Pantheon of Scandinavian gods. Worlds of Scandinavian mythology. Guide to the ancient universe Scandinavian pantheon of gods myths and legends

The main family of gods in Scandinavian mythology is the Aesir. They live in a special world - Asgard - and have erected many beautiful palaces for themselves there. The palace of the main Scandinavian god Odin, Valaskjalv, is decorated with silver and the throne of Hlidskjalv stands in it, from which all worlds are visible. When the ruler of Asgard himself, the god Odin, sits on Hlidskjalva, two ravens, Hugin and Munin, sleep on his shoulders, and two wolves, Geri and Freki, lie at his feet. Every morning, crows fly around the world and tell their owner about everything that is happening in the world.

Next to Valaskjalva is Valhalla, a palace in which, according to Scandinavian mythology, warriors who died in battle live. All of them are adopted children of the god Odin, which is why he is also called the Father of the Fallen.

These warriors, the Einherjar, spend all day playing war games. They fight, maiming and killing each other, but in the evening they are revived and their wounds are healed by the Valkyries.

Valkyries are beautiful maidens whom God Odin sends to earth when battles are going on there. According to Scandinavian myths, warlike maidens, related to the norns, invisibly fly to the battlefield on war horses and bring victory to those whom Odin points to. If he is indifferent to the outcome of the battle, the Valkyries themselves decide who should win. They choose who will fall in battle and carry the slain to heaven.

At feasts in Valhalla, the Valkyries offer food to the Einherjar heroes. These feasts last until the morning, and every day the Einherjar cook Andhrimnir prepares the meat of the giant boar Sehrimnir, which then reappears in its former form. This treat is enough for everyone gathered in Valhalla, even though all the warriors who died in battles from the beginning of the world live there. When his end comes, these warriors will be led into battle by Odin himself, and then it will seem that there are few of them.

The head of the gods of Scandinavia is Odin

There were many myths about the god Odin in Scandinavia. The most famous of them are the myths about how Odin established the cycle of day and night, how he sought wisdom and taught people to write in runes.

Odin's wife in Scandinavian myths is the goddess Frigg. In the land of the gods, Asgard, Frigg lives in the palace of Fensalir. Her maids also live there. The most important of them is called Fulla. The Lady of the Aesir considers Fulla her sworn sister and trusts her with her most secret thoughts. Fulla looks very young and wears long flowing hair tied with a gold ribbon. Frigg usually sends her other maid, Hlin, to guard people whom she wants to protect from any danger. And another maid, Gna, carries messages from the goddess Frigga to Odin when he goes off to wander. On these occasions, Gna takes her mistress's horse, Hovvarpnir, who gallops through air, water and earth with extraordinary speed.

Goddess Frigga spinning the clouds

God Thor

Odin's eldest son, the Scandinavian god Thor, lives in his domain, which is called Trudvagar or Trudheim, which means “fields of power.” Thor is strong and powerful, his hair is red. He rides a chariot, which is driven by two golden-horned goats, Tangniostr and Tangrisnir. Thor has a magical Belt of Strength, which doubles his considerable power, and iron gauntlets. He is married to the beautiful Siv and adopted a child from her former lover. This son of Siv is called Ull. From Thor Siv gave birth to a daughter, Trud. Thor and his family live in the hall of Bilskirnir, which contains five hundred and forty rooms.

Gods Thor and Loki on Thor's chariot drawn by two goats

God Balder

Odin's son from Frigg, Balder, lives in the palace of Breidablik, in which there is no place for any evil. No matter how much the aces reverence Odin and Thor, even they sometimes speak not very flatteringly, remembering their weaknesses and bad deeds. Only good things are said about Balder in Asgard. In Scandinavian myths, the god Balder is beautiful in face and body and is so bright that he seems to be surrounded by a radiance. Balder is the kindest, gentlest, most honest and fair among the aces. But it was written in his destiny that all his fair and wise decisions would not be fulfilled. Balder is loved not only by the Aesir, but also by the Vanirs, Alfs, and people. And even the giants do not wish him harm. And people called “Balder's Eyelashes” a delicate flower with snow-white petals growing in Midgard. The god Balder is married to the beautiful and kind Naina, who bore him a son, Forseti. When Forseti grew up, he became the wisest judge of all who lived in this world.

This amazing and interesting mythology has come to us in books such as the Elder and Younger Edda, thanks to the already Christian scientist Snorri Sturluson. In general, mythological stories do not cover a period further than the 9th-11th centuries, the heyday of the Vikings. Many peoples of the North had a hand in creating this mythology: Germans, Danes, Swedes, Icelanders, Dutch, Norwegians and even Finns. In this regard, the Scandinavian gods of each nation differed. The most common are the four main gods: Thug, Thor, Odin and Freya. The relationships and kinship of the Scandinavian gods are almost as intricate as those of their Greek counterparts.

Origin of the world and gods

Initially, there were two opposing principles: Mupelheim and Niflheim. They denoted up and down, fire and cold, masculine and feminine. They created the cow Audumla and the giant Ymir. The cow licked the salt stones and created the storm god from them, and he laid the foundation for the line of gods of the Aesir. The main ones include Thor, Tyr, Vidar, etc., but the main one is Odin. The gods attacked Ymir and killed him, and from parts of the giant’s body they created the earth, forests, seas, and rivers. Next, the Scandinavian gods created the first man and woman, who were supposed to live in the city of Midgard, protected from giants, gnomes and other creatures.

Main male characters

Not all male Viking gods were warriors, as one might think. The Supreme God Odin (his middle name is Wotan) has a winged helmet, a spear, and rides an eight-legged horse, Sleipnir. Wotan is the patron of poetry, runes, his animals are the wolf and the raven. Thor (another name is Tunar) is the thunder god, his weapon is the well-known hammer Mjolnir. He is fair and simple. Thor is the second revered god after Odin; he is the protector of not only the gods, but also ordinary people. Loki is not a real god, but he is admitted into their community and plays an important role there. He is the patron of laughter, beauty and deception, and can help get out of difficult situations, but it was he who created many problems for the gods. Tyr is the god of law, Balder is the god of fertility, Njord is the god of material well-being.

Main female characters

In addition to the gods of the Aesir, there are also Vanir, these are the gods of the peasants. One of the main ones is Freya, the goddess of magic, love and beauty. She is the daughter of Njord and has a twin brother, Freyr. The Scandinavian gods of the Aesir are Frigg, the wife of Odin, who is responsible for marriage and order in the family; Saga is a diviner goddess who knows a lot about the future. Skadi is a strong and independent goddess, she patronizes the same women, is responsible for hunting, as well as for snow and cold. Hel is the daughter of Loki, one half of her body is dead, she is the ruler of the kingdom of the dead. Eir is a healer.

Not gods

The Scandinavian gods Ases and Vanir are not the only characters in northern mythology. The giants Jötun of Jötunheim are also found here; Dvergi - they are also gnomes, forging masters, etc. Loki, when he was a mare, gave birth to three children from his horse. Odin took the fleet-footed horse Sleipnir. The wolf Fenrir and the serpent Jörmungand were assigned a different role. They are the main instigators of the end of the world and the final battle of good and evil, Ragnarok.

Scandinavian pantheon. Gods. Adam of Bremen about the pantheon of Scandinavian gods. - Thor, Odin and Frey. - Odin and Tyr. - Aces and Asinyas. - Aesir and Vanir. - Jotuns. - Descendants of the Jotuns. - Chthonic monsters. - Loki and his dual nature. - Fenrir. - Miniatures. - Miniatures and dwarfs. - Goddesses of fate. - Valkyries. - The story of Brynhild.
The medieval German chronicler Adam of Bremen (11th century) in his work mentioned the main sanctuary of the Sveons, that is, the Swedes, in Uppsala, not far from Siktona (Sigtuna). Near the sanctuary, according to Adam, there grows a tree of an unknown species, green in winter and summer, and nearby there is a source in which the Sveons performed human sacrifices. The temple itself “is entirely decorated with gold, and in it there are statues of three gods revered by the people. The most powerful of their gods - Top - sits on a throne in the middle of the main hall, on one side of him is Wodan, on the other is Frikkon. This is how their powers are distributed: “Thor,” say the Sveons, “reigns in the ether, he controls thunder and rivers, winds and rains, clear weather and harvests. Wodan, which means “fury,” is the god of war, he arouses courage in warriors fighting the enemy. The third god, Frikkon, gives peace and pleasure to mortals. They depict the latter with a huge phallus. The Sweons represent Vodanus as armed, as we usually do with Mars. And Thor resembles Jupiter with his scepter.” All their gods have priests in charge of tribal sacrifices. If famine or pestilence threatens, they sacrifice to the idol of Thor, if there is war, to Wodan, if they have to celebrate weddings, to Frikkon.”
Adam's description is very interesting. Firstly, it follows that at the head of the Swedish pantheon (and this is confirmed by archaeological finds - amulets in the shape of Thor’s hammer) was not Odin, but Thor: for the population of the “internal” in relation to the “external” Denmark and Norway, Sweden is rude and the sincere Thor the protector was closer and more understandable than the warlike and two-faced Odin1251. Secondly, the “distribution of functions” between the gods in the description of Adam is fully consistent with the three-member structure of the social functions of Indo-European deities derived by the French researcher J. Dumézil: Thor in this case personifies spiritual and legal power, Odin the military function, and Frikkon (obviously Freyr) - wealth and fertility.

