← Home
The Kalevala · 166 of 275 · tr. John Martin Crawford

Rune XXVII-e

Quick as lightning, Lemminkainen, With his father's blade of battle, With a single blow of broadsword, With united skill and power, Lopped the head of Pohya's master; As one cleaves the stalks of turnips, As the ear falls from the corn-stalk, As one strikes the fins from salmon, Thus the head rolled from the shoulders Of the landlord of Pohyola, Like a ball it rolled and circled. In the yard were pickets standing, Hundreds were the sharpened pillars, And a head on every picket, Only one was left un-headed. Quick the victor, Lemminkainen, Took the head of Pohya's landlord, Spiked it on the empty picket. Then the Islander, rejoicing, Handsome hero, Kaukomieli, Quick returning to the chambers, Crave this order to the hostess: "Evil maiden, bring me water, Wherewithal to cleanse my fingers From the blood of Northland's master, Wicked host of Sariola." Ilpotar, the Northland hostess, Fired with anger, threatened vengeance, Conjured men with heavy broadswords, Heroes clad in copper-armor, Hundred warriors with their javelins, And a thousand bearing cross-bows, To destroy the Island-hero, For the death of Lemminkainen. Kaukomieli soon discovered That the time had come for leaving, That his presence was unwelcome At the feasting of Pohyola, At the banquet of her people.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →
Themes
Animismcosmology

The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.

The passage depicts a mythic world where local agents like the hostess possess supernatural powers to conjure warriors, reflecting a cosmos populated by embodied divine or magical forces.

All passages →
Related passages · 3 parallels
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 71 (part 10)
There reside mankind along with Daityas and Danavas, as well as with spirits of Heaven ( Gandharvas, Yakshas, Kimpurushas, etc .) and gods. " ( Chapter iv. ) There is but one exception in the case of King Priyavrata, the son of the first…”
Shared concept: Animism — The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite)|Page 9 (part 4)
The sources of occult wisdom, it proceeds, are, firstly, in God; secondly, in spiritual essences--that is to say, the Angelical Hierarchy; thirdly, in corporeal creatures, the reference being probably to the signatura rerum of Paracelsus; f…”
Shared concept: Animism — The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. (derived)
western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi)|5. The Pentagram-a
GEBURAH ECCE HEREUNTO we have exposed the magical dogma in its more arid and abstruse phases; now the enchantments begin; now we can proclaim wonders and reveal most secret things. The Pentagram signifies the domination of the mind over th…”
Shared concept: Animism — The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. (derived)