Elder ᚠᚱᛖᛁᛃᚨ Younger ᚠᚱᛁᛁᛁᛅ
Epithets, Titles, and Kennings
Vanadís (lady of the Vanir)
Mardoll (root word Marr meaning sea. Sea bright)
Valfreyja (Lady of the Slain)
Heid (Völva from Voluspa)
Prong (throng of the people?)
Skialf (This could be associated with a hall as most halls' names ended in this word, but also the name is associated with a wife who hung her husband a king)
Daughter of Njord (Dottur Njardur)
Sister of Frey (Syster Freys)
Mother of Hnoss (Modur Hnossar)
Processor of the fallen slain and of sessrumnir and tom-cats (eigandi vaffalls ok sessruimni ok fressa)
Of Brisingamen (Brisingamens)
Gondul ( a queen who makes two kings fight)
Blotggdja (sacrificial goddess)
Of the Vanir’s consort (Brudr Vana)
Of Odr’s bedmate (bedvina Ods)
The god who’s weeping is beautiful
Folkvangr is her realm and Sessrumnir is her hall.
(and is sometimes said to be where she takes her half of the dead but this is disputed)
Njord is her father originally hailing from the Vanir but was exchanged as a hostage to the Æsir with his children (Freyr and Freyja). He is a god of ships and wind, commonly associated with wealth. Her mother is never mentioned but is speculated to be Skadi or Njords sister, an unnamed Vanir goddess, a final theory being Nerthus. A Germanic goddess from the time of Tacitus, during his accounting supposedly a goddess was worshiped all over Gaul. Her idol was brought around in a cart and kept in a sacred grove.
Her twin is Frey(r), and he rules over Alfheim. They make up a commonly seen idea of the worship and presence in mythology around the world of twin gods. Their names, which we commonly know translate to “Lord” (Freyr) and “Lady” (Freyja), are speculated to account for a fertility cult surrounding the Vanir possibly. During the Lokasenna, Loki accuses the two siblings of incest during his slander.
32. "Be silent, Freyja! | thou foulest witch,
And steeped full sore in sin;
In the arms of thy brother | the bright gods caught thee
When Freyja her wind set free." (The Poetic Edda, Translation by Henry Adam Bellows)
We have no other evidence to support this idea apart from the belief that the Vanir practiced incest in marriage and that Njord possibly was married to a sister at one point in time but still no evidence upholds these claims. Both Freyja and Freyr share a vast association with fertility and the land they also both are depicted to ride a boar and at a point, they each are mentioned riding a boar named “Gullinbursti” (“Golden-Bristles”).
She has 2 daughters Hnoss and Gersemi both of which translate to "treasure" though only mentioned in Christian sources and Gersemi is only mentioned once. In the Eddas, it says she has a husband named Oðr which is one of Odin's names, and gets into the Frigga and Freyja debate.
Getting into the debate on Freyja and Frigga it’s a tough battle between the texts, history, and linguistics. In the myths it’s very evident that they are separate goddesses with different personalities and attributes, Loki in the Lokasenna insults them both separately. From their names as we know them now Freyja only translates to “Lady” and Frigga means “to love” and we see that repetition across old Norse and Proto-Germanic with her name, we also see that Frigga's name is the closest associated to the word “Friday” with the days of the week transferring from the Romans to the germanic tribes we see how simply they took the names of the Romans gods and swapped them for associated Scandinavian gods, going from the romance language meaning “Venus day” to “Frigs day” as her germanic translations were so closely associated with love, which is another cross between her and Freyja, Frigga commonly is seen as a more domestic goddess and a wife, we see Freyja as this love goddess and in the text especially by Snorri Freyja is sexualized and made to be a promiscuous goddess, which could easily be that we are seeing what was once one goddess split into two versions or faucets of what they were before. One other confusing part for many people is Freyja’s husband Odr who is known to be the god Odinn. Freyja is also known heavily for her weeping when off searching for her husband, during Baldur's death Frigga's exaggerated focus is her weeping, which could easily be nothing important. But modernly the generally acceptable answer is that they are two different goddesses both important in their own right and status.
