Nerthus, Jörð, Nordic Prehistory, and Female Empowerment

It is not uncommon for me to pull from other sources for my Heathenry, looking at Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Baltic, or Slavic traditions to see if I can fill in some of the missing gaps in the Nordic sources. My interest lately has been going into pre-history, looking at the Proto-Indo-European root myths. In this case, I want to try to flesh out the Nordic “goddess.” There is so little preserved about goddesses, because I believe the Christians tried to intentionally erase them to take power away from Nordic women. Now I cannot reconstruct every goddess this way but I feel it is a solid way to construct the mother goddess, the earth goddess. In the Hellenic tradition she is the one known as Gaia. In Nordic traditions I would see her as Nerthus, and also as Jörð. Over time they became separate deities, but I think their roots both lie in the Proto-Indo-European goddess, Dʰéǵʰōm (earth) or Pleth₂wih (broad one).

There is a huge problem in the Lore with goddesses being labelled as Jötunn, in an attempt to demonize them and make them unworshipful. We see this with Skaði, Gerðr, and Rinðr. And yet we know at least Skaði, and Gerðr were worshipped. How is it that the Jötunn men are not worshipful, but the Jötunn women become goddesses? These are the women of other tribes marrying into the Æsir tribe, but the Jötunn are just that, another tribe. They are not the bad guys that the Lore seems to portray them as, but rather they are just “other.” The idea that you can bring a woman in and make her tribe but not a man, is fatally flawed, and even more so in modernity, but let us leave that rabbit-hole for now.

Then what of Jörð? A sky god has sex with an earth goddess. This story predates even the Nordic concept of othering. Why are we calling Jörð a Jötunn, when Skaði, and Gerðr are elevated to the status of Æsir? Of course, most of us still see Jörð as worshipful, so what is going on here? First of all, there is the layer of demonization within the Christian retellings, but then also there is the matter of Frigg. Is it simply that Jörð is a lover of Odin and not his wife (at least as far as we know?) We are holding onto the idea that monogamy is virtuous, and yet, it is Jörð who is penalized, as the woman, and it is just okay that Odin is the one who actually has many lovers. Where do our ideas about relationships come from? Throughout history polyamory has existed, sometimes loudly, and sometimes quietly. Sometimes accepted in the society of the time and other times seen as dangerous and sinful. 

As a feminist I see that our disdain for relationships outside the bounds of monogamous marriage are a dangerous result of the patriarchy, because it is almost always the women who are hurt the most by intolerance of them. The men walk away largely unscathed, to do as they please. I am not saying men don’t suffer too, but the way you hurt a woman under the patriarchy is to make her look impure, and the way you hurt a man is to make them look like a woman. Because at the root of patriarchal thinking, women are worth less. This is why a man can sleep with many women and be patted on the back as if it were a conquest, but if you want to ruin a man’s reputation you say he is gay. It is ergi that is the biggest shame for men, if we continue on this unviable path on which difference is punished and natural urges are shameful. This isn’t Heathen thinking. It is certainly not modern Heathen thinking. We need to leave all of this behind and embrace diversity.

Jörð is the earth mother, a goddess more ancient than the most ancient Heathen beliefs. She existed in the minds of Proto-Indo-Europeans for thousands of years. She changed and evolved slightly in concept and name until she came to be known as Jörð or Nerthus, but the powerful being who existed before those names found an equal only in the sky god, who eventually came to be known as Odin.

Jörð is the embodiment of womanhood itself, the clay womb that birthed life on Midgard. The sensual, and curvy fully-formed sort of woman who survived the hardships of the Bronze Age, even the Stone Age. The power of creation that comes from the womb. We aren’t stripping away the power of Jörð, she knows who she is. We are stripping away the power of womanhood. We are giving our power away, letting the patriarchy dictate how the world views us. All of this over a carefully rewritten story casting the female protagonist as a promiscuous and dangerous mistress. But no… we mustn’t let women be comfortable in their own skins. We need to fear our own bodies and shy away from sexual pleasure. We better be meek and subservient, because if we ever learned the truth and were able to come into our own power… well, the patriarchy would crumble between our thighs. 

Do you think our neolithic ancestors were afraid of curves, of hair, of pleasure?

Now, I am not saying everyone wants a polyamorous relationship, but it is well within the realm of normal. It always has been. The existence of Frigg does not negate the power of Jörð. And the existence of Jörð does not negate the power of Frigg. This is common in the ancient world, we see it in other mythologies of other traditions (I am looking at you, Greece!) 

It is interesting how easily though we can fit Frigg into the patriarchal Christian narrative. Perfect housewife, keeper of the home. At least on the surface. She raises children, weaves, holds the keys to the home. Nothing like the wild and primordial energy of Jörð.

