WHO tf is FREYA?!

May 23

Freya accompanied by her 2 cats. Artist unknown.

Who IS SHE?!

I’m so glad you asked! Below you will find a collection of research and information I put together on my journey of learning about Freya, Norse Paganism, Germanic Mythology, and more! Hope you enjoy. :)

For references/resources/further learning - scroll to bottom!

Identity and Family of Origin

Freya (Old Norse Freyja, meaning “lady”) is one of the preeminent (preeminent: superior to or notable above all others; outstanding) Pagan goddesses of Norse Mythology. [1]

“Freyja is actually not technically a name—its literal translation means “Lady.” She has a brother, who goes by Freyr, whose name literally means “Lord.” Their parents are Njörðr, the Sea, and Herta, the Earth. “ [5]

She is known for being strikingly beautiful and having long, blonde hair that is often seen braided. Various artworks show her with a number of different hair colours, including red, orange, and brown. Freya comes from the Vanir tribe of deities who are known to be shapeshifters who can take on any form. [5]

“What we do know about the Vanir is that they were shapeshifters associated with magic, creative energy, the sea, prophecy, eroticism, fertility, and shamanism. Our current view of elves is not so different from the Vanir, and it was believed that every rock, tree, and natural site had a Vanir spirit attached to it.” [5]

“What we know today about the Norse people and their customs comes from Christians who invaded and converted the people living in modern day Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland. Their traditions were captured in the Prose Edda and Poetic Edda by the Christian Snorri Sturluson, which were written in Icelandic. Women were not as highly regarded as men during the Viking era, so a greater emphasis has been placed on male deities, although the Norse pantheon certainly had a large amount of female deities as well.” [5]

She (Freya/Frigg) is also known as the one and only “mother goddess” of Norse Paganism.

“She’s a member of the Vanir tribe of deities, but became an honorary member of the Aesir gods after the Aesir-Vanir War. Her father is Njord. Her mother is unknown, but could be Nerthus. Freyr is her [twin] brother. Her husband, named Odr in late Old Norse literature, is certainly none other than Odin, and, accordingly, Freya is ultimately identical with Odin’s wife Frigg” [1]

There is a lot of debate about the confusion over whether Freya and Frigg were two separate deities or in fact, the same. My research indicates that there are various speculations about which is the truth about Freya, so I am mindful to keep an open mind and hold space for both realities. I invite you to do the same.

There is also debate about whether Odr and Odin were actually the same deity as well. The striking similarities have me thinking that there may be no separation between Freya and Frigg, nor Odr and Odin.

Freya is the Germanic or Norse goddess of love and war. She is renowned (or notorious) for her fondness of practicing shamanism/magic, beauty, sex, fertility, gold and delighted in the finer things in life. Freya is said to have lived among the Vikings, and whose knowledge and power are almost without equal. [1]

She is known to be a bit of a “party girl”[1], and indulges herself in sexual relations with many different suitors. Hell yeah she did! Pleasure is our birthright!

Seidr/Shamanism/Magick

“Seidr is a form of pre-Christian Norse magic and shamanism that involved discerning the course of fate and working within its structure to bring about change, often by symbolically weaving new events into being.[3] This power could potentially be put to any use imaginable, and examples that cover virtually the entire range of the human condition can be found in Old Norse literature” [1]

“Freyja is the goddess of love, warfare, sex, fertility, death, beauty, magic, and witchcraft. She oversees battles, can bestow or remove fertility, can be petitioned for love, and was born knowing the divine secrets of witchcraft and the Runes. This is due to the fact that she is part of the Vanir, a people believed to practice witchcraft and have a strong connection to the Earth.” [5]

“Freya is the archetype of the völva, a professional or semi professional practitioner of seidr, the most organized form of Norse magic. It was she who first brought this art to the gods,[2] and, by extension, to humans as well. Given her expertise in controlling and manipulating the desires, health, and prosperity of others, she’s a being whose knowledge and power are almost without equal.” [1]

“In the Viking Age, the völva was an itinerant seeress and sorceress who traveled from town to town performing commissioned acts of seidr in exchange for lodging, food, and often other forms of compensation as well. Like other northern Eurasian shamans, her social status was highly ambiguous – she was by turns exalted, feared, longed for, propitiated, celebrated, and scorned.[4]” [1]

“Freyja, the Norse goddess of witchcraft, death, love, and fertility, was later condemned by Christian missionaries as the “Queen of Witches.” [5]

“According to Judika Illes, “Freya was no obscure goddess but beloved and worshiped over a vast European territory including Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, the Germanic lands, Holland, and Anglo-Saxon Britain. She remains among the most beloved and widely venerated Pagan goddesses today. No spirit annoyed Christian authorities more than Freya. Ironically, the result was that Freya survives more vividly than virtually any other female European spirit. Constant condemnation kept Freya from fading into obscurity.” [5]

“Illes continues: “Freya was denounced as a Queen of Witches. Women who venerated her were automatically branded ‘witches.’ And, of course, Freya’s rites and traditions did encourage magical practice, mediumship, shamanism, and female autonomy with Freya herself as the role model, behavior the new regime considered abhorrent and sinful.” [5]

“This does not come as much of a surprise: even though some pagan traditions relied heavily on heteronormative and patriarchal gender roles, there were outliers. Since Freyja oversaw battles and ruled over magic, she owned her own sense of power and ability to change fate. By being able to bestow and control magic, divination, fertility, love, war, and death, she held a great deal of power in her hands. It’s not a surprise someone considered so powerful, especially for females, was so difficult to extricate from the population Christian missionaries wanted to convert.” [5]

Possessions/Symbolism

“Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, is accompanied by the boar Hildisvíni, and possesses a cloak of falcon feathers.” [2]

The cloak is said to give Freya, or any wearer of the cloak, the ability to shape-shift into a falcon, giving the bearer the ability to fly.

