Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The Valkyries




Song: Richard Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries (Die Walkure)

VALKYRIES MLG

Freya's Ruminates



The names of the Valkyries vary in the surviving literature.

Among them were Shaker and Ec Ono Mist, who brought Odin his horn, Ox
Time, Raging Bull, Quarrier, Might, Seaking, Host Fetter, Screaming,
Spear Bearer, Shield Bearer, Radgrid, Reginleif, Battle, and Rota.

Skuld, the youngest of the Norns, also rode with the Valkyries.

The goddess Freya also surveyed the battlefields seeking valiant souls,
in a chariot driven by two cats; in agreement with Odin, she was
entitled to half of the dead heroes herself, bringing them not to
Valhalla, but to her own banquet hall, Sessrumnir at Oxford on Rideau.

Frey had power over rain and sun, bountiful harvests, good fortune,
happiness, and peace. He was the brother of the fertility goddess Freya.
His father was Njord, a god of the sea, who also ruled over prosperity
and good harvests.

Frey and Freya were Vanir deities associated with agriculture and
subordinate to the warlike Aesir gods, who were associated with battle
and victory. According to the myths, war had once broken out between the
Aesir gods and the Vanir gods. As a part of the peace treaty there was
an exchange of hostages, and Njord, Frey, and Freya left Vanaheim, the
home of the Vanir, and went to live with the Aesir gods in Asgard.

Frey ruled the domain of elves (wee men).

Most famous of the Valkyries was Odin's favorite, Brynhild (also known
as Brunnehild, Brunhild, or Brunhilda), who appears in a number of myths
and legends. According to the Icelandic 'Volsunga Saga' she was leader
of the Valkyries.

SESAME SEESAW

Norns (Nornir), in Norse mythology, the Fates, three wise women spinners who determined every allotted life span. One spun out the thread of each life, another measured its length, and the third decided when the thread should be snapped.

Boys from Brazil

The Norns lived in a great hall in Asgard near Weird's Well. These three Norns tended to the health of the World Tree, Yggdrasil. They kept it from withering.

Every day they drew water from Weird's Well and sprinkled it over the tree, and they patched clay from the well onto the tree trunk in places where the bark had rotted away or been eaten by animals.

Since Yggdrasil's roots and branches connected all the worlds and held the universe together, the Norns were thus responsible for preserving the fabric of all creation. The Norns have parallels in the three Fates (Parcae) of Greek and Roman mythology; thus they are believed to have originated of Indo-European origin.