God Post: Freya

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This is the last god post for this month. I will finish the others next month and have them up. I got this info from Norse Mythology for Smart People.

 

Freya (Old Norse Freyja, “Lady”) is one of the preeminent goddesses in Norse mythology. 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 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 (see below for a discussion of this).

Freya is famous for her fondness of love, fertility, beauty, and fine material possessions – and, because of these predilections, she’s considered to be something of the “party girl” of the Aesir. In one of the Eddic poems, for example, Loki accuses Freya (probably accurately) of having slept with all of the gods and elves, including her brother.^[1] She’s certainly a passionate seeker after pleasures and thrills, but she’s a lot more than only that. Freya is the archetype of the völva, a professional or semiprofessional 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.

Freya presides over the afterlife realm Folkvang. According to one Old Norse poem, she chooses half of the warriors slain in battle to dwell there. (See Death and the Afterlife.)
Freya the Völva

Seidr is a form of pre-Christian Norse magic and shamanism concerned with discerning destiny and altering its course by re-weaving part of its web.^[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.

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]

Freya’s occupying this role amongst the gods is stated directly in the Ynglinga Saga, and indirect hints are dropped elsewhere in the Eddas and sagas. For example, in one tale, we’re informed that Freya possesses falcon plumes that allow their bearer to shift his or her shape into that of a falcon.^[6]

During the so-called Völkerwanderung or “Migration Period” – roughly 400-800 CE, and thus the period that immediately preceded the Viking Age – the figure who would later become the völva held a much more institutionally necessary and universally acclaimed role among the Germanic tribes.

One of the core societal institutions of the period was the warband, a tightly organized military society presided over by a king or chieftain and his wife. The wife of the warband’s leader, according to the Roman historian Tacitus, held the title of veleda, and her role in the warband was to foretell the outcome of a suggested plan of action by means of divination and to influence that outcome by means of more active magic, as well as to serve a special cup of liquor that was a powerful symbol of both temporal and spiritual power in the warband’s periodic ritual feasts.^[7][8]

One literary portrait of such a woman comes to us from the medieval Old English epic poem Beowulf, which recounts the deeds of King Hroðgar and his warband in the land that we today know as Denmark. The name of Hroðgar’s queen, Wealhþeow, is almost certainly the Old English equivalent of the Proto-Germanic title that Tacitus latinised as “veleda.”^[9] Wealhþeow’s “domestic” actions in the poem – which are, properly understood, enactments of the liquor ritual described above – are indispensable for the upkeep of the unity of the warband and its power structures. The poem, despite its Christian veneer, “hint[s] at the queen’s oracular powers… The Hrothgar/Wealhtheow association as presented in the poem is an echo of an earlier more robust and vigorous politico-theological conception.”^[10]

This “politico-theological conception” was based on the mythological model provided by the divine pair Frija and Woðanaz, deities who later evolved into, respectively, Freya/Frigg and Odin. Woðanaz is the warband’s king or chieftain, and Frija is its veleda. In addition to the structural congruencies outlined above, Wealhþeow and Freya even own a piece of jewelry with the same name: Old English Brosinga mene and Old Norse Brísingamen (both meaning something like “fiery/glowing necklace”). That both figures refer to the same ancient archetype, whether on the human or the divine plane, is certain.

Freya and Frigg

While the late Old Norse literary sources that form the basis of our current knowledge of pre-Christian Germanic religion present Freya and Frigg as being at least nominally distinct goddesses, the similarities between them run deep. Their differences, however, are superficial and can be satisfactorily explained by consulting the history and evolution of the common Germanic goddess whom the Norse were in the process of splitting into Freya and Frigg sometime shortly before the conversion of Scandinavia and Iceland to Christianity (around the year 1000 CE).

As we’ve noted above, the Migration Period goddess who later became Freya was the wife of the god who later became Odin. While somewhat veiled, this is ultimately still the case in Old Norse literature. Freya’s husband is named Óðr, a name which is virtually identical to that of Óðinn (the Old Norse form of “Odin”). Óðr means “ecstasy, inspiration, furor.” Óðinn is simply the word óðr with the masculine definite article (-inn) added onto the end. The two names come from the same word and have the same meaning. Óðr is an obscure and seldom-mentioned character in Old Norse literature. The one passage that tells us anything about his personality or deeds – anything beyond merely listing his name in connection with Freya – comes from the Prose Edda, which states that Óðr is often away on long journeys, and that Freya can often be found weeping tears of red gold over his absence.^[11] Many of the surviving tales involving Odin have him traveling far and wide throughout the Nine Worlds, to the point that he’s probably more often away from Asgard than within it. Many of Odin’s numerous bynames allude to his wanderings or are names he assumed to disguise his identity while abroad. Thus, it’s hard to see Freya’s husband as anything but an only nominally distinct extension of Odin.

