Hearthside

I am of a few minds about Jotunn women in the Lore. To me the Jotunn represent a different tribe from the Aesir and Vanir, for better or for worse. They are often “othered” because their ways are different. (Then again, the Aesir and Vanir did not always get along either.) The Aesir have a tendency to marry or court Jotunn women, and fight with Jotunn men. So are the Jotunn really as monstrous as they are made out to be? It seems like if a Jotunn woman marries an Aesir then she becomes an Aesir.  Many have argued that the Jotunn are the raw forces of nature, that are to be respected and feared but not worshipped, but that also seems a bit reductive, like saying Thor is only the God of Thunder. Angrboða faces the same reductionist logic, with some people having suggested she is one and the same figure as Gullveig/Heiðr. They have even gone as far as to equate her with Gerðr’s mother, Aurboða, presumably just because their names are similar. My interest in Jotunn largely is surroundi...

I was rabbit-holing a bit lately on what deities are associated with Yule, and Winter, and the Dark Time. Holda, Ska ð i, Ullr, Odin, Frigg, Thor… perhaps Freyr? Sol? Baldr? … Hel?! We right away stumble across the same issue I addressed with Skaði, is Hel worshipful? Hel does not seem to be named among the Asynjur, although many modern heathens seem to place her among them anyways. This doesn’t necessarily mean she was not worshipped or at least appeased by the elder heathens.  In the Lore, Odin does not let Hel remain among the Æsir, but the gods are not afraid of her in the same way as her brothers. She is given Helheim as her own realm to rule over, so it seems the gods respected her even if they considered her “other.” They even try to negotiate with her for the return of Baldr, and she makes them a deal, even if it is not one they are able to collect on.  Some scholars think she is more of a personification of the grave, than a deity, much in the same way that Sol and Ma...