Shieldmaiden Saturday # 20 - the Valkyries Prayer

The Valkyries Prayer is from Sigrdrifumal (Sayings of the Victory Bringer) section of the Poetic Edda

Frigg'sday #5

Blessed All-Mother

full of love and support

nurture us,

your children,

so we may give and love

as you do

Shieldmaiden Saturday #19 -The Ride of the Valkyries from Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Met

   Whatever Richard Wagner's stance on life was when he was alive does not keep me from enjoying Der Ring des Nibelungen. From this opera I give to you, what may be the most famous piece from the second part of his opera, and maybe even of all of Wagner's works, Die Wlaküre - The Valkyrie: The Ride of the Valkyries. The video is from the Metropolitan Opoera 2012 production of Der Ring des Nibleungen that had Deborah Voigt as Brünnhilde and jay hunter Morris as Siegfried. This the only production of this opera that I have ever seen and therefore my favorite

Frigg'sday # 4

Queen Frigg, Lady of Secrets
All-Mother that never tells what she knows

This I know for you never tell what you hear
So I confide in you what my heart holds dear
For there is no one I trust and love more than you
Oh beautiful and loving Frigg.

Frigg - Lady of Secrets by samflegal @ DeviantArt

Memorial Day

I chose to do my Memorial Day post on the actual Memorial Day and not the one that is observed because  I feel that it is more solemn and appropriate. I guess that is my old fashioned way of thinking.

  I have discovered a sadly haunting image of a a woman who cleans her husband's shield as she cries. She cries for her husband has been killed in battle and she naturally mourns him. Behind the wife is her husband in a ghostly form to say good bye before going to eternity in Valhalla, where they will, some day,hopefully again be together.


Remember the real reason for memorial day is to honor those that have fallen in battle and not those that have lived. That is what Veteran's day is for.

A Solemnly Blessed Memorial Day

Friggsday #3 - Frigg, Frigga and Frigga's Web (Germanic godess)

       On this Day of Frigg I share with you a beautifully haunting song for Frigg that is entitled Frigga's Web  Hagalaz' Runedance in 2002 from the album/cd of the same name.

I feel truly blessed to have come across or dare I say to be shown by the all-Mother this music. For those that know me on Twitter they know I love Frigg and am disappointed in the lack of honor she receives. I believe I have expressed the same sentiment in a couple of post her on my blog. But with this song, I feel the love and power for and of Frigg. As well as her wisdom.

  May Frigg Bless you and let you feel her love and power.



                                                 

Frigga's Web Lyrics

Silence before the storm

I reach the house hidden by the night

 

A light I saw I knocked all quietly

I entered; a woman sat by the spinning wheel 

 

"What brings you here my child", she asked?

"Don't you know our lady keeps her secrets well?"

 

It's my life I am running from

It's my fate I am hiding from,

oh would the Goddess speak to me?

Her ways I do not understand, the mysteries I must know,

Oh would the Mother see through me?

"Why don't you rest my child", she said, "I will seek her advice, I will wake you

when it's time"

All night by the spinning wheel, she sang an ancient tune and in the morn' her

work was done

In the distance I heard a call, I awoke and held the spindle in my hand

My other hand held new life, the Goddess had been by my side

and her blessing was mine.

Friggsday #2

Beautiful All-Mother Frigg

Seer of all but quiet of everything

Protectress of the home, marriage, women and children

 I thank you for choosing this humble

and unworthy woman

To be your daughter

and humble representative of you

Upon this land

My Frigg holding Baldr statue

Representing Frigg

The All-Mother has become very important to me. When I started representing her on Twitter I had no idea what to do or even if I wanted to be her. I had thought of Freyja but when I was ready to become her I started having many to come and talked to Frigg so I stayed Frigg. I believe she knew of my struggle with my Twitter identity and had others befriend me as her to keep me representing her.

  With the All-Mother keeping me as a representative of hers I became more comfortable and found my footing. At first I thought to try to be like my maternal grandmother, who everyone loved and still love, but then I found that I have some of her qualities, taking care of the family,cooking,etc., so I put me out there as Frigg. Being me is really the best thing I could do for Frigg.

