Somewhat belatedly, I’ve decided to participate in the Pagan Blog Project. Below are my catch-up posts for A and B. Tomorrow I’ll be posting the C entry along with everyone else. (EDIT: Not only am I several days late, I’m also a dollar short, as well as short a few brain cells. I misread the directions — “C” doesn’t start for two weeks. So the post on “Blood” that was formerly part of this post will instead appear tomorrow morning.)
Angrboda
People are afraid of Her. They should be, but not for the reasons commonly given. She’s not a mindless troll, ready to kill anybody who honors Odin or the Aesir. She’s also not stupid, or uncouth, the way the Jotnar are so often portrayed. It’s true that She’s ferocious and not exactly the nurturing type. But although I got off to a bad start with Her, I love and respect the Hagia of the Iron Wood very much.
Angrboda teaches me about strength — not the kind of brute force epitomized by the Ur rune, but the sort that is represented by the Ac rune, the rune of the oak tree, the rune of endurance. This is the rune of digging in and standing strong against the winds, the tide, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or the battering of public opinion. Angrboda’s strength is, in a way, a complement to Thor’s — whereas He is active and aggressive, Her strength is receptive and…not passive, but immutable, unmoving, able to take on all comers. She is the oldest and toughest tree in the forest, the one that has lived through winter after winter, and still remains when other trees have bent and fallen under the weight of years, ice, or rot.
At the same time, She is the wolf — fiercely protective of Her pack, the alpha female who will cuff the young upstarts but will be the first to attack should a threat make itself known. According to Raven Kaldera, Angrboda comes from the Wolf Clan of the Iron Wood. Her people, those Jotnar who live in and around Jarnvidur, are the most uncanny of all the folk in Jotunheim — shapeshifters, magicians, often weird-looking even for giants. And She protects and loves them all. She, who appears to me as a stunning, proud, seven-foot-tall woman with dark red hair, is the defender of those whose bodies are malformed or “different”. She is, after all, the Mother of Monsters — among others, Fenrir, Jormungand, and Hela ae Her children. She understands that appearances are deceptive. But even so, She expects you to give all you’ve got, no matter how crippled you may be in body or mind. She has no patience for those who will not even try.
She is also the first of Loki’s two goddess-wives. She’s somewhat older than He is, according to my own gnosis, and it delights me to think of Loki being captivated by this powerful older woman in His callow youth. When I picture Them together, I see two wolves running side-by-side in the moonlight — one with fur the color of dried blood, and the other rangier-looking, with fur that shifts from gold to red and all the colors in between. I see Them leaping over rocks and fallen trunks, the wind streaming in Their fur, their muscles stretching as They dash joyously through the forest of Their home. This makes me incredibly happy.
I can relate to Angrboda even though I’m not at all fierce or intimidating. I sometimes get the feeling that She finds me somewhat amusing: oh, that one. But because of Her, I have seen Him as He was when the worlds were young and He fell in love with this passionate, powerful warrior and sorceress. I’ve seen Him as Her husband, that as-yet-unscarred barbarian dressed in furs, with flaming hair hanging to His waist — the same one who fascinated Odin, and Skadi, and many others. Through Angrboda, I can see Loki as He was and is for Her, and know another side of Him, which makes me love Him all the more. And although She has blessed me in many other ways, I think perhaps that is the best thing She’s given me.
(Note: I use the Anglo-Saxon futhorc runes, rather than the Old Norse futhark, so if you’re wondering where this “Ac” rune came from, that’s where.)
(I’m not totally sure if I grok the setup for the Pagan Blog Project so far; I gather that it’s two weeks per letter, so this is actually the first week of B. If I’m wrong, that means I’m whipping out something clever for C really fast …)
Re: Angrboda: I feel like I’m in for a divine smacking for pointing this out, but I feel very much like the story section in Jotunbok (which I just finished a few days ago), uh … softened? Her greatly for me. Or at least fleshed Her out. I’ve seen Her presented a lot as generically raging, like you mention — related to the Dumb Etin stereotype for sure — and she’s a lot more complex than that. There’s force there, a kind of strictness, an anger, but there are other emotions entwined with those. I’d been having trouble getting a feel for Angrboda before, and now I can, and I’m grateful for it.
(This entire comment is really just an excuse for me to tell you how much I enjoyed the Andvari’s Bride story.)
Re: the PBP — you’re right, I misunderstood the directions. D’OH! I’m only going to post once every two weeks with the letter thing, though; other posts won’t be related to that.
I’m glad you liked the “Andvari’s Bride” tale. Technically, I didn’t write that; it was told to me by Himself, but who knows if it’s the “true” story? At any rate, it certainly throws another light on the line in Lokasenna about Him milking cows and bearing babies like a woman
Thank you for this. Not five minutes ago, I was having and internal battle over my lack of staying power when things seem hard or inconvenient. It was a truth that I was discomforted by and I’m not happy with this tendency. Reading this felt like a reminder, although I’m not entirely sure how yet.
Glad you found it useful
May I ask what drew you to the Anglo Saxon futhorc versus Elder or Younger?
That’s the version that the person who taught me rune divination happened to use, so I know that system better than others, and I use it for divination as well as other things. Mostly it’s personal preference.