Goddesses of Beltane - Goddess Freyja - Norse Goddess of Love, Sensuality, Fertility & War

Freya is an extraordinarily multi-faceted and, frankly, pretty kick-ass Goddess - on the one hand, a passionate, gorgeous Goddess of love, beauty, sex, sensuality, fertility and blessings (linking her nicely with Beltane themes) and, on the other, presiding over prophecy, fate, magic, battles and death. Oh and with a side gig in accessorising 💎. Think Aphrodite meets The Morrigan with a rising sign in Oshun and you’ll be getting somewhere in the proximity of this hugely varied Goddess.

Freyja or Freya, from the Old Norse meaning “Well-Beloved” or “Lady”, is probably the most renowned of the Norse goddesses, perhaps as Aphrodite is to the Greek pantheon. Her father was Njord, the sea-god and her mother isn’t particularly mentioned except to say that after Njord split with Skadi (Norse Goddess of Truth, Authenticity and Independence) he fathered Freya and her brother Freyr, a fertility god. Freyja’s paternal beginning shares similarities with our other motherless Beltane love Goddess, Aphrodite, born of the sea from the foam of her castrated father Uranus’ genitals.  

Freyja often gets conflated with Norse Goddess Frigg (one of my Imbolc Goddesses) and, whilst it’s possible they were the same Goddess at one point, they then split into two distinct personalities, with separate lineages and quite different (though perhaps sometimes overlapping) realms of power.

Where Frigg is the Goddess of sovereignty, the home, hearth, marriage, domesticity and a guardian Mother Goddess, Freya is a far more independent Goddess. Whilst she’s a love Goddess and is married to Odr (the Norse god of Summer who is often away on long journeys which cause her to cry tears of red gold) she’s not a marriage Goddess and takes many lovers as she wills (reminiscent of Aphrodite and Hephaestus). Similarly, whilst she is a fertility Goddess and she does have a couple of offspring, she is not a Mother Goddess (ditto Aphrodite).

As a Goddess associated with travel, she channels the powerful forces of nature - originally a Moon Goddess, she drives a chariot across the sky pulled by cats, resplendent in a magical shape-shifting cloak made of falcon feathers. She was also said to ride a boar with golden bristles (ouch) and often fought alongside Odin.

As the commander of the Valkyries, originally her priestesses, she got her pick of any slain warriors. The Valkyries were the excellent flying battle Goddesses who descended from the heavens to the battlefield to select which souls would go with Odin to engage in battle training in preparation for Ragnarok (the end of days) and who would head for Folkvangr - the beautiful, sacred “meadow of the people” where Freya’s choice of slain warriors would go. 

She is also the master of a powerful form of Norse magic and Shamanism called seiðr - a form of prophecy, or the telling and shaping of the future, which is so powerful it can change the course of fate and destiny - which she herself brought to Odin and humans.

See? Bad-ass.

“Whilst later depictions of Freyja in [mostly] Christian poetry and art cast her as a rather dreamy, floaty, sensual Goddess of fertility, she was right up there with the big guns - worshipped in her own right as a mighty and powerful goddess who did things in her own inimitable way. Many of the Norse gods fell in love with Freyja, giants kept getting up to mischief to grab her attention, mortals worshipped her to encourage crop fertility and she had the best accessories [more on this in her myth]. The stories that surround her show a powerful, independent Goddess truly in touch with her sexuality and love for the finer things in life.“

- ‘You Goddess!’ Foley & Coates (1) 

Whilst she shares many commonalities with love Goddesses of other pantheons such as Aphrodite and Oshun, she is unique for her warlike nature and skill. With that warrior aspect, there’s a fierceness and a radical sense of strong, cat-like independence (cats are one of her sacred animals and her cat-driven chariot is perhaps symbolic of her desire to go her own way) that’s somehow more actively plucky than many of the other love Goddesses.

Her associations include (2):

Tarot: the Empress card (another overlap with Aphrodite, whose symbol - or at least, her Roman counterpart Venus’ symbol - is imprinted on the traditional Rider Waite Empress card). 

