Vanaheim Part IV

The great giant Billing, Gilling's brother and Rind's father.. or better say, Vali's grandfather, also has an Hall in Vanaheim. He might be of Jotun blood, but one of his wifes is a Vanir, so he is one of the Jotnar that helps the ties between Vanaheim and Jotunheim stay strong. His Hall is located in the eastern side by a port where sailing to Jotunheim is possible.

Somewhere just off the coast of Vanaheim, probably between the North-east and the South-east, lies the underwater palace of Aegir the sea god, the palace is so named Aegirheim, the underwater palace. This great underwater palace lies near an Island called Hlesey.

Logi The Spirit of Fire

Since we humans have developed the ability to be in contact with the spirit world, we have given names to what we have seen. The first names were given to the spirits of the elements and that isn't different in the Norse tradition. One of the most powerful fire-spirits of the Norse mythology is called Logi. Mythology says that Logi is the second son of the frost giant called Mistblindi or sometimes called Fornjotr. The eldest brother of Logi is a Norse deity called Kari, the god of the northern winds. The youngest brother is Aegir, the king of the sea, older than Njörd.

One of the most heard tales of the adventures of the Norse gods is the one when Thor and Loki go into Utgard and enter different contests with Utgardens-Loki, trying to win against many family members and friends of Utgard-Loki, in a series of random contests. In this story, Logi the fire spirit appears, entering the food contest against Loki and winning. No one knew who he was, but he devoured the meal, the bones, the plates and even the table. Later he was revealed as Logi the old god of fire.

One of Logi's names is Halogi, meaning "High-Logi", it seems that this spirit is very tall. Logi's wife is Glut (glow) and she bore him two daughters so called Einmyria and Eisa, translating to "Ashes" and "Embers". Logi, of course, lives in Muspelheim, the realm of fire.

As it is seen many times in both norse mythology and celtic, there are many deities that come in three, a magical triplicity, such as Odin and his two brothers Vili and Vé, with Logi we also see this magical triplicity with his own brothers and himself, Kari the eldest, Logi and Aegir the youngest, Wind, Fire and Water (sea). These deities are really old, older than Odin. It is possible that there three deities might be linked to the myth of creation, a myth that predates the Aesir and the Vanir.

Logi and his two brothers make the triplicity of the primal elements working in earth, as the sea (water) itself interacts with the earth, and of course the fire and wind that help shaping worlds. These deities no doubt were once linked to the magical quadriplicity of the natural elements of fire, air, earth and water, in a time before the creation of the myth of Odin, in a time before we humans gave an anthropomorphic shape to the spirits.

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Heimdal's Birth

Along the coasts of Vanaheim, lives the sea god, ruler of the Norse oceans, Aegir. His wife is Ran, and they both live in their great halls, filled with the ghosts of dead sailors, it is there where they go to rest before they are sent to Helheim or any other part of the Nine realms. Aegir and Ran have nine daughters, beautiful and terrible as the sea, they are so named from the eldest to the youngest, Kolga, Duva, Blodughadda, Bara, Bylgja, Hronn, Hevring, Unn and Himinglava. The nine sisters are very protective and have great love for each one of them.
It is said that the Aesir god Odin once laid with one of the nine sisters and she bore him a child, no one knows with which one the god did this because it was an event against the will of Aegir, and each of the sisters made a pact, never to tell anyone, not even their parents, especially their mother, because they feared their wrath would fall upon them, since the Sea gods have no love for the One-eyed one. As such, the nine sister hid in the darkest depths of the ocean, never to be found by anyone until the baby was born, when such thing happened, they brought the baby to Aegirheim, and told their parents what had happened, but never told which one of them had the baby. Aegir and Ran tried again and again to know the truth, which one of them was the mother of the baby, but none of them turned against each other, and the only truth that came out, was that the baby was the child of Odin and the nine of them, this is why that in some tales it is said that Odin laid with all the nine sisters. Regardless of  the truth, Ran had no love for this child and as such, the child would not be raised under their Halls, and as the nine sisters had no love for this child either, they agreed with Ran and the child was set on a boat towards the Island of Vanaheim in the hopes that some kind fold there would adopt the child.
Odin had been waiting to see the child, and to see what would happen next, and from Valaskjalf he saw that the child was going towards the coasts of Vanaheim, as soon as he could, he intercepted the child and brought her to Frigga's Halls at Fensalir. Frigga was used to deal with his husband's children from other affairs, and so she took care of the child and named him Heimdal. Frigga wanted to raise the child as her own, but Odin had in mind other plans for his newborn son, he wanted one of his children to come do Midgard and love the Humanfolk, and Odin decided that Heimdal would live two lives, one as a mortal and one as a god. Heimdal was placed on the boat again and sent to Midgard, where a poor fisherman found him and took the child with him. In Midgard he was named Rig, and he grew as fast as a mortal child does. Rig grew happy, but he always felt that there should be more than just that life in the farm of by the fishing boat, and he had a great fear in him, an inexplicable fear for the sea. His mothers watched him from afar, from the ocean, every time he walked on the beach, but the fear of the ocean held him back, and by his mothers he never knew his true origins.
When Rig was old enough, he left the farm and wandered off to many places in Midgard, he had many women and gave many children to those women, this was part of Odin's plan, to spread his blood with the mortals and thus enrich their bloodlines.
After many adventures and battles, Rig was made King, and Odin who was always watching him, was very proud of his son. When Rig came to old age and was lying on his deathbed, he closed his eyes for the last time as a mortal man, and all that stood beside him, weeping, felt into amazement when a great cloud of birds took him a flew off with his body. Rig was taken to Asgard, where he was restored to his immortal self, and he too was in amazement, to wake up in his bed, young and in the land of the gods, and he too shared  him them the same high title and it was given to him the job of gatekeeper of Asgard. Frigga told him about his true name, Heimdall, and took him as a son and he called her mother. In time the real tale of his birth was told to him, and in anger, he holds an hatred agaisnt all the Jotun folk, for coming from one of those wombs, but not knowing which one and being abandoned to the mercy of the waves, and to this day he avoids the ocean, but he keeps a great love for the mortal folk and he is very protective to them, but his heart is hardened because of all the things he knows about his birth and his life, and every time the day of his birthday comes, a great storm is formed on the oceans near Vanaheim, created by their Grandfathers and his nine mothers, to honor him.

