Freyja

See Freya.

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Most important Norse goddess, one of a group of fertility deities called Vanir.

Her father was the sea god Njörd, and her brother and male counterpart was Freyr. She was the goddess of battle and death as well as love and fertility. Half the heroes slain in battle went to her domain, Folkvangr, the other half to Odin's Valhalla. She taught a powerful magic to the Aesir, probably involving sexuality.

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▪ Norse mythology

      (Old Norse: “Lady”), most renowned of the Norse goddesses, who was the sister and female counterpart of Freyr and was in charge of love, fertility, battle, and death. Her father was Njörd (Njǫrd), the sea god. Pigs were sacred to her, and she rode a boar with golden bristles. A chariot drawn by cats was another of her vehicles. It was Freyja's privilege to choose one-half of the heroes slain in battle for her great hall in the Fólkvangar (the god Odin took the other half to Valhalla). She possessed a famous necklace called Brísinga men, which the trickster god Loki stole and Heimdall, the gods' watchman, recovered. Greedy and lascivious, Freyja was also credited with the evil act of teaching witchcraft to the Aesir (a tribe of gods). Like the Egyptian goddess Isis and the Greek Aphrodite, Freyja traveled through the world seeking a lost husband and weeping tears of gold. She was also known by four nicknames—Mardöll, Hörn, Gefn, and Syr.

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