However, the triad Thor - Odin - Freyr is characteristic of the late period of Scandinavian paganism; initially it apparently consisted of Thor, Freyr (or Njord) and Tyr (Tivas, or Tiu, whose name etymologically corresponds to the Indo-European Dyaus; from the latter, in particular, Zeus “descended”). Moreover, in the “original” version of the triad, Thor, as the god of thunder and lightning, identical to the Indian Indra, personified military strength, Frey - fertility and wealth, and Tyr - power. However, with the development of the cult of Odin and the strengthening of the “Odinic” element in Scandinavian mythology, Tyr was forced to give up his place in the triad to Odin, originally the patron of military alliances and the sorcerer god. As E.M. wrote Meletinsky, “the transformation of Wodan-Odin into the heavenly and supreme god is associated not only with the strengthening of military alliances and the increasing share of the god - the patron of military squads., but also with the splitting of the original idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe afterlife and with the transfer to heaven of a special kingdom of the dead for the chosen ones - brave warriors who died in battle. As the “master” of such a military paradise, Odin turned out to be the most important heavenly deity and greatly supplanted both Tyr and Thor in the function of gods of the sky and war. The process of Odin's transformation into the supreme heavenly god. ended in Scandinavia (starting in the German lands. - Ed.). Here Odin left noticeable traces in toponymy (mainly in the names of reservoirs and mountains).”
Odin, Thor and Tyr, in addition to “joint membership” in the triad of supreme deities, are also united by the fact that all these gods belong to the main deities of the Scandinavian pantheon - the Aesir. In addition to Odin, Thor and Tyr, according to the Eddas, the Aesir also include Heimdall, Bragi, Hed, Vidar, Khenir, Ull, Forseti, Loki, Vali and Balder. The Younger Edda also lists goddesses, or asin: these are Frigg, Saga, Eir, Gevion, Fulla, Sevn, Lovn, Var, Ver, Syun, Khlin, Snotra, Gna, Sol, Bil, Jord and Rind. According to their “spheres of influence,” aces and asinyas are distributed as follows:
Odin is the supreme god, the deity of the sky, the patron of military valor, the god of wisdom and sacred knowledge;
Thor is the son of Odin, the god of thunder and lightning, storms and fertility, protector of gods and people;
Tyr is the god of the sky, war and military rules;
Heimdall is the guardian of the gods, and also (in the guise of Riga) the ancestor of three human classes - kings, peasants and slaves;
Bragi - son of Odin, god of skaldic art;
Hed - son of Odin, blind god, killer of his brother Balder;
Vidar - son of Odin, “silent god”, deity of war;
Henir is the brother and companion of Odin, with whom he revived the first people;
Ull - god of hunting and archery;
Forseti - son of Balder, god of justice and justice; Loki is the god of cunning and deceit; Vali - son of Odin, avenger god;
Balder is the son of Odin, the “bright god”, the deity of fertility, peace and beauty;
Volund - divine blacksmith, patron god of travelers; Frigg - Odin's wife, patron goddess of marriage and marital fidelity;
Saga is probably the goddess of divination; Eir - goddess of healing; Gefion - goddess of chastity;
Fulla - goddess of abundance, patroness of virginity;
Sevn - goddess of love;
Lovn - goddess of love and mercy;
Var - goddess of fidelity and love vows;
Ver - goddess of knowledge;
Xiong - guardian goddess;
Khlin - patron goddess;
Snotra - goddess of restraint, prudence;
Gna - goddess-messenger;
Salt - sun goddess;
Bil - goddess of the moon;
Jord (Fjergyn) - goddess of the earth, mother of Thor; Rind is Vali's mother.

In addition, the sea giant Aegir and his wife Ran, the mistress of the seas, are sometimes mentioned among the gods; Skadi - skier goddess, patroness of hunting; Thor's sons Magni and Modi; Siv - wife of Thor, goddess with golden hair; Idunn - Braga's wife, keeper of rejuvenating apples; Nanna - wife of Balder; Sigyn - Loki's wife; Hermod - brother of Balder; Vili and Ve are Odin's brothers; Od is the husband of Freya, probably a hypostasis of Odin.
According to the fair remark of E.M. Meletinsky, “the Ases are presented in myths as a patriarchal clan community headed by Odin, in which, however, important issues are resolved at the Thing (national assembly); The ritual feasts of the gods with the drinking of the sacred drink are of great importance.”
In Eddic texts there are often names of three gods who do not belong to the Ases. This is Njord, Freyr and his sister Freya. They are gods representing the Vanir fertility gods, who at the beginning of time were at enmity with the Aesir and even fought with them. The war between the Aesir and the Vanir is considered in the Scandinavian tradition to be the first war in world history. Victory in this war favored the Vanir, and the Aesir hastened to conclude a truce and, as a sign of the inviolability of the peace agreement, gave the Vanir Henir hostage, and they, in turn, handed over Njord and Frey to the Aesir (as well as, apparently, Freya). As a result, Henir, an indispensable participant in Odin’s early campaigns around the world, completely “fell out” of the mythological narrative cycle, but the Vanir, especially Frey and Freya, became direct participants in many events. In terms of their functions, these deities are the gods of fertility, and Njord also commands the sea element, his son Frey is the god of vegetation and the husband of the earth goddess Gerd, and his daughter Freya is the goddess of love and beauty, an expert in seid magic.

Friedrich von Stassen. Aesir and Vanir (1914). Odin and Frigg are the first to descend the Bifrost Bridge, followed by Frey, Freya, Thor and Loki.
Other representatives of the Vanir tribe are not mentioned in mythological texts, except for the mysterious Kvasir, “half Vanir,” from whose blood, mixed with bee honey, the honey of poetry was made.
A special position is occupied by Delling (dawn), Nott (night), Dag (day), Kari (air), Hler (sea), Wyrd (share) mentioned in the Eddas; from the surviving texts it is difficult to understand whether they were considered gods or frost giants - the latter, it should be noted, were not considered gods at all.
The Aesir and the Vanir assimilated by them live in Asgard, where each god and each goddess has their own palace and their own chambers. In Asgard, the treasures of the gods are kept: the spear Gungnir belonging to Odin, the throw of which marked the beginning of the war between the Aesir and the Vanir, and the golden ring Draupnir, Thor's hammer Mjolnir; belonging to Frey, the wonderful boar Gullinbursti with golden bristles and the ship Skidbladnir, which always has a fair wind and can accommodate any number of warriors; the necklace of the Brisings, or Brisingamen, which Freya owns and which helps during childbirth; rejuvenating apples of the goddess Idunn. These treasures are the object of desire of the giants-jotuns, the main enemies of the deities of the Scandinavian pantheon.
The Jotuns descend from the frost giants, or Hrimthurs, the first of which was Ymir. When the gods Odin, Vili and Ve killed Ymir and created the universe from his body, and the World Ocean from his blood, all the frost giants drowned in Ymir’s blood1261, except for Bergelmir, his grandson
Ymir, who escaped in the funeral boat. The Elder Edda reads:
Bergelmir lived
for many winters
before the creation of sushi:
how he lay
in the funeral boat -
That's what I remember first.
Bergelmir became the founder of a new generation of giants, who received the name Jotuns, or Turs.
Jotuns live in a cold, rocky country somewhere in the east of the world (in its horizontal projection), this country is called Jotunheim, or Utgard. They are ruled by a giant named Utgarda-Loki, or Skrymir. The coincidence of the name of this giant with the name of the ace Loki has not yet received a satisfactory explanation; It is curious that Saxo Grammaticus in his "Acts of the Danes" claims that Utgarda-Loki is Loki himself, expelled by other gods to Utgard.
Jotuns, on the one hand, are the keepers of ancient wisdom, inherited from the frost giants. The wisdom of the Jotuns is shown, in particular, by the Eddic song “The Speech of Vafthrudnir,” in which Odin competes in questions and answers with the giant Vafthrudnir. Mimir probably also belonged to the Jotuns, with whose head Odin consults and from whose source at the roots of the ash tree Yggdrasil he draws wisdom. Skrymir is also wise, testing Thor with his riddles; Suttung and Baugi are wise - the guardians of the honey of poetry.
On the other hand, Jotuns often demonstrate feeblemindedness, which later became a distinctive feature of their descendants, the trolls. Such is Thor's opponent Thrym, such is Hymir, who together with Thor caught the world serpent Jormungandr, such, finally, is the nameless giant builder of Asgard, deceived by Loki (for more information about the battles of the Jotuns with the gods, see Chapter III of the first part).
Over time, myth gave way to fairy tales, and the mythological jotuns “turned” into small-minded trolls, who inherited from their predecessors only enormous strength - and fear of Thor, the protector of gods and people. Many Scandinavian ballads are dedicated to the confrontation between people and trolls; As a rule, people won victories in these confrontations not by force, but by cunning. For example, the Danish ballad “Saint Oluf and the Trolls” tells about the duel between King Oluf and the trolls who lived on Mount Hornelummer:
He orders to build it and push it off the shore
The rook is of excellent equipment.
“From here we will go to ask
A warning to the evil spirits!”
The feedman climbed onto the pile of goods. “A site with a bad reputation at Hornelummer: this mountain is captured by a horde of trolls. Their eldest, nicknamed Ared, has lived on the land for many years. Our boats with fellows in the rock are closed by the villain and the stingy. His peepers glow with fires. Nails blacker than tar, Curved like goat's horns, At least an elbow long. His beard right at his knees flutters like a horse's mane. It’s sickening to look at his claws and see his mangy tail.”
But the king was not afraid and did not give up his intention. As soon as the boat approached the mountain, Ared himself came out to meet the king. “Tell me, Red Beard, how did you not die of fear? Big trouble awaits you! You will remember Hornelummer! No one landed on our land! I’ll knock your arrogance off you: I’ll plant the Rook that’s dangling here into the rock with one hand!”
Ared tried to carry out his threat, but only got stuck in the rock up to his knees. He exclaimed:
“I’m stuck in stone, but my backbone and arms
Hasn't lost any of its power.
You will try it on your own skin
My brave vein!
The king replied:
"A block of stone, an unclean spirit,
In front of the baptized people
You will stand until judgment day,
Without harming anyone!”
No matter what, the hag came running,
Stretching my neck disgustingly.
She kept her eyes wide open,
Squealing: “Get back!”
She ordered that Oluf the king
Immediately he took his feet away,
And he ordered her to stand still
And he turned the hag into a cliff.
Small trolls sitting in a hole
Iron hooks grab:
“As soon as our mother is silent,
Is there any misfortune in that?
And if no one else is to blame,
Like a red-bearded enemy,
We'll treat you with iron bars
Destroyer of our breed."
A nice joke to your squad
Oluf the Saint was amused:
He brought stone to stone with a spell
And he brought the wall together with the wall.
He closed the mountain tightly
So it didn't go away
From now on, from the depths of the mountain
Neither trolls nor their offspring.
The smaller troll was raging locked up
And he shouted these words:
“We have blocks heavier than this mountain
It happened to be shouldered!”
Brothers, tail propped up on forehead,
They began to lift each other up, But the rock was too much for them to climb: The ridges were crushed by the effort1281.
In addition to the Jotuns, chthonic monsters are at enmity with the gods: the world serpent Jormungand, the monstrous wolf Fenrir and the mistress of the underworld Hel, born in the forest of Yarnvid by the giantess Angrboda from the ace Loki.
Loki, like Odin, descends from the frost giants: his father is the hrimturs Farbauti. In addition, he is Odin's brother or half-brother; in the Eddic song "Loki's Quarrel" he utters the following words:
Both of us, One, during it
Brotherhood was sealed with blood.

