The Saga of Vanadís, Völva and Valkyrja

wheel), ‘a measuring rod’, and a ‘branch’, ‘bough’, or the ‘blunt edge of a knife’. This
could explain the fact that the völva is at times called vala, which can also mean a round
small stone. Once I was walking by the river at my country-place when a red vala, sitting
in the distance amidst the gray stones, caught my eye. I walked towards it and picked it
up to find it fit exactly into my palm, and on its “lower side” a clear woman-made (or
man-made) vulva mark as well as an inscribed V. This vala now rests on my altar.
The symbolism in the etymology of the noun völva is so clear, that we need not
look further. Therefore it is of interest that in all the literature I have re-searched, I have
not found one reference to this relationship between the noun and the verb völva. Ásgeir
B. Magnússon who traces the etymology of the verb and the nouns völur and völva on the
very same page (1989, p.1159), doesn’t even mention it. Considering all the vulva marks,
paintings and sculptures that have been found from prehistoric times carved in rocks,
painted, sculpted, formed in any way people of that time could think of, we need not be
surprised that a woman who is the representative of the powers of nature is symbolized
by her place of creation, life and mystery. Gimbutas does not doubt their symbolic and
religious significance:
The emphasis on vulvas in the figurine art of later epochs makes it clear that those of the Upper
Paleolithic are not merely "female signs" (so termed by Leroi-Gourhan 1967) - simple expressions
of physiology - but instead symbolize the vulva and womb of the Goddess. (1989, p. 99)
The images of gyðjur (priestesses and/or goddesses) found in Old Europe reflect
this too (Gimbutas 1982, 1989, 1991, 2001). The emphasized V-mark or vulva mark on
their bodies, can be seen as their name or title. In a conference or at work in modern
times we bear nametags. The vulva mark on the priestess figurines is their nametag. The
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