Freyja and Frigg are similarly accused of infidelity to their (apparently common) husband. Alongside the several mentions of Freya’s loose sexual practices can be placed the words of the medieval Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, who relates that Frigg slept with a slave on at least one occasion.^[12] In Lokasenna and the Ynglinga Saga, Odin was once exiled from Asgard, leaving his brothers Vili and Ve in command. In addition to presiding over the realm, they also regularly slept with Frigg until Odin’s return.^[13][14] Many scholars have tried to differentiate between Freya and Frigg by asserting that the former is more promiscuous and less steadfast than the latter,^[15] but these tales suggest otherwise.

Frigg is depicted as a völva herself. Once again in Lokasenna, after Loki slanders Frigg for her infidelity, Freya warns him that Frigg knows the destiny of all beings, implying that she also has the power to alter them if she so chooses.^[16] Frigg’s weaving activities are likely an allusion to this role as well. And, as it turns out, Freya is not the only goddess to own a set of bird-of-prey feathers for shapeshifting – Frigg is also in possession of one.^[17]

The word for “Friday” in Germanic languages (including English) is named after Frija,^[18] the Proto-Germanic goddess who is the foremother of Freya and Frigg. None of the other Germanic peoples seem to have spoken of Frija as if she were two goddesses; this approach is unique to the Norse sources. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that in the Norse sources we find a confusion as to which goddess this day should have as its namesake. Both Freyjudagr (from Freyja) and Frjádagr (from Frigg) are used.

The names of the two goddesses are also particularly interesting in this regard. Freyja, “Lady,” is a title rather than a true name. It’s a cognate of the modern German word Frau, which is used in much the same way as the English title “Mrs.” In the Viking Age, Scandinavian and Icelandic aristocratic women were sometimes called freyjur, the plural of freyja.^[19] “Frigg,” meanwhile, comes from an ancient root that means “beloved.”^[20] Frigg’s name therefore links her to love and desire, precisely the areas of life over which Freya presides (perhaps a more theologically correct wording would be “within which Freya manifests herself”). Here again we can discern the ultimate reducibility of both goddesses to one another: one’s name is identical to the other’s attributes, and the other name is a generic title rather than a unique name.

Clearly, then, the two are ultimately the same goddess. But this raises the question of why they’re portrayed as distinct goddesses in Old Norse literature.
Germanic mythology acquired its basic form during the Migration Period, and is, accordingly, a mythology especially suited to the socio-political institutions and prevailing ways of life that characterized that era. The cornerstone of this schema is the divine pair Frija and Woðanaz, the veleda and the *xarjanaz (“warband leader”) respectively. During the Viking Age, the formal warbands of earlier times gave way to informal, often leaderless groups of roving warriors – the vikings. Since the warband was no longer a feature of the lives of the Norse people, the mythological structures that had accompanied it lost much of their relevance. Now that Odin was no longer thought of as the leader of the warband of the gods, nor Freya/Frigg its veleda, the opportunity arose for their roles to be reinterpreted. For unknown reasons, part of this reinterpretation evidently involved splitting Frija into two goddesses, a process that appears to have never been fully completed, but was instead interrupted by the arrival and acceptance of Christianity.

Heathen Holiday: Stikklested Day

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A good holiday to celebrate a rotten person ticking off the wrong person, thus getting himself killed.

Olaf the Lawbreaker (?St. Olaf?) was killed at the battle of Stikklestad on this date in the year 1280 R.E. Olaf acquired a reputation for killing, maiming, and exiling his fellow Norwegians who would not convert to Christianity, and for carrying an army with him in violation of the law to help him accomplish his oppression. Today honor the Asatru martyrs who died rather then submit to him. Also honor the warriors who brought justice to the Lawbreaker.

God Post: Sol and Mani

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Time for another post and I got this from the same site, Norse Mythology for Smart People.

