Thor the Volcano God

Thor the volcano god

Thor was a Norse storm, lightning and volcano god much like Zeus. He wielded a hammer (just as was Hephaestus the volcano god), had a wife with long golden hair just like Pele (the Hawaiian volcano god), had a red beard (fire), had red hair, had red fiery eyes, rode in a chariot just as did Yahweh and a few other volcano gods (chariots representing racing and tumbling ash clouds...google 'chariots of fire volcano' to find out more), wielded a mountain crushing hammer (volcanoes make mountain callapse), wore iron gloves (volcanoes often described in mythology as furnaces and the related gods were often hammer smiths or iron mongers), battled against the serpent (serpent representing the snaking rivers of fire and depicted in many volcano worshipping civilisation, e.g. the Mayans).....

'the sky will turn black before fire engulfs the world, the stars will disappear, flames will dance before the sky, steam will rise, the world will be covered in water and then it will be raised again, green and fertile'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor

Ragnarok is a mythological story about a great battle of the gods resulting in the world collapsing into the waters and a new world resurfacing and replenishing itself. This is Nordic prophecy talking about a proposed future event based on a past event or events of a volcanic eruption and land creation from a submerged volcano erupting in the sea.....a very common phenomenon. Many islands throughout the world are volcanoes or volcanic and at risk of one day sinking into the sea and eventually rising up again and becoming a new island...before collapsing again. This happened to Santorini, the eruption that most likely inspired the Biblical Exodus story.

In detail.....

Thor was said to wield a hammer just as did Hephaestus. The wielding of hammers, axes or other weapons that could make a loud bang are indicative of volcano gods. This is not just because of the noise they make but also because the ancients often viewed the volcanoes as smelting furnaces. The sound of the volcano reminded them of the sound of a blacksmith hammering away.

He had a red beard and red hair and also had a wife with long blonde hair. Hair, be it red, blonde or white, is a strong indication of a volcano god. The long blonde hair represented the flowing lava rivers, the red hair represented the very hot magma in the crater and the white hair represented the smoke billowing out of the top. This anthropomorphism of the lava, magma and smoke into hair/beards is very common throughout volcano gods.

He rode in a chariot. Chariots of fire are commonly mentioned in mythology and, I believe, represented the racing ash clouds down the sides of volcanoes.

His hammer was said to be 'mountain crushing'. How many storms have crushed mountains? This one aspect of his persona eliminates the possibility he was a storm god. Volcanic eruptions can make mountains collapse into themselves.

He battled against the midgard serpent that was said to be so collosal it could wrap itself around the world. The serpent represented the snaking rivers of lava. This battle between gods or between gods and serpents or gods and monsters on volcanoes is common throughout the world. The Hindu Vedas talks about a battle between Indra and the serpent and in Greek mythology Zeus battles Typhon (the many serpent tentacle monster) on the volcano Mount Atna.

RAGNAROK

I believe Ragnarok, like many other apocalyptic 'myths', was based on super-volcanic eruptions. These eruptions would have been seen as the end of the world. The entire globe would have been affected for years causing massive death, disease and destruction.
Civilisations would have been wiped out or taken over by opportunistic ones. Neighbours would have turned on neighbours in the fight for survival, women raped, widespread looting and murder, destroyed crops for years due to darkened skies/lower temperatures....etc, etc....
These events were written down throughout the world. Those stories were written by people who attributed natural phenomena to gods...they athropomorphised lightning, thunder, rain, etc. Volcanoes were sometimes seen as the home of a 'one true god' or 'god the almighty'. Of course, there were lots of these imaginary gods dotted around the world. In some cultures, volcanoes were seen as the battle grounds of the various gods. That is the case with Ragnarok....a battle ground between the Norse gods.
From wiki......
Volcanic eruptions[edit]

Hilda Ellis Davidson theorizes that the events in Völuspá occurring after the death of the gods (the sun turning black, steam rising, flames touching the heavens, etc.) may be inspired by the volcanic eruptions on Iceland. Records of eruptions on Iceland bear strong similarities to the sequence of events described in Völuspá, especially the eruption at Laki that occurred in 1783.[52] Bertha Phillpotts theorizes that the figure of Surtr was inspired by Icelandic eruptions, and that he was a volcano demon.[53] Surtr's name occurs in some Icelandic place names, among them the lava tube caves Surtshellir, a number of dark caverns in the volcanic central region of Iceland.<

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnar%C3%B6k#Volcanic_eruptions

Because of the anthropomorphism of the gods, the battles seem very real and very human and we can relate to them. But, in reality, they were just natural elements at the top of the volcano....thunder, lightning, fire, rocks thrown out, smoke, wind, rain, storm, crop damage, etc.....and then fertile land afterwards....renewal.....new land, new life, regeneration.

