In the Norse myths, Jormungand is known to be the son of Loki and Angurboda. He takes the form of a giant serpent. Tossed into the ocean, he eventually grows so big he outgrows the water and encircles the world. He currently bites his tail, but during Ragnarok he is predicted to release his tail as calamity follows.
This, combined with the fact I spend lots of time in astronomy apps and observing our night skies, has made me wonder if he might just be meant to tie to the visible sight of the milky way in our night skies. Just as the earth we live on (Midgard) rotates daily, and then annually around our sun, our solar system in turn is in motion spinning around our galaxy of the milky way. Every star visible in the night sky is an object that resides within our galaxy. Most of the objects in our spiral galaxy appear like a disc in what is often referred to as the galactic plane.
That disc like plane forms a giant band of stars that to the naked eye as we observe it from earth at night, encircles the sky from one direction to it’s opposite until the terrain cuts off the sight of it. In dark skies (which would have been the norm in ancient and pre-historic and earlier times) it would have been very visible at night. We forget how noticeable the stars truly are because of modern light pollution. (Sources of light drown out the fainter star light, so street lights, traffic lights, outdoor business and house lighting, headlights, brake lights, etc.). Inner cities see maybe a dozen night time objects, the darkest skies on earth (comparable to what even Neolithic man would have seen) see around 5,000 stars. Our galaxy is estimated to have over 100 billion stars in it (possibly upwards of 400 billion stars), so we only ‘see’ a very infinitesimally minute glimpse of our immediate vicinity in the milky way.
Depending on the time of year, and viewing location on the earth the milky way appears differently. In the northern hemisphere for example, it’s more horizontal in March, later in the year it’s very vertical. Not only does it move during the course of the year, but even in the course of the night you’ll see its angle in the sky move a lot (in some ways from a flaccid shape to something more erect for chunks of the year). This could play off some proposed etymology for Jormungand, from jǫrmun- (“whole; great, giant”) + gandr (“stick, staff; phallus, magic, monster”). So not only do we get a great monster, but we could also get giant pole from his name (and that etymology has been suggested). Additionally as the Milky Way moves throughout the year we get different orientations and angles. From horizontal and slightly arched bands, to vertically upright, and various tilts in-between. Could the changing of the shapes be connected to the story in Gylfaginning of Thor when he faces Utgard-Loki and his task of lifting the cat, which was really Jormungand in disguise.
Astronomy Software, and select photo apps can visually show you it’s angle in the sky to any moment (past, present or future). Yet there’s nothing the same as seeing it yourself, no simulation, no app, no photo really properly conveys how it does surround and encircle. A camera simply put can’t capture it, even a panorama gives a misleading impression. Especially at the times of year when the orientation is far more vertical to the horizon. You can face it at night on the earth’s surface, look up as far as your neck will allow, and still it stretches beyond what you can see. If you then turn about 180 degrees there’s more of the band continuing behind you. In other words it appears to us on the earth like an unbroken circle. In the myths this would sync with the visual described of Jormungand biting his tail, and would also tie into the ouroboros symbol.
The Milky Way in a vertical orientation.
Now while you could look in opposite directions and see the galactic plane of the milky way in such a way it feels like a ring encircling the earth, the reality is a bit different. Let’s return to our understanding that we live in a spiral galaxy. In a way think of the galaxy as being a fried egg. The spiral arms are like the cooked whites and the galactic center is the yellow yolk.
When we look one way we are looking towards the galactic center (the egg yolk). This direction is far more noticeably bright and is towards the direction of Sagittarius. There’s a black hole between us and the center so it’s more visible and with surrounding structures, cosmic dust, visible gas and light. So the galactic center is bulbous in appearance along the disc of the galactic plane. But when we look the other way, while we can still see the milky way we’re now looking away from the center of our galaxy. So the stars are more faint, and visible band of the milky way along the disc of the galactic plane appears more slender. So we’re not really enveloped in a ring, but we’re in the middle of a band in our galaxy with spiral arms on either side of us in rotation around the galactic center. Cosmic scale being what it is for the human experience on earth it can look to us as if the milky way is a continuous ring around us. But the super bright area of the milky way at the galactic center gives the impression of a larger shape and others areas more slender and tapered. Not only does this visual of the milky way fit with Jormungand’s description in the myths of a him biting his tail, but this also syncs with the circular ring symbol of ouroboros.
In the surviving excerpts quoted of At-Tatuschi (aka Ibrahim ibn Yaqub)’s travels (during 961-962 CE), he records seeing worship connected to the Sirius star in what is today Hedeby, Denmark. We don’t know who was being worshipped per what survives of the source, but that star is known as Lokabrenna, (Loki’s Torch) so it may be evidence of cultic worship to Loki. Sirius is in Canis Major, and the constellation interestingly enough does border that band of the milky way. Sirius is also one of the brightest visible stars. The only brighter objects in the sky visible from earth are: the sun, moon, and the planets of Jupiter and Venus. So one might take a leap of logic and if Loki is represented by Sirius and if Jormungand is symbolically tied to the Milky Way, then we would have Daddy’s Star right by his son’s serpent like band of light. Which would be sort of sweet. (But this is highly speculative).
As a fun aside, currently there’s been posits that Neolithic site Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, had the temple aligned to Sirius. Ancient Egyptians were known to set their calendars by the star. Many more cultures noted it too, including elsewhere in the Indo-European umbrella.
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