Norse Goddess Magic (25 page)

An altar for Vor might be covered in dark materials, or even
consist of a bare stone; outdoor workings are also desirable. Various natural
objects, such as rocks, leaves, flowers, or feathers, would be appropriate
symbols, as well as any tools for scrying or divination—crystals, a dish of
water, a set of runes, and the like. Vor is not one to be consulted for a
specific problem, like some of the other goddesses, but rather for general
wisdom and enlightenment. However, you might want to call her before performing
a specific divination or shamanic ceremony.

Similarly, any type of scrying, meditation, tranceworking, or dream-working
can be performed after calling on Vor, both as an act designed to please her and
to give her the opportunity to impart any wisdom she cares to offer you at the
time. You should carefully record any dreams you have after doing a working to
Vor and try to discern any special message she is giving you. Vor could also be
summoned by women who want to awaken their femininity and recapture some of the
holiness and power that was once specifically theirs in the past.

Ultimately the worship of Vor, becoming “aware,” is an ongoing process, not
just an isolated ritual but a way of life. She is a goddess whose might and aid
work over the long term, granting the kind of wisdom and power that can only
come from age and experience.

Call to Vor

Vor, wise one,
    Watcher in the woods,
    Ever waiting—
        You know all that is to be in all the
worlds.

Goddess of the wise and searching spirit—
    From you nothing is hidden.

Goddess of faith—
    in oneself,
    the inner spirit,
    the inner self,
    the inner ear,
    the inner voice.

Goddess of wisdom,
Teacher of women,
Walker in dreams—
Goddess of awareness,
Goddess of listening,
Goddess of the inner heart.

Vor—Wisewoman—Come!

Afterword

When I began making these journeys to the other worlds, I was
only looking for a little information to enable me to include lesser-known
deities in my rituals. What I found, however, was a rich and boundless source of
power and wisdom and a means to establish real and meaningful relationships with
my gods and goddesses. I also discovered that it is possible to build skills in
right-brain enterprises, like scrying and tranceworking, just as it is with
cognitive or physical activities.

I have shared my personal experiences with these goddesses mainly because
there isn't any other way to fully explain this kind of experiential knowledge.
I have tried to be clear about what information I derived from written sources,
which conclusions I arrived at by musing over that same information for possible
meanings, and which ideas came from my personal tranceworking and ritual
experiences. None of the details drawn from my trances is meant to be a
definitive description of the goddesses in question, and indeed many people get
varying pictures of these beings when they contact them in trance and dream.

When I first became involved in the Heathen community years ago, it seemed
that no one was using things such as tranceworking to gain information about the
other worlds (or at least, no one was admitting to it). Many gods and goddesses,
particularly the latter, were ignored because Heathens had no information about
them. People seemed locked into the sparse facts available from the few
“legitimate” sources left to us, sources that are themselves mostly post-Heathen
writings filled with contradictions and inaccuracies. I wanted to share some of
the alternative methods I'd been working with and encourage people to be more
open to nonliterary sources of information as well as scholarly ones.

Now, it seems, a number of people are eager to dabble in faring forth,
becoming so excited by their experiences that they get angry and defensive when
others don't immediately accept their findings. The problem today for many is
trying to learn how to evaluate and use information received in dreams and
trances, and how to reconcile contradictory versions of reality.

Despite the problems inherent in using experiential, subjective techniques, I
still believe it's better to try them than to remain starving for spiritual lore
and contact. If people can feel free to explore ideas fully, using all the
avenues available to them, and to share these ideas and impressions with each
other without feeling as if there must be a “right” answer, we can eventually
begin to regain our spiritual heritage and reforge the lost links of kinship
with our gods and goddesses and our kin.

The gods meet on the Ida-plain,
and speak of the world worm,
And there call to mind         the mighty doom,
and the High God's ancient runes.

Then will be found,
Left behind in the grass,
The wondrous tables of gold
Which the gods had owned in olden days.

V
ÖLUSPÁ, STS
. 61–62

APPENDIX A

Mother Holle

Translated from “Frau Holle,”
by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

A widow had two daughters, one of whom was beautiful and
industrious, the other ugly and lazy. But she much preferred the ugly and lazy
one, because she was her real daughter, and the other had to do all the work and
be the scullion in the house. The poor girl had to sit daily at a well by the
great road and spin so much that her fingers bled. Now one day the spindle was
so completely bloody that she bent down to the well in order to wash it; but it
slipped out of her hand and fell down in the well. She wept, ran to her
stepmother, and told her about the misfortune. But the mother scolded her
severely and was merciless enough to say, “If you have let the spindle fall down
the well, you can fetch it back up again.” Then the girl went back to the well
and didn't know what she should do, and in her great anxiety she jumped into the
well to fetch the spindle.

