Winifred Hodge Rose
Among the things I love most about the Heathen world-view are the many ‘mysteries’ I see in the imagery, the myths, the poetry and art. The more I look for them, the more I find, and the deeper each of the mysteries appears. I explore these mysteries through my tales and essays, my poetry and songs, the selection of illustrations for my books, my runework and spaework, my devotions. The mysteries motivate my research and studies, including my interest in reading the old Germanic languages and pondering the meanings of ancient words. Here I’ll describe another of these mysteries and my thoughts about it. I offer it as yet another path to be explored to see where it can lead! I already have some inklings….
Vafrloge
In Heathen lore, there are mentions of a mysterious phenomenon called vafrloge or ‘flickering, wavering flames.’ (Pronounced ‘VAH-fur-low-geh, with a hard ‘g’.) These flames are far from ordinary; they are described as ‘dark,’ ‘knowing,’ ‘wise,’ and they serve as gatekeepers and warders of otherworldly locations.
They flicker over the burial places of the dead and their treasure-hoards, warding them from casual intrusion and theft. The ‘Waking of Angantyr’ from Hervör’s saga vividly features these flames (this poem is included in Larrington’s translation of the Poetic Edda). The whole island where Hervör’s berserker father and his eleven brothers are buried is surrounded by flames; so are each of the burial howes of the dead, where they stand as shadows before the fires. Hervör is able to walk through these guardian-flames as though they are smoke, due to her courage and her relationship to the dead. She is seeking the cursed sword Tyrfing, which lies there with the dead, again surrounded by the eerie fire though the flame dies down for her when she goes to take it. Her father says she is the ‘only girl on earth’ who would dare to do that.
Vafrloge guard the magical sleep of the Valkyrie Sigrdrifa / Brunnhilde, keeping out all unworthy suitors. Sigrdrifa had begged a boon of Odin: that only the bravest of men could awaken her from the sleep that was Odin’s punishment for her choice of the slain. When Gunnar tries to ride through the flames to win Sigrdrifa, he is unable to do so. Only brave Sigurd and his horse Grani, descendant of Sleipnir, could cross those ‘wise and knowing flames.’ (“The Lay of Fafnir” verses 42-44, and the introduction to the “Lay of Sigrdrifa” in the Poetic Edda.) Clearly, these flames know whom to keep out, and whom to allow in to Sigrdrifa’s mountain hall. The poem says that this fire was ‘made by wise men’ out of ‘radiant river-light,’ a kenning for gold (Fafnir vs. 42).
Vafrloge burn around Menglöd’s beautiful otherworldly courts, where she sits with her maidens under the magical tree of healing, Mimameiðr. When Svipdag arrives there to win her hand, he asks about her hall that is encompassed by ‘knowing, flickering flame’ (“The Lay of Svipdag” vs. 31, Poetic Edda), and he describes her courts as ‘glowing’ (vs. 5), like the ‘radiant river-light’ of Sigrdrifa’s mountain hall. Only when Svipdag’s identity is revealed as the one foretold to win Menglöd’s love, is he allowed through the protections of the burg.
Frey sees the giantess Gerda from across the Worlds when he sits on Odin’s far-seeing seat, Hlidskalf. He falls into love-sickness, thinking he cannot wed her. His friend and servant Skirnir offers to go to Gerda, but asks for Frey’s horse to carry him through the ‘knowing, dark, flickering flame’ that burns around the burg of Gerda and her parents Gymir and Aurboda (“The Lay of Skirnir” vs. 8-9, Poetic Edda).
These are just a few among many examples of the eerie fire, which appears also in fairy tales and folktales. These ‘wise flames’ are protective, perhaps even hallowing, when they burn around the dead and their treasures, and around the places where otherworldly women with sacred powers live. The flames are daunting and dangerous, but can also be lovely and mysterious. What is the nature of these flames? Where do they come from, how do they arise? I’ve been curious about them ever since I read of them; this imagery of the vafrloge has captured my imagination!
I was very intrigued when I read the Swedish scholar Viktor Rydberg’s interpretation of their nature, although he has focused more on their deadly nature than their beauty. Here I’ll copy an extensive description of the nature, source, and purpose of the vafrloge from Rydberg’s perspective. He begins with the account of Odin being chased by the shapeshifting giant Thjazi or Thjasse when they flew in the forms of eagles across the walls of Asgard. Odin flew safely across, while Thjazi burned to death. (see Skaldskarpamal p. 60, in the prose Edda). Here is Rydberg’s description.
