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Goddesses of the Troth

Beyla

Servant of Frey, wife of Byggvir. Her name is thought to be related to a word for "cow", and she the protectress of dairy work; the alternate suggestion is that "Beyla" is related to "bee", so that Beyla and Byggvir might be the givers of mead and ale.

Eir

(Eira, Eyra)

Goddess of healing, patroness of health-care workers, called on against sickness or injury. She is one of the goddesses on the mountain called Lyfia ("to heal through magic"), and gives both physical and psychic means of healing; shamanic healing, especially, falls into her realm. She is identified as one of the attendants of Frigga.

Freya

(Old Norse Freyja; old English Freo; Modern German Frau; Wagnerian Freia; Modern English Frowe.)

Freya is probably the best-known and best-loved of the goddesses today. Her title simply means "Lady"; her original name is not known. Freya is the "wild woman" among the deities of the North: free with her sexual favours (though furious when an attempt is made to marry her off against her will); mistress of Odin and several other gods and men; skilled at the form of ecstatic, consciousness--altering, and sometimes malicious magic called seidhr; and chooser of half the slain on the battlefield (Odin gets the other half).

Freya's chief attribute is the necklace called Brisingamen, which she bought from four dwarves at the price of four nights of her love. This necklace is sometimes seen today as embodying her power over the material world. The necklace has been the emblem of the earth-goddess since the earliest times.

This goddess drives a wagon drawn by two cats, perhaps large forest-cats such as Lynxes, and is seen today as the patron goddesses of cats and those who keep them. As a battle-goddess, she also rides on a boar called Hildisvini (Battle-Swine).

Like Odin, Freya is often a stirrer of strife. As Gullveig ("Gold-Drunkenness"), she came among the Aesir to cause trouble. She was stabbed and burnt three times, but arose from the flame each time; through this torment, she transformed herself into Heith ("the Glorious"), mistress of magic, in a typical shamanic initiation. This also seems to have started the war between the Aesir and the Vanir.

Freya is sometimes seen as a fertility goddess, but there are no sources suggesting that she was called on to bring fruitfulness to fields or wombs, and only one rather dubious reference to her as a birthing-goddess. Rather, she is a goddess of riches, whose tears are gold and whose "daughters", in the riddle-poetry of the skalds, are precious objects. However, the giants are always trying to take her away from the gods, and it is clear that this would be a great disaster: she was obviously known to be the embodiment of the holy life-force on some level. Perhaps because of this, Wagner gave her some of Idunna's attributes, making her the keeper of the golden apples without which the folk of Asgard would wither and die.

Frigga

(Old Norse Frigg; Anglo-Saxon Frige; old High German Frija; Wagnerian Fricka.)

Wife of Odin, Frigga is the patron goddess of the home and of the mysteries of the married woman. She is seen as Odin's match (and sometimes his better) in wisdom; she shares his high-seat, from which they look out over the worlds together.

Frigga is especially concerned with keeping social order. She is called on for blessings when women are giving birth and for help in matters of traditional women's crafts (spinning, weaving, cooking, sewing) and the magics worked thereby. Frigga can also be called on by mothers who want to protect their children. In olden days, this was especially the case with sons going out to battle, for whom their mothers would weave or sew special protective items. She is also called Hlin (protectress).

Frigga is the mother of Balder, and is often thought of as still mourning for him. She is a Seeress, who knows all fates, though she seldom speaks of them. Her hall is called Fensalir - "marsh-halls". She has a handmaiden called Fulla and a messenger named Gna.

Despite the likeness of names and the similar relationship to Odin, Frigga should not be confused with Freya, who shares none of her essential traits. Her only departure from strict social behaviour is that during one of Odin's journeys away from Asgard, she is said to have taken his brothers Vili and Ve as husbands; however, this probably shows the queen-goddess as the embodiment of sovereignty. Her name is also not directly related to the English slang-word, though the two derive from the same original root ("love, pleasure").

Also sometimes identified with Bertha, Holda, Nerthus and Wode.

Fjorgyn

(Erda, Jord)

The earth goddess and one of Odin's three wives. She and Odin combined to produce Thor.

