Monday, January 21, 2013
OGDENSBURG IS CANADIAN "OUTLIER" LAND (100 year lease to U.S.A.)
OGDENSBURG IS CANADIAN
"OUTLIER" LAND
(100 year lease to U.S.A.)
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
END OF AN ERA
END OF AN ERA
Ragnarok
by Micha F. Lindemans
Ragnarok ("Doom of the Gods"), also called
Gotterdammerung, means the end of the cosmos in Norse mythology. It will be
preceded by Fimbulvetr, the winter of winters. Three such winters will follow
each other with no summers in between. Conflicts and feuds will break out, even
between families, and all morality will disappear. This is the beginning of the
end.
The wolf Skoll will finally devour the sun, and his brother Hati will eat
the moon, plunging the earth [into] darkness. The stars will vanish from the
sky. The cock Fjalar will crow to the giants and the golden cock Gullinkambi
will crow to the gods. A third cock will raise the dead.
The earth will shudder with earthquakes, and every bond and fetter will
burst, freeing the terrible wolf Fenrir. The sea will
rear up because Jormungand,
the Midgard Serpent, is twisting and writhing in fury as he makes his way
toward the land. With every breath, Jormungand will stain the soil and the sky
with his poison. The waves caused by the serpent's emerging will set free the
ship Naglfar, and with the giant Hymir as their
commander, the giants will sail towards the battlefield. From the realm of the
dead a second ship will set sail, and this ship carries the inhabitants of
hell, with Loki as
their helmsman. The fire giants, led by the giant Surt, will leave Muspell in the south
to join against the gods. Surt, carrying a sword that blazes like the sun
itself, will scorch the earth.
Meanwhile, Heimdall
will sound his horn, calling the sons of Odin and the heroes to
the battlefield. From all the corners of the world, gods, giants, dwarves,
demons and elves will ride towards the huge plain of Vigrid ("battle
shaker") where the last battle will be fought. Odin will engage Fenrir in
battle, and Thor
will attack Jormungand. Thor will victorious, but the serpent's poison will
gradually kill the god of thunder. Surt will seek out the swordless Freyr, who will
quickly succumb to the giant. The one-handed Tyr will fight the
monstrous hound Garm
and they will kill each other. Loki and Heimdall, age-old enemies, will meet
for a final time, and neither will survive their encounter. The fight between
Odin and Fenrir will rage for a long time, but finally Fenrir will seize Odin
and swallow him. Odin's son Vidar will at once
leap towards the wolf and kill him with his bare hands, ripping the wolf's jaws
apart.
Then Surt will fling fire in every direction. The nine worlds will burn, and
friends and foes alike will perish. The earth will sink into the sea.
After the destruction, a new and idyllic world will arise from the sea and
will be filled with abundant supplies. Some of the gods will survive, others
will be reborn. Wickedness and misery will no longer exist and gods and men
will live happily together. The descendants of Lif and
Lifthrasir will inhabit this earth.
Ragnarök does not mean "Twilight of the Gods"; that phrase is the
result of a famous mistranslation. "Ragnarökr" or
"Ragnarøkr" means "doom of the powers" or "destruction
of the powers" (where "powers" means "gods").
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