Outside of the very high Asgard cordon and around it there flows a rapid river, the moat of the citadel. Over the eddies of the stream floats a dark, shining, ignitable mist. If it is kindled it explodes in flames, whose bickering tongues strike their foes with unerring certainty. It is the vafrloge, “the bickering flame,” “the quick-fire,” celebrated in ancient songs—vafrlogi, vafreydi, skjótbrinni. It was this fire which the gods kindled around Asgard when they saw Thjasse approaching in eagle guise. In it their irreconcilable foe burnt his pinions and fell to the ground. “Haustlong,” Thjodolf’s poem, says that when Thjasse approached the citadel of the gods “the gods raised the quick fire and sharpened their javelins”—Hófu skjót; en skjófu sköpt; ginnregin brinna. The “quick fire,” skjót-brinni, is the vaferloge. (p. 239)
The material of which this ignitable mist consists is called “black-terror-gleam.” It is or odauccom; that is to say, ofdauccom ognar ljoma (Fafnirsmal 40). (cp. myrkvan vafrloge—Skirnismal 8,9; Fjolvinsmal 31). It is said to be “wise,” which implies that it consciously aims at him for whose destruction it is kindled. (p. 239)
How a water could be conceived that evaporates a dark, ignitable mist we find explained in Thorsdrapa. The thunder-storm is the “storm of the vaferfire,” and Thor is the “ruler of the chariot of the vaferfire-storm” (vafr-eyda hreggs húfstjóri). Thus the thunder-cloud contains the water that evaporates a dark material for lightning. The dark metallic colour which is peculiar to the thunder-cloud was regarded as coming from that very material which is the “black-terror-gleam” of which lightning is formed.
When Thor splits the clouds he separates the two component parts, the water and the vafermist; the former falls down as rain, the latter is ignited and rushes away in quick, bickering, zigzag flames—the vaferfires. …They do not proceed blindly, but know their mark and never miss it. (pp. 239-240)
The river that foams around Asgard thus has its source in the thunder-clouds; not as we find them after they have been split by Thor, but such as they are originally, swollen with a celestial water that evaporates vafermist. All waters—subterranean, terrestrial, and celestial—have their source in that great subterranean fountain Hvergelmir. Thence they come and thither they return (Grimnismal 26). Hvergelmir’s waters are sucked up by the northern root of the world-tree; they rise through its trunk, spread into its branches and leaves, and evaporate from its crown into a water-tank situated on the top of Asgard, Eikthyrnir, in Grimnismal 26 symbolized as a “stag” who stands on the roof of Odin’s hall and out of whose horns the waters stream down into Hvergelmer. Eikthyrnir is the great celestial water-tank which gathers and lets out the thunder-cloud. In this tank the Asgard river has its source, and hence it consists not only of foaming water but also of ignitable vafermists. In its capacity of discharger of the thunder-cloud, the tank is called Eikthyrnir, the oak-stinger. (p. 240-241)
I find this a fascinating description, and I like to meditate on the imagery of this circulation of water-mist-fire-thunder-lightning power spreading out through the Worlds. I do, however, prefer the traditional symbol of the stag as opposed to the much less poetic imagery of the water-tank on top of Valhalla! The stag’s antlers are shaped like branching lightning, and I envision that the vafer-mist condenses on Eikthyrnir’s, oak-stinger’s, antlers and drips down from there through the Worlds and back into its source in Hvergelmir. This imagery parallels the image of dew dripping from the World-Tree into the Well; the stag’s antlers mimic not only lightning-bolts but also tree branches.
Attuning to the Hidden Fire
I see the Hidden Fire that surrounds the dead, the treasures of the dead, and sacred places as one form of the vafrloge, the ‘wise, dark, knowing flame.’ Another form of it is the vafrloge that Thor can extract from thunderclouds with his lightning, his oak-stinger, and bring down to protect Asgard and to fight the Jotnar. Another form of it circulates through the waters—subterranean, terrestrial, and celestial, as Rydberg describes—and imparts life and power to the Worlds. All of these forms of vafrloge are aspects of the Hidden Fire, in my view.
Whenever I begin learning about some of the mysterious phenomena in Heathen belief, I want to learn about it theoretically, but also put this knowledge into practical terms somehow, which helps me understand it better. It’s a recursive or circular process: learn, practice, learn from the practice, increase theoretical knowledge, use the increased knowledge to shape a more refined practice, and so on. Runes can be a great help in this process. For a more concrete understanding of the hidden fire that circulates through the Worlds, I turn to two runes: Eihwaz and Kenaz, each of them with its own connection to mysterious fire.
The Eihwaz Rune
The Old English rune poem for the Eihwaz / Eoh / Yew says this:
The Yew has rough bark,
Holds firmly to the earth,
Warder of the Fire
Upheld by its roots,
Wynn (gladness) on the estate.
The Eihwaz, Eoh, or Yew rune is considered by modern Heathens to represent life, death, and rebirth, and to extend as the World-Tree Yggdrasil between the overworlds and underworlds, with Midgard in the middle. Some of us believe it represents the magical staff of esoteric workers such as the Seer/ess, and it also represents protection in the form of a longbow made of Yew.
