Ragnarök/Götterdämmerung...

I know that I hung on a windy tree
nine long nights,
wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin,
myself to myself,
on that tree of which no man knows from where its roots run

No bread did they give me nor a drink from a horn,
downwards I peered;
I took up the runes,
screaming I took them,
then I fell back from there.

O thou, my Will! Thou change of every need, MY needfulness! Preserve me from all small victories!

Thou fatedness of my soul, which I call fate! Thou In-me! Over-me! Preserve and spare me for one great fate!

And thy last greatness, my Will, spare it for thy last--that thou mayest be inexorable IN thy victory! Ah, who hath not succumbed to his victory!

Ah, whose eye hath not bedimmed in this intoxicated twilight! Ah, whose foot hath not faltered and forgotten in victory--how to stand!--

--That I may one day be ready and ripe in the great noontide: ready and ripe like the glowing ore, the lightning-bearing cloud, and the swelling milk-udder:--

--Ready for myself and for my most hidden Will: a bow eager for its arrow, an arrow eager for its star:--

--A star, ready and ripe in its noontide, glowing, pierced, blessed, by annihilating sun-arrows:--

--A sun itself, and an inexorable sun-will, ready for annihilation in victory!

O Will, thou change of every need, MY needfulness! Spare me for one great victory!---

Thus spake Zarathustra.



"We cannot lean on strength alone. In these times, we must act with wisdom! I must seek the wisdom of Odin, for it was my father's greatest strength!

I leave you know in body, but my spirit remains here in our land, in our blood!

You must seek knowledge. You must seek a deeper knowing!

Thy mortal life sets thee apart from the gods, just as thy godliness set thee apart from mortals--open your eyes! Who do you see before you?

Stop thinking...

Just tell me who I am.

Reach into thine heart and find the truth! Use thine heart, not thy eyes. Yes!

You seek answers, a deeper knowing. You seek the knowledge of a god!

You have proven unready for such things--unworthy by your actions!

you cannot use such power without understanding it!

To find your answers you must walk the path of the All-father to become a god.

I am a God! For better or worse.

Only through knowing and sacrifice does one become ennobled!

To answer your questions you must become more than the All-father! Shall you fight or embrace your doom, godling?

I don't know!

You shall! ...godliness is sought...through making, not through happenstance or birthright does one become a true god.

...to destroy his roots to become a god. To move beyond his beginnings, he had to destroy them.

...to move beyond himself...had to destroy himself!

Yes. To seek true wisdom, it is said that Odin came here, to the well of Mimir The well did not give him wisdom. That came from ritual and sacrifice that allowed Odin to find the wisdom within himself. You must find you own ritual. You must face your fate and that of the gods.

Only you can know what must be done.

You cannot walk the path already taken!

You know what you must do!

This deed has taken all my will...and I am blind! I am nothing.

You cannot even imagine what ending waits for you. Drink deep...refill the cup of wisdom. With your eyes forever closed, see now with all your being! Now you journey into mystery!

Have you discovered, then, the beginning, that you look for the end?

Ragnarok. I can see...the old dream. Now I know...now I remember! This has happened many times before! ...the twilight of the gods is fading again! Again! We have lost Ragnarok time and time over, and it comes in many forms. Once more I stand in its shadow! Ragnarok is a cycle, a cycle!

I remember now; all of the end times, each different, and false. But always it comes. It is a never ending cycle...why!?

For that knowing you must seek the future, you must seek the image of the runes. To complete your task...you must cast you very life aside!

You must be reborn!

Birth requires the sacrifice of life--be it the planted seed or the blood of the mother's womb!

You must cease to be! You must be re-made! ...you will have sight beyond sight.

Yes! Yes! I can see now...but I see to much...

You knowledge beyond this! You need wisdom beyond wisdom, you need the magic of the runes. You must walk the final steps...to go beyond them!

This is where your father hung himself for nine days and nights--till he was at the brink of death--a sacrifice of himself to himself--and he gathered the knowledge of the runes! You must go beyond and into the maw of death itself! If you fail, there is no coming back for you.

I wonder how tomorrow could ever follow today?

...see through the veil of time, past the knowing of the gods!

Only after destruction, can there be resurrection. Now he knows what he must do.

I now have sight beyond sight--your shadows no longer cloud my eyes, great gods of old.

You have seen my kind live a never-ending cycle. But those times are done. I have become something you have never even dreamed possible.

Only after you've lost everything...can you do anything.

Now you must face the consequence of your deeds, the virtue of heroes you planted within us is fully realized--with this ultimate act of sacrifice, this final act of cosmic ritual!

And as I gaze into eternity...
I see nothing...
If only I had a star to guide me...
Or a bird to show me a sign...
For the moment, I think, I will rest...
I'll lie still and silent. Strip my mind of thoughts...
I shall close my eyes and breathe deep the slumber of Gods...for awhile at least...

---Avengers Disassembled; Thor.

Wake me up before I change again
Remind me the story that I won't get insane
Tell me why it's always the same
Explain me the reason why I'm so much in pain
Before I change again...
Remind me the story that I won't get insane
Before I change again...
Remind me the story that I won't get insane

--Infected Mushroom : Becoming Insane

Since I have been bound to the flesh
I have forgotten my divinity.
I was forced to drink the cup of madness,
I was forced to turn my hand against myself.
The powers and Principalities,
Approached and armed themselves against me.
Be an enchanter of Light,
And lay a spell on them till I pass...

Manichean hymn, 4th century AD

Let not the waters whereon thou journeyest wet thee. And, being come to shore, plant thou the Vine and rejoice without shame.