Viskumál

In this post I present the gist of several philosophers’ primary points.

1. Plato - Know yourself.

2 Sartre - Things don’t have to be the way they are.

3. Epicurus - What makes happiness; frequent contact with friends, doing work that you want to do (possible improving the world), master calm. Reflect on moments that truly bring you happiness, change your life in accordance with that which actually gives you satisfaction.

4. La Rochefoucauld - Delivering philosophy in a sentence or two instead of vast alineas.

5. Hegel - Learn from ideas you dislike. Try to see the good in the ideas and ideals of your ‘enemies’. The task of historians is to rescue from the past those ideas that are most needed to compensate for the blind spots of the present.

6. Michel de Montaigne - “Difficulty is a coin which the learned conjure with so as not to reveal the vanity of their studies and which human stupidity is keen to accept in payment” ~= we may all arrive at wise ideas if we cease to think of ourselves as unsuited to the task just because we aren’t ancient philosophers, just because we live an ordinary life.

7. Boethius - Happiness cannot consist in things governed by chance. The best way to find peace of mind may be to perceive that the ingredients we associate with happiness as in truth direct conduits to a fundamental instability, and thereby to inner torment and anxiety.

8. Heidegger - Overcome conditioning. We need to grasp our psychological, social and professional provincialism (narrowness of mind/lack of sophistication or perspective) - and then rise above it to a more universal perspective. In so doing, we’ll make the classic Heideggerian journey away from Inauthenticity to Authenticity. We will, in essence, start to live for ourselves.

In this post I will put forth a hypothesis on the stave Ginfaxi. In short, I’ve come to believe that this symbol is more than just a “ good luck stave for Icelandic wrestling (glíma) ” specifically and is actually a Norse-Germanic variant of the swastika that has been misrepresented in current times.

I will not be going into comparative details about all of the world swastika designs, a quick Google search on ‘world swastikas’ will do that for you. You will see that this ancient four-legged revolving symbol is so widespread on a global scale that it is impossible to ignore:

Image link

Glíma and Luck

As far as I can tell, Ginfaxi (pronounced Gin- i.e. Beginning or Gín- i.e. bee) has only one common description nowadays. On the Wikipedia article about ‘Icelandic Magical Staves’ you will see two symbols described as being used in the Icelandic wrestling act of glíma; Gapaldur and Ginfaxi.

“ Two staves, kept in the shoes, gapaldur under the heel of the right foot and ginfaxi under the toes of the left foot, to magically ensure victory in bouts of Icelandic wrestling (glíma). ”

Using luck symbols during most anything is commonplace. And using it under the feet while participating in something like wrestling, where footwork is key, is logical. As a side note, the Buddha is sometimes depicted as having swastikas under his toes as well.

I think the stave being used to give luck in glíma might be correct, just how the swastika represents good luck in most other cultures, but I don’t believe that this is it’s original origin.

Etymology and Comet Tail

The comparative etymology that led me to changing my perspective on Ginfaxi were the names Gullfaxi, Hrimfaxi and Skinfaxi. All of these are horse characters that have their faxi, i.e. manes, in their name to describe them. 

Gullfaxi = Golden Mane, Hrimfaxi = Frost Mane (The horse that pulls the moon), Skinfaxi = Bright Mane (The horse that pulls the sun).

I haven’t yet found any textual lead as to what the ‘Gin-’ portion of the name might mean, but the second ‘-faxi’ is obviously ‘mane’. Which leads me to the hypothesis of a comet. An excerpt from Wikipedia explains the following:

Carl Sagan in his book Comet (1985) reproduces a Han-dynasty Chinese manuscript (the Book of Silk, 2nd century BCE) that shows comet tail varieties: most are variations on simple comet tails, but the last shows the comet nucleus with four bent arms extending from it, recalling a swastika. Sagan suggests that in antiquity a comet could have approached so close to Earth that the jets of gas streaming from it, bent by the comet's rotation, became visible, leading to the adoption of the swastika as a symbol across the world.

* Detail of Astrology Manuscript, ink on silk, BCE 2th century, Han, unearthed from Mawangdui tomb 3rd, Chansha, Hunan Province, China. *

In this context one could see how this symbol is given a -faxi name as the comet tails could represent the waving manes of a horse. In a comparative sense to Skinfaxi (Shining Mane), Gin- could possibly mean Light- or Bright-, concluding the derivative meaning as Light Mane or Bright Mane, describing the light emmiting from the comet.

You have to think of the rarity of a comet flying through the sky and making this exact shape, even though it must’ve been very impactfull in ancient times. I do think it is a possible explanation, but I'd argue there’s a better and more continuously visible one: Ursa Major

The Big Dipper and the North Star

It is a known astronomical fact that The Big Dipper (Ursa Major) continuously revolves around the North Star (Polaris). When visually sequenced with the seasons it gives the origin of the swastika shape:

The sky has always been there and people have been viewing it for thousands upon thousands of years. There is little doubt in my mind that this is not the catalyst for the four-legged swastika symbol.