  The All-Mother has seemed happy to have me or at least I feel that I please her. She has helped me a couple of times. First was when one of my cats got out early in the morning on Valentine's Day and I did not realize it until almost bedtime. I was calling for him for hours when he showed himself but then he disappeared again. I finally got to the point where I looked up and saw the constellation Orion and his belt. This gave me hope. Looking at Orion's Belt, also known as Frigg's Distaff, I asked her to help bring my cat back to me and inside my house. I tacked on Freyja to be on the safe side. A few minutes later here came my cat and I picked him up and got him back inside. since then he has somewhat learned not to sneak outside though he does try but a spray bottle of water helps that situation.

  My second encounter with Frigg's help was a few weeks ago. Nothing dramatic. I was having a bad day and was getting ready to cry when all I did was say"Frigg help me" and almost immediately after getting the words out I felt calmer.


  This all may seem far fetched and the rambling of flighty mind but this is how things are for me and my representation and love of Frigg. I feel blessed to have her in my life and am devoted to her. I also feel she gets relatively ignored by others because she did the most important thing of all:She took care of her family, all of the Æsir , and those she fostered. Maybe it is because of the times and those that are able to take care of their family,whether they (like me) have no children or not, but can still tend to the home seems to be look down on and feel by others to be unimportant. I would like to see them tell the women in their families who stayed home and took care of the family that and see what happens. Because if you are shortchanging the women in your family for raising her family and possibly you, then you are also shortchanging Frigg.

  Forgive me for losing control but I had to write the words that were flowing through me.

  May Frigg Bless You.

Frigg Casting Runes

Floki Friday - #12

Season 3 of 'Vikings' has been a doozy. We started with Torstein's death and then to the one that seemed to have almost killed us all...Siggy's. I don't know why but Athelstan's death was not that surprising and the fact that he was murdered by Floki really wasn't the surprising to me because Floki told Helga that he had to make a sacrifice to the gods and, sadly, who else would Floki sacrifice? The sacrifice was even sanctioned by Loki when he allowed/ helped Floki shape-shift into a dog to get pass Rollo in the village on the way to kill Athelstan.

  All of this has led me to 'To the Gates' episode 8 of Season 3 or at least close to the end of it when Floki looks like he is trying out for either Apocalypse Now or Rambo . I think they both had men looking out of the water or one at least had a man come fastly rising out of the water with machine guns. Well with Floki being scared to come out of the water because he thinks that everyone hates him and the Helga pretty much tells him to get over himself because he is being selfish. Agreed.

  Anyway, this is the photo that got me thinking about the two movies.

Friggsday #1

 I am a devoted admirer of the All-Mother, Frigg and I try to give a representation of her on Twitter that makes her proud to call me her daughter.

  It seems to me that there is little to no appreciation, let alone love, of Frigg and this hurts me and breaks my heart as to how overlooked and unappreciated she is. Frigg is not Freyja. Freyja is not Frigg. They are sister goddess of different pantheons. Freyja is loved above Queen Frigg because she goddess of war, sex and beauty. Where as Frigg is of the home and hearth, keeper of the visions she sees and tells no one.

 Frigg is also goddess of Love, Marriage and Destiny. She is a sky goddess and as such is responsible of the weaving of clouds, hence the All-Mother is also responsible for sunshine, rain and the fertility of crops. She is also responsible for the weaving of fates.

  She is also the goddess who keeps us in touch with our intuitive nature and helps us make the transition to new beginnings.

So with this in my heart and mind I give my devotion and love to the Al-mother Frigg. Blessed Be.

Frigg with her handmaidens Fulla and Gna with her horse Hofvarpinr

 Beautiful All-Mother Frigg

Seer of all but quiet of everything

Protectress of the home,hearth, marriage women and children

I thank you for choosing this humble and unworthy woman

to be your daughter and humble representative

of you upon this land

The Poetic Edda - Voluspo : Stanza 20 - The Norns

The Norns also call upon me this day to tell their tale this day from the Voluspa/Voluspo . So I will honor them and their words and do so. BlessedBe.

