The Sacred Mead & The Moon-Ship

There are discrepancies in the story of the figure of Kvasir but, ignoring these for now, he was said to have been created by the AEsir & Vanir-Gods to seal the peace between them after the Great War of the Gods. He was created when the two God-Clans chewed on berries and mixed their spittle together to form this God of Wisdom, the wisest amongst the Gods. The tale goes on to tell how two Dwarves, Fjalar ('Deceiver') and Galar ('Screamer') slew Kvasir and drained his blood into Three Cauldrons. The two then brewed the Sacred Mead by mixing Kvasir's Blood with Honey, this becoming the Mead of Poetry. The Norwegian kvase and the Russian kvas both mean a 'fermented berry juice'. There has been a great deal of controversy over the power of the mead and if it had been laced with some form of hallucinogen. That the origins of this drink came from 'berries' and that later the honey was added seems to suggest that another ingredient made up the 'Mead of Poetry'. But we should always remember that the use of hallucinogens (a-l-u) was a later method which came about when the natural powers of the mind were lost due to the movement of time - the Cycle of the Ages. 

The Myth of Kvasir seems to be yet another version of the 'Giants' who steal the Sacred Mead and hide it away from the Gods and the Arya. But here these beings are seen as 'Dwarves' rather than the Joten. From the works of Viktor Rydberg we find that the Mead of Inspiration is hidden in Jotenheim and there hoarded by the Joten for themselves, this being a typical Aryan Myth where the Dark Powers hoard the 'treasure' for themselves even though they cannot use it themselves - just like Fafnir and the Dragon's Hoard. In the latter the Aryan Hero (Sigurd) has to slay the Dragon and retrieve the Gold-Hoard. 

In Norse Mythology the Mead of Poetry is thus said to be hidden in Jotenheim, hoarded by the Joten for themselves. It seems that a Joten named Vidfinnr a son named Hyuki and that as a child Hyuki and a maid called Bil came to the Fountain of Byrgir carrying a pail called Saegr on a pole named Simul (or in a variant Sumul, from suml meaning 'brewing', 'ale' or 'mead) and the two filled the pail with the Mead and carried it off during the hours of darkness. The children take off with the Mead but are then taken by Mani, the Moon-God, and they remain with him with the Sacred Mead. It seems that Mani adopted the children as his own. The daughter of Mani is Nanna - the Moon-Dis - and we find that Mani's Ship bears the Sacred Mead. 

Most of us, except perhaps the young of today who are not taught the old 'Children's Tales' will know this ancient Norse Myth in the form of 'Jack and Jill' -

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water;

Jack fell down and broke his crown,

And Jill came tumbling after.'

This 'Jack' is Hyuki and 'Jill' is Bil; Hyuki can be found in our own English Lore in Beowulf as Hoce. In this tale Mani robs Vidfinnr (Hyuki's father) of the Sacred Mead. We have to remember that the Moon in Teutonic Lore is male (Mani) whilst the Sun is female (Sunna); but we also have the Moon-Dis (Nanna) and the Sun-God (Baeldaeg). Mani is the 'Man-in-the-Moon' who carries a lantern and 'Bundles of Thorns' on his back. He is Lord of the Heiptir who are a kind of Erinnyes and he keeps the Limar which are the 'Bundles of Thorns' which these are armed with, so he is also named Eylimi. Another name for Mani is Nokve or Nokkvi whose name means 'ship's captain'. In the Rig Veda we find the following -

'By shedding a constant and profuse stream of nectar resembling the silvery beam of the Moon'.

Honey is a golden liquid, but here we see also a link to the Moon in both the Rig Veda and the Eddas. It is said that Woden drinks from the Moon-Ship which is called Sokkvabekkr - "The Setting or Sinking Ship'. It is Bil who distributes the Sacred Mead of Inspiration, and Rydberg equates Bil with the Goddess Idunn. He also sees the alternative name of Bifrost, Bilfrost, as being 'Bil's Way' (thus Idunn's Way) and being the Milky Way; he also sees Hyuki (Gyuki) as being Iring, and thus the Milky Way is also called 'Iring's Way'. Both in the Norse Myths and the Vedas the Mead of Inspiration was hidden in the Moon-Ship. In Odin's Raven Galdr we find Idunn and Nanna to be different names for the same Dis-Goddess. The name 'Nanna' means 'The Brave One' and this is a common term for 'grandmother' in England. 

We have also the account of the Sacred Mead which is guarded by another 'Giant' (Suttung) in the 'Clashing Mountain'. I have gone into this so many times it is not necessary to do so again, but here Woden retrieves the Mead of Inspiration in the Three Cauldrons once more. He does so by using a Tantric Rite with Gunnlod as his 'wife', sleeping with her for three nights. 

We have to recall that this 'Golden Nectar', 'Amrita', 'Ambrosia' or 'Nectar of the Gods' refers at a higher level to the honey-taste associated with the chemicals which drain down the throat as a higher state of consciousness is reached. To reach this higher state of consciousness (SWAR in the Vedas, SCANDI in English Lore) it is necessary to hone the power of intuition, long associated with the Moon. 

