The Death of Baldur

Beautiful Baldur, best of the gods, was beloved by all the good gods and by mortal men.

Baldur dreamed of his death. He told his dream to his mother, Frigg, and she became afraid for him. So Frigg required every being and every power to swear an oath never to harm beautiful Baldur. But she forgot the lowly mistletoe, a plant so small and frail, it seemed harmless. 

Wily Loki heard Frigg, and he saw that she had overlooked the little mistletoe. "Aha!" thought Loki. 

Loki traveled into the west, where the mistletoe grew. He returned with a sprig of mistletoe that he fashioned into a dart. He brought the dart Odin's brother, the blind god Höd, and asked him to throw the dart. "Please, Höd," he said, "your arm is stronger than mine." 

Höd agreed to throw the dart — and when his arm came forward, Loki steered it toward Baldur, who was standing in the distance. The dart pierced Baldur's heart, and the beautiful god Baldur died. 

Odin wailed in grief for his son Baldur. He pleaded with Hel, the goddess of death, to restore Baldur to him. She agreed, on one condition. Every being and every power must weep for Baldur — if everything grieved, Baldur would be restored. But Loki would not weep. He disguised himself as a wicked witch and shed no tears. So beautiful Balder was not restored.

The gods took Baldur's body to his ship. Beside him they laid his wife, who had died of her grief. And near them they put Baldur's horse, and his other dearest animals, and all of his treasures. And they set the ship afire and pushed it out to sea.

And yet Baldur is restored. Every spring, when the beauty of the earth is restored, we may find Baldur again.

Höd paid for his crime with his life. But no one knew of Loki's tricks, so wily Loki was spared. [1]

Odin’s Tribulations

Odin All-Father, first of the gods, wished for wisdom. He would know more than any other god, he vowed — he would always be first among the gods. 

Odin went to Mimir, the god who guarded the well of wisdom, which is hidden among the roots of Yggdrasil, the World Tree. 

Mimir sat at the side of the well, with his head bowed, sipping the water of the well. Odin envied Mimir his great knowledge. 

“I wish to drink from the well,” said Odin. 

“You may not drink unless you pay my price,” answered Mimir. 

“What is your price?” asked Odin. 

"Your eye,” answered Mimir. “You must give me one of your eyes.” 

Odin quailed. To lose an eye! How dreadful! But Odin looked to the south and saw Muspellsheim, the place of fire. A terrible figure loomed there, Surt the fire giant, who hated the gods. And Odin looked to the north and saw Niflheim, the place of fog, which threatened to engulf the world in darkness.

Odin All-Father ripped out one of his eyes, and he was filled with anguish. But he did not cry aloud. He dropped his eye into the well, where it lies still, gazing upward. Then Odin All-Father drank from the well, and he became wise. 

But Odin All-Father was not content. He sought yet more knowledge. He would read the ancient runes to learn their secrets. So Odin climbed up onto Yggdrasil, the World Tree, and he dug his sword into his side, and impaled himself. And for nine days and nine nights Odin All-Father hung from Yggdrasil, his sword in his side, until the runes became clear to him, and he gained the powers of sorcery. 

And still Odin could not rest. He wished for the madness of the poet, the divine frenzy that goes beyond anything. But dwarfs had stolen the mead of poetry and hidden it in Jotunheim, the land of the giants. 

Odin placed a patch over his missing eye, and he wrapped himself in a black cloak, and he stole into Jotunheim. He came upon nine trolls, whom he slew. And he came to the home of Baugi the giant, where he went to work in the giant’s fields. He worked beyond exhaustion, beyond endurance, beyond anything, until Baugi told him where to find the mead of poetry. 

Odin All-Father climbed onto the mountain where the mead was hidden. He transformed himself into a snake, and wriggled inside the mountain, where he found Gunlod, the maiden giant who guarded the mead. Odin beguiled the dreadful maiden, and stayed with her, and for three days he drank each day a barrel of the mead. 

Then Odin All-Father changed himself into an eagle and flew back to the land of the gods, Asgard, where he poured out of his body the mead of poetry, pouring it from the sky into the jars of the gods. [2] 

Ragnarök

There will come a three years’ winter. The first year will be the Winter of Winds, when the sons of men will freeze and die. The second year will be the Winter of the Sword, when those men who still survive will turn on each other, brother will slay brother, and everywhere strife will prevail. The third year will be the Winter of the Wolf, when a great wolf will devour the corpses of men, and the seats of the gods will be splashed with blood. 

Then the armies of the realm of the dead, and the armies of Jotunheim — the place of the giants — and the armies of Muspellsheim — the place of fire — will bestir themselves. Loki's spawn, Fenrir the Hell-wolf, will break his bonds, and the gods will become mortal. The hoof beats of the horses of the dark armies will echo, and Loki will laugh, and the white god Heimdal will blow the Gjaller-horn to announce the coming of the end of all things. 

