Our Troth’s Denigration and Distortion of Freyja
I get angry when anybody diminishes, demotes, denigrates or distorts the reputation of the woman with whom I am wed. I feel the same way about the goddess with whom I am wed, Freyja. The book Our Troth: Volume One, History and Lore does this very thing. It diminishes, demotes, denigrates and distorts Freyja, the goddess with whom I’m wed. It does this in a number of ways.
First, Our Troth does not place its chapter on Freyja, The Goddess of the Vanir, until after all of the following gods and goddesses:
Tyr
Zisa
Odin
Loki
Thor
Balder
Freyr
Njordr
Other Gods
Ullr
Heimdall
Bragi
Forseti
Aegir
Mothi
Magni
Vitharr
Vali
Mani
Kvasir
Vili
Ve
Hoenir
Lothurr
Frigg
Not worthy of their own chapters, Our Troth discusses the following goddesses in the chapter titled Frigg:
Saga
Eir
Geflon
Fulla
Sjofn
Lofn
Var
Vor
Syn
Hiln
Snotra
Gna
Twenty-three gods and thirteen goddess later Our Troth has its chapter on Freyja. I wonder how those who are true to the Aesir would feel if they read a book in which Odin or Thor was presented in thirty-seventh place.
When Our Troth discusses Odin no mention is made of his parents or siblings. He is discussed as an individual, independent and free. However, when Our Troth finally gets to its discussion of Freyja it immediately presents her in relation to her father, Njordr, and her so-called brother, Freyr. Our Troth’s patriarchal perspective is clear.
Its patriarchal perspective is reinforced when it says, “Freyja is especially a goddess of women who do as they will…” As if Freyja cannot be a goddess of both women and men who do as they will.
Its patriarchal perspective is further reinforced when it interprets Gullveig’s violent abuse by Odin as a parallel to Odin’s so-called ordeal. I have addressed this distorted interpretation separately. For no apparent reason Freyja was attacked, run through with spears and burned in Odin’s hall. To call such an atrocity an initiation is the height of misogyny.
Our Troth goes on to allege that Freyja as Heidr is a “mind-playing witch” who “adversely affects the consciousness of others” and blames Gullveig/Heidr as the one who “began the aggressive action” that started the first war.
Our Troth reduces the roles of women to two: frith-weaver and strife-stirrer. It says, not surprisingly, that “Frigg embodies the first, Freyja the second.” This in spite of the clear fact that the Aesir are the strife-stirrers and the Vanir are the frith-weavers.
Our Troth diminishes, demotes, denigrates and lays distortion on distortion in its chapter on Freyja. I feel angry when I read it, just as I feel angry when anyone does the same to the woman with whom I am wed.