But we are vastly undermining Frigg’s power too. She can hold her own with Odin. She can best him in wagers. She can outwit the god of wisdom. She isn’t just some stay at home faithful woman who allows Odin to leave on conquests of other women and is not the wiser to his exploits. She knows him sometimes better than he knows himself. He has no secrets from her.

A healthy relationship doesn’t need to always be one man and one woman. A healthy relationship is where all parties are open and honest with each other within a set of agreed upon parameters. And for those of you who still think that polyamory is something new fad, unbury your heads from the sand for a moment so you can listen well. This has been going on right in front of you this whole time. The only difference is slowly the broader community is becoming a safer space for people to speak their truths, whatever they may be. These are your neighbours, your family, your friends. If you haven’t seen any healthy polyamorous relationships in your circles then it is because you are the problem. You don’t cultivate safe space for your loved ones. Better step back and take a good hard look. This isn't new. This isn’t uncommon. The overculture makes it very uncomfortable for people to express themselves publicly. If you aren’t creating that safe space for discussion even behind closed doors you are in a pit of ignorance, better start building the stairs. It is going to take you a bit. 

While you procure a shovel if you need one, let’s get back to Jörð, back to Earth at least. What is the story about clay in the Bible? Oh right… the Christian god created Adam from clay, not Eve you note. Eve is made from… Adam’s rib? Because we just want to completely negate women’s power to create… we are created out of a piece of a man in some completely backwards turn of events that turns science on its head. Where is Dʰéǵʰōm, the clay is her womb. She birthed Adam, she birthed humanity, and all the plants and animals as well. That isn’t in any story that I know of, but we all know it deep down don’t we. Eve wasn’t a rib, she was the daughter of Dʰéǵʰōm, and a creator herself. Eve and Adam were equal partners. Or was it Ash and Embla, who the sky father breathed life into? Funny how these stories all run together sometimes… earth and sky joined together and life came into being in Midgard.

When I think of Jörð I think of the hills and the valleys, the curves of the earth itself. When I think of Nerthus I think of the underground caves, and burrows, the wombs of the earth. There is no doubt inside of me that they are female, and that woman, who has such a great power of creation and transformation, is tied to the Earth herself. We have known this since pre-history, so how is it in the past few centuries that we have let ourselves forget?

And before you say, but wait, this is starting to sound like monotheism. It isn’t. The sky father and the earth mother. And even that is too simple. There isn’t just one goddess and one god, this is just one story that explains one part of life in the 9 worlds. Frigg is not Jörð. Their function in the Lore is not the same and they are not the same being. I am talking of a specific goddess in a specific story but that story doesn’t explain everything that ever was. Are we stuck in monotheistic thinking still? Or the dualism of god and goddess? These are archetypes, but archetypes are just the silhouettes of deities oversimplified. 

We have living, breathing and evolving deities. Dʰéǵʰōm, the earth mother who mates with sky father, Dyḗus ph₂tḗr slowly shifts into Nerthus and [Tyr?] and then later Jörð and Odin, only for Jörð to be dismissed and replaced with a resplendent Frigg who is not representative of the same energies at all. 

So what does this mean for us as Modern Heathens? We are reconstructing a worldview from historical sources but unless we have specifically chosen to reconstruct a particular timeframe we are left with ample room for interpretation. Do we worship Jörð or Nerthus or Dʰéǵʰōm, or some combination of the three? Do we see them as separate deities or do we use these names interchangeably? I think what matters most is that we recover the power of the Earth goddess, and empower our Heathen women. 

Personally, I don’t feel a real connection to Dʰéǵʰōm… that ancient history is to far faded even from ancestral memory to be much use to me. I see both Nerthus and Jörð as worshipful, and while they can be interchangeable I tend to see them as somewhat separate beings with very similar associations. Nerthus feels to me to be the older version of the two and her wisdom is as deep as the layers of stratigraphy that separate them. Jörð is motherly and warm and full of the liveliness of the green earth, and perhaps more approachable as less layers of history separate us. But then, is the value of the exchange worth the effort of the work to go back further? I think in this case, it is.The Earth mother was vital to our survival throughout history, and we are deluding ourselves if we think we can separate ourselves from her now and survive it.

Further Reading:

Odin’s Wife: Mother Earth in Germanic Mythology by William P. Reaves

Goddess of the North by Lynda C. Welch

Roles of the Northern Goddess by Dr Hilda Ellis Davidson

The Faces of the Goddess by Lotte Motz

“Mother Earth” https://www.studentwritingcenter.us/european-poetry/mother-earth.html   

Image Source:

“Norse Earth Mother Goddess” drawn by AI at https://www.craiyon.com/