The riders of Muspellsheim will reach the rainbow bridge, and they will ride upon it — but it will break beneath them, and Asgard will not be entered. 

Jörmungand, the serpent that encircles the world, will rise from the sea, and the world will be flooded, and all will be swept away. 

The hosts of the Aesir and the hosts of their enemies will meet upon the field of Vigrith, and in the Dark Wood of Mirkvid the Wanes will stand. And Odin will say, “We will die today and all the worlds will be destroyed, so that we may destroy the powers of evil.” 

Then Fenrir the Hell-wolf — Loki's spawn — will fight Odin All-Father, and Odin will wield his spear Gungnir, and Fenrir will devour Odin All-Father. 

And then a host of the gods will fall upon Fenrir, and rend him, and Fenrir will be destroyed. 

Thor will spring upon the terrible serpent Jörmungand and crush him with his hammer. But the dying serpent will breathe pestilence upon Thor, and Thor will perish. 

And Loki will attack Heimdal, and he will slay Heimdal, and Heimdal will slay Loki. 

And many will be the gods and giants and heroes and evil ones who will die on this, the last day. 

Then the riders of Muspellsheim will race across Vigrith, and fire will follow them, consuming all, consuming even Yggdrasil, the World Tree — it will be consumed. And the fire will also consume the riders of Muspellsheim, and Vigrith will be empty. 

And then Hati the wolf will devour the Sun, and Managarm the wolf will devour the Moon, and the stars will fall. And darkness and death will be everywhere. 

Afterward, long after the work of destruction is complete, the waters will roll back and a new world will appear. 

Four young gods will be then, and they will learn of Gimle, a heaven that is above Asgard. 

And deep in a forest, two humans will awake — Lif and Lifthrasir — and they will walk out into the new world, and their children will populate the new world. [3] 

The Unfinished Wall

Not all Norse myths are violent. 

Here is a tale of Loki’s skullduggery.

There’s no violence — 

and yet the tale is framed by war.

The Norse mythic universe was overshadowed, 

always, by a sense of doom.

In the days of combat between the Aesir and the Wanes, a strange being came to Odin All-Father. “I am the wall builder,” the stranger said. “Allow me to build a wall around Asgard, a wall that can never be broken.” 

Odin All-Father agreed, promising to pay the stranger whatever he demanded if he would finish the wall in one year. 

The next morning, the stranger came back with a great horse named Svathilfari. And the great horse Svathilfari began dragging rocks, and stacking them, and mortaring them. And as the stranger and his horse worked side-by-side, a wall began to rise around Asgard. 

Odin, who was very pleased, approached the stranger. Odin asked the stranger, “What reward will you demand when the wall is finished?” 

The stranger said he would demand the Sun and the Moon and Odin’s wife, Frigg, to be his own. 

Odin All-Father was filled with rage, and the other gods also were enraged when they heard what the stranger had said. They decided to stop the stranger and his horse from building the wall. 

But Loki smiled and said to them, “Let the wall be built. Leave the stranger and his horse to me.” Knowing how clever Loki could be with his many pranks, the gods relented and let the work continue. They only told the stranger that the wall must be finished before the first day of summer or he would have no reward. 

The stranger and his horse redoubled their efforts, and the wall rose quickly. Now the gods realized that the stranger was one of the giants, and they were distressed. But Loki only smiled. 

Three days before the coming of summer, the wall was complete except for a single stone. The gods were gravely troubled, but Loki only smiled. 

That evening the giant lay down to rest, telling his great horse, "Pull a last stone to the wall. I will lift it into place tomorrow morning." 

The giant slept, and the Moon rose, and as the horse Svathilfari dragged the last stone, a beautiful mare appeared in the moonlight. It was Loki, who can change his shape at will. The beautiful mare approached Svathilfari and danced about and taunted him, calling him a slave who always did his master’s bidding. 

Svathilfari forgot the stone he was dragging and chased after the beautiful mare, to show her he was no slave. She ran before him into a cave, with Svathilfari close behind. And as they went deeper and deeper into the cave, the beautiful mare slowed, and she smiled upon Svathilfari, and she told him many strange stories about dwarfs and elves. 

When the giant awoke, he could not find his great horse anywhere. He began searching, but he could not find Svathilfari, and soon the first day of summer arrived. 

So the gods did not pay the giant, and he went away empty-handed. 

When Loki returned, he told them how he had fooled Svathilfari. All the gods were pleased, save one. Thor, champion of the gods and guardian of oaths, was furious with Loki. Now the giants would be the gods’ eternal enemies, Thor said. The giants would come one day, and the unfinished wall would offer no protection, and the final battle would be more terrible than anyone could imagine. 

