CHAPTER 1

WHY A PRIMORDIAL GODDESS?

The purpose of this book is to present factual, intuitive, and spiritualevidence for the existence of a primordial Norse goddess. Before we begin,however, we must address the motivation behind this task. Why, indeed, is theneed for a primordial Norse goddess so important? For many years, the Nordicworldview has been seen as male-dominated by many academics, heathens and pagansalike, so why should we even bother to explore the ostensibly negligiblefeminine aspect?

The answer to both of these questions is fairly simple. First, the search forthe primordial Norse goddess is of utmost importance as She indubitably exists.She has been forced into the dim shadows of our thoughts by ill-used words thathave caused many misconceptions and misinterpretations. This situation has goneon far too long, and it is time to join others in re-examining the long-ignoredfacts. Second, the almost universal modern practice of ignoring the femininedivine causes an unnatural imbalance among the human race. It is detrimental tosociety, as it lessens the inner strength of the people as a whole. It ignoresthe inherent strength of the female and lowers its value to that of an inferiorcompanion to the male.

Today, Goddess study has again become an avenue for concentrating on manydifferent areas of ancient religions. Unfortunately, the Norse Tradition hasbeen almost completely ignored, until fairly recently. This is due to the dearthof consistent Nordic literature or to the misunderstanding caused by much of theliterature that does exist. Of course, this misinterpretation can only be blamedon the misperception many Americans have of the Norse people in general. Most ofus have been taught very little about these magnificent early people, except tohear that their one purpose in life was to "rape, pillage, and plunder." Becauseof this horrific image, many choose to actively avoid Nordic literature. Thisnegative attitude actually perpetuates the hold that the monotheistic view hasover us, as we are not accurately taught, nor do we have the desire to learn,about the wonderful and long history of the Norse. Fortunately, there are a fewremarkable scholars and authors determined to keep the interest in Norseliterature alive and well.

For many of us, our limited knowledge is focused on the 250-year reign of theVikings. While the Vikings were indeed fearsome warriors, their goals were notlimited to bringing death to other cultures. Unfortunately, this mistakenpicture does not include the fact that the Vikings were in need of land, astheir homelands were being invaded by waves of monotheistic people willing to doanything to force conversion on the natives. The Norse people were protectingtheir own—violently, if need be. They were searching for new homes and werewilling to do what was needed to preserve their families, friends, faith, andlifestyle. Needless to say, they failed in their ultimate goal. They did manage,however, to retain some of their beloved culture. Fortunately, a few legendshave lived on to touch our minds and hearts.

It has been assumed inaccurately by most that the only characteristic worthy ofexploration in the Norse worldview is the male pantheon normally associated withbatde and death. Because of this, a great deal of emphasis has been placed uponthe god Odhinn. He certainly plays a vital role in the Norse myths, but Odhinnmust not be viewed as all-encompassing. He has many divine peers, both femaleand male. Historically, we know Odhinn was not worshipped as frequently as otherNorse deities, most likely because, in the mundane sense, he has little to dowith fertility, birth, crops, and love, all of which are important areas ofeveryday life. Odhinn has various attributes, the most obvious being magic,death, and war. He is called the All-Father of the Norse deities. This titleleads many to unconsciously align his status with that of a monotheistic god.This is an incorrect correlation. We are by no means attempting to undermineOdhinn's importance and placement in the Norse cosmos. He certainly is the All-Father,but this title differs greatly from what we are accustomed to believing.To believe that he outweighs not only his male counterparts in importance butalso the Norse goddesses is completely false. It should be stated here that thistext is not designed to undermine the importance of the Norse gods. It isdesigned to offer a different and more accurate view of the Nordic goddesses andthe vital role they play within the Norse Tradition.

Figure 1. Land of the Norse Goddess. Artifacts have been discovered throughoutNorthern Europe proving the existence of peaceful native tribes dating back toat least 5900 B.C.E., if not earlier in many areas. Among these artifacts,countless findings are feminine in nature, often exhibiting both divine andunearthly qualities. Many scholars have studied these artifacts in great detailand believe them to point to the religion of these early people. There is nodoubt, as many of these scholars will agree, these early people worshipped aprimordial goddess encompassing all phases of life—birth, youth, maturity, oldage, death, and rebirth. In later years, this primordial goddess came to havenumerous aspects with numerous names, many of which are known to us today. Thisis a map of their land, Northern Europe, where the Norse goddesses were revered,honored, and worshipped.

Considering the vastly misinterpreted goals of the Vikings, and the dismalmisperception of Odhinn's character and attributes, it is easy to understand howthe concept of fatalism came to be associated with the Norse faith. Fatalism isone of the most frightening ideas for humanity....