Ragnarok
Celebrating Cycles Of Birth and Death While Still Living
Do you happen to be that certain kind of someone who waits for life to begin later? Following certain accomplishments, after certain hardships resolve, or perhaps that most widespread of ideologies, expecting rewards and bliss in a life following this one?
The latter is one that was an attempted indoctrination of me, most of my life, but it just never sat well. Much to the dismay of relatives, I just couldn’t swallow the notions, and so I must respectfully differ with them in some cases. But there is nothing wrong with that.
You know, I wondered for so many years why I sought out foreign films, especially those about Norway. Why was I so drawn to stories where people spoke Norwegian and made me have to read subtitles? LOL. I couldn’t explain it, but I was long smitten with the frozen North, and tales contemporary and ancient regarding it. Why was I so drawn, and comforted by the tales and figures in Norse Mythology? And yes, I’m even a huge fan of Queen Elsa, who I saw suggested might have been inspired by the Norse goddess Skadi. Very cool. Ding, Ding, Ding…that makes sense to my soul.
I kept a lot of these musings to myself, as the subject matter isn’t really a conversation starter with most folks I know. But I sure did wonder. And this year, to my remarkable surprise, I got some answers. Norway and the people of Scandinavia had painted on my life’s canvas, historically, culturally, and genetically, in ways I’d never imagined.
But let’s get to The Ragnarok, and a few of the reasons why I love the story so much.
I don’t wish to spend minutes, that few people will give, trying to outline a story that has been told so well by others, especially Neil Gaiman. I’d highly recommend his book, pictured below, as a wonderful journey through the stories of Norse Mythology. It is a treasured book on my shelf that I will turn to again and again.
The Ragnarok does represent an ending, to most of life as we know it. How can I love an ending to all life? It’s not so much that aspect that appeals to me. It’s that the gods perish too.
The gods are imperfect. The gods made tremendous mistakes, and brought about this destruction. The gods acted on fear of loss…sound familiar?
I love stories that are more tangible. Being an imperfect human, it’s pretty tough for me to relate or bask beneath the idea of an omnipotent, omniscient god while I wrestle with the “mysteries” of the problem of evil and struggle so hard as a perpetual student of the universe, for some reason seeking wisdom, growth, and a personal evolution into a “better” person, whatever that means. The Norse gods are accessible and comforting to me. Quite frankly, I can relate to them.
While the story of the binding of Fenrir hurts me deeply, as I empathize with him, I look beneath, to the teaching moments in the story. The vengeance of Fenrir, who will eventually swallow the sun at the ending, and how fear and dread of the future, on the part of the gods, resulted in this destructive path. What a tale.
As someone with an animistic worldview, I revel in stories and art that incorporate the human into the circle of life, rather than extracting us and placing us atop an absurd pyramid, as if we are the pinnacle of creation. That notion of us has resulted in catastrophic cruelties and loss of natural resources.
Wolves, ravens, bears…oh tell me more. Use them to teach me principles. Fear of loss, in my opinion, has been an underpinning of most human motivations when it comes to personal choices. I’ve written entire book chapters (not yet published) on this very topic, so I won’t expound…but just think about it. Consider your motivation for almost anything, and if you dare, trace back farther and farther and farther until you get to the real reason for your thoughts and actions.
Ragnarok doesn’t end all life though. Something does begin anew. It’s not an afterworld with rewards for those previously here. It’s a new beginning. It’s part of a cycle of birth and death, and in this, it has such meaning to me. It represents my reality, where even though I’m a vegan, something still dies in order for me to live. A plant takes a new form, and someday I will scatter and the subatomic particles in me will do the same. They’ll be reborn in a wide array of forms and formlessness.
There is an elder futhark rune that we call “dagaz” in modern times. Esoterically, it symbolizes these very things:
- Awakening
- Closing a chapter, beginning a new one
- Enlightenment
- A new journey
- A new dawn
- Changing worldviews
- Paradigm shifts
- The perpetual cycle of life and death — death an absolute necessity for new life
The list is not exhaustive.
I find this pertains to my art and photography, as well as my constant spiritual and emotional evolution. When I recall the sketches of my youth, in graphite, to the early paintings where I’d get so angry that I couldn’t represent precisely what was in my mind, because I’d not yet developed the skills, but didn’t understand…
Oh the early works can make me cringe now. But I take such joy in seeing the obvious growth. So many years, decades, that I’ve continuously learned, ever the student, thriving in learning new skills and techniques. The changes in media, subjects, genre, and even purpose are clear at the differing stages.
Dagaz. Ragnarok. One cycle ends and a new one is born.
I’m happy about that. While there are most assuredly people who are comfortable having a life view and traditions that are passed to them and that never change, that isn’t me.
My journey has been one of great joy and sorrow. So many hardships, and yet…the vast majority of what I see makes me not even want to mention difficulties, because they pale in comparison to the value of the upside. I only mention them because they are absolutely essential to growth. Some things must die for others to be born. That is just life. It’s natural law and there is no reason that I see to argue with it or hope for different.
I’m thrilled with this life, and the miraculous journey it has offered me. I marvel at the ancient tales that can teach us ideas that our ancestors had. I drink it up. I think Jimmy Buffet said it pretty well in one of his tunes, that he’d rather die while living, than live while dead.
Ragnarok symbolizes for me not just the physical end, but mostly the cycles of birth and death of ideologies, passions, events, paradigm shifts during the course of the life of someone who realizes that they will always be a student. Perhaps not everyone accepts that we know little. I see that as an existentially painful way to exist. For me, there is such joy in learning and growth.
Please continue to join my journey of wildlife conservation art & photography. I use my visuals and share my ideas in order to bring animals into the hearts of people, and people back into the circle of nature, within their own worldviews.
Blessings, and Skal!
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