Alternative Names Anglo-Friesian/Germanic: Dagaz Norse (Viking): Dag, Daeg Old English: Daeg Other names/spellings: Daaz, Dagr, Dagar, Dagur, Dags, Daguz
Pronunciation:Daw-ghawz
English Letter Equivalent: D as in dog, DJ as in Django Reinhardt, DTH as in breadth.
Translation Day
Meaning Day. Daylight. Dawn. Breakthrough. Radical change.
Characteristics A breakthrough. A new dawn or a major change of direction. Achievement and prosperity, a successful conclusion to a passage. Darkness is behind you because a new day has begun.
Dagaz means day, and in the Nordic lands of long nights and winters, the day is strongly associated with light and life. Dagaz is the essence of natural daylight, the new light of dawn, and the strength of the sun. Spiritually, it is the divine light, the high point of the natural cycle of darkness-light-darkness. It signifies brightness, growth, progress, development, and sometimes fundamental change.
Gemstone: Chrysolite
Tree:Spruce
Plant: Clary Sage
Reverse: Dagaz has no reverse.
Converse: A false dawn. The time is not right for change. The daylight is yet to come. Persevere and trust in your strength and ability.
Runic Number:24
Color: Light Blue
Element: Fire and Air
Polarity:Male
Associated gods: Heimdall
The Rune Poem: Verse XXIV Dagaz
Day is Odin’s messenger, dear to men, The Ruler’s glorious light, Mirth and hope to prosperous and poor, Useful to all.
Freyja, as a god of fertility like her brother, engaged in many sexual encounters, and Loki, who made it his business to know embarrassing stories of his fellow gods, was well aware of Freyja’s promiscuity. In fact, in the Lokasenna, when an extremely drunk Loki is insulting each of the gods, he accuses Freyja of having slept with every male god, including her brother Freyr (although this incestual practice seems to be closer to the norm among the Vanir). Freyja was also closely involved with Odin, who took on multiple mistresses in addition to his wife Frigg.
One day, Freyja noticed a beautiful necklace (some versions of the myth say a belt), called Brisingamen, being forged by a group of four dvergues, the Brisings. She was instantly enamoured, and felt compelled to own the accessory.
She offered the Brisings all manner of gold and riches, but the dvergues refused. Their price for the necklace was Freyja. Freyja would spend one night with each of the four dvergues, and then the necklace would be hers. Eager to own the necklace, Freyja agreed to the terms, and set about fulfilling her obligation.
For one reason or another though, Loki had followed Freyja, and was now privy to Freyja’s shameful actions in exchange for a piece of jewellery. Loki returned to the hall of his sworn blood brother Odin, and informed him of what he had seen. Odin was angered, and he asked that Loki steal the Brisingamen from Freyja. Freyja’s room was sealed while she slept, so Loki turned himself into a fly to enter through unseen gaps.
Freyja was wearing the necklace while sleeping, so Loki, now turned into a flea, bit Freyja on the cheek, provoking her to turn over in her sleep. Once Freyja turned over, the necklace’s clasp was exposed, and Loki was able to unfasten and remove it from Freyja’s neck. Loki collected the necklace and left the room as silently as he had entered.
When Freyja awoke to find her necklace missing, she confronted Odin, and Odin in turn confronted Freyja about her interactions with the dvergues to gain Brisingamen. To regain the Brisingamen, Odin ordered Freyja to incite between two kings such strife that they begin an unceasing war, later known as the Battle of the Hjadnings.
An alternative conclusion to Loki’s theft of Brisingamen did not include Odin at all. It is also possible that it refers to a different occasion entirely. In this version, instead of bringing the necklace to Odin, Loki disguised himself as a seal and attempted to hide. However, Heimdallr, who possessed powers of greater sight and hearing than the gods, had seen where Loki had gone. Heimdallr confronted Loki, and a battle ensued. The battle, strangely enough, featured both Loki and Heimdallr in the form of seals. Heimdallr has not exhibited the ability to transform himself in any instance other than this, so the accuracy of this version is difficult to determine. All in all though, Loki ultimately lost, and was forced to surrender the Brisingamen, whereupon it was returned to Freyja.