Gems: star sapphire, pearl, emerald, turquoise, amber and gold

Plants: cypress, opium, clover, poppy and the rose and myrtle like Aphrodite

Scents: myrrh, civet, benzoin, rose, red sandal, sandalwood, myrtle - all “soft, voluptuous odours”

Animals: woman, lynx, hawk and - as with Aphrodite - the sparrow, dove and swan

Magical weapons: Yoni (love this 🙌 Ladies next time you feel any shame around this area think of it as a magical weapon.) Also outer Robe of Concealment, Lamp and Girdle (another overlap with Aphrodite and her magical girdle). 

Some say Friday was named after her and mean’s Freya’s day - a day of love and freedom but others say it’s named after Frigg. Either way, it’s a Goddess day 💁

HER MYTH

There are many stories about Freyja but one famous one involves her pursuit of the amber necklace, Brisingamen:

One day Freyja sees four dwarves crafting a gold and amber necklace known as Brisingamen, and it is a thing of such blazing beauty and perfection, that as soon as she claps eyes on it she is determined to have it.

She asks the dwarves how much it’s worth - she’d pay whatever they want. Taking their chance, they answer that they each want one night with her - who wouldn’t want a night with the Goddess of love, beauty & sex? Freyja, being a Goddess who knows very well her heart’s own desire and entirely unbound by sexual constraint, agreed. 

Trickster god Loki, witnessing this, reveals her infidelity to Odin. Odin sees an opportunity to wield a bit of authority over Freyja and orders Loki to steal Brisingamen, which he does by disguising himself as a fly to get into her bedroom. Odin eventually agrees to return the precious necklace to Freyja, on the condition that she would cast a spell to set two kings in perpetual war against each other (rather like the Olympians, the Norse gods and goddesses seemed to have a lot of fun toying with the fates of their mortal subjects). Freyja duly set about her task - she really wanted that necklace.

Her connection with amber was so strong that her tears were said to become amber when they fell into the sea and, thereafter, the stone amber was commonly referred to as ‘Freyja’s tears’. 

HOW TO WORK WITH HER

Relationship with Self

Despite being a Goddess of fertility and sex, Freyja’s power really is in cultivating a strong, healthy and committed relationship with the self first as the core foundation from which all other relationships will stem. 

Where she really excels - and will use her warrior strength to fight for -  is a fierce and radical self-love, cultivating the beloved within so that no matter what is going on on the outside, with relationships that may come in and out of our lives, we can always still find that beloved within.

This invitation to cultivate the beloved within is well summed up in the Sacred Union card in the Rose Oracle deck by Rebecca Campbell:

THE SACRED UNION

Relationships are how we grow; they cradle and stretch us. Through connection and division, love and hurt, compassion and separation, they invite us to return again and again to the most important relationship we’ll ever have - the one with ourself, the sacred union that’s been waiting within. 

Every relationship can be seen as an invitation to deepen connection with the beloved within, even our most challenging relationships - especially the most challenging ones. 

The sacred union isn’t just between you and another - it’s returning to yourself. And when we return to ourselves, we also return to humanity as a whole. 

Maybe you’re being invited to grow through relationships. Perhaps you feel like you’re being tested or stretched, or find yourself longing for something external. This is an invitation to deepen the connection within, to embrace yourself fully and treat yourself like the most precious person on the planet. The more embraced you feel, the easier it is to embrace others [and for them to embrace you too]. 

Soul Inquiry - How can you embrace yourself more?’ 

Independence, Setting Boundaries & Self-Worth  

To take this work even deeper, Freyja is a particularly good Goddess to work with if we struggle with codependency patterns or have a tendency to become either enmeshed, overly dependent or lose ourselves in relationships. Whilst this can certainly affect any sex, it’s particularly common in women (and a predictable result of 3,000+ years of patriarchal conditioning only allowing women’s predominant role to be subservient to men - for the majority).

As the Freya card in the Wild Woman Oracle says:   

Freyja, Lady of Love & War:

Message: As women, too often we sacrifice our true needs and desires, and lose ourselves in our romantic partners. While it is only natural to want to love and be loved by another, Freyja reminds you that you have a responsibility to love yourself first, as how you treat yourself truly does set the standard for how others - especially romantic partners - will treat you. 

