Menu:



Skadhi, Sacred Huntress

Skadhi seems to be one of the few Jotun Goddesses who is actually accepted and embraced by mainstream Heathenry.  There are other Jotun Goddesses who intermarried with the Aesir and Vanir, e.g. Gerda, who have either been ignored or even outright reviled as hostile entities.  However, Skadhi is popular even with those who are otherwise Jotunphobes (there, a new word) and rightly so: while Gerda may be content to snub those who don't want to honor Her, Skadhi commands and even demands respect.  She is the ultimate example of a strong, independent woman.

But at the appointed time Loki lured Idunn out of Ásgard into a certain wood, saying that he had found such apples as would seem to her of great virtue, and prayed that she would have her apples with her and compare them with these. Then Thjazi the giant came there in his eagle's plumage and took Idunn and flew away with her, off into Thrymheimr to his abode.

But the Æsir became straitened at the disappearance of Idunn, and speedily they became hoary and old. Then those Æsir took counsel together, and each asked the other what had last been known of Idunn; and the last that had been seen was that she had gone out of Asgard with Loki. Thereupon Loki was seized and brought to the Thing, and was threatened with death, or tortures; when he had become well frightened, he declared that he would seek after Idunn in Jötunheim, if Freyja would lend him the hawk's plumage which she possessed. And when he got the hawk's plumage, be flew north into Jötunheim, and came on a certain day to the home of Thjazi the giant. Thjazi had rowed out to sea, but Idunn was at home alone: Loki turned her into the shape of a nut and grasped her in his claws and flew his utmost.      

Now when Thjazi came home and missed Idunn, he took his eagle's plumage and flew after Loki, making a mighty rush of sound with his wings in his flight. But when the Æsir saw how the hawk flew with the nut, and where the eagle was flying, they went out below Ásgard and bore burdens of plane-shavings thither. As soon as the hawk flew into the citadel, he swooped down close by the castle-wall; then the Æsir struck fire to the plane-shavings. But the eagle could not stop himself when he missed the hawk: the feathers of the eagle caught fire, and straightway his flight ceased. Then the Æsir were near at hand and slew Thjazi the giant within the Gate of the Æsir, and that slaying is exceeding famous.      

Now Skadi, the daughter of the giant Thjazi, took helm and birnie and all weapons of war and proceeded to Ásgard, to avenge her father. The Æsir, however, offered her reconciliation and atonement: the first article was that she should choose for herself a husband from among the Æsir and choose by the feet only, seeing no more of him. Then she saw the feet of one man, passing fair, and said: "I choose this one: in Baldr little can be loathly." But that was Njördr of Nóatún. She had this article also in her bond of reconciliation: that the Æsir must do a thing she thought they would not be able to accomplish: to make her laugh. Then Loki did this: he tied a cord to the beard of a goat, the other end being about his own genitals, and each gave way in turn, and each of the two screeched loudly; then Loki let himself fall onto Skadi's knee, and she laughed. Thereupon reconciliation was made with her on the part of the Æsir. It is so said, that Odin did this by way of atonement to Skadi: he took Thjazi's eyes and cast them up into the heavens, and made of them two stars.      

Then said Ægir: "It seems to me that Thjazi was a mighty man: now of what family was he?" Bragi answered: "His father was called Ölvaldi, and if I tell thee of him, thou wilt think these things wonders. He was very rich in gold; but when he died and his sons came to divide the inheritance, they determined upon this measure for the gold which they divided: each should take as much as his mouth would hold, and all the same number of mouthfuls. One of them was Thjazi, the second Idi, the third Gangr. And we have it as a metaphor among us now, to call gold the mouth-tale of these giants; but we conceal it in secret terms or in poesy in this way, that we call it Speech, or Word, or Talk, of these giants."

Skaldskaparsmal

In this Eddaic lay, we can see that Skadhi comes to Asgard seeking retribution for the slaying of Her father.  She was not necessarily aggressive towards the Aesir for being Aesir (She seemed to like Baldur well enough), but rather because the Aesir killed Her father: the "why" didn't matter, it was that it was Her father.  I believe that it was Her willingness to take Them all on, and fight, that commanded respect among Them, to make Her part of Their tribe (although Njord is more of a hostage than a "full Aesir", She got to pick from all of the men, and it's been suggested by a few people that Njord would have the best feet due to walking along the beach, where the sand and sea salt would condition the skin of His feet).

