2016 Yule/Winter Solstice Tarot Blog Hop

PREVIOUS | MASTER LINK | NEXT

‘Tis that time of the year again! Be merry, open your moneypurse and overspend your credit limit. The Coca-Cola trucks have been sighted: it’s officially Christmas!

Also, welcome to the Yule tarot blog hop. Our wrangler, Joanne Sprott from Cosmic Whispers Tarot has given the topic of looking inside, digging for gold in the dark, fertile soil of our souls. How marvellous! I love the moist smell of rotting autumn leaves, and can’t wait to have dirt under my nails!

That said, after the October Tarot Shadow Work Challange I have created I had no idea what to write. I have used up all the ideas I had, and recycling them into this post didn’t feel right. Then inspiration hit!

Norse Mythology on Facebook came up with an art competition with Goddess Freyja and Midwinter as topic, and how these two connect ( results were out on the 23rd, I haven’t won anything, lol). I have made this painting to submit:

Freyja, the Lady. Freyja the beautiful. Freyja the sexy. Njörd’s daughter; Frey’s sister; Od’s neglected wife; owner of Brisingamen, the most precious piece of jewellery in the nine worlds. Roughly these are the things your average viking enthusiast will associate with her. But she is so much more than these suprficial, mainstream love-goddess things!

Some researchers say she is Gullweig-Heid; the Van goddess who has been burnt by the Äsir three times for bringing disquiet to Asgard (in the form of erections and posessive machoism). With the help of her magic she has resurrected after each murder attempt, but this attrocity has triggered the great war between the Äsir and the Vanir – at the end of which to seal the peace, hostages have been exchanged; can you guess who was one of them? Exactly.

Living amongst the people who have put her on a burning pyre three times, and yet most of whom can barely hide their erections when they glimpse her – the guys anyway – is tough. And Freyja, along with being extremely magnetic, is a tough woman.

Her carriage is pulled by two cats [this alone proves my point: go and try to teach a cat this trick and see what it thinks about it! ;)] as she flies over battlefields, claiming the souls of the dead. No, it is not only the valkyries who deliver heroes to their heavenly abode in Walhalla. Along with Odin, Freyja has the right to half of all the souls who have fallen in battle. She takes them to her castle Sessrumnir to party until Ragnarök comes and they can prove their worth. Very goth!

The painting shows her in midwinter, suggested by the tiara made of holly leaves in her hair. Her long blond locks are left loose, somewhat unkempt. A warrior doesn’t always have time to brush out those knots! Around the corners of her blue eyes you see the tiny marks of ageing. This is a mature goddess who brings you the honour of death in battle, not some damsel in distress! (Although if I would have drawn more wrinkles, I suspect I wouldn’t have lived to the day this hop goes live, hehe) Her facial expression is a kind of RBF (resting bi*ch face) to convey the message that she does not care for your BS. She has heard all the pleas, knows all the lies men have ever made up to convince a woman. You will need something more if you want her on your side.

She wears her falcon cloak that makes her able to fly without having to transform into an actual bird – and probably having to arrive as naked as a newborn after taking her own form back. On her leather shoulder plate you see the likenesses of her sacred animals: a boar and a cat, made of gold with ruby insets. (They are based on viking replica jewellery, here and here) 

It is said that she sheds red gold, or in this case ruby tears for her missing husband. I have used these tears to decorate her armour. She is beyond playing the neglected wife now. She uses her past sorrows as ornaments, as precious stones for her soul under fallen autumn leaves.

I will leave you with that thought and this card I have made for the hop.

Cloudless Winter Solstice for everyone! Make sure to like, share and comment before you hit the Next button! 😉

PREVIOUS | MASTER LINK | NEXT