The godesses of Asatru: Freyja (Freya, The Frowe)
The Frowe (Freyja) is unquestionably the most beloved goddess among true folk today, as well as the best-known. Due to the intense sexuality of her cult, a great deal of information concerning her was deliberately lost; even before Iceland was converted to Christianity, writing the love poetry of which she was patroness was considered grounds for lesser outlawry. Unlike that of her twin brother Fro Ing, her true name survives in no sources, though she is sometimes identified with Nerthus, the old Earth-Mother of the North Sea Germans.
The Frowe and Fro Ing are the twin children of Njördhr and his sister; who bears no name in the Old Norse sources. They are the most famed of the Wanic deities.
In contrast to the more domestic and conservative figure of Frija, who embodies the power of the feminine in the social sphere, the Frowe represents the power of the feminine in the realms of nature and magic. She is often a wild goddess; within the terms of society, she was often rebuked for her sexuality, for she holds herself accountable to no one for her loves. In “Lokasenna,” Loki says to her that “I know thee fully / ever you are mad after men: / all Ases and Alfs who are in this hall / have had thee to love” ; while the etin-maid Hyndla says that “you leap about, athelingfriend, outside at nights, / as with the he-goats Heidhrún goes” (“Hyndluljódh” 46, 47). For this reason, also, a Christian skald referred to her as gray: “bitch” (he was sentenced to lesser outlawry for this offensive stave).
There is a certain tendency among some moderns to see Freyja as simply a sexual figure, an object of male fantasy. However; the Old Norse sources make it very clear that she was always the one in charge of her relationships – a thoroughly “modern” figure of female sexuality. Although the gods offered Freyja's hand in marriage to giants at least twice, when it came to it, she refused mightily (as a result of which, Thórr had to disguise himself as a woman and take her place to regain his stolen hammer!)
The Frowe is often described as “wife of Ódhr (Wod),” but the constant attempts of the etins and thurses to gain her in marriage shows that the relationship is, at the very least, more casual than that between Wodan and Frija. In many ways, however, she is seen as a feminine counterpart of Wodan. Like him, she has great magical might; both wander often through the worlds, taking lovers among humans and godly wights alike. Though her battle-aspects are not often spoken of in the early writings, the fact that the Frowe and Wodan have an equal share of those slain in strife shows that she is also mighty in matters of war and of challenge. For those whose ritual work is based particularly on balance and polarity, it is within keeping with the Indo-European tradition to couple Wodan and the Frowe as Sky-Father and Earth-Mother, though you should be aware that the “Lord” in the tradition of “Lord and Lady” was never Wodan, but Fro Ing, the twin brother of the Frowe.
The magic practiced by the Frowe is most typically that known as seidhr in Old Norse – a magic which is probably the source of the Anglo-Saxon Witch tradition.
Unlike Fro Ing (Freyr), the Frowe is not often a goddess of peace. She first appears as Gullveig, “drunkenness of gold,” who stirs strife among the Ases. They burned her thrice and thrice she returned, teaching and working magic under the name Heidhr (“the Glorious”). The first war – the war between the Ases and the Wans – seems to have been fought over her (or possibly at her instigation). Although she is established in the Ases' Garth after that, she does not seem to have been given, like Fro Ing and Njördhr; as a hostage.
The Frowe (Freyja)was most often worshipped by unmarried women, divorced women, and widows (though not virgins, who called upon Gefjön), as Frija (Frigg) was by wives and mothers. However, men worshipped her as well and made sacrifice to her.
Freyja is associated with fertility by implication, although her primary aspect is that of erotic pleasure without a strongly reproductive aspect. She is far more strongly connected with riches than with the fruitfulness of the fields; the tears she weeps onto land become gold, while those she weeps into the sea become amber. Her daughters are named Hnoss and Gersemi both of which mean “treasure.”
In addition to embodying the might of sexuality, the Frowe seems to be one of the greatest sources from which the god/esses of the Ases' Garth draw their life.
The symbol of the Frowe is her necklace or girdle, Brísingamen (“necklace of the Brísings” or “burning-necklace.") The necklace or girdle is the oldest goddess-symbol among the Northern Europeans, particularly in the form of the torc (a collar made out of twisted metal). A great many torcs, too large for human wear, have been found in the bogs in Denmark and southern Sweden, together with huge necklaces of raw amber. In The Bog People, P.V. Glob states that the torc may well have been connected with the strangling-rope with which the Tollund Man was sacrificed before he was buried in the bog; the rope made of twisted strands of hemp and the collar made of twisted strands of thick wire do look very similar. Ynglinga saga also describes how the golden necklace which was the inheritance of the Vanic kings of Sweden was used by a Finnish woman to hang her royal husband in one of the many apparently sacrificial deaths which the early Yngling kings suffered.
The beasts of her cult are the pig, the falcon, the cat, and small wood-birds in general, especially the swallow and the cuckoo; butterflies are also called “Freyja's hens,” and the name “ladybird” (“ladybug” in America) may associate these beetles with her as well.
