielding Seidr.

8. Witch is not a Christian addition, as the Norse described Heidr as a volva (a combination of seer, prophet & a magic wielder") or, as a witch.

Volva, BTW, translates into English as a "wand carrier."

9. This is a ritual act of blessing the battle & claiming the dead - friend or foe - for Odin.

Norse warriors threw spears over their own troops to invoke protection & victory in battle.

Not exactly the same thing...

10. The protective palisade around Asgard becomes all important in the 'next' tale, when a Giant wants a rather high price for fixing it.

To be continued...

11. Freyja's hall is Sessrumnir, "Seat Room" - where half of all dead Norse warriors go.

One world weary Norse woman vowed to never taste food again - until she dined with Freyja!

Sessrumnir, BTW, is located inside of Folkvangr, "field of the warrior host."

All of a sudden, your family and hundreds of thousands across Europe fall ill, from the, now recognisable, but then previously unknown, Black Death - except, some rumors claim, some mysterious people from the East. When these people arrive, sunken eyes, prominent nose, and lantern jaw, they look unmistakable different to you.

The newcomers speak a mysterious language and claim that their god is 'paving a way for them' through the disease, and if this weren't scary enough, they stand at 4 inches taller than you, on average, and sport forehead tattoos. They're riders and herders, and claim they have travelled a long way, though they're small in number.

"When the Yamnaya [the Indo-Europeans] arrived in Hungary, the population of Europe was an estimated 7 million. The migrants might have numbered in the tens of thousands, yet in a thousand years languages descended from theirs were spoken across the continent." explains Laura Spinney, author of Proto and Pale Rider, "It's as if sometime in the early 20th century, New Yorkers had stopped speaking English and started speaking Italian."

Indo-Iranian Domination: once the Yamnaya horizon had petered out, by about 2000 BC, remaining on the steppe were leftover West Indo-European groups and their steppe masters, Indo-Iranians.