Untitled - Awaken Video

Chapter 4. The Sky Connection 103
Otherworld has a very real existence in some other parallel dimension or plane of
existence, it is doubtful that northern Europeans thought about the reality of the
Land of the Ancestors in terms of worlds lying truly separated from Midgard by
dimensions of time and space. Pseudo-scientific explanations are usually offered by
people trying to lend some credibility to faulty arguments. The Otherworld was
simply here but invisible, or under the earth/ up in the sky.
On the other hand, people who really do have something to offer will often rely
on metaphors based in current technology, mainly, because people tend to explain
the unknown or the difficult-to-explain with terms that both the explainer and
the listener will recognize and understand. Neuroscience in the latter half of the
19th century explained the function of the human body in the simple “mechanical/
clock-terms” of Newtonian physics, within 30 years, the explanations from classical
physics gave way to the newer concepts from radio electronics, then it was psychology,
and now, computers.
Following this argument back into time, the technology of northern Europeans
of 1000 years ago revolved around blacksmithing, farming/ herding, and trading/
traveling/ raiding (sailing). The world was concrete, not abstract math. These people
knew of other lands or countries on Midgard. They also described lands outside
the realms of man (but not necessarily separated physically from the earth), such
as floating islands like Svínoy, or invisible or underground cities, towns and homesteads.
They understood well the idea of different tribes, cultures, and boundary
lines, but in none of their descriptions is there anything like worlds separated, truly
separated, from the World of Man; Álfheim, Ásgard, Vanaheim can all be interpreted
(using eddaic poetry) as contiguous with Mannheim. Travel back and forth through
Midgard world was common and had nothing to do with careening through empty
space or hyper-jumping over dimensions of time and space and travel between this
world and the Otherworld, though not quite as common (the stuff legends are made
out of), did not require warp-drive.
The word “heim,” according to Glossary to the Poetic Edda, in its primary
definition is ”1) settlement, farm or farms; place of residence;” 21 as 3 rd and 4 th
definitions the meaning changes slightly to the “whole world.” However, there is
no real implication that anything is ever meant beyond the idea of an inhabited
region enclosed by some sort of boundaries. The word “land” carried more of the
meaning of “a country,” and the word “ver old” carried the meaning of “world” or
“universe.” The terms “Vanaheim,” “Ljósálfheim,” “Svartálfheim,” “Helheim,” “Niflheim,”
“Muspelheim,” and “Jötunheim” all implied then the residence of . . . (fill in
the blank) . . . rather than some kind of parallel universe. It would seem that all the
21 In Glossary to the Poetic Edda by Beatrice LaFarge and John Tucker (Universitäsverlag,
Heidelberg) p. , 1992.