Frigga – a Witch Goddess?

by Gandbera

If I tell people that Frigga is the goddess I follow, they usually comment it in this way: “But she’s so boring!” or “How can you, who are a witch and a rider of the gand, follow her?”. That was pretty much my thoughts as well when Frigga began making her presence known to me. I fought her call with all I had, but when a goddess beckons you, there is not much you can do about it. So I stopped fighting and started to listen to her and I soon discovered that her essence was much more complex that I had ever imagined. The image of the mythical Frigga – the queen of Asgård, wife of Oden and mother of Balder – faded away and the true image of the goddess became visible.

I started looking for the true essence of Frigga in literature and this is what I found.

The Ancient Cult

The only sure trace we have of an ancient Scandinavian cult of Frigga is the place name Friggeråker in Västergötlands Falbygd in western Sweden. A few places more have names that might be derived from the name of the goddess, but there is less to confirm that.

Frigga is not a Scandinavian goddess by origin and it is reasonable to assume that she was brought into the region from the south at the same time as Oden. In his book “Hednagudar och Hövdingadömen i det gamla Skandinavien”, John Kraft wants to place her cult in approximately the same time period as the goddess Njärd and the god Ull had cults. A circumstance that supports his theory is that there are no traces of Njärd in the places where Friggas cult were active, and this points to the possibility that Frigga, just as Härn from Uppland in the east of Sweden, might be local variations of the great fertility goddess of the early iron age. So, it is possible that the people of Västra Götaland took her in long before the idea of her as the wife of Oden reached them.

The Nerthus of the West Gothians

Most scholars agree upon Friggas origin as a goddess of fertility, and the often refer to the doctoral dissertation by Hugo Jugner: “Gudinnan Frigg och Als härad”.

In his dissertation Jugner presents a theory about the cult of Frigga in Västergötland, which he thinks was established as early as year 0 C.E. With assistance of among other things findings in the area, place names and what is written about Frigga, he tries to create an image of the cult. It is described as a cult of fertility around a chthonic earth goddess, a goddess of both the living and the dead. The cult was connected to water and both cultic weddings and ritual processions around the fields were a part of it. Frigga might have been worshipped together with a god, a predecessor of the god Frö. His name was possibly Ing or Friggi. Some evidence also points to the possibility that he was a god of thunder.

The mythical Frigga lived in Fensalar and Sökkvabäck, names that may be remnants of this water cult.

The traces of the ancient fertility goddess are also found in “Völsungasagan”, where Frigga is one of the deities that hear the prayer of the childless royal couple. We also find her in “Oddruns gråt” , where we are told that she belongs to the gods and goddesses that where called upon at childbirth.

The Venus of the German Tribes

Frigga came to us from the continental Germans. But the written sources that talk of her are all from a later time when her cult had already merged with the cult of Oden. Therefore, nothing is known about the image of her outside of Scandinavia. But her name, that often is said to mean “The Beloved” or just “love”, was given to the sixth day of the week, the Friday. This tells us that she was equal with the Roman Venus and this in turn gives us evidence of her importance as the great Germanic goddess of love.

Frigga is often portrayed as the faithful and loyal wife, protector of marriage. But another image is found in the sources. In them we can read that she is both adulterous and disloyal to Oden. Just as most other goddesses of love, Frigga became viewed as amoral and promiscuous when old morals and values were replaced with newer ones.

In “Loketrätan” and “Ynglingasagan” Frigga is accused of being crazy for men and for lying down with both her husband’s brothers.

Saxo Grammaticus tells us about another episode in “Gesta Danorum”. Frigga seduces a servant to get the gold from a statue of Oden. The whole episode ends with her being abandoned by Oden when he discovers her adultery and betrayal.

The Anglo-Saxon bishop Ælbert was abhorred by Friggas sexual liberties. In his catalogue of the pagan gods, he writes: “the shameless goddess called Venus and Frigg in Danish” and he says that her lewd indecency manifested through her many lovers, even her own father and her brother.

The Sorceress

Frigga knows magic and Britt-Marie Näsström see in her a sejding goddess, a property that Friggas falcon shape could point to. It shows that Frigga knows how to shape-shift, an art that is connected to sejd among other things.