Modern usage and Stigma

I will make this brief. Just because someone uses a symbol does not mean they fully know and understand the origins of it and/or what it stands for. Same as when people attribute evil to a symbol that has been tattered in very recent history does not change the ancient meaning of it. We cannot accept ignorance to overrule truth. Open your eyes, view without blindness and think for yourself.

Conclusion

I think we should start seeing and using Ginfaxi as an ancient astronomical symbol that depicts the seasons and therefore life itself.

Let go of the stigma that keeps feeding poison to us and the symbols. Let go of the notions of people who refuse to let go of the recent past. Strike down the ignorance that takes everything at face value. The swastika is a tremendously ancient and well-spirited symbol and it should be recognized as such.

Extra references

Find the Dipper and the North Star - http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~huffman/finddip.html

Live Encounters “Who’s Swastika is it Anyway?” - https://liveencounters.net/2013-2/08-august-2013/whose-swastika-is-it-anway/

I imagine what most people think of when they hear ‘meditation’ is someone sitting down with crossed legs, making an ‘O’ shape with their fingers and going “Ohhmmmmm”. And that’s fine, you can do it like that if you wish. But it is clear to me that it is a cliché that creates a blockade for people to try meditation.

What I understand from meditation is this: Mediation is being fully present in the present moment and accepting everything that is coming towards you. It’s as simple as sitting down comfortably, closing your eyes and focusing on your breath. And if you feel your mind slip into thought, past or future, bring your focus back to your breath. Allow yourself to be fully present. It might not do anything at first, but give it time. Don’t force yourself to sit down and meditate. It will feel right when the time is right.

Now, you might not be comfortable with what comes forward. Old ghosts come back from the past and others come in from projected futures. “Why would I want to open old wounds and hurt myself?”. This is a valid question. See it as healing. Healing through revealing. Healing through self-reflection and coming to terms with what was and what is. To become at peace with yourself in the Now.

Some people, however, don’t want to face this. They seek every distraction to prevent to face themselves, wether intentional or not, consciously or subconsciously. They wear masks in public and play a persona to appease other people. They take on relationships with someone just because they are afraid of being alone. And when they are alone they cannot stand the silence.

That is the one median, the one red wire that everyone shares. The one continuous element. You are always with your self, every step of the way. You always have yourself. That’s why it is so important to be at peace with yourself. Because you are never without yourself.

But don’t fret. Don’t see this as an ultimatum. You are already there. You are you. You are where you need to be. It is part of your path.

Temet Nosce (Know Yourself) ᛏᛖᛗᛖᛏ ᚾᛟᛊᚲᛖ

Who are you?

What is it that you want?

What is your happiness?

What are your principles?

What are your strengths?

What are your shortcomings?

How do you behave yourself?

How do you treat yourself?

How do you treat others?

Who is the core ‘you’?

Water washes the walls away, withered and weak.

Warlocks whip weary workhorses.

Whimpering witches wallow in wretched water.

The woods and willows whisper of war.

Winged werewolfs emerge from the wasteland.

Wargs and wyverns wag their tails.

Wriggling worms wander the Earth.

Watch as war makes the warmth of women go to waste.

Willing but overwhelmed, a wedding drowned in wine.

One witness walks forward, webbing his words.

A wounded wedlock, wordless at a window.

A dwindled kindling, but hope is not lost, nor won.

The watchtower warns yet of war.

The whistler singing woodwind to welcome the winter King, while the wizard waits for spring.

The worthy wisdom of white beards weakens.

The writer wonders why he worries.

The words of writers awakens the warrior.

Does God exist? Which religion is ‘true’? Do other gods exist? How did they come into being and where did they come from?

Though a similar theory might already exist, in this post I will put forth my speculation on this age-old debate.

Historically, almost every people on the planet has had their own creation story and every group believes theirs to be true. In effect, religion seems to be (and has been) almost as universal to humans as music. It seems to be part of the human psyche to create a creator.

So who is to say or decide which one is actually definitively correct? You cannot, and here’s why: 

Gods come from the human mind, which is the very thing that makes them real; believing in them. The imagination of people is very broad and when they manifest into generation after generation they turn from imagination into legends, from legends to myths, and ultimately into divinity that they adhere to.

It’s the exact same reason why gods and religion cannot be proven ‘true’, because only believing it makes it ‘true’.

It’s all it is; belief.

If you are born in Israel you will most likely be raised with Judaism, if you are born in the Middle-East you will most likely be raised with Islam, and if you are born in the Bible Belt of the USA then you will most likely be raised with Christianity. If you were born in Scandinavia in the Viking Age you would adhere to the Norse gods and say “Thor is my man!” . Yet if you would be born in the olden days of Greece then surely Zeus would be the one you sacrifice to?None of it makes sense if you are damned to hell merely because you were born on the wrong side of the planet.

But don’t be discouraged; I’m not suggesting that all of it is useless just because it does not factually exist. In fact, we can derive and gain many positive things from many different religions. Morals, advice, rolemodels, idols, bedtime stories for your kids, guidance. You name it.