TEUTONIC MAGIC - Awaken Video

called Hildisvini (Battle-swine). Freyja is particularly called upon today by women who wish to regain
the strength which Christian culture has denied them for so long. In the mighty figure of this goddess you
may find proof that the Teutonic path is neither patriarchal nor oppressive to women, but rather that it
brings out the female power both as the source of life and as the woman's warrior- might.
Animals sacred to Freyja are the sow, the cat, the falcon, the swallow, and the cuckoo.
In magic Freyja is often called upon in matters having to do with love, prosperity, and women's
mysteries, especially seidhrmagic. Different aspects of her power are discussed further under the runes
fehu, kenaz, and berkano.
SKADHI
Although Skadhi is not herself one of the Vanir, she is classed among them because of her marriage to
Njord. She is the daughter of the jotun Thjazi. It has been considered that like Ullr, she was one of the
original gods of Scandinavia, possibly Finnish in origin, and Branston even claims that she was the
eponymous founder of Scandinavia: Skadinauja. Her name may mean "Shadow" or "Scathe"; she is the
goddess of snowshoes and a great huntress with the bow. She rules the high mountain regions and the
farthest pathways.
Skadhi came armed to the Aesir seeking weregild for her father Thjazi, whom they had slain. She set two
conditions: The first was that the gods should make her laugh, the second that she might choose one of
them as her husband. To fulfill the first condition, Loki tied one end of a rope to his testicles and the other
to a goat and the grotesque antics performed by the two of them until the rope broke and Loki tumbled
into her lap finally made her laugh. Here one may see the formula of ingwaz again: the mock castration
and the surrender of the fiery masculine to fertilize the frozen feminine. The husband Skadhi wished was
Baldr-a solar figure-but she had to choose her husband by his feet alone, and it so happened that the
handsomest pair of feet belonged to Njord. This is, obviously, part of the ancient fertility ritual
symbolized by the bare footprint. They married and lived comfortably for a while, but since Skadhi could
not bear to live by the sea and Njord could not bear the howling of the wolves and wind in her mountain
home Thrymheim1 the two ifnally separated.
In the tale of Njord and Skadhi one can see the relationship between isa and laguz, ice and water.
The two are closely connected (the rivers of Hvergelmir flow out of Nifiheim, the realm of primal ice) but
not compatible: the nature of the yeasty waters is to seethe and bring forth life; though ice holds all that
water is within it its nature is to still and May. They are wedded, but must remain separate. It is fiery Loki
who must make Skadhi able to accept Njord, and indeed he claims later to have slept with her;16 her
desire is to the bright Baldr. It is also claimed that she had sons with Odhinn,17 and it is fitting that the
goddess of winter should mate with the god who is known by the wild winter winds.
When Loki is bound by the guts of his son(as suggested by Skadhi), it is she who hangs a snake to
drip venom onto his face as a torment, perhaps in revenge for the role he claimed in the death of her
father. She is not only huntress but a just, if harsh, avenger. Perhaps surprisingly, she was worshipped in a
number of places in eastern Sweden;~8-she speaks of her "ve's (holy enclosures) and fields" 19
Skadhi may be called upon, together with Ullr, to hallow a hunt, and extreme cases, to wreak a
righteous, if cruel, revenge. Ingvar Solve lngvisson suggests that on occasions when a criminal is being
justly executed, a blessing be offered to Skadhi (or else Vali) in order to hallow the awe-full act of lifetaking.20
Despite her dark and woe-working character, she is fair and a trustworthy ally.
Besides the Aesir and the Vanir, there were a few other gods who were recognized by the Teutonic
peoples, and who might be prayed and sacrificed to even though they were not generally the objects of
cultic worship.
AEGIR; RAN
Aegir (the Terrifying), also called Hler (the Shelterer) and Gymir (the Concealing), is a god of the sea. He
is probably older than Njord and is described several times as a giant. As Le~ he is one of the three sons
of the giant Fornjot, the other two being Kari (wind) and Loge (fire), who embody the Gdhinn/Hoenir/
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