Fulla

A goddess who acted as Friggas' attendant and messenter, she is identified as a fertility goddess.

Gefjon

Her name means "giver". With a plough drawn by four sons whom she bore to a giant and changed into oxen for the purpose, she ploughed the island Zealand (the main island of Denmark) away from the Swedish mainland, later mothering the chief dynasty of Danish kings. She is clearly a goddess of fruitfullness in some aspects; however, she is also the protectress of maidens and their modesty, and unmarried women are said to go to her hall after death.

Gullveig

Translation usually provided as (Gold Greedy) and often identified with Freyja due to the magical capabilities of this entity. It is said in Voluspa that thrice she was burned, and yet those three times she came out of the fire alive. Her other name, Heidi, is given as what she is known where-ever it is that she has come from, which is not elaborated upon in Voluspa itself. She is termed a "well seeing Vala", which many use to identify her as a part of the Vanir, albeit a Vala is in fact a seer. She is noted as being ever the joy of evil people, which certainly does not fit in with the nature of Freyja, nor of the Vanir.

Hel

(Also called Hella)

Ruler of the kingdom of death, the Prose Edda describes her as half-black, half-white (she is sometimes seen as half-rotting, half alive) and of grim and unmistakable appearance. Her name may originally derive from the buried slab-rock grave-chambers of the Stone Age. The Hel-word is known to all branches of the Germanic speech, and clearly very old, but there is some question as to whether the goddess was recognised as an independent person before the Viking Age. The Prose Edda, probably suffering from semantic contamination (the use of the English word Hell for the frightful Christian after world), describes her hall as full of horrors, but older sources make it rather pleasant, and indeed a close reflection of the idealised god-house seen in descriptions of Valhall (Hel and Odin have much in common, in fact).

The specialisation of the Germanic afterlife into the glorious Valhall where the chosen battle-dead go and the hideous Hel where everyone else ends up is probably a product of Christian influence on the retelling of Norse god-lore; our earlier sources offer far more options (going to the hall of the deity to whom one is closest, dying into a hill or rock where the other ghosts of one's family dwell, remaining as the guardian of a stead, being reborn in a child who bears one's name and/or lineage), and the name Valhall does not become specialised for Odin's hall until the middle of the tenth century, when it is probably a description rather than a proper name. There is no evidence for the worship of the goddess Hel in elder times, but there are several folk who work with her today.

Hlin

A goddess who attended Frigga. She was the goddess of consolation and very beautiful; she kissed away mourners' tears, relieved grief and heard the prayers of mortals, passing them on to Frigga with recommendations that she answer them.

Holda

A goddess known through German folklore, her name means "the Gracious one". She has much in common with Frigga, being the patroness of spinners and the keeper of social order, especially enforcing taboos about working on holy days. She is also said to be the keeper of the souls of unbaptised (or sometimes simply young) children, and women who want to bear children ask for them at her well. Holda also appears at times as the leader of the Wild Hunt. According to one tale, it was she who taught humans how to plant and process flax. When it snows, Holda is supposed to be shaking out her feather-bed.

Idunna

(Old Norse Ithunn)

The goddess who keeps the apples of youth, by which the gods stay ever-young. Loki arranged for the etin Thjazi to abduct her, but then was forced to get her back, a deed which ended in Thjazi's death. Apples are one of the oldest and holiest symbols of life and rebirth among the Germanic folk, appearing as grave-gifts from the Bronze Age onward.

Lofn

An attendant of Frigga. A beautiful maiden, Lofn had the responsibility for easing the path of true love.

Nanna

Wife of Balder (of Hod in Saxo's version), mother of Forseti. Her name may mean "the daring one". According to the Prose Edda version of the story, she dies of grief and is burned on the pyre with Balder.

Nerthus

The "Mother Earth" worshipped by the North Sea Germans, according to the Roman historian Tacitus (writing in the first century of the Christian era). Her worship included the springtime procession of a wagon in which her image was kept, which ended on a holy island. The name is an earlier form of the old Norse Njordr (Njord), who is, however, clearly masculine. Still, it is said that Njord fathered Frey and Freya on his sister, who is not named; it is possible that the feminine and masculine Nerthus/Njord could have been a similar pair of mixed twins.