K. Kwareström. Loki and Head (c. 1890).

Monsters of the Scandinavian pantheon

From the myths it follows that Loki constantly rushes between the gods and the Jotuns: he either incites the Jotuns to steal the treasures of the Aesir and himself takes part in these thefts, or he helps the gods return the stolen treasures. So, he cunningly returns Thor’s hammer stolen by the giant Thrym, and then cuts off Thor’s wife Siv’s golden hair, but out of fear of Thor, he forces the miniatures to forge new ones for the goddess. He deceives the goddess Idunn, the keeper of rejuvenating apples, into the forest and gives her to the power of the giant Tiazzi; however, frightened by the threats of other gods who began to rapidly grow old, he enters Tiazzi’s home and returns Idunn to Asgard. He, along with Odin and Khenir, takes part in the revival of the first people - and he also greatly contributes to the death of the gods and all living things in the battle before the end of the world.
Many researchers believed that the duality of the image of Loki lies in his “fiery nature” (the name Loki was derived from Logi “fire”); This point of view was first expressed by Snorri Sturluson in the Prose Edda. However, Loki’s tricks and his constant desire to destroy or desecrate what was created by other gods, primarily Odin, show that it would be more correct to characterize this god as a negative version of a culture hero, as a mythological trickster with pronounced chthonic and demonic properties. Moreover, it can be said that Loki is the negative double of Odin; Some works argue that Loki (the trickster deity of the Scandinavian pantheon) is opposed to Odin, just as cosmogony, or world-making, is opposed to eschatology, or world-destruction.
From hints contained in the Völva Divination, it can be assumed that Loki, when he conceived monsters with Angrboda, was aware of the role they were destined to play in the battle before the end of the world. This circumstance reinforces the hypothesis of Loki as a negative cultural hero, destroying and “redistributing” what others have created.
The song “The Brief Prophecy of the Velva” tells about the offspring of Loki in more or less detail: From Angrboda Loka
He gave birth to a wolf, and Sleipnir -
son of Loki by Svadilfari;
another monster
the most evil
born into the world
Buleysta brother.
Found at the stake
half-burnt women
heart, Loki ate it;
that's how Loft conceived
from an evil woman;
let's go from here
all the witches in the world.
The monsters born by Angrboda frightened the gods so much (the Velva prophetess revealed the future to the deities and predicted death) that Odin threw the snake Jormungand into the World Ocean, and, as they say in the “Younger Edda,” “the Serpent grew so large that, lying in the middle of the sea, the whole he has girdled the earth and is biting his own tail”; Hel went to the underworld, and the gods took the wolf Fenrir to Asgard so that he would be under their constant supervision. Only Tyr dared to feed him. The prophecies said that Fenrir was born to destroy the gods, so the Aesir decided to put the wolf on a chain. The first chain was called Leding, and Fenrir immediately broke it; the second chain was called Dromi, and it also did not hold the wolf; The strongest chain turned out to be the third chain, Gleipnir, forged at the request of the gods by the miniatures from the “six essences” - the noise of cat steps, a woman’s beard, mountain roots, bear veins, fish breath and bird saliva. The Aesir put this chain on the wolf, and Tyr had to sacrifice his right hand, which he put in Fenrir’s mouth as a guarantee that the gods would not deceive the wolf. This chain will hold Fenrir until the end of time: on the eve of Ragnarok, the wolf will break his bonds and break free.
There is an interesting episode in the Prose Edda. King Gylvi, having listened to Odin’s story about pacifying the wolf, asks: “Why didn’t the gods kill the Wolf if they expect great evil from him?” Odin’s answer was brief: “The gods so honored their sanctuary and their shelter that they did not want to desecrate them with the blood of the Wolf, although the prophecies said that he would be Odin’s killer.”
The duels between Odin and Fenrir and Thor and Jormungandr in Ragnarok, ending in the death of their opponents, mark both a brief triumph of chaos and the birth of a new cosmos. In modern political and cultural terminology (the sociomechanics model), these fights and Ragnarok itself can be characterized as a metaphorical description of a “phase transition” from one civilizational stage to another.

Miniatures have already been mentioned several times above, they are also dwarfs, skilled craftsmen, creators of many treasures of the gods. According to Eddic myth, they were created by the gods from the bones and blood of a certain Brimir or Blain (probably an epithet of Ymir):
They met at the trial, sat down on the lavas, all the high gods held advice: someone should make dwarfs from the blood of Brimir, from the bones of Blain; Motsognir was made and named the first among the people of the miniatures, the second was Durin, according to the word of Durin and other humanoid miniatures they sculpted from clay.
True, the “Younger Edda” claims that the miniatures were originally worms in the body of Ymir, but “by the will of the gods they acquired a human mind and took on the appearance of people.” The list of names of the miniatures in “The Prophecy of the Velva” is curious for the modern reader in that there are many names familiar to him from J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic “The Lord of the Rings”:
Nii da Nidi,
Nordri da Sudri,
Austria da Vestri,
Altiov, Dvalin,
Beaver, Beaver,
Bembur, Nori,
An da Anar,
Ai, Mjedvitnir,
Veig and Gandalf,
Vindalf and Thrain,
Tekk and Thorin
Tror, Vit and Lit,
Nar and Nirad
(now all the miniatures), Regin and Radsvinn (I will name them at once), Fili, Kili, Fundin, Nali, Hefti, Vili, Hanar, Svior, Frar and Hornbori, Freg and Loni, Aurvang, Jari, Eikinskjaldi; and here is the genealogy of Lovar's ancestors - the Descendants of Dvalin, whose family came from the stone of the earth, came from the quagmire to the sandy land: Draupnir, firstly, Dolgtrasir too, Khar and Hraugspori, Hlevang, Gloi, Dori, Ori, Duv and Andvari, Skivir , Vivir, Skafinn, Ai, Alv, Yngvi, Eikinkskjaldi, Fjalar and Frosti, Fin and Ginnar - This is the pedigree of Lovar's ancestors,
Let people keep until forever...
Miniatures live in the earth and in stones, they are afraid of sunlight, which turns them into stone (this feature of the miniatures was used, almost the only time, showing cunning, by the god Thor, who dragged out an argument with the dwarf Alvis, who wooed the daughter of the god, until dawn ).
The hands of the miniatures forged the main treasures of the gods - the spear Gungnir and the golden ring Draupnir, the golden hair of Siv and the boar with golden bristles, the Brisingamen necklace, the hammer Mjolnir and the ship Skidbladnir. Two miniatures, Fjalar and Galar, made the honey of poetry.