Loki, whose father was the Wind Giant, only smiled. [4]

Footnotes for these Myths

[1] This myth can quite easily be construed as a Christ story — Baldur dies but, as the god of the spring, he will be reborn when spring returns. Children who study the myth may, then, actually be receiving instruction in gnostic Christianity. Still, the differences from the Bible story are at least as important as the similarities — especially the existence of multiple gods. An Anthroposophical reading of this polytheistic tale suggests that Baldur is not a Christ figure but a different, equally real god who underwent a similar fate. In fact, Steiner at one point said that Baldur is actually Mithra, the god of Mithraism. [See Rudolf Steiner, THE TEMPLE LEGEND AND THE GOLDEN LEGEND (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1985), p. 312.] Alternatively, Anthroposophists sometimes use the names "Christ," "Mithra," "Baldur", etc., interchangeably, in which case Baldur is indeed Christ: 

“Christ, the Sun God, who was known by earlier peoples under such names as Ahura Mazda, Hu, or Balder, has now united himself with the earth...." — Anthroposophist Margaret Jonas in the introduction to RUDOLF STEINER SPEAKS TO THE BRITISH (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), pp. 4-5. 

[2] Odin's three-stage quest charts his progress in acquiring three progressive stages of consciousness. This can be interpreted as suggesting the central concept of Anthroposophy, the possibility of rising to higher and higher clairvoyant powers: imagination, inspiration, and intuition. Odin's quest is arduous but structured, and it requires the denial of the flesh as well as the flesh's transformation and passionate release. Truth is attainable, but it is hidden and must be gained through the acquisition of mysterious powers. This strain in the myth can be read as paralleling Steiner's gnosticism, including his belief in witchcraft and a mysterious celestial script, the Akashic Record. Likewise, Odin seeks the poet's frenzy, and in Anthroposophy the arts provide a communicative link with celestial states. All of these ideas are inherent in Waldorf schooling as originally conceived by Steiner.

[3] This is another myth that can be seen as a proxy for Biblical teachings, specifically the Apocalypse as described in the Book of Revelation. Taken in this way, studying the myth immerses the student in a variant of Christianity. But, again, the differences between the myth and Scripture are deep and important. We see multiple gods, the existence of various good and evil beings not found in the Bible, and no mention of Christ or a Christ figure. Instead, we see what can be interpreted as a confirmation of Steiner's cosmology in the evolution from one state of being to another, with a previously unknown, higher state of being becoming available, both to gods and men.

[4] Loki is, in some ways, a proxy for Lucifer in Steiner's teachings. But, like the other beings in Steiner's doctrines, Loki generally exists as a separate individuality. Loki is half giant, which means he is spiritually incomplete (giants, dwarfs, etc., are "elemental beings," Steiner taught, and despite being immaterial, they have no real spirituality). Hence, Loki is half-descended from a spiritually barren race. He is the tempter, the deceiver, who wishes for the ruin of men and gods. To the degree that an Anthroposophical interpretation of Norse myths reflects Steiner's racial teachings, Loki is a revealing figure — a malign result of race mixing.

◊

Anthroposophists are sometimes awed that Norse myths seem to confirm Steiner's doctrines. But there is no mystery here. Steiner crafted Anthroposophy so that it would roughly conform to these myths (if the myths are interpreted as Steiner prescribed). It's as if a fan of the Harry Potter books contrived a new religion, Potterosophy, based on the books. And then scholars discover that Potterosophy is — magically! — "confirmed" by the Harry Potter books. 

COMMENTARY, CONTEXT   

From a Waldorf teachers' guide, written by a Waldorf teacher for Waldorf teachers:

"[T]here is in the Norse stories a great depth of knowledge [1] and, fragmentary as they are, they are probably relics of old Mystery wisdom [2]. They present a picture of evolution [3], of the creation and development of the human being and his connection with higher beings [4]; they show the human being's struggle with adverse powers [5], the fading of the old world conception [6] and the birth of the ego [7], which leads to new powers of perception [8]; they show the loss of spiritual vision [9] and the consequent catastrophe (Götterdämmerung) [10]; but out of the catastrophe comes new hope and new life emerges [11]." — Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson, THE NORSE STORIES AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE (Rudolf Steiner College Press, 1999), p. 5.

◊

Footnotes for this Item

[1] That is, these myths are not mere fabulous entertainments; they are deep and wise accounts, conveying important spiritual truths. Remember: 

"[These] are stories that these wise bards among the Norsemen heard from the angels, from the angel-gods.” — Waldorf teacher Charles Kovacs, NORSE MYTHOLOGY, Waldorf Education Resources (Floris Books, 2009), pp. 7-9. 

Angel-gods do not lie.

[2] I.e., the myths arise from ancient wisdom about spiritual mysteries, key to understanding the cosmos and its gods. [See the entries for "mystery" and "mystery knowledge" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE).]

