Ginnungagap
In Norse mythology, the unfathomable gap between Niflheim
(the region of eternal cold, mist, and darkness) and Muspellsheim
(the realm of fire)the void before the creation.
Cold winds from the abyss changed the streams into blocks of
ice, which fell into the void with the sound of thunder, the legends
say. Sparks from Muspellsheim turned the ice into
streams, forming layers of frost that filled the gap. The inchoate
mass became animate, taking the form of the primeval giant
Ymir. Ymir was slain by Odin, Villi, and Ve, who threw his body
into the chasm, where his blood became the sea, his flesh the
earth, his bones the mountains and rocks, his skull the sky, and
his brains the clouds.
During the eleventh century, the sea between Greenland
and America was named Ginnungagap.
The name was also used by author James Webb as the title
of the first chapter of his book The Occult Establishment (1976)
to denote the political and economic chaos in Western Europe
after World War I, from which arose occult and political cults
and their leaders, profoundly influencing modern society.
