Cosmic Myths

Cosmic Myths

Cosmic myth is a country belief on how they were brought into the world. The first creation is called the “Norse Creation,” the Norse creation began in Ginnungagap when the fiery relam, “Muspell” melted the icy mountains of Ginnungagap. Underneath the ice lay the first being of Ginnungagap named Ymir lying next to Ymir was a cow that began to lick the salt from the icy mountains and Ymir drank the milk from the cow. Drinking from the cow made Ymir larger and larger.

The cow licked up so much of the salt that melted the mountains that two more beings were found in the ice, the God Buri and the Goddess wife; they had a son named Bor and a grandchild named Odin. Odin was the King of all the Gods. Due to Ymir’s cruel and heartless behavior, they decided to kill him. After he was killed, Ymir’s body formed the Earth. His blood was the sea, his flesh became lands, his bones were mountains and his hairs were the trees. Odin and the other Gods formed the sky with his skull and gathered fiery sparks for the moon and the sun.

“As the sun and moon shone over the new world in the Ginnungagap, the ice began to melt and plants and trees began to grow. The greatest tree of all was the Yggdrasil, which grew in the very center of the earth. Its roots penetrated into the bottom of creation and its leaves reach the very top of the sky. Odin was satisfied with the new world, and named it Midgard; ‘The Middle Land’ but the world still needed people.” (bigmyth.com) Odin created the human race after carving them out of the biggest and greatest tree named Yggdrasil. He gave them sight, hearing, feelings and reason. However not everyone was pleased with Odin’s work. Ymir’s giant

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sisters were still mourning his death and were looking for a way to take their revenge on the gods who killed him.

They gathered at the foot of Yggdrasil and began carving lines into it. Each line was a human life, filled with twists and turns, beginning with a man’s birth, and ending with his death. At the end of each line they made a deep cut to ensure that humans would never be as powerful as the gods. These spells were so powerful that not even Odin could do anything to change them. Thus Yggdrasil became known as ‘the tree of life’ and humans knew death and suffering in their world.

This myth represents that even though Odin was trying to get rid of the evil in Ginnungagap that he cannot use evil to get rid of it because it will in turn, come back on him. No one has enough power to take another