The Twilight of the Gods: the Life Lessons that Norse Mythology Offers to Young People

The Gods of the Norse people, unlike those of the Greeks, seldom interact with human beings. They are a grim and solitary order of beings. In all likelihood, this is a consequence of their dark destiny - for they are doomed to live in a realm that is moving, inevitably, towards total destruction. Such is the prophecy foretold in The Twilight of the Gods.

The Twilight of the Gods is a story taught to fourth graders in Waldorf schools - taught, not as a myth or tale to enlighten them about cultures long passed, but rather as a living and true story that reflects what is happening inside of them.

The magical, fairy-like world that they have lived in for the previous eight or nine years is beginning to fade. Just as the Bifrost Bridge, which connects Asgard (the immortal realm where the Gods and light elves dwell) with Midgard (the mortal world of humans and dark elves) will be shattered in the Last Battle of Ragnorak, according to Norse myth, so the children are experiencing the death of the divine connection that they once felt with the world of living imagination.

They're beginning to understand that they're separate and in some ways alone. Playing as orphans becomes a popular game. This expresses their understanding of this separation; because they're growing up they are, in many ways, moving away from a place of simple harmony and forgetting their true origins. We all have to go through this. No one holds onto childhood, because to do so we would have to remain as children forever.

Mythology is vital and alive for us today; it is not the relic of a vanished past. The Twilight of the Gods doesn't really describe a state of world damnation; what it does is reflect the process of humanity becoming conscious. It captures that moment when our lives are no longer "given" to us by divine authority (for most children, their parents). We are stepping into a world of consequences and personal responsibility.