Frøya has a necklace she always wears. Its name is Brisgamen is a torc/necklace made by the dwarves and frøya supposedly spent a night with each of them who made it to get Brisingamen. In other myths Thor wears it dressed as Frøya during the fake wedding to Thrym the giant who stole Thor's hammer, then when Loki stole it and gave it to Odin. Odin made her start a war to get it back.
She also had a Boar named Hildisvini "Battle-swine" which she turned her husband oðr into and rode in one of the myths.
In the Grimnismal translation, it says "then" Odin picks not "and" giving the idea Freyja picks first but it's never mentioned otherwise. But modernly we accept that she does have the first pick. Gullveig is believed to be another name for frøya, she was a sorceress who predicted the Æsir, Vanir war and was burned alive 3 times by the Æsir each time coming back to life and was struck by spears and still didn't die.
She, like Odin, was known to use many different names throughout the myths and in her travels. She's the one who taught Odin and the other Æsir gods how to do Seidr magic. After the Æsir, Vanir war they exchanged hostages, and Frøya, Njordh, and Frey went to live with the Æsir in Asgard.
The Dís or Disir are referenced very often, always female, some called them female ancestors or fate goddesses which would include them in the Norns but they're also mentioned as Valkyrie in a sense as the Valkyrie were the Helpers of Odin and Freyja, they choose the who will fall and who lives during battles, etc. But most translations of the word Dís translated in Old Norse to "Lady", which is one of the same translations of Freyja, as Freyr and Freyja are "Lord" and "Lady". But then you have the many names used for Freyja, one being Vanadis, which they say means Lady of the Vanir (Vanir is one of the tribes of gods), but also some believed it meant that she was "the great dís" or Lady of the Disir Vanir, but it is known that they would call Freyja "Queen of the Valkyrie" and by translations possibly leader of the Dís, which then leads to more questions on the connection between the 2 (dís and Valkyrie). It’s known that Odin had his group of Valkyrie but that he had a group of "women" called "Odins Dís". Then you have 2 celebrations throughout the year, Disablot and disthing (this one has different names) which seem to mark the coming and going of winter, but also were more secretive and mainly within the home, some believed to be drawing down the ancestors magic from the alfar (elves) which with Freyja association to being "mistress of the home" (gets into the debate on her a frigg) and the name of the celebration may not have been the elves but the Dís possibly either as female ancestors or believe in ancestral connections to minor gods as a societal whole. Considering it wasn't uncommon for nobility to claim ancestry of some of the more famed gods (Odin, Freyr, etc)
Of course, Freyja is now a major goddess, if she wasn't before or even if she and Frigg were once the same being. They are now spilt just as Freyja is now much more important, but seeing the translation of Vanadis possible as "The great Dís" and Freyja having a connection to Gullvieg being Freyja and the connection to Freyja having rulership over Seiðr, etc. Could connect her to have been simply a leader of the Dís and or Valkyrie, and maybe it wasn't even her actual name considering Freyja translates to Fraujō in proto-Germanic, which becomes Frau in modern German, Frau means "woman" leading to the idea Freyja meant "Mistress" or "Lady" which is a title, not a name, which is interesting anyways. But of course, taking into account Old Norse poetry all the gods had different names and kennings. Which could mean we lost her original name.
The myths never actually show her as a Vølva but her association with magic gives us the idea she is along with the repeated idea that she was a goddess of sacrifices and that she was a “priest” in some texts, with the further association to gullveig this leads to the association that she could be a volva.
She has been described as having a chariot pulled by cats but they’re most likely domestic house cats based on the translations in stories the words used to mean only “cats” and if they were lynx or larger cats many translators believe the word directly referred to those animals would’ve been used instead, many older stories passed down orally mainly referred to her cats to be larger but we have no further evidence for either side.
