Those looking at what rots at the root of a system or a life
Symbols
SerpentRootCorpseTree
Mythology Summary
Nidhogg is the dragon at the root of Yggdrasil, gnawing it from below in Grímnismál and Gylfaginning 15, while the squirrel Ratatosk carries insults between him and the eagle at the tree's crown. Voluspa puts him at Nastrond, sucking the corpses of the dead, and sees him flying up from Nidafjoll with bodies in his feathers after the world has burned (Voluspa).
Modern Practice
Nidhogg is not a being to petition: modern practice names him when the work is about what rots at the root of a system or a life, and the discipline is to look at the gnawing rather than feed it. No offerings are traditional; a candle and an honest account are the modern substitute, and the working ends by closing the ground.