Ran

The wife of Aegir and like him associated with the sea. She has a net which she used to drag down drowning people.

Rind

(Rinda)

A goddess mentioned only as the third wife of Oðinn, and who gave birth to his son Vali. She was by all accounts frigid, being the goddess of the frozen soil. There is some confusion between her and the mortal Rind, daughter of King Billing; it is possible that the two were originally the same character.

Saga

Her name is related to the Norse word saga, though not the same. She is mentioned in the poem Grimnismal and, passingly, in the Prose Edda. According to the poem, her hall is called- Sokkvabekk, ("Sunken Benches") and she and Odin drink out of golden cups there - probably, if her name is any clue, retelling old stories while they drink. It is suggested that she may be Frigga, in her capacity as the "silent seeress" who "dips into Urd's Well' for knowledge of the patterns of Wyrd. She, together with Odin, cares for writers. It has also been suggested that she might also be seen as the patron goddess of Iceland - certainly she was the only one to bless that country for many years.

Sif

Wife of Thor, mother of Ull (by an unknown father - although some sources indicate Oðinn), best known for her long golden hair. She appears only in one tale: where Loki cuts her hair off in the night and, to save himself from Thor's wrath, gets the dwarves to forge hair of real gold for her, along with several of the other great treasures of the gods. It has often been suggested that she is a fertility goddess, whose rippling golden hair may be seen in the ripe grain. In the prologue to the Prose Edda, she is also called a Seeress. There are hints that she may be associated with the rowan tree as well.

Sigyn

Loki's godly wife, who bore him two sons, Narfi and Nari. She sits by the bound Loki with a cup, protecting him from the venom dripping onto his face. She is noted for her loyalty to Loki even after his exile from Asgardr..

Sjofn

A goddess of marriage and love.

Skadi

(Old Norse Skathi)

An etin-maid, daughter of the giant Thjazi, who came among the Aesir in full armour to take revenge for her father. As part of her weregild, she demanded a husband; she had wanted Balder, but, being forced to choose among the gods by their feet alone, ended up with Njord. His sea-home was as unpleasant to her as her mountain-home was to him, and so they parted. She later bore a son to Odin: this son fathered the line of the Jarls of Hladhir, who were some of the greatest protectors of Heathenism in Norway during the extremely bloody and brutal process of the conversion of that country. Place-names show that she was especially worshipped in eastern Sweden; in the Eddic poem Lokasenna, she speaks of her shrines and holy fields. Skadi is a goddess of skiing, hunting, revenge, protection of the clan, and those women who follow the path of the "Maiden Warrior".

Snotra

"The wise one", a goddess of wisdom and good behaviour, always ready to let folk know what is fitting at any given time. Often called on by the lady of the house when men are feasting too boisterously. One of Frigga's attendants.

Sunna

(Old Norse Sol)

The Sun. The Sun is always feminine in Germanic languages and culture, just as the Moon is masculine. There is fairly strong evidence showing that the Sun was actually worshipped by the Norse. She is seen as driving a fiery wagon across the sky, which is drawn by either one horse named Skinfaxi ("Shining Mane") or two named Arvaki ("Early Awake") and Alsvidr ("All-Swift"), and chased by a troll in wolf-shape who will devour her at Ragnarok.

Syn

"The denier": a goddess who guards gates and doorways against those who should not enter. She guarded the door to Frigga's palace against unwelcome visitors. Once she had decided to refurse someone entry there was no possibility of changing her mind, and appeals to higher authority were fruitless. She was therefore responsible for all trials and tribunals among mortals.

Urd

(Urdr, Wurd)

One of the Norns

Var

(Vara)

"Beloved" or "goddess of contracts". One of Frigga's women, a goddess of love and marriage, especially of marriage oaths.

Verdandi

One of the Norns

Vjofn

One of Frigga's attendants. Vjofn's responsibilities to the mortal world focused on conciliation: she strove to keep the peace, bring quarreling spouses to concord and bend the hardest of hearts to love.

Vör

One of Frigga's attendants. Her name meant "Faith", and she had full knowledge of the future.

Wyrd

The mother of the Norns.

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Last Update: Friday, February 9, 2007