J is for Jormungand




In Norse Mythology, one of Loki's offspring is Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent or World Serpent, so named because when he was fully grown he circled Midgard (home of humans) and grasped his own tail in his mouth.

In one of the funnier Norse tales, Thor goes fishing in Jotenheim, (the dwelling region of the giants), with the giant Hymir and to show off, Thor snags Jormungand and tries to pull him onto the fishing boat. Hymir begs him to let Jormungand go, which he does.

In the play that I am writing, Thor tries to lift a giant's cat and fails to lift anything but the cat's paw off the ground. What Thor finds out later is that he actually lifted the serpent Jormungand in diguise.


Note* My theme for the A-Z challenge is Norse Mythology. Last year I did a Waldorf alphabet book which can still be found on this website under April 2011 postings.

I is for Idunna.

Idunna was a youthful and innocent goddess in Asgard home of the Norse Gods. She was the caretaker of the golden apples that maintained the gods' youth and health. The giant, Thiazi kidnaps her in order to make life difficult for the gods but she is rescued by Loki in Freya's Falcon cloak. Thiazi is killed by the gods as he tries to take her back and his daughter, Skadi wins the hand of Njord as payment for his death.

The son's of Ivaldi are the makers of the treasures of the gods;
The golden hair of Sif which was made of gold and grew instantly to her head (to replace her real hair which Loki cut off as a prank).
Skidbladnir a marvelous ship for Freyr whose sails fill instantly with wind and when it is not in use could fit into his pocket.
Gungnir A spear for Odin which never misses its mark.

Note* My theme for the A-Z challenge is Norse Mythology. Last year I did a Waldorf alphabet book which can still be found on this website under April 2011 postings.

H is for Heimdall

the god of nine mothers, (presumably the nine waves or daughters of the sea). His name means, "the one who illuminates the world".

He was known as the purest of all the gods. He is the watchman or gatekeeper of Asgard, stationed at the Rainbow Bridge between Asgard and the heavens. He loathed Loki more than any other of the Aesir. Heimdall is also associated with Rig, who fathered the three races of men (the peasants, the craftspeople and the royalty). Heimdall carried the horn Gjallahorn which was designed to warn all the gods of the arrival of Ragnarok. He is one of the survivors of this great battle.

H is also for Hod, Baldur's blind brother who innocently kills him with a sprig of mistletoe and the friendly help of you-know-who (Loki).

Hugi is a young giant who will make an appearance in our Fourth Grade Play, "The Challenge of Utgard". He is pitted against the human Thialfi in a race. Thialfi seems to nearly beat him but Hugi is "Thought" in disguise and can not be beat by god or man.

Odin's two ravens are Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory).

G is for Gimli

The survivors of Ragnarok will live in Gimli, the most heavenly of places on earth.

G is also for Geirrod, a foster son of Odin's who did not turn out so well.

As the tale is told, young prince Geirrod and his slightly older brother Agnar, were lost at sea and rescued by Odin and Frigga (disguised as island farmers). Both gods took one child "under their wing" and taught them all they could. When spring arrived they were sent home on a sea-worthy boat.

Through treachery Geirrod became the next heir to the throne. And Odin teased Frigga about Geirrod being the superior foster child. But Frigga was disgusted and told Odin that Geirrod was a cruel king with a terrible temper. Odin did not believe this and so he went to find out if this was true. Disguised as a begging magician, Odin comes to Geirrod's hall, is tortured and taunted and finally Odin wreaks vengeance upon him. Strangely, it was Geirrod's son Agnar, named after his brother, that showed kindness to Odin and who eventually won All-father's favor.

F is for Fenrir

Why is Loki such a rascal? Well to start with he sired some pretty odious creatures. Angrboda, his girl-friend-giant and he, gave birth to Hela, who lives in Hel, the underworld in Norse Mythology. She is, stomach and upwards, relatively normal looking, but waist down she is a rotting carcass. Loki also sired Jormungand, the serpent who encircles midgard. But most alarming is Fenrir. Fenrir is a giant wolf with more malice than anyone can say. So frightened were the gods that they tricked him into trying out a chain, made by the crafty dwarves with binding spells, that is unbreakable. Fenrir will be chained up until Ragnarok, the battle that pits all the gods against every evil creature in existence within all 9 worlds.

E is for Evil

Among all the gods in Norse Mythology, this describes Loki pretty well. But because he is really central to the stories he is more like a necessary evil. He makes things happen and gets things moving. He is also quite charming and at times very funny.

"Evil creature, good companion."

This quote would probably sum up Thor's relationship with Loki and will also be one of the first things Thor says in our play, "The Contests of Utgard". It starts out like this-

"It is open season in Jotenheim (the domain of the giants)", says Thor.
"You will need sharp wits," replies Loki.
"Sharp wits?!" responds Thor.
"Yes. Yours are as dull as your hammer."
A beat.
"Evil creature. Good companion."