In the later folklore tradition, miniatures “turned” into dwarfs, or gnomes - tiny gray-bearded creatures, distinguished by a powerful physique and remarkable physical strength; They reach maturity at three years of age, and by the age of seven they grow gray beards. They mine gems and ore, forge weapons, armor and jewelry, often endowing their products with magical properties. A distinctive feature in the appearance of dwarfs is their feet, either similar to a bird's feet (crow's or crow's) or turned backwards. That's why they wear raincoats down to their toes. It is believed that you can find out if there is a dwarf in front of you if you sprinkle ashes or flour on the road, and then carefully examine the footprints.
Miniatures in mythological texts are sometimes called black or dark alves, thereby contrasting them, as those living in the earth, with the light alves - the spirits of fertility living in Asgard.
The ruler of the light elves is the divine blacksmith Velund.
* * *
The story about the “characters” of Scandinavian mythology will be incomplete without mentioning a special group of goddesses - dis.
Diss are lower female deities, whose functions are directly related to fate: they determine the fate of people, especially warriors. The Diss include the Norns and Valkyries.
Norns are goddesses of fate, “related” to the Greek moirai and Roman parks. Their abode is located at the roots of the Yggdrasil ash tree, next to a certain mysterious source (in the “Prophecy of the Velva” it is called the “source of Urd”, after the name of one of the norns). Their names are Urd, meaning “fate” or “past”; Verdandi - “becoming” or “present”; Skuld - "duty" or "future".
According to the Eddic song “Fafnir’s Speech,” there are not three norns, but much more, and they descend from both the Aesir, the Alves, and even the miniatures:
Sigurd said:
"Fafnir, tell me,
you are wise, I heard
and you know a lot:
who are these norns?
that they might come
to wives giving birth?
Fafnir said:
"Different by birth
Norns, I know, their race is not one: some are from the Aesir, others from the Elves, others from Dvalin”1311.
One of the heroic songs of the Elder Edda, the First Song of Helga the Slayer of Hunding, details how the Norns acted to determine human destiny:
It was night in the house
the norns appeared
predict fate
young ruler;
it was judged that he
will be glorified
the best of the kings
will be nicknamed.
So the thread of fate
spinning diligently
that they shuddered
in Bralund there are walls;
gold thread
twisted and to the sky -
to the chambers of the moon -
she was tied up.
To the east and to the west
the ends were pulled,
king of the earth
marked with thread;
threw to the north
Neri sister thread,
in possession
giving the north to him.
As for the Valkyries, these goddesses, companions and helpers of Odin, also determine human destinies - however, if the Norns do this at the birth of a person, then the Valkyries decide which of those killed in battle are destined to go to Valhalla, and who will go to Hel. There are twelve Valkyries in total, they have dazzlingly bright blue eyes and long blond hair, they are usually dressed in armor, with horned helmets on their heads, and swords and spears in their hands. In Valhalla they delight the ears of the Einherjar with music and songs. The Elder Edda calls the Valkyries by name:
Hristi Mglista
give me the horn,
also Sekirnitsa and Pierce,
Sich and Sila,
Suffering and Druzhina,
Swordbell and Spearsword;
a Protection and Shchada, and
The advisor also brings beer to the Einherjar.

At the top are depicted norns spinning the thread of fate, at the bottom is the mistress of the underworld, Hel.
In the heroic songs of the Elder Edda, the Valkyries have other names, of which the most famous is Brynhild (Sigrdriva in the Sagas of the Välsungs) - the betrothed of the knight Sigurd (German Siegfried), who forgot about her, having tasted the drink of oblivion, and married the king’s sister Huns Gudrun. Overwhelmed by revenge, Brynhild incites her husband Gunnar, Gudrun's brother, to kill Sigurd, and when he dies, she herself ascends the funeral pyre - and, according to the Eddic song "Brynhild's Journey to Hel", after death she ends up not in Valhalla, but in the underworld.


W.T. Maud. Ride of the Valkyries (c. 1890).
The corpus of Eddic texts also contains the “Song of the Valkyries,” which wonderfully characterizes these warrior maidens: A large fabric is woven, like a cloud, to announce the death of the warriors.
Let us sprinkle it with blood, we must weave tightly the steel fabric from the spears with the bloody weft of the fierce battle. Let us make cloth from human intestines; instead of weights on the machine there are skulls, and the crossbars are spears in blood, the comb is iron, the arrows are pegs; We’ll beat the fabric with swords!.. It’s scary to look back now: look! Crimson clouds rush across the sky; Warriors' blood stained the air - only the Valkyries can sing this! We sang gloriously about the young king; glory to those who sing! He who heard our song will remember and tell people about what he heard from the wives of the spearmen! Swords drawn,
on wild horses that don’t know saddles, we will rush away.
This song, by the way, reflects a real historical event - the battle that took place on Good Friday 1014 at Clontarw (Ireland). In this battle, the Irish ruler Brian, at the cost of his own death, defeated the Vikings - King Sigtryn and Earl Sigurd. The Njal's Saga, in which this song is preserved, tells of a number of portents that preceded this battle. So, a certain man named Derrud saw how twelve Valkyries drove up to a house in which there was a loom, and, entering the house, began to weave fabric from human intestines and sang this ominous song. Having finished weaving, they tore the fabric into pieces and galloped off in different directions.
In all likelihood, Velva, the prophetess whom Odin called from the grave to learn from her about the fate of Balder, also belongs to the Diss; “The prophecy of the Völva” - a song that expounds the cosmogony and eschatology of the Scandinavian mythological universe - begins
"Elder Edda".
The variety of characters in the Scandinavian mythological system only at first glance seems chaotic, devoid of any structure. The central characters of this mythology, its “axis”, are of course the ace gods, around whom all mythological plots are built. As E.M. wrote Meletinsky, “the gods confront hostile chthonic monsters and jotuns; rise above the natural spirits of the alves and above the dwarfs (tsvergs), above the female fateful creatures (Valkyries and Norns), above the earthly heroes. The highest pantheon of gods in the Scandinavian cosmotheogony is presented as the result of the unification of two groups of gods - the Aesir and the Vanir after the war, more precisely, as a result of the assimilation of the Aesir Vanir - a very limited category of deities associated with agrarian cults, endowed with magical and prophetic gifts, sacred peacefulness... In many texts gods and aces are synonymous, since Vanic agrarian mythology is subordinated to Odinic, that is, celestial-chthonic, military and “shamanic” mythology of Odin.”

K. Dilitz. Valkyrie (c. 1890).
Just as the ash tree Yggdrasil connects all nine worlds, so the aesir gods, primarily Odin, Thor and Loki, act as the connecting link of various events that, thanks to the “mediation” of the gods, fit into a single, clearly eschatological plot.

Asgard is the world of the gods.

How our World appeared.

As Scandinavian myths say, in the center of our world grows a huge tree, Yggdrasil. It has three levels: at its roots, underground there is the world of the dead, near the trunk there is the kingdom of people Midgard, and at its top the gods live.

Yggdrasil tree.

Giants and gods.

Giant Ymir.

According to legends, the first living creatures on earth were the giant Ymir and the cow Audumna, who appeared from ancient ice. One day the cow Audumna wanted to lick a piece of eternal ice. From her warm breath the ice melted and the mighty Bor emerged from it. When Bor got tired of living on his own, he married one of the daughters of the giant Ymir. They had children endowed with divine power. This is how the first gods appeared in the world of Scandinavian mythology - Odin, Vili and Ve.

Where did the first people come from?

According to Scandinavian myths, one day when the children of Bor, the first gods of the Scandinavians, were playing on the ocean shore, they saw two trees. And they decided to demonstrate their strength to each other. Odin breathed life and soul into the trees, Vili endowed them with the ability to move and think, and Ve made people out of trees, giving them beauty, hearing, sight, and the gift of communication. They received the names Ash and Willow. They became the ancestors of all people.

Division of the world.

At the beginning of time, the entire earth was covered by a boundless ocean and there was not a single piece of land. But one day the gods got tired of watching the deserted surface of the sea day after day, and from the depths of the ocean they raised land, which later became the kingdom of people, Midgard. The gods settled the first people on it. The Scandinavian gods surrounded the borders of this kingdom with a wall from the centuries of the first of the giants, the mighty Ymir, they protected the kingdom of people from witchcraft and hostile creatures. There were other kingdoms in the neighborhood of Mitgard. Jotunheim, in this kingdom lived giants who hated both people and gods. There were also two divine kingdoms, Asgard and Vanaheim, in the first of which lived the light gods Asa, and in the second the dark Vanir.

The first wars.

But the gods could not live in peace with the giants, and soon a war broke out between them. It lasted for many hundreds of years until the Scandinavian gods finally defeated the giants, but it was a Pyrrhic victory, so they concluded a truce and exchanged hostages. When all the battles of the very first war died down, the defeated giant Ymir remained on the ground. He was very exhausted and exhausted by this war, and the gods of the Scandinavians decided to cast a spell on the giant Ymir, and his body turned into mountains and his hair into forests.

One.

The supreme god of the Vikings and ruler of the Norse gods was Odin. He is often depicted as a mighty gray-bearded warrior with one eye, the other eye he gave in order to drink water from the source of wisdom. He was armed with the magic spear Gungnir, who knows no mercy, wore a horned helmet on his head, and wore a belt with a magic buckle on top of his armor. This buckle was an amulet made of silver, on which powerful runes were inscribed, this buckle increased his strength tenfold during battle.

If you believe the legends, Odin did not eat anything, but only drank the divine nectar called the honey of poetry. Thanks to this, he earned the fame of an orator who knows how to express his thoughts in poetry. He gave runes to the Vikings in order to receive them, he sacrificed himself to himself, nailing himself with his own spear to the world tree Yggdrasil, so he hung for nine days, and on the tenth day the treasured knowledge was revealed to him. Scandinavian runes symbolized knowledge and were powerful amulets. The Vikings used magical runes in their magic to write down magical spells.

Odin is always accompanied by two wolves or two ravens, his face is hidden by a hood, in this form he wanders around the world on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir. Being a master of changing his appearance, he appeared among people unrecognized, helping them resolve complex disputes, and in battles he always supported the most worthy. Therefore, he is considered the god of wisdom and war.

But in addition to the desire for knowledge of wisdom and the thirst for battles, he was distinguished from many gods by his love of love. Being one of the most beautiful of the gods, he was a huge success with women. Odin often fell in love with various goddesses and daughters of Ymir, despite the fact that he was married to the most beautiful of the goddesses - the goddess of marriage, Frigg.

Odin's assistants.

One was aware of all the events that were happening in the world. But even being the most powerful of the gods, Odin could not be in different places at the same time. To do this, he had two raven assistants, whose names were Munin (Rememberer) and Khulig (Thinker). They flew around the world and noticed everything, and in the evening they appeared to Odin, sat on his shoulder and in a whisper told him about everything that was happening in the world. Also, Odin was always accompanied by two white wolves.