Both of the Edda’s says that Frigga knows the destinies of everyone, but won’t tell anything. This could indicate oracular sejd according to Näsström.

The visit of Oden to an all-knowing giant is told in “Sången om Vavtrudner”. In the beginning, Oden asks Frigga if he should go there or not. She tells him not to go, but he decides to travel anyway. Frigga then answers him with the words “Happy departure, happy return and happiness accompany your journey. Use your wits, when you, All-Father, talk to the giant”. Here, according to Näsström, it is possible that Frigga, while using her oracular ability, also puts a good spell over Oden. Consequently, she is using influencing oracular sejd.

In “Longobardernas stamsaga”, the queen and sorceress Gambara comes to Frigga. She wants Frigga to guarantee victory for the queen’s people in a war against the Vandals, who have Oden on their side. Frigga twists Odens sight, and he proclaims the people Frigga wants to win the war as victorious. This is another example when Frigga may have used sejd.

We meet a vengeful and crafty Frigga in “Sången om Grimner”. Her intrigues to revenge a betrayal her foster son has been subjected to by Odens foster son, results in the death of the latter. This happens through Odens sorceries, but it is Frigga who makes him do it through her own sorcery.

Frigga is also one of the deities people have turned to in healing magic, and her name is mentioned in several healing galders.

Among others, she is found in the wellknown Merseburg galder from the 1000: Th century. It is for healing a horse, and healing of horses seem to have been one of her specialties.

So it seems Frigga uses both light and dark sorcery, but is she really sejding? There is nothing in the sources that indicates that sejd has been practiced outside of Scandinavia, but the gand magic, which is similar in some parts, has. So it is more probable that Frigga is a ganding goddess instead of a sejding goddess. A fact that is supported by the name of the sorceress and queen, Gambara, in “Longobardernas stamsaga”.

The Highest Asynja

Snorre Sturlassons descriptions of Asgård and its inhabitants, Mount Olympus of the Norse, mainly consist of after rationalizations and have very little in common with the real cult. His recital of the asynjor is mostly considered as names for the different guises of Frigga and Fröja, not different goddesses.

It is said that Frigga is the highest Asynja, the queen of Asgård, and the other goddesses are her court. That Hlin (the one that protects those that Frigga wants to shelter from some danger) is another name for Frigga is known through a verse in “Valans spådom”. Saga (the one who sees) and Lofn (the one that removes obstacles for forbidden love) is two other names of Asynjor that refers to Frigga. So is also Gnå (the messenger of Frigga) and Fulla (Friggas sister or chamber maiden), two other names of Asynjor closely related to her, although we can’t say with certainty that they are Frigga herself.

Sometimes Eir (the best healer) is proposed to be another name for Frigga.

The Mother of Balder

The most well known myth where we find Frigga is in “Balders död”. Frigga tries to stop the death of Balder from happening by getting promises from fire and water, iron and all sorts of metals, the rocks, the earth, the trees, all illnesses, the animals, the birds, poison and snakes, that they won’t hurt Balder. This happens anyway, through the workings of Loke, and in a verse in “Valans spådom”, we are told that Frigga cries in Fensalar for Balder.

Older research saw this myth as a version of the oriental myth of the seasons, and Frigga as corresponding to the crying goddess Ishtar. However, contemporary research has abandoned that interpretation. It is not even certain that the myth of Balder is a real myth.

Some researchers point out that Frigga seems to have a special relationship with nature and its forces and beings, since she has so much power over them that she can ask them to spare Balder.

Frigga in Folklore

Many researchers consider that Frigga was a “dead” goddess at the end of pagan times. But it is more likely she has been closer to people than myth tells us. Several of our old Scandinavian gods has lived on in folklore as supernatural beings and Frigga is one of them. She has, among other things, been seen as the protector of female crafts, and the art of spinning yarn in particular. In some places in Småland, Torshelg has been celebrated every Thursday night even into present day. This meant that the home should be cleaned and nothing that involved spinning or circular movement was allowed. It was particularly important that you didn’t spin yarn, and the spindle was placed on a table, waiting for “Thoregud and his wife Frigge” to use it when they visited the household that night. Here the kinship with the German Holle is usually noted.