20.  Thence come the maidens  mighty in wisdom,
       Three from the dwelling  down 'neath the tree;
       Urth is one named,  Verthandi the next, --
       On the woods they scored, --  and Skuld the third.
       Laws they made there,  and life alloted
       To the son of men,  and their fates.

        

The Poetic Edda - Voluspo: Stanza 19 - Yggdrasil

  Yggdrasil and the Norns are getting their own post out of my love and respect for all of them.

19.  An ash I know,  Yggdrasil its name,
      With white water  is the great tree wet;
      Thence come the dew  that falls in the dales,
      Green by Urth's well  does it ever grow.

The Poetic Edda - Voluspo : Stanzas 17 and 18

  We have now come to the creation of the first man and woman of Midgard by Odin, Hoenir (Honir) and Lodur (Lothur).

17. Then from the throng of  did three come forth
      From the home of the gods,  mighty and gracious;
      Two without fate on  the land they found,
      Ask and Embla,  empty of might.

18. Soul they had not,  sense they had not,
      Heat nor motion,  nor goodly hue;
      Soul gave Othin,  sense gave Honir,
      Heat gave Lothur  and goodly hue.

Ask and Embla

'Vikings' Season 3 Countdown - Day 1

Let the raiding begin. What will the Lothbrok brothers  bring unto us? Tears and smiles of love and happiness/ tears of grief and sadness at the loss of someone or something? Will the gods and goddesses survive in the raids or will they be deserted and all but forgotten by a loyal few?

  Starting tonight we will start to be given the answers to theses questions and more that are certain to come up in everyone's hearts and minds. So until the end:

Let's Raid with Rollo and Ragnar!

'Vikings' Season 3 Countdown - Day 2

One more night until we raid with our 'Vikings'. Ragnar has come a long way from the ambitious farmer to maybe an even more ambitious king who has forgotten where he came from. Pity if he does forget and forsakes the AEsir.

'Vikings' Season 3 Countdown - Day 3

 Our dear sweet and a good warrior, Athelston. His fate  may be in the air but really the Norns truly know. As does Frigg but the All-Mother never tells what she know.

'Vikings' Season 3 Countdown - Day 4 - Rollo Monday

Hail Rollo! Soon to be someone great in his own right. But first he will have to help Ragnar and maybe Lagertha.

Vikings' Season 3 Countdown - Day 5

  Aslaug does not get much love from anyone and right now I feel sorry for her. Yes, she is the home wrecker in Lagertha and Ragnar's marriage but he also wrecked his marriage to Lagertha. This is good to remember. It has taken the better part of two seasons not to be annoyed by Aslaug but I have feeling she will be fingernails down the chalkboard again at some time and point, at least according to one of the 'Vikings' promos when she is apparently asking Ragnar if he loves her. Hate to tell her he only married her out obligation and have grown to love her  but she is not Ragnar's soul mate...that is Lagertha. Which makes me feel for Aslaug a little bit more.

  So with that in mind I thought I would make Aslaug today's countdown.

'Vikings' Season 3 Countdown - Day 6 - Shieldmaiden Saturday # 18 Edition

Porunn is looking forward to going into battle and not practicing so much with Bjorn.

Catching Up

I have been sidetracked with other things and thoughts this past weekend and did not, obviously, get around to writing my 'Vikings' Season 3 Countdown post. So now I will try and do this weekends and today's post en masse.  I will start with Saturday's and make it Shieldmaiden Saturday as well as part of the Countdown.

'Viking' Season 3 Countdown - Day 7

A week until the raids commence. I wonder if things will fall in place for Siggy or will she be left out in the cold.? I for one hope things will fall in place for her with or without Rollo.

'Vikings' season 3 Countdown - Day 8

Love and war. War and love. Sometimes they can be different. Sometimes they can be the same, especially where Bjorn and Porunn are concerned. Porunn may still need to kick Bjorn's butt every so often but I think things will work out well for them tis coming raiding season.

'Vikings' Season 3 Countdown -Day 9

It is hoped that the Ragnar, Rollo and the rest of the Vikings will not forget from which they came and remember their gods and return to Uppsala.

