So today is the day that some Heathens celebrate the Creation of Midgard! For those who may not be in the know, Midgard is the Old Norse term for this planet we call Earth. It means Middle Earth, which is where Tolkien got the name for his realm in the amazing Lord of the Rings saga.

The story of Midgard’s creation, like most stories involving the Norse Gods, starts with a fight. The first giant, the father of all Giants/Jotun, was Ymir. He was a massive creature, and one day Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve rode out to fight him. The battle was massive, as befits a battle between Gods and Jotun, but in the end Odin, Vili, and Ve were victorious and Ymir was slain. Of course, this left them with a massive corpse, so they set about to bring creation from destruction.

Ymir was taken and his bones were made the mountains, his flesh the earth, his blood the rivers and seas, his skull to make the sky, and his brains to make the clouds. From there Odin, Vili, and Ve set about to make Midgard what it is and was. This culminated in the creation of the first Man and Woman, Aske and Embla, formed from two trees that the Brothers Three found and formed and breathed life into.

I will come out and say I do believe in what some people call “Intelligent Design.” I believe the Gods and Goddesses are real. Now, that doesn’t mean they don’t work within fundamental laws such that science likes to find and run around with. I believe in the myths and legends of my ancestors and hold them to be true. To me, the world is so complex and beautiful in its majesty and horror that it could not have arisen with out intent and will behind it. I think that pretty much all the creation myths are real, and that the world got formed by the combined forces of the various Gods and Goddesses.

Of course, I’m sure people will find it laughable to think that the earth is made from the body of a giant, but then I do not find it so strange. After all, we are living beings made from the same matter as the earth, so I do not find it so hard to believe that a being containing much, if not all, of the earth’s material could have been some time long ago. Sadly, I don’t have access to the stuff I need to be able to figure out just how big such a Jotun would be to provide the mass of the earth. You need various ratios, conversion tables, and a calculator that can go that high. I could get some of that, but the calculator has eluded me. Maybe someday I’ll be able to figure it out.

Hail to Odin, Vili, and Ve. This day we remember their mighty deeds which brought forth Midgard and life hear. Raise the mead horn high in their honor! Skoal!