Thor had just lost his best friend and his brother right in front of his eyes and it breaks him that there was nothing he could have done to save them or the asgardians on his ship.
He just stays there mourning over Loki’s dead body & the fact that he didn’t care whether he lived or died on that ship is heartbreaking
A/N - I don’t know where this came from, but it may be the softest and fluffiest thing I have ever written. Can be read as Platonic or Romantic.
“There’s a bomb on the thirtieth floor. 48 seconds to detonation.”
Tony Stark had said a lot of things that made you feel slightly nauseous, but this one was the worst. Because you were on the 42nd floor, enemies above and below you. Whatever you’d managed to upload to the USB in your pocket was important enough that they were willing to sacrifice this whole building and themselves to stop you giving it to your team-mates.
“You need to get out of there!” Clint warned breathlessly.
Like the rest of the team, he was on the streets, stopping the agents from causing havoc in the city.
A/N - I don’t know where this came from, but it may be the softest and fluffiest thing I have ever written. Can be read as Platonic or Romantic.
“There’s a bomb on the thirtieth floor. 48 seconds to detonation.”
Tony Stark had said a lot of things that made you feel slightly nauseous, but this one was the worst. Because you were on the 42nd floor, enemies above and below you. Whatever you’d managed to upload to the USB in your pocket was important enough that they were willing to sacrifice this whole building and themselves to stop you giving it to your team-mates.
“You need to get out of there!” Clint warned breathlessly.
Like the rest of the team, he was on the streets, stopping the agents from causing havoc in the city.
Hey GLE! in response to my Heimdal-Iring question you mentioned worship of staves and stave enclosures and pole worship and linked it to Heimdall as an embodiment of the world tree. But in my German texts this is usually seen to refer to carved wooden idols of deities that are like pillars, which were found in bogs. They are called “Pfahlidol”, and in general people here assume that this is what Ibn Fadlan meant. Idk that’s just my information :)
Yes, these usually get shorthanded as “godpoles” when discussed in the community, and some Deities’ faces were carved into poles for offering and worship, aside from the idea that some “plain” poles might have represented the World Tree. :) There’s also some speculation that the carved high seat pillars (Öndvegissúlur) might be related to this concept.
If you can find some notes about what the German texts have to say about Pfahlidol, I would be very interested in seeing them! I wasn’t aware that we had some bog finds relating to this.
Do you know anything about the “sons of Mimir”? I think they’re talked about in Voluspa. I was just wondering what/who they were, as I’ve never seen anything else about them.
Dear Anon,
The sons of Mimir (Mims synir) are mentioned in Voluspa 45.
There isn’t much agreement about what this means. Mimir is generally taken to be a jotun (he appears to be Aesir in Snorri’s Ynglinga saga, but his name is on a list of jotnar in the Þulur), and so it might have the general meaning that the jotnar in general are playing and rejoicing that the Aesir are coming to their end.
Ursula Dronka has also noted in her commentary on Voluspa that there is some confusion around when Mimir’s name is used, and his association with the World Tree, and that Mimir may actually be a name for Heimdall due to this, or at the very least confused with Heimdall, so there are occasions where Dronke translates and interprets passages involving Mimir as if Mimir is Heimdall.
Mimir is also associated with water and wells, so another interpretation I have seen is Mimir’s sons are water vaettir, or rivers, lakes, and streams.
Please observe Freya’s chariot cats supervising the whole thing going “Gods are so dumb this will never work.”
Look at Loki helping in this version–he looks so excited!
Hemsworth and Hiddleston would have been so down to portray this
We were robbed of this scene and I feel it in my blood.