Apparently Skadhi's father, Thjazi, was not your "common Jotnar" but a very rich chieftain, which (along with Gerda's family) suggests that the Jotnar were not strictly barbarians but had commerce.  Odin would not have made Thjazi's eyes into stars if He were completely reprehensible, which serves as a reminder that even the most fearsome and aggressive of Jotunkind is still a person, with kith and kin.

There has been a UPG among several people that Loki did not just tie His testicles to a goat for laughs, but to mimic an ancient rite performed in Skadhi's honor.  Scandinavia was given its name after Skadhi, and it is suggested that Her coming to dwell among the Aesir is symbolic of one of the most ancient and revered Goddesses still commanding worship long after others of Her kind are honored no more.  A Divine Huntress would be appropriate to call upon in the harsh Northern climate, to ensure a good hunt and survival through the winter.  We see a cognate with Skadhi in the Scottish Goddess Scathach, a figure in the Ulster cycle of Irish mythology, who trains Cúchulainn in the arts of combat and gives him a spear.  While the jury is out as to whether They are one and the same Goddess, it's not far off the mark to see Skadhi as a patroness of war as well as the hunt, as in ancient Northern society, tribes would need to fight off those who would attack the tribe and plunder its stores.

It seems that Loki's gift to Skadhi had more emotional ties than just laughter, as it is Skadhi who wreaks the worst revenge on Loki at the time of His binding.


Skadi
49. Thou art merry, Loki!
Not long wilt thou
frisk with an unbound tail;
for thee, on a rock´s point,
with the entrails of thy ice-cold son,
the gods will bind.

Loki
50. Know, if on a rock´s point,
with the entrails of my ice-cold son,
the gods will bind me,
that first and foremost
I was at the slaying,
when we assailed Thiassi.

Skadi
51. Know, if first and foremost
thou wast at the slaying,
when ye assailed Thiassi,
that from my dwellings
and fields shall to thee
ever cold counsels come.

Loki
52. Milder was thou of speech
to Laufey´s son,
when to thy bed thou didst invite me.
Such matters must be mentioned,
if we accurately must
recount our vices.

...

After this Loki, in the likeness of a salmon, cast himself into the waterfall of Franangr, where the Æsir caught him, and bound him with the entrails of his son Nari; but his other son, Narfi, was changed into a wolf. Skadi took a venomous serpent, and fastened it up over Loki’s face. The venom trickled down from it. Sigyn, Loki’s wife, sat by, and held a basin under the venom; and when the basin was full, carried the venom out. Meanwhile the venom dropped on Loki, who shrank from it so violently that the whole earth trembled. This causes what are now called earthquakes.

Lokasenna

Here Loki admits to slaying Thjazi, which would anger Skadhi to begin with, but also Loki says that They slept together.  One of the things that many fail to realize with Lokasenna is that the Gods never deny what Loki says about Their activities and proclivities (e.g. Odin being "ergi" on Samsey), but other Gods will make note of the good things They have done.  It is probable Loki and Skadhi slept together after He made Her laugh (in fact, my UPG and that of others confirms this to be what happened), and Skadhi knowing She slept with Her father's killer was probably the incentive to make Loki's punishment especially hard.

It is noted by this author that Loki was not bound immediately after the death of Baldur, but rather after crashing Aegir's feast and insulting the Gods, which leads me to believe that the Gods were more angry over having Their dirty laundry "outed" than Baldur's death.  While I have wept for Loki's binding and Sigyn's sorrow, I do see both sides of the story (and am friends with both Deities), and know Skadhi felt intolerably insulted and was acting out of (not entirely unjustified) wrath.


The last bit of Lore on Skadhi for this article comes from Gylfaginning:

Njördr has to wife the woman called Skadi, daughter of Thjazi the giant. Skadi would fain dwell in the abode which her father had had, which is on certain mountains, in the place called Thrymheimr; but Njördr would be near the sea. They made a compact on these terms: they should be nine nights in Thrymheimr, but the second nine at Nóatún. But when Njördr came down from the mountain back to Nóatún, he sang this lay:   

Loath were the hills to me, I was not long in them,         
Nights only nine;   
To me the wailing of wolves seemed ill,         
After the song of swans.

Then Skadi sang this:   
Sleep could I never on the sea-beds,         
For the wailing of waterfowl;   
He wakens me, who comes from the deep-         
The sea-mew every morn.

