Gnosis Diary: Life as a Heathen

My personal experiences, including religious and spiritual experiences, community interaction, general heathenry, and modern life on my heathen path, which is Asatru.

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Novel Gnosi part 37: Valkyries and the Afterlife

Valkyries are psychopomps, beings who carry the dead to the afterlife. They are called choosers of the slain, because they select warriors who die in battle to bring to Freya in Folkvangr or to Odin in Valhalla. Freya is the leader of the Valkyries and gets first pick. When the Valkyries are not attending a battle, they are found with Odin and the Einherjar, Odin's chosen warriors, in Valhalla.

The Fireverse Valkyries mostly have war duties. Although any of them might serve someone a drink in Valhalla, it’s not really exclusively Valkyries who do that. Odin has many dead humans for servants, and some of them are dead women who are basically Valkyrie themed waitresses rather than actual Valkyries. The actual Valkyries are unearthly powers.

Most of the gods of Asgard have dead humans for servants in the Fireverse. Only the servants of Odin, Thor, Freya, and Aegir have much of a role in the story, but it can be assumed they all have them except for Loki and Sigyn.

Sigyn has animal servants as a young woman before her marriage. It's unclear if she still has them after, but they don't come into the house anymore after that, because the spell that called them which had been placed by Sigyn's parents, or maybe just by her mother, was broken when Loki did some housework during their courtship. This spell is known as the Mosswife's Bargain. It doesn't say in the story where humans who served Loki and / or Sigyn go after death.

Image: Valkyrie by Yerson Retamal, creative commons via Pixabay

P.S.

New on my author site! Listen to Asatru Ritual 1: What to expect at your 1st sumbel, & 2: the blot ritual and how to do your own heathen ritual at home. https://www.erinlaleauthor.com/

 

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Erin Lale is the author of Asatru For Beginners, and the updated, longer version of her book, Asatru: A Beginner's Guide to the Heathen Path. Erin has been a gythia since 1989. She was the editor and publisher of Berserkrgangr Magazine, and is admin/ owner of the Asatru Facebook Forum. She also writes science fiction and poetry, ran for public office, is a dyer and fiber artist, was acquisitions editor at a small press, and founded the Heathen Visibility Project.

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