[3] The central narrative of Anthroposophy concerns mankind's evolution to higher and higher stages of spiritual consciousness. Evolution is a central Anthroposophical concept, and remember: 

“No other mythology gives a clearer picture of evolution than Northern mythology." — Lecture synopsis, THE MISSION OF THE FOLK SOULS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), a collection of lectures by Rudolf Steiner, p. 17.

[4] I.e., the good and beneficent gods. [See "gods" in the BWSE.]

[5] I.e., evil gods and/or demons. [See "Evil Ones".]

[6] I.e., the loss of mankind's primal clairvoyant powers and the understanding they provided. In Waldorf belief, this loss is a historical fact. 

"The History curriculum...provides a picture of the changing human consciousness from ancient clairvoyance to the loss of spiritual vision...."— Description of Roy Wilkinson's TEACHING HISTORY, Vol. 1 (Rudolf Steiner College Press, 2000), posted at the site for the Rudolf Steiner College Book Store (last confirmed 4/6/2019).

[7] I.e., the spiritual ego, the "I". [See "Ego".]

[8] I.e., intellectual, rational perception — useful for life on the physical plane, Steiner taught, but also essentially limited to that plane and thus a restraint on the human spirit. [See "intellect" in the BWSE.]

[9] I.e., again, the loss of old clairvoyant powers.

[10] I.e., the horrific consequences of losing clairvoyant connection to the spirit realm. Götterdämmerung, in Norse mythology, is the apocalyptic final battle between gods and their foes, resulting in the total destruction of all. [See "Götterdämmerung" in the BWSE.]

[11] Götterdämmerung gave rise to the possibility of a new beginning, arising from the ashes of destruction. In the Waldorf belief system, Anthroposophy, the new beginning and new hope available today are embodied in Anthroposophy itself — including Waldorf education.

 [R.R.]

[Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, 1999.]

"In this fine book, Ernst Uehli explains what lives in these myths and why Rudolf Steiner felt that these tales were so important to the child and the [Waldorf] curriculum." — from the back cover.

Be prepared: The Waldorf take on Norse myths is deeply occult, clinging tightly to Steiner's doctrines. For example,

"There is a consequence of Loki's bet with the dwarves, as far as Odin's speech treasures are concerned. In post-Atlantean language development [1], sound shifting becomes visible as a phenomenon. [2] The articulated language is the result of an organization of speech through the ego [i.e., the "I"]. [3] The Luciferic influence [i.e., the influence of the demon Lucifer] awakens the astral body [i.e., our third body] and more. The Ahrimanic influence [i.e., the influence of the demon Ahriman], however, puts the formative body [i.e., the etheric body] slowly to sleep." [4]  — p. 59.

This is the sort of thing Waldorf teachers think lurks below the surface of Norse myths. To most people, it is nonsense. To Anthroposophists, it is revealed truth.

(Note that the book was published not by some obviously wacky cult but by the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America.) 

◊

Footnotes for this Item

[1] I.e., the development of human language after the sinking of Atlantis. Steiner's followers believe in Atlantis. [See "Atlantis and the Aryans".]

[2] In Waldorf belief, language comes to us from the gods; it has spiritually formative powers. [See "Oh My Word".]

[3] In Waldorf belief, human beings incarnate three invisible bodies: the etheric body, the astral body, and the "I" or ego or ego body. [See "Incarnation".]

[4]  In Waldorf belief, the demon Lucifer has a rival/colleague, Ahriman, who is generally deemed more completely evil. [See "Lucifer" and "Ahriman".]

[Floris Books, Waldorf Educational Resources, 2009.] 

True-blue Anthroposophical Waldorf teachers generally believe the Norse gods really exist, and they often teach Norse myths as if they are true. Here is Waldorf teacher Charles Kovacs indicating how his colleagues should introduce Norse myths to Waldorf students. 

“The stories I am going to tell are very special. They are wonderful stories of strange beings called ‘gods’ and of giants and dwarfs ... These stories were not just made up; they came about in a different way ... As long as Adam and Eve were still in paradise they could see God ... Then came the children of Adam and Eve, and their children’s children; they could still see God, but not very often ... The more people became used to living on earth...the less they could see God ... [B]ut very many of them, not just a few, could see the angels ... There were many peoples in the world who worshipped the angel-gods, and they had wonderful stories about them. The most wonderful stories were told among people who are called Norsemen ... When these brave, fierce Norsemen had fought a battle, they came home to celebrate their victory with a great feast ... The most important part of the feast was when a man called a ‘bard’ took a harp and sang or recited a poem ... These bards could see the angel-gods better than the others. This is how the stories I am going to tell you came about. They are stories that these wise bards among the Norsemen heard from the angels, from the angel-gods.” — Waldorf teacher Charles Kovacs, NORSE MYTHOLOGY, Waldorf Education Resources (Floris Books, 2009), pp. 7-9. 