The best thing about this story is that Thor really doesn’t try, at all.
Like he puts on the dress, he keeps his mouth shut, but that is where his contributions to keeping up this ruse end.
Loki is the one who has to come up with an explanation for why the blushing bride has just finished off half the banqueting table and washed it down with four full barrels of mead (“Freyja was so excited for the ceremony, she hasn’t eaten in a week!”) and, when the groom takes a peek under the veil, why she’s glaring at him with such clear murder in her eyes (“she’s er… tired. Like super super tired. Hasn’t slept in a week.”).
Thor barely restrains himself from slaughtering everyone in the room until his hammer comes out, and then he grabs it and uses it to slaughter everyone in the room.
Depending on how you read the scene he’s either genuinely unaware of how women are meant to act (or potentially too Masculine to restrain himself) or he’s just so full of contempt for Loki’s plan that he refuses to put in more than the very bare minimum.
Or Freyja is Just Like That and Thor thinks he is doing a particularly good job impersonating her - she is a war goddess after all.
Reblogging for that last addition - I’d never thought of that but now that you mention it I wholeheartedly believe it.
Especially after Thor and Loki proposed that she just marry the giant, she apparently flipped out at them and they immediately had to back off like “okay nope plan B!”
Thor is probably patting himself on the back for portraying Freya’s normal expression so accurately.
In case anyone was wondering why this seems familiar…. Geralt and Jaskier in The Witcher episode 4, “Of Banquets, Bastards and Burials.”
Regarding the comment upthread re: Hemsworth and Hiddleston, I feel it’s important to bear in mind that in most versions of the story, it isn’t Loki who comes up with the plan in the first place: it’s Heimdall.
So in the hypothetical MCU version of this scenario, you need to picture Idris Elba proposing this unhinged scheme with a perfectly straight face.
Heimdall!! . Guardian of the Mystic Rainbow Bridge and a short time ruler of Asgard… . 1st - 4th slide is from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe v3 3 (1991) by Keith Pollard and Josef Rubinstein. 5th slide is by Jack Kirby and Don Heck. . #heimdall #Thor #Marvel #jackkirby #donheck #keithpollard #josefrubinstein #90s #60s #alien https://www.instagram.com/p/CeE8ykMMOwd/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
“The Marauders amass near Vanaheim. Thor’s destruction of the Bifrost continues to shift the balance of power across the Nine Realms… and into the worlds beyond Yggdrasil.”
-Heimdall
Ahh I love this photo from Granitecon! If anyone knows who this Heimdall cosplayer was, please let me know—I was so impressed by his cosplay and weaponry! ⚡️
Heimdall, guard of Bifrost, I honor you this day. Help me to be ever vigilant. Help me to be self-aware, aware of my surroundings and the people within my life. May this egg represent my offering to you, he who sees a thousand leagues and hears the grass grow.
Yggdrasil, the World Tree By Simon E. Davies of Human Odyssey
In the beginning of the Norse cosmos, there existed an eternal Void, known as Ginnungagap. Out of this nothingness sprang Yggdrasil, a huge Ash tree. Its newly emerging branches held two primordial worlds; Niflheim, a world of ice & frost, and Muspellheim, a realm of molten fire.
When a spring erupted from Nifelheim (known as Hvergelmir), it created a river which crossed the void into Muspellheim. Here, the hot air scorched the freezing river creating a new world, known as Jotunheim, land of the giants.
From this bloodline of primordial beings came Odin, Vili and Ve, who despised the father of giants who ruled his people with malice and brutality. When the chance came, the brothers slew the frost giant, and from his body they created Midgard, a world of mortals. Surrounding this realm they placed a great ocean which nourished the roots of the great tree.
Yggdrasil grew ever higher, forming a new realm called Asgard, which is located on the highest branch of the world tree. This was where Odin, king of the Aesir would take his people to settle a new civilisation. It was said this race of gods brought culture and technology to the world of mortals via a great causeway called Bifrost.