Frigga and Tor as husband and wife are known in other parts of Sweden and Scandinavia as well. It is said that Frigga accompanies him on his journeys.

The connection to yarn spinning can also be found in the name “Friggerocken” or “Friggetenen” for the three stars that forms the belt in the constellation of Orion.

The love goddess Frigga is found in the folklore name for Venus. It has been called “Friggjarstjarna”. And the Icelandic name for the orchid “Orchis maculata” is “Friggjargras”. It has been used in love magic as an aphrodisiac. Sometimes the name is translated into “Lovemaking grass”.

In Norway she is seen as a kind of Huldra, that, just like north Swedish Vittra, herds her cattle in the forest.

In her book “Tusen år I Småland”, Elin Wägner tells us about a place called Blotviken. A mound called “Moderhögen” is supposed to have been there, a temple of sorts made of rocks and dedicated to the goddesses and Frigga in particular. Supposedly rituals took place there as late as in the 2000: Th century.

Lastly

Nowadays if someone asks me how I can follow Frigga, I respond: “A goddess of fertility with power over all aspects of life, an erotic love goddess, a sorceress goddess that knows both light and dark sorcery, a goddess that also is wise and independent, that won’t stand in her husband’s shadow but makes sure things are as she like them and that also is good to have as your friend at childbirth, healing and female crafts. What more can you ask from a witch goddess?

Sources

Brate, Erik. Eddan – De nordiska guda- och hjältesångerna, 1990.

Jungner, Hugo. Gudinnan Frigg och Als härad, 1922.

Kraft, John. Hednagudar och hövdingadömen i det gamla Skandinavien, 1999.

Näsström, Britt-Mari. Freyja – the Great Goddess of the North, 1995.

Price, Neil S. – The Viking Way (Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia), 2002.

Ström, Folke. Nordisk Hedendom, 1985.

Sturlasson, Snorre. Snorres Edda i övers. av Johannson, Karl G och Malm, Mats, 1999.

Sturlasson, Snorre. Nordiska kungasagor i övers. av Johansson, Karl G, 1991.

Tillhagen, Carl-Herman. Vävskrock, 1986.

Wägner, Elin. Tusen år i Småland, 1939.

Völsungasagan i övers. av Knutsson, Inge, 1991.

Translations and explanations of names and words

Many of the Norse gods’ names are spelled differently depending on where the writer comes from geographically. In the text above, east Scandinavian spellings are used. As a service to the reader, I have assembled other spellings of each name in hope that at least one of them is known.

Some of the words that may be unknown to a majority of the readers are explained as well.

Asgård – Asgard, Asgaard
Asynja, asynjor – Ásynja, Ásynjur
Balder- Baldr, Baldur
Blotviken – ”Sacrifice Bay”
Fensalar – ”Marsh Halls”
Frigga - Frigg
“Friggerocken”, “Friggetenen” – ”The Spindle of Frigga”
Friggeråker – ”Frigga’s Field”
“Friggjargras” – ”The Grass/Herb of Frigga
“Friggjarstjarna” – ”The Star of Frigga”
Frö – Frey, Freyr
Fröja – Freja, Freyja, Freya
Galder – Galdr, ”spell, incantation”
Gambara – ”Gand (staff) Bearer”
Gand – gandr, staff used in Norse/Germanic Gand magic (Staff magic)
Huldra – Norwegian mistress of the forest
Holle – Holla, Holda, Hulda etc.
Härn – Goddess of growing Flax
Loke - Loki
Moderhögen – ”Mother Mound”
Njärd – Scandinavian name for Nerthus
Oden - Odin
Sejd – Seidr, seidh
Sökkvabäck – ”The Sunken Stream”
Tor - Thor
Torshelg – ”Tors Holy day”
Ull - Ullr
Vittra – Beings looking and living like humans, but in a parallel, backwards world, living underground instead of on the ground, keeping their cattle in the forest at winter instead of summer and so on.
Västergötland – West Gothia
Map of Sweden