Historical worship/practice
She had a fertility cult in the Viking age that stopped due to Christianity and a cult that lasted up until Snorri's age and time but that stopped soon after.
Hǫrg hann mér gerði, hlaðinn steinom,nú er griót þatat gleri orðit; rauð hann í nýionauta blóði, æ trúði Óttarrá ásynior (Hyndluljóð st. 10).
(He’s made a sanctuary for me, faced with stone, now that stone has turned to glass; he’s reddened it with fresh ox blood, Ottar has always trusted in the goddesses.)
This is one of the only examples of her worship or any goddess worship in the texts.
She and Frigga were called on during childbirth, and historically, our source came from a midwife.
In history, women of higher status would be named after Freyja in a sense being called “Fruvur” (ladies). Referring to the text before we see that many women who ruled over the household would be titled in her honor showing her ruling over the home at those times.
9- Nine is a number found everywhere in Norse mythology, although nobody is sure why as it’s never explained anywhere.
Divinational associations (runes/tarot)
Fehu, Sowilo, Berkano, Queen of wands, Queen of swords, The empress, The high priestess, The lovers, The star (Wildwood deck The Seer, and The Woodward)
Offerings and Devotional acts
Flowers (pressed or fresh)
Anything handmade for her
Things are respectfully taken from nature
Poetry (especially traditional Norse)
Sweet drinks or spices like cinnamon
Ethically gathered Bones, Cat claws, and cat whiskers (DO NOT HARM AN ANIMAL FOR THESE)
Learning distaff spinning
Any imagery associated with her
Learning magic or divination
Any baked goods (bread, muffins, honey cakes, etc)
Lighting candles every day in her honor
Burning incense for her (she likes things with flames or burning)
A staff making a staff for your craft if you practice Seidr they are commonly used in it and you could make your devotional staff for that and have it by her altar.
Care for your significant other
Volunteer or support shelters
Runic Chants/chanting the runes
(Both are commonly used in seidr)
https://www.tumblr.com/tears-of-amber/747489845291679744/freyja-in-the-honeysuckle-breeze-freyja-in-the?source=share
Poetic Edda translated by Jackson Crawford
Tales of Norse Mythology by Helen A. Guerber
The Norse Gods and Goddesses (Intro.)
The Vǫlva (Norse Seeress) and Seiðr
THE NORSE GODS: FREYJA || General info, what working with Freyja is like and offerings
Freyja (Freya) Norse Goddess of Love, Warriors, and Cats
My Experiences with Deities: Freyja
https://teaandrosemary.com/freya-goddess/
https://study.com/academy/lesson/goddess-freyja-facts-symbols-norse-mythology.html
https://historycooperative.org/freyja-the-norse-goddess-of-love/
https://historiska.se/norse-mythology/freyja-en/
https://hrafnar.org/articles/dpaxson/asynjur/freyja/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Freyja
https://www.northvegr.org/nordic-goddess/froya-freyja
https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/freyja-sensuality
https://www.voluspa.org/index.htm
https://sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe10.htm
https://www.academia.edu/90730001/45_Freyja
https://www.academia.edu/9715739/The_Cult_of_Freyr_and_Freyja
gods and myths of northern Europe
norse mythology - guide to the gods, heroes, rituals and beliefs
https://www.tumblr.com/fjorn-the-skald/153799577907/kennings-for-the-vanir-sk%C3%A1ldskaparm%C3%A1l?source=share
https://www.tumblr.com/broomsick/760015871374721024/i-want-to-ask-a-question-would-freyja-be?source=share
https://www.tumblr.com/tears-of-amber/714440167683964928/freyja-a-deity-deep-dive-some-upg?source=share
https://www.tumblr.com/chaos-bites/746330888775909376/subtle-freyja-worship-honor-passed?source=share
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