Welcome to the new summer issue of The Wain. The cover illustration is of our summer Lord, Frey, and is from Thorskegga Thorn's series of illustrations 'Gods of the English'. She has also completed Freyja, Thunor, Frige and Mother Earth (Jord with a baby Thor !) currently and Woden is likely to be available very shortly, should you wish to obtain copies of her artwork.
Many thanks for your kind and positive comments on 'The Wain' which came through with the first subscription renewals - it really helps to know you are enjoying it.
The Vanadis special - last issue - was a project very dear to my heart and I had sworn to get it out in Spring to the Lady's honour but unfortunately I was not able to spend as much time on it as I would have wished due to personal circumstances. So I'd like to give a few apologies here. Although she has not complained, I would like to give a full name check to the winner of the Vanadis competition : Amanda Class-Hamilton. Also sorry Jamie, I had to hand write some amendments (which turned out to be your poem) so it could go out or you still would not have seen it now
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All rights reserved. © 1998 All articles, poetry and illustrations are the joint copyright of the author/artist and the editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the editor.
P. Deegan : Editor
Fealcen Stow
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Freya has sometimes been identified with Nerthus, who, according to Edred Thorsson ("Futhark"), was the original castrating and devouring Mother-consort of Ing (before Gerd). Nerthus had a wain drawn by cattle, which makes her comparable to Gefjon, a Danish hypostasis of Freya-Gefn, who ploughed out the Danish isle of Zealand (which contains Naerum = Niartharus = the sacred sanctuary of Nerthus) with a team of oxen (her sons), and there settled down at Lerje with Skjöld Odinsson (a hypostasis of Uller or Ing-Frea ?) - becoming the Clan Mother (Dis) of the Danish monarchy (from whom my own highland clan incidentally appears to be descended).
Gefjon was the patron of maidens who may not necessarily have been virgins, since Gefjon, like Freya, once sold her favours in return for a necklace. Premarital prostitution was once a sacred institution in the Mediterranean, which had trading links with Bronze Age Scandinavia. However, in the translation of Latin legends, her name was consistently used to translate that of the classical virgin huntress Diana. Though she is perhaps closer in nature to the great maternal 'Diana' (or 'Artemis') of the Ephesians.
At her great temple at Ephesus (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) she received offerings from all over the world including amber necklaces (like Freya's Brisingamen) from the Baltic. Her cult was the historical prototype of the cult of the deified aspect of the Christian Virgin Mary, as the Venusian 'Star of the Sea' (Mardoll) and the Theotokos or 'Mother of God'. (NB some consider the 'Maiden' Mary to have been a temple prostitute before the birth of Jesus, avatar of Attis). This 'Diana' was a manifestation of the Anatolian Magna Mater Cybele, goddess of the earth and sky, whose cult (like that of Freya-Nerthus in the north) dates back to the stone age. It is interesting that the sacred image of Cybele was ritually bathed once a year, as was that of Nerthus on her sacred isle. Also Cybele rides in a chariot drawn by felines (totems of her invert priests ?) as does the Norse goddess Freya(whose seið-men may have had cat fetches). Like the cognate near eastern goddess Inanna/ Ishtar/Astarte/Astoreth, she was also depicted riding on the back of a lion, just as the Roman Diana-Lucifera has been represented riding a horned, winged panther, and Freya was depicted in the Schleswiger Dom riding on the back of a Siberian tiger.
Freya the Queen of Heaven's cat drawn wain, known as 'The Lady's Wagon', gave its name in the north to Ursa Minor, and as the Old Norse word fres meant both bear and cat, this celestial 'little bear' could also be seen as Freya herself in cat form drawing the starry wheel of the heavens (and hence also the seasons and fates) around with her; for Polaris, the celestial axis is set in the point of her tail (really too long for a bear's tail). Also her rune in this aspect would be Raido ('riding' or 'wagon'), which corresponds to the Vedic Rta, the principle of dynamic regulation common to all the gods including Varuna (Odin), Mitra (Tyr) and their joint executives Indra (Thor) and Agni (Loki). The wheel she turns is shown in diagram 1. Rta animates and controls all things as the Vedic psychological uniting symbol, cognate with the Taoist Ying-Yang and the western Holy Grail - not to mention the New Age flying saucer (cf. Ezekiel's Merkaba vision). Freya, the celestial expansion or emanation of the manifold might of the Earth Mother (Nerthus-Fjorgyn), herself unites opposites within herself: for she is both the chief valkyrie battle maid and the Vanic love-goddess (Thanatos and Eros), helping with birth and also claiming half the battle slain dead, and ruling both the waxing and waning halves of the solar round of the year, which is symbolised by her golden Brisingamen, which the opposite creative and destructive powers of Heimdall and Loki fight to possess. Like her supreme totem animal, the cat, Freya is both tender and fierce, prolific and murderous, sensual and supernatural, earthy and otherworldly. (NB according to the Chaldean Oracles the ultimate symbol of the universal fiery Ether is the form of a Lion).