 

Sol (pronounced like the English word “soul”; Old Norse Sól, “Sun”) and Mani (pronounced “MAH-nee”; Old Norse Máni, “Moon”), are, as their names suggest, the divine animating forces of the sun and the moon, respectively.
Sol and Mani form a brother and sister pair. When they first emerged as the cosmos was being created, they didn’t know what their powers were or what their role was in the new world. Then the gods met together and created the different parts of the day and year and the phases of the moon so that Sol and Mani would know where they fit into the great scheme of things.^[1]
They ride through the sky on horse-drawn chariots. The horses who pull Mani’s chariot are never named, but Sol’s horses are apparently named Árvakr (“Early Riser”^[2]) and Alsviðr (“Swift”^[3]). They ride “swiftly” because they’re pursued through the sky by the wolves Skoll (“Mockery”) and Hati (“Hate”),^[4] who overtake them when the cosmos descends back into chaos during Ragnarok.
According to one of the poems in the Poetic Edda, a figure named Svalinn rides in the sun’s chariot and holds a shield between her and the earth below. If he didn’t do this, both the land and the sea would be consumed in flames.^[5] Elsewhere, the father of Sol and Mani is named as “Mundilfari,”^[6] about whom we know nothing. His name might mean “The One Who Moves According to Particular Times.”^[7]
The medieval Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, whose Prose Edda can’t be taken at face value but nevertheless is in most low-quality introductory books on Norse mythology, tries to compile these disparate references into a comprehensive narrative that’s utterly ridiculous and useless as a source of information: Mundilfari had two children who were so beautiful that he called the girl “Sol” after the sun and the boy “Mani” after the moon. Sun married a man called Glenr (“Opening in the Clouds”^[8]). The sun, which had originated as a spark in Muspelheim, was pulled through the sky in a chariot, but the chariot had no driver. The gods were outraged by Mundilfari’s arrogance in the names he chose for his children, so they forced Sol to drive the sun’s chariot.^[9]

The Trundholm sun chariot from Bronze Age Denmark.

The conception of the sun and the moon riding on chariots through the sky is evidently a very old one among the Norse and other Germanic peoples. It can be found on rock carvings and other Scandinavian artifacts from the Bronze Age, perhaps the most notable of which is the Trundholm sun chariot (pictured). The idea that the sun deity was female, and with a name that means simply “Sun,” is also attested among the continental Germanic peoples.^[10]
So while we don’t know much about Sol and Mani, we can be sure that the basic conception they indicate is not only authentic, but was a part of pre-Christian Germanic religion from the earliest times.

God Post: Jord

Hail!

Time for another god post. I got this from the same site, Norse Mythology for Smart People.

Jord (pronounced “YORD;” Old Norse Jörð, “Earth”) is an obscure and seldom-mentioned giantess and goddess in Norse mythology. She plays no active part in the tales whatsoever, and is referenced only in passing as being the mother of Thor^[1] and as being the daughter of Nótt (“Night”) and Anarr (“Another”).^[2]

However, Thor’s mother is also called Fjörgyn, Hlóðynn, Fold, and Grund throughout Eddic and skaldic poetry. These names, like “Jord,” all mean “earth,”^[3] so, given the context, it’s unlikely that they were thought of as being truly distinct personages. But were they all different names for the same personage?

Such an interpretation seems to be overly literal. In all likelihood, what these passages are really saying is that Thor is the son of an earth goddess, but not necessarily any one specific earth goddess. “Earth” here seems to be more of a general concept than a discrete figure.

The Norse and other Germanic peoples were part of the larger Indo-European group of peoples.

Throughout the Indo-European world – for example, among the Celts, Slavs, Greeks, Romans, and early Hindu society – the idea that femininity and the earth are intrinsically connected, as are masculinity and the sky, was one of the most basic and common ideas. This is borne out especially clearly in Celtic mythology (wherein all goddesses, with very few exceptions, conform to the earth/fertility/mother/sovereignty type), Aristotle’s cosmology, and the famous Indian marriage formula wherein the groom addresses the bride, “I am heaven, thou art earth.” The union of the sky god and the earth goddess, which maintains the cosmic order and bestows prosperity on the land as it’s fertilized by the sun and the rain, is often referred to as a hieros gamos or hierogamy, “divine marriage,” by historians of religion.^[4]

It would be extremely strange if this concept weren’t also found amongst the Norse and other Germanic peoples, and we can indeed find numerous examples of it. One example of the hieros gamos is the union between Thor and his wife Sif. Sif’s most-noted attribute is her long, flowing blonde hair, which is surely meant to be understood as corresponding to a field of grain ripe for harvest. Thor, whose name means “Thunder,” is the animating spirit of the storm whose rain fertilizes the fields.