The Yew is the ‘Warder / Herder / Keeper (hierde in Anglo-Saxon) of the Fire,’ according to this rune poem. The fire which Eihwaz wards and keeps is, I believe, the vafrloge, the Hidden Fire I described above: the mysterious fire that circulates between the Worlds, guards their boundaries and wards their shining mysteries.
This fire is hidden within the roots of the worlds and sustains them, as the fire of life sustains each of us. It is contained in potential form within otherworldly waters and mists, and is drawn in this form into the roots of the Yew and the World-Tree. There it is stored, ready to nourish the fire of life which bursts out through trees and all the other life-forms of the Worlds. This fire, as we have seen, can be used to defend and destroy, to hallow and sanctify, to hide and sequester, to separate the worthy from the unworthy in whatever forms those might take.
This, I believe, is the power inherent in the Yew rune, Eihwaz, the Keeper of the Fire. When it is rightly used to support life and wellbeing, it brings wynn, the joy and gladness of the Wynn or Wunjo rune. The right use of Eihwaz’s secret powers and knowledge can ‘bring joy to our estate,’ to the unique life-time-space that each of us occupies here in our world of Midgard.
The Kenaz Rune
The Anglo-Saxon rune poem for Kenaz tells us:
Ken (torch), known by every living thing, pale and bright,
Burns most often there where æthelings (nobles) rest within.
The first impression one has from this rune poem is of torches burning to illuminate a feasting-hall where nobles are gathered within, enjoying the healldream, the joys of the hall with good companionship, food, drink, and performances of songs and poetry. This is the ‘top layer,’ so to speak, of the rune poem. But there are other clues which lead us deeper.
The fire or light that is ‘known by every living thing’ I interpret as the aura or energy of life that is indeed emitted by every living thing. In fact, I’ve been reading in the news lately that many animals actually fluoresce when viewed by black-light, with platypuses, bats, and many others showing vivid colors such as magenta, blue, and green. Insects and some birds are able to see ultraviolet light emitted from plants and other insects. The life-force within each of us can be perceived in different ways, including subconscious perceptions. Modern humans may be among the beings least aware of this aura of life, but it is there nevertheless, and on some level it is ‘known by every living thing.’
In some respects this light of the life-force burns brightest during gestation of any being, human or animal: a time when the life-force, during a brief amount of time, creates a whole new being out of a tiny fertilized egg. This is another resonance of the nobles resting within the feasting-hall, which is here the sheltering womb where the new being is given all the nourishment it needs to grow and develop within its own ‘feasting hall.’ The combined life-force light given off by life-giving mother and gestating baby together is the brightest of all: pale and bright, known by all living things.
I see this Kenaz-light as another strand of the Hidden Fire. Vafrloge wards the otherworldly realms and the places of the dead. The Kenaz torch lights the beings who are transitioning from one realm to another: from Elsewhere into Midgard through the womb of life. It illuminates all of us who are living in Midgard, and when we die the flame of Kenaz forms our spiritual balefire, the light that shows our souls their way to the Otherworlds.
Runic Channels of the Hidden Fire
These two runes describe the circulation of the Hidden Fire through the Worlds. The Eihwaz rune is like a hook which links the Worlds together as the World-Tree does. It is the Keeper of the Fire, and the vafrloge flames run up and down its length in hidden channels, from the bottom to the top of Yggdrasil, and back. In the process Eihwaz circulates the Hidden Fire through Midgard where, in turn, Kenaz picks it up and circulates it through living beings. When each being dies, Kenaz lights its soul’s way into the other Worlds, and accompanies it there…and back again, if the being is reborn. Thus Eihwaz and Kenaz support the circulation of the vafrloge flames throughout the Worlds.
The Hidden Fire is beautiful, perilous, life-sustaining, illuminating, mysterious. The Torch-rune, Kenaz, lights our way and expresses the Hidden Fire within our own life-force and our own souls. The Yew-rune Eihwaz, which keeps and wards this fire, is our walking staff and our magic wand or gandr: a firm support and protection, a traveling companion for us as we wend our way through the Worlds, perhaps seeking more mysteries of the Hidden Fire as we wander. How might we use these runes and the mysteries behind them to deepen our experience of Heathen wights and ways? And how many more such mysteries lurk in the depths of the lore, waiting to be discovered by us today, luring us ever onward into the unknown?
[Note: This article is included in my book Wandering on Heathen Ways: Writings on Heathen Holy Ones, Wights, and Spiritual Practice.]
Book-Hoard
Larrington, Carolyne, transl. The Poetic Edda, revised edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014.
Rydberg, Viktor. Teutonic Mythology: Gods and Goddesses of the Northland, translated by Rasmus B. Anderson. Norroena Society, 1907.
Sturlason, Snorri. Edda. Transl. Anthony Faulkes. Everyman, Charles E. Tuttle, Vermont. 1995.
The rune-poem translations are my own.