Shielmaiden Saturday #25

 Lagertha 

Shieldmaiden Saturday #24

  I have learned that a Shieldmaiden, Valkyrie, and a Goddess can all hit the proverbial wall...hard. Not only is the wall hit hard the knocked down Shieldmaiden, Valkyrie, or Goddess does want to get back on their feet and dust their clothes off and again battle. We may eventually pull our selves up with difficulty and then stand there in a daze of tiredness, loneliness, despair and a great feeling of loss. At times, like tonight, I ask what for? I am all of the above. I am tired and I am weak and I need someone who is emotionally and physically strong enough to put up with me and my weaknesses but I trust that he does not exist. Yet I think that he does but I keep getting disappointed and that makes me miss him even more. All I want is to be tightly held and never let go. 

  But is not that what most Shieldmaidens, Valkyries and Goddesses think and feel and desire and want? Just because we can give a strong showing does not mean we would not relish the chance of being helped made to feel loved and special. 

  Life is not one dimensional for anyone so why should it be so for strong women? We need love, respect, and protection too from someone that is strong enough who will love, respect and protect us. And there can lie the rub for it seems quite a few men feel threatened by a woman's strength, no matter her calling, and run the other way or make fun of her without ever realizing that there is fragility in a strong woman. When we break it is rarely a pretty sight.

  What has brought upon this stream of thought is that as the All-Mother Frigg, I have hit the wall this night. Feeling weak and down, I put myself out there on Twitter and was given love and wise consul by two Shieldmaidens. sometimes us females are each other's warriors.

  

Thank you and many blessings.

Shieldmaiden #22 - Valkyrie Rising

In sacred honor of the Valkyries who bravely and lovingly take those slain in battle or die a noble death to Valhalla, I give the group Benedictum's song, from their 2006 debut album Uncreation,Valkyrie Rising.

Shieldmaiden Saturday #21

Valkyries at Dawn, a water colour illustration for the book The Viking Gods: Pagan Myths of Nordic People by Clive Barrett.

'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.

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

Jarl Lagertha has her own ideas about the coming raids.

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.

Shieldmaiden Saturday #14

A random but true thought for a Shieldmaiden.

Shieldmaiden Saturday #13

A different and dramatically beautiful Valkyrie from deviantART.

Shieldmaiden Saturday #12

This is probably my favorite out of what I have seen of Valkyries.This was first shown to me by a Twitter friend about a month or so ago and I fell in love with this piece of art work. It is  digital art by Karl Nyman and is entitled Valkyrie Ascending .

Shieldmaiden Saturday #11

 I originally found 'Dark Valkyrie' at the deviantArt page of fluxen and it is also now on his own webpage Art of Sang Han.

  This is a beautiful dark piece of work that pulls at my heart. Then that is how all art speaks to me, it has to touch my heart and not my head.

Shieldmaiden Saturday #10

  A Valkyrie in her warrior beauty.

Shieldmaiden Saturday #9

Double shieldmaiden entry this Saturday. I have done my very first screencaps of Siggy and Lagertha and did some decroations to them. Granted Siggy, to my knowledge, is not a shieldmaiden, at least not in the sense of Lagertha, but she does fight her on battles against some formidable men so that, to me, makes Siggy a shieldmaiden.

  The decorated screencaps are from Vikings Season 2 Tease.

Shieldmaiden Saturday #8 - Moder Svea

Moder Svea (Mother Sewa) is the national female personification of Sweden. She is depicted as a powerful female warrior, valkyrie or shiledmaiden who is frequently standing besdie a lion and holding a shield.

Shieldmaiden #7: Veborg

Veborg the legendary Shieldmaiden, who was either Danish or Swedish origins is famous for taking part in the Battle of Bravalla, which took place  around 750 A.D. in Sweden.

  The battle was between King Harald Hildetand of Denmark and Sweden and his viceroy, King  Sigurd Hring of Sweden and father of Ragnar Lodbrok. It was at this time that Sweden was made-up of several smaller kingdoms and Harald Hildestand had been elected king over most of them. Because King Sigurd wanted to unite Sweden under one crown and King Harald wanted to keep the possibility of electing a king for each kingdom. Thus the Battle of Bravalla was between unionist and separatists.

  It is said that both sides drew mercenaries from Russia, Germany, England and Ireland and that there were 300 shieldmaidens on the side of the separatists of King Harald. Of these 300 shieldmaidens, the most famous, aside from Visna and Harald's daughter Princess Hed, was Veborg. These three women are described as the generals of the female troops.

  Described in detail is Veborg's contribution to the battle: Ubbe from Friesland, one of the strongest warriors of King Harald's, who defeated three Swedish princes and the fighter Agnar before he was killed by one of the greatest unionist fighters, the warrior Starke. Veborg then rushed forward to kill Starke. She cut off his jaw but he managed to escape her and cut off the arm of Shieldmaiden Visna, who was holding the separatists banner. Veborg is described as being brave and meets her deatha t the hands of the warrior Thorkell the Stubborn in a long and furious struggle that included many wounds and verbal arguing.

Shieldmaiden #6; Louis Chalon Valkyrie on a Horse

 Louis Chalon's bronze and ivory sculptor of Valkyrie on a Horse.

Shieldmaiden Saturday #5

For Shieldmaiden Saturday: A Valkyrie and her horse

Shield Maiden Saturday #4

A Shield Maiden of the Snow by Charles Keegan

Shieldmaiden Saturday #3

The shieldmaiden Lagertha, wife of Ragnar Lodbrok  lithograph by Morris Meredith Williams, ca. 1913