Kovacs creates a weird blend of pagan myths and Biblical teachings. He goes from gods, giants, and dwarfs to Adam and Eve and then back to the Norse angel-gods. The blurring of distinctions is typical of Anthroposophy generally and Waldorf education in particular. Overall, Kovacs follows the Steiner/Waldorf line: Norse gods really exist and Norse myths are true (they are not fictitious; they were not "just made up"). This is how, far too often, Norse myths — and, to a lesser degree, other myths and legends — are presented to impressionable young children in Waldorf schools.

To the modern, rational mind, the Waldorf belief system is almost inconceivably backward, but Steiner's followers are perfectly serious. We heard from Ernst Uehli previously. Here's another of his statements:

“Thor, like Odin, renounced his ascendance and became, therefore, the leader of the Germanic peoples’ experience of the ego-birth. Had he ascended he would have become an archangel being. He stayed at the angel level. Out of this renunciation grew the tremendous power that made him leader of the Germanic ego-birth. Rudolf Steiner, in the perviously mentioned lecture cycle, characterizes him as one of the mightiest angels there ever was.” — Ernst Uehli, NORSE MYTHOLOGY AND THE MODERN HUMAN BEING (Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, 1999), p. 69. 

This statement is full of Anthroposophical jargon, but the main thing we should recognize is that Anthroposophists think Thor is a real being. Thor, the Angel, the “leader of the Germanic ego-birth,” really exists. And how do we know this? Because Rudolf Steiner said so, calling Thor a mighty Angel indeed. 

◊

* This is a complex and subtle point. Steiner himself often spoke of "God," yet he taught that monotheism is false. He ascribed the Creation to the "Godhead" — an amorphous creative spirit — but also to multiple creative gods, and he said that we should not probe too deeply into the mysteries of the Creation, for some questions are unanswerable. 

"All those who have true insight have never spoken of a Cause of the Creation of the Universe.” — Rudolf Steiner, quoted in FOUNDATIONS AT THE PERIPHERY: Rudolf Steiner's Observations on Star Knowledge, compiled by R. S. W. Bobbette. 

Note that there is no such vagueness or confusion in the Bible: There, the one and only God created the universe. Period. [For more on these matters, see "All", "God", and "Steiner Static".]

Grégoire Perra is a former 

Waldorf student and teacher.

Here are some of his observations 

about the role played by

the study of myths in 

Waldorf schools:

In my opinion, the most problematic effect of this educational process, imitating group behavior without explanation or contextualization, occurs during lessons on legends and myths in the lower grades (primary school). Indeed, during a class on mythology, specifically Celtic mythology in the fourth grade, our Waldorf teacher began the class by telling us a myth without saying anything about its cultural and historical context. As Paul Ariès has written about this failure to contextualize myths:

"It is regrettable here that the stories and legends were not analyzed. What conceptions of man and the cosmos did they convey?" (p. 231)

I well remember that we students had an exchange during recess, after that first class, when our "master" told us the wonderful creation story from Celtic mythology. We debated for several minutes whether our teacher had been telling us what really happened during the creation of the world, or whether the story he told was just a "myth." We were unable to decide. In not giving young students help in comprehending legends and myths, does the Waldorf teacher realize that he is creating a serious confusion between the real and the imaginary, which may have devastating psychological effects on some children later? Indeed, those who are the least grounded — the most dreamy children — will sometimes suffer the consequence of being unable to find the line between the real and the imaginary in some circumstances, or they confuse their dreams with reality. Even worse, this practice may aggravate the plight of children with undetected mental disorders, such as unfortunately may exist in all classes.

Generally, people who have not received their schooling in a Waldorf school do not realize how Waldorf students experience legends and myths. They think Waldorf students receive these tales as they themselves heard them during their own schooling, as stories you take much as you take stories about Santa Claus (that is to say, with skepticism) — "stories" in the sense that we typically say that someone tells stories. But the notion of stories in the sense of an imaginary tale does not prevail in Waldorf schools. The children become emotionally involved with the the gods and other characters from the myths and legends they are told! They love these characters! These characters are part of their lives, almost part of their families! I still remember being upset all day when my class teacher told us the story of the capture of the god Loki by the Aesir, during the section on Norse mythology in fourth grade. That night as I fell asleep, I wept while replaying the tale in my mind, I was so attached to that god. This is why the sense of wonder surrounding the myths and legends is so strong in the memory of Waldorf students. They have indeed lived under these tales as emotional realities, not mere stories. The children do not necessarily believe that the gods exist, but they become attached to them like real people. Moreover such narratives are not presented only in the study of mythologies, but in all parts of Waldorf education, even science, creating an emotional attachment to the subjective system that the teachers convey to their students. The inspectors report noted:

"All teaching in the various disciplines and programs is based on myths and mystical themes." (Quoted by Paul in ANTHROPOSOPHY, STUDY OF AN OCCULT POWER, p. 230)

◊

For more by Perra on such matters, see

"My Life Among the Anthroposophists"

and the section "The Pernicious Role of Imitation"

in the essay "Methods". 

