THE NORSE EARTH GODDESS, Erda, was believed to live in a cave within the earth’s deepest recesses, which was set next to the roots of Yggdrasil, the vast World Tree. The earth was thought to revolve on its axis around Yggdrasil, whose massive limbs sustained and connected all of life. Yggdrasil was watered by Erda’s plentiful fountain of wisdom. This pure source of water enabled the tree’s tallest branches to reach the heavens, and its widest branches to give shade to all.
Erda’s powers were as encompassing as Yggdrasil’s leafy span—indeed, the goddess and her magical fountain were often invoked by those in need of her far-reaching wisdom. Others believed Erda could bend the inexorable powers of fate, over which she ruled. One myth tells how the Norse god Odin gave up one of his eyes for the privilege of drinking from Erda’s fountain; his quest for knowledge was worth more to him than the pedestrian gift of eyesight.
Another story claims that Erda is the oldest goddess of the three Norns, a trio of sister goddesses associated with the past, present, and future. They were believed to help mothers as they gave birth, and ruled over a person’s unchangeable destiny.
DIVINING FATE
Because of Erda’s association with fate, the Norse believed there was a clear correlation between the goddess and the art of divination, a valued part of pre-Christian Scandinavian society. It may be hard to imagine today, but at that time, every home was open to seeresses—female practitioners of the art of divination, who were believed to receive help from the spirit world. The predictions presented by the seeress often came in the form of mysterious poems obtained by the use of runes, or other oracles whose messages she was skilled in deciphering.
The seeress made her runes from bone or wood strips cut from a nut-bearing tree, upon which potent symbols were carved or painted. In a way, by creating runes from a tree, the seeress was drawing from that same fountain of wisdom Erda used to nurture Yggdrasil and, consequently, invoking the goddess herself.
The Norse also turned to the earth itself for guidance. They used many aspects of it as oracles—animals, birds, the sky, even the ocean—believing that the observation of these things could bring divine answers to questions posed. Horses in particular were considered to be the confidants of the gods and goddesses, able to reveal heaven’s will to sensitive humans. A horse’s calm movements could promise a peaceful solution to the questions posed; other movements mirrored other outcomes.
Using natural forms as oracles reminds us that the earth can give us the answers we need to our most urgent and primal queries. By using these forms of divinations, the Norse were able to receive wisdom directly from Erda, Mother Earth.
~ The Book of Goddesses: A Celebration of the Divine Feminine