Odin's army consisted of the greatest Viking warriors who died in battle and were in the heavenly palace of Valhalla. After the battle, they are collected on the battlefield by Valkyries sent by Odin.

Valhalla.

According to ancient Viking lore, Val Halla is a large hall with a roof made of shields of gold supported by spears tipped with silver. Valhalla has 540 doors, from each of them during the last battle of Ragnarok, at the call of the god Heimdal, 800 warriors will emerge. The Vikings located in Valhalla are called Enherii. Every morning they put on battle armor and fight each other to the death, and in the evening, having been resurrected by the Valkyries, they sit down to feast.

God of Thunder Thor.

Thor is one of the most famous gods of Scandinavian mythology; his father was Odin, and his mother was the earth goddess. He was the god of thunder and harvest. The Scandinavians portrayed him as a mighty warrior of enormous size with a fiery red beard. Thor's main weapon was the magic hammer Mjollnir, which never failed, with which he could kill the largest giant. According to legend, this weapon was forged for him by one of the most skilled blacksmiths, the dwarfs Brok and Sindri. Thor's hammer always hit the target, after which it was returned to its owner. But the hammer Mjollnir had not only destructive power; there are many Scandinavian myths and legends in which, thanks to it, Thor healed and resurrected wounded and fallen warriors. Despite all his formidability, he treated ordinary people well, especially women and children. The Vikings considered Thor the main protector of all people living on earth. Buy Thor's Hammer.

Thor had magical equipment that helped him master such powerful weapons as the hammer Mjolnir. It included iron gauntlets, thanks to which he could hold Thor's red-hot hammer without fear of getting burned, and a belt that doubled his strength. Thanks to these magical artifacts, Thor was practically invincible. According to the legend of the last battle of Ragnarok, Thor was destined to fight Jörmungandr.

Thor traveled the world in a cart pulled by two goats named Tangniostr and Tangrisnir. If Thor was hungry, he ate them, after which he resurrected them with the help of Mjolnir. The Scandinavians have a legend that Thor carries many silver and copper teapots in his cart, and when lightning strikes, the teapots in the cart rattle and this causes the thunder that we hear during a thunderstorm.

Loki is the god of deception.

That is what this god was called. Loki was the god of deception and fire and had an evil and envious character. He was portrayed as two-faced because, on the one hand, he was a close relative of Odin and helped him, and on the other, he only dreamed of how to take his place.

Loki could transform into any creature, and thanks to his winged boots, he could move to any place. More than anything else, Loki loved various meannesses to quarrel with people, gods or giants.

Loki's tricks.

One day, when Loki and Odin were walking together near a waterfall, Loki saw an otter in the water and threw a stone at it and killed it. But it soon became clear that it was not an otter, but a dwarf Otr, who turned into an otter to catch fish for himself.

Otra's angry father demanded a ransom of Odin's magic staff and Loki's winged boots for his son's blood. It was possible to return these things only by paying a lot of gold for them. Odin sent Loki to the land of the black elves for gold.

When Loki reached the country of the black elves, he noticed a pike in the river, whose scales glittered like gold. Loki, without wasting time thinking, threw a net into the river and caught a fish with gold scales and was about to eat it, but it turned out that it was not a fish, but the dwarf blacksmith Andvari, who was resting in the cool river.

The cunning Loki quickly figured out how to take advantage of this situation and offered Andvari to exchange his life for gold. The dwarf blacksmith agreed with Loki's proposal. He gave all his gold to Loki, hiding only a unique amulet in the form of a ring capable of doubling wealth. But the god cannot be deceived, and he himself will deceive anyone he wants, so when Andvari was away, Loki stole an amulet in the form of a ring.

When Andvari discovered the loss, he placed a powerful spell on the amulet ring, which harmed anyone who used this amulet in the form of a ring. But Loki got out of it this time too, he gave the amulet in the form of a ring along with gold for ransom, for which the dwarves returned his winged boots, and Odin his staff. And in the family of the dwarf Otra, the spell of Andvari began to work.

Freya, goddess of beauty and love.

As we already know, Freya came to the light aces as a result of an exchange of hostages. Her father was the sea god Njord, and her mother was the earth goddess Skadi. But unlike other hostages, she never regretted it.

Freya took care of women in labor - with her help, childbirth was always easy and safe, and children were born healthy. But the main occupation of the goddess of love was helping lovers. She was so carried away by this that the Scandinavian gods had to give her a separate corner in the kingdom of the dead. The souls of young boys and girls fell into this miniature kingdom of the dead. And so that Freya could arrange for them a romantic and love-filled existence after death, the Scandinavians buried unmarried young girls in wedding dresses so that they could get married in the afterlife.

There was no god among the Aesir who did not like Freya, and to please her they gave her amazing jewelry made of gold and silver. But most of all, the beautiful goddess Freya liked the thunder god Thor.

Gods of the sea and land.

God of the sea Njord.

The god of the seas among the Scandinavians was Njord. He commanded storms and storms, and all the inhabitants of the sea kingdom obeyed him. The wife of the god of the seas was the goddess of the earth Skadi. It so happened that they got married by accident. The fact is that after the war between the Aesir and the Vanir, the goddess of the earth, whose father died in this war, wished that the gods would find her a husband as a sign of compensation. The gods agreed, but set the condition that she could choose her future husband based on her legs. The goddess found fault for a long time and, in the end, settled on the legs, which seemed to her the most beautiful. She thought that they belonged to the son of Odin, the most beautiful of the Aesir, the god of spring. How surprised and disappointed she was when it turned out that the most beautiful legs belonged to the old and ugly god of the seas.

Goddess of the earth Skadi.

Who knows how many years there was an argument between them about where to live. Njord was afraid of wolves and therefore did not want to settle on land near the mountains, but that was where Skadi wanted to live. The earth goddess, in turn, refused to live in the sea, because the cry of the seagulls irritated her, and the waves rocked her to sleep.

Their dispute was never resolved, so they decided to live separately, and when they meet, they constantly argue and quarrel.

Northern beauty Gerd.

Gerda.

In the northern kingdom, in the palace of the giant Gymir, lived the most beautiful maiden of the north, Gerd (Gerda). Her face glowed with light, illuminating the darkest corners of her soul.

One day, when the son of the sea god Frey was sitting on a magic throne and watching what was happening in the world, he saw Gerda and fell in love with her. But Frey understood that she was the daughter of a giant and enemy of the gods and could hardly agree to become his wife. But he still took a risk and decided to send his friend Skirnir to ask for the hand of the beautiful Gerda.

Freyr.

As Freyr expected, Gerda refused to marry him. Even the death that Skirnir threatened her did not frighten her. But the gods always tried to come to each other's aid. Skirnir had a magic sword on which magic runes were inscribed. He cast a love spell on Gerda and each of the nine runes on his sword increased Gerda's love for Frey every day.

The son of god and the daughter of a giant got married, but love caused by magic could not melt the cold heart of the northern beauty Gerda.

God of Spring.

The goddess of marriage Frigg and the wise Odin had three children Hermod, Hed, and Balder. The most beautiful of them was Balder, the god of spring. When he was just born, his mother made a promise from all living things that they would not harm her son, she only forgot to take a promise from the mistletoe, which at that time was very small and was simply not noticed. Balder had a kind heart, he never had conflicts with anyone, everyone loved him.

Bored, the gods often fired arrows at the undying Balder to relieve boredom, since weapons could not harm him. The vile Loki was very jealous of Balder, so one day he turned into a woman and came to his mother Frigga and found out from her the secret about Balder’s weak point. Then he placed a mistletoe arrow in the hand of blind Head.

Frigga mourned her son for a long time, trying by any means to bring him back to life from the kingdom of the dead. And in the end, she decided to descend into the kingdom of the dead to persuade the goddess Hel to let her son go. Hel agreed to let him go, but set the condition that all life on earth must mourn Balder.

But Balder was not destined to return, and the fault was Loki, who turned into a giantess and rejoiced at Balder’s death.

Loki's punishment.

One day, when the giant Aegir was having a feast, the gods began to admire the skill of his servants Fimafeng and Eldir. The art of both aroused admiration among everyone and therefore all the Ases praised them incessantly. All this caused an attack of anger and envy in Loki, and he provoked a quarrel with Fimagen and killed him with a sword. All the gods were outraged and Odin expelled him. But he came back and started insulting everyone. But even this seemed not enough to him, and therefore, wanting to hurt Odin more painfully, he confessed that he was to blame for the death of his beloved son Balder. Having said this, he started to run, but the gods caught up with him and decided to punish him. They chained him to a rock, and Frigga, in revenge for the death of her son, hung a poisonous snake over him, from whose mouth poison dripped. Loki's faithful wife Signi holds a large bowl over him day and night, into which poison is dripping, but as soon as she moves away to pour out the overflowing bowl, drops of poison fall on the face of the fire god, and then he writhes in terrible agony. This causes the whole of Mitgard to tremble and earthquakes to occur.

Ragnarok sunset of the gods.

In ancient times, the Scandinavian gods were predicted that after three long winters, the shackles holding Loki would fall, and he would go to war against the light gods of Asgard, the giants and other ancient enemies of the gods would come over to his side, and the final battle of Ragnarok would begin. Odin will be defeated by the huge wolf Fenrir, Thor will fight the sea serpent Jormungandr and hit him with his Mjolnir, but will die from Jormungandr's poison. All the old Viking gods will die in this final battle, but their children will survive and are destined to revive the world after Ragnarok.

The northern tradition is very unique and has a special magical structure, unique both in composition and in terms of mystical numerical correspondences. It is impossible to identify the Scandinavian gods, for example, with the Greek ones. There are similarities between these two pantheons, but there are no direct correspondences. In essence, the Scandinavian deities are much closer to the Voodoo loa or the Santeria orishas, ​​cleansed of Catholic layers.