The figure of a man bearing a water-pitcher and pouring the contents upon the Earth is found in the symbol of Aquarius, the age which we are now passing into. In Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot for The Star we find a woman pouring out some form of 'water' or 'energy' onto the Earth, suggesting a link to Bil the Dis 'pouring' the Sacred Mead (Intuition - Poetic Wisdom) onto the Earth in the Age of Aquarius. Is this why there is today a larger number of people beginning to become more spiritually aware, even with a far larger number falling further and further into gross materialism? 

When I was considering the 'pail of water' associated with this myth, and thus with the Mead of Inspiration the thought suddenly came into mind of a piece that I was reading yesterday concerning the Seven Sages who are so often depicted as carrying a 'handbag', but which looks in many cases to be more like a 'pail' for carrying water. 

This symbolism is found in the Near East and also lately in the excavations at Gobleki Tepi (Armenian but now in Turkey). It is thus found in all places where the Seven Sages appear after a Great Flood; they bring with them the Hidden Knowledge needed to rebuild the broken civilisations of the world. It was the Seven Rishis or Angiras Rishis who set down the Vedas; they were 'seers' and thus they did so through divine inspiration by reaching the highest realm of consciousness. Do these 'pails' which they all carry represent the Mead of Inspiration that they partake of in order to receive such knowledge, and to pass that knowledge to others in order to recreate a fallen world? They seem to be clearly linked to water and water has always been linked to the Moon. 

Considering the link between Bil and Idunn made by Rydberg, he states that in Haustlaung Idunn is called Byrgis ar-Gefn meaning 'Byrger's harvest-giving (dis)'. Clearly here Idunn is the 'Gift-Goddess' who gives out the Mead of Inspiration, as well as holding the Golden Apples of Regeneration. 

Originally the Sacred Mead belonged to Mimir alone; it is held in the Well of Mimir and the middle-root of the World Tree is watered by it. But the Sacred Mead found in Jotenheim at the Fountain of Byrgis seems to have been the 'Pure Mead' (according to Rydberg) and this is said to have been kept secret by Ivalde, the father of Idunn. When the Moon-God takes this from Hyuki and Bil the father, Ivalde-Vidfinnr, is angered and then slays and burns the Moon-God (Mani-Gevar), recaptures the mead and takes it to Suttung where it is held amongst the Fire-Giants. From there Woden steals the mead once more and takes it back to Asgard. This seems to be a logical tale recovered by Rydberg for us. It seems that just as Mani took the two children of Ivalde, Ivalde took the daughter of Mani, the Moon-Dis, and she bore him Idunn who is a disir of regeneration and growth. 

In considering Rydberg's Teutonic Mythology it is wise to bear in mind that when he sees mythological figures as being the same but with different names we should also consider that these figures may have been similar archetypes which appear at different times but which are based upon an Ur-Type, hence why I see 'Hengest' ('Ghost of Ing') as being a similar archetype as Ingwe, or a later incarnation of Ingwe. Whereas Rydberg sees everything in terms of ancient myth, I prefer to look at this in terms of archetypal myth where similarities are due to these being later 'versions' of the Ur-Myths that form historical events.

This was to be the end of this post until I remembered that I had done a piece some years ago (1993 to be exact) about this subject. After finding the article concerned this later section takes pieces from it which are relevant to the ideas above. 

An old Yorkshire Rhyme - 

Moon penny bright as silver

Come and play with little children.

This actually sounds like some form of invocation.

An old rhyme associated with the Sun and the Moon -

The Lion and the Unicorn

Were fighting for the crown;

The Lion beat the Unicorn

All around the town.

Here the 'Lion' is the Sun and the 'Unicorn ' the Moon; of course, the Lion does not actually defeat the Unicorn since it rules by day and the Unicorn rules by night, as this old Tibetan texts states -

Lion (Sun) wins at dawn and reigns all day,

Unicorn (Moon) wins at dusk and rules all night.

The Unicorn is a White Horse with one twisted horn in its forehead, seemingly obviously representing the 'Mind's Eye' or 'Third Eye'. There is an interesting piece written in this old article, one that I had completely forgotten about -

'The horn of the Unicorn is the 'Allcorn' (made from 'Alicorn' (*)) which may well be the Alu-Horn which is the Draught of Inspiration from the Moon. ALU is a potent magical runic formula which is the intoxicating drink...'

There is yet another rhyme, originating in Germany, here associated with the idea of the 'Man in the Moon' -

The Man in the Moon was caught in a trap,

For stealing thorns from another man's gap;

If he had gone by, and let the thorns lie,

He'd never have been the Man in the Moon so high.

In Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream there is a reference to the 'Man in the Moon' carrying thorns and a lantern. A curious seal in the Public Records Office in Chancery Lane, London, shows a man bearing sticks with a dog at his side, and they are on the Moon. An inscription reads -

'I will teach thee, Walter, why I carry thorns in the Moon.'

