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Chapter 4. The Sky Connection 104
Otherworlds described in the eddaic poetry and in Sturluson’s Prose Edda as well as
Saxo’s 22 Gesta Danorem were worlds that could be seen, to some degree, but could
not be attained by mortal man in his mortal guise. Some worlds like the floating
isles, or Vanaheim, for that matter, could be glimpsed only periodically or only by
people with the “second sight” but the general direction of where the land lay was
known, the effects of the “home” could be felt, such as the spring winds flowing out of
Jötunheim, and travellers from these lands, or homesteads, could be spotted either
in person or by their deeds. Rocks were moved, rivers changed course their courses,
lakes were formed. Where do the winds originate if not in the Utlands? It appears
that none of the “heims” were thought to be truly disconnected from Midgard.
All these measurements, configurations, and orientations of the Milky Way are
for midnight on specific nights of the year, and although it is well documented that
the Germanic peoples measured time by “nights” rather than days, is it reasonable
to suggest that they would have known exactly when 12:00 am occurred since clocks
would not be invented and in common use until 500 years after the invasion of
Christianity? Probably not. However, exact knowledge of hours and minutes is not
really necessary. Observations of the Milky Way and its orientation in the night sky
point up the fact that the Bridge of the Night Sky appears most solid in its N-S
(the “split of the fork” touching the northern horizon) orientation and appears to
be fluid in its S-N orientation. The time of year in the far North when the bridge
can be observed in its “solid” state for the highest number of hours, of course, is
around Yule when there is no sun at all (above the Arctic Circle). The amount
of time spent in solid form continues to increase from when the forked end of the
Milky Way “rises” in the East and “sets” in the West which occurs during the ancient
season of winter, mid-October to mid-April, with its high-point around Yule, the
time of no sun. During summer, there is no problem with the reckoning of midnight
since the amount of time spent in actual darkness is minimal.
All the evidence presented thus far would make it seem that the Milky Way, in
particular, and the night sky, in general, probably played a large role in the formation
of the Germanic worldview with the sky being the top of the World Tree and the
Milky Way being the Path of Souls lining up with the gate to the underworld once
every 24 hours. The probability of this being fact is increased when one includes
collected evidence taken from modern Scandinavian folklore and that from tribes
22 Saxo Grammaticus’ Gesta Danorem or History of the Danes has been translated several
times. The work, as translated, generally consists of nine books and was written in approximately
1215 CE. The author is decidedly pro-Danish and anti-Heathen. The accuracy of the mythological
material upon which the Gesta Danorem is based has been rather hotly debated over the years.
For the purposes of this book, this author has chosen not to join the fray but simply regards the
material for what it is, i.e., northern mythology recorded by a staunch anti-Heathen of the 13 th
century.