Norse Goddess Magic (12 page)

All coming-of-age rituals for girls and women may include Frigg in them as
she is particularly concerned with women's lives. The image of Sleeping Beauty,
who, on reaching puberty, pricked her finger on a spindle and fell into a
magical deathlike sleep, could be incorporated into a woman-making rite. Rites
and ceremonies preparing a woman for marriage, motherhood, and menopause can
also benefit from petitioning Frigg's aid.

Frigg should be called on for help in learning to scry and perform other
similar types of divination. As a goddess of brewers and of hospitality, she
would be one of the key deities of the sumble, an ancient Germanic drinking
ritual that involves passing a horn among the people and making oaths, telling
tales, toasting gods and ancestors, and speaking other words of power. The horn
was traditionally passed by the mistress of the household, which ties it to
Frigg, but even more than that, sumbles tend to bind a group of people together
in the kind of frith and harmony that are Frigg's hallmark.

Honoring Yule

The season of Yule is strongly associated with Frigg, as is the
period between Yule and Easter, and many of the old Yule customs can still be
performed in her honor. One practice is to make an effort to finish your work by
the end of the old year, be it spinning or writing a term paper, and to keep the
twelve holy days of the Yule period as a time of rest as much as possible.

I know this is often difficult in modern times, with jobs and other
obligations, but one can still try to put aside as many of one's regular duties
as possible and make Yule a special time devoted to festive activities and
preparations. The first or last night of Yule may be dedicated to Frigg and
special foods eaten in her honor. These items may include fish, especially
herring, and dishes made from grains, particularly oats and barley, such as
dumplings, pancakes, or porridge. In some areas the day after the end of Yule
was “Berchte's Night,” and indeed, a simple meal the day after the excesses of
New Year's Eve is often welcome.

Frigg's Symbols

Frigg is associated with a number of symbolic objects. The
spindle, in particular, as well as the distaff and the weaver's sword, are all
Frigg's special emblems. Linen, flaxseed, and linseed oil are also strongly
associated with her and can be used as symbols in making charms for her rituals.
Linseed oil is often used as a finishing touch on runic wands and talismans,
which highlights another connection between Frigg and her husband, Odin, the god
of runes. Some of the stones and jewels that can be used in workings to Frigg
are silver, rock crystal, jet, and onyx. Her colors include white, blue, and
gray.

A number of runes are associated with Frigg.
Uruz
is one, because of
its shaping and manifesting properties.
Raiðo,
the rune of right and
order, also symbolizes the holy procession of the god or goddess in the ritual
wagon.
Kenaz
is related to Frigg because of its connection to crafts and
smithwork.
Gebo,
the rune of gifts and contractual alliances, including
marriage, and
wunjo,
a rune of harmony, kinship, and the home, are very
strongly associated with Frigg as a goddess of relationships and family.
Hagalaz,
although seemingly destructive, is essentially another rune of
order and shaping, representing the underlying structure of the universe that
wards off chaos; it also seems like a fitting symbol for Frigg's German
counterparts, Holda and Berchte, in their wilder aspects.
Perþro
is
traditionally associated with ørlög and divination, and thus represents Frigg's
magical and soothsaying aspects.
Berkano,
the birch goddess rune, is a
rune of fertility and protection and is also one of the chief birth runes, thus
tying it to Frigg in her role as a goddess of childbirth. The watery images of
laguz
are reminiscent of Frigg's connections with water and wells; it is the
rune of the passage to and from life, the rune of the vatni ausa, the naming
ceremony. It, like perþro, is also tied to Frigg's ability to see ørlög; its
alternate name,
laukaz,
means leek, an onionlike plant of fertility and
protection. The last rune,
oþala,
is the rune of ancestral property, the
wealth and strength of the clan and the protective enclosure that keeps the
world of order and society safe from the chaos without.

Plants Sacred to Frigg

Many plants and other natural objects are connected with Frigg.
The linden tree, whose wood warriors used to make shields, is associated with
her, representing her protective function. The birch, a tree held sacred to
goddesses in general, can be connected with Frigg because of its cleansing and
healing properties and its association with fertility. Birch branches are used
in saunas to this day to promote circulation by lightly slapping them against
the skin. Birch trees are also often used for Maypoles or Midsummer poles and
have been compared by many writers to fair young maidens; hence the tree's
association with female deities. Birches always seem more like young women or
girls to me, however, more appropriate for Freyja or Idun. Beech trees look more
like elegant matrons, stately and silvery. The beech is sometimes linked with
the rune perþro and Frigg's role as a goddess of divination and ørlög.
⁴

The elder is another tree often connected with Frigg, especially in her
German forms. It is a tree associated with healing, protection, death, and
magic. The Old English (OE) name for it was
aeld
(“fire”), probably
because its hollowed-out branches were used to start fires. They were also used
for toys and musical pipes, giving the elder the nickname “pipe-tree.”
⁵
This tree was also associated with grief and death; it was sometimes buried in
graves or carried in funeral processions to protect against evil spirits. Each
elder was believed to have a guardian female spirit, called the
Hyldemoer
(Elder-Tree Mother), dwelling in its branches,
⁶
and many people still
fear to cut down an elder tree without performing some sort of ritual asking the
spirit's permission. The elder is also sometimes associated with Berchte's
Night, the last night of Yule. If one stands in a magical circle holding
elderberries gathered from the tree at Midsummer, one is protected from any evil
wights that may still be abroad.
⁷