Another Germanic goddess, Nerthus, was specifically identified with the Roman Terra Mater, “Mother Earth,” by the Roman historian Tacitus.

Another especially striking example of the Indo-European “earth mother” archetype amongst the Germanic peoples comes from an Old English prayer to an Erce, eorþan modor (“Erce, mother of earth”). The charm was recited when the plow cut the first furrow of the growing season, and milk, honey, flour, and water were poured into the soil.^[5]

Ultimately, then, when the Old Norse poets referred to Thor’s mother as “Earth,” they seem to have been referring more to a general concept that was ambient and taken-for-granted in their society than they were to a particular mythological figure. The fact that the references to her in Old Norse literature are so sparse and insubstantial lends further credence to this interpretation. Before the Norse and other Germanic peoples were converted to Christianity, their sacred tales and divine personalities were never systematized or rationalized like they are in modern storybook versions of mythology.

They wouldn’t have necessarily felt a need to explain exactly who Thor’s mother was. That she was “Earth” was apparently enough.

Blog of an Independent Asatruer Up Eight Months

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Today marks eight months that my blog has been up. I want to thank everyone that has come on here and read, and liked, my posts. I really appreciate it. Thank, once again, for reading.

God Post: Fjorgynn and Fjorgyn

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Here's another one. I got this from Norse Mythology for Smart People.

Fjorgynn (pronounced roughly “FIOR-gen”) and Fjorgyn (also pronounced roughly “FIOR-gen”) are a divine pair in Norse mythology. Fjorgynn (Old Norse Fjörgynn) is male and Fjorgyn (Old Norse Fjörgyn) is female.

References to either of these giants and/or deities in Old Norse literature are few and far between. They play no active part in the surviving mythological tales. Therefore, everything that we know about them has to be cobbled together from passing references and the study of comparative religion.

Fjorgyn is sometimes said to be the mother of Thor.^[1] Elsewhere, Thor’s mother is said to be the equally elusive Jord. Since “Jord” (Old Norse Jörð) is the Old Norse word for “Earth,” and since fjörgyn (as a common noun with a lowercase “f”) is commonly used in Old Norse poetry to signify “earth” in a general sense,^[2] Jord and Fjorgyn seem to be identical or at least closely related.

While the etymology (linguistic origin) of the words “Fjorgyn” and “Fjorgynn” is unknown, many scholars have proposed that the former could be related to Old English fruh, Old High German furuh, and Latin porca, all of which mean “furrow” or “ridge.”^[3] This in turn suggests a connection to an Old English prayer to an Erce, eorþan modor (“Erce, mother of earth”), which was recited when the plow cut the first furrow of the growing season, and milk, honey, flour, and water were poured into the soil.^[4] All of this indicates that Fjorgyn was extension of the “earth mother goddess” type that was so prevalent throughout the ancient Germanic (and wider Indo-European) world.
And what about the male Fjorgynn?

References to him in Old Norse literature are even sparser than those to his female counterpart. In the Lokasenna, one of the poems in the Poetic Edda, the goddess Frigg is called Fjörgyns mær.^[5] This phrase can be literally translated as “Fjorgynn’s maiden,” which could mean either “Fjorgynn’s daughter” or “Fjorgynn’s mistress.” The medieval Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson claimed that Frigg was Fjorgynn’s daughter,^[6] but Snorri can’t be taken at face value. The passage in the Lokasenna has Loki taunting Frigg over her infidelity and promiscuity, and in that context, mær can hardly mean anything but “mistress.”

So this passage tells us nothing about Fjorgynn except that he slept with Frigg. Of course, few if any of the Norse gods and goddesses have been noted for their chastity or fidelity, so this passage tells us essentially nothing about Fjorgynn.

Unfortunately, those two throwaway mentions are Fjorgynn’s only appearances in Old Norse literature. To gain any insight into Fjorgynn’s character, then, we have to turn to another kind of source: comparative religion.

