Freya (Norse)

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 Njörðr/Njord. Her mother is unknown, but could be Nerthus. Freyr is her brother. With her husband Odin/Óðr, she is the mother of two daughters, Hnoss and Gersemi. Her famiy are members of the Vanir. Modern forms of the name include Freya, Freyia, and Freja.

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, Loki accuses Freya of having slept with all of the gods and elves, including her brother. 

Folkvangr

Freya rules over her heavenly field, Fólkvangr, where she receives half of those who die in battle. The other half go to the god Odin’s hall, Valhalla. This role of female battlefield choosers of the slain connects her to the Valkyries. Within Fólkvangr lies her hall, Sessrúmnir. Freya assists other deities by allowing them to use her feathered cloak, is invoked in matters of fertility and love, and is frequently sought after by powerful jötnar who wish to make her their wife. Freyja’s husband is frequently absent. She cries tears of red gold for him, and searches for him under assumed names. Freyja/Freya has numerous names, including Gefn, Hörn, Mardöll, Sýr, Vanadís, and Valfreyja.

Freya the Völva
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, 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.

Seidr is a form of pre-Christian Norse magic and shamanism that involved discerning the course of fate and working within its structure to bring about change, often by symbolically weaving new events into being. 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.

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.

Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot pulled by two cats, is accompanied by the boar Hildisvíni, and possesses a cloak of falcon feathers to allow her to shift into falcon hamr.

In Scandinavia, Freyja’s name frequently appears in the names of plants, especially in southern Sweden. Various plants in Scandinavia once bore her name to honor her, such as Freyja’s tears and Freyja’s hair but they were renamed to honor Virgin Mary during the process of Christianization.

If you were a goddess, which
special powers would you like to possess?

Sources:
wikipedia
Norse-mythology.org