Symbolism: Freyja embodies the essence of self-love by maintaining perfect harmony between the Lover and Warrior archetypes. Although love and war may not seem intrinsically tied at first glance, they are two of the most uncontrollable passions known to humankind. As the goddess of love, Freyja knows that she is worthy of being loved and desired, and she seeks to unite with the other and to truly know and be known. As the goddess of war, Freyja is focused and self-aware, and doesn’t allow others to divert her attention away from what is truly meaningful to her. Although she accepts she is a relational being, she will readily use her sword to cut away co-dependent, unhealthy bonds and her shield to set uncompromising boundaries - because, at the end of the day, the Warrior in Freyja loves herself enough to protect, honour and fight for herself first. 

Celebrate your Sensuality

Along with her feisty, warrior side, Freyja is also a Goddess of sex, sexuality, sensuality and beauty. She isn’t bound up by any religious or moral conduct around sexual expression - she is willing to go after what she wants, taking many lovers and delighting in pursuing her own pleasure. She celebrates her sensuality and beauty, sees her body as a temple and believes herself worthy of following her bliss and sat👏is👏faction👏, wherever that may be (tribes of dwarf jewellers included…😉)

In the Rose Oracle deck, the ‘Rapture’ card talks about: 

“Many patriarchal religions have placed a shameful cloak around sensuality, sex, pleasure, ecstasy, rapture and sexuality. One of the most natural, pleasurable parts of life has become conditional and judged. [We need] to heal from this and to remember that pleasure, sensuality, sexual preference and expression of desire can be some of the most sacred, miraculous things about being human. 

- The Rose Oracle, Rebecca Campbell

As Claudia Olivos says in her beautiful Sacred Mothers and Goddesses oracle deck on Freyja:

“Your sensuality is your divine and sacred right. Your feminine sensuality is a divine gift to be nurtured and cared for. Restore this gift by being gentle with yourself and nurturing everything you perceive within you as feminine. Explore your sensuality and celebrate your beauty. Trust your sacred feminine wisdom and your self-awareness in making the right choices for your body and in your partnerships - delight in your partner’s desire for you.…

Acknowledge what brings you satisfaction and follow your heart’s desire. Live every moment to the fullest and find joy in everything that surrounds you and engages your senses. 

Perhaps it is time to reintegrate and restore your feminine essence. Remember, your body is a sacred vessel, a divine creation, and perfect as it is. Embody your divinity, and see the Goddess reflected in you. Your body is your temple: love it, care for it and rejoice in it!”

RITUALS TO CONNECT WITH FREYA

• What’s something - a hobby, an interest, a place you’ve wanted to travel,  you’ve put off doing/going because either a current or past partner (or family/friends) don’t share (or, worse, belittled) your interest and perhaps subconsciously that put you off? How can you honour yourself and your own relationship with yourself by choosing to partake in something just for you? Especially if it’s something sensual! We’re often conditioned to think we have to have a partner to experience sensual pleasure or ecstatic joy but Freyja asks you to follow your bliss and find a way to experience more sensuality in your life even without a partner. Maybe it’s finally trying that belly-dancing or burlesque dance class, taking a pottery class or a nude drawing class (either as a participant or the subject - whatever floats your boat!) - anything that engages the senses and feels good to you! As in the Wild Woman oracle card guidance above, Freyja doesn’t allow others to divert her attention away from what is truly meaningful to her.  You’re worth it!

• Celebrate your beauty and radiance and adorn yourself as the Goddess you are with amber, the golden tree-resin gemstone, or gold or any of the other crystals or oils associated with Freya mentioned in the intro. In ‘Stones of the Goddess’, Nicholas Pearson explains that ‘amber’s association with goddesses of love such as Freyja point to its gift of magnifying natural beauty. Wearing amber boosts your self-esteem and self-confidence, which naturally makes one more attractive. It is an ancient talisman for ensuring fertility, and it can attract a new romantic or sexual partner.’ (3)

REFERENCES / BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1) You Goddess: Life Lessons from Awesome Immortals by E.Foley & B.Coates

2) The Witches’ Goddess: Janet & Stewart Farrar

3) Stones of the Goddess: Crystals for the Divine Feminine by Nicholas Pearson

• The Rose Oracle by Rebecca Campbell

• The Wild Woman Oracle by Cheyenne Zarate

• Sacred Mothers & Goddesses Oracle by Claudia Olivos