The Mythology of Supernatural

by Nathan Robert Brown

  While Loki is considered the brother of Odin in the Norse tradition, their relationship has more to do with oath than blood. Loki is actually a son of giants from Jotunheim, the giant Farbauti and giantess Laufey. In many respects, giants in the Norse tradition act similarly to demons in the myths of Judeo-Christianity. One might say that the relationship between Odin and Loki bears some similarities to that of the archangel Michael and his rebellious brother Lucifer.

  The Aesir gods treated Loki as one of their own, despite his parentage, though they often had issues with his troublesome nature. Like most tricksters (including Gabriel) Loki can change his shape, including his sex. Despite the fact that he can often be a serious pain in the neck, he is valued by the Aesir because of his partial responsibility in regaining a very special war hammer belonging to Odin’s son Tyr. He also once rebuilt the damaged walls of Asgard. When one considers the fact that he was responsible for damaging the walls in the first place, however, this doesn’t seem quite so noble. From his early inclusion in the Aesir to his later depictions, Loki’s behavior becomes increasingly severe in nature. He goes from being a playful trickster to a more violent and demonic figure. His actions go from annoying, to troublesome but relatively harmless, to downright malicious and dangerous.

  The Aesir finally lose patience with Loki’s pranks when one of them results in the death of a fellow, and especially beloved, Aesir named Baldur. Baldur’s death sets in motion the first stages of Ragnarök, which will take thousands of years before reaching a violent conclusion. For this transgression, Loki was taken to the dark realm of Nifelheim (somewhat comparable to Lucifer’s imprisonment in Hell) and chained to three enormous boulders: one boulder was chained across and under his shoulders, one boulder was chained under his knees, and the third and final boulder was chained to his groin. The final boulder pretty much seals the deal. After all, it would be pretty hard to go anywhere when you have an enormous chunk of rock chained to your junk.

  The Norse mythical tradition also states that Loki won’t stay chained up forever. In the final violent days of Ragnarök, Loki will break free from his chains and lead the giants into battle against the remaining members of the Aesir (again, similar to the battles between angels and demons in the Judeo-Christian traditions).

  Surprise, surprise. The trickster has tricked us.

  —KALI, “HAMMER OF THE GODS” (5-19)

  BALDUR’S DEATH AND RAGNARÖK

  LOKI/GABRIEL: Baldur? Seriously?

  KALI: Baldur’s uncomplicated.

  —GABRIEL AND KALI, “HAMMER OF THE GODS” (5-19)

  Baldur is the Norse god of light and joy. He is also a twin, and he and his brother Hodur (also spelled Hodr or Holdur) are the sons of Odin and Freya (sometimes spelled Frigga), Odin’s wife as well as the patron goddess of marriage and queen of the Aesir. Both are said to be very handsome, but Hodur, unlike Baldur, was born blind. This comes into play later on.

  To protect her beloved sons, Freya obtains oaths from all plants and trees that they will never bring harm to her sons. The only plant she fails to obtain this oath from is the mistletoe. Some say this is because mistletoe was not considered suitable for making weapons, while others claim that it has something to do with the wood’s magical properties.

  Loki finds out about Baldur’s vulnerability and just cannot help himself: he constructs a dart out of mistletoe and convinces the blind Hodur to unknowingly throw it in the direction of his twin brother Baldur (Loki stood behind Hodur and told him where to throw). The unsuspecting Baldur was struck by the dart and killed. Needless to say, the Aesir were pissed (especially Freya).

  Freya gets Hel, goddess of the underworld, to agree to release Baldur from the afterlife if everyone in existence weeps for him. Loki thwarts this, however, and hides out by disguising himself as an old woman giant. He refuses to shed tears for Baldur and so Hel does not release the fallen Aesir. In the end, Odin himself has to go into the underworld to retrieve his dead son.

  While the Norse story, from the Edda, is the most popular version of Baldur’s death, the Scandinavian tradition has an alternative version in the text called Saxo Grammaticus. In this version Hodur is directly responsible for his twin’s death. Hodur slays Baldur with a magic sword during a quarrel the twins get into over a beautiful maiden named Nanna.