The thunder god of the Slavs and Balts of Eastern Europe, who was called Perun (“Striker”) or Perkunas, was essentially identical to Thor in his attributes and role within the Slavic and Baltic pantheons and mythologies. There are also many areas of overlap between those deities and the Hindu storm god Parjanya.^[7] Such correspondences are relatively common amongst the various branches of the Indo-European peoples, which include the ancient Slavs, Balts, Norse, and Indians (India’s Indians, not American Indians, of course).

This makes it all the more intriguing that the names “Fjorgynn,” “Perkunas,” and “Parjanya” all seem to derive from the same Proto-Indo-European word. If you reverse the sound shifts that eventually differentiated the Germanic, Baltic, and Sanskrit languages from the Proto-Indo-European language thousands of years ago, you end up with something like *Perkwunos. In the Proto-Indo-European religion, *Perkwunos was likely a prominent god of the sky, storm, and rain. Since the Proto-Indo-European language and religion are unattested, there are no written documents that could explicitly confirm this, but the functional and linguistic similarities here are simply too close to be coincidences.^[8]

If Fjörgynn corresponds to the Lithuanian Perkunas/Slavic Perun/Indian Parjanya, and if Fjörgyn means “earth,” then Fjorgynn and Fjorgyn would be a pair that corresponds exactly to Thor and his wife Sif and to the wider Indo-European hieros gamos or divine marriage between a sky god and an earth goddess. Thus, Fjorgynn and Thor are effectively identical, as are Fjorgyn, Jord, and Sif. Here we have a replication of a deep-seated concept rather than a set of storybook-like discrete deities. It’s by no means straightforwardly clear how this constellation of related conceptions gave rise to the almost identical names Fjorgynn and Fjorgyn, but it seems likely that this feature, too, goes back to the Proto-Indo-European period, given the similarity of the Norse fjörgyn and Latin porca.

This also demonstrates a larger point about the mythology and religion of the Norse and other Germanic peoples. The names of the deities, and many of the details of their attributes and personalities, changed considerably over time, as did the details of the sacred stories that were told about them. The essence of Norse/Germanic religion, therefore, lies not in such superficial characteristics, but in the deeper concepts like the hieros gamos and a cyclical view of time. Those of us who are interested in reconstructing ancient Germanic mythology and religion, whether for scholarly or personal reasons, would do well to remember that the details (“Thor” or “Fjorgynn”?) mean little in isolation, and derive their significance from pointing back to that bigger picture.

Got a new Mjolnir Pendent

Hail!

Forgot to post this last week, because I was busy and recovering from actually going out and working. Here's my new pendent, which I just love.

Heathen Holiday: DOR for Unn the Deep Minded/Odin's World Prayer Day

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Today will be a remembrance and a prayer day. Here's some info about Unn the Deep Minded.

Unn was a powerful figure from the Laxdaela Saga who emigrated to Scotland to avoid the hostility of King Harald Finehair. She established dynasties in the Orkney and Faroe Islands by carefully marrying off her grand daughters. As a settler in Iceland she continued to exhibit all those traits which were her hallmark-strong will, a determination to control, dignity, and a noble character. In the last days of her life, she established a mighty line choosing one of her grandsons as her heir. She died during his wedding celebration, presumable accomplishing her goals and worked out her orlog here in Midgard. She received a typical Nordic ship burial, surrounded by her treasure and her reputation for great deeds.

Odin's World Prayer day will focus on those fighting to finally rid the Middle East of Daesh. I wish them well and may Odin and Thor give them the strength to continue to fight.

Heathen Holiday: Founder's Day

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So today is Founder's Day, or the Fourth of July here in America. Founder's Day is supposed to be a holiday that you remember those that laid the groundwork for modern Heathenism. However, I'm using this holiday to celebrate the independence of the colonies and pour out libation to Thor and Odin. I'm doing all this outside because I had to put my altar away due to the move that's coming up. I hope that you all will have a good fourth.

God Post: Gefjun

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Time for another god post. I'm getting good at posting these things. Got this from the website Norse Mythology for Smart People.



Gefjun (pronounced “GEV-yoon” and sometimes spelled “Gefjon,” “Gefiun,” or “Gefion”) is an ancient Norse goddess of agriculture, fertility, abundance, and prosperity. Her name is derived from the Old Norse verb gefa, “to give,”^[1] and her name can be translated as “Giver” or “Generous One.”

