The Lupine-one got there first! - but cannot protect you from my waffling rot...
When Thor slays Jormungand, his hammer [mjollnir] would likely have shattered its spine or skull. He is engulfed in venom and only manages to stumble 9 steps before falling.
Is this another significant 9? Nine worlds, after all. [if he stumbled through the solar-system... the ninth rock is Pluto... Fitting]
The world serpent would be the most likely cause of tectonic rumblings... your dream fits the details perfectly. But Ragnarok [the final battle] is not the first encounter between these foes... there's a little back-story:
Thor travels to the giants' stronghold at Utgard... where he is set a series of trials, one of which sees him trying to lift the giant King's grey cat. He tries with one arm, but the kitty just arches its back... even using both arms, the cat just arches over him like a rainbow - all four paws to the floor.
It turns out that the trials were "fixed" by enchantment - the cat is really Jormungand.
Thor seeks retribution. Persuading a giant to take him fishing, with the head of a huge ox [SkyBellower] for bait, Thor succeeds in hooking the beast - pulling so hard that both feet go thru the boat... then digging his heels into the sea-bed.
When he manages to get its head up, the giant goes pale and cuts Thor's line just as he draws back to hammer its skull. As it dives, Thor flings Mjollnir and catches it a blow on the head... but, obviously, not hard enough!
As far as I know, there are only two other serpent/dragon figures from the Norse... Nidhogg [corpse-sucker] down in the roots of Yggdrasil and another named Fafnir. Not originally a dragon, Fafnir turns himself into one to protect a hoard of gold, the same hoard from which came "The Ring" of Wagner and Tolkein. Fafnir's brother Regin plots to slay him and take the booty - roping in the legendary Sigurd to do the dirty.
With the dragon slain, Regin tells Sigurd to cook the heart for him - Sigurd does so, touching it at one point to see if it is ready. Burning his fingertip, he puts it in his mouth to soothe it, inadvertently swallowing a little of the sizzling juice. Suddenly, he understands the birds who chatter in the trees... they are mocking him for being a fool, for not seeing that Regin intends to slay his accomplice and for not eating the heart himself... to do so would make him "wisest of all".
Forewarned, Sigurd slays Regin, eats the heart and curls up to sleep on the cursed gold.
Thanks for bearing with me... the images seem to mirror your dream and, due to your suspicions of "extra-personal" significance, I'm adding all I know to your thread.
Incidentally... I'm not particularly good at remembering dreams, but I did have one recently that I recall. I was given a symbol of fire to hold in each hand: a rose in my left and an eagle in my right. For some reason, I couldn't maintain these, so - without any criticism/reprimand I was given new symbols which I could hold comfortably: a dragon on my left and a raven on my right.
Seems to be serpent season! |