The Frowe (Freyja) is unquestionably the most beloved goddess among true folk today, as well as the best-known. Due to the intense sexuality of her cult, a great deal of information concerning her was deliberately lost; even before Iceland was converted to Christianity, writing the love poetry of which she was patroness was considered grounds for lesser outlawry. Unlike that of her twin brother Fro Ing, her true name survives in no sources, though she is sometimes identified with Nerthus, the old Earth-Mother of the North Sea Germans.
The Frowe and Fro Ing are the twin children of Njördhr and his sister; who bears no name in the Old Norse sources. They are the most famed of the Wanic deities.
In contrast to the more domestic and conservative figure of Frija, who embodies the power of the feminine in the social sphere, the Frowe represents the power of the feminine in the realms of nature and magic. She is often a wild goddess; within the terms of society, she was often rebuked for her sexuality, for she holds herself accountable to no one for her loves. In “Lokasenna,” Loki says to her that “I know thee fully / ever you are mad after men: / all Ases and Alfs who are in this hall / have had thee to love” ; while the etin-maid Hyndla says that “you leap about, athelingfriend, outside at nights, / as with the he-goats Heidhrún goes” (“Hyndluljódh” 46, 47). For this reason, also, a Christian skald referred to her as gray: “bitch” (he was sentenced to lesser outlawry for this offensive stave).
There is a certain tendency among some moderns to see Freyja as simply a sexual figure, an object of male fantasy. However; the Old Norse sources make it very clear that she was always the one in charge of her relationships – a thoroughly “modern” figure of female sexuality. Although the gods offered Freyja's hand in marriage to giants at least twice, when it came to it, she refused mightily (as a result of which, Thórr had to disguise himself as a woman and take her place to regain his stolen hammer!)
The Frowe is often described as “wife of Ódhr (Wod),” but the constant attempts of the etins and thurses to gain her in marriage shows that the relationship is, at the very least, more casual than that between Wodan and Frija. In many ways, however, she is seen as a feminine counterpart of Wodan. Like him, she has great magical might; both wander often through the worlds, taking lovers among humans and godly wights alike. Though her battle-aspects are not often spoken of in the early writings, the fact that the Frowe and Wodan have an equal share of those slain in strife shows that she is also mighty in matters of war and of challenge. For those whose ritual work is based particularly on balance and polarity, it is within keeping with the Indo-European tradition to couple Wodan and the Frowe as Sky-Father and Earth-Mother, though you should be aware that the “Lord” in the tradition of “Lord and Lady” was never Wodan, but Fro Ing, the twin brother of the Frowe.
The magic practiced by the Frowe is most typically that known as seidhr in Old Norse – a magic which is probably the source of the Anglo-Saxon Witch tradition.
Unlike Fro Ing (Freyr), the Frowe is not often a goddess of peace. She first appears as Gullveig, “drunkenness of gold,” who stirs strife among the Ases. They burned her thrice and thrice she returned, teaching and working magic under the name Heidhr (“the Glorious”). The first war – the war between the Ases and the Wans – seems to have been fought over her (or possibly at her instigation). Although she is established in the Ases' Garth after that, she does not seem to have been given, like Fro Ing and Njördhr; as a hostage.
The Frowe (Freyja)was most often worshipped by unmarried women, divorced women, and widows (though not virgins, who called upon Gefjön), as Frija (Frigg) was by wives and mothers. However, men worshipped her as well and made sacrifice to her.
Freyja is associated with fertility by implication, although her primary aspect is that of erotic pleasure without a strongly reproductive aspect. She is far more strongly connected with riches than with the fruitfulness of the fields; the tears she weeps onto land become gold, while those she weeps into the sea become amber. Her daughters are named Hnoss and Gersemi both of which mean “treasure.”
In addition to embodying the might of sexuality, the Frowe seems to be one of the greatest sources from which the god/esses of the Ases' Garth draw their life.
The symbol of the Frowe is her necklace or girdle, Brísingamen (“necklace of the Brísings” or “burning-necklace.") The necklace or girdle is the oldest goddess-symbol among the Northern Europeans, particularly in the form of the torc (a collar made out of twisted metal). A great many torcs, too large for human wear, have been found in the bogs in Denmark and southern Sweden, together with huge necklaces of raw amber. In The Bog People, P.V. Glob states that the torc may well have been connected with the strangling-rope with which the Tollund Man was sacrificed before he was buried in the bog; the rope made of twisted strands of hemp and the collar made of twisted strands of thick wire do look very similar. Ynglinga saga also describes how the golden necklace which was the inheritance of the Vanic kings of Sweden was used by a Finnish woman to hang her royal husband in one of the many apparently sacrificial deaths which the early Yngling kings suffered.
The beasts of her cult are the pig, the falcon, the cat, and small wood-birds in general, especially the swallow and the cuckoo; butterflies are also called “Freyja's hens,” and the name “ladybird” (“ladybug” in America) may associate these beetles with her as well.
(Excerpt from the Asatru/Heathen book Teutonic Religion by Kveldulf Gundarsson. Used with permission. Click on the book title to buy an e-copy of the entire book.)