Born of Fire

Any system that describes the world starts with the idea that two principles lie at its foundation – an active, creative principle and a passive, receptive one. Father and Mother, Fire and Ice, Light and Vessel – all these binaries express the very idea of primordial creativity, pervading the Medium.

At the same time, the world of particular objects is perceived as the product of the interaction of the poles of a binary – their offspring, the androgyn.

Meanwhile, as we have already said, because this world is a description created in the mind, it is most stable where the focus of mind resides, gradually “blurring” toward the periphery until, finally, the characteristic properties of the world become indistinguishable, and it passes into the Interworld.

Therefore, any object can be divided into three zones: its “core,” which actually possesses the properties of that object; its “periphery,” where those properties are expressed more weakly; and finally, the Threshold that separates the object’s periphery from the Interworld.

Usually the boundary of an object is considered not the Threshold but the boundary of the “core,” the focus of mind that reveals that object, whether in the Psycho- or the Macrocosm.

In the context of the present discussion, note that the complete fusion of the poles of a binary occurs only in this core; in other words, on the periphery of the world one can find manifestations of “pure” Primordial Forces.

For magic, particular interest attaches to those denizens of the borderlands in whom these Primordial Forces are most fully expressed.

It is in this sense that one says Angels and other ministering spirits are “created from Primordial Fire,” because, dwelling on the Threshold between worlds, they manifest the creative activity characteristic of the Primordial impulse.

In the same sense, people often speak of “djinn created from fire,” meaning the unbalanced nature of the First Humanity.

One group of Giants-Turs, dwelling in the World of the Primordial Fire – Muspelheim, by contrast, is destined to take part in the world’s destruction (Surtr kills the God of Life – Freyr), which recalls the destructive aspect of fiery forces. These giants – eldjotuns — are part of the Jotuns, the “Progenitors,” associated with Muspelheim. They embody the active, transformative, and destructive energy of fire.

Fire giants are not mentioned as active participants in conflicts with the Aesir or humans until the end of days. This may be connected to their role as forces of destruction that awaken only when the world must be destroyed and reshaped.

A person in whom the Primal Principles are joined in relative balance therefore gains power over such spirits, because he balances and neutralizes the Fire pole they represent with his “icy” pole or, as is usually said, “grounds himself in the dense plane.” By “dense plane” here is meant precisely the sphere of neutralized binaries, the sphere of androgynous manifestations that is the human world.

However, experience shows that the moment one steps away from the center of manifestation, the Primordial Fire begins to break through the fabric of this material world with increasing intensity and can seriously traumatize an unwary mind.

The Magus must always bear in mind the “fiery nature” of those liminal beings he deals with – be they angels, goetic spirits, demons, or djinn – because their nature is inherently unbalanced, and so even without any malice, any of these “fiery” beings can be dangerous to someone without proper protection.