It bothers me to see Freyja declawed.
Okay so… there are a lot of different neopagan and heavily christianized influences in modern international heathenry. These influences actually litter the greater heathen community to such a degree that there are a lot of little things that annoy me, but there are some things that just plain anger me to no end.
One of these things is the declawing of Freyja.
What I mean by that is that Freyja is often described primarily as a goddess of love and beauty and many of the images and icons created by and for heathens depict her as this gorgeous woman in a supple, soft, even gentle pose.
I’ve even seen a statue of Freyja that looks a lot like a virgin mary statue with a fresh coat of paint.
Freyja is associated with cats and cats are elegant and beautiful and soft little murder machines and this association is spot on.
Freyja is described as incredibly beautiful, yes, but also as incredibly powerful (magic wise, and incredibly violent.
She is the leader of the valkyries, which aren’t just “sheild maidens” or women i fantasy-rpg-style armor cheering on the sidelines.
They choose who lives and who dies.
They choose where you go when you die.
And they ride point into battle and Revel in the sheer bloodlust and carnage.
If it was raining blood from the heavens, Freyja would dance and sing in the rain.
This aspect of her is important.
It’s an equal measure of everything she is.
Beauty, power, wisdom, and fucking bloodlust.
When we speak of her as a goddess of love it feels disingenuine.
She’s more to do with the raw, the carnal, lust.
She’s not found in a cute and harmless flirt with that cute person.
She’s found in fingers reaching, grabbing, hot breath, wordless sounds of pleasure, two hearts beating hot, hard, and in tune with one another.
She has less to do with a kiss on a cheek, and more to do with an orgasm.
But this too, this hunger is lost as her active role is downplayed, her sword and spear taken from her hand, her sensible armor and cloak of hawk’s feathers with which she can literally fly into battle, her battle chariot, her wild boar, everything stripped away from the fierce and proud goddess, and she’s declawed, and turned into something soft and sweet and gentle.
It frustrates me to see her declawed and turned into a synonym for the virgin mother.
It angers me to see the female fury of my ancestors turned into a polite, christian, crush.
And most of all, it angers me to see heathens use this watered down, declawed, christianized version, to explain how women should be.