http://mythology.wikia.com/wiki/Ragnar%C3%B6k

Ragnarok was depicted in the Eddas in imagery that, much like Norse creation myths, seem to have been influenced by the natural phenomena of Iceland. The world was to be destroyed by fire and water, with steam and flames rising to the skies, a vision that could very well have been enforced by the volcanic activities of the island. Descriptions of prominent incidents involving volcanoes bear a staggering resemblance to the sequence of events that are to occur during Ragnarok: mountains are shaken by earthquakes, the sun vanishes due to the great clouds of smoke, and ash, flames and steam abound in the sky. Melting ice can cause floods of water to run alongside rivers of burning lava. The long, cold, and dark Icelandic winter must also have contributed to the vision of Ragnarok's terrifying summer-less years.

Prophetic mythological stories were written to warn people of what is to come because nature always repeats itself. Mythological stories about not building your home on low land were written to encourage decedents to build on higher ground to avoid floods, particularly in tsunami hit areas.
The ancients attributed these events to the gods but we now know natural catastrophes are not divinely inspired. We have scientists now....they did not. In ancient times the priests were the closest they got to scientists.

Mythological stories of apocalyptic catastrophes should be taken into account as they can tell us how devastating the events can be and encourage us to put in place contingency plans or affect our town planning or architectural suitability. But they should not make us concerned with our personal actions. Our personal actions or our affiliations to one religious club or another or our praying will not stop or start a volcanic eruption.


http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UOFe2pIwmGEC&pg=PT303&lpg=PT303&dq=ragnarok+volcano+mythology&source=bl&ots=t5VHiR32-c&sig=okJpeeGM-2GSuoDT-EXx3ntnM0E&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8FDoUsrJMMqAhAfwiYDwBA&ved=0CCkQ6AEwADgU#v=onepage&q=ragnarok%20volcano%20mythology&f=false

First will come a triple winter, during which snow will fall from the four corners of the heavens, the frost be very severe, the wind piercing, the weather tempestuous, and the sun impart no gladness. Three such winters will pass away without being tempered by a single summer. Three other similar winters will then follow, during which war and discord will spread over the universe. The earth itself will be frightened and begin to tremble, the sea leave its basin, the heavens tear asunder, and men perish in great numbers, and the eagles of the air feast upon their still quivering bodies. The wolf Fenris will now break his bands, the Midgard serpent rise out of her bed in the sea, and Loki, released from his bonds, will join the enemies of the gods. Amidst the general devastation the sons of Muspelheim will rush forth under their leader Surtur, before and behind whom are flames and burning fire.

The gods and their enemies having fallen in battle, Surtur, who has killed Freyr, darts fire and flames over the world, and the whole universe is burned up. The sun becomes dim, the earth sinks into the ocean, the stars fall from heaven, and time is no more.
"In that strange island, Iceland,--burst up, the geologists say, by fire from the bottom of the sea, a wild land of barrenness and lava, swallowed many months of every year in black tempests, yet with a wild, gleaming beauty in summer time, towering up there stern and grim in the North Ocean, with its snow yokuls [mountains], roaring geysers [boiling springs], sulphur pools, and horrid volcanic chasms, like the waste, chaotic battlefield of Frost and Fire.<
The above is from....
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_text_bullfinch_40.htm

Many scholars (such as Hilda Ellis Davidson in her book Gods and Myths of Northern Europe) argue that this last part, telling of the "earth sinking into the sea" and flames and smoke billowing forth to reach the heavens, was inspired by a volcanic eruption witnessed on Iceland. So it is of some interest that this activity is associated with the flaming sword of Surtr, which eventually consumes the entire world.<

from
http://unveilingtheapocalypse.blogspot.com/2012/07/ragnarok-end-time-flood-and-giant-with.html
The need to establish contingency plans is one of the reasons for the newly created scientific discipline called Geomythology. Geomythology makes use of warnings in mythology to help better understand sites of potential natural disasters.
Is the prepared for three years of darkness? What would happen to the world if a supervolcano erupted making crops around the world fail for three years?
We have no contingency plans in place because we have lost the meaning of mythological prophetic warnings. They were meant to make us fear forthcoming disasters. They were not meant to make us spend more time in church, pray more, double check you'd done the right combination of ritualistic practices to ensure you went through the right gate, monitor your behaviour, criticise others for their behaviour, etc, etc.
We need to re-learn the art of myths and start to talk about what we can do to prepare the world for future catastrophe.....all of us as equals, equally responsible and equally helpful.

TO BE TIDIED UP SOON