Most of our information about Gefjun has been filtered through the mind and pen of the thirteenth-century Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson. While Snorri’s retellings of Norse mythology can’t be accepted uncritically, his descriptions of Gefjun surely do contain much that is authentic.
As Snorri tells it, Gefjun traveled through Sweden disguised as a homeless woman. When she appeared before the generous King Gylfi, he granted her as much land as four oxen could plow in one day. Gefun summoned her four sons, which she had had by an unnamed giant, and turned them into oxen to plow the land. Not only did they plow the land; they also dragged it from Sweden, where the resulting depression became the lake Mälaren, and out into the ocean, where it became the Danish island of Zealand, upon which the city of Copenhagen is today located.^[2][3]

A similar, but shorter and more ambiguous, version of this same story can be found in the ninth-century poem Ragnarsdrápa by Bragi Boddason.^[4] This poem probably formed much of the basis of Snorri’s version.

Associations between an earth goddess of prosperity and the act of plowing were common throughout the pre-Christian religion of the Norse and other Germanic peoples. The name of the goddess Fjorgyn, which by the Viking Age had come to be used as a synonym for “earth,” is likely derived from a Proto-Indo-European word for “furrow.”^[5]

Another example of this tendency is an Old English prayer to an otherwise unattested goddess named “Erce” that was recited when the fields were first plowed in the spring. While it was recorded after the conversion to Christianity, it certainly originated in the pre-Christian period. In it, the Christian god is assimilated to a classic pagan Indo-European role: the sky god who fertilizes the earth goddess in the hieros gamos (“divine marriage”). H.R. Ellis Davidson translates the charm as follows:

Erce, Erce, Erce, Earth Mother,
may the Almighty Eternal Lord
grant you fields to increase and flourish,
fields fruitful and healthy,
shining harvest of shafts of millet,
broad harvests of barley…
Hail to thee, Mother of Men!
Bring forth now in God’s embrace
filled with good for the use of men.^[6]

The association with the island of Zealand also suggests a connection between Gefjun and Nerthus, another earth mother goddess whose cult was also said to be centered in Zealand.^[7]

There are few other references to Gefjun in Old Norse literature. In the Eddic poem Lokasenna, Loki accuses Gefjun of having exchanged sex for precious jewels, something that the goddess Freya is also said to have done.^[8] Since Freya was also an earth goddess of “peace and plenty,” this passage raises the question of the degree to which Freya and Gefjun can be distinguished from one another. Indeed, one of Freya’s other names is Gefn, which is also derived from the verb gefa and also means something like “Giver” or “Generous One.”^[9]

In any case, Gefjun’s apparent promiscuity makes Snorri look rather ridiculous when he claims that Gefjun is a virgin and that girls who die virgins go to her company when they die.^[10]
In conclusion, then, Gefjun can hardly be distinguished from other Germanic goddesses of the “earth mother goddess” type, which includes Freya, Frigg, Nerthus, Fjorgyn, Jord, Sif, and others. This is not to say that they were all necessarily thought of as being the exact same goddess, but rather that they’re multiplications of and slight variations of the same type of goddess.

Why didn’t the Norse and other Germanic peoples just have one single goddess of this type, then? To modern tastes, that would have made things more efficient by eliminating redundancy. But one of the defining traits of ancient Germanic religion was its lack of systematization and rationalization, and the fluidity that existed between various divine figures. You could say that the “earth mother goddess” of fecundity was a divine model buried somewhere deep within the Germanic psyche (regardless of the degree to which you might ascribe this to “nature” or “nurture”), and that that model was allowed to be expressed in any way that it and its worshipers chose.

After all, polytheistic religions are characteristically permissive and lacking in dogma. Generally speaking, only monotheistic religions, with their insistence on a literalistic, black-and-white distinction between “good” and “evil” and “true” and “false” tend to view a rigid, “one-size-fits-all” codification of their tradition as necessary and desirable.

A New Month Starts

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Today is the beginning of another month and one that will be filled with changes. We have to move, next month the house is put up for auction due to the landlord. I really can't stand people that don't pay their taxes. I will be doing plenty of per-writes so that the information is up when I want it to be up. I'm hoping that we won't be without the internet for long and that I can go back to blogging.