Lady Vanadis

Freya

Blot Gythia

The Lady of ritual who made sacrifices to the gods

Continuing long after the Conversion

It is because of Your dedicated followers and their prayers

We know Your name and the names of the gods

It is because of the love of You and Your work that we have

The Shards of Faith we build upon today.

Weeper of Gold

Lady of tears who knows the depth of love lost and recovered

You teach us that there is wisdom in pain

Lessons in grief

We learn to open our hearts and love without borders

Compassion and Care are strengths

And those who practice Soul Love are to be revered

Seidrkona- Witch

Your power transcends barriers and worlds

You reach into the depths of wisdom

Read the mystery of wyrd

And understand what can be changed and how

You teach us to not passively accept “fate”

But to strive to stand strong and claim what we are due

To embrace the power of our Disir

And take back what was stolen

Sovereign of the Land

You keep the balance between nature and civilization

Give voice to the land and its spirits

It is through your love that Kings are consecrated

And through your disfavor they lose their crowns

Valfreyja Lady of the Slain

You gather warriors for you hall

Choosing according to your own purpose

We know not what moves the gods

But when the time comes and the horn is blown

Your warriors will not hesitate to follow your orders

And fight honorably

Lady of the Disir- She who bears the Cup

You are the source of women's mysteries, magick and power

The well from which our women ancestors draw their strength

May your nourishing waters ever flow

Hail Freya

Disir Ritual

This is a time of year to honor our foremothers,

Our sisters, aunts, grandmothers, near and ancient women

Whose lives have led to our own

Many hands and hearts support our breath and bodies

Their blood and labor still a part of us

Women whose wisdom we have been directly influenced by

Our spiritual ancestors, and wise women whose words and compassion

Helped us through trying times, helped us find our strength

And see our way along our path

Women who we literally owe our existence to

From giving us life through their bodies

From the labor of their hands and minds to keep us and our kin alive

Through harsh winters, wars, famines, and assaults

Their strength and resilience made possible our very breath

Mother Warriors

Some of us are lucky enough to have had living connections

So that songs, and prayers, and ritual have been passed from one to the next

In an unbroken line of maternal wisdom and hearth traditions

Others of us seek the voices of spirits to heal the gap

Bridge the loss of that tradition from the violence of conversion

On this night we seek the voices of our ancestor women

For comfort, love, guidance, protection, wisdom,

The well of our spiritual strength

Hail the Disir

Sovereign of the Land

I was re-reading the article I had written about Freya and Love. I have been reading lately on the Sovereign goddess of the Land and how she functioned in the ancient world.  This is stuff I have known for years but I needed to relearn it. I guess I've forgotten some of the things I used to know.

I spent my teens and early 20s in a spiritual path. Then sometime in my mid 20s I lost that path. I've been so consumed with job, family, daily life mundanity that I didn't spend time on the spiritual.
It took me fifteen years to get back on track.

Freya, as a Vanir goddess, agricultural society, would have been the Sovereign of the Land.  Her "love" was what consecrated kingships.   Calling her a slut is definitely a Christian invention and judgement.  It adds to the idea that the Lokasenna was made up or heavily manipulated by the later Christian writers.

And kings were sometimes worshipped as gods in death.  Ing for example was so loved and his kingdom so prosperous and fertile during his lifetime that he must have been especially "loved" by the land goddess.  When he died and was deified in death it could be implied that Her "love" aided his ascension.

Just thoughts rattling around right now.