Cybele also unites opposites with herself since she was originally a hermaphrodite - the multiple breasts on her statue at Ephesus have been identified as bull's testicles. This is echoed in the theory that the Norse Nerthus originally possessed a hermaphroditic unity with her 'brother' Njord, and the theory that Mary was a self fertilising Vir-gyne or Andro-gyne = 'Man-Woman'.
From the blood of the severed testicles of Cybele's androgynous avatar (Agdistis) there sprang a pomegranate tree which fertilised the mother of her sacred 'son-consort' Papa (Pope) Attis, who corresponds to Syrian Adonis and Mesopotamian Tammuz. The Norse equivalent of Attis is the symbolically emasculated goddess-lover Yngvi-Frey (Ing) who gave away his phallic sword and horse to win his beloved: though Frey's originally maternal 'castrating' beloved was replaced with an Etin maid (Gerd), and his mother-lover (Nerthus) became his sister Freya, who was then respectably married off to Odur/Odin. Like Cybele, Attis castrated himself (or she did it to him) as the model and spiritual father of Cybele's prophetic and sorcerous eunuch priests, and sacred passive-homosexual prostitutes, the Galli - who have been equated with the Corybantes and the Curetes of Rhea. (NB in the first few centuries of the Christian era the Galli's ritual castration was sometimes replaced with symbolic bull sacrifice, which may have been reflected in Freyic horse sacrifice in the north). sometimes replaced with symbolic bull sacrifice, which may have been reflected in Freyic horse sacrifice in the north). As Rhea (mother of the Olympian gods) the divine mother of Attis also turned her grandson Dionysus (Aegean equivalent of Odin as god of ecstasy) effeminate when she initiated him into the supposedly primal Phrygian mysteries. She even gave him her dress to wear, making him a priestly transvestite like the Galli of Cybele. It is implied that when Odin learned the primal shamanic mysteries of Seið-craft from the goddess Freya (a manifestation of his great grandmother, Audumla, dam of Buri) he also suffered the 'shame' of temporary sexual effeminization, indulging in periodic ergi - hence his by-name Jalk or 'gelding', and the report that he behaved as a female witch, or Seiðkona, at Sams Isle.
One theory holds that the original shamans were female shamankas, and that to assimilate their powers, upstart male would-be shamans had to impersonate their femininity. However, it may be that certain womanly types of homosexual men have always had a 'natural' affinity with female sorcerers ? There is also some evidence that the primal creative deities at the centre of all things were originally womanly or androgyne, like the Orphic hermaphroditic Eros-Phanes, an all powerful love-deity like Freya, and also the Gnostic Sophia-Barbelo-Cybele, sole parent of the Devilish Trickster Demiurge.
Freya's affinity with Gefjon and Nerthus links her to the bovine symbol of the primal All-Mother, who Egyptian name was Hathor. This Freya like cow-headed goddess of young women, love, music, dance and intoxication was herself identified with all the other goddesses. In one aspect Hathor was seen as the intoxicated and thus pacified form of the all devouring, terrible lioness-goddess Sekmet. Likewise Cybele first appeared as a terrible hermaphrodite monster (Agdistis) who had to be pacified with alcohol. In identity with the primal creatrix Neith, Hathor was said to be two-thirds male and one-third female, and hence an Androgyne like Cybele-Agdistis and Nerthus-Njord, whose primal form would be Audumla, the great cow mother of Etins and Gods (Æsir and Vanir) alike. She is herself also threefold as Freya, the (Vanic) maiden-whore and battle-maid; Frigg, the (quasi Aesic) mother-wife; and Heid/Angurboda, the (quasi Etinish) crone-witch - a reflection of the 'male' magical trinity of lover and battle-god Odin; father Heimdall; and shaman-trickster Loki.
