The Beast at Our Door: Fenrir Wolf and ICE by Janet Maika’i Rudolph

When I was a shamanic trainee, our group spent a lot of time and focus on the “beast within” This concept has had many expressions in different circumstances – the shadow side (Jung), the dark side (Star Wars), letting loose the “dogs of war” (William Shakespeare), reptilian instincts (psychology). 

Mythology has many stories about this phenomenon. In our group, we studied the stories as a way to learn what we must do in our own lives to tame the beast so we had this energy available to use the energy without letting the crueler destructive aspects of the beast run rampant. Here are two of the stories as we discussed them.

Fenrir Wolf

Fenrir Wolf is a deity from the Norse tradition who was known and feared as a great monster. Tyr was the only God in Asgard brave enough to tend to Fenrir. For a long time, Tyr fed and cared for him. Eventually, though, Fenrir grew too large to handle and began running throughout the land called Midgard, killing both gods and people. Odin called a council to discuss how Fenrir could be slain. 

But the gods were frightened of a creature who could slay gods. Tyr, who had been friend to Fenrir, sadly agreed that he should be the one to undertake the task. In preparation, he went to the dwarfs and the elves, who forged a magic chain of silver along with other elements: “the sound of a cat’s footfall, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, bear’s sinews, fish’s breath, and bird’s spittle.”[i]

Tyr took the magical chain along with two others to find Fenrir. When they met, Tyr challenged him to a battle of honor. Before beginning, though, Tyr asked Fenrir to perform feats of strength. Fenrir thought he could not be beaten and so agreed. Tyr chained Fenrir with his first chain, one made of earth and fire. Fenrir tore through it easily. Then Tyr chained Fenrir with the second chain, one made of air and water. Again, Fenrir tore it apart.  

In the final challenge, Tyr revealed the magical silver chain. Fenrir saw how thin it was and so was not afraid but did sense deception. As a surety he demanded that Tyr place his own hand into Fenrir’s mouth. Tyr did so before looping the magic chain over Fenrir’s enormous muzzle and trapping him. Furious, he bit off Tyr’s hand, even as the chain securely bound him. 

To ensure that Fenrir would never hurt another, Tyr took him to the moon. He tied the chain to a stone and buried it so deeply, it would keep Fenrir trapped forever. It is said that to this day, wolves howl at the moon in homage to their god, assuring the rest of us in knowing that Fenrir is still tied fast to that stone. 

Hercules   

As the story goes, Hercules committed a “beastly” act. In a fit of rage and madness, he killed his wife and children. 

Filled with remorse and shame at his violent act, he withdrew into the wilderness. His cousin Theseus encouraged him to travel to the Oracle of Delphi to receive her advice. That is where, according to one version of the story, he is given his twelve labors.

Hercules’s first labor was to slay the Nemean Lion and then wear its skin without tearing it.  Like Fenrir, the Nemean Lion was running throughout the land, laying waste and causing destruction. Hercules found the lion in a cave. After an all-out battle, Hercules, fighting with only his bare hands, was able to crush out the lion’s life. But how to wear the skin?  Not only was he forbidden to tear it, but no ordinary knife would work on it. Hercules solved the problem by using the lion’s own claws to carefully scrape the skin. When complete, he wore the lion skin as a garment with the upper half of the lion’s head sitting upon his own as a headdress.  

In this manner, the lion remains alive through him, and like Fenrir, in a state where it is bound.

As shamans-in-training we used this as the template for our own necessary journey. Our beast represents first chakra energy, all about basic survival needs and unawakened urges. Our task is to take the beastly aspect of our first chakra energy and bind its dysfunctional aspects, even while transforming the positive, loving, energetic aspects. Only in this way can our lion/beast/wolf be utilized as altruistic strength with a focus on nurturing, not destroying.

This concept of the beast run amok appears in the story of Samson. In his own “beastly act,” he the Philistines’ fields, a particularly vicious act during harvest time. To achieve this, he obtained 300 foxes, tied burning torches to their tails, and set them loose to run through the fields. In this story when the authorities eventually try to capture and bind Samson, just as with Fenrir, they, too, try magic ropes before the secret of his hair is revealed. Notice that in the myth, Fenrir is not killed. The beast is not denied nor ignored.  But Fenrir is bound in such a way that he can do no damage to the world. 

  The concept of binding one’s own beast also appears in the Gospel of Thomas. [ii]   
Jesus said, “Blessed is the lion which becomes man
when consumed by man; and cursed is the man
whom the lion consumes, and the lion becomes man.”

I think back to all these teachings and then I look at ICE and their tactics. I see them as Samson’s foxes running through the fields lighting fires, or Fenrir wolf destroying all in its path, or Hercules in his mad rampage. Not only are the restrainst, if they exiust as all, weak but there is a whole powerful authority structure that is cheering the process on. One judge puts limits on them and then the next court removes them. The Supreme Court has legitimized some of the cruelest actions of this administration including sending immigratns to countries with civil rights violations. White House official, Steven Miller has told ICE agents that they have immunity from the laws of this country.

A headline came across my feed recently: Trump Admin Removes Five of ICE Barbie’s Top Goons. I thought what could they possibly have done that the administration would remove them. I was wrong, they were being removed because they were not being cruel enough. Read that again, they have not been not cruel enough.

ICE is using video game memes to recruit. This means they are seeking to enlist people who are already primed for violence and humiliating any they consider “enemy.”

ICE has been prowling in Chicago.  Their heavy handed tactics has drawn lawsuits and judicial attention. Kids having a Halloween party were tear gassed. Below is a line that was actually in a judicial order in Chicago by US District Judge, Sara Ellis who wrote, “Kids dressed in Halloween costumes, walking to a parade, do not pose an immediate threat to the safety of a law enforcement officer or others. They just don’t. And you can’t use riot control weapons against them.”

As mythology teaches us, once these beasts within are let loose, it not only takes tremendous effort to restrain them but also sacrifices such as Tyr when he volunteered to put his hand into the beast’s mouth. What is the equivalent in our world? Part of the answer is to resist as much as possible. It includes calling out the cruelty as loud as we are able. It is to stand together against repression. And to keep resisting until this beast is tethered.

Here is an organization that I have supported who seems to be making a difference: The Save America Movement.

One of their projects is called “Liberty Vans” where they go into areas or cities when ICE is raiding and they film what is happening. They have caught a number of incidences that reveal the true toll of ICE actions. Below is one such video.

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[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleipnir; consulted January, 2014.

[ii] /www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gthlamb.html/ Translated by Thomas O. Lambdin.  From the Nag Hammadi Library; consulted May, 2014. 

Special thanks to my former teachers, the Revs Husfelts for introducing me to teachings such as these.