Fenris: Embracing the Dark Side

I'm going to go into something that can be a bit controversial in the pagan community. There's a lot of talk about white magic and black magic. Those who are willing to go a bit beyond the harmless prayers for protection or health and delve into a more selfish pursuit of their own interests -- often at the expense of others -- are said to be "on the left-hand path". Now these assertions are more commonly associated with Wicca and with pseudo-Christian offshoots (ie Satanism -- yes indeed, kiddies; if you as a Christian recognize Satan as an entity, you too are a polytheist!), but there are still some funny looks one gets as a traditional pagan for letting the darker side of the myths in.

A few months ago, however, I had a bit of a personal epiphany that I should have had a long time ago, and that I'm sure I'm not the only one who has reached. I was re-reading the Eddas, in particular the Ragnarok myth, and reflecting on the nature of Fenris. Here we have an entity who is half-divine and gifted with tremendous strength, bound by unbreakable restraints for his entire existence, and destined to bring the end to the established order. Fenris' destiny is to kill Odin, the lord of the Aesir who spared the wolf's life and ensured that he would survive long enough to do so, and to be slain in the process by another. I began to ponder, as I often do, on the nature of the "end of the world" myths in general, and saw the pattern once again in Ragnarok as with the Mayan and native-American traditions; the end is only temporary, as a new beginning will come soon after.

Yes, Fenris is indeed a grim entity. This dark force is necessary, however, to stimulate change. Without Fenris, the events of Ragnarok would ultimately leave the status-quo, with Odin remaining at the vanguard of the Aesir -- there would be no end-of-days, only a tragic rebuilding of the old world. However, I began to look upon society as a whole today. As the corruption flows through society, can one deny that we need a Fenris-aspect to bring about a change in the modern age? Obviously, I don't view it as a scenario where Odin would be the one to fall before the fangs; my more eclectic pagan view includes a healthy amount of respect for all world religions, if not for the churches associated with them. The simple reality is that the gods and goddesses of the old traditions are no longer a representative of the status-quo; the old ways are no longer insular, as we are no longer broken into regional tribes, but rather united as a global community. Indeed, a Fenris-aspect in modern times would suggest that it would be the fall of something more universally dominant. Be it the fall of overly-aggressive capitalism, socially confining class warfare, the subversive presence of the Christian church seeking to overwhelm American society, or any number of other corrupting influences, a change does indeed feel imminent.

I'm proud to add Fenris as one of my patron entities. I've gained a great deal of respect for him as a divine force, despite his opposition to Odin, and in some ways, I would say that I've grown to identify more with Fenris than any other at this point. Perhaps that is a factor of my own desire for change in recent months, but the wolf in unbreakable bonds should not be feared as he once was. The same goes for other seemingly sinister forces; names like Loki, Balor, Hades, Apep -- and yes, even Lucifer -- are not necessarily the enemy of humanity. Sometimes these antagonistic figures are simply that -- antagonists that urge us into action and provoke change for the good of us all.

So here's to embracing that darkness and accepting that the world is not all light. Walk the middle path, and do not become blinded by either.

A Totemic State of Mind

Symbolism is a very powerful thing for pagans of all stripes (and for nearly every other religion). The various gods and goddesses, and other divine and semi-divine figures, all draw upon symbolic representations in their associated mythologies. After all, what could be more iconic than Thor's hammer, the triquetra knot, or the Eye of Horus? We've grown accustomed to these symbols as iconography, and we know what to expect from these images. We've come to expect those symbols as part of our cultural identities.

This iconography extends far beyond the gods and the divine, however. Something that has grown increasingly relevant to my own spirituality is the concept of totems, spiritual symbols of qualities or concepts that one seeks to draw strength from and to emulate in their day to day life. I used to be highly dismissive of the idea of something like having a "spirit animal", and to an extent I'm still hesitant to fully accept the notion the way that others do; I think there's a lot of distance to cover between regarding these totems as symbols and the idea of a spirit beast or even the "animal-soul" ideas of some subcultures. The idea of a totem on the other hand, is a very powerful concept with a great history across several cultures.

Now, just to clarify that last bit: Spirit guides are one thing, spirit animals and animal-souls are another matter entirely. Spirit guides are a bit closer to the totemic concept, but show up more as a meditative tool -- they come into the subconscious during times of reflection to bring a symbolic sort of path out of the proverbial mental fog. Spirit animals/animal-souls, meanwhile, are more along the lines of people who believe that they were born infused with the spirit of a certain animal -- rather than merely admiring what the animal represents, they seek to emulate the animal to the extent of assuming it as part of their identity. This can sometimes go far beyond any sort of spirituality, and frankly I consider it more of a corruption of the totem concept that takes the idea too far; emulating the symbol is one thing, attempting to assimilate it is another all together.

