Image - SPRITE, whose representation is of Thor with a long red beard.
Image - Sprite image showing the red beard and long red whiskers of Thors beard.
Image of Thor showing resemblance between Thor and a Sprite, the hat is the top cone of the sprite lightning as it bursts into being, the rim of the hat is the round circular rim of the sprite lightning and his red beard is a representation of the lightning whiskers underneath the sprite lightning and his hands grip the hammer representing lightning strikes as they hit the earth.
The image shows in its symbolism the location and form of the two types of lightning.
Image - the three different types of lightning.
I will be undertaking an series of articles building on the work of Elsa-Brita Titchenell in her book The Masks of Odin.
The first part is the chapter from her book here ;
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/odin/odin-3.htm
THOR
Another universally recognized deity is Thor, who corresponds to Jove or Jupiter of the Romans and in certain respects to the Greek Zeus. The source of all vitality and power, he too has many names suggestive of the different phenomena to which electromagnetic force applies. Thor is not only the Thunderer controlling the weather (paralleled by Jupiter the jovial and Jupiter Pluvius), he is also the regent of the planet Jupiter. When Thor goes by the name Vior he represents vitality, the life force that animates every being.
As Lorride he is the electricity we know on earth and he visits us from the surrounding sky in lightning and thunder.
In the vastness of space Thor is Trudgalmer (sound of Thor), the sustaining energy (Fohat of Oriental philosophy) that organizes cosmos out of chaos and sets the galactic pinwheels churning. Trud or Thor is the impelling force which keeps atoms in motion and, like the Hindu Vishnu, maintains all things in action during their lifetimes.
The hammer of Thor is Mjolnir (miller), the pulverizing force that destroys as well as creates. It is the electric circuit which always returns to the hand that sent it forth. Symbolized by the svastika, either three- or four-armed, it represents whirling motion, the ever moving power which never ceases while anything lives in time and space.
Trudgalmer has two sons: Mode (force) and Magne (strength), which suggest the two poles of electricity or magnetism on the cosmic level. Everything connected with Thor repeats the duality of bipolar power. His sons, centrifugal and centripetal action, manifest as radiation and gravitation in all forms of life. In the human arena we know these forces as hate and love, repulsion and attraction.
Thor's iron belt forms the circuit for electrical current; his two steel gloves imply the duality of positive and negative polarity.
His chariot wheels send sparks of lightning through the skies; for this reason, when traveling abroad he is unable to use the rainbow bridge of the gods, Bifrost, (2) as his lightnings would set the bridge on fire; he must therefore ford the waters (of space) that separate the worlds from one another.
This apparently poses no problem to the god, so it is perplexing to find one lay devoted entirely to a rather monotonous exchange of braggadocio between Thor and the ferryman Harbard whom Thor is trying to persuade to convey him across a river.
It is evidently a ploy to demonstrate the need of a conductor to convey electric power. (The lay is not included here.) On the planet earth Thor's action is served by his two adopted children, Tjalfe (speed) and Roskva (work), familiar servants of our power-hungry civilization.
Thor's beautiful wife is named Sif. She has long golden hair which is the pride of all the gods. It represents the vitality of growth as well as the harvest which results from it and, analogically, the evolutionary power and urge to progress that maintains the course of existence for all beings.
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I would also add this to the scientific interpretation of Thor in the myths as put forward by Elsa-Brita Titchenell ;
The goats that pull Thor’s chariot represent Electrons and Proton‘s.
The chariot therefore represents an Photon.
In physics, a photon is an elementary particle, the quantum of the electromagnetic field and the basic "unit" of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation.
It is also the force carrier for the electromagnetic force.
The chariot of Thor thereby symbolises an individual Photon particle, whilst the wheels of the chariot that leave a trail behind it whilst passing through space are therefore creating a line or a wave behind the chariot.
The chariot and its trail therefore signify the dualistic nature of a Photon, that it is both a wave and a particle.
The Hammer of Thor, Mjollnir, is made of iron and therefore represents the conductivity of electricity through iron as a lightning conductor.
Thor travels in a chariot drawn by goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr, sometimes with his servant and messenger Þjálfi and Þjálfi's sister Röskva. The skaldic poem Haustlöng relates that the earth was scorched and the mountains cracked as Thor traveled in his wagon. According to the Prose Edda, when Thor is hungry he can roast the goats for a meal. When he wants to continue his travels, Thor only needs to bless the remains of the goats with his hammer Mjöllnir, and they will be instantly restored to full health to resume their duties, assuming that the bones have not been broken.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor
Therefore the consumption of the goats symbolises the release of Electrons and Protons for power when Thor requires energy from a Photon.
In one of the myths one of the goats is killed and eaten but the marrow drained from the bones, and animal then has a limp - this suggests the draining od too much energy from a Photon drains and damages it.
The goats represent Pair Scattering where a Photon splits into an electron and proton.
It is from the pair scattering when a Photon hits the heavy nucleus of water molcules in the atmosphere that creates the electrical discharge of lightning.
The word ‘lightning’ reveals that the electricity generated in storms that is discharged as lightning is derived from Photons as ‘LIGHT-ning’.
This confirms that the chariot is a Photon, a particle of light and that light, a Photon, and lightning are linked.
The flash of light from lightning is proof of this.
The moment that the electrical charge in lightning is earthed, then light, Photons, are emitted.
Thor is described as having a ‘great red beard’ and wears a round brimmed hat - which is an exact description of a Sprite type of lightning in the Mesosphere (check image above for picture of Sprite lightning).
The Blue Jet type of lightning represents Thors chariot flying across the sky.
The lightning bolts we see are the bolts from Thors Hammer.
Therefore we can also ascertain that this provides us a model from which we can derive the scientific source of lightning, which is due to the actions of Photons entering the atmosphere.
Photons can also be absorbed by nuclei, atoms or molecules, provoking transitions between their energy levels.
According to the old myths there are two possible interpretations of the true source of lightning, which is firstly that the energy transitions of Photons entering Earths atmosphere and magnetosphere may create a static charge in the atmosphere which then builds up in a location after entering cloud formations. This build up static charge within clouds caused by Photons entering the clouds then discharges as lightning bolts.
The other possible theory is that the clouds containing water are conductive and thereby allow discharges of static current generated by Photons entering the Earths magnetosphere to be discharged from the magnetosphere then through the clouds and discharging as lightning into the Earth.
Therefore the power of Thor, electricity and its source is explained with a precision that is clearly based on a scientific understanding of the physical nature of the universe hundreds of years in advance of their time - and in relation to the issue of the origin of lightning ahead of the present science on lighting which has only theories about where lightning comes from.
That this is true is confirmed elsewhere in the myths and stories of the Odinic faith.