And so the two journey to Jotenheim in Thor's chariot pulled by his two immortal goats. And eventually arrive at Utgard where Thor is put to his tests and Loki joins an eating contest he cannot win.

D is for Dragon and Dwarves

Dvalin's Delight is the name the dwarves in Norse Mythology give to the sun. Dvalin was a dwarf who was turned to stone by the light of the sun. So dwarves have a sense of humor. And a deep love of gold and beautifully designed metals. Much of these are hoarded and at times stolen by dragons.

One of the most famous of these hoarding dragons can be found in the story of Sigurd, a Norse hero. Fafnir is found in the Norse tales as a magician's son who's brother is accidentally killed by Loki. Loki pays a hefty ransom for the payment of this killing. Fafnir kills his father for the treasure and becomes Fafnir the dragon.

In The Hobbit, by JRR TOLKIEN, the dragon Smaug has a hoard of dwarf treasure and many of the dwarves named in his book share the names of dwarves in Norse Mythology, (Dvalin being one). Another interesting similarity is the ring that topped Fafnir's treasure which cursed any who held it except its maker, Andavari. A cursed ring is central to the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

C is for Cauldron

The gods were running out of Mead, a thick and potent drink. Aegir was the only one who could make enough mead for everyone but he insisted that the Gods provide the cauldron.The Cauldron of Hymir was the only one large enough to hold the mead needed for a feast for the Gods. Hymir was a giant who really hated the Aesir race (Norse Gods in Asgard), but fostered Odin's son Tyr, the god of war who was able to convince his foster father to let a disguised Thor compete for his favors.

The cauldron features in many stories about witches and magic spells. It is a place for creating medicine that is beyond the understanding of this world.

There is no cauldron in the play I am writing but there is a contest between Thor and some giants. The title of the play will be, "The Contests of Utgard".

The cast includes:
Thor
Loki
Thialfi (a poor farm boy)
Roskva (a poor farm girl and sister to Thialfi)
Skrymir (The king of Utgard in disguise)
Utgard-Loki (The king of Utgard)
Hugi (Thought disguised as a giant)
Logi (Fire disguised as a giant)
Elli (Old age disguised as a giant)
Jormungand (disguised as a grey cat)

My class size is limited so the children may have to take on 2 roles.

Following the theme of Norse Mythology, Baldur is the son of Odin and Frigga. He and his wife Nanna are the embodiment of goodness and beauty. Their son Forseti is the embodiment of Justice (or truth). These are the foundational themes of Waldorf education; Goodness, Beauty and Truth.

Beauty and Beingness

I call her Beauty
Not just because she is but because
She makes me feel it.

But what is that? What does that mean, and why would it matter
Since noone can agree what beauty is.

Perhaps beauty is a sense of harmony with the beingness of that
Which elevates us.

Perhaps it doesn’t matter.
But it seems much of what surrounds us appeals to our lower nature.

The corporate “grim reaper” with eyes that shine like the glint of clean stainless steel appliances,

Or

Chat rooms and comments that solicit meaningless and sometimes violent banter

The face of George Zimmerman
And the defeated look on the faces of the parents of the child he murdered.

I prefer to spend my time focusing on those things that strike a human chord like
The feeling I got when I heard the president singing Al Green,

My students’ earnest explanations,

Or the discovery of a fairy garden made of found natural objects and magpie sparkles.

My stunning-brown-skinned daughter’s idea of beauty is a blond Disney princess and some of my students like to draw violent scenes of zombies and aliens and I am not sure at times how to respond.

But if I think about beauty enough, some of what I DO is beauty because then I am in the being-ness too,

admiring the strong, white teeth of the dead dog laying on the side of the road.

Welcome to the A-Z challenge and please note:

All the words and art displayed on this blog belong to me (unless otherwise noted) and is part of my practice of being a student/teacher/mom/wife/artist who is working out of Anthroposophy (the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner and the foundation of Waldorf Education).

The theme of my A-Z challenge is Norse Mythology as I am in the process of writing a musical play for my 4th grade students. This will be my help-mate.

The gods in Asgard were true artists- All-father Odin most of all as he hung on the tree for 9 days, sacrificing himself for knowledge, which for the gods was not a materialistic gain but a true embodiment of wisdom.


Artist
by 50 foot Queenie

You forgot the time
while the chalk and the glue
and the paint and the newspaper
gathered in increasingly potent arrangements.

The last verse must be left for editing later as the
Moment is not yet ripe.

Do not clean up.
Do not bathe.
Phone ringing is like background music to the meditation
Of this now-ness.

Rehearsal time belongs to the Call.
And when you hear it
All is nothing,
It is all.