Suppose that at a certain moment in time and at a certain point in space, consciousness was formed from energy and the beginning of creation was laid. In accordance with cosmic laws, consciousness underwent processes of differentiation. At some stage, various classes of beings appeared - gods, nature spirits, people and, probably, other forms of life unknown to us.

Gods are real, but this does not mean that they are static and unchanging. As the consciousness of the people develops and people acquire deeper and more complete knowledge about the world around them, the divine forms created by these people also evolve. Over time, the divine forms are modified in accordance with the changes that the collective consciousness of the people undergoes.

Main element: water

Additional element: fire

Color: bright white

Totem animals: ram, seal

Magic weapon: horn

Goals of the appeal: protection, training

Runes for work: Kenaz, Mannaz, Dagaz

From my point of view, Heimdall belongs to the Vanir class, since he is related to Freya and therefore Njord. His title is "shining ace". Heimdall's magical weapon is the Gjallarhorn horn. By blowing this horn, Heimdall will announce the beginning of Ragnarok and call on the Aesir and Einherjar to battle. Heimdall is famous for his keen hearing: he can hear how grass grows and sheep's wool. According to myths, Heimdall's horn is hidden under the roots of the Yggdrasil ash tree. But it is possible that in reality we are not talking about a horn, but about a rumor, which would fit well with the images of two other gods sacrificing themselves - Odin and Tyr. It can be assumed that Heimdall also committed an act of self-sacrifice that cost him his ear, just as Odin sacrificed his eye and Tyr sacrificed his hand. The myth telling about this is lost, but it probably explained how Heimdall gained his finest hearing (after all, Odin, having sacrificed one eye, became all-seeing).

Heimdall is the mediator between Asgard and Midgard. You can appeal to him for protection and help. Heimdall is the guardian of the rainbow bridge. In this context - to gain knowledge - you should call on Heimdall using the Kenaz rune. In addition, Heimdall, as the "shining ace", helps to shed light on any mystery - for example, to clarify someone's hidden motives. You can also call on Heimdall as a teacher using the Mannaz rune, since it is Heimdall who teaches runes to people. Dagaz facilitates “travel” to Asgard and generally facilitates movement between worlds. Being a solar deity, Heimdall is associated with the dawn of a new day, and therefore one should appeal to him while facing the east.

God Ull

Names: Scandinavian - Uller, English - Wulder.

Main element: snow.

Hypostases: Northern Lights

Magical weapons: bow, "glorious branches" (wuldortanas), oath ring

Purposes of the appeal: hunting, oaths, duels

Runes for work: Eyvaz, Vunyo

Not much is known about this ancient deity, but adherents of the Asatru religion find many attractive features in him. Therefore, I will try to outline what we know about him for sure. Ullr is the stepson of Thor, the son of Sif from his first marriage to the star hero Orvandil. Thus, Ullr belongs to the Vanir class. Ull Like Orvandil, Ull is apparently much older than the Aesir and even the Vanir. Some researchers identify him with the archaic god of death, worshiped in Norway, where many settlements are named after him. The name "Ull" means "shining one". In Scandinavia it is associated with the northern lights. Apparently, at some era, Ull played as important a role as Odin, and he was believed to rule Asgard during the winter months.

Ull is the skier god, patron of winter. His weapon is a bow. His wife Skadi, whose name means "shadow", was also once the local archaic goddess of death. According to other sources, Ull had a twin sister named Ullin. In all likelihood, Ullin is the Scandinavian equivalent of Holda, the goddess of snow. This hypothesis fits well into the general system of twin deities that stands out within the framework of northern mythology.

When calling on Ull, you should face north. His main rune is Eyvaz, the additional one is Vunyo. Both of them will help to gain the favor of this deity, but it is best to call on Ull with the help of a linked rune consisting of these two runes. Ull was approached with requests to grant victory in the duel, and was also called upon to witness the oath. Therefore, one of Ull’s attributes is the oath ring, which was placed on his altar. The Anglo-Saxons honored him under the name "Wuldor", meaning "brilliance" or "glory".

God Loki

Names: Scandinavian - Loki, German - Loge

Main element: raging flame

Color: red

Totem animals: salmon, seal, fox

Goals of the appeal: deception, destruction

Runes for work: Dagaz

Loki is one of the most mysterious characters in Scandinavian mythology. Apparently, this is a very ancient god, who arose long before the Aesir and Vanir. It is possible that even in the Stone Age he was worshiped as the god of fire. In this case, this original, merciful Loki must belong to the class of giants. Evidence of this is preserved in Scandinavian myths, where the giants Lauveya and Forbauti are called Loki's parents. Loki later acquired a number of negative traits; The same fate befell most of the giants - representatives of the older generation of northern gods. Loki appears to be associated with two other elemental deities: Kari (the air giant) and Hler. Hler is associated with water, as he is identified with Aegir, the giant who rules the sea elements and is married to the sea giantess Ran. All these characters belong to the most ancient layer of the northern tradition. Subsequent generations of northern peoples endowed Loki with cruelty and treachery. Indeed, Loki is a trickster and a catalyst for change, but I consider his negative properties to be a Christian overlay. Having turned Balder into a kind of northern equivalent of “Sorrowful Jesus” and burdened Odin with the attributes of Yahweh, Christians felt that they also needed a “devil”. And the evil Loki was chosen for this role.

By carefully studying the myths, you can discover a number of positive traits in Loki’s character. For example, his adventures in Svartalfheim, from where Loki returned with wonderful gifts - a hammer for Thor, a spear for Odin and a magic ship for Frey - are worthy of all praise, because he did not appropriate all these magical objects for himself, but distributed them to the aesir. Thus, Loki is not attached to any values. He is a catalyst, causing change without being affected by it. And yet I do not encourage the practice of turning to Loki - despite the fact that similar warnings regarding Odin have never stopped me personally.

Loki is the father of three monsters: Fenrir, Jormungandr and Hel (Hel is apparently a distorted version of Holda). On the other hand, he also gives birth to Sleipnir, Odin’s wonderful stallion. Sleipnir is the only horse in the world that can travel between all nine worlds. By the way, Loki gives birth to Sleipnir, taking the form of a mare, that is, he is not his father, but his mother. His monstrous children were born from a union with the giantess Angrboda, in which Loki played the male role. Thus, Loki is a werewolf, capable of taking the form of animals and changing gender. In his later, negative form, Loki arranges the murder of Balder, and this act begins the chain of events leading to Ragnarok. It is possible, again, that the gloomy Scandinavian version of the myth of Ragnarok, ending with the total destruction of the world, developed relatively late, and in the original version of this myth the gods defeated and shackled the giants. This is exactly the fate that befell Loki. He was captured and chained to a rock, with a snake hanging over his head, continuously spitting venom into his eyes.

Loki's element is raging, indomitable fire. Its color is bright red. In modern terms, Loki can be called the personification of nuclear energy. Psychologically, Loki is the impulsive, destructive, immature aspect of human nature. The myths say that Loki and Odin once made an oath of brotherhood between themselves, so Loki can also be defined as the “shadow side” of Odin. Both of these gods are considered treacherous and unpredictable.

Goddess Frigg

Names: Scandinavian - Frigg, English - Fricg, Dutch - Frigga, German - Fricka

Main element: air

Additional element: water

Color: Silver Gray

Totem animals: falcon, ram, spider

Magical Weapons: Spinning Wheel

Purposes of the appeal: marital fidelity, childbearing

Runes for work: Fehu, Perto, Berkana

Frigg is the first of a number of goddesses whose roles in the Northern Mysteries we will now consider. Modern Odinists do not pay enough attention to the goddesses, since in the Icelandic texts - the main source of our information about the northern tradition - very little is reported about them. However, we should not forget that these texts date back to the rather late Viking Age with its cult of masculinity, and were also strongly influenced by the Christian views to which the compilers of the Eddic codes were committed. The social status of women in medieval Scandinavia or Anglo-Saxon Britain was relatively high compared to the position occupied by women in the Mediterranean countries during the same period. And only in the feudal era, the beginning of which in England was marked by the Norman Conquest, did women lose their traditional independence. Tacitus reports that among the Germans, women were valued twice as much as men, since the price for killing a woman was almost twice as much as the price for killing a man of the same social status. In addition, it was usually the mother or grandmother who gave the young warrior his first shield. In the Younger Edda, Odin (“Equally High”), comparing goddesses with gods, states that the goddesses are “just as sacred, and their power is no less.”

The main goddess is Frigg, wife of Odin. She knows the fate of all people and gods, not excluding the fate prepared for her son Balder. However, Frigga does not predict the future. In order to gain the knowledge that his wife already possesses, Odin does not question her, but resorts to other means - he sacrifices himself on Yggdrasil and gives Mimir his eye. Possessing knowledge, Frigga, for some reason, is not able to communicate it to others. Perhaps she simply considers it useless, believing that they will not believe her, or that she will not be able to change anything anyway. There is nothing more frustrating than knowing what is going to happen but not being able to prevent it because the very fabric of reality resists our best efforts. Unfortunately, I myself am too familiar with this “Cassandra’s curse” from personal experience. So, Frigga knows everything in advance, but keeps her knowledge secret, because she cannot change her inevitable fate, or orlog. Frigga’s silence contains an important lesson: knowing that it will still not be possible to save Balder, she still heroically tries to prevent his death. Frigga is not inferior in power to Odin, but her power is directed inward, and not to the outside world. It is only after Balder begins to have ominous dreams that Frigga makes a futile attempt to save him. If we look at this moment from a purely human point of view, interpreting it literally, then we see a woman who knows that her son will soon suffer an untimely death and that this death will begin the chain of events that will lead to Ragnarok.

