Jormundgand's Second Lesson
This was the lesson about bindings. As a living boundary, the Snake is the keeper, the mastress, of bindings and boundaries. But there is a catch: the boundary created must be natural. In other words, it must be a boundary that feels right to be there, not one that is forced in place between two struggling parties who are not yet properly unentwined. There are ways to do those bindings, those boundaries, as well ... but they are not the Snake's magic.
I did not at first understand that the small song that was given to me had a purpose, beyond simply honoring the Snake, and the Snake did not bother to make anything clear, if indeed s/he could have done so. However, the spell that eventually dawned on me was incredibly simple. It's about tying a piece of string into a circle around something that symbolizes that which is to be boundaried, and singing. Getting permission from the Snake, however, is less simple than it is from most deities. Jormundgand will only deal with certain sorts of folk, and I am not quite sure what hir criteria consists of.
Jormundgand's Song
You can play Jormundand's Song (mp3) or download pdf sheet music.
Serpent bound, wound around,
Holding all the world within your coils,
Serpent bound, wound around,
Turning through the ocean's shining waves,
Serpent bound, wound around,
Ring the world with power like a wall,
Serpent bound, wound around,
At the cost of your freedom Midgard's saved.
Jormundgand's Rhythm
The Gods all have drum rhythms that invite their energies here, or so I've been told - but they've all been lost. The Serpent, however, gave me its rhythm. It's tricky to learn, but it does bring the energy of the Serpent to your space, if you master it. Jormundgand graciously danced for me until I got it right and was able to repeat it. It is surprisingly simple, based on counts of 11, a number which the Serpent, alone and prime, seems to like. There are five repeats of 11 beats, and then six repeats of 5 beats, and then the entire figure repeats indefinitely, a big circle, until one gets tired. (The Serpent seems to really like the number 11.) The two parts are, according to what I could make out of the Snake's language, Me/Sea-and-Sky. The Big Snake seemed quite sanguine about letting me publish this rhythm as well; perhaps It feels that anyone who calls It up deserves whatever they get.
The Serpent's Rhythm (for those not rhythm-trained, 1 is the harder beat and 2 is the softer, "following" beat):
11211211212/11211211212/11211211212/11211211212/11211211212/
11212/11212/11212/11212/11212/11212/ - repeat and keep going.