She became unconscious. When she came to, she was in a lovely meadow where
the sun shone and many thousands of flowers stood. Out of this meadow she went
forth and came to a baking oven that was full of bread; but the bread cried,
“Oh, pull me out, pull me out, or else I will burn. I'm already done enough!” So
she stepped up to it and with the bread peel (a shovel-like tool used by bakers
to slide baked goods into and out of an oven) lifted the loaves out, one after
the other. After that she went on farther and came to a tree. The tree hung full
of apples and called out to her, “Oh, shake me, shake me, my apples are ripe,
one and all!” So she shook the tree and the apples fell like rain, until no more
were overhead. When she had placed them all together in a heap, she again went
on farther.

Finally, she came to a small house, out of which peered an old woman, but
since the woman had such big teeth, the girl was frightened and wanted to run
away. But the old woman called after her, “What are you afraid of, my child?
Stay with me. If you do all the work in the house neatly, things will go well
for you. You must only take care that you make my bed well and shake it out
diligently, for then it snows in the world. I am the Mother Holle.” Because she
spoke so kindly, the girl took heart, consented to stay, and set to work at her
employment.

The girl took care of everything to the old woman's satisfaction and always
shook the feather bed powerfully so that the feathers flew around her like
snowflakes. For her work, the girl always had a good living, with stews and
roasts every day and never a harsh word.

Now she had been with Mother Holle for a year when she became sad. At first
she didn't know herself what was lacking, but finally she realized that she was
homesick. Even though she was a thousand times better off than she had been
before, she still had a longing for her home. Finally, the girl said to Mother
Holle, “I've gotten homesick, and though it goes ever so well with me here, I
can't stay any longer. I must go back up again to my own people.” Mother Holle
said, “It pleases me that you long to go home again, and because you have served
me faithfully, I will bring you back up myself.” Then she took the girl by the
hand and led her up to a great gate. The door was opened, and just as the girl
stood under it, an enormous shower of gold fell, and all the gold remained
hanging on her so that she was covered both over and under with it. “That you
shall have, because you have been so hardworking,” said Mother Holle, and she
also gave her back the spindle that had fallen in the well.

With that, the gate was closed and the girl found herself above in the world,
not far from her mother's house. And as she came into the courtyard, the cock
was sitting on the roof and called, “Kikeriki! Our golden girl is here again.”
Then she went inside, and because she arrived all covered with gold, she got a
good reception from her mother and sister.

The girl told of all that had befallen her, and when the mother heard how the
girl had come to such great wealth, she wanted the other, the ugly and lazy
daughter, to obtain the same good fortune. The ugly sister had to sit by the
well and spin. So that the spindle should become bloody, she pricked herself in
the finger and thrust her hand in the thorn hedge. Then she threw the spindle in
the well and jumped in herself.

She came, as the other girl had, to the lovely meadow and went forward on the
same road. When she reached the oven, the bread cried again, “Oh, pull me out,
pull me out, otherwise I'll burn. I'm already baked enough!” But the lazy one
answered, “I have no desire to make my hands dirty,” and went off down the road.
Soon she came to the apple tree, which cried, “Oh, shake me, shake me. My apples
are ripe, one and all!” But she answered, “That's all very well, but what if one
should happen to fall on my head?” and she went on farther.

When she came to Mother Holle's house, she wasn't frightened because she had
already heard about the big teeth, and she accepted employment at once with the
old woman. On the first day she set mightily to work, was very industrious, and
did whatever Mother Holle told her, because she was thinking of all the gold
that the old woman would give her. But on the second day the girl already
started to be idle; on the third day she was even lazier, so that she wouldn't
even get up in the morning. She also didn't make Mother Holle's bed as she was
supposed to and didn't shake it well so that the feathers flew all around.
Therefore, Mother Holle soon became tired of her and told her the employment was
over.

The lazy one was entirely pleased with this and supposed that now the shower
of gold would come. Mother Holle led the lazy girl to the gate, just as she had
done with her sister, but when the girl stood under it, instead of gold, a great
kettle full of pitch poured out. “That is to reward you for your service,” said
Mother Holle, and shut the gate.

Then the lazy one came home, but she was completely covered with pitch, and
the cock on the roof, when he saw her, called, “Rikeriki! Our dirty girl is home
again.” But the pitch remained stuck to her and would not come off as long as
she lived.

This story is typical of all we know of Frau Holde and Berchte.
The goddess rewards the clean and industrious girl but severely punishes the
lazy and rude one. Holde also approves of the girl's loyalty to her family,
showing her interest in preserving social relationships. Holde's connection to
the weather is reflected in the fact that making her bed causes snow to fall in
the world.

APPENDIX B

The Three Spinners

Translated from “Die Drei Spinnerinnen,” by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

There was a girl who was lazy and would not spin, and despite
what her mother might say, the older woman could not get her daughter to do it.
Finally, one day, the mother, overcome with anger and impatience, gave her a
blow, whereupon the girl began to weep loudly. Now just then the queen was being
conducted through the neighborhood, and when she heard the weeping she ordered
her party to stop, stepped into the house, and asked the mother why she hit her
daughter so hard that one could hear the crying out in the street.

