It all began with chaos

Before us all, was chaos.. 
​Before light and dark, before day and night, before joy and despair, before right and wrong. Before duality, division and discord, there was harmony in the darkness.
Think in this instance as chaos like a seed of potential and not a sink full of dishes, the aftermath of a children’s birthday party or worse, war. Chaos in its most primordial instance is a chasm from which potential, creation and life can spring forth. The reason for anything being in this universe is due to the imbalance of matter vs. anti-matter (the space which has vs. the space which has not). 

Sprung from chaos is the beginning of everything, from unity into separation. In many world mythologies, most prominently Greek, Vedic and Norse the source of life itself is chaos, a creative force filled with potential. Dark, unbound and vast. We observe that often there is a seed, a small moment that gives way to a separation. The earth and sky, or ocean and sky are separated to first make room for the budding growth of the world.

In greek mythology Gaia {earth} comes from chaos and births Ouranos {sky}. Gaia is the earth mother, the fertility, divine feminine and cosmic cyclical expression of life. From her union with Ouranos comes Erebus and Nyx {day and night} and Eros. The basis for the lives and days ahead and the pursuit of each day, love. At this point in time the gods and goddesses were primordial, offering people an explanation to nature’s happenings and not as an incarnation of human form. (That comes later..)

Similarly in Vedic mythology it is a chasm of darkness that unifies the concept of ‘not being’ until desire comes to be, the spring from which the seed of life is derived. This is often depicted as Brahma the four headed god of creation, or what could be. Alongside him is Krishna, the preserver and Shiva the destroyer, together known as the ‘Trimurti’ {three forms}. But of course what these three gods descend from is darkness, and that is Śakti {power}. She exists outside of time, outside of universal dwelling and is the force behind all that radiates across this earth. Similar to Gaia she is the primordial life we all derive from. We also see an incarnation of Śakti in the goddess Kali {she who is black/of the darkness}.

Norse mythology describes Ymir, a giant oceanic god sat in an abyss of space and time, surrounded by nothing. However he decays, and his body is used to create the 9 realms that interweave through Yggdrasil, the world tree. From his flesh earth was formed, from his bones the hills and mountains, from his skull the heavens, from his hair the trees and plants, from his blood the sea and from his brain the heavy clouds. 

Darkness is not to be feared but embraced as a place from which wisdom, creation and understanding evolve.

Chaoskampf - a second coming of chaos

Understandably with the cyclical nature of time being front and centre in creation stories we can sense a second coming of chaos in what’s known as a chaoskampf {chaos thought} tale. These usually arise far into the established world and come at a conjunction point on the precipice of a new beginning.
More often than not, a storm or sky god must fight and slay a great dragon, sea snake or winged serpent that threatens the way of life.

Perhaps you can recall the tale of Zeus, mighty god of lightening who overcame the titan, serpentine legged giant Typhôn who attempted overthrow Zeus for the reign of the cosmos and send it back into chaos. Mount Olympus was formed after Zeus’ succession, the palatial sky dwelling of the vast pantheon of greek gods and goddesses. This made room for people’s beliefs to move from primordial deities of earth and sky and move to more complex ones with human-like emotions. To bridge the gap between human and god, this significantly shifted worship from sacrifice to prayer and thought.

Or maybe think of Indra {sky god} defeating Vṛtrá the great winged snake of Vedic mythology. The mountains blocked passage of the migrating peoples so Indra was called upon slay Vṛtrá to crack the mountain open and bring forth the rivers of nourishment to the land of India. Funnily enough this tale dates around the neolithic period of ancient history when people were settling and farming land and of course, needed free-flowing water to grow crops and feed growing communities. 

But we also see this tale with Thor and Jörmungandr, god of thunder and the serpent of Midgard respectively. Jörmungandr was thrown into the ocean as a child for he disgusted Odin. As he absorbed the ocean of chaos he grew to encircle Midgard {home of man} and was able to grasp his own tail within his jaws - an example of an ouroboros (a serpent that continually circles itself and signifies the cycles of life). Jörmungandr then unleashed the chaos ocean and brought Ragnarök, Thor triumphs in defeating him and from this ocean of chaos springs new life.

In each of these tales lightening bolts are the weapons of victory for the storm and sky gods, striking the snake/dragon-like beings down. All of these tales begin through oral tradition, giving us the overarching similarities, with finer details differing through time and as the written word progresses.

We can date most of these tales back to the Indo-European migration pathway (spanning from modern day north India to Great Britain) which largely lasted from 4000-1000 BCE. This spanned the era in history where settling and community building was vast and prominent. I imagine a time where the ancestors of a Greek family, an Indian family and a Scandinavian family were sat round a fire sharing tales of chaos and creation, snakes and seas, gods and goddesses, all in search of finding the meaning of their being.

Like our ancestors, to embrace chaos is to embrace the unknown. All these mythological tales give us an insight into how the people of ancient Greece, neolithic India and old Norse civilisations explained the ever changing reality of the world around them. Telling tales of their sky, storm, thunder or lightening god, withstanding the vast sky and sprawling oceans of uncertainty, to invoke feelings of reverence while embarking on new adventures. Using the spark of radiant, striking light to slay lies, and illuminate the path ahead.