Here is an item from the Waldorf Watch "news" page

(January, 2013).

It repeats some points we have already considered,

but it adds a few others:

Padraic Colum,

THE CHILDREN OF ODIN

The Book of Northern Myths

(Aladdin, 2004).

A “resource” for Waldorf teachers, currently offered through the Rudolf Steiner College bookstore [http://www.steinercollege.edu/store/product.php?productid=16262&cat=1071&page=1]. The description displayed at the store:

Before time as we know it began, gods and goddesses lived in the city of Asgard. Odin All Father crossed the Rainbow Bridge to walk among men in Midgard. Thor defended Asgard with his mighty hammer. Mischievous Loki was constantly getting into trouble with the other gods, and dragons and giants walked free. This collection of Norse sagas retold by author Padraic Colum gives us a sense of that magical time when the world was filled with powers and wonders we can hardly imagine.

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

Norse myths are often taught at Waldorf schools as if they are true accounts of ancient events. Steiner taught that all myths are essentially true: They are the record of clairvoyant visions had by ancient peoples.

“Myths...are the memories of the visions people perceived in olden times ... At night they were really surrounded by the world of the Nordic gods of which the legends tell. Odin, Freya, and all the other figures in Nordic mythology were...experienced in the spiritual world with as much reality as we experience our fellow human beings around us today.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 198.

Of all the myths, Steiner taught, Norse myths are the truest: They give the most accurate account of human evolution, past and future.

◊ “Nordic man perceived the figures of the Gods [sic], the divine Beings working directly on his soul ... This was direct experience to him.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE MISSION OF THE FOLK SOULS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), p. 132.

◊ “Pictures or symbols of Teutonic mythology contain occult truths.” [Ibid., p. 19.]

◊ “No other mythology gives a clearer picture of evolution than Northern mythology. Germanic mythology in its pictures is close to anthroposophical conception of future evolution.” [Ibid., p. 17.]

For more on the extraordinary importance attached to Norse myth in the Waldorf curriculum, see "The Gods" and "Sneaking It In".

TONING IT DOWN?

When Waldorf teachers relate myths and other tales in class, they almost always do so from memory. They rarely if ever read stories to the students — this would be too lifeless.

One consequence is that we cannot know for sure whether individual Waldorf teachers simplify or tone down Norse myths when presenting them to young children. It would seem inevitable that at least some Waldorf teachers would do so.

And yet when we consult Waldorf teachers' guides, we find the myths given in generally stark, unflinching terms. The language used is often somewhat simplified, but the content of the myths is left largely unmoderated, unsoftened. Here are a couple of examples. We'll start with an excerpt from the Norse creation story as given by Charles Kovacs in his book NORSE MYTHOLOGY, Waldorf Education Resources (Floris Books, 2009).

The three gods, Odin, Vili and Ve, had killed Ymir and driven away his giant offspring. But there was still not a world; the world in which we live now was not yet here. There was only the vast abyss with fire on one side and ice on the other.

The three gods said, "Let us make a world. We shall make the world from the body of Ymir and we shall put this world in the great gap so that the emptiness shall be filled."

That is what the three gods did. They took the flesh or Ymir and they spoke words of magic power, and the flesh of Ymir became the soft earth on which we tread. They took the bones of Ymir and by their magic words the bones became rocks and mountains and stones. They took the blood of Ymir, which was not like human blood but cold and colourless, and the blood of Ymir became the oceans and seas and the rivers and streams of the world. They took the hair that grew on Ymir and the hair became grass and flowers and trees — all the plants that grow on earth. Then they tool of skull of Ymir (it was an enormous skull) and by the magic power of the gods the skull was lifted high over the earth and it became the blue vault of the sky...

Now whilst the gods were busy making the world, some of the flesh of Ymir that had not been used up (there was such a lot of it) had gone bad and all kinds of little worms were crawling about in it.

The gods, Odin, Vili and Ve said, "We shall make use of the little things too," and they made them [the worms] into dwarfs... 

In the rotting flesh of Ymir there had also been beetles, little creatures with wings, and from these the gods made the fairies and elves....

— Charles Kovacs, NORSE MYTHOLOGY, pp. 15-16.

And here is an excerpt from Roy Wilkinson's THE NORSE STORIES AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE, Wilkinson Waldorf Curriculum Series (Rudolf Steiner College Press, 1998). This is Wilkinson's version of the myth telling how Odin became wise.

In order to help the people of Midgard, Odin sought to obtain wisdom, even if this meant hardship and sacrifice on his part.