'Vikings' Season 3 Countdown - Day 10 - Rollo Monday #12

Rollo still has his own ideas and dreams of being equal to his younger brother. Though first Rollo must fight for Ragnar in order to achieve his own greatness.

'Vikings' Season 3 Countdown - Day 11

I see that Ragnar does not know the greatness that he will have when we first met him.

Shieldmaiden Saturday #17 - 'Vikings' Season 3 Countdown -Day 12

Jarl Lagertha has her own ideas about the coming raids.

'Vikings' Season 3 Countdown - Day 13

The musings of Floki for the coming raid.

'Vikings' Season 3 Countdown - Day 14

  Two weeks. 14 days. That is the time we have left until we start a new season of raids with our 'Vikings'. Ragnar may now be king but could a brighter future be in store for Rollo? Where would this leave Siggy? How much of a woman on the outside could she become? Or could she become a leader in her own right?

 Lagertha is a jarl but how high up will she climb in the hierarchy that is now Ragnar's?

Bjorn and Porunn will be together. She will be a fierce shieldmaiden.

What will happen with Athelstan? I guess the real question is, what won't happen with and to Athelstan?

  Floki and Helga I do not know. I do wonder why Ragnar has his hand around Helga's throat? That I feel would end Floki and Ragnar's rocky relationship? Jealousy of Athelstan.

  Then their is Torstein. Oh how I don't want to happen to him what one of the previews showed. Thorstein has been loyal to Ragnar and is a trusted advisor to him and should have given bigger roles in seasons past.

Oh well...we shall have to wait and see.


Let the 'Viking' countdown begin.

First Asatru Temple in 1,000 Years

  In Iceland an Asatru temple will be built in March in Öskjuhlíd Hill that overlooks the capital of Reykjavik for the first time in 1,000 years. The temple will be circular and will be 350 square meters ( 3,767 square feet) and will house 250 people. The temple will be dug 4 meters (13 feet)  down int the hill, built with a dome on top to let in the sunlight. The sacred numbers of 9 and 432,000 are used in the design. Completion oft he temple is expected to be complete in the summer of 2016.

  Says  Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, high priest of Asatru Association "The sun changes with the seasons so in a way we are having the sun paint the space for us".

  The temple sight was donated by the city of Reykjavik to the Asatru Association but the buildings costs, is  estimated at ISK 130 million ( USD 975,000 EUR 860,000), will be raised by the Association.


  In Iceland Asatru Association has tripled in membership in the last decade to 2,400 members out of a population of 333,000, according to data from Statics of Iceland.

   When the temple is complete Icelandic worshipers (and I assume those that visit Iceland) will be able to publicly worship at a shrine to Odin, Frigg and Thor. The temple will host weddings, and funerals,. The group will also confer names to children and initiate teenagers, similar to other religious communities.


SOURCES:
 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/02/iceland-temple-norse-gods-1000-years?CMP=share_btn_fb

http://icelandreview.com/news/2015/01/30/asatru-temple-be-built-reykjavik

Rollo Monday #11

A fan art that I did of Rollo from a screencap of Vikings latest teaser.

Shieldmaiden Saturday #16

  In preparations for the upcoming raids when Vikings return next month I present a fan art photo of our favorite shieldmaiden and jarl... Lagertha in season 3.

Shieldmaiden Saturday #15 -Valkyrie in Aurora Borealis

On this late Saturday night I bring to you not a painting, etching or carving of a Shieldmaiden or Valkyrie. Nor do i bring to you a woman portraying one of these wonderful women. Instead I bring to you a photo of the Aurora Borealis in Norway that was taken by Dionys Moser. To me it looks like a shieldmaiden or a Valkyrie or an angel, if you are one of the three major religions, sitting on her haunches over a fallen warrior. There are wings and the shape of a face  in profile. A long face but still a face. Then it maybe just me seeing this but I saw this at first glance and not looking long at it.

  If you do not see what I see or my imagination wants me to see I hope you will at least enjoy the beauty of the Aurora Borealis.