Old Norse: Freyja Pronunciation: Fray-ya
Anglo-Saxon: Frouwa, Old High German: Frau, Proto-Germanic: Fru Wagnerian: Freia, Alternate: Friia, Froya, Freja, Frøya, Freya, Friia
Freyja is the best-known and best-loved of the goddesses. Her title simply means “Lady,” her original name is not known. Freyja is the daughter of Njord and Nerthus, as well as the sister of Freyr. She was once married to Odr, but he disappeared. She is the principle female fertility Goddess of the native Germanic religion, and a goddess of riches, her tears are gold and whose “daughters,” in the riddle-poetry of the skalds, are precious objects. she is the embodiment of the holy life-force on several levels.
She was the most beautiful and desirable of all goddesses, who possessed the worlds most beautiful piece of jewelry: the Brisingamen (“Bright necklace”) necklace which embodies her power over the material world; the necklace has been the emblem of the earth-goddess since the earliest times.
Along with the necklace, she owned a cloak of feathers which gave her the ability to change her shape into a falcon and fly across the worlds.
Like Odin, Freyja is often a stirrer of strife. As a Goddess of war and death, she rides a golden boar named Hildisvini (“battle swine”). The boar has special associations within Germanic Mythology, both relative to the notion of fertility and also as a protective talisman in war.
Her palace was in Folkvang ( “field of the host” and her hall was Sessrumnir (“Seat room”)
She is also a chooser of half the dead on the battlefield while Odin gets the other half, according to Grimnismál:
The ninth hall is Folkvang, where bright Freyja
Decides where the warriors shall sit:
Half of the fallen belong to her,
And half belong to Odin.Freyja is the “wild woman” among the deities of the North: free with her sexual favors (though furious when an attempt is made to marry her off against her will); mistress of Odin and several men; She is also skilled at the shamanic form of ecstatic, consciousness altering magic called seidhr, thus it is of no surprise to find her as the matrons of female magicians.
This goddess drives a wagon drawn by two large cats, which are sacred to her as her totem animal – the popular image of a witch accompanied by a (black) cat originates from the association of the felines to Freyja. She is seen today as the matron goddesses of cats and those who keep them.
Other names:
Vanadis – Goddess of the Vanir
Menglad – Jewel glad
Mardöll – Sea-dale
Hörn – Flax
Gefn – Giver
Gullveig – Gold lust
Heidhr – Heath
Sýr – Sow
Throng –
Throngva –
Skialf – Trembler
vanabride – Vanic bride
Grér – Grey
Blidh – Blissful
Ljostara – Fair tears
