Are Freya and Frigga the same Goddess?
Extract from the essay by Katie Gerrard by this name which was published in the anthology Vs. (various contributors) edited by Kim Huggens (Avalonia, 2011). For the full article see the book Vs.- http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/221/?page_id=438
The contemporary heathen pantheon[1] lists Freyja and Frigga as separate goddesses, with separate characteristics and different roles within mythology and within heathen practise. Whilst it is very clear within the heathen viewpoint that Freyja and Frigga are to be considered as distinct entities, many texts and dictionaries[2] will combine the two goddesses within listings and continue to consider them together. Where does this discrepancy come from? Has one group really got it so very wrong?
Our information on the two goddesses comes from various places. Much of the information we have on Norse beliefs and culture comes from the collection of ancient Scandinavian heroic tales often referred to as ‘the sagas’. The most widely read primary source on Norse mythology is Snorri Sturluson’s Edda (also known as the Prose or Younger Edda.)[3] Snorri Sturluson was a Christian, writing about 1200 CE so it is unclear how much he may have been influenced by Christian ideas and mythology. Scholars of the Norse goddesses also use a collection of stories called the Poetic Edda (found within the Codex Regis manuscript) which was written around the same time as Snorri’s Edda but looks to have been compiled from older traditional sources. This is often referred to as the Elder Edda.
Information on Frigga and Freyja is also found in many different secondary sources. Within the romanticism found in turn of the century art and music, for instance, a number of works of art were created on the theme of the Norse myths; Arthur Rackham in particular painted many images of Frigga and Freyja. Information can also be found in modern academic and folkloric studies, where an invaluable scholarly approach is taken in dissecting the information found within the primary evidence in order to build up a picture of the goddesses. Modern pagan and heathen authors have also combined the Eddas and Sagas with their own personal experiences and the goddesses in order to put the two goddesses within a context where they can be used within a practical modern religious framework.
On first impressions, the personal experiences of a contemporary heathen may not seem as concrete and solid as the evidence put together by an academic, especially if they are not backed up by any research. However, personal experiences are being increasingly trusted by those undertaking personal work and seeking personal understanding of different deities. These experiences come from meditations, from trance work, from channelling (invoking the deity into a person), and from attempts to get in touch with and directly experience the energy of that particular deity. These personal experiences have a name within contemporary paganism, UPG (Unsubstantiated Personal Gnosis)[4] and are often referred to within magazine and web-based articles. Where it is clear that information on a deity comes from UPG, many contemporary pagans are happy to use this information when piecing together their own practises.
Where our information comes from originally helps us to understand why the viewpoints on whether Freyja and Frigga are the same goddess are so different. It has been suggested that at some point Frigga and Freyja might have been the same goddess,[5] but that they were separate by the end of the Viking era. It has also been suggested that the Germanic tribes held the two to be one and the same deity, but that the Scandinavian tribes considered the two to be separate.[6]
[1] See Diana L Paxson, Essential Asatru, 2006.[2] Sorita D’Este and David Rankine, Isles of the Many Gods, 2007.
[3] Edda, Snorri Sturluson.
[4] Lafayllve, Patricia M. Freyja, Lady, Vanadis, 2006.
[5] Diana L Paxson, Essential Asatru, 2006.
[6] Lynda C Welch, Goddess of the North, 2001.
This is only a short extract from the article, for the full article see the book Vs.-- http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/221/?page_id=438
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