  Considering Baldur’s background of death and resurrection, perhaps it only makes sense that Kali would find him attractive (though she seems to still hold a flame in her heart for Loki/ Gabriel). After all, she is a goddess of death, illness, and destruction, with a well-known tendency to kill her lovers. The two seem to fit together . . . though, admittedly, in a twisted sort of way.

  THE KALI YUGA OF HINDU DHARMA

  The Hindu Dharma religion, of which the goddess Kali and god Ganesh are part, has its own take on the Apocalypse. The concept divides existence into separate ages, called yugas. Hindu belief states that existence occurs in cycles, and that each cycle plays out in a series of these yugas. This is not the first cycle of existence, and it is unlikely to be the last. Each existence cycle, however, ends with what is called (in this current existence cycle, at least—it is probably given different names in other cycles, past and future) the Kali Yuga. Roughly translated, this means the “Age of Kali,” but it would be more accurately interpreted to mean the “Age of Dark/ Death/Destruction.” The name for the age is fitting, since Hindu belief states that Kali has a role to play in the end of all things.

  The start of the Kali Yuga is traditionally marked in the Hindu mythical tradition by the death of Krishna, the eighth avatar of the supreme god Vishnu. Vishnu is one of the three supreme gods who make up the godhead: Brahma (creator god), Vishnu (sustainer god), and Shiva (destroyer god). Vishnu often took human form by incarnating himself into infants at times when the world needed his help. These human forms are called avatars.

  Krishna’s death may mark the start of the Kali Yuga, but he is not the last avatar of Vishnu. Hindu Dharma believes that there will be ten total avatars. The ninth avatar was Buddha, though this is not a belief commonly shared by Buddhists. The tenth and final avatar of Vishnu is referred to by the name Kalki (not to be confused with the goddess Kali). The appearance of Kalki will lead to the destruction of all evil on Earth. In the Hindu belief, “evil” is commonly linked to the human desires caused by physical existence, the root to all suffering, as explained by the ninth avatar Buddha.

  The prophecy states that Kalki will appear at the end of the Kali Yuga. He will descend from the sky, with such size and grandeur that he will be visible to all on the Earth. Interestingly enough, the prophecy also states that Kalki will appear riding a white horse and wielding a fiery sword. Sound familiar? It should, since a similar description exists for one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Christianity’s book of Revelation. Aside from the prophecy, there are no myths about Kalki, since he has not yet appeared on Earth. What Kalki is going to do (kick off the obliteration of physical existence, most likely) is more important than how he is going to do it. When he does appear, there will be an amazing tale to tell. Too bad there won’t be anyone around to tell about it.

  KALI: THE DARK ONE

  You’re sweet . . . I hate sweet.

  —KALI, “HAMMER OF THE GODS” (5-19)

  In the Hindu Dharma mythos, the goddess Kali is known as the Black One. She is one scary chick, giving even Lilith a run for her money. As discussed in chapter 8, some myth scholars have theorized that Kali may have even been created based on myths that reached India from nearby Mesopotamia. This is mainly speculation based on the fact that one of Lilith’s early Sumerian names was Kal.

  Kali’s skin is pitch-black. Long, curved, and often blood-drenched fangs protrude out of her mouth. Curving down from between her dark lips is a long, bloodred tongue. Around her neck she wears a necklace of human skulls. In art, rivers of blood are often shown flowing away from her.

  SUPERNATURAL FACTS

  In one “Hammer of the Gods” (5-19) scen
e, Baldur is shown helping Kali put on a necklace. This act may have been done as a reference to Kali’s necklace of skulls in her mythological depictions.

  Kali is said to live at the top of Mount Vindhya in India, from where she observes our suffering. Nothing delights Kali more than death, sickness, and misery. Some Hindu Dharma myths state that Kali’s malevolent nature stems from the fact that she was once a human baby who was killed by a parent or other relative, making her the first victim of infanticide. Since she was the first mortal baby to be murdered, her soul ascended into the heavens and took on the form of a wrathful goddess of death, destruction, and pestilence.

