Pagan Portals: Frigg, Beloved Queen of Asgard
By: Ryan McClain - Moon Books - $12.95
Overview: Pagan Portals - Frigg, Beloved Queen of Asgard by author Ryan McClain is a thoughtful blend of historical research and personal experiences for honoring the Norse goddess Frigg in our modern world.
Verdict: For those unaware, the Norse goddess Frigg is known to have influence over many roles. She is a goddess of marriage and children, but she is also a goddess of fate and cunning. Indeed, Frigg is a goddess of domestic activities, and she is a goddess of healing.
She is also a goddess of both love and peace. As the Queen of Asgard, Frigg tends to a court of 12 handmaidens, each having their own distinct qualities. This introductory book examines Frigg’s history, functions, relationships, and ways to honor her in our modern times.
Filling in a few more details, Frigg or Frigga (which means ‘Beloved’ in Old Norse) is a goddess found in Norse mythology. As the wife of Odin and the mother of Baldur, she is the ‘Queen of the Æsir’. This deity was worshiped as a sky goddess and is believed to be responsible for weaving the clouds.
Additionally, the Norse believed that she had the power of prophecy and was in charge of weaving the fates. Love and marriage were also in the domain of this powerful goddess. As an interesting side, the English weekday name ‘Friday’ is etymologically derived from the name of this goddess.
Although possibly the most important goddess of the Æsir, little is said about her in the surviving primary sources on Norse mythology. Moreover, she is not an entirely unique goddess, as she shares a number of attributes with Freya, a goddess of the Vanir. Both, for example, are associated with love and marriage. Both are also speculated to have evolved from an earlier Germanic goddess known as Frija.
So what we have here in Pagan Portals - Frigg: Beloved Queen of Asgard is a quite wondrously impassioned introduction to Frigg. Well written and dutifully researched, easy to read and understand, and yet immaculately informative and emotively distinguished, personally, I especially liked that each chapter culminates with McClain’s own take on what was discussed within that particular chapter.
Showcasing the obviously impassioned viewpoint that Frigg served as a role model for her female followers, the immersive historical sources that are examined are broken down in a way that even if you are not all that familiar with them, you too can understand them. Personally, I found the roles and symbols of Frigg to be the most interesting chapter, but there is oh-so much more to be learnt within these thoroughly engaging pages, trust me.
About the Author - Ryan McClain is a solitary practitioner of various spiritual paths, and he honors several deities from these traditions. He is a graduate of Ivy Tech Community College. He is an active environmentalist and homemaker. Ryan lives with his husband in a small town in Indiana.
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