Dictionary of all Scriptures & Myths

MODGUNN, THE BRIDGE MAIDEN

A symbol of the intuition of wisdom, buddhi-manas.

“Modgunn, the maiden who keeps the bridge, asked of Hermod his name and his parentage, and added, that the day before, five companies of dead men had ridden over the bridge of Gjall; but it rang,” said she, “under no step save thine alone, neither hast thou the complexion of the dead; wherefore thus ridest thou on the path of the dead?” – The Story of Balder, Prose Edda.

The “keeper” of the way of the higher mind, which is the bridge between the higher and lower natures in the soul, is symbolised by the feminine or Wisdom element. This scrutinises the motives which have given rise to the growth of consciousness, and now realises that only “yesterday,” meaning the dead past, or the relative condition, the perceptions of the five senses (dead men) were to give place to a transmutation of modes of apprehension of truth. But the quivers within the causal-body (or bridge) were alone communicated by the inner Self-initiated impulses; the vibrations from without, through the senses, not being sufficiently subtle or powerful to be transmitted thereunto. The intuition discerns that the (Modgunn) now Christ-soul (Hermod) has none of the signs of the planes of illusion and mortality; and she asks why it happens that the Self comes forth apparently from that which is practically non-existent, as it is found to proceed from the potential instead of through manifestation.

See Also

BRIDGE OF GJALL
CAUSAL-BODY
DEAD
FIVE (number)
HERMOD
INTUITION
MAIDEN
MUSPELL
NORTH
SPIRIT