Significance of Friday the 13th

Pre-Christianity, Friday the 13th was originally associated with Freya/Frigg as she is the goddess of love and fertility. Friday is said to be named after Freya and her fellow goddess Frigg, who bear many similarities. The church did not like this association, as it encouraged the people to make love and enjoy it. It was then that the church decided to rewrite the association of Friday the 13th, no longer with Freya, but with the devil and bad luck to instill fear.

Today, the goddess associated with Friday is Venus, for she is now known as the epitome of divine femininity.

For those that don’t know, before patriarchal times, Friday the 13th held much significance in the spirit of the divine feminine. It was considered the day of the goddess, a special day to worship the divine femininity that exists inside all of us. This day was meant to honour the cycle of creation, death, and rebirth, as there are 13 moon cycles per every calendar year, along with the average woman experiencing 13 menstrual cycles per calendar year. It was said to be a very powerful day for manifestation, for honoring creativity, and for celebrating wisdom, beauty, and nourishment of the soul. [3]

Lunar Calendar/Sumeria

Lunar years can be 12-13 months long depending on the year and orbit of the sun. The lunar calendar was created first, and was used in ancient times. The Gregorian calendar (which is what we use today, and is considered a solar calendar system) evolved from the lunar calendar, and utilizes some (not all) terms that were originally used in the ancient lunar calendar.

“The Sumerians were probably the first to develop a calendar based entirely on the recurrence of lunar phases.” Sumeria is an ancient region, and one of the earliest known regions of civilization located in what is now known as Iraq. “Each Sumero-Babylonian month began on the first day of visibility of the new Moon.” [4] NOTE: The new moon (typically) represents day 1 of our menstrual cycle, but of course not always..

Menstrual & Moon Cycles

There are different types of cycles that a woman’s menstrual cycle may follow. In fact, there are 4 cycles: White Moon cycle (most common and associated with motherhood), Red Moon cycle (second most common and associated with healers), Pink Moon cycle (less common, indicative of a transitional time in one’s life), and Purple Moon cycle (less common, also indicates transitions). Each cycle syncs differently with each phase of the moon, and indicates a variety of different things about the current stage of one’s life. A woman’s cycle is, like life itself, always changing and will often change cycles at different points throughout one’s life.

“On average the 13th falls in the middle of the Moon cycle and represents that midway point between death and rebirth. The midway point between the New Moon, where a woman is shedding (the death) and the Full Moon, where the woman is ovulating (rebirth).

Before patriarchal times, when a woman was bleeding she was considered to embody divine and magical powers. She was regarded by all for her wisdom and ability to offer intuitive and psychic messages.

When she was ovulating, she was considered to be at the height of her power and was celebrated for her ability to receive, hold and create new life.

It was only when society became more patriarchal that women were made to feel shame when they were having their periods and to ignore their amazing potential to create and hold space for new life.

This attitude has helped to contribute to the idea that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day.” [3]

KEEP IN MIND: None of the above is necessarily fact. In particular the information regarding Freya and Norse Mythology. Much of the literature written about these topics was destroyed when Christianity began to take over Europe, leaving very little information available to those still looking to study the topic. It is believed that this was very intentional as the Christians who overtook Europe had great fear that the Norse people and vikings were too powerful, and therefore their literature was destroyed in order to disempower them as a people. There are few pieces of Norse Mythology still in circulation today, including texts titled the Prose Edda and Poetic Edda among a few others. That said, there are still many ways to practice Norse Paganism if one takes time to do their research and find legitimate resources. There are even a couple YouTubers who I have come to really enjoy, along with folks on Instagram and all your other social media outlets.

If you want to begin your journey of practicing Norse paganism, my first recommendation would be to search using keywords and hashtags.

#paganism

#norsemythology

#norsegods

#norsegoddesses

#norsepaganism

#germanicmythology

#vikings

#norsewitch

#seidr

These would all be great places to start. As far as resources I have come to appreciate myself, I will link below. Also check out my sources for this article - there is lots of juicy info to be found in all of them!

For me, Norse Paganism and connecting to Freya is my way of ultimately connecting deeper to myself. It’s a part of my self-love journey. Through serving and worshiping Freya, I am learning how to serve, worship, and love myself on a deeper level than ever before.

Will I always identify as Norse Pagan? Maybe, maybe not. But I do know I’ll always love Freya and what she represents.

It’s not for everyone, but if it calls to you, pick up the call! Enjoy it and don’t take it too seriously. It’s all about learning something new, exploring, and deepening the relationship to ourselves and to spirit. It’s a powerful practice that we all get to make our own!

We’re here for a good time, not a long time, my friends.

HAPPY LEARNING :)

Abundant love,

Melrose xx

References:

Content Creators I love:

The Norse Witch - (9) Let's talk: Gatekeeping and Racism within Norse Paganism - YouTube
Scarlet Ravenswood - (9) 7 Things I Wish I Knew Before Becoming Pagan - YouTube
The Green Witch - (9) What I Wish I Knew Before I Began Practicing Witchcraft - YouTube

** Important to note: There is a history of white supremacy and racism among certain groups within the Norse Pagan community. Always keep an open mind while doing your research, but remain critical of the content you consume. Not all content is good content, and the truth is some people are simply looking to share negative or subliminal messaging that is negative or prejudice in nature. Always be aware and don’t believe everything you hear/read. For example, throughout your research you will most likely come across a certain popular creator (W*sdom of Odin) who has a history of being under fire for spreading these types of messages. Again, be open but remain critical. Odin is super cool, prejudice and propaganda are not.

Melanie Rose https://www.mindfulmelk.com