Now, it's fairly obvious how totems originated. To the ancients, nature was much, much more immediate than it is for us. They lacked the separation created by modern comforts, and the hunt was less of a past-time and more urgent. Animals held a far greater sort of relevance to them, and as a result, the ancients imparted a deep, intimate sort of symbolism to the idea of these animals. Looking more at the ecology of the northern hemisphere, two of the main recurring totems are fairly predictable: the stag and the wolf.

Deer, elk, caribou, and other animals of that "stag" archetype were an essential part of the environment. The hunt provided food to eat, leather for clothing, bones for tools and trophies, and myriad other boons to the hunters. Most cultures came to revere the stag for this reason; even though they preyed upon the animals, they respected how important those animals were to their own continued existence. Stag become a totem of vitality and survival, representing strength and the providence of nature (often personified with horned gods like Cernunnos and Herne that, among other things, represented the hunt). Wolves and their ilk, on the other hand, served to remind the ancients that despite all of man's tools, nature still held many dangers that could threaten us. They came to represent the predator and, indirectly, the indomitable aspect that warriors sought to have, they served as rivals and antagonists to our survival and drove us to become better hunters (personified most notably in Fenris, the great wolf-god that would ultimately devour Odin).

A truly totemic viewpoint will incorporate multiple totems (one of the shortcomings I find in the animal-soul idea is the exclusion of other totems -- you lose a considerable amount of potential by overlooking what other totems can bring you). Ultimately it comes to a respect of the natural order and an understanding of how that order is maintained or was intended to be maintained. It's easy to lose touch with that natural aspect in the modern era as distant as most of us have come from that intimate connection that the ancients had. We aren't dependent on the wilderness for our survival, we're dependent on the grocery store. We don't need to revere and respect the predators to stay alive, we have our locked homes and cities for that, and only have to worry about other people. We've grown far from our roots. Thinking in a totemic mode brings us closer to those roots and reconnects us to our true nature.

The Golden Age, Upheaval, and Change

There is a recurring theme of the Golden Age in most mythologies surrounding the time before the fall of the old order.  What constitutes the old order can vary widely: to the Greeks it was the act of Prometheus stealing fire and delivering it into the hands of man, to the Norse it was the period following the end of Ragnarok, the Hindu have a 5000 year cycle (the Maha Yuga) with recurring Golden Ages that require a tearing down of their "iron age".  This extends even to the Abrahamic traditions with Adam and Eve being cast out of Eden for partaking of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil.

This Golden Age often alludes to nature being incredibly bountiful, providing everything that humanity could wish for and more.  There is a pronounced presence of the otherworldly.  In many cases, the gods dwelt in the same realm as mankind.  In Greece, Pan served as a mentor in Arcadia, living amongst his students in the trees.  The Eden myth is almost ubiquitous, depicting a paradise where the Abrahamic God resided alongside his creation.  The upheaval and fall of the old order always brings this Golden Age to an end, and humanity is left to struggle with the wilderness in a new and harsh environment, fraught with conflict, etc; you know the drill from there.

This is ultimately one of the myths that leads me to my unified theory about the myths and legends.  It is far from the only overlap (I'll likely discuss some of them at another date), but this is a rather striking point.  This Golden Age would imply that not only were the myths of the gods true, but might also imply the same for other myths and legends.  It is widely accepted that in the post-mythological era, magic and monsters are a thing of the past (albeit, this is an acceptance that took quite a while to be complete), at least in the sense that mythology demonstrates.  Depending on one's outlook, myth has either always been just stories, or a thing of the past.  The recurrence of the Golden Age concept seems to suggest the latter in my opinion; though it has little to no bearing on the present, the idea that this multi-culture spanning concept could stand as an example of where -- or rather when -- these legends originated seems like too great of a coincidence.

Most of these myths appear to be parallel to each other.  The numbers may not be reliable in any sense of the word, nor would they suggest anything remotely resembling the Golden Age returning any time soon, but the idea of a returning cycle seems to make sense.  Symbols of eternity are rampant throughout mythology, and much as the seasons themselves, humanity's path seems to move in a repeating circle.  The notion of falling and returning to this paradise, to this utopia of a Golden Age doesn't seem so far fetched when one considers how far we must fall and how quickly we climb in our scientific pursuits.

And yet, that poses another question, more philosophical in nature than theoretical contemplation of mythologies: If humanity flows through cycles of time, rising and falling to and from a Golden Age paradise, are we in our current path ascending or crashing down to earth?