Lectures
Norse Mythology
Part 6: Norse Mythology
4.23: Norse Mythology 1. Norse mythology is one of the most memorable of all subjects Waldorf students learn. Powerful awakening forces contained in the minutes. Steiner's insights concerning Norse myths are often revelatory. Direct experience of the gods as opposed to dream like recollection. The nature of the Norsemen, and the experience of their myths. [16:30]
4.24: Norse Mythology 2. Myth and history. Be cautious about spending too much time on the Norsemen and the Vikings. It is the mythology that works most strongly on the children. "The Dreamsong of Olaf Asteson" and "The Kalevala": great works of art, but are they are appropriate for grade 4 students? Misunderstanding about the relationship of common geography and the appropriateness of subjects. [17:10]
4.25: Norse Mythology 3. The Germanic myths and the Niebelungenlied. Siegfried, the human hero, eclipses the gods in importance. This epic may be better taught in grade six, as part of Medieval History. Monotheism and polytheism. Rudolf Steiner's vision of the Spiritual Hierarchies. [16:30]
4.26: Norse Mythology 4. Who are the "gods," particularly the Norse gods? Angels, Archangels, and Archai and their path of evolution. "Fallen" beings and beings who choose to hold back their own evolution. Lucifer and Ahriman. [16:35]
4.27: Norse Mythology 5. Vanir and Aesir. What is conveyed by "families" of gods, with parents and children? More developed gods are "parents," e.g. Odin, and less developed gods are "children," e.g. Thor. The "Human" stages of spiritual beings. [15:25]
4.28: Norse Mythology 6. Source materials. Three very wonderful retellings of the Norse Myths are available. The most poetic one is from the first third of the 20th century, the most visually delightful one is from the second third of the 20th century, and the most scholarly is from the last third of the 20th century. Any one of them can be your single resource, but it would be good if you could work with two or even three to see which one is most suited to your narrative style. [14:15]
4.29: Norse Mythology 7. Presenting the stories. Two blocks are sufficient, but three blocks would be even better because of the triadic quality of the myths. Try to really digest these stories over the summer and before you teach, so that you can make eye contact with the children as you narrate them. The main purpose of the Norse Myths is to introduce the child's astral body to the child's physical body. [14:10]
4.30: Norse Mythology 8. Creation and the Nine Worlds. Steiner's cosmology and earth evolution. The transition from warmth to light to fluid and finally physical substantiality. The Norse creation story. [15:45]
4.31: Norse Mythology 9. The “casting-off” aspect of creation. The giant has to come first so that the beautiful creatures have cast off all that is crude about their physical nature. But that which is cast off tends to live on. The battle between the gods, who represent the astral world, and the giants, who represent the physical/etheric world, constitutes one of the great dramas of these myths. [13:55]
4.32: Norse Mythology 10. Yggdrasil, the World Ash. The Norns. The tree as the all encompassing symbol of Norse mythology. The destructive forces of the Dragon and the tremendous sensory powers of the Eagle with the squirrel mediating mischievously between them. [18:20]
4.33: Norse Mythology 11. The Nine Realms. The interplay of earlier stages of Earth evolution, Lemuria, and Atlantis. Dwarves, Jotuns, and gods represent the physical, etheric, and astral forces in ceaseless interplay. [17:45]
4.34: Norse Mythology 12. The Aesir. From temperament to personality. The four major gods and the four temperaments. The power of the astral body in the Norse Myths. The need for more drama in teachers renditions of these stories. [17:40]
4.35: Norse Mythology 13. Attributes of the gods. Odin and Idunn. [15:15]
4.36: Norse Mythology 14. Attributes of the gods. Loki. [14:00]
4.37: Norse Mythology 15. The Wall of Asgard, a retelling of the story. [22:00]
Norse Mythology: A Slideshow of Student Work [1:05:15]