Goddess of the Day: Freya

pillars

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Freya: Norse Goddess of Beauty, Love, and Destiny

Freya was a spectacular beauty known for her appreciation of romantic music and stunning floral arrangements. That was her softer side; she was also known as the goddess of war and death.

As leader of the Valkyries, she had considerable power. She had the right to claim half the souls of the bravest warriors who died in battle. Actually going onto the battlefield, she would gather them up and take them back with her to spend the after-life in her home in perpetual rest and recreation. A sweet and generous woman, she always invited their wives or lovers to come and live with them.

The other half of the heroic warriors, who belonged to Odin, would be gathered up by the Valkyries and taken to Valhalla where they were able to live in comfort and honor.

She was also called upon to comfort those who were dying, to ease their transition into Valhalla (the "otherworld"), serving as a guide and companion on the journey to Valhalla for many Viking heroes who had died nobly.

When Freya and the Valkyries rode forth on their missions, their armor caused the eerily beautiful flickering light that we know as the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights.
 
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Modern Forms of Worship
Magical Worship
Freyja is the mistress of Seidh-magic. She is referred to in many poems and sagas as the one whom Seidh workers grant supreme knowledge of the art. Modern Seidh workers often get their initial, if not primary, inspiration and guidance from Her worship.

The practice of Seidh is most akin to shamanic practices. The practitioner induces themself into a trance and vision-quests their way through internal and external threads of consciousness to gain knowledge, experience and epiphanies (some may claim 'fortunes') therefrom.

In worshipping Freyja in her magical role, She is experienced as a mentor of sorts in the teaching of the art. The experiences with Her are always personal, but pivotal in the workers learning of Seidh. Whatever inspiration or motivation they need spiritually is usually attributed to Her direct influence (there are exceptions).
 
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Freyja: Goddess of Magic
Freyja (like Odhinn) has many titles by which she is known. Freyja itself means "the lady." Her other titles include: Vanadis (Goddess of the Vanir), Vanabrudhr (Bride of the Vanir), Hörn (Mistress of Flax), Gefn (the giver), Syr (the sow), Mardöll (the Sea-bright) and Gullveig (the gold-greedy). Freyja is a member (perhaps the most prominent) of the Vanir, a race of fertility gods who at first fought with, then later, united with the Aesir.

Frejya is generally known as a fertility goddess. As the goddess of love, she is shown to be sexually attractive and free with her favours. She also had links with the dead; half of the slain she shared with Odhinn, and each day decided who would enter her hall Sessrumnir, which lay in Folkvang, 'the Field of Folk.' Freyja also was mistress of magic. She owned a falcon-skin which she would don in order to travel to the underworld, bringing back prophecies and knowledge of destiny. In addition to shape-shifting, she also was the goddess of seidhr and could magically control fire. She drove a chariot pulled by cats, and her totemic animal was the sow.

Freyja is a member of the Vanir, a pantheon of deities which are generally described as 'fertility' gods. There has been some speculation that the Vanir represent an agriculturally-centred, matrifocal people who were invaded, and later assimilated by the tribe who's gods were the Aesir. There is much evidence within the Norse Myths to show that the Aesir did not approve of Freyja's intimacy with her brother, Freyr - and also that Freyja and Freyr were the children of Njord by his un-named sister. Snorri tells us that brother-sister marriages were common amongst the Vanir, and this could well indicate a clash of tribal mores.
 

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