One day he sought out Mimir and asked for a draught of water from his well but the Ancient One [Mimir] refused, saying that he alone, of all his race, might drink from it. Odin persisted and offered to pay any price for it. Never thinking that his visitor would agree, the Ancient One suggested an eye. Immediately Odin plucked out an eye and handed it over, receiving a horn of the precious liquid in exchange. He drank it and it gave him great wisdom, the knowledge of that wisdom that lives in the sound of speech.

The eye was placed at the bottom of the well. The water became more powerful and, in drinking it, Mimir's wisdom inscreased even more.

Another time Odin caused himself to be hung for nine days and nights in the high branches of Yggdrasil, the world tree. No one brought him food or water. He was pierced by a spear. He felt himself carried away into higher realms where he learned many secrets. He learned that the world and human beings were formed through the magic power of the divine word and that he himself could use the power of the word to heal, to quench fire, to thwart evil, and to calm stormy weather...

When the nine days were accomplished, Mimir released him....

— Roy Wilkinson, THE NORSE STORIES AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE, p. 25.

Kovacs and Wilkinson use fairly accessible language, and they slightly soften the horrors in the Norse narratives (Kovacs does not mention the tidal wave of Ymir's blood drowning almost everyone, and Wilkinson does not linger over Odin's sufferings). Still, their versions of the myths include gruesome and repellent details (Ymer's rotting flesh and the vermin infesting it; Odin plucking out his own eye, and being hung from a tree, and being pierced by a spear). The primary changes Kovacs and Wilkinson make is not so much to soften the myths, but to bend the myths in order to more clearly include traces of Rudolf Steiner's occult, gnostic teachings.

SUMMARY

To wrap up this brief survey of Norse myths and their use in Waldorf schools, I’ll offer thoughts about two special characters in the myths, Loki and Fenrir, and then I’ll recap what we’ve seen.

Loki betrays the gods and fights alongside their enemies in the ultimate battle, Götterdämmerung, Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods. Loki is a traitor to the gods, and indeed he had a hand in aggravating the giants’ enmity toward the gods. Yet Loki is not wholly wicked; he is not the arch-demon. In some myths, he uses his pranks to aid the gods, not to oppose them. He lives among the high gods, the Aesir, and he is accepted by them. He might be considered a sympathetic character, a victim of exogamy (father: a giant; mother: a god), divided and confused.

Loki is, in a sense, the most "human" of the gods — we can relate to him. Like us, he struggles with internal contradictions. Partly for this reason, he has great entertainment value — he gives the myths much of their snap. Among the students at my old Waldorf school, Loki was the most popular of all the mythic figures. Clever little Loki.

To quote the ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA about Loki: 

"Although his father was the giant Farbauti, he was included among the Aesir (a tribe of gods). Loki was represented as the companion of the great gods Odin and Thor, helping them with his clever plans but sometimes causing embarrassment and difficulty for them and himself. He also appeared as the enemy of the gods, entering their banquet uninvited and demanding their drink; he was the principal cause of the death of the god Balder. Loki was punished by being bound to a rock, thus in many ways resembling the Greek figures Prometheus and Tantalus. Loki created a female, Angerboda (Angrboda: 'Distress Bringer'), and produced three evil progeny: Hel, the goddess of death; Jormungand, the evil serpent surrounding the world; and Fenrir (Fenrisulfr), the wolf." [1]

So, Loki is a dangerous oddball, the author of much evil, yet not himself wholly evil. His progeny are a different story. Hel, goddess of the dead, presides over Niflheim, the land of darkness, from which a Stygian army will emerge to assail the gods. Jörmungand the serpent is the specific foe of Thor, the champion of the gods; as antithesis of Thor, Jörmungand is an unrelieved emblem of evil, enclosing the world in his grip, seeking to sever it from the gods' influence.

Both Hel and Jörmungand are unpardonably evil. But worst of all is Fenrir, the Hell-wolf. He will cause the gods to die at Ragnarök. Fenrir is evil through and through, so much so that the gods bind him to a rock (much as, in some myths, they bind Loki). The gods fear Fenrir. He is enormously powerful and baleful. And, because the future is partially known to the gods, they foresee that Fenrir will eat Odin All-Father, highest of the Aesir, at Ragnarök.

Fenrir’s parentage is portentous. In some versions of the myths, Loki begot Fenrir on his own daughter, Angerboda. Thus, Fenrir is the product of exogamy (Loki’s mixed parentage) and its extreme opposite, incest. But in other tellings, Angerboda is identified simply as a giant. So, if we take Loki as occupying a special racial category of his own (half-god, half-giant), then his union with Angerboda is exogamy, and Fenrir is the product of double exogamy. The meaning a racist would find in this is clear.

