Ymir
Ymir
In the beginning, there was a space between the primal land of ice (Nifleheimr) and the primal land of fire (Muspelheimr), in that Ginnungagap grew Ymir the first of all giants. His body was so vast that his matter was used to create our known universe, the reality of Midgard.
The name Ymir in Old Norse comes from the Proto-Germanic word JUMJAZ (*yum-yaz!*) and from the ProtoIndoEuropean root word yemh, which means "twin". This twin motif could relate to the fact that Ymir was hermaphroditic, a combination of the genders, or also that requires a "Twin" energy. Who would Ymir have as a twin? Could that be the souls that grow within him? The beings that are budding in consciousness within the matrix of his molecular structure?
I heard a new age guru say in a video that if we see the universe as chaotic, our life appears to us as chaotic, but if we see the universe as benevolent, that it becomes a benevolent force to us and changes our life. I chuckled thinking that us Heathens actually have a name for our known universe and his name is Ymir. Ymir has a consciousness, much like us, and he also houses billions of smaller budding consciousnesses within him. He is the overmind of the material reality of this gigantic universe. He also acts as a twin, so reflects us back to ourselves, much like a twin would.
So, if we can change ourselves, then we can change how Ymir reacts to us. This is no small feat, because in order to change ourselves, we have to know ourselves and most of us spend 99.9% of the day focused on the world external to us and don't even know who and what we are. We can barely find 10 minutes to meditate let alone try to understand ourselves, our thoughts, and why we react and believe in what we do.
So our relationship with Ymir stays stagnant because we deceive ourselves by trying to alter the external world, instead of altering our internal selves. We fight against the tide of our own energetic connection to Ymir. We change our clothes, our jobs, our friendships and we essentially stay the same and experience the same lessons in various forms again and again and go mad in the prison we have made for ourselves.
Yet, all we need to do is stop and go within. The first step is noticing the self. Seeing the self. Once we begin to be honest and observe ourselves, we alter ourselves, for the observer always alters what it observes. Changing your world is literally a matter of stopping, resting, and going within to observe who and what you are. It's also being grateful for everyone who reflects you back to yourself, for showing you a part of you that you didn't see before. This can bruise the ego, because, for many of us, we live in delusion about who and what we are. Our obsession with the external world and fighting against the tide of our own creation energy leaves us with thinking that we are not responsible for what we weave in reality.
Working with Ymir has taught me not to fight Ymir, but to see him as the Ice Giant he is, a reflective surface for me to see myself. When I don't like my external world, I turn that gaze inwards to see why Ymir is showing me myself through my life's experiences. I stop, look within, and accept his lessons. I love myself in that moment (for while external world is born in violence, the internal world is woven in love), and that love transforms me. I shapeshift into a new creature and reality shifts. I, then, experience new experiences because Ymir reflects back to me a new version of reality that I am weaving.
The Runes in JUMJAZ: Jera, Uruz, Mannaz, Ansuz, Elhaz.