Then the woman was ashamed to reveal her daughter's laziness and said, “I
cannot fetch her away from her spinning, she will always and perpetually spin,
and I am poor and cannot procure the flax.” Then answered the queen, “I like to
hear nothing better than spinning and am never more amused than when the wheel
purrs. Let your daughter accompany me to my castle. I have flax enough, and
there she shall spin as much as she likes.” On hearing this, the mother was very
content, and the queen took the girl away with her.

When they arrived at the castle, the queen led the girl up to three small
rooms full of flax from top to bottom. “Now spin this flax for me,” the queen
said, “and when you are finished, then you shall have my eldest son as your
husband. Even if you are poor, I care nothing for that. Your indefatigable
industry is dowry enough.” The girl was inwardly terrified that she could not
spin the flax if she were to live to be three hundred years old and sat at it
each day from morning until evening. When she was all alone she began to weep
and sat that way for three days without stirring a hand to work.

On the third day the queen came, and when she saw that as yet nothing was
spun, she was surprised. But the girl explained that because of the great
distress brought on by leaving her mother's house, she had not yet begun to
spin. That pleased the queen, but she said as she went away, “Tomorrow you must
begin to work.”

When the girl was again alone, she wasn't able to think of any way to help
herself, and in her distress she stepped over to the window. There she saw three
women coming down the road. The first had a broad flatfoot, the second had such
a large lower lip that it hung under her chin, and the third had a broad, broad
thumb. They remained standing in front of the window, looked up, and asked the
girl what she was in need of. The girl poured out her trouble to them, after
which they offered her their help, saying, “If you will invite us to your
wedding, not be ashamed of us, and call us your cousins, and also seat us at
your table at the wedding feast, then we will spin your flax, and do it in a
short time.” “With all my heart,” the girl answered, “only come in now and begin
the work at once.”

Then she let the three strange women in and made a space in the first
chamber, where they could sit down and set up their spinning wheel. One drew out
the thread and treaded the wheel, another moistened the thread, and the third
turned it and struck the table with her finger, and as often as she struck, a
skein of the most finely spun yarn fell to the ground. Whenever the queen came,
the girl hid the three spinners and showed her the quantity of spun yarn, for
which she got no end of praise. When the first chamber was empty, they went on
to the second, and then finally to the third, and it too was soon empty. Now the
three women took their leave, saying, “Don't forget what you have promised us.
It will bring you good luck.”

When the girl showed the queen the empty chambers and the great heaps of
yarn, the queen arranged for the wedding, and the bridegroom rejoiced that he
should obtain such a skillful and industrious wife, and praised her enormously.
“I have three cousins,” said the girl, “and since they have done me much
kindness, I would not like to forget them in my good fortune. Please permit me
then to invite them to the wedding and let them sit with us at the head table.”
The queen and the bridegroom said, “Why shouldn't we allow this?”

Now when the feast began, the three spinners stepped in wearing strange
costumes, and the bride said, “Be welcome, dear cousins.” “Oh,” said the
bridegroom, “how do you come to have such ugly kin?” Thereupon he went to the
first, the one with the broad flatfoot, and asked, “From what do you have such a
broad foot?” “From treading,” she answered, “from treading.” Then the bridegroom
went to the second and said, “From what do you have such a long, underhanging
lip?” “From licking,” she answered, “from licking.” Then he asked the third,
“From what do you have such a broad, broad thumb?” “From turning thread,” she
answered, “from turning thread.”

Then the king's son was frightened and said, “Then my dear bride shall never
again so much as touch a spinning wheel!” And with that the girl was free
forever from the dreadful flax-spinning.

This story reminds me of Frigg and the German goddesses because
of the emphasis on spinning. Unlike most Germanic folk stories, the lazy spinner
is eventually rewarded, rather than punished, for her behavior. Perhaps the
three goddess figures take pity on her because, despite her laziness at home,
she was not responsible for the unreasonable behavior of the adults who got her
into the predicament—her mother's ambition to raise her daughter's social
station and the queen's unrealistic expectations about how much flax even a good
spinner could be expected to spin. Maybe the goddesses felt the girl's
friendliness and kindness toward three strange and ugly women outweighed her
lack of industry in this instance. At any rate, the ugly women are reminiscent
of Holda and Berchte in their wild aspects, and the fact that their ugliness is
caused by spinning is even more fitting.

The other characters in the story also exhibit Frigg-like characteristics.
The mother's insistence on her daughter's spinning, the queen's passion for
spinning and her approval of the girl's longing for her home and mother, the
royal family's easy willingness to let the girl's relatives sit at the head
table at the feast, and the groom's highly understated reaction and politeness
to his bride's rather hideous kinfolk—all exemplify the kind of courteous,
socially cooperative, and practical behavior associated with Frigg.