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Archive for 21/03/2010

Poetic Edda

A volcano that has been dormant for almost 200 years has erupted in Iceland.

 reykjavik-volcano.jpg

The eruption was in a mountain pass beside the Eyjafjallajokull glazier and 100 miles or so from Reykjavik - the world’s northern most capital of a sovereign state and only slightly south of the Arctic circle. Seismic activity in the run up to the eruption began around Christmas 2009.  Over the past 1,100 years Eyjafjallajokull has erupted just 3 times - in 920, 1612 and December 1821-Spring 1823.  Its the last dates that fascinate us as this covers almost the entire period of Charles Lamb’s journal.

Iceland is also a Nordic country.  In Norse mythology Yggdrasil is the world tree. As explained in our novel it is generally considered to mean ‘Odin’s Horse’. Yggdrasil is so central to Charles Lamb’s story and inspired the Blakesware Set to devise The Haymakers Survey. Yggdrasil is attested in the Poetic Edda.  It is preserved in the medieval manuscript Codex Regius. Well, surprise, surpise - the original manuscript for the Poetic Edda is displayed in the Culture House in Reyjavik.

Malachi refers to the Codex Regius on page 177 of our novel. He says’ They stretched out strings of Gold and fastened them under the hall of the moon’.  He said this to show that there is a secret hidden force with a conductor controlling everything … call it the Earth Spirit!

All very curious and fascinating, don’t you think. What does this relatively innocuous volcanic eruption really mean? Listen afresh to the words of this song. As Ice says, “It’s a hell of a concept!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp-is6S_b_g

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