It is also noteworthy that if this primal Mother and her initiated priestly functionary, or 'son', were originally both androgynes or transsexuals and womanly lovers of men (Gefjon was equated with the Cypriot, 'man eating', sacred prostitute goddess Aphrodite in "Stjórn"; and the Ing derived English word ingle meant young, passive homosexual) then the loving/erotic union between the two must have been in essential reality the mystical possession of the latter by the former following on from the latter's sex changing sacrifice of his outward masculinity ? In this process, the great goddess Freya-Nerthus -Gefjon is the archetype of the all potential Higher Self and transcendent cosmic consciousness which the devotee aims to become mystically merged with and to magically express or incarnate; and the effeminized gods: Frey (as expressed by his ergi-priests), Odin (as best expressed by his 'shadow' Loki) and perhaps even Thor (in his impersonation of Freya) are the models of the aspirant magician-priest in this Great Work.
Finally I would like to point out that my own sex changing and sorcerous patron god Loki (who vanically flies in Freya's hawk robe and who underwent a mock castration in place of Njord) may himself be seen as the fiery son of the Terra Mater/Nerthus, for his mother's name Laufey, 'the leafy (wooded) isle', is a kenning for Mother Earth, and may also refer to the cult site of Nerthus on an island grove. Laufey's alias Nal, 'needle', may suggest that her manifestations included the pine tree sacred to Cybele, and Loki is himself runically linked to Freya-Frigg's sacred birch tree in the Old Norwegian Rune Rhyme.
Loki's matronymic surname Laufeyarson may be of Aryan antiquity, for it is paralleled by that of the Vedic fire god Agni, who is likewise called garbhas vanam, 'fruit of the womb of the woods'. Jung etymologically linked Old Indian van, vana = 'wood' to Germanic words related to the rune Wunjo and possibly also to the name of the Vanir themselves. Note in Tacitus that the Vanic Earth god/dess was the parent of Tuisto = Teiwaz/Tyr, the original heavenly All Father before Odin the Sigtyr. Furthermore Fjorgyn/Jord, mother of Thor (alias Fjorgynn 'father' of Frigg), is also 'Mother Earth' (like Nerthus); and Indra, the Indian Thor, was sometimes said to be the twin of Agni (Loki). According to Snorri's Edda, the name of Thor's wife Sif (mother of Uller, wintry shadow of summery Frey, the other Alci/Hadding) is also an alias of Jord. So Loki's stealing (reaping) of Sif's corn gold hair is parallel to Plutarch's account of Horus snatching the magical head-dress of his mother Isis, as an act of divine, heroic rebellion. He had to atone to the Mother's frosty, Etinish 'shadow' (= Skadi) however by tying his testicles to the beard of a nanny-goat (Heidrun ? = Freya ?) and then playing a painful game of tug of war in order to warm the goddess into laughing fertility. The change in Skadi's character from wintry harshness to summery happiness is not permanent however. For when Loki is bound under the earth for his alleged part in the slaying of Balder, it is she who ties the venom dripping serpent above his face. This in turn enrages Loki and transforms him from a Puckish figure of fun into a destructive, chthonic force of volcano and earthquake. Also, when he breaks free at the Ragnarok, Loki will have his final revenge by setting ablaze the maternal cosmic tree of life, which contains all the worlds and their wights. But from another point of view this universal destruction can be seen as a loving work of renewal, for from the regenerated Yggdrasil will be born a new humanity, and to it's crown the fallen gods will at last return from Hel.
Bibliography
Edred Thorsson : 'Futhark'
Kveldulf Gundarsson :'Teutonic Magic'
The Ring of Troth : 'Our Troth'
Nigel Pennick : 'Runic Astrology'
H.R. Ellis Davidson :'Gods & Myths of Northern Europe'
John Ferguson : 'The Religions of the Roman Empire'
Lucie Lamy : 'Egyptian Mysteries'
Veronica Lons : 'Egyptian Mythology'
Hans George Wunderlich :'The Secret of Crete'
Benjamin Walker : 'Gnosticism'
Anne Baring & Jules Cashford :'The Myth of the Goddess'
Randy P. Conner : 'Blossom of Bone' .
G. Jung : 'Symbols of Transformation'
C.G. Jung :'Psychology & Religion West & East'
In the Yule '97 issue I discussed Skírnismál as drama. Here I describe a performance of the poem for a London Pub Moot. We used Hollander's translation, but cannot print it here for space and copyright reasons.
We were six actors (for Skathi, Skírnir, Frey, a 'shepherd', a handmaid & Gerth). Also a drummer. Three steads were marked with chairs for Hlidskjalf, Alf-Home & Giant-Home: ours were plain, but fitting tokens could be added. A high-seat to the rear for Hlidskjalf and two chairs to the front, one on each side of the staging area, for Alf-Home & Gerth's home.
