Mundilfari
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In Norse mythology, Mundilfari (or Mundilfäri) and may be rendered in English as "Travels Like a Pendulum" or "Mover of the Handle" where "mundil" refers to the paradigm of "cycles", "periods" and "revolutions"; hence 'the revolution of the heavens': is a Jǫtunn and father of Sól (goddess of the Sun) and Mani (god of the Moon) by Glaur. His name is borne by a moon of Saturn.
[edit] Iconography
The bindrune or aniconic device that constitutes Mundilfari's sigil is visually cognate with the svastika and/or sauvastika and in certain examples may be parsed into four laguz affixed at the hub of the "wheel of flow" or "flowing wheel".[citation needed] Indeed, Mundilfari is one of the Norse names for what is commonly known as the Swastika.
[edit] Cultural references
In a Norse fairytale entitled The Child of the All-Mother retrievable on the Northvegr Foundation Website, Mundilfari appears in the story after the female protagonist turns a key in a lock to a door she has both been oath-bound by Frija not to enter, as well as expressly forbidden to enter in the fashion of the Bluebeard archetype:
She sought out the key, and when she had got it in her hand, she put it in the lock, and when she had put it in, she turned it round as well. Then the door sprang open, and she saw there Mundilfari[1], the man who turns the cosmic mill, the father of the sun and the moon, sitting in fire and splendor.[2]
Mundilfari as the primordial giant of cycles is summoned by the turning of the key. The golden fire of Mundilfari marks the transgression and oathbreaking of the female protagonist and is therefore a conduit for returning the fruit of activity to the perpetrator as is the way of Wyrd. The tale is principally a cautionary or morality tale with the key theme of arrogant pride of an oathbreaker redressed by honesty and the cycle of justice: "He who disavows dishonour and acknowledges it, is worthy."[3]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Mundilfoeri = 'The Mover of the Handle' Old Norse; the mundil refers to 'the revolution of the heavens'
- ^ Source: [1]; accessed: October 4, 2007
- ^ Source: [2]; accessed: October 4, 2007
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