The question of the origin of the Universe can be approached analytically or empirically, but in constructing an Odian cosmogony we need to consider how an individual who works within the Northern Tradition understands the emergence of the manifest Universe.
The process of the Universe coming into being as traditionally understood is described in chapters 4 to 19 of the Eddic text, ‘Gylfaginning’. The latent order suggested by the origin myth of the Universe within the traditional sources is one in which polar extremes determine the limits of being and acts of creation occur when the two extremes encounter each other.
The unfolding of the Universe can be represented as a process of nine key phases:
1. Fire and Ice as primary polar opposites provide the explosive force on meeting that gives rise to the first instance of differentiation.
2. Ymir, the first distinct entity and the progenitor of all Thurses and Auðumbla, the cosmic cow, come into being. The Thurses are entities with intent and purpose but without reflective consciousness that feed on Auðumbla’s milk. She in turn feeds on a salt block that was formed by the meeting of Fire and Ice, thus revealing within that block the first deity, Búri.
3. The Thurses begin to be engendered from the body of Ymir. Ymir feeds on the milk of Auðumbla, who in turn feeds on the salty ice block, which is the matrix from which all organic life is derived. Consequently, Búri and those who descend from him arise directly from the source matrix of all life, while the offspring of Ymir derive from a force for creative differentiation that has been mediated through the role of Auðumbla. Auðumbla as the cosmic cow is an archetypal symbol of the well-being and social organisation of the Folk. Her role as a mediator between Ymir and the raw material represented by the Salt/Ice block is to give specific function to each life-form (the Thurses) that emerges from Ymir. This contrasts with the beings that descend from Búri who are free to determine their own function and purpose.
4. The first of the Aesir are born. ‘Aesir’ is linguistically cognate with the Sanskrit terms ‘ásu’ (life force) and ‘ásura’ (god). The first of the Aesir, Villi, Vé, and Óðin are the offspring of Borr and Bestla who are the descendants of Búri and Ymir respectively. Thus, while they are deities, the Aesir combine both the freedom to self-determine implied by the nature of Búri and the predetermined purpose or function implied by Ymir.
5. The first sacrifice occurs as Óðin and his brothers dismember Ymir in order to construct a physically manifest Universe. The innate and naturally determined patterning of existence represented by Ymir is transformed by this first act of conscious intent. The reality created by the Aesir in this act, represented by the cosmology of Yggdrasil, retains aspects of the unconscious patterning carried by the body of Ymir.
6. The Aesir create new life-forms. The first one are the Dwarves or ‘Svartalfar’ so the construction of the physical Universe can continue without the direct conscious involvement of the Aesir.
7. Óðin wins the runes (understanding of the Mysteries) through his Yggdrasil ordeal and thus creates a new level of consciousness in which the ultimate mystery (Rûna) may be intuited.
8. Asgard (the home of the Aesir) is created, symbolically establishing a permanent presence for the Mysterious within the Universe. Óðin begins to explore the magical application of the runic mysteries he has experienced.
9. The first humans are created by Óðin, Hoenir and Lóðurr. The physical bodies of proto-humanity exist through the craft of the Dwarves, but it is the gift of Óðin that allows humans to achieve consciousness. It is significant that in the Northern Tradition consciousness is a great gift bestowed by the All-Father (Óðin), while in the Abrahamic Tradition the dawning of consciousness occurs in spite of and in opposition to divine intentions.
In the Eddic creation myth there are three fundamental qualities or gifts provided by the Gods, Óðin, Hoenir and Lóðurr, which lead to the emergence of mankind: physical movement, breath and consciousness. According to Thorsson these three Gods all function as hypostases of Óðin: When Hœnir is offered as a hostage to the Vanir in the war between the Aesir and the Vanir it is noticeable that he cannot function independently, and is only able to speak with reason or insight when in the presence of Mimir. This suggests that Hœnir functions primarily as a vessel through which other deities can operate. Similarly, Lóðurr is only mentioned in the company of Óðin. It therefore seems reasonable to regard the introduction of Hœnir and Lóðurr as a means by which Óðin as a singular entity can be represented in the symbolically creative pattern of three-foldedness. This view is supported by linguistic links that connect Hœnir and Lóðurr to Huginn and Muninn, the two ravens that accompany Óðin. Absolute reality, even at the level of the Gods is fluid. This implies a complex dynamic model of reality in which any number of competing models may be fully real in any given moment.
Since the Universe was shaped out of the body of Ymir, an entity without reflective consciousness, reflective consciousness is not the fundamental primordial Universal state, but a state that arises from the acts of Óðin. While reflexivity is limited to humans and certain other trans-human entities, the creation myth can still be regarded as sympathetic to a fully animistic ontology: All matter in the Universe partakes of the spirit or force within the Ginnungagap and the Universe itself does not arise through any anthropomorphic or anthropocentric process.
The most significant aspect of this cosmogony is its presentation of a Universe that is not only amenable to magical activity, but is created in its present form by a series of magical acts: The Universe is inherently and essentially magical. If the Universe is, at its heart, a magical creation then the development of sufficient wisdom will allow the individual to begin to understand the fundamental magical structure of the universe. Once this structure is understood at a deep level, its magical nature means that it may be susceptible to magical influence by one emulating the magical approach of Óðin.
The Eddas describe the origin of the Universe as a physical reaction rather than the result of a divine fiat: The collision of Fire and Ice within the void or Ginnungagap ultimately leads to the organisation of matter and energy to form the manifest universe. We may understand the two extremes of Fire and Ice as representing an expansive exothermic energy (Fire) and an extremely dense stable force (Ice). It is tempting to see in this description a close analogy for the Big Bang moment and indeed to see Ymir (‘The Roarer’) as representing the undifferentiated potential that explodes from that initial point of creation. There is a period of undirected unconscious generation, before the first Gods appear and seek to impose conscious form and order on the Universe. In placing the Gods, including Óðin, within the Universe rather than transcendent of it, we can see an emphasis on the lived world and the entwining of the physical and the trans-physical.