Creation Of The Cosmos

Introduction

The word 'cosmos' is derived from the Greek kosmos, meaning "order" or "ordered universe". The Cosmos is the totality of existence, expressed as an organised system. It implies order as opposed to chaos.

The northern and western Germanic peoples developed a sophisticated understanding of how they saw the Cosmos. They set this down in stories that we now call mythology. These stories changed somewhat over time, and between different tribes, but the main ideas contained in them remained remarkably similar.

As mythology, these stories should not be taken as being literally true - they were not intended to be. They took forms that the ordinary people listening to them could understand. As such, they form a vital part of our folk culture.

The Judeo-Christian Creation Story

According to the first verse of Genesis, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; the darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters".

The next few verses record how God then created light, day and night, and how he created all living things, the seas and the land that we live on. He created both heaven and earth. This he did in six days and the seventh is given over to rest. We are not given much detail about how God brought all these things into existence, just that he willed it to be. "Let there be light" and so forth, he declared; and so it was. This is in many ways a fairly simple and even simplistic account of one of the most profound of all mysteries. And yet, it provides some extremely important insights into them. In particular, the fact that God existed at the very beginning of time and that he brought about the creation process through an act of will.

The New Testament expands on this. In the opening verses of St John's Gospel we read; "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

Christianity holds that the Cosmos was brought into being by the Word of God - the expression, or communication, of God's will.

An English Folk Christian Creation Mythology

Little is actually known of the precise pre-Christian Anglo Saxon creation stories. However, as part of the wider western Germanic peoples, they would have held much in common with them and their beliefs – essentially having common origins. We know more about the mythologies of these other tribes, especially the Norse myths, and so a general reconstruction is possible. The EFC is not reconstructionist as such, and so a precise construction of what the Angles or Saxons believed at any point in time is not as important as understanding the general principles that lie behind the stories. Some of the principles that lie behind the Norse and Germanic creation stories are remarkably similar to those of the Judeo – Christian story. However, as with so many things, there is no single Germanic myth – even amongst the remaining stories. The real aim, therefore, is to draw out the deeper and often hidden meanings that lie within the stories rather than concentrate too much on the actual stories themselves.

The English Folk Church teaches that, at the heart of all things, there is One God who we call the Monad. The Word (or thought or communication) of the Monad is the divine Logos – the ‘Word’ as St John calls him. Our folk Gods and Goddesses proceed, as emanations or creations, from the Monad and have been assigned to our folk as the means by which the Logos communicates with us. It is the Logos who brought creation into being, and our ancestors understood this process through the actions of our folk Gods. The following is an account of the creation story from an English Folk Christian or Christo – Heathen perspective.

At the heart of all things, and all time, lies the formless void we call Ginnungagap - the yawning gap. God, as Monad, exists within, throughout and separate to the cosmos filling the void. His overarching nature is to create form out of nothingness, to bring light out of darkness and order out of the chaos. Our ancestors called this nature of God 'Orlog'; the primal reality or law that transcends all reality. It is the ‘divine law’. The underlying nature of God does not change and to live in harmony with it, is to live in harmony with the cosmos.

As the divine energies of the Monad stirred; the first processes of creation began. This process was brought about by the power of divine thought or will – the Logos. We understand this process through our folk mythology. The divine energies are represented as two equal and opposite forces; primal fire and eternal ice. Through the interaction of these two forces, a primal substance of matter was formed. This is represented in mythology as Ymir, a sleeping giant; barren and sterile. The inert primal substance of Ymir was transformed into a living cosmic substance through the will of God. The process that brought about this change is represented mythologically as the great cow of nourishment, Audumla. She produces great rivers of milk from which the giant fed. Her licking at the salty ice represents some form of cosmic "catalyst", the change mechanism that triggers the creation process. We can see this as the action of the Holy Spirit as a feminine aspect of the Monad, the nourisher.

As Audumla licks the ice from Ymir, a being called Buri is released. Buri is depicted as another giant and in turn has a 'son' called Bor who 'marries' Bestla, the 'daughter' of a giant. Bor and Bestla give rise to the three gods, Woden, Will and Weoh (Odin, Villi and Ve).

In Christian terms, we can understand this mythology as expressing, on the one hand, the gradual unfolding of creation through the will of God and, on the other hand, the gradual process of our ancestors forming a relationship with God. The formation of Buri represents the creation of active matter out of the inert primal substance represented by Ymir. It is matter which has been transformed by God and through which the spirit of God permeates. It is from this matter that all things have been shaped, represented by Bor and Bestla. This includes our own world. Within this world, our ancestors began to form an understanding of the nature of God.

The expression of God's will is the Word or ‘Logos’. It is this expression of the divine will that brings about all creation. Our ancestors understood the divine Logos in the form of our folk Gods. They called the divine wisdom and creative inspiration 'Woden'. They called the divine Will to carry this out 'Willa' and they called the perfection of all creation in the unity of God, 'Weoh', or holiness. And they saw the divine energy as thunder, and called it Thunnor or Thor. Indeed, the act of creation can be seen as a sudden burst of cosmic energy, like a clap of thunder. Thus was the divine Logos revealed to our ancestors through the personalities of our folk Gods and our folk mythologies. It is the Logos who brought about creation out of chaos and it is the Logos who constantly struggles to prevent that creation from reverting back to the chaos of Ginnungagap. This is depicted in our mythology of the struggles of Thor against the ‘giants’ of chaos.

The natural forces represented by the Giants have been responsible for shaping our world. Volcanic action, earthquakes and major changes in climate bring about terrible destruction, but are also the processes by which new lands are created. The Logos harnesses these forces to maintain the process of creation and prevent a return to chaos. But the power represented by the giants can still be very destructive even where the longer term effects are positive. Natural disasters occur as a result of these forces. They are not the will of God, but rather a part of the continuing act of creation which is being perfected but is not yet perfected or complete. We call the Logos in this role of cosmic Christ the Pantokreter or ‘ruler over all’.

Our collective and individual fate, or Wyrd, is influenced by how well we live in harmony with the nature of God. Wyrd is the mystical web that weaves through all reality and joins together all things. Actions within one part of the cosmos will reverberate throughout the web and can affect the whole cosmos. Our actions as individuals and groups influence our Wyrd and that of others both in this world and other worlds. This is not to say our lives are pre-determined. It is how we interact with the primal reality that sets our fate, not what is pre-determined for us. Our spiritual journey is to progress along the intricate Web of Wyrd to its very core where we become 'whole' with God. This is the concept of being perfected in the image of God through Christ the Logos.

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