Andreas Viklund. "Mortal Vikings and the Valkyrie." March 24, 2008. Oil Painting. Mortal Vikings and the Valkyrie. December 1, 2008. http://seshdotcom.wordpress.com/category/vikings/

1. Vikings-Norse warriors, explorers, and merchants that raided and colonized European lands from the late eighth century to the early 11th century.
   
2. Ginnungagap-The vast, dark, void that was in existence before the creation of the manifest universe.
   
3. Nifleheim-The Land of Fog at the bottom of the tree of life.
   
4. Muspellheim-The Land of Fire, guarded by a giant named Surt.
   
5. Yggdrasil-The Great Tree in the center of the Norse universe that holds together the nine worlds of Norse society.
   
6. Asgard-realm of the gods.
   
7. Midgard-Midgard is the land of men.
   
8. Hel-Hel was the home of the dead.
   
9. Bifrost Bridge-A divine bridge, it was the link between the humans and the gods. It was a rainbow.
   
10. Ymir-One of the Frost Giants, who was fierce, wild, and evil.
    
11. Odin-Considered the chief God of Norse Mythology.
    
12. Frigg-The wife of Odin, and spinner of the clouds. She was the most powerful of all the goddesses, she was the goddess of love, destiny, and marriage.
    
13. The Valkyries-Hero selectors and choosers of slain.
    
14. The Norns-Fate Maidens: Urd-past, Verdandi-present, and Skuld-future.
    
15. Thor-Thor was a son of Odin and the strongest son at that. He was the god of thunder, battle, and fertility. He was known for being fierce and he had a great temper.
    
16. Balder-Son of Odin and Frigg. God of Radiance, rebirth, justice and light. He was killed by Loki.
    
17. Njord-God of the wind and the sea, he was a Patron of Sailors.
18. Frey-God of fertility, prosperity, sun, and rain.
    
19. Freya-Goddess of love, fertility, beauty, magic, war, and death
    
20. Idunn-Goddess of Youth, Keeper of the golden apples, and Odin's daughter in law
    
21. Loki-Son of Giants. he was a half blood god, a trickster, and he was quite evil minded.
    
22. Fenrir-"the wold destroyer"
    
23. Jormungandr-"World Serpent"
24. Ragnarok-Doomsday, the Final Battle.
    
25. Runes-Symbols that are thrown and the way they land determine your fate.
    

Mythology Definitions

Myth: A myth is a tale of gods and goddess’, myths generally give an explanation to the world around us. Some believe mythical stories give religious support or support for certain beliefs. A great example of how are world came to be is the story of Demeter and Persephone.

Hero:A hero is the character in the story with unique characteristics that set him or her apart from others. The hero goes out into the world on a hero journey in hope of bettering society as a whole. One example of a hero that everyone should know is the hero Hercules.

Hero Journey:A hero journey is the series of events the hero goes through during the story. The hero has a call to adventure, an initiation, and many struggles; this is all involved in a cyclical pattern. On his journey, Hercules, had 12 different labors, and this was a perfect example of his hero journey.

Universal:The main idea in any story is the universal relation, meaning the story relates to everything, it’s the big picture, the foundation of being. The story of Demeter and Persephone is a great example of a universal story because the outcome of the story affects everyone.

Archetype:The archetype is the original kind, the structure, or the original model. Many different stories have their own versions of being, their original model, there are 3 different models of creation; watery abyss, the egg, and an empty void. There are also 3 original types of heroes; cultural, trickster, and human.

Cyclical:A cyclical journey is such that the hero starts at the beginning and through all trial and error makes it back to where he or she started, changed and redefined. You can look back to any hero story to find an example of this circular pattern but I always lean towards Hercules when looking for good examples.

Duality:Duality in any story is the quality of opposites existing in a whole. Good and evil, love and hate, or simply hot and cold; these are all great examples of duality in mythology.

Creation:Creation is the beginning of our world, whether it began with the egg, the void, or the watery abyss. Like stated earlier, in the Egyptian creation the world started as a watery abyss.

Life Out of Death:The phrase life from death simply means when there is death, there is also life. Sacrifice of one’s self in a hero’s case.

Matriarchal:A matriarchal society is a society that believes in a foundation of female power. This is the Mother Earth philosophy.

Patriarchal:A patriarchal society is a society that believes in a foundation of male power. This is the philosophy of Father Sky.

Sacrifice:When a hero lays down ones life for the betterment of the community this is called sacrifice. A hero could also sacrifice something in there life for this as well.

Interpretation Essay: Demeter and Persephone

Chauncey Allison

Interpretation Essay

Period 2 Mythology

19 September 2008

Demeter and Persephone

            Analyzing myths can be broken down into three separate levels of interpretation: natural, social and psychological.  While analyzing different stories and myths you can dive deeper into each individual character and each turning point in the plot.  The natural level (Macro) is the big picture; this is when someone takes a step back and looks at the story as a whole and how it relates to the physical world.  On the social level (meso) myths are analyzed as they would relate to your community.  Take a story and relate it to one of your everyday attributes, this is analyzing on the social level.  Out of the three levels of interpretation the one level that truly digs into your head and really gets your brain thinking is the physchological (micro).  With these different levels, it should be easy to decipher any myth.  Right?

            Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, was the maiden of the spring.  She brought beauty to the world whenever spring came around.  After all of the death and sadness of the winter season, Persephone would walk along the earth and let her beauty take over the roots of the plants that once lived.  Persephone then went missing, and Demeter being the Goddess of the Earth, held her gifts from the people of the earth because she was so sad and alone.  Demeter left in search of her daughter, not knowing that she was in the depths of the underworld, kidnapped by Hades, Lord of the Underworld and God of Wealth.  Now Hades, having all his wealth and power, used his skills in temptation and convinced Persephone to eat his pomegranate seeds, and this set in stone the fact that Persephone would have to come back to the underworld for four months out of every year, these months are the sad and chilling winter months when nothing grows or lives.  This myth has so much to do with the seasons and why things happen in the environment the way they do, but there is so much more that we can dive into.

            As a community this myth greatly effects how a society and how people of that society work as a whole.  Demeter represents the simple fact that in early years man had to learn how to ration during the winter months because no more food would grow.  Hades would take away the beauty that was on the earth (Persephone) for a certain number of months, and in these months it would be obvious that sadness would take over a community, and this can be represented by Demeter’s sadness. 

            The most interesting level of interpretation is the psychological level or the micro level.  In this level of analyzing myths we get to reach deeper into the depths of any myth and into the minds of the person reading.  So in a sense this could be the easiest because being the person that read the myths you can just simply open your self up to be analyzed. 

            Sin, hatred, kidnap, sadness, love, wealth, temptation and just a dark man that’s lonely are what make this myth so interesting when analyzing on a micro level.  When Hades kidnaps Persephone it is so much more then a simple kidnapping, it truly gives the reader the heart- broken feeling of being taken away from a loving mother and a safe home.  While Persephone is in the underworld she experiences many different forms of temptation: wealth, greed, and even possible love.  Hades in this myth represents the loss of purity and the greed of wealth and love.  When he feeds Persephone the pomegranate seeds this is a symbol of anything that is tempting in our lives, it represents sin and how even the simplest things like eating that pomegranate seed, may have consequences. 

Taking any story and slicing it into three different levels of interpretation (macro, meso, and micro), not only makes the myth more interesting but it sincerely makes it easier to understand.  I have learned when analyzing this myth, that there is so much more the just the cover of the story, and there is so much more then just the settings, characters, and the plot line.  There is always a deeper meaning and more of a lesson to learn.