Fenrir is the most awful of all the gods’ enemies. To immobilize him, the gods fashion a special chain made of the beard of a woman, the sound of a cat’s footstep, and the breath of a fish. Near-impossibilities are magically contrived to produce a nearly unbreakable bond. But when the End of All Things approaches, Fenrir will break his chain and charge upon the gods. His fury will make the gods mortal; in the face of his fury, the worlds will shatter and fall.

According to some tellings, after devouring Odin All-Father, Fenrir will also devour the Sun. Anthroposophists stretching to find gnostic Christian meaning in the myths may take this to indicate that Fenrir devours both God the Father and God the Son. [2] However, there is no Biblical basis for such a reading, and in the myths themselves Fenrir — like virtually every other being and thing — is destroyed at the Battle at the End of All Things. Also, in Anthroposophy, God the Father (or God as the One True God) can be seen as a distant evolutionary goal, not the Creator as such. [3]

To summarize: Norse myths are given prominence in Waldorf schools because they reflect Anthroposophy in dramatic, entertaining form. A child who is repeatedly exposed to these tales becomes familiarized with concepts central to Steiner’s occult doctrines — s/he is nudged in the direction Anthroposophy and away from such monotheistic faiths as mainstream Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Elements that Norse myths share with Anthroposophy include:

◊ polytheism — legions of gods

◊ immaterial beings aside from the gods themselves (e.g., dwarfs, giants)

◊ contending bands of gods (in a manner of speaking, good gods and bad gods)

◊ gods who are imperfect, who may need to evolve or to be replaced

◊ a hierarchy of states of consciousness (Odin’s quest)

◊ a hierarchy of being (the world of the dwarfs is below the world of men; above the world of men is the world of the old gods; above the world of the old gods is the world of the new gods)

◊ evolution or progressive alteration (the old world of men will be replaced by a new world of men; the old gods and their world will be replaced by the new gods and their world)

◊ a creation story without a Creator [4]

◊ a Christlike god who dies but is reborn (Baldur, god of the dying spring, returns with each new spring; in Anthroposophy, Christ is the Sun God, crucified on Earth)

◊ an apocalypse that paves the way not for the Kingdom of God but for a new human realm under a new heaven

◊ the primacy of mankind (in the myths, the first man is born before the first gods; in Anthroposophy, humans are the original life form in the succession of incarnations of the solar system)

◊ celebration of Aryan qualities (in the myths, the first man is blond and the guardian of the spirit realm is the whitest god; in Anthroposophy, white Aryans are the most advanced race)

◊ a central search for gnostic or occult wisdom, e.g., the mystic runes (celestial script, Akashic Record)

◊ association of art with spiritual contact (Odin reaches his highest attainment when he drinks the Mead of Poetry)

◊ derogation of commerce and its gods (the Wanes or the Vanir)

◊ dead humans who are still active, still able to be contacted

◊ a duality of forces hostile to mankind (in the myths, denizens of the land of fire and the land of fog; in Anthroposophy, chiefly, Ahriman and Lucifer, and their demonic hoards)

◊ the production of good out of evil (the destruction of everything at Ragnarök eventually yields to a new, higher reality)

◊ magic, sorcery

◊ evil souls in animal form (wolf, serpent; in Anthroposophy, the animal forms of the "evil race")

◊ divination, knowledge of the future

◊ [fill in the blank — I have undoubtedly missed some parallels between the myths and Steiner's doctrines]

Some of the features I've listed can be found in other mythologies and even in orthodox religions. But the point, here, is to understand why Waldorf schools embrace Norse myths so strongly. The answer is that Steiner embraced them, and his doctrines are generally crafted to conform to them. In sum, when Waldorf schools teach kids Norse myths, they are teaching them Anthroposophy-lite.

—Roger Rawlings 

◊

Footnotes for this Summary

[1] "Loki." ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, Online, 12 May. 2009.

[2] Steiner associated Odin with God the Father. Thus, for instance, one version of the Lord's Prayer recognized by Anthroposophists addresses "All-Father of Humanity":

Likewise, as we saw above, in Anthroposophy Christ is the Sun God.

[3] Steiner asserted:

“[W]e shall have gradually achieved the transformation of our own being into what is called in Christianity ‘the Father.’” — Rudolf Steiner, THE LORD’S PRAYER (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2007), p. 17.

Creation arises, directly or indirectly, from the Godhead, which is distinct from the Father. To the extent that Anthroposophy recognizes a Creator, it is a nebulous creating spirit. [See "All".] Thus, Waldorf students are often directed to pray to the "Creator Spirit."

[4] Anthroposophy rejects the Biblical account of Creation. There is no One and Only God who created the universe. However, Anthroposophy recognizes the Godhead — a rather amorphous creative force, and within it the Christ being (the logos, the Word) — the divinity that later became the Sun God — may be deemed the chief creative impulse. [See "God".]