The Saga of Vanadís, Völva and Valkyrja

difference in cultures living not so far apart, and who undoubtedly developed from the
same roots. It may have been living conditions, it may have been other things unknown to
us at this moment, but which may be revealed from their hiding places in the grass, as
time goes by.
Gimbutas points out that although this new warrior culture dominated the old
culture and the Goddess slowly changes form and role over time, the old faith was never
totally erased. With the mixing of the old with the invading cultures, there was created a
hybrid culture, with layers from the old shining through the new, although sometimes
very obscure. She maintains that some of the old European myths and even the not so old
folk beliefs reflect these layers, when looked into carefully and mirrored in the artifacts
found buried in earth.
When I first became acquainted with Gimbutas’ ideas of the culture and religion
of the Goddess in Old Europe, the Kurgan invasions and the hybrid culture resulting from
the battling and mixing of the old and invading peoples, I couldn’t help thinking of the
myths of the Æsir and Vanir. I couldn’t help noticing the resemblance between the Vanir
and the Old Europeans on the one hand, and the Æsir and Kurgans on the other. I am the
not the only one. Anyone getting a feeling for Gimbutas’ ideas, while knowing the
Islandic/Norse/Germanic myths, will have to link the two. It’s obvious, and in her book,
The Living Goddesses, edited by Miriam Robbins Dexter and published after Gimbutas’
death, she makes that link clear. As I have mentioned, Ralph Metzner was among the first
to publish this discovery in 1994. Marija Gimbutas, who died just before his book was
out, writes the foreword and says:
[Metzner] gives an excellent overview of Indo-European diffusion from central Europe into
northern Europe and the ensuing clash of cultures and ideologies. Many earlier studies described
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