Bifrost was a burning rainbow bridge, connecting Midgard (the world of mortals) with Asgard. This colourful overpass emerged from Himinbjörg, a mountain hall guarded over by the ever-vigilant Heimdall. This watchmen of the gods kept an eye on the mortals below, making sure no giants breached their homeland.
As Yggdrasil continued to grow, a new land emerged on one of its branches called Vanaheim. It was a land full of luscious forests and wild meadows. From this primal wilderness emerged a race of gods known as the Vanir. This tribal people lived near the coast, ruled by Njörðr, a seafaring god who loved wealth and magic, a trait common among his people.
A great tension broke out between the Vanir and the Aesir resulting in a long winded war. It eventually ended in a stalemate, so many of the gods sent their families as hostages to the opposing tribe to help bring them closer together. Njörðr’s son, Freyr, was placed in charge of Alfheim, homeland of the Elves. This class of god-like beings were said to be “more beautiful than the sun.”
These elves were also linked to another realm far below the Earth. Legend says a tribe from Alfheim were exiled from their homeland many eons ago, and eventually sought refuge with the dwarves of the underworld. These subterranean beings had build their homes around the roots of Yggdrasil, carving a network of labyrinths, mines and forges for their empire. They called it Niðavellir, and the elves, who skin eventually became black as night, called it Svartalfar.
All the beings of Yggdrasil, mortals, gods, dwarves and elves would eventually die, and their souls were destined for several realms. If the Aesir died valiantly in battle, they would find rest in Valhalla, for all others, Helheim was their inevitable destination. This dark and gloomy abode resided at the tip of Yggdrasil’s deepest root. This afterlife was ruled over by Loki’s daughter Hel, a strange being who was half black and half flesh-coloured, characterised by a gloomy, downcast appearance.
There are a number of sacred creatures which live within Yggdrasil. this includes the monstrous wyrm Níðhöggr who gnaws at the roots of Nifelheim, weakening the great tree of Yggdrasil. This frost dragon was also known for eating the corpses of the Nifelheim when found guilty of murder, adultery and oath-breaking.
Atop the highest branches of the world tree is perched a great eagle and his hawk companion Vedrfolnir, who sits between his eyes. The two stare deep into the Norse cosmos, perhaps representing insight and awareness.
Ratatosk is a squirrel who runs up and down the world tree to carry messages between the unnamed eagle and Níðhöggr the wyrm. This mischievous critter is said to stir trouble between the all knowing eagle and the world hungry dragon.
Among the branches of the Great Ash tree live four stags known as Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór. These ravenous beasts eat the branches of the World Tree, perhaps representing the four seasons. When they eat too much, winter ensues, when they are full, the leaves grow thick and lush in the midst of summer.
Perhaps the most important guardians of Yggdrasil are the three Norns (witches) who lives at the well Urd (below Midgard). Their names are Urd “past”, Verdani “present” and Skuld “future”. These three hags are the goddesses of fate, who spend most their time spinning the threads of life, deciding the fate of every human, animal and god. Every day the Norns will also carry water from Urd’s well, and pour it over Yggdrasil. The water from the well is of vital importance to keep the tree green and healthy.
It is the Norns who foretold Ragnarok, the twilight of the Gods and the fall of Yggdrasil. It is said that Ragnarok will begin when the wolf, Fenrir, son of Loki, breaks free of his imprisonment. This will lead to a chain reaction of events including the Midgard snake Jormungandr rising from the sea and a wolf (known as Skoll) devouring the sun, and his brother Hati, eating the moon, plunging the earth into darkness. The stars will vanish from the sky.
Everything will come to a head in a huge battle that draws in all the races of the nine worlds. It will conclude with Surter, king of the fire giants, setting fire to the great Yggdrasil. The nine worlds will burn, and friends and foes alike will perish, culminating with the earth sinking deep into the abyss of the sea.