Then Skadi went up onto the mountain, and dwelt in Thrymheimr. And she goes for the more part on snowshoes and with a bow and arrow, and shoots beasts; she is called Snowshoe-Goddess or Lady of the Snowshoes. So it is said:

Thrymheimr 't is called, where Thjazí dwelt,     
He the hideous giant;
But now Skadi abides, pure bride of the gods,     
In her father's ancient freehold.   

XXIV. "Njördr in Nóatún begot afterward two children: the son was called Freyr, and the daughter Freyja; they were fair of face and mighty.

This not only disproves the theory that Skadhi is the mother of Frey and Freyja, as it mentions Njord had them "afterwards" meaning after the divorce, but it shows the egalitarian marriage attitudes among the Aesir as well as among the Northmen.  Skadhi did not divorce Njord for being abusive, or for failing to satisfy Her in bed -- these things would likely have been noted -- but Their lifestyles were not compatible.  Skadhi is a mountain Jotuness, Njord a sea Vane.  Skadhi likes the challenge of the cold climate, the rough terrain, and the hunt.  Njord likes His place to "chill out".  Skadhi divorced Njord to have Her life, and it appears that She and Njord remained on friendly terms.  After the divorce, She still kept Her position of status among the Aesir, effectively giving Her a voice, and remembrance even after the Jotun cult had been supplanted.  Skadhi is an example of strength and independence, and none would dare try to dominate Her: those who have, have tasted Her wrath.


When I was living in New England, I was a lot closer to Skadhi.  On the first snowfall each year after I began identifying as a Norse Pagan, I would go outside and play in the snow and give an offering to Skadhi.  I admired Her strength, the frosty nature of Her composure that would not yield to the rule of others.  While still closest to Freyja among the Goddesses, I formed a very close bond with Skadhi, feeling Her protection over me in the wintertime and in other areas of my life.

I have had visions of Skadhi visiting Njord, as They are on good terms, and teaching Frey specifically how to hunt and fight, well enough that Frey was entrusted with the best sword in the Nine Worlds, and was able to get an antler as a weapon after His sword was given to Gerda's family.  It was Skadhi, in my visionary experiences, who taught Frey how to respect a strong woman, and that set the stage for Frey falling in love with Gerda later on.  It is because of Gerda's Jotun nature -- not in spite of it -- that Frey loves Her, He loves Her cold aloofness as well as Her storms.

It was Skadhi who gave me the courage to leave an abusive relationship in 2002, to put my foot down and say "Enough".  It was Skadhi, once again, who came to me during Winternights of 2006 and told me some very harsh truths about my situation -- that I was going to die if I did not take better care of my physical health, which meant taking charge of my life and not letting the psych system micro-manage it.  She told me to stop feeling helpless, and that there were times when She also felt despairing -- right after She saw Her father, dead.  But rather than grieve and do nothing, She decided to fight, and it was because She fought, that She gained a place of respect among the Aesir.  Skadhi showed me a vision of a conversation She had with Frey about me, and how Frey was trying to arrange a move to another state and with a good man, so I could have a better life, but my own fear and self-doubt was holding me back, and would keep me in the thralldom of others who thought they knew what I needed better than I did, eventually destroying me.  I was a bit stunned as I hadn't quite looked at the opportunity, but They were both clearly concerned about my welfare.  Skadhi said it angered Her to see someone strong be beaten down by others, and I owed it to myself and to the Gods -- to Her -- to find my way out.  As I write this in 2008, I am in that better situation and am finding strength within myself I didn't know I had, as well as abilities that other people told me I didn't have or couldn't do.

I write this article as a way to acknowledge that debt I have to Skadhi: as I moved to Southern California, where it doesn't snow and is never that cold, I stopped feeling Her presence.  But that doesn't mean She's not there -- moving does not put one out of the reach of the Gods.  She haunts the wild places, and more importantly, is inside of me, that backbone that says "Enough" to people and things making demands of me when I have to put myself first... that drive that decides to keep going past when others would give up... that drive that is determined to succeed no matter what.  It is because of Skadhi's influence within me that I continue to press on even on the days when my disabilities affect me the worst, even when I feel there are many challenges and obstacles in my life.  Skadhi clearly knew Her self-worth and strength enough even when She lost Her father, went among the strange Aesir, and was hurt by Loki.  I will not let the bastards win, I will keep focusing on what I want in life, and I will make something of myself, because I am worthy, I am friend to the Gods, and I deserve that.  Skadhi says so.

(C) 2008 Sigrun Freyskona.

Illustration: "The Ice Maiden" by Edmund Dulac.