  Kali is a harbinger of death, but she has a role to play in the cycle of existence. After all, it’s not called the Kali Yuga for nothing. She is a consort of Shiva, the Hindu Lord of Death, and at times, she is portrayed as his wife. Some myths claim that only Shiva had the strength to tame her reckless and violent nature and take her as a lover. However, at the climax of the Kali Yuga, Shiva will meet his end at Kali’s hands.

  Since Shiva is also the Hindu Dharma god of destruction, it is only fitting that Kali would be closely associated with him. However, his true wife is said to be the beautiful and merciful goddess Shakti. He and Shakti become one to create a somewhat androgynous form of what is commonly called the Dancing Shiva, or Shiva Nataraja.

  When Kali and Shiva danced, they did not join but instead brought terrible destruction upon the Earth. When they dance again, the planet will not survive. Kali will draw her blade and stab Shiva. She will then stand upon his corpse. With the “death of death,” so to speak, all that will remain is the dark void of oblivion. Even Kali will one day cease to be, consumed by her own vast darkness.

  GANESH: “FULL-ON BABAR”

  SAM: An elephant?

  DEAN: Yeah.

  SAM: Like, an elephant?

  DEAN: Like full-on Babar.

  —SAM AND DEAN, “HAMMER OF THE GODS” (5-19)

  The name of the Hindu Dharma god Ganesh (also spelled Ganesa or Ganesha, sometimes Ganapati) is commonly translated as “Lord of Hosts.” In the Hindu mythical tradition, the elephant-headed Ganesh is the god of wisdom, good judgment, and learning. Ganesh is also the “remover of obstacles.” Because of these attributes, Ganesh is often worshipped or consulted by people who are experiencing times of difficulty. The same goes for merchants seeking prudence in their financial dealings.

  Ganesh has the head of an elephant, which is symbolic of his ability to tear down any obstacle. After all, a good-sized elephant at full charge is capable of knocking down just about anything in its path. While his head may be symbolic of his abilities, he does literally have the head of an elephant. In fact, many of the myths about Ganesh have to do with his elephant head.

  Ganesh is the son of Shiva and the devi (a lower-order deity) named Parvati. When he was born, Parvati was so proud that she rushed to show the infant to his father. Apparently, Shiva was none too happy about his newborn son, and the wrathful god shot such a terrible glance at the infant that it reduced Ganesh’s entire head to ashes. Parvati took her headless baby to the creator god Brahma, who told her that she could save the child if she replaced his lost head with the first one she could find. Needless to say, the first head she found belonged to an elephant. In an interesting turn, this gave Ganesh great wisdom. After all, it has long been known that real elephants possess remarkable memory skills. Apparently, even the ancient Hindi culture was aware of this.

  Another myth gives a different version of the story. This one claims that his headlessness occurred when he was older. According to this version, Shiva once wished to enter Parvati’s bathing chamber and found the entrance blocked by Ganesh. When Ganesh refused to allow Shiva to pass, the angry god drew his blade and took off his son’s head. Realizing that Parvati would be furious if he left their son headless, Shiva replaced the lost head with an elephant’s.

  This isn’t the only time Ganesh would be maimed as a result of getting in someone’s way. Ganesh is often portrayed with tusks, one of which appears to have been cut. According to the Hindu epic Ramayana (Power of Rama), the prince Rama (who was the seventh avatar of Vishnu) once visited Shiva as the destructive god was napping. Ganesh, perhaps not realizing that he was dealing with Vishnu incarnate, attempted to block Rama from entering the room. Rama tossed an ax, which belonged to Shiva, at Ganesh’s head. Ganesh, recognizing his father’s weapon, allowed it to sever one of his tusks (or perhaps he just couldn’t get out of the way in time).

  ZAO CHEN AND THE WORLD TURTLE

  ODIN: Because your beliefs are so much more realistic? The whole world’s getting carried around on the back of a giant turtle? Ha! Give me a break!

  ZAO CHEN: Don’t mock my World Turtle!

  —ZAO CHEN, “HAMMER OF THE GODS” (5-19)

  Probably the most unusual figure at the table in “Hammer of the Gods” is the Chinese kitchen god Zao Chen. His name has a ton of alternative spellings (Tsao Chen, Tsao Shen, and Zao Kung, to name only a few). As a kitchen god, Zao Chen is the god of the stove or hearth. This would explain why the Zao Chen in Supernatural spent so much time in the hotel kitchen. As Dean put it, upon finding a soup pot full of dismembered body parts, “Please be tomato soup, please be tomato soup . . . great . . . motel hell.”

