The Myth and Magic of Santa Claus

Imagine please, that we can hold up a mental image of that "right jolly old elf," and peel away the layers of commercialism and elaborately composed scenarios of daily life attributed to the modern characterization of Santa Claus and travel back in our time machine to the origins of the Elf himself. Once again we must look for the origin of our legendary symbol of Christmas Tide in the forests of northern Europe. It was in that wild and unconquerable region of the primal forest that the Teutonic peoples worshipped a wild Norse God who's name was Woden. (We can thank him for the name of our midweek day, "Wednesday.") Woden eventually became Odin and was revered as a god of magic, occult knowledge, poetry and war. He had the Shamanic ability to shape shift and could travel in other worlds. Eventually, he was depicted as an aged man, of great stature with flowing white hair and beard. Dressed in a cloak, he traveled across the skies on a magical white horse. At the Solstice, Odin lead his followers across the skies in a wild and fierce hunt … some later accounts say that German children set their shoes out on the night of Odin's hunt, filled with oats and hay for the horses which Odin and his followers rode.

Georg von Rosen

Oden's Hunt

Early in the Christian era, Nicholas, Bishop of Myra (part of modern day Turkey), became known as a miracle worker, and as a secret gift giver. Nicholas' reputation grew among the early Christian community and he is venerated as a special protector of children, who was believed to leave gold coins in the shoes of children left "out" in his honor. St. Nicholas was canonized as a saint, nearly by popular acclaim, long before the schism between the Western and Eastern branches of the Catholic tradition. His life is commemorated throughout Europe and much of the world on the date of his death, December 6. In the centuries following his death, it became the custom for children to receive small gifts on St. Nicholas Day. In Dutch and Flemish countries, St. Nicholas is known as "Sinterklaas," and is often pictured riding a beautiful white horse.

For many centuries, the spirits of Odin, St. Nicholas, Sinterklaas and finally Sante Clas existed in many guises and many forms. In the mysterious depth of the forests of the north, fir trees, holly and mistletoe sent forth their spells and enchantments, and Odin added elves, goats and a new bevy of magical, mostly benevolent supernatural beings whose dwelling places were generally hidden from the knowledge of human beings. By the 19th Century, even Odin had made a gentle transition of image and was appearing as an ever evolving version of the secret gift bringer of Wintertide.

Arthur Rackham

In-between Odin and St. Nicholas, there exists a vast assortment of magical, mystical beings who care for an entire menagerie of animals, some of which are enchanted, and some of which are real, flesh and blood beings … There were goats, and gnomes and elves … there were reindeer or caribou, who sometimes flew (I'm so sorry, it must be the influence of the poetc side of Odin), and various forms of transportation and an entire host of wonderful stories and legends to describe them. We can say that the Scandinavian concept of Santa riding a goat is probably a hold over from the stores of the Norse God Thor and his goat drawn chariot. In this engraving, the Julebukk (Yule Goat) is ridden by a very Odin-like figure who is wearing a wreath, and looking very much like the Holly King!

In the countries of Scandinavia, small gnomes or elf-like creatures called nisse live in the forest and country side year round; some of them specialize in caring very tenderly for farm and forest animals, and others live more closely with humans, being sometimes helpful and sometimes not.
Some of the gnomes bring presents to children on Christmas Eve, and look for a bowl of porridge in return!

In America, in the early 1800s, an illustration appeared with a "Dutch" version of "Sante Claus,"

and, as the century progressed, Santa Claus became more and more a "right jolly old elf,"

with the help of Clemete Clarke Moore and "A Vistit From St. Nicholas.

Thomas Nast

Arthur Rackham

Santa Claus, St. Nicholas and Kris Kringle are all names born in the 19th Century to describe a sometimes benevolent super-natural being who was widely known to those who lived in what is now Europe, Russia and parts of the Mediterranian region. In the course of time, he assumed the attributes of a wild, shamanic God of the northern regions and shared the northern forests with many kinds of elves, fairies and gnomes who were also sometimes benevolent and sometimes not. His legend was so prevalent, his identity and benevolence so famous that his reputation blended eventually with that of an early Christian Bishop who became St. Nicholas of Myra. We cannot know how long the belief in beings other than "human" has persisted among people, but we do know that writers and thinkers who have studied the nature of reality and the ways in which human beings have learned to understand it, do accept that in the beginning of human consciousness we perceived ourselves as being "in nature and a part of it." We could see and understand elements of our environment which are no long available to our sense of perception. It is nearly certain that our strongly held convictions about the existence of supernatural beings springs from this lost ability to see all of nature. It is quite likely a kind of "race memory" of a pantheon of gods described since the beginning of language, gives rise to many truths and the many ways of telling about the inhabitants of this planet we're living on. At the end of 2009, with Christmas just past, I must think back to Christmas of 2008, and the bright, sparkling Christmas morning which gave me the inspiration to write the first essay for this blog. The flight of thousands of Canada Geese, rolling over the southern horizon on their way north so caught my heart and my imagination that I was moved to give deeper thought to the meaning of life on the planet as we know it. I'm at a transitional age in both my life and the history of this country - things familiar to me in my childhood, and which had been commonplace to my grandparents are gone now … the land which supported so many, so well, and for so long is disappearing and an entire way of life is gone … not to be reclaimed I fear. And it is not necessarily for the better. "Progress" has not always meant improvement in the day to day lives of those who inhabit the earth, and incredible as it seems, there are those who believe that only the future holds promise or is worth giving thought or time to. … The flight of the Christmas Geese has lead me on a path of rediscovery this past year … and the adventure included the privilege of meeting a family of Canadas and watching as they raised their small brood. So, it was surely not an accident when, as I was pondering the origins and existence of Santa Claus, I found this post card …. it is most surely a message from the aether, Santa Claus and the geese!

"There are those who believe that Santa Claus is real.
But he isn't.
He's Magick!