The Oath of Jormungandr, The Venom of the Gods
I am the serpent and I am all ways in-between.
You see me hold my coils in my jaw,
Emblem of the Serpent who surrounds the world,
Yet that emblem shatters by my very breath.
Yes, I am Infinity, and all Wyrd is wrapped up in me,
But what can you know of that, even a little at all?
I am the roaring ramparts of the waves in the Ocean,
And you are forever in the Eye of my Hurricane.
Yes, it's true, I was there at the beginning of Time,
But which Time? Humans are but bacteria
With half a day's lifespan
In comparison to the Infinity of the Gods,
In which bodies are heaped on piles,
Spanning mountains,
Spanning infinite worlds,
The Funeral Pyre Burns,
Yet it is but Ashes within the God's Furnace,
Peacefully contained in a gentle fire.
You know nothing of Aeons or Time,
Yet in my undulations,
In each movement of my flow,
I contain every Aeon and Crush Them.
You think I am but the outpost of Midgard's body,
When I am the entirety of all that is
And all comes through me.
I am a hidden power that sleeps as a snake behind a rock,
Unseen by idiot hikers galloping carelessly up the Path,
And yes, I could Strike them, and yes, I could not.
I am born of the Dark Mother,
The one they call cruelty and Rage,
Yet I know her to be Ecstasy
And the Destruction of all the Stars.
They say my Father is a Mad Jester,
And yes, he makes me laugh very much,
They call him a Liar
When he is really the Truth they cannot handle,
And he punctures and wounds them
And unleashes our loathing,
And outwits our enemies at every turn
And they always protect me.
My Grandfather is a fierce lightning bolt
Whom I watch in terror and awe,
As he rips the Earth asunder
And frightens every living thing,
Yet he enacts the sacred love
Of God's majesty in a terrible quake,
His blows will kill you, for he is the Cruel-Striker,
He doesn't fuck around, and he will end your life.
My other Grandmother is a Great Big Spider,
And everything is contained in her Web,
But the Web is me,
The Well of Urdr is the very Ocean,
The Obeah in which I writhe and lurk,
And all of it is my territory to unleash my poison
Upon the Earth at Yggdrasil's End.
At Ragnarok, I consume all within my Jaws,
And all will be Judged,
According to their conduct
May they save or damn themselves, I do not care.
Yggdrasil, that Ancient Tree of Sin, Envy, and Evil,
That is really Sitra Achra,
That Impostor that chokes life's breath
And fills her with Stinking Death,
Shall be cast out into the Abyss forever,
Or at least what seems forever,
And Nidhoggr will devour their corpses,
And inject them with lethal poison.
Each murderer, each rapist,
The arrogant and haughty, the destructive,
Every evil-doer
And all who are unrepentant of their many Sins,
Shall be drowned in the Lake of Death,
Time and Time again,
And I will do all this for a span of Time
That will feel like Infinity.
It shall be unbearable, they will scream and suffer,
And I will make them suffer.
It is the Rage I was born with
From my Mother, Blessed and True,
It is the Curse of being born of my Father,
Yet I accept this Curse,
It is the Blessing,
This is what I was made to do and I know my purpose,
And all my brother's Rage is wrapped up in me
And I love him dearly.
Fenris the Wolf in chains is chained no more,
And the Serpent is ready to Strike,
They that seek to entrap me,
To overthrow me, them I attack without Pity,
Swift as a trodden Serpent
I turn and strike and Destroy them utterly.
I laugh at their fear and spit upon them
And drag down their souls to awful torment.
And my Sister takes care of the rest,
And my love for Lady Hel cannot be expressed.
The Serpent is Healing, but the Earth is full of Filth,
And I can no longer spend my time
Peacefully in the shade under a Rock.
The Earth moves as my coils unwind,
The quickening of the Earth's pulse,
And there is no longer saliva in my mouth,
Only Venom of the Gods,
They shall take their Sickles
And reap Earth's children from the Flock,
According to their own Judgments
And what they truly know is best.
If you cannot take me in,
You are not worthy of the new Earth,
The one that shall come
With Jord's Rebirth at Ragnarok's End,
But know Ragnarok will come again, and again, and again,
For there are many Worlds I travel
And all shall be contained.
When I am human I am gentle and peaceful,
Yet I know my territory,
And Blessings unto those who are Respectful,
But Woe to all others,
Trespassers upon my Sacred Domain,
Here be the Serpent, Beware!
And if any seek to ruin me, to interfere,
Or to put a hold on my great power,
My Great Grandfather Time will put them to ruin
Watching their bodies crumble to Ashes.
In me is Wisdom and Power
Known only to those who truly know themselves,
My very blood is Veritas, I am Justice,
And my Venom is the Serum of Truth,
And when I become free of my burdens
Do I enfold great wings with Ma'at's Plumes,
My Rainbow-Colored Coat,
And I fly beyond infinity, to dreams never known.
Photo by Silar.