Freyja Hit And The Nature Of The Gods

Freyja. I had an inkling about her when I was meditating – as a flame dancing in the primordial darkness, before time and all else. Maybe she was the first creation, done by the Creator/ix who was alone and wanted to create: the thought comes, then there is light in the darkness, and I see her dancing around and around, across the universes – precocious, alive and ecstatic – but formless. Like a flame.

This all reminded me of the story of Lilith, the first woman created – who escaped rather than accept domination and regulation.

In this article Lilith is describes as the “feminine opposite of masculine order” which fits in quite nicely with Freyja.  It points out that many scholars originally thought the Burney Relief was Lilith, not Innana/Istar. The relief shows a goddess with wings and talons standing on two cats. Freyja has similar symbolism – she has a cloak of falcon feathers that she flies with and she has two cats who pull her chariot. Also in this depiction she is ‘wearing an elaborate necklace’. The necklace Brísingamen is Freyja’s, and one of the most well-known stories about her. So whether this is Lilith or not, it could definitely be Freyja.

I was also left with this: if Freyja was born out of the primordial darkness – the first living thing – born of the Creator’s need to not be alone, then she is not of the earth and most likely is more ancient than the gods. This is a notion I’ve run across in my readings that seems to be backed up by lore. Odin himself could not slay her, though he tried to by burning her at the stake three times. All times she resurrected and became more powerful  in the end. This was my feeling when researching her. She is ancient.

So if she is pre-planets and universe and pre-gods, then she exists outside of the hierarchy which up until now, I have been placing the gods and humans into. What if the gods were not created equal? What if ‘gods’ are not even necessarily all of the same race or type of Being? What if there are primordial Beings that existed before anything else – and then there are the Gods as we know them: earth-linked.

I muse on this because I am often left wondering who to pray to when I give thanks to Creation for my life – my gratitude list. If Freyja is not of the earth and did not create human-kind, then I wouldn’t pray to her in this way. Rather, I prey to her and give thanks for teaching me Seidr (Norse magic).

According to Norse myth Odin made the world (Earth, Jord) out of the body parts of the primordial giant Ymir. And the three gods Odin, Hœnir and Lodur came upon the first humans as senseless kind of tree-beings, Askr (ash tree) and Embla (possibly vine). These three gave Ask and Embla their senses and the ability to think and reason, their spirit and their ‘colouring’ which could mean I guess, putting red blood into their veins. If this is true then we humans really are of the earth, and owe the gods our gratitude, not for creating us but for evolving us.

So lately I’ve been sending my gratitude out to the Divine – which encompasses the gods, Odin/Zeus/Yaweh/Allfather for teaching me the runes, the Creator or Creative spark that began everything (created Freyja and maybe Ymir) and still Creates today, to Mama-earth our true mother and to Freyja for guiding me on my path to wisdom.

Featured image by By Oscar via Wikimedia Commons