Tag: An Esoteric Commentary on the Volsung Saga

3,610 words

Part XXI available here.

1. Mind-Runes

We now come to the final rune spell taught by the Valkyrie, and we will find that it is, in a very real sense, a key to the whole: (more…)

Hail to the Day by Arthur Rackham

3,876 words

1. Introduction: Wisdom Speaking

In our last installment, we discussed Sigurd’s meeting with the Valkyrie Brynhild, and how their encounter recapitulates, on a higher level, the dualities found in the story of the dragon slaying. When Sigurd rides through the fire to meet the Valkyrie he is going within his own solar, masculine being to reach the lunar feminine. (more…)

5,369 words

1. Brynhild and Sigerdrifa

Sigurd has now slain the dragon Fafnir and tasted his blood, thereby acquiring knowledge of the language of birds. We discussed the esoteric significance of this in the last three installments. The birds tell Sigurd that he ought to ride “up to Hindarfjall, where Brynhild sleeps.” There, they say, “he would learn much wisdom.”^[1] This is precisely where Sigurd heads, after loading Fafnir’s cursed treasure onto Grani. Two chapters of the saga are devoted to his meeting with Brynhild, and they are rich with occult significance. Among other things, the first of these chapters is one of the chief sources for our knowledge of rune magic. (more…)

Odin riding Sleipnir in a detail on the Tjängvide stone

5,668 words

1. The Language of Birds

In our last installment, we explored the idea that Sigurd bathing in the dragon’s blood is a symbol for the achievement of the “spiritual corporeality.” In order to complete this alchemical transmutation, however, Sigurd must also consume the dragon’s blood, and its heart. (more…)

Siegfried bathes in the dragon’s blood in Fritz Lang’s 1924 epic Die Nibelungen.

3,726 words

1. Why Does Sigurd Slay the Dragon?

In How to Kill a Dragon, the linguist Calvert Watkins explores the common structure of the dragon or serpent slaying myths that are found throughout the Indo-European tradition. Midway through the book, he asks a crucial question, “Why does the hero slay the serpent? What is the function of this widespread if not universal myth, what is its meaning?” His answer employs language that must immediately remind us of Evola’s account of the “heroic path”: “The dragon symbolizes Chaos, in the largest sense, and killing the dragon represents the ultimate victory of Cosmic Truth over Chaos.”^[1] (more…)

4,420 words

1. What Kind of Hero is Sigurd?

The previous installment offered a summary and interpretation of Julius Evola’s writings on alchemy. This was to prepare us for what we will begin in this essay: an alchemical interpretation of the dragon slaying episode in the saga, as well as related events.

Before we can develop such an interpretation, however, we should take account of the larger context in which Sigurd’s exploits occur. We shall do so by asking a very basic question: exactly what kind of hero is Sigurd? (more…)

5,317 words

1. Julius Evola’s Interpretation of Alchemy

In our last installment, we told the story of Sigurd slaying the dragon Fafnir and tasting his blood, which gives the hero knowledge of the language of birds. I proposed that this, and surrounding episodes, may be understood as an account of alchemical transmutation, in just the way Evola expounded this term in The Hermetic Tradition and other texts. In this essay I will introduce readers to Evola’s understanding of alchemy. In subsequent installments, I will expound an alchemical interpretation of Sigurd’s adventures. (more…)

4,441 words

In our last installment we continued telling the tale of “Otter’s Ransom.” This is the story Regin the dwarf smith tells young Sigurd, about how Regin’s brother Fafnir killed their father and made off with the hoard of gold that had belonged to the dwarf Andvari. It is a fabulous treasure, but before giving it up Andvari places a curse upon it. We discussed Claude Lecouteaux’s translation of the name Andvari as “guardian of the breath,” deriving the name from Old Norse andi/önd meaning “breath, wind, or spirit,” a term used by medieval clerics writing in Old Norse to translate Latin anima, “breath,” “wind,” “vital principle,” or “soul.” (more…)

4,329 words

(Read the previous installments in this series here.)

It has been several years since I have published an installment in this series. As faithful readers know, I have been concentrating on my series of essays dealing with Heidegger’s history of metaphysics, from Plato to Nietzsche (now numbering some twenty-five installments; simply search my name to find all of them). After a great deal of thought and research, I am returning to the story of Sigurd, Fafnir’s Bane, and will publish further installments on an irregular basis (though hopefully not once every few years). (more…)

3,988 words

All installments of this series available here

It has been some time since I have published an installment in this series (the last, in fact, was in November 2019). After more than a year of research and reflection, I am ready to return to the story of Sigurd, Fafnir’s Bane. (more…)

Sigurd and the dwarf Regin forge a sword, from the portal of the stave church of Hylestad, Setesdal, Norway c. 1200.

3,469 words

Part I here, Part XI here

In our last installment, we saw how Queen Hjordis, pregnant with Sigurd, is taken in by King Alf, son of King Hjalprek of Denmark. Before his death, Sigmund had prophesied that his son “will become the greatest and most famous of our family.” Sigmund also entrusts to Hjordis the fragments of his sword, broken by Odin. “Take good care also of my sword’s fragments,” Sigmund tells her. “A good sword can be made from them, which will be called Gram, and our son will carry that sword and do many great things with it which will never be forgotten. (more…)

Johannes Gehrts, Sigmund’s Sword (1889)

2,334 words

Part I here, Part X here, Part XII here

After many twists and turns in the story of the Volsungs, Sigurd, the greatest of them all, is about to burst onto the scene.

In our last installment, we saw Sigmund taking a second wife, the beautiful Hjordis, daughter of King Eylimi. But another man desires her, and is enraged when her marriage to Sigmund takes place. (more…)

2,519 words

Part I here, Part IX here, Part XI here

Chapter 10. The Death of Sinfjotli

In our last two installments, we explored the fascinating digression – the “saga within the saga” – that is the story of Helgi. (more…)