“It was the hour of morning,
when the sun mounts with those stars
that shone with it when God’s own love
first set in motion those fair things”
― Dante Alighieri, Inferno I: 37-40.
(For the image at the top, click here.)
Monthly Archives: September 2015
Nerthus and Njorun: a Norse Mystery
(This post is adapted from material in my new book on Njord and Skadi.)
One of the great puzzles of Norse mythology is the problem of Nerthus and Njord. The Germanic goddess Nerthus, whose cult is described by the Roman historian Tacitus, in the first century AD, is not attested in any other source, but her name is linguistically the same as that of the Scandinavian sea-god Njord, who appears in sources roughly 1 000 years later.
Since Snorri tells us in the Ynglinga saga that Njord had a sister who was his wife, the mystery seemed solved: Nerthus was his sister, just as Freyja was Freyr’s.
Dante, Paradiso
“O you, who in some pretty boat,
Eager to listen, have been following
Behind my ship, that singing sails along
Turn back to look again upon your own shores;
Tempt not the deep, lest unawares,
In losing me, you yourselves might be lost.
The sea I sail has never yet been passed;
Minerva breathes, and pilots me Apollo,
And Muses nine point out to me the Bears.
You other few who have neck uplifted
Betimes to the bread of angels upon
Which one lives and does not grow sated,
Well may you launch your vessel
Upon the deep sea.”
― Dante Alighieri, Paradiso, Canto II.
(For the image at the top, click here.)
Sun-Catcher Myths and Magic
A number of myths around the world related how the sun was once captured, and either fixed in its proper sphere or else made to stand still in the sky.
The Creation
Then God reached out and took the light in his hands,
And God rolled the light around in his hands
Until he made the sun;
And he set that sun a-blazing in the heavens.
And the light that was left from making the sun
God gathered it up in a shining ball
And flung it against the darkness,
Spangling the night with the moon and stars. Then down between
The darkness and the light He hurled the world;
And God said: That’s good!
from The Creation, by James Weldon Johnson
(For the image at the top, click here.)
Outside: in space
Chris Hadfield‘s recent year in space was a major media event here in Canada. I don’t know how much attention anyone else paid to it, but the Canadian media loved him. He tweeted pictures of the view from the space station, filmed videos of life in zero gravity and explained the science of space in an accessible, low-key way.
We are proud of our spacemen and women, though. One of them, Marc Garneau, is a member of Parliament and is considered an important member of the Liberal Party. (The LIberals also have my favourite hockey player, Ken Dryden.)
Despite this, I know how I want to go into space. I knew it the first time I saw a Green Lantern comic. (Don’t judge by the lame movie – they managed to miss everything cool about the comic.) One minute you’re just an ordinary person, the next you’re a member of a galaxy-wide organization with a ring that protects you in space and manifests your will as a three-dimensional “construct”.
At a time when it seems that space travel is going to be another perk for plutocrats, it’s nice to think that you could become a space-traveller through sheer hard work and merit – or magic.
(Thrusters wallpaper by Easterhands at Imgur.)
Stars – Emily Bronte
Ah! why, because the dazzling sun
Restored our Earth to joy,
Have you departed, every one,
And left a desert sky?
All through the night, your glorious eyes
Were gazing down in mine,
And, with a full heart’s thankful sighs,
I blessed that watch divine.
I was at peace, and drank your beams
As they were life to me;
And revelled in my changeful dreams,
Like petrel on the sea.
Thought followed thought, star followed star
Through boundless regions on;
While one sweet influence, near and far,
Thrilled through, and proved us one!
Why did the morning dawn to break
So great, so pure a spell;
And scorch with fire the tranquil cheek,
Where your cool radiance fell?
Blood-red, he rose, and arrow-straight,
His fierce beams struck my brow;
The soul of nature sprang, elate,
But mine sank sad and low.
My lids closed down, yet through their veil
I saw him, blazinig, still,
And steep in gold the misty dale,
And flash upon the hill.
I turned me to the pillow, then,
To call back night, and see
Your words of solemn light, again,
Throb with my heart, and me!
It would not do – the pillow glowed,
And glowed both roof and floor;
And birds sang loudly in the wood,
And fresh winds shook the door;
The curtains waved, the wakened flies
Were murmuring round my room,
Imprisoned there, till I should rise,
And give them leave to roam.
O stars, and dreams, and gentle night;
O night and stars, return!
And hide me from the hostile light
That does not warm, but burn;
That drains the blood of suffering men;
Drinks tears, instead of dew;
Let me sleep through his blinding reign,
And only wake with you!
(The image at the top is TheSunRisesintheEast by th3rdeye on deviantart.)
We Are Star Stuff 