Another rhyme gives the same information -

See the rustic in the Moon,

How his bundle weighs him down;

Thus his sticks the truth reveal,

It never profits man to steal.

And again -

The man o' the moon, here's to him;

How few there be that know him!

But we'll drink to him still

In a merry cup of ale.

The man o' the moon, here's to him!

There is yet another verse from Yorkshire which is even more interesting and enlightening -

The Moon shines bright

The stars give light,

And little Nanny Button-Cup

Will come tomorrow night.

Here we have a dim remembrance of Nanna, the wife of the Sun-God, Baeldaeg; and she is clearly a Moon-Goddess or Moon-Dis. There is another old nursery rhyme which was mentioned by the editor at the time I wrote this article -

There was an old woman

Tossed up in a basket,

Seventeen times as high as the Moon.

Where she was going

I could not but ask it,

For in her hand she carried a broom.

'Old Woman, old woman, old woman!'

Said I,

'Where are you going, there so high?'

'To sweep the cobwebs

Out of the sky.'

'May I come with you?'

'Yes, bye and bye.'

The suggestion by the editor was that this referred to Ostara (Eostra) in her aspect of the Goddess of Spring and Rebirth.

THE SEVEN SAGES -

The figure shown here is that of one of the "Apkallu' or 'Seven Sages' from the Mesopotamia area of the Fertile Crescent. This bearded figure is shown holding a 'pail', he has 'wings' and he stands in a stance very similar to the Ac-Rune or 'Rune of the Oak'. These seven bearded white men (which they invariably are) seem to appear after a Great Flood, bringing civilisation to the areas of the world where more 'primitive' people live. These figures are very much like Quetzalcoatl, Kukulkan, Wotan and other bearded white men who appeared in Central and South America after a Great Flood. 

These men have 'magical' powers and can produce 'miracles', i.e. that had advanced spiritual and mental powers that could perform things that the normal people could not. Sometimes they were welcomed and sometimes they were attacked by the indigenous peoples. They seem to be linked to the 'Giants' mentioned in the Old Testament who were seen as 'men of renown' and who could also do super-human things. These are also the 'Watchers' mentioned in the Book of Enoch, but here we should be beware since this book has upturned completely the memory of these 'Giant's' and demonised them. They were said to have brought astrology, metal-smithing, herbal arts, healing arts, weapon-making, and other arts of a high civilisation. The Book of Enoch runs counter to the other references to these and blames them for the Great Flood, even though it seems there is rather confusion as to whether they were split into two groups, one good and one bad. Nevertheless, the Book of Enoch sees these in a bad light overall which runs counter to every other account we have from ancient times.

Some decades ago, as these things started to come to light, a clear attempt was made to hide the truth from mankind. Zechariah Sitchin and Erik von Daniken started to push the idea that these ancient civilisations were created by the hands of 'extra-terrestrials', and not civilisations created by a higher mankind. A dearth of other works followed from this and what was clearly obvious turned into 'science fiction' and once more the truth was distorted and hidden from the eyes of man. Luckily more level-headed 'speculative writers' followed and studied this in the light of ancient earthly civilisations. 

We can see from the Seven Rishis or Seven Angirases who set down the Vedas as 'seers' of the Primal Truth; they have access to these 'higher worlds' in order to set down the Ur-Laws. Since we find, according to Sri Aurobindo, that they clearly saw the Eternal Struggle between the Aryan Gods - Arya and the Dasyus - Asuras as being central to their world-view, it seems likely that these things were recorded through word of mouth and then written down after the Great Catastrophe. Things would certainly have been changing rapidly, the Kali Yuga or Dark Age setting in at the time it would seem. It was necessary to ensure that the Ancient Wisdom was not lost, but it was also necessary that mankind be aware of the Cosmic Struggle that was at that time hastening rapidly.

(*) The Horn of the mythical Unicorn is said to be made from 'alicorn' which has magical and medicinal properties. 'Corn' is rendered into the Teutonic Tongue by 'horn', thus 'Ali-Horn', here linked to 'Alu-Horn' and to the ALU-ULA Formula. 

Note - 'Mani' is the Norse 'Moon-God' who would be called Mona by the English since the name is Old English for the 'moon'. As an aside here this is interesting since the Roman name for Anglesey ('Angles Island') was Mona which it seems the Welsh turned into their name for the island today - Mon. As far as I know the word lune and thence lunar stem from the Latin into French and would seem the more obvious to use by the Romans, rather than a name clearly linked to Old English. The name 'Mon' is far too obviously linked to the old name 'Mona' to be a coincidence. It is clearly linked to the Germanic name 'moon', and may well be sounded thus. From this it is possible that the 'Roman' name was in fact Old English in its origins, especially when we consider that the Tegeingl dwelt in Anglesey-Mona. This is thus the Island of the Moon, named after the English Moon-God.