A number of herbs are believed to be holy to Frigg, especially those used for
healing and for women's reproductive health. Mugwort is useful for menstrual
cramps and is also said to induce a mild trance state suitable for meditation
and divination. A charm for dreaming can be made by sewing some mugwort into a
small linen pillow and then sleeping on it. Mugwort got its name from its use in
brewing; before the discovery of hops, it was used to flavor beer and ale. It is
one of the nine holy herbs mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Nygon Wyrta Galder
(“Nine Herbs Charm”).

Two other herbs from that charm—nettle and chamomile—may also be associated
with Frigg because of their healing and tonic properties. Nettle stalks were
used to make a cloth similar to linen before the introduction of flax. The Latin
name for chamomile,
Matricaria,
means “Beloved Mother,” and it was also
sometimes called “Balder's Brow.” The herb was considered useful for menstrual
problems and children's ailments, particularly nightmares. Motherwort is another
herb strongly associated with female disorders and hence related to Frigg. In
addition, it is used for protection, to promote longevity, and as a cure for
melancholy and nervous complaints. Yarrow was also taken to treat melancholy and
was noted for its effectiveness in treating wounds. It was used in magic and
divination, particularly in matters of love, and was so magically powerful that
after the introduction of Christianity it was associated with the Christian
devil.
⁸
European mistletoe, which was best known as the plant that
killed Frigg's son, Balder, was sometimes used to treat complaints associated
with menopause.

Animals and Frigg

There is no animal specifically designated as Frigg's special
symbol, but a number of creatures might be associated with her. As the
archetypal housewife, she is connected to all domestic animals, especially farm
animals, and the products obtained from them. These include geese, ducks, and
chickens (eggs and bedding), sheep (wool, with its association to spinning), and
cows and goats (milk, cheese, and butter). Frigg can travel between the worlds
in the shape of a hawk, so this can be considered one of her animals. The German
Frau Gode rides in the Wild Hunt and is generally accompanied by black hunting
hounds, so horses and dogs might also be associated with Frigg. The hawk, the
horse, and the hound are traditionally thought of as noble creatures and would
be suitable symbols for Frigg in her role as queen.

Ritual

There are many types of rituals and many ways to do them, and
your choices generally depend on your personal preferences and those of the gods
and goddesses with whom you are working. Some basic elements that are present in
most rituals are the following: the marking and hallowing of a holy space, a
statement of some sort regarding the purpose of the ritual, calling on any
deities or other powers whose presence is desired, an exchange of energy,
parting with the powers, and closing the ritual space.

Hallowing
creates a place and time that are set apart from
the everyday world, a ritual space in which the worlds of gods and people
overlap.

The
statement
is designed to set forth the purpose and
intentions of the rite. It can be a few brief and simple sentences or a more
elaborate performance, incorporating music and poetry. It centers and clarifies
your thoughts, making sure that everyone participating in the ritual is in
agreement and knows what they are doing. It also alerts the gods and goddesses
to your presence and your desires.

Calling on
the deities and other powers whose presence you
desire can consist of anything from a very simple invocation to an elaborate
ritual drama. The purpose is to attract the attention of the gods and goddesses
and draw their might to the holy place, as well as to evoke an intellectual and
emotional response in the minds and hearts of the human participants. The calls
should reflect the purpose of the rite and the nature and preferences of the
gods and goddesses being invoked.

The
exchange of energies
between humans and deities is the
centerpiece of most rituals and can take many forms. In Germanic religion this
blessing (or
blót
) usually consists of charging a container of drink with
the might of the gods and goddesses, sharing it among the participants, and
making a gift of the remainder to the deities. During the charging, all the
emotional energy raised during the calls mingles with the might and presence of
the gods and is focused into the vessel of drink. The sharing usually includes
drinking and then sprinkling the liquid on the
hörg,
or altar, the holy
space, and the participants. The remainder is usually poured out on the ground
but can also be poured into water, cast into the air, or thrown into fire,
depending on the nature of the rite and of the deities invoked. This exchange of
gifts among gods and people is of the highest importance. It allows might to be
exchanged among the worlds and serves as a bond of friendship and loyalty
between gods and humans.

Parting with the powers
you have called and
closing the
holy place
can be combined. This concluding routine usually consists of a
reversal of whatever acts were used to create the ritual time and space. The
gods, goddesses, and other powers invited to the working are thanked and honored
one last time, and the holy place that was marked off and made special is
returned to its former state. This also has the effect of returning the
consciousness of the participants to the everyday world.

I have not gone into great detail about ritual workings, because
that is not the focus of this work, but I will include a very brief ritual to
Frigg to serve as an outline for anyone who has never created or done a ritual
before and would like to try working with some of the goddesses in this book.

R
ITUAL
((B
LÓT
)
TO
F
RIGG