Friday, July 10, 2009

Have a Fabulous Freya's Day


Goddess Freya lifts her necklace Brisingamen http://www.goddessfreya.info/drawings5.htm. Check out this website for more great pics of Lady Freya and other beautiful women. Be forewarned, though, that most are nude. The Norse of yesterday and today have much less shame over nudity as can be evidenced by topless contests in women's magazines when I was stationed in Germany.

Let's learn more about this Norse goddess of love and war.

“Njord's daughter Freya was priestess of the sacrifices, and first taught the Asaland people the magic art, as it was in use and fashion among the Vanaland people.”

From Heimskringla: The Ynglinga Saga at http://www.norroena.org/Heimskringla/page01.html

Freya is the goddess of love and war. Sounds like a contradiction, but from the myths, and possibly from our own experience we know they are both different sides of the same coin.

This eternal battle between love and war is related in the mythology surrounding Freya and the magical necklace Brisingamen which means necklace of flames, and may symbolize the sun. The necklace was created by the Brisings or Brislings, four dwarven brothers named Alfrigg, Berling, Dvalin and Grer. It is interesting to note that Dvalin’s name relates to the unconscious and that he was the one who introduced the runes to the dwarves as noted in the Havamal.

When Freya first saw the necklace, Brisingamen, she knew she must have it at whatever cost. The Bristling would not accept Freya’s gold or silver in payment but demanded she spend one night with each of them. Although she was Odin’s mistress at the time, she agreed to this, because her desire for the necklace was great.

Unbeknownst to Freya, Loki had followed her to the cave of the Brisings, and told the entire story to Odin. He was disgusted with Freya and had Loki steal the necklace from her. In order to gain back the necklace, Freya would be required to start a war in the world of men.

It is interesting to note that this war was fought over a woman, Hlid. whom Hedin Hjarrandason abducted during Hogni's absence from his kingdom. When Hogni (the king of Norway at the time) returned and found out that Hedin had raided his kingdom and abducted his daughter, he gathered his forces in his kingdom and set out against Hedin. Hogni found Hedin and his daughter in Orkney.

Hlid appealed to her father, to not fight her new husband, but he ignored her. When the two armies deployed for battle, Hedin offered his wealth as atonement, in order to avert war. Hogni answered it was too late for peace offering, because he had drawn his sword, Dainsleif, and couldn’t be sheathed until the blade had tasted blood.

So that day, they fought until nightfall until both sides retired to their camps, leaving the dead behind. Hlid walked among the dead, and with her magic, she brought the slain back to life, to fight the same battle the next morning.

The next morning, the dead on both sides, fought again with the living, until nightfall ended the battle. During the night, Hlid used her magic again on the dead so that they would rise again to fight the same battle. This happened again and again. The two armies fought during the day; at night the dead turned into stone, but when morning comes, the dead would pick up their weapon and fight another day.

The two armies were cursed to fight one another until the day of Ragnarok. This was the endless war that Freya would start, to regain her necklace. Forever, love and war became intertwined as the beads of Freya's necklace. Bound together by magic.

By some it is said, that even though Freya won back her necklace, she did not win back Odin’s heart. She had first coveted Brisingamen for its beauty and magic and would wear it to bewitch all who would look on it, but now she wore it like a collar, showing her loss in the battle of the heart to find true love.

If you would like to see some beautiful necklaces worthy of a goddess visit Wendy Edsall-Kerwin’s website at http://hammermarks.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/jewelry-in-mythology-brisingamen/.

For a board game called Freya’s Folly based on the myth of the Brisingamen at http://www.freddistribution.com/control/product/~product_id=101086.

For Norse necklace charms see http://www.enchantedjewelry.com/.

For a great Asatru reconstructionist website see http://www.norroena.org/Heimskringla/page01.html. They have a new book just published which is available at Amazon called The Asatru Edda: Sacred Lore North which is as close to a Norse Bible as you can get.

Other Sources:

Timeless Myths at http://www.timelessmyths.com/norse/beings.html#Brisings.

Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%ADsingamen.

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