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Working with the gods: Kari

Few people have ever heard about Kari, but he is one very powerful spirit from the Northern Traditions, he is the god of the North Wind.
Every elemental has its power and importance, i have spoken a bit of each and how it can help us relaxing, but in this post, i will talk about Kari and his teachings and how his very presence gives us the glimpse of the few magic left in this world.

In the Norse mythology Kari is the Norse god of Wind and the oldest son of Mistblindi, an ancient frost giant also known as Fornjotr. Kari is a very powerful spirit, not only of the wind, snow and frost, but also he shows his powers in storms and blizzards. He is brother to Logi and Aegir, the ancient fire god and the lord of seas.

Those who work with him and have actually see him, know that through the year he changes, at spring he starts as a very young figure and as the year goes towards winter, he ages gradually till he becomes an old bearded man. This is a symbol of how the wind also changes from the very light cool breeze of spring, to the warmer soft wind of  summer ( speaking of the north countries ), till it changes in the bitter frost howling wind of winter bringing harsh blizzards wearing and killing nature, the natural cycle of wind. In his younger figure, he is like young men (as they used to be, not like nowadays of course ), in love, naive and innocent, cheerful, as we discover the wonders of life. However, he often appears to people in his older form, like a grandfather full of wisdom, but worn with the passage of time. When he is nothing working in what he does best, he is at his home in his cave in Niflheim. He his father to Frosti and Jokul, ( Frost and Icicle ) who is in turn father to Snaer ( Snow ) on of the chieftains of Niflheim. Snaer has four children, one son named Thorri ( Frozen-Snow ) and tree daughters, Fon, Drifa and Mjol ( Snowfall, Snowdrift and Powder ).
 Frosti, seems to have married with an Alfar and so he entered into the Alfar family, his son is the half-Alfar Raum, whose son is Finnalf, one of the kings of Alfheim. Finnalf's niece married a mortal descendant of Kari's brother Logi, who was named after the fire-giant.

Kari is also a singer and he helps singers and also people with lung problems. As i have written before when i talked about the Element of Wind, air is a very important element for all living creatures, it is the very life you breath and flows in your body, and a deep long breath always helps to calm down a bit. As a singer, Kari teaches people how to use song as a powerful aid for many psychological problems, such as depressions, sadness etc. when someone sings, the air is inhaled and the voice comes out of our body as if it took out the evil away from us. The universe is an absolute silence, now imagine the first sounds to appear when a new world is formed, fire and ice are not the only fundamental things to create life, but also the sound of things is very important, is gives life and we know about the existance of things by the sound of each creature, each living being, every animal has its own voice, produced by the very air it inhales and exhales and the wind carries it.
You know of what i speak, without wind and atmosphere which retains the sound and spreads it, it was all a very annoying silence such as it happens in the universe, because there is no wind. The wind brings wonderful sounds, the soft breeze is gentle and blows a tuneful harmony, in spring it brings the seeds of plants and carries the singing of birds, it touches the leafs making a very relaxing and familiar sound. As the year approaches winter, the strong wind howls, bringing snow and storms, rain and cold, the sounds are different but magical and relaxing nonetheless.

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Logi the Fire Spirit

Who is Logi?

Logi is a powerful Norse fire-spirit. In myths, he is the second son of the old frost-giant Mistblindi, also known as Fornjotr, born of a fire-giant mother just after the Flood. His older brother is Kari the North Wind, and his younger brother is Aegir the King of the Sea. He later entered into the sworn service of Utgard-Loki. He appears in the story of Thor and Loki meeting the sorcerer-ruler Utgard-Loki; they were challenged to beat the lord of Utgard's various friends and family members in random contests. Loki was challenged to beat one of his courtiers in a contest of eating; the fiery man soundly trounced him, as he not only devoured the meal but the bones and the plate as well. He was then revealed as Logi - the old fire-god against the new one. Logi was sometimes called Halogi (High-Logi) by his friends and family, because he was very tall. There is some history that conflates him with a mortal king by the same name. His wife was named Glut (Glow) and she bore him two daughters, Einmyria (Ashes) and Eisa (Embers). They seem to have long since passed away, and Logi lives alone in his black-rock cave in Muspellheim, the World of Fire. Whether there was a mortal Logi/Halogi who lived a life similar to his - perhaps living Logi's archetypal pattern - or not is something that we may never know.

Logi is a very old god, one of the original magical triplicity of Kari-Logi-Aegir (Wind/Fire/Sea), more ancient than the invading Indo-Europeans. Some scholars, including H.A. Guerber in his Myths And Legends Of The Norsemen, conjecture that these three giant-Gods were part of an older creation myth that predates the myths of the Aesir and Vanir. Together, they make up a triplicity of the primal elements working on the Earth; the interaction of Sea, Flame, and North Wind creating and shaping the world of the North. The Scandinavian scholar Preben Muellengracht has suggested that these three elements of Sea, Flame and North Wind were an alternative model to the magical quadriplicity of Earth, Water, Fire and Air. The sea-kings of Orkney historically traced their descent from these three brothers.

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