Frigga has great magical powers. But the tragic paradox is that she herself, through her actions, predetermines the death of Balder. Trying to save her son, she takes an oath from all living creatures, plants and stones that they will not harm him. Having learned about this, the Aesir start a game: they begin to throw arrows and stones at Balder, knowing that everything will not matter to him. But Loki finds a mistletoe shoot, from which Frigga did not take oaths, considering it harmless, and gives it to the blind Höd, who kills Balder by shooting him with this branch from a bow. If Frigga had not tried to protect her son, then no one would have thought of attacking Balder as a joke, and therefore Höd would not have killed him with a mistletoe branch. Had she refrained from any action, Balder would still have died, but in her attempt to save him, Frigga unwittingly prepared the weapon for his murder. The image of this goddess is very tragic. And the magical lesson that we can learn from this myth is this: we should not interfere with anyone’s wyrd, because by our attempts to change it we can unwittingly set off the chain of events that we are trying to prevent. These events would have happened without our participation, but through our intervention we weave them into our own world.

Frigga is often depicted with a spinning wheel. Spinning has a special magical meaning, since its essence is the formation of thread from raw material. Spinning precedes weaving. Norns weave patterns of human destinies. And Frigga with her spinning wheel prepares the threads from which these patterns are then woven. Thus, Frigg rules over primordial matter, preparing the substance, which the Norns then give a certain form to.

The knowledge of this goddess is so deep and extensive that even Odin sometimes cannot do without her advice. In essence, Odin receives all his knowledge second-hand. He sacrifices himself to find them, but as a result, he does not so much discover them in himself as accept them as a gift: “I learned the nine songs of power from Bölthorn,” he says after the test on the Tree. In other words, he took his knowledge from the teacher. Having come to Mimir's spring and given his eye for the right to drink from it, he again gains wisdom not directly, but with Mimir's permission. Further, he manages to summon the spirit of the völva and gain new knowledge from her only thanks to Freya, who taught him the art of necromancy, which is part of the seita’s complex of techniques. Mediumship, a traditionally female occupation, is essentially close to necromancy. Thus, all of Odin’s occult knowledge is secondary, and he receives it mainly from women, while Frigga, Freya and the Norns possess knowledge by nature and no one taught them.

Frigg's bird is a heron, and her magical weapon is a spinning wheel. Modern research shows that the owl should be considered Frigga's totem animal. At least three people I know have been visited by an owl while working with the Frigga archetype. I assume that the owl is connected with both Frigga and Odin. When it seems to you that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to tell fortunes or cast a spell, then before taking up magical tools, turn to Frigga to gain access to the primordial matter.

Goddess Freya

Names: Scandinavian - Freyja, Dutch - Frija, German - Freia, English - Freo.

Main element: fire

Additional element: water

Color: gold

Totem animal: cat

Magical weapons: falcon plumage, cat fur gauntlets, Brisingamen necklace

Purposes of the appeal: love, war, witchcraft (seith)

Runes for work: Fehu, Perto, Inguz, Hagalaz, Berkana, Laguz

Freya is the most famous of the northern goddesses, although she is sometimes confused with Frigg. Many researchers, including the Brothers Grimm, believed that in reality these two goddesses were quite distant from each other, both in function and in origin. I now share this view, although at the time of the first publication of this book I held a different point of view. The oldest known Anglo-Saxon name for Freya is Freo, and the Dutch name is Friya. However, in terms of its attributes, the Dutch Frija is still closer to the Scandinavian Frigg. In the lands of the modern Netherlands, with the exception, perhaps, of Friesland, Freya from the Vanir family was not known; there they worshiped such goddesses as Gabiae and Aligabea, that is, the “Giver” and the “All-Giver,” identical to the Scandinavian Gefion, who can be considered a hypostasis of Freya. In some respects, Freya is even closer than Frigga to the image of the “Great Goddess” in its modern occult understanding. She is the giver of life and death, while Frigga gives only life. On the one hand, Freya, along with Frigg and the diss, are called upon to help the woman in labor, on the other hand, she takes half of the warriors who died in battle.

The name "Freya" translates as "mistress", that is, either "woman of the royal family" or, in later times, simply "mistress of the house". Thus, in origin it is not so much a personal name as a title. It is possible that the ancient names of many goddesses were forgotten at a fairly early stage or were preserved only in the names of matrons. It may also be remembered that the name "Frey", meaning "lord", is also undoubtedly a title, and the real name of this deity is Yngvi or Ing. Perhaps a similar name - for example, Ingva - was once borne by the goddess who was considered his twin sister. Swedish researcher Britt-Marie Näström also believes that Freya once had a more personal name, and suggests the option “Ingagerd”.

Freya is the most active of the goddesses. She is both a Valkyrie and a Disa, as one of her names is Vanadis. First of all, she is the goddess of love and war, life and death. In terms of its functions, it opposes Odin and, at the same time, complements him. Both of these deities are shamans, both travel between worlds in the guise of animals. Both receive an equal share of the warriors killed in battle, and it is noteworthy that the right to choose first belongs to Freya. Freya's totem animals are cats. She rides around in a chariot drawn by two cats, white or gray. Freya is the patroness of the völvas, who in ancient times wore mittens made of cat fur in her honor. These days, Freya will help curse a person who abuses cats. Another animal associated with her is the pregnant pig, a symbol of fertility. Freya owns the Brisingamen necklace, which she received as a reward for sharing a bed with four dwarfs. These dwarfs symbolize the four elements, and the necklace is the fifth element, arising from the mixture of the other four. According to some versions, Brisingamen is not a necklace, but a belt, and a belt of the kind that was used to help women in labor. The day of the week dedicated to Freya is Friday, and it was on this day that weddings were traditionally held in the old days.

The name "Freya" is related to two Dutch words - vrijen and vrij. The first means “to make love” or “to court.” Vrijer is a gentleman, a suitor. The second word, vrij, means "free". In the late Icelandic tradition, Freya was considered the wife of Od, whose name, as researchers have established, is nothing more than a variant of the name Odin. Perhaps Od is Odin in his guise as a wanderer. When Od leaves Freyja, she searches for him in all nine worlds, taking various names: Mardoll ("shining like the sea"), Sur ("pig") and Gefyon ("giver"). Sad about Oda, she sheds golden tears. In one lesser-known myth, which has come down to us in the writings of Saxo Grammar, she appears under the name Menglad - “necklace of joy.” This myth tells how Freya was captured by the giants, but was saved by a certain Svipdag or Ottar, who can be identified with Od. The giants, one after another, woo Freya, inventing all sorts of ways to win her hand. Freya owns a wonderful falcon plumage, which, when worn, gains the ability to fly. Many researchers of Scandinavian myths have hypothesized that Freya is identical to Gullveig. Edred Thorsson, in his Guide to Runic Magic, also suggests that Freya is equivalent to Heid, the völva with whom Odin confers. Robert Graves, in The White Goddess, states that Freya was associated with the Ravens, Odin's totem animals. In a sense, this is reasonable, since Freya is not only the goddess of life, but also the mistress of death. During the early Middle Ages, Freya was considered the patroness of a genre of love songs called masongr, or, in German, Minnegesang. With the advent of Christianity, this role was forgotten, but the tradition was continued by late medieval minstrels and troubadours, who dedicated their songs to the Virgin Mary. Many of Freya’s attributes, as well as plants and animals dedicated to her, were transferred to this distorted version of the ancient goddess, for example, the ladybug, which in English is named after her: lady-bird (lit. “lady bird”). Like most northern goddesses, Freya is associated with the sun, which was associated in the north with the feminine principle.

Goddess Idunn

Names: Scandinavian - Idunn, Iduna

Main element: earth

Green color

Magic items: apples

Goals of the appeal: longevity, health

Runes for work: Yera, Berkana, Inguz

Idunn is one of the goddesses of Asgard. Not much is known about her. At first glance, she might be considered a minor deity, but I will try to show that this is not the case. Idunn is older than the Aesir and probably even older than the Vanir. Her father is the giant and star hero Ivaldi, and her brother is Orvandil, Siv's first husband. Orvandil, Idunn and Balder's wife Nanna are the children of Ivaldi and belong to the older generation of gods. It is reasonable to assume that this older generation were giants, who, with the advent of a new generation of gods, either turned into carriers of evil, or, like Skadi or Gerd, fit into the new world order. Idunn is usually portrayed as a lovely, very young and naive girl; So, Loki easily manages to lure her to the giant Tiazzi. She does not part with her basket full of golden apples. Idunn is silent: eloquence is the destiny of her husband Braga, the god of poetry. But in her fragile hands there is enormous strength. It is to her that the gods owe their health and longevity, for without Idunn’s apples they begin to grow old and approach the threshold of death. However, the sagas pay very little attention to Idunn. Idunn's apples do not grant immortality so much as prolongation of life, because the gods have to eat them regularly. The core of an apple can symbolize the mother's womb because it contains seeds - the potential for new life. Apples also play an important symbolic role in the myths of other peoples. Celtic mythology features the wonderful island of Avalon, where apple trees grow that bear golden fruits of eternal youth. As most occultists know, if you cut an apple crosswise, the symbol of a pentagram will be visible on the cut. In Greek mythology, Hercules obtains golden apples during one of his twelve labors. The myth of Idunn can be compared with the Greek myth of Kore-Persephone. Apples are associated with evil only in the Jewish tradition. But even the biblical myth involuntarily connects the apple with the knowledge of not only evil, but also good. Thus, the apple is a symbol of good and evil, as well as sexuality as a condition for procreation, for the biblical Eve began to conceive children only after she ate the apple. There is a legend about how the childless King of the Huns, Reri, once found his wife under a tree, where she prayed to the gods to send her a child. Frigg took pity on them and sent her messenger, a goddess named Gna, to them. Gna threw an apple into the queen's lap, and after eating it, she conceived. From the descendants of these king and queen came the Volsung family. Apples are the sacred fruits of the Goddess, playing an important role in women's mysteries. Symbolically, they contain the souls of unborn children. Idunn is the goddess of vegetation. With the onset of Ragnarok, she hides under the roots of Yggdrasil and disappears from this world, only to return when new life is reborn.