Props included :
two swords (of wood) for Frey and the shepherd
Skírnir's gifts (apples & Draupnir): the apples were real whilst 'Draupnir' was made of yellow card - we used nine rings, linked by thread, which could be stacked into one or stretched into a chain
a 'horse' for Skírnir to borrow: we shaped a hobby-horse by making a 'horse-head' of wire frame with papier-mache then putting this onto a branch of wood, draped with cloth. Held in one or two hands the actor can mimic a horse's movement and parade in a pleasingly phallic fashion.
'the wall of flame' banners: long sticks with alternative strips of red/orange/yellow material hanging off them.
'dogs': mock wolf heads with grinning teeth
a table : for a mound and sense of height
bits of 'shepherd' ! : a sock stuffed with a cardboard tube and a red rag protruding for blood and bone (for a leg) and a stuffed glove (for a hand)
'stave': a broad and unmarked piece of wood that can be tucked in Skírnir's belt
a drinking horn
a piece of cord
a ritual hammer
Costumes were modern, but fitted thecharacters: bright for Frey and Skírnir, bare arms for Gerth, a bow for Skathi and a monstrous mask for the shepherd. For the final section a flashy cape and an antler (perhaps you might add a 'phallus') were used for Frey whilst Gerth required a headdress of flowers (or you might use a nice headdress with a coat of 'blossom) together with a white veil.
The Drama -
As prologue we added a dumbshow: Frey enters, sees Hlithskjalf, sneaks in for a look over the worlds. He watches Gerth enter with her maid, cross to her stead and stretch her arms aloft. From the text, it is the sight of her gleaming arms that hooks him, so there is a tinkle of chimes as Frey, smitten, comes to his feet. Gerth sits, while Frey stumbles to his own seat in Alf-Home and slumps in a love-sick mope. Skathi enters, is met by Skírnir, and the dialogue begins.
Skathi bids Skírnir find out why her 'son' is so moody [verse 1]. Skírnir is loath, but as Frey's friend he will try [verse 2]. He crosses to Frey as Skathi leaves.
He coaxes Frey to reveal his love for Gerth. Frey resolves to send Skírnir to woo her. Skírnir agrees only if he is lent the sword that fights by itself and the horse to carry him over the flames. Frey gives Skírnir his sword and horse [verses 3-10].
Another dumbshow: Skírnir mounts up and, with drums pounding, circles the stage, until his blocked by the 'wall of flame' {waved by two actors across his path}. Twice he fails to pass then he urges the horse through {the actors exit quickly}. Skírnir has reached Gerth's home but is kept away by the 'dogs' {an actor waving the wolfheads with appropriate sound effects}.
Here the text has Skírnir asking a 'shepherd, sat on a mound' how he might pass the dogs. The shepherd says he'll never get a welcome from Gerth and believes Skírnir doomed to try. Skírnir replies "None can escape their wyrd" [verses 11-13]. The very next verse has Gerth asking what the commotion is ! What's going on ? Who is the 'shepherd' ? How does Skírnir get past the dogs ?
We took a clue from Gerth's line - "I fear my brother's killer is nigh": the shepherd is a giant, Gerth's brother. He stands on the table and his verse is threatening whilst Skírnir's defiant. Skírnir gets the worst of a well-rehearsed swordfight.But Skírnir has the sword that swings itself - repeating his line about the sword he puts it into the giant's hand... and, through the mysterious mysteries of mime, the sword seems to move by itself - the giant fights and strikes himself down. He falls out of sight of the audience.
Now the dogs ! Skírnir stands over the hidden corpse and swings his sword. He produces the leg' and 'hand', throws them offstage and the dogs chase after them.
Skírnir tethers his horse as attention turns to Gerth. She asks her maid about the noise then, learning of their visitor, they go to meet him.
The maid bears a horn of welcome, but it is not yet offered [verses 14-16].
Skírnir explains his suit. He offers Apples of Youth, she refuses. He offers Draupnir, dropping eight rings from the one, she has gold enough. He threatens her and her father with the sword, she faces him down [verses 18-25]. Then begins the longest speech of the piece as Skírnir threatens, cajoles, pleads and prophesies what her fate will be if she refuses Frey. Our Skírnir tried force, reason, begging, anything to get what his friend needs. Gerth faces him down bravely but with a growing sense of unease [verses 26-35].
