Freya

  Freya (Her name means "The Lady”) is the Norse Goddess of love, beauty, fertility, war, wealth, divination and magic. She belongs to a group of Gods and Goddesses known as the Vanir who were associated with nature, wild places, animals and unseen realms. When the war between the Vanir and the Aesir ended, Freya and two others were sent to the Aesir as a token of truce.

  Freya’s home/hall is Sessrumnir ("many seats or benches”) and rests on the field of Fólkvangr which means "field of the host", "people’s field" or "warrior’s field."  Freya is always given the first choice of the honored dead on the battlefield. Fólkvangr is the place where those warriors chosen by Freya go for the afterlife, while Odin will receive the others for Valhalla. 

 Freya is the ruling Goddess of the female ancestral beings known as the Disir and the leader of the Valkyries. She is also the Norse Goddess of magic and divination. Freya taught Odin Seidr in return for knowledge of the Runes.

  Freya travels around in her chariot that is pulled by two black or gray cats. She has a large boar named Hildisvini "battle swine" which she rides into combat. When she needs to travel to one of the nine worlds Freya uses her cloak of falcon feathers that allows her to shape shift into a falcon and fly. She also has an enchanting necklace known as the Brisingamen which means, (fire of the enlightened mind).

  Freya is married to Odr and has two children named Hnoss (jewel) and Gemesi (treasure). Her husband Odr disappeared and she spends a lot of her time looking for him. Everywhere she goes she cry’s tears of gold.  I found one story that talks about Freya finding her husband but it is not from the classical text. It states, “When she found him he had become an ugly sea monster. Freya remained by his side and became enraged when he was murdered. She then threatens to kill the other Gods for letting it happen. To placate her Odr was offered a place in Valhalla despite not dying as a hero on the battlefield.” Now this story combined with the story of how she was offended when Thor runs into her home and informs her that she needs to pack up her stuff because he just promised her hand in marriage to a giant. This was due to the fact that Thor lost his hammer and could not get it back unless he got Freya to marry the giant. The story does not specify how, but Freya makes Thor put on a dress and fix his own problems. Most texts downplay Freya’s role as war goddess, but I doubt a love goddess could scare all of the Aesir gods much less force Thor to wear a dress and pretend he was a woman. Just saying.

  When I talk about magic in this blog I am referring to Seidr. A simple definition of is as follows from Norse Mythology for Smart People.

  Seidr is a form of pre-Christian Norse magic and shamanism concerned with discerning destiny and altering its course by re-weaving part of the web of wyrd. This power could potentially be put to any use imaginable, and examples that cover virtually the entire range of the human condition can be found in Old Norse literature.