Goddesses Hel/Holda

These two goddesses have a lot in common. The question of whether these images developed in parallel or whether one originated from the other is difficult to answer. Both of them are connected with the world of the dead. Holda in her guise as Frau Gode is the leader of the Wild Hunt, like Wodan. For a long time it seemed to me that these two deities were closely related. Perhaps they were once a twin pair, like Ziu and Zisa. Hel is, in my opinion, the Scandinavian equivalent of Holda. However, it is possible that Holda is the most ancient goddess of death in the Germanic tradition. It always seemed to me that the image of Hel was formed quite late, under the influence of Christian ideas about the horrors awaiting sinners in the afterlife. Only once - while waiting for Balder - Hel appears before us in a hall, the floor of which is covered with flowers, and the tables are laden with food and drinks. A specific trait of Holda that distinguishes her from Hel is that Holda takes special care of children who die in infancy; Later, in Christian times, they began to believe that infants who died unbaptized fell into her kingdom. I believe that she was originally considered primarily the goddess of dead children. Scandinavian Hel is simply the goddess of death. After death, everyone who was not completely devoted to any of the other gods or goddesses goes to her world and, accordingly, cannot get into their palaces. According to the descriptions, Hel is half beautiful and half an ugly, decaying corpse. But based on modern research, we can come to a new understanding of this goddess, recognizing the kindness and wisdom contained in her. Both Holda and Hel fell under the influence of the ugly witch archetype that developed in the Middle Ages. Holda is also sometimes depicted as a young beauty, but more often she is portrayed as a kind-hearted but stern or ugly old woman with a bad leg (she turned the spinning wheel for too long - hence the injury). However, this is how Dutch fairy tales tell about it, and in the folklore of other peoples it can take on a different form.

Currently, the cult of this goddess has begun to be revived in the south of England, primarily in Greenwich. Holda's rune is Hagalaz. She is the patroness of the haegtessen and völva soothsayers, like Freya. A reference book on Norse mythology states that Wodan/Odin received his ravens as a gift from Holda

Goddess Nehellenia

Nehellenia is a Dutch goddess, patroness of plants, dogs and the sea. It is possible that this is a merciful hypostasis of Hel, since she is depicted with a basket of apples, traditionally symbolizing life, as we remember from the description of Idunn. On the other hand, dogs are associated with death: in the shamanic tradition they often serve as guides to the lower world. In this case, it can be assumed that Nehellenia is the local version of Nerthus, the same goddess whom Tacitus, within the framework of his “interpretatio Romana,” calls Isis. The center of the cult of Nehellenia was the island of Walcheren, now part of the Dutch province of Zealand. The sailors called on her for help before setting off on a dangerous journey to the shores of England across the North Sea. In addition to the dog and the basket, her attribute is a ship. British researchers identify her with the ancient English goddess Helen. Nehellenia's element is water; runes that help to appeal to her are Hagalaz and Laguz. You can also include the Raido rune in a protective spell designed to make sea travel easier.

Goddess Skadi

Skadi is a local Scandinavian goddess. In myths, she appears as Njord's temporary wife. She received him as a husband as part of the wealth that the Aesir had to pay for the murder of her father, the giant Tiazzi. Being a descendant of giants, Skadi may be one of the oldest local deities who were worshiped in Scandinavia before the advent of the cult of the Aesir. Scandinavia - "the land of Skadi" - is named after her. Skadi is the goddess of winter. She runs on skates, and therefore is associated with Ull, who became her husband after Skadi broke up with Njord. According to other versions, Skadi became the lover of Odin himself, and from this connection came the Skjoldung clan - the royal dynasty of Denmark. The name "Skadi" means "shadow" and this goddess is also associated with death. After Loki was captured and chained, it was she who hung the snake over his head, avenging the fatal role that Loki played in the fate of her father. The halls of Skadi are called Thrymheim. The runes associated with it are Eyvaz, Hagalaz and Isa. Her element is snow.

Goddess Siv

Sif, Thor's second wife, is the golden-haired goddess of grain. According to some texts, she had the gift of prophecy, although nothing is said about this in the Eddas. In early Germanic sources, Siv appears as a swan maiden. She was once married to Orvandil, and therefore may also belong to the older generation of gods. Siv is associated with the summer fertility of the earth and ripe ears of grain, so the myth of how Loki shaved her head can be interpreted as a metaphorical story about fire destroying the harvest. The name "Siv" is related to the German sippe - "relatives". From this we can conclude that Siv, like Frigga, is associated with peace and friendship that reigns in a happy family, as well as with marital fidelity. Runes Siv - Berkana and Inguz.

Goddess Saga

Saga is one of Frigg's names. In this incarnation, Frigg is the patron of memory and memories. The saga lives in the flow of times and events. Frigg lives in Fensalir (lit. "marsh land"), and Saga lives in Sokkvabek ("low benches"). Every day Odin drinks with her from golden goblets, and Saga sings about the past and times long past. Since Frigga has the gift of foresight, and Saga knows everything that remains in the past, we can say that Saga personifies Frigga’s memories. The runes Perto and Laguz correspond to it.

Eir, Vor, Var and Fulla

Eir is one of Frigga's maids who is the patron of healing. The runes Berkana, Sovulo and Laguz are associated with it. Uruz is also a healing rune, but too masculine, so I do not recommend using it to appeal to Eir. Thief and Var also serve Frigga; they are called upon to witness oaths and asked to punish the perpetrator. Var is especially interesting: her name is related to the German word wahr - “truth”. The same root is preserved in a number of English words, such as aware ("aware, aware") or beware ("beware, beware"), associated in meaning with the perception, awareness or identification of truth. Thus, Var as an oathkeeper is the personification of idealized concepts of truth and honesty. Var warns against hasty, thoughtless vows, including marriage vows: as the maid Frigga, she punishes those who violate fidelity to their spouses and lovers. Fulla is Frigga's constant companion and confidante. She carries a basket of treasures with her everywhere.

Views for the future

For a long time, the role of the feminine principle in northern religion was belittled to the detriment of all adherents of this tradition, both men and women. Since most of the written sources available to us date back to the Viking Age, in the eddas and sagas we find very little information about goddesses and, especially, about the female mysteries. Moreover, Christian scribes, to please their religious prejudices, often presented the feminine side of the northern tradition in a distorted light.

The Puritan dislike of fertility symbols prevented them from describing the female mysteries in any detail. And as a result, a vicious circle formed. The reviving northern religion today still suffers from the inappropriate bias towards the masculine principle that dominated the Viking Age, and therefore has not thrown off the shackles imposed on it by Christian monks and priests. Because of this, only a few women now dare to take part in the restoration of northern traditions, and everything returns to normal.

However, in reality, the northern tradition should not suppress, but, on the contrary, exalt the role of female spirituality. The revival of the primordial northern mysteries is impossible without restoring the harmonious balance between the masculine and feminine principles. Without proper reverence for the Goddess, without understanding the true role of the Norns, Valkyries and Dis, the restoration of the Northern religion will inevitably remain one-sided and outdated; Without the female mysteries, presented as an equal complement to the male military cult, the modern peoples of the northern countries will remain, from a mystical point of view, deprived and weakened. I hope that my book will help restore balance and break the vicious circle. It must be admitted that the prospects for the future that open before us are not so gloomy. In the end, this is only the first book in England (and throughout Europe) in many decades about runes, written by a sincere follower of the ancient northern faith. And there is every reason to hope that other women will follow her example. Our efforts will pay off handsomely, as each such book will prepare even more women to take on this difficult but fruitful task of returning the female mysteries of the North to their rightful place in the tradition.

Given that we have almost no historical information necessary to fill this gap, scientific research alone will not be enough. You need to experiment more, relying on your intuition and imagination. This is how I, for the most part, conducted my research on which this book is based. What a blessing that the qualities necessary for this - intuition, imagination and sensitivity - are naturally developed in the soul of every woman!

But in order to truly revive the northern mysteries, this is also not enough. After all, this revival must take place within the framework of standards close to the collective soul of the northern peoples. Women of the North must open up to the trends of the collective unconscious of their ancestors, who once made an invaluable contribution to the progress of all humanity. For many of our contemporaries, the word “necromancy” evokes unpleasant or frightening associations. But it should be understood that our predecessors possessed great wisdom and deep mystical knowledge, and communication with them will only serve us well. We must learn from the experience of past generations and adapt it to modern needs. The means and techniques that allow us to awaken collective memory are hidden in the depths of our personal unconscious.

Therefore, women should devote more time to raising children. We all know ancient Greek and biblical mythology quite well, but how many of you were taught about the northern gods at school? This gap should be filled on your own, in home schooling.

Restoring the balance between the masculine and feminine principles will benefit not only women, but both sexes. For example, the traditionally feminine arts of healing and divination benefit both women and men. Goddesses take care of everyone. They are no more occupied with women than the gods are with men. And until the balance of the sexes is restored, the tradition of the Northern Mysteries cannot be considered fully revived. I hope my book will contribute to the solution to this problem by serving as a medicine for what needs healing.

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