The nine worlds were—1, Muspel; 2, Asgard; 3, Vanaheim (home of the Vanir); 4, Midgard; 5, Alfheim (world of the Alfar); 6, Mannheim (home of men); 7, Jötunheim (the home of the Jötnar); 8, Hel; 9, Niflheim.
The first beginnings of all things were apparently as obscure to the Völva as to others; nothing existed before the Creation. The world was then a gaping void (Ginnungagap), and there the Jötun Ymir, or the Hrim Thursar, lived. On each side of Ginnungagap there were two worlds, Niflheim, the world of cold, and Muspelheim, the world of heat.
When Ymir lived
In early ages
Was neither sand nor sea,
Nor cool waves,
No earth was there
Nor heaven above,
There was gaping void
And grass nowhere.