Skírnir takes his 'stave' and marks three thorn runes with broad strokes - does he intend harm, or is he setting a thorn-wall between her and the good gifts of Frey ? [verse 36]. Gerth relents, offers the horn and agrees to marry Frey [verse 37]. Skírnir scratches off the runes and drinks. The maid takes the horn as he asks when the marriage will be. Before she answers, Gerth gestures to the sword, claiming it as part of her bride-price ... thus she protects her father and Frey loses his sword [verses 38-39].
Time and place set, Skírnir returns to Frey, whose angst for the time he must wait completes the dialogue [verses 40-42].
The wedding follows - again in dumb show. A steady drum marks nine nights, as Frey and Gerth are decked in their bridal finery by Skírnir and the maid. They come together and Skathi returns to join their hands with a cord, and hallow the bride with the hammer.
Frey lifts her veil to reveal the bright headdress and flowers.
The End.
References Poetic Edda, Hollander,University of Texas
Origins of Drama in Scandinavia, Gunnell, D.S. Brewer
In the eddaic lay 'Vafthrudnir's Sayings', the narrator has Odin say of Niord: "he rules over very many temples and sanctuaries".
There are certainly a number of Scandinavian place names which can be shown to have 'Njörð' or 'Njarð' as an element: nearly thirty survive in Norway and there are many in Sweden. Some go back to Njarðarvé form or 'Niord's temple'. There are also examples linked with the sea (of course) such as Njarðvik or 'Niord's Creek' in Iceland.
Simek has pointed out that whilst the Norwegian place-names are near the coast, the Swedish place-names are found in inland agricultural areas. This certainly supports a fertility aspect to Niord but although Niord is known to be cognate with the Nerthus or 'Mother Earth' of the first century Angles, there are far too many theories of why this is and what it might imply to even contemplate an overview of the options here.
One Scaldic kenning for Niord is vagna guð or 'god of wagons'
I have received correspondence sparked by the Winter Nights 1997 issue where Olwen discussed folk tales which showed the alternative origins of the elves.
Fealcen Stow welcomes all feedback from our readers and shares this:
In Olwens article... a footnote mentions "a slight contradiction". Any bible commentary would explain this apparent contradiction - there are two creation stories in Genesis. Chapter 2 is the older version, probably a folk myth of the northern kingdom c900-800BC. Chapter 1 is most likely a more organised version of events compiled c600-500BC by priestly scribes. I did enjoy reading this article despite this minor matter. D.C. Crowborough
Thank you for the correspondence and please send more feedback in when you feel moved to write.
This is an erudite, academic book from the 'Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England' series.
It is a discussion of the pre-christian gods of the English especially Ingui, whom North links to the figure Bede called the 'god of this age' whose cult was known as 'vanitas'. He considers the comparisons with Ingvi-Freyr and also the literary prominence of Woden in England.
Brilliant and challenging, it also covers the question of Anglian religion in the first century and considers the Anglo-Saxon conversion process.
An in-depth book on difficult sources, which is highly recommended, even if it is not an easily accessible book. Unfortunately it is also a very expensive book (probably £45) but worth seeing through your library (on interlibrary loan if necessary) should it prove too costly.
PUBLISHERS: Cambridge University Press © 1997 ISBN: 0 521 55183 8
Two brave new heathen journals, launched recently, have come to my attention.
Ratatosk is a new quarterly A4 magasine produced by the Tribe of Mercia, who have previously produced Heatun Scroll and Tribal Hearth.
This is the product of a dynamic heathen group. Among the contents of the Easter '98 issue include articles on 'Wutanes Heer: Living traditions of The Wild Hunt', 'Vali', 'Runic Divination', 'Sif's Barnet: The Asatru Fashion Column', a report on the Stourdale Asatru Hof, a recommended book list and a funny irreverant column on a personal experience of 20th century heathenism: 'World of Arse'
Subscription is £4.50 for a year (4 issues) from the Tribe of Mercia at PO Box 1085, Wolverhampton, WV10 8YW.
Ravenbred is a newsletter dedicated to the North European Gods launched by Jamie Lang this summer. A small A5 journal, it is designed to be a bi-monthly publication with one substantial article and some shorter contributions each issue.
The first issue's article is on 'The Nature of the Nordic Gods' and has reviews and notes on resources for heathens.
Subscription costs £3 per year (6 issues) from Jamie Lang at 53 Scott Road, Sheffield S4 7BG