  Interestingly enough, Zao Chen is the most widely worshipped deity of the Chinese pantheon. His worshippers come from all social and financial classes. His ceremonies are observed by both young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated. After all, everybody’s got to eat. Zao Chen spends the majority of his time on Earth watching over the kitchens of the world. Once a year, however, he returns to the heavenly realm of the Jade Emperor so that he can deliver his reports about the misdeeds that have occurred in the kitchens of mortals. Ceremonies are held during this time, in which sweet treats are given as offerings (or bribes?) to Zao Chen. He is said to be unable to resist such treats. Actually, the idea is that Zao Chen’s lips will get stuck together by the sticky treats and prevent him from making any bad reports. Depending on where in China the ceremony is held, his departure is on the twenty-third, twenty-fourth, or twenty-sixth day of the Eleventh Moon. His trip lasts roughly a week, and his return to Earth is marked by another round of sweet offerings.

  Basically, Zao Chen is tasked with enforcing certain rules related to the preparation of food. These rules are similar in nature to the Jewish food restrictions from the Old Testament. They have to do mainly with hygiene and decency. It’s an extremely long list, but here is a sampling of his rules:

  • No one may be naked in front of a stove.

  • Living creatures may not be slaughtered in the kitchen.

  • No obscenities or lewd song may be uttered in front of a stove.

  • Old papers, animal bones, discarded rags, brooms, or hair must not be burned in the stove.

  • No living (not yet slaughtered) animal may ever be put in a pot or on the stove.

  Breaking the above rules will bring bad reports from Zao Chen. Repeat offenses may even bring down his direct wrath. For example, if ants, insects, or rodents are allowed to make nests in a stove (caused by neglect in cleaning), Zao Chen is said to become especially angry. His anger may manifest in the form of digestive problems or accidents in the kitchen. For example, he might give you a nudge while you’re cutting carrots and make you take off your own finger.

  But what about the World Turtle that, when teased by Odin, made Zao Chen become so irate? The World Turtle is certainly a part of the Chinese mythos; however, it has no direct association with Zao Chen. The Chinese mythical tradition explains that a creator goddess named Nu Gua needed a way to prop up the heavens over Earth after the mountain that had originally done so (Buzhou Mountain) was damaged. To do this, she used legs of an enormous sea turtle that had enveloped all realms (called Ao, pronounced similar to “ow,” or a quick form of “ah-oh”). The flat underbelly of Ao the World Turtle is the flat ground upon which humans walk. Its domed shell is t
he sky above.

  BARON SAMEDI: HOODOO-VOODOO LORD OF DEATH

  Baron Samedi can be broadly classified as a voodoo death god. However, this classification seems to create a mistaken impression. Originally, Baron Samedi is believed to have been referred to by the name Ghede. At some point, though, the name was changed to the French Samedi, or “Saturday.” Some scholars have theorized that indentured servants from Ireland, who worked the Caribbean sugar plantations alongside African slaves, may have integrated their concept of Samhain into the Haitian voodoo death god. When one considers that Samhain refers to a specific time of year and is not the name of an actual deity (see chapter 3 for more on Samhain), this hypothesis seems unlikely.

  In voodoo, Baron Samedi is one of the loa (a powerful, almost godlike spirit). He is sometimes referred to by the nickname “the Great Boss,” and he is the patron loa spirit of the dead. Just like his portrayal in Supernatural, Baron Samedi likes to smoke cigars and is usually shown with one in his hand or mouth. He is also a rather snappy dresser.

  Baron Samedi is often shown wearing a black tuxedo, or an undertaker’s suit as if “dressed for a funeral.” His face is often a skull or at least skull-like (for example, a human face painted to resemble a skull). Sometimes he looks like a man whose upper face is painted like a skull. On Baron Samedi’s skull-like head usually rests a high top hat, and in his hand he twirls a long cane usually cut from a dark wood, such as ebony. It is not uncommon for his cane to be adorned by a silver skull at the handle.