Could you be someone else
In five minutes?
Could you transform your whole way
of seeing the world overnight?

This is the work.

After putting my beauty booty to bed I decided to spend the rest of the evening with PJ Harvey. I listened to Terri Gross' interview from last year and downloaded "Let England Shake" which is brilliant and devastating. This is an album about war, death, beauty, country loyalty, home and is a big departure from much of Harvey's previous work in that it seems like she has moved beyond the personal and into the inspired.

War photographer, Seamus Murphy directed 12 short films to accompany the songs on the album.

Here are PJ Harvey's words:


"Death was everywhere,
in the air
and in the sounds
coming off the mounds
of Bolton's Ridge.
Death's anchorage.
When you rolled a smoke
or told a joke,
it was in the laughter
and drinking water
it approached the beach
as strings of cutters,
dropped into the sea and lay around us.

Death was in the ancient fortress,
shelled by a million bullets
from gunners, waiting in the copses
with hearts that threatened to pop their boxes,
as we advanced into the sun
death was all and everyone.

Death hung in the smoke and clung
to 400 acres of useless beachfront.
A bank of red earth, dripping down death
now, and now, and now
in the air
and in the sounds
coming off the mounds
of Bolton's Ridge.
Death's anchorage.
Death was in the staring sun,
fixing its eyes on everyone.
It rattled the bones of the Light Horsemen
still lying out there in the open

as we, advancing in the sun
sing "Death to all and everyone.""

A whole week off from school.
Strange. But not uncalled for. The road conditions since late Tuesday have been increasingly challenging with the latest ice storm impossible to drive in.
We have been told it will soon melt but as of now, 9:30 am we still have an inch of ice covering everything.

Last night we built another fire (we are running out of wood), made popcorn(the last of it) and watched Singing in the Rain. Booty laughed hysterically at the part of the movie when Donald O'Connor sings, Make 'em Laugh.

Our fish, Sophie and Lena (not related to Lena Lamont) are doing very well. They do seem a bit food obsessed but we too have been a little food glutted during this storm. I believe I reached the sugar-saturation stage experienced by most shut ins yesterday afternoon after demolishing a Lindt orange liquor and Dark chocolate bar with a slice of Wednesday's granola crumble apple pie.

Time for us to get out!

Recorded two days ago in Seattle.

Now an ice storm.
Booty is outside on the back pork attacking the ice-crutsted snow with a small rake.
We have an ice phenomena happening today that doesn't usually happen (well snow doesn't usually happen either) in this area.

If you are from the Northeast this kind of thing is commonplace but if you know a little about weather and how it is affected by the geography etc. you know that sometimes events like this are so addictive. I can't get enough information.

For more good Seattle area weather information check out this awesome blog:

Cliff Mass'

Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King Jr.!
We have had one seriously exciting week!



We were so excited to see how Booty would react to her first snow. So thrilled that Mr. D was able to witness it, (and take a picture or two).





Tuesday and Wednesday our school called a snow day. We ended up making apple pie, soup, pancakes, setting up an aquarium...



Building a fire, reading and playing lots and lots of Mancala and Uno.



And it feels pretty complete. However, we have another snow day tomorrow. That leaves us with one day of school this week.

Tonight I sang the Martin Luther King song for Booty,

"We bake a cake. We blow it out.
Happy Martin Luther King we shout.
I have a dream, he said
All people hand in hand
Working and singing throughout the land."

Christmas may be over but we are still celebrating.
Today we returned from Portland, Oregon; a lovely 2 day trip filled with lots of good food (Ethiopian, Thai and Organic)and a little bit of Musical theater (Willy Wanka) at Northwest Children's Theater and School and lovely cousin time (with David who has lived in Portland for 20 years). Before the show we survived the Children's Museum (much too crowded to enjoy).
We went to Voodoo Doughnuts and enjoyed the decadence of sweets unholy and then went to Craven Raven for the holy gluten free version.

The weather has been mild and sunny for December. Three cheers for a great New Year! Lets hope we find more clarity and belongingness than ever before!!!!!

Our friend Toni sent us one of these and we were inspired so here is our version:

Jib Jab Christmas song from our family

Happy, Merry and Joy to all you naughty children!

Nutcracker bound. Christmas Revels up next!

Living the days like each day is a vacation
Something special is happening!
Lots of conflict means lots of activity
and possibility
for healing.
The students are naughty
so we can be good.
The students endure
so we can make mistakes.

And learn

of course!

Our school is going through a major crisis and I haven't posted because I haven't been able to write it down. Without blaming anyone it seems that the school is experiencing a potentially lethal fiscal situation. Because of this the school is losing students every day. I am not sure if I will be employed next month but will keep you posted.

Today the weather is lovely with